“Driving too slowly is basically selfish and downright stupid, and is a recipe for disaster”

Slow drivers are killing or maiming more people than ever before on our roads.

Thus wrote the Daily Star six years ago, but the Slow drivers branded dangerous as they're blamed for killing more people than ever before article is as evergreen as ever.

Dawdling motorists are believed to trigger tailgating, undertaking, congestion and road rage, which can then lead to serious traffic incidents.

 … Hugh Bladon, a founder member of the Alliance of British Drivers, said: “I’m not in the least bit surprised by these worrying statistics.

“Driving too slowly is basically selfish and downright stupid, and is a recipe for disaster.”

He added: “I have advocated for a long time that driving too slowly causes frustration for other people and can cause them to attempt an overtaking manoeuvre, which is the most dangerous thing you can do on the roads.” 

Related: I have been writing about this for years, notably in the post The Allyagottado Folks and the Sleep-Inducing Speed Limits

What is the first cause of mortality on highways throughout the world, and certainly throughout the West? Contrary to what … many … seem to believe, it ain't speed (speed kills, right?).

It is drowsiness.

It is sleepiness.

What causes sleepiness, or drowsiness, if it ain't a sleep-inducing speed limit (or, rather a sleep-inducing slowness limit)?

Related: • The speed limit really is just a number on a sign, and it has very little influence on how fast people drive 

• An American Father-Son Duo Decides to Super-Charge the Speed on Germany's Autobahn

A dean at NYU challenges the Economist's affusive praise of speed limits in France which led a few months later to the yellow vest revolt.

You got a fast car

I agree that the costs and benefits of speed on public roads have to be balanced, but I was surprised that your leader supporting the reduction of speed limits in France did not mention Germany (“Live fast, die fast”, June 2nd). Sections of the German Autobahn have unrestricted speed limits. Its roads are as safe as its European neighbours and significantly safer than America’s. This shows that governments do not have to control “humanity’s love of speed” by imposing limits, but by investing in smart technology to control traffic flows and maintain roads. Enforcing the rules on safe driving and strict tests also help. Taking away a freedom should never be a model if effective alternatives exist.

MARTIN IHRIG
Associate dean
Division of business 
New York University

Many civilizations have been centered on trade not because they had plenty of resources but because they did not

 

Great Civilizations Depend on Trade, declares Johan Norberg in a Wall Street Journal essay (thanks to Vincent Bourdonneau) adapted from his book to be released in September, “Peak Human: What We Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Golden Ages.” 

Trade is not a byproduct of greatness but its foundation. Many civilizations have been centered on trade not because they had plenty of resources but because they didn’t.

Ancient Athens had to rely on trade because its poor soil was not sufficient to feed the population. But the land could produce olive oil and wine, so Athenians developed extended trade links to export those goods and import grain from the Black Sea region. Dutch farmers faced similar constraints: Much of their land was lost to the sea, so they specialized in livestock and traded for grain from the Baltics.

 … Specializing in trade made these civilizations some of the most prosperous in history. Athens’s wealth enabled a deeper division of labor and the rise of professions like philosopher, historian, sculptor, architect, playwright and actor. Song China was so successful that some economic historians have argued it came close to unleashing an industrial revolution 400 years before Britain did. With ample resources, the Dutch fought for and won independence from Habsburg Spain, the world’s most powerful empire, while also helping to launch the Enlightenment and create modern art. Foreigners were astonished to see that even ordinary Dutch homes displayed paintings.

 … Trade’s most vital contribution was intellectual, giving these cultures access to ideas, methods and technologies they couldn’t have developed alone. Constantly meeting foreigners with other experiences and ideas broadens one’s horizon of what’s possible. The ancient Greek mindset, curious and adaptive, owes much to living amid hundreds of neighboring city-states with distinct cultures.

 … But trade is rarely allowed to stay free for long. Governments often made a deliberate effort to restrict trade with foreigners, because the constant change and innovation trade brings can upset the status quo. Merchants could suddenly earn fortunes rivaling the landholding nobility, and strange ideas could undermine intellectual elites. Countries have always feared competition from foreigners, just as we do today.

 … The lesson is clear: Protectionism might seem like a shield, but it easily becomes a cage.