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Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

fastcompany.com

211–220 of 954 posts

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

#211
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My family rented a car in England last summer, and this was an optional feature of the car. I didn't want to try it out on my first time driving on the left, so I didn't turn it on. Moreover, the speed limits on the motorways were changing in real time. I observed very little speeding -- almost none.

They have a ton of speeding cameras which is probably why.

My experience driving in NZ was that people generally drove the speed limit +/- 10% or so, and speeding cameras certainly weren't ubiquitous.

Some places might just have a more sane driving culture?

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

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some emergency situation where a higher travel speed is a matter of life and death Can you describe such a situation? I can't think of anything other than completely unrealistic action movie scenarios.

Medical emergencies are not "unrealistic action movie scenarios". If my family member is bleeding and I'm driving them to the ER, I don't and shouldn't have to care about precise speed limits.

Have you seen emergency vehicles in city areas going to an emergency? Unless they are willing to cause more injuries on their way, they can’t just casually speed to your destination. They’re pausing and making sure people notice them or hear their sirens before running the red light or driving in the wrong lane.

Also why are you moving a person with that much blood loss? Shouldn’t you apply pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding and call for help? It’s been years since I had to requalify myself for first aid though.

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

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What happens if you've been drinking not expecting to go anywhere before you learn you need to evacuate immediately because of a wildfire? I have my own concerns about the technology in question, but frankly this is a terrible example. If you have already proven to make such terrible decisions that you have been court-ordered to have a breathalyzer installed in your car and then you choose to get drunk as a wildfir…

Wildfires move fast and "a wildfire is likely" is a condition that can persist for months on end in some places. There are also people who are addicted to alcohol. "People with that medical condition should literally die in a fire" is not a great take.

You are really reaching here. We're talking about speed limiters on cars, not accidentally murdering alcoholics who would be able to escape from a wildfire by speeding except that they can't drunk drive because their car has a breathalyzer on it.

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

#214
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. What's next? Controlling where, and when we can drive? The groups lobbying for this bill already say that they want mandatory, automatic, remotely-controllable speed restrictions on everyone's car - they will publicly tell you as much - from there, any further erosion of our liberties is just a software update away. Do you really think that a government, in the height of an emergency, that can restrict where…

The main thing I would call attention to is: There are other governments around the world who have similar technologies required on their cars, and who have distributed that technology without much negative impact to their people. I might, if I were a Japanese citizen, trust the Japanese government to handle a technology like this with the care and respect it deserves; but we are not Japan. Do you trust the current A…

I dont trust the American government (or people) to operate anything.

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

#215
post #76
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>doesn't stop a person from driving someone elses car Oh it does. Nobody will lend you a car that be lost to seizure. Denmark has car confiscation for speeding (not even repeated, just for single time 100% over the speed limit), and they will even take rental cars. It has definitely changed how easy it is to loan a car from friends, family, and businesses. Naturally consequences for driving without a license should a…

People who get their licenses taken don't stop driving. That's just how it is. They'll buy a car or use a friend/family members. This is an issue in almost rural areas. Something like 75% of people who get their licenses taken continue to drive. They just rack up fines.

They stop driving in places with stiff penalties for driving without a license. I used to live in a state that made driving with suspended or revoked license punishable by up to 3 months in jail. Repeat offenders would have their vehicle taken off of them. Taken off as in seized; it is no longer yours. It becomes a rather burdensome crime when the car they seized has a bank not attached to it. Having a car seized doesn't end your obligation to pay off the loan.

All the local police and state police have license plate scanners, and would also alert on DWLS/DWLR. No point in trying to get around it by driving someone else's car. That vehicle also subject to seizure.

All this sounds rather hardcore, but the payoffs were many. Low number of accidents and traffic deaths, low cost of car insurance. Really dangerous activities like reckless driving and DWI could have life changing consequences even from the first offense.

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

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in that situation and you've already broken the speed limit so flagrantly multiple times that the courts have installed a speed limiter, that family member may well be safer waiting for the ambulance.

Is there any correlation between speeding tickets and the probability of getting into an accident at a given speed ? If you have to exceed the speed limit by 20 MPH today, better the person who does it all the time than the person who isn't used to it, no?

> Is there any correlation between speeding tickets and the probability of getting into an accident at a given speed?

“There is a strong relationship between the number of tickets a person has in a two-year period (2015–16) and the likelihood of a crash outcome (2017–2019). However, the accumulation of tickets is not the best predictor of crash likelihood. A combination of the excess in speed and the accumulation of tickets increases the relative odds of a subsequent crash” [1].

So no, the person who regularly breaks the limit by 20 mph is the textbook person who should not drive their bleeding relative to the hospital but instead wait for an ambulance.

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002243752...

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

#217

Another half-measure that will be disabled by aftermarket kits. If people want to go fast, they will.

This is like, "lock your doors? Nah bro, it's entirely possible to get through any lock, therefore locking is pointless."

Most of these people are just generally reckless, they're not really intent on Going Fast No Matter What.

Sure, people who actually modify their cars to race around will probably go around this kind of safety measure, but even most people speeding aren't that.

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

#218
post #162
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TFA says 75% of people with suspended licenses drive anyways.

Sounds like 75% of people with a suspended license need to spend some time out in jail where they can ponder their life choices.

I don’t think that’s entirely fair in a country where a car is practically a requirement for living (getting to work, grocery shopping).

People shouldn’t speed, and they shouldn’t drive with a suspended license, but it’s hard to ignore the reality that not driving isn’t an actual option for a lot of people.

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

#219
post #205

There are cars that can go way over 100 mph, and they almost all speed controlled by software. High performance cars are often speed limited by software to about 150 mph. How is this legal? Cars with speed limits that high belong to the track, not public roads, with a possible exception for emergency vehicles. There are some rare (emergency) situations where "superspeeding" might help, but I can think of many others…

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

#220

But... so many people are practically forced to exceed the limit just to keep up with the rest of the traffic that's already blowing past the limit. If you force a few people to go at the limit, that's frustrating for everyone behind them in the best case at best... and I imagine possibly even more dangerous in the worst case, no? If they're going to enforce then shouldn't they try to enforce it as widely as they can…

> that's frustrating for everyone behind them in the best case at best... and I imagine possibly even more dangerous in the worst case, no? No. Waymo put the myth to bed [1]. Even if you might piss off a speeder, driving the limit in speeding flow remains safer as the handling advantage (frequency) and exponentially-lower energy in the event of a collision (magnitude) dwarf other effects. [1] https://waymo.com/blog/2…

Your link is about Waymo. It doesn't imply the same is true for human drivers. When I search around whether driving too slowly is too dangerous, basically every source I see says it is. Random example:

https://www.allstate.com/resources/car-insurance/dangers-of-...

Anecdotally, I see people dangerously tailgate slow drivers too; it makes sense that everyone warns against slow driving.

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