Enforcement expands, individual liberty shrinks

[Martin Cassini]

This graph sent to me by Chad Dornsife of the Best Highway Safety Practices Institute shows US accident rates falling between 1961 and 2008 as speed limits are relaxed or removed. Accident rates continue to drop steadily as cellphone use rises steeply. In the teeth of this evidence which shows that most people behave sensibly, the bandwagon of enforcement is gathering pace and finding new ways to criminalise us. There are plans afoot to add talking to passengers and changing radio station as indictable offences under the heading of Distracted Driving.