When speed limits can kill


I've always thought that the faster you drive, the greater your risk of injury or death. But this isn't quite true. As Aaron Carroll explains below, the best predictor of driving safety is the amount of variation in speed between cars. If everyone is going about the same speed, then things are relatively safe. But if some people are going much faster than others, then not so much. This means that, on some roads, increasing the speed limit can actually improve safety.
Check it out. --Ryan Cooper
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Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
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