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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

#51

Post by mindslight »

DangitBobby wrote: post #22
wffurr wrote: post #6

Kinda begs the question why cars can go over 100mph in the first place. Also what the heck is with Newsom vetoing the passive ISA bill?

High speeds are not an added feature of these vehicles. The power output required for practical acceleration also affords sustained high speeds. To prevent those speeds, manufacturers would have to add speed governors, which Americans would not be delighted to pay for (paying to have their freedoms restricted by bureaucrats, of course). Even if they came standard, speed demons could easily remove a governor.

My understanding is that vehicles already have speed governors that constrain them to the max speed rating of their tires.

(I'm not really trying to be on the opposite side of this argument though. If speed limits reflected the speeds most traffic goes, police themselves followed the speed limits, and disrupting traffic by dawdling in the middle lane stoned or with AI missile mode engaged were a law enforcement priority - then maybe I'd believe. But as it stands speed limits mostly serve as an excuse for cops to sit around playing candy crush until they selectively hassle a motorist)

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

#52

Post by _bin_ »

bearcobra wrote: post #28
_bin_ wrote: 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

Yeah, I don't really consider virginia part of the south, culturally. Maybe it was different in the past but proximity to DC has rotted any of that away.

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

#53

Post by vel0city »

_bin_ wrote: post #19
margorczynski wrote: post #3

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.

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…

Towing your racecar to the track is an incredibly common thing. You're going to be using your vehicle to its limits, things can go massively wrong. You don't want your only way home to break on the racetrack. Plus you probably have some amount of supporting equipment.

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

#54

Post by scottbez1 »

_bin_ wrote: post #19
margorczynski wrote: post #3

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.

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…

Sure. Or if you don't want to have to tow a non-street-legal vehicle to move it on public streets, we could probably include a provision for GPS/vision-based dynamic speed limiting, allowing you to make your vehicle automatically street legally-speed-limited on public streets where others are at risk, and unlimited off public streets. The technology already exists and is very reliable for this.

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

#55

Post by alistairSH »

_bin_ wrote: post #31
NBJack wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. T…

I used to race cars. Driving a race car on the street is dumb AF. Rollcage will crush your skull if you aren’t helmeted and in the 6-point harness. Suspension is bone jarring (and expensive to maintain). The exhaust is not legal. And on and on.

Nobody races steeet legal cars. Except maybe a few drag racers, and half those cars probably have illegal tires or emissions removals, but they drove on the street anyway.

Source: Many years in the car hobby.

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

#56

Post by _bin_ »

alistairSH wrote: post #45
_bin_ wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because engines aren't designed to be run at max output. The fact that an engine can do 150 means it's a lot nicer to drive at 75. I've driven a car that has a top speed of 85 on a good day, with a tailwind and going downhill, and it sucked. Fine for city streets but in my state we have bits of highway that have posted speeds as high as 85 and realistically most people do 9-10 over on long roads outside cities.

Sure but electronically limiting that car to 80mph retains the “nice at highway speed” aspects while blocking the ability to go 120mph down I-95.

Well 80 would be a bad limit; there are roads in Texas posted 85 which means you can do 94 without even state troopers hassling you. I don't want a static limit because I can't go race, and I don't want a dynamic limit because 1. it's not perfect and I'd really chafe against being limited to 65 or 75 as a fallback, and 2. I don't trust the government that once tried to put in a nationwide 55mph speed limit for non-safety-related reasons, and 3. I hate prior restraint. I believe it's generally wrong to limit normal, law-abiding people because of bad actors. So, if your argument is "this might be practical to reduce collision deaths", I'm not going to agree with you on that, because "reducing collision deaths" isn't as important as my values.

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

#57

Post by alistairSH »

joshlemer wrote: post #14
margorczynski wrote: post #3

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?

No, they aren’t. The big brands’ sell limited e-bikes, but there’s a massive market for unlimited e-bikes that are basically electric motorbikes with nominal pedals to try and pass as bikes.

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

#58

Post by alexey-salmin »

margorczynski wrote: post #3

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.

EU includes Germany with its no-limit Autobahns. Left lane usually does around 180km/h, with occasional vehicles going way past 200km/h. Even 300km/h is not unheard of.

I kind of hoped more EU would become like that, not the other way round.

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

#59

Post by DenisM »

A $100 GPS/LTE dongle in the Obd2 port could alert the nearest cop, or automatically write a ticket.

Seems like a much easier solution, no?

Like, you floor the accelerator and as soon as you reach 100mph you get a text message with a fine and a link to pay.

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

#60

Post by scottbez1 »

lokar wrote: post #20

Better street designs is a better approach. Narrower lanes, physical barriers for pedestrians, roundabouts, etc

Let's do both! In neighborhoods, street design is going to be far more effective than things like electronic speed limiting, speed cameras, etc. But for dedicated rights of way for high throughout vehicle traffic, limiting speeds to engineering-based safe limits seems pretty reasonable as well.
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