Vegas Sculptor’s Blog

A lot has been written about speed limits recently. Some maintain the limits are too low, others too high. Some argue that speed limits are necessary to save lives, others that they are only to generate revenue through fines.

I’ve always tried to stay within 5 to 10 mph (3 to 6 km/h) of the posted limit. The main reason being that I don’t want to pay a fine.

I don’t think that driving faster would be dangerous for me. I think I can handle a car well enough to be able to do it. It does seem that the possibility of an accident would be higher if something went wrong, like a blowout, at high speed. And of course any accident would be worse at high speed than at low speed.

The biggest problem to me seems to be that some people drive the posted speed limit while others want to drive as fast as they can. This results in faster cars overtaking slower ones which can lead to rear end collisions. When you take into account the fact that some of these slower drivers feel they are enforcing the speed limit by blocking faster traffic, you really get a mess.

The Montreal Gazette recently ran a story where they argue that the problem with speed limits are that they are too low. According to the article the speed limits in North America are lower than anywhere else in the world.

“In most European countries the highway speed limit is either 120 km/h(75 mph) or 130 km/h (81 mph). Britain and Sweden have the strictest limits at 110 km/h (68 mph). About three-quarters of the famous German Autobahnen have no speed limit at all. The ‘recommended velocity’ is 130 km/h (81 mph), but average speeds in unregulated areas are about 150 km/h (93 mph). Nevertheless, the overall safety record on Autobahnen is comparable to that on controlled-access highways in European countries with speed limits. A 2005 study by the German Interior Ministry found sections with unrestricted speed had the same accident record as sections with speed limits.”

As further proof that higher speed limits can result in fewer accidents, the Gazette articles states “Following the 1973 oil crisis and the U.S. government’s imposition of a national 55 mph (88 km/h) limit, statistical analyses indicate highway safety worsened. And when Congress finally repealed federal speed limits in November 1995, to much caterwauling from the “speed-kills” crowd, with dire predictions of 6,400 increased deaths and a million additional injuries, the actual effect was diametrically opposite. Traffic deaths dropped to a record low by 1997, including in the 33 states that had immediately raised their speed limits. Meanwhile, Americans saved about 200 million person-hours in terms of less time spent on the road, with a reported net economic benefit of higher speed limits of $2 billion to $3 billion a year. A U.S. National Research Council panel pegged the cost of the 55-mph limit at about one billion person-hours per year.”

“Likewise, a study by the U.S. National Motorists Association found the safest period on Montana’s Interstate highways was when there were no daytime speed limits or enforceable speed laws at all. When Montana implemented a new ’safety program,’ imposing speed limits and enforcement, the state’s fatal accident rate didn’t just increase, it doubled, according to NMA statistics.”

I have heard before that slower speeds increase the likelihood of the driver paying less attention to the road. Likewise at faster speeds drivers maintain more focus. This could explain fewer accidents when the old 55 mph limit was repealed.

With gasoline prices skyrocketing I’m sure we will begin to hear calls for lowering the speed limits again. But does this really help? I’ve always figured that if I drive 70 mph for an hour and you drive 55 mph, you may have used less gas but you still have to drive another 15 miles to catch up to me. Wouldn’t you probably use more gas by driving for a longer period of time than me?

So what do you think? Should speed limits be raised in a time of high fuel costs? Should they be lowered in an attempt to save lives and fuel? Do you believe that higher limits are safer? Are the roads dangerous because the limits we have now are not enforced well enough? If, like Germany, there were no limit to how fast you could go, what speed do you think you would be comfortable driving?

Tomorrow, December 22nd, is the date of the winter solstice this year. According to Wikipedia many cultures have celebrated this event.  “Often since the event is observed as the reversal of the Sun’s ebbing presence in the sky, concepts of the birth or rebirth of sun gods have been common..”.

Many believe that the designation of December 25th as the date of the birth of Christ, was an attempt by the early Church to take attention away from the Pagan celebrations associated with the winter solstice. Biblically there is nothing to associate mid-December with the birth.

Since I wrote about the commercialization Christmas, I’ve done a little more reading on the subject.

Green Bay, Wisconsin was in the news this week after they put a nativity scene in front of City Hall. In an attempt to include everyone, they also put up a Wiccan pentacle consisting of an evergreen wreath encircling a gold five-pointed star.

Almost immediately a city resident requested permission to place a Festivus pole on the site. The man making the request said it “…was intended to showcase how deciding what religions to include in the display can turn to the absurd.”

Again, the Christian tradition of Christmas is the main reason for celebration this time of year, so is there any reason to include every other religion?

According to an article at the dailypress.com website, “…Gallup polls from 1994 to 2005 consistently show that more than 90 percent of adults say they celebrate Christmas, including 84 percent of non-Christians.”

The hot topic this time of year is how various groups are trying to disassociate Christmas from religious symbolism, what many decry as an attack on Christmas. It turns out that this is not the first time that a concerted effort has been made to separate the birth of Christ from a celebration that is considered by many to be a purely commercial endeavor.

The dailypress article continues, “Through much of the 19th century, schools and businesses remained open, Congress met in session and some churches closed their doors, lest errant worshippers try to furtively commemorate the day.”

“‘The whole culture didn’t stop for Christmas,’ said Bruce Forbes, a religious studies professor at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. ‘Government went on as usual, business went on as usual, school went on as usual.’”

“In researching his book, ‘Christmas: A Candid History,’ Forbes discovered that major American denominations–Presbyterians, Baptists, Quakers, Methodists and Congregationalists–either ignored the holiday or actively discouraged it until the late 19th century.”

“That rejection was rooted in the lack of biblical sanction for Dec. 25 as the date of Jesus’ birth, as well as suspicion toward traditions that developed after the earliest days of Christianity. In colonial New England, this disapproval extended to actually making the holiday illegal, with celebration punishable by a fine.”

“‘Some somehow observe the day,’ wrote Boston Puritan Samuel Sewall on Christmas Day 1685, ‘but are vexed, I believe, that the body of people profane it, and blessed be God no authority yet compels them to keep it.’”

How ironic then that the very institutions that tried to keep Christmas from becoming a religious holiday, are now the most vocal in keeping the holiday associated with the birth of Christ.

Could it be that the holiday has outlived it’s importance as a religious symbol? Is the opposition to the holiday that we see today merely the early stages of what might be a natural death of a holiday? Wouldn’t you think that the religious leaders would be in favor of disassociating the ultimate event of their religion from the commercial event that is modern Christmas?

Maybe the average Christian should be thanking the Christmas dissenters for their help in giving the birth of Christ back to the Churches to celebrate in a fitting manner.

Thanks guys, now I have a reason for not having gotten the decorations up this year!