Were I to play my own Devil's Advocate, I'd be 1st to say that driving above 65MpH /105 KpH wastes fuel (an aerodynamic fact), and that that alone is a good enough reason not to go faster. Note that this has nothing to do with safety whatsoever. It's economical, environmental, and probably political, but speed alone is not enough
I'll also submit that as populations become more dense, average speeds will decrease because people need a certain amount of space to 'feel' comfortable enough to travel at a certain speed, and as space increases or decreases, speed follows.
Even if Germans started exclusively breeding with Hendon Class One Drivers to create a race of uber-Hendon-fahrers, they'd still feel more comfortable with more speed if they had more space.
Also, keep in mind that in a given populace, increasing the number of drivers reduces the number of pedestrians, and vice versa, and thus, the number of pedestrians struck by driven vehicles would remain surprisingly constant, unless the balance were tipped quite far to either end.
The variable?
Having been to Germany myself, I must say that German pedestrains appear more considerate of other road users. They try to be as predictable as reasonably possible. Put another way, all road users go out of their way to reduce surprises for each other.
Actually, most German road users do their best to keep
speed,
surprise, &
space in balance - sound familiar? - , not only for themselves, but for everyone (sounds like an enlightenment of sorts).
In stark contrast, a steadily increasing majority of the populations of several countries seem to imply that the only people who should be managing speed, surprise, and space are drivers. Then, to go from dumb to dumber, they act as if collisions are inevitable, and thus conclude that the only thing to be managed by drivers is speed [again, only by drivers], since they prefer not to manage surprises by walking in front of vehicles without priority, and wish to romanticize the idea of their children playing in neighborhood streets.
(That
morbid advert in which the girl proclaims "Hit me at 30, and there's around an 80% chance I'll live" - is she assuming she's an adult? - looks like a collaboration between Mark Romanek and Floria Sigismondi. I wonder if it ever occured to anyone involved that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.)
I would submit that such people people, by definition, are unreasonable, and thus, should have their licenses revoked. Further, they should be deported to Germany, and sentenced to train for German driver's licenses - at their own expense; may they not leave until they become licensed.
[southern drawl]That'll learn 'em.[/drawl]