The Governors Highway Safety Association, “the states’ voice on highway safety”, suggests that the national speed limit repeal has caused more people to die. Acidman calls bullsh*t. I tend to agree.

The data they’re listing doesn’t seem to take into account any increases in traffic, it merely compares numbers for the years 1994 and 2004. I don’t see any comparisons state-to-state. Does West Virginia, with it’s 70 mph speed limit on interstates, have a higher or lower rate of accidents (per capita) than, say, Virginia, with its 65 mph limit? Is the rate of fatalities significantly different?

What about those states where the limits didn’t change? The overall speed limit in Virginia is the same as it was before the national goverment lifted its limit. How do the number of fatalities there compare to the numbers ten years ago? Have they dropped significantly (as the GHSA says they should’ve done)?

Now, I admit that none of the statistics I’ve listed mean much more than the data the GHSA actually shows; highway fatalities involve a lot of variables; tracking the effect of just one of those variables is difficult. Still, their data leaves a lot of questions that could be answered fairly easily, and I’m wondering why they don’t show any of it.

Still, my big issue here isn’t the data used, it’s the sheer stupidity of going to the federal government for something that’s not a national issue. When the national speed limit was established (in the ’70s?), the motive wasn’t to save lives, it was to conserve fuel as we faced an oil crisis. That was a national issue, and the federal government reacted (whether it did so rightly is another discussion). In the ’90s, the federal government made a move that’s almost unthinkable: it gave up power, turning the responsibility back over to the states.

Why doesn’t the GHSA go to state governments with their data and present it, allowing the states to make the decision as appropriate for each state’s terrain and populace? States that’re largely unpopulated or flat could safely have higher speed limits than states that have large cities or hilly terrain that makes it more difficult to build straight (or multi-lane) roads.

As I understand it, the GHSA was originally made up of the representatives of various states that shared data to study traffic safety. I suspect they’re unwilling to consider a state-by-state solution because such a solution would mean that each state would want to look at its own information more than a comparison to other states. The GHSA looks for a national solution because that’s what it was set up to do, and to avoid becoming obsolete, it needs to encourage national traffic laws. (When the only tool you have is a hammer…)

That produces a bias that should make any of the data from the GHSA slightly suspect, and I’d hope that anyone (especially legislators) who considers the GHSA’s data would keep that in mind.

I was notified by a friend that the Westboro Baptist Church is planning to have protesters at the funerals of the twelve miners who died in the Sago Mine. I’m sure that most people who read this blog are familiar with Fred Phelps and his fake ministry, but if you’re not, let me give you a bit of background information.

Under the guise of being a Christian church, the Westboro Baptist Church preaches a message of hatred. They believe, among other things, that it is sinful not to rejoice when other people are suffering. Because God is omnipotent and omniscient, if a disaster happens, it is because God wanted it to happen; He was punishing the victims for some wrong or another. They have blamed the September 11th attacks on America’s “acceptance” of homosexuality, and now, they’ve blamed the recent mining accident on West Virginia’s acceptance of homosexuality.

I would tear apart the logic in that, but logic has nothing to do with this group. Besides, I don’t believe that Westboro Baptist Church or Fred Phelps are worthy of that much of my time. The only thing I have to say about them is that they do not speak for me or most other Christians. No matter who you are, God loves you. You may have some sin in your life that He wants you to turn away from, so that you can accept the gift we were given when Christ died on the cross for our sins, but he does not hate you.

The deaths of those twelve miners was a tragedy, and I dearly hope that the dead men had found redemption in Jesus Christ. I’m sorry that their families have already been besieged with television cameras and that they will, apparently, now have to put up with the minions of Fred Phelps.

It is well that war is so terrible— otherwise we should grow too fond of it.

- Robert E. Lee