Never mind Jill Long Thompson's gas-sales-tax-holiday gimmick. Let's add another buck to the price of gas, and we'll get that record for sure:
Traffic fatalities in Indiana this year have dropped 24 percent compared with last year -- and experts say that's largely due to gas prices keeping more vehicles off the road and drivers slowing down to improve gas mileage.
There were 373 traffic deaths recorded statewide from Jan. 1 to July 21 this year, compared with 494 in the same period last year, according to data from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. At the current pace, Indiana would break the record for fewest traffic fatalities -- 792 in 2002 -- since the state began keeping records 18 years ago.
I've finally noticed lighter traffic on I-69, so I buy the part about traveling less. But at lower speeds? Haven't seen it -- everybody still zips by me, even at up to 5 mph over the speed limit.
Comments
Could it be the slower drivers that are driving less?
Someone that's in a hurry probably needs to be somewhere in order to make a buck, and if it costs more for the gas to get there, well, it costs more for the gas.
If you don't have to get somewhere in a hurry, it's likely that you don't have to get there at all. And if you aren't concentrating on getting there in a hurry, you're probably not concentrating on your driving at all.
So by eliminating the slowpokes like me, you reduce accidents.
Sure isn't clearing the streets of the drivers causing those DRIVE-BY SHOOTINGS in Indy, is it?
(unsafe at ANY speed, hmm?)
B.G.