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Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

arstechnica.com

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Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#221

Post by Johnny555 »

tristor wrote: post #138
chris_mc wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason to go fast is for thrills. Going fast is dangerous to other people, hence: fuck you, go slower. I don't care what situation you pull from your ass to give a counterexample, 99.99% of people driving over the speed limit by more than 10-20 are driving dangerously.

In vein of your reply, I'll simply say "Stay out of the left lane." The VAST majority of collisions I've seen which involved a driver exceeding the speed limit were caused by people erratically impeding traffic by cutting them off in the left lane. When I say "I've seen", I mean "I've personally witnessed". It happens constantly in traffic here, and it's usually someone doing 50 in a 70 cutting into the left lane in…

I'd add to that -- always expect to be cut off in the left lane. If you expect other drivers to drive safely, you'll eventually pay the price. USA drivers and the whole are under trained and overly distracted.

I saw a near collision this weekend when someone in a BMW was driving significantly faster than traffic, and a pickup driver not paying attention ran out of road when the right-lane ended, so he cut off an 18 wheeler in the middle lane. The ~55mph 18 wheeler immediately moved into the left lane... He apparently didn't see or didn't care about the ~85mph BMW and cut him off, so the BMW ended up slamming on the brakes to avoid rear-ending the truck, I could smell the burning rubber from his tires when I caught up to them.

The whole thing could have been avoided if the BMW driver had a little more situational awareness - I saw the pickup's lane was ending while he was alongside the 18 wheeler and was already slowing down since I was afraid it wouldn't end well.

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#222

Post by georgebarnett »

I see a lot of commentary on break quality and stopping distance.

Those things matter, but not as much as reflex response time, which is mostly a fixed constant for most people.

Going faster means you travel further before even getting to the brakes.

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#223

Post by PostOnce »

I don't want Volvo, or a computer, or a mechanical system to kill my family because it didn't account for an edge case.

Everyone here is talking about normal highway use, but, as everyone knows, not all situations are normal. Bad things happen.

My imagination is limited, but for example: Fires can spread quickly and surround you (e.g. a valley with one road out), a tsunami can happen with only a couple of minutes warning, some hospital trips can't wait for an ambulance, sometimes people try to kill you (jealous ex? opposing political group or religion in some countries, who knows what the future holds).

So, die in a fire I guess, it's for your own safety.

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#224

Post by arcticfox »

hnuser123456 wrote: post #187
arcticfox wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the big problem is the roads and the culture around speed. America doesn't have either of those things, and probably never will. A culture of safety is not a "big problem" IMO. The "big problem" is that a vehicle at 120mph requires an insane stopping distance. On dry asphalt: * 60mph: 172 ft * 120mph: 688 ft [1] http://forensicdynamics.com/stopping-braking-distance-calcul...

If you're looking to prove who has a better "culture of safety", shouldn't you be looking at accident statistics, not some random basic kinematics without context? There are places that drive slower but have more accidents.

I suppose, although these "random basic kinematics" are actually "highly relevant first principles of safety" in automobiles (stopping distance).

If you prefer starting from accident statistics, here are a variety of studies across a variety of locations that generally show a ~2% increase in accidents per 1 km/h of speed. [1]

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/specialist/knowle...

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#225

Post by flyingfences »

redsky17 wrote: post #135
pickle-wizard wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is funny that you mention the speedo goes to 140. The speedo on my Miata goes to 150, except in 6th gear you hit the rev limiter at 136. I'd rather them make the top end more reasonable and make the scale s bigger.

6th gear is usually an overdrive gear (meant for cruising on a highway to preserve fuel). It's very possible that you'll get a higher top speed in 5th.

GP said "hit the rev limiter" not "run out of engine power".

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#226

Post by givehimagun »

PostOnce wrote: post #223

I don't want Volvo, or a computer, or a mechanical system to kill my family because it didn't account for an edge case. Everyone here is talking about normal highway use, but, as everyone knows, not all situations are normal. Bad things happen. My imagination is limited, but for example: Fires can spread quickly and surround you (e.g. a valley with one road out), a tsunami can happen with only a couple of minutes war…

So do we allow someone who is reckless to go 150mph and kill your family on the highway while we wait to account for all the edge cases? I think you have to assign a probability to each event and then in sum decide which ones you want to handle/not handle.

I've never once driven above 112mph in my life so far. Outside of fun, I've never even gotten close.

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#227

Post by flyingfences »

Johnny555 wrote: post #220
tropo wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might need to escape a tsunami, pyroclastic flow, forest fire, or hurricane. The road might not go in the ideal direction, so being just a bit faster might not be enough.

That sounds like an unrealistic fantasy that's fun to watch in the movies, but not likely in real life. Driving 130mph in a storm or forest fire is more likely to result in you running off the road (or into another fleeing vehicle) than getting to safety. But if this is your fear, you should probably drive an off-road motorcycle so you have more options to get out of town when the disaster strikes, limiting yourself…

> not likely

But it is an edge case.

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#228

Post by Johnny555 »

flyingfences wrote: post #227
Johnny555 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like an unrealistic fantasy that's fun to watch in the movies, but not likely in real life. Driving 130mph in a storm or forest fire is more likely to result in you running off the road (or into another fleeing vehicle) than getting to safety. But if this is your fear, you should probably drive an off-road motorcycle so you have more options to get out of town when the disaster strikes, limiting yourself…

> not likely But it is an edge case.

There are lots of highly unlikley edge cases that one could come up with... like seeing a crashing aircraft approaching you from behind and if you could only go 5 mph faster you could stay ahead of it before it strikes the ground, while if you go slower, you'll be hit by it or its debris trail or slam into the debris.

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#229

Post by georgebarnett »

PostOnce wrote: post #223

I don't want Volvo, or a computer, or a mechanical system to kill my family because it didn't account for an edge case. Everyone here is talking about normal highway use, but, as everyone knows, not all situations are normal. Bad things happen. My imagination is limited, but for example: Fires can spread quickly and surround you (e.g. a valley with one road out), a tsunami can happen with only a couple of minutes war…

I find this argument rediculous.

We should not allow a huge negative behaviour every single day, just on the off chance that there’s a possibility it would restrict us in a very unusual event.

Hundreds of people should die because maybe we can save a few?

Makes no sense.

Re: Volvo is introducing a 112mph speed limiter to all its new cars

#230

Post by rad_gruchalski »

imartin2k wrote: post #183

German here. I once drove an Audi A8 from Hanover to Berlin (while working for a car rental company). It was pretty much 250kph (155 mph) all the way (except where there was a speed limit of course). Definitely an insane experience. My hands were extremely sweaty. Yet I couldn't stop driving that fast. In that type of car, you don't really notice it anyway. But you DO notice it when suddenly another car is getting in…

You driven like that once, some people drive like that daily. Usually it’s not them causing accidents. Whatever, anyone can be fast in a straight line.
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