Pisses me off too!
Speed doesn't kill. Stupidity at high speeds kills.
I don't see how someone doing 70, 75, 80, 85mph, etc on a wide open road with no traffic is putting others at risk. It's the numbskulls who are weaving through heavy traffic at those speeds or racing down congested highways or 2 lane roads that causes accidents and deaths. Not to mention people on their cell phones, changing CD's, applying make-up in traffic, or (god-forbid) reading behind the wheel. The other thing in this country is the lack of proper driver education, particularly in regards to defensive manueuvering. If teenagers were taught how to recover from loss of traction, accident avoidance (steering and braking techniques), and adverse weather driving, we would see those accident rates decrease. Instead, the RMV still focuses on basic driving skills such as parallel parking and 3 point turns to license new drivers.
Having a CDL and having driven commercially, I've seen a lot of accidents (and avoided many more). The main factors I've noticed are sheer reckless driving, inexperience, and age (young and very old). It's not the guy/gal in a CSVT, Audi, Porche, etc who is cruising at a pretty good clip that is causing an increase in accidents... it's the 17 year old kid with an invincibility complex who doesn't know what they're doing.
Oh, and then there's the whole SUV thing...
