Comment Yes, that is still my point (Score 1) 525
It is actually all about the time it takes the human body to react to stimuli.
Which is why it is so vital all cars are going similar speeds, because accidents USUALLY happen between cars going the same way on the road, not with stationary objects.
The simple fact is MOST people will ignore limits that re too low and drive faster than the limit. That leaves you with a number of drivers that are trying to obey the limit and creating an abundance of artificially slow traffic, where a faster (or slower!) driver has much less time to react to cars from the "other group" making mistakes.
This again is why accident rates in most states lowered when the national speed limit was raised from 55 to 65 in the U.S., because traffic speed was more equalized.