Speed isn't the problem, unless you consider that the slower drivers are the ones causing many of the accidents.
As a rule (with few exceptions), it is the fast drivers who are paying attention to the driving. (They have to.) The drivers doing the speed limit are often also daydreaming, talking with other passengers (looking them in the eyes while doing it), talking on their cell phones etc. Unfortunately, the police don't have an "attention detector" to point at you before pulling you off the road for hazardous driving. (It's much easer to build a radar detector to collect revenue and pretend that it's for public safety.)
So the poor drivers continue to clog the passing lanes, oblivious to the traffic piling up behind them in dangerously close distances just waiting for multi-car pilups. (If they observe other traffic at all, I'm sure they remark to their passengers about the cars "weaving in and out" that are trying to get around them.)
If the authorities were *actually* concerned about making roads safer, they'd be better off having periodic mandatory testing of drivers and roadworthiness of cars. It might actually get much of the riff-raff off the roads and make them a safer place. Perhaps classifying drivers, safe for highway speeds, only safe for slower speeds (and some unsafe at any speed..)
