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Yes, and I could travel for miles in the desert at great speeds without ever having an accident or killing anyone. Surprise surprise! I don't think anyone's arguing this point?
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You seem to be. There is no linear correlation between either liklihood of crashing, or severity as you seem to suggest.
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Your stats don't actually show what the relationship of "speed to crash likelyhood" is at all. All they show is the proportion of crashes attributed to speeding compared to other accident causes, which is a completely different thing to showing the proportion of speeders that end up as crash victims. For all you know, that 12% of crashes attributed to speeding could be made up of 100% of the speeding population. Of course this isn't the case, but it illustrates the problem with the conclusions you're wrongly drawing from the stats.
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Wrong. The stats cannot show cause, no stats covering the entire population on road users can. They are indicative of trends, from which the "speed kills" mantra can be clearly debunked.
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This amounts to saying "keep off the road so bad drivers can drive badly without endangering your life". Err no - keep your bad driving under control so I can travel safely. Obviously life has its risks. Some of the sporting activities I do are quite risky. But to not try and minimize the risks is unarguably stupid
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No, it doesn't. The meaning is clear, however much you try to twist it. There is risk in all activities which cannot entirely be eliminated. To reduce risk is sensible, but to take one aspect of risk and to try to apply it to all situations is nonsense. As a road user you have to assume a certain level of risk, or else stay at home. You again correlate "bad driving" with "speed".
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Ok, so you may be able to always drive at the correct speed for the given road conditions / hazards etc? Congratulations. As emergov so rightly says, everyone likes to think they're a great driver. Some people have several crashes and still believe they're great drivers.
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I assume nothing. But I can lay claim to a blemish free record over 25 years of intensive bike and car use.
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How's that then? I do think, as I have said in previous posts, that a lot of enforced speed limits seem to be both unrealistic and inappropriate. I don't think I've said anything to the contrary?
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On the contrary, I think that most current speed limits are reasonable, acheiving balance between safety and the need to keep traffic moving.