Part 3 of Matt Labash’s Weekly Standard series on automated traffic enforcement measures, “The Safety Myth,” argues that, while “photo-radar cameras are designed to catch speeders and save lives, […] there’s not much evidence that the speed limit is any safer”:

Even if it’s not much of a beach read, ‘Traffic Safety Facts’ tells a fascinating tale not often told by these same people — namely, the truth. While safety Cassandras love to say that accidents increased from 1992 to 1996, they conveniently select those years as bookends since 1992 was an aberrantly low-accident year, and in 1996 accidents were nearly as high as they’ve ever been. Since 1996, however, accidents have declined every year, and when one factors in more motorists driving longer hours, the rate of involvement in accidents is actually lower than it was in 1992.

In general, fatal crashes have declined every year since 1992, and injury crashes have declined every year since 1988. Fatality rates are at an all-time low, with a mere 1.5 for every 100 million vehicle miles traveled. If there was ever a safer time to drive a car than 1999, it was probably 2000 — though those statistics are not yet processed. No matter, says the camera enforcement crowd — speeders and red-light runners are causing the bulk of havoc on our roads.

Except that they’re not. According to NHTSA, 38 percent of all fatal crashes involve alcohol, and drunk drivers should logically be the most enthusiastic boosters of camera enforcement — since a red-light-camera-monitored intersection ensures no cops will be present. From the drunk’s point of view, a red-light citation in the mail beats a DWI arrest. NHTSA’s data show that only 21 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes had previous speeding convictions, while 57.3 percent had no driving convictions of any kind. This appears to buttress photo radar opponents’ argument that speeding doesn’t kill people, bad driving does.

So, since 1996, accidents have declined every year — and this despite drivers driving more on average?

Hmm. When was it that SUV sales really began taking off…?

[Related: Hey, I’m fair and balanced. The New Republic argues that SUVs aren’t any safer than other autos; interestingly, the piece also makes this argument — “Today’s new vehicles on average accelerate about 20 percent faster than those in 1975, even though average vehicle weight has grown. We could still have our SUVs, but with much better gas mileage, by channeling the engineering improvements of modern auto engines away from acceleration and into efficiency” — never even stopping to consider that the increase in a vehicle’s capacity to accelerate may have something to do with a decrease in accident frequency.]

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