Like you, I've never had an accident (I've been licensed and driving for 39 years). While I don't have an SCCA license or the like, I have taken performance dri

Like you, I've never had an accident (I've been licensed and driving for 39 years). While I don't have an SCCA license or the like, I have taken performance driving training, and done a fair amount of kart racing. I definitely see where you're coming from. I'd like to point out that much of the argument against speed is the assumption that, in order to avoid an accident, speed must be shed. I believe this is false - or really, that it depends on circumstances. In normal circumstances, slowing down or stopping may be the best way to avoid an collision depending on the specifics. But there are other specifics in which you can, e.g., avoid the car coming at you by going faster yet. The obvious example is at a 4-way intersection, where you can avoid being T-boned by breaking before entering the oncoming path, or by completely crossing the path before the other car arrives. So simply saying that a faster-moving car is more likely to be involved in a collision because it takes longer to scrub the speed isn't necessarily true. (And while that's one factor against the "war on speed", I still think, as you stated above, that the most important factor is that driving slow allows people to let their attention wander.)