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Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

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Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#31
post #25
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would be incredibly annoying. You what, have to tow your car to a track if you want to race? So now you need two vehicles? Given that outright street racing is common amongst blue-collar or inner-city demographics, this is an unrealistic expectation that will just push more people away from legal venues. It's a policy that says "you can't enjoy your hobby" in disguise that shows disregard for others' preferences…

You seem to assume this particular demographic you speak of only does so in venues: https://komonews.com/news/local/teen-to-be-sentenced-for-hig... Would you be willing to say the same for firearms and their availability? It meets much of your criteria, sans perhaps the portability part and location of many enthusiasts.

My point is precisely that. How can you hope to encourage people to move to tracks if you require them to find a pickup that can tow cars there? If you keep closing down more and more tracks?

I believe in high availability of firearms because I'm principally against prior restraint. The state doesn't get to take machineguns away from people who haven't demonstrated abuse of them to the standard of reasonable doubt. The state doesn't get to take hellcats away from people who haven't demonstrated abuse of them to the standard of reasonable doubt. That's my moral position, which I assume you don't share, so I'm trying to point out a more practical reason why this is a bad policy in terms of outcome.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#32
post #26
post #24

Seems like an over engineered solution. Revoking drivers license and seizing the car would be cheaper and easier to implement. We don't tolerate repeat offenders in most other circumstances. So why is it that you can keep breaking traffic laws without ever really being stopped from driving?

Because revoking a license doesn't stop someone from driving, and seizing the car doesn't stop a person from driving someone elses car. Also, since we live in a card dependent world, you can argue that taking away someones car is destroying their ability to make a living (as much as I think this excuse is horseshit when dealing with dangerous driving)

The article says that 75% of people with revoked licenses continue to drive anyway. So yes… you’re completely right. But if you don’t take away their car, then that’s the car they are most likely to use (there is no excuse to borrow someone else’s car). So maybe this is a better punishment.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#33
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The yankees' roads are all really bad. Old, narrow, sharp turns, and often crowded. I hate driving up there. By comparison, Texas we have long open stretches and up to eight lanes each way, so obviously it's less of an issue. I'd actually assume it's due to proximity to DC, which would tend to massively increase the population of "but the data say"-type technocrats.

Is it common to refer to Virginians as being Yankees? Growing up in New England I would have assumed they’d avoid the term by being in the Confederacy

No, they're both south of the Mason-Dixon line and Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. Texas is considered less South, culturally, than Virginia.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#34
States can make laws all they like, but will car manufacturers actually implement this in any workable way?

I bet 90% of initial implementations will be resettable back to unlimited speed with a simple factory reset or similar.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#35

Just remember to disable the features when nukes land. https://www.theautopian.com/if-you-ever-see-this-speed-sign-...

The scale of vehicular traffic these days make such a scenario seem quaint. The highways and interstates would be littered with cars.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#36
post #26
post #24

Seems like an over engineered solution. Revoking drivers license and seizing the car would be cheaper and easier to implement. We don't tolerate repeat offenders in most other circumstances. So why is it that you can keep breaking traffic laws without ever really being stopped from driving?

Because revoking a license doesn't stop someone from driving, and seizing the car doesn't stop a person from driving someone elses car. Also, since we live in a card dependent world, you can argue that taking away someones car is destroying their ability to make a living (as much as I think this excuse is horseshit when dealing with dangerous driving)

?? Yes it does. You presumably go to jail if you get caught driving without a license. Or do they not have legal penalties for driving without a license in virginia? If so, then it sounds like the problem is whatever dumb laws keep people that are driving illegally from going to jail.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#37
post #23

I wonder if insurance would be a partial solution? Allow/encourage providers of liability insurance to raise rates on people with tickets, unless they are to the electronic limit.

In theory, yes. In practice typical insurance requirements are already far below realistic modern-day damages possible from vehicular collisions, and people still routinely drive without even that minimal insurance. Without better mechanisms to actually meaningfully enforce insurance requirements, changes to those requirements are unlikely to be effective. The elephant in the room in the US is that although driving i…

Yeah, required liability coverage needs to go way up.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#38
post #24

Seems like an over engineered solution. Revoking drivers license and seizing the car would be cheaper and easier to implement. We don't tolerate repeat offenders in most other circumstances. So why is it that you can keep breaking traffic laws without ever really being stopped from driving?

Simples solution for repeated offenders is exponential jail sentences after certain number of infractions. Remove them from society.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#39
post #26
post #24

Seems like an over engineered solution. Revoking drivers license and seizing the car would be cheaper and easier to implement. We don't tolerate repeat offenders in most other circumstances. So why is it that you can keep breaking traffic laws without ever really being stopped from driving?

Because revoking a license doesn't stop someone from driving, and seizing the car doesn't stop a person from driving someone elses car. Also, since we live in a card dependent world, you can argue that taking away someones car is destroying their ability to make a living (as much as I think this excuse is horseshit when dealing with dangerous driving)

Turn the car into scrap. They'll learn fast enough.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#40

I think a general speed limit for all vehicles would be a good idea. If you want it removed then your vehicle can't travel public roads, any kind of modification of it in secret would be a crime. Not sure about the US but in Europe (at least the EU) 150km/h max would be fine, at least it would make life harder for some sociopaths that treat public roads as a racing track.

It really is so obviously reasonable it makes you wonder why this isn't already in place. For instance e-bikes are all speed and power limited, why aren't cars?

I think this is a valid comparison. I believe eBikes are limited for safety of the rider and other cyclists they share the bike lane with, otherwise they would practically be a different class of vehicle and a menace. The exact same logic would apply to cars.

It would take a lot more effort and political will to roll this out to millions of vehicles already on the road than to enforce it on a budding new vehicle category, though. That's pretty much how new safety codes always work.

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