Editorial : September 10, 2008

The New York Times published an article yesterday calling for all vehicles sold in the United States to only be able to go 75 mph. In effect this means that no car will be able to grossly exceed the speed limit because the car itself is severely limited. The author, Kent A. Sepkowitz, states that this will cut down on the 13,000 people a year killed in traffic accidents.

Unfortunately, what Mr. Sepkowitz doesn’t take into account is that if his car can only reach 75 mph how is he going to escape the wrath of the millions of drivers in the United States that want to run him down?

You’d think that the New York Times would only publish writers with common sense and simple logic but obviously that’s not the case. If Mr. Sepkowitz had any of those traits he would’ve realized before he wrote his knee jerk article that of those 13,000 traffic deaths per year, there’s no way to prove that speeding was the actual cause of death. Hell, more than half of the drivers involved in those accidents could’ve had alcohol in their system, in which case wouldn’t drunk driving be the cause of death?

Does Mr. Sepkowitz really think that people will stand for limiting the speed of their cars? If something like this was actually passed by Congress, automobile sales would plummet causing more chaos than 13,000 traffic deaths per year. If Mr. Sepkowitz is so worried about dangerous drivers perhaps he’d be happier taking the bus. At least then there’d be one less idiot behind the wheel.

For more statistics regarding Mr. Sepkowitz’s dubious claims check out Jalopnik’s coverage on the subject.