Conduire très vite est interdit, alors que cette activité (sur autoroute) permet de contrecarrer la cause la plus répandue d'accidents mortels, la distraction et la somnolence

Article dans un journal technologique américain :

À quel point est-ce DANGEREUX de RÊVASSER derrière le volant ?

Quelques réflexions :

• 5 fois plus d'accidents mortels sont dûs à la rêvasserie qu'à l'utilistation du téléphone portable par le conducteur (que ce soit pour parler ou même pour… écrire des textos!)

• Si/quand on conduit (très) vite, on n'a pas tendance à rêvasser, mais à… être alerte.

Parler au téléphone est interdit, et conduire très vite est interdit, alors que cette dernière activité (sur autoroute, s'entend) permet de contrecarrer la cause la plus répandue d'accidents mortels (sur autoroute), la distraction et la somnolence…

Daydreaming can't be eliminated, only minimized.

Just how dangerous is daydreaming while driving? When the Erie Insurance Group studied 65,000 fatal crashes over a two-year span (2010–11), its researchers found that one in 10 were attributed to driver distraction, and 62 percent were blamed on daydreaming—five times as many as talking or texting on a mobile phone. The study was based on a nationwide database, kept by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, called the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, or FARS, that tracks all vehicle deaths. "The results were disturbing," says Erie senior vice president Doug Smith.

What's sneaky about daydream driving is that you may feel totally aware of your environment but be out of conscious contact with it. You're not really seeing what you're looking at. For example, most of us know the sensation of suddenly snapping to attention during a long stretch of highway or getting home from a drive and not remembering parts of the trip.

Read more: Just How Dangerous Is Daydreaming While Driving? - Popular Mechanics
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Entretemps, nous apprenons que l'Utah suit le Texas et augmente sa limite de vitesse sur plusieurs autoroutes à presque 140 km/h — et cela, parce que cela rend la route "plus sûre".

KSL News reports that yesterday the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) installed 80 MPH signs on some of its rural highways after multi-year studies found that higher speed limits would be safer than lower ones.

"We had to look at geometry and speed ... speed-related crashes, just to see if it made sense," said John Gleason of UDOT. "And in these designated areas ... 80 miles per hour is the optimal speed."

KSL News goes on to point out that UDOT's recently-concluded study found that vehicle crashes decreased slightly in existing 80 MPH zones. They attributed the new safety to more vehicles traveling at the same speed. If that sounds familiar, it's because the 'Speed Kills Your Pocketbook' video says pretty much the exact same thing.

Not every road deserves higher speeds, but it's good to see that one state government is listening to reason and raising limits where appropriate.