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Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

fastcompany.com

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

#221

Post by dataflow »

usefulcat wrote: post #125
dataflow wrote: post #44

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…

No. No one is 'forced' to exceed the limit, not remotely, and there are plenty of drivers who, for a variety of reasons, drive at or under the speed limit (many large trucks, for example). On a highway, driving slow in the left lane is not good, but doing 65 in a 70 in the right lane is perfectly fine.

> No. No one is 'forced' to exceed the limit, not remotely,

You never get tailgated when you go too slow? People do it all the time and it's dangerous as heck.

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

#222

Post by bdangubic »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #216
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

how long did it take you to find a study from a country known for driving like new zealand to make this crazy claim?! surprising the study is not like from 1950’s :)

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

#223

Post by ryandrake »

mindslight wrote: post #5

Does anyone know why Virginia has always been so notoriously draconian about speeding? Is it DC-adjacent policy wonks outsized faith in the effectiveness of top-down prescriptions, lots of DC politicians flagrantly violating the law, culture clash between stuffy suburbanites and yokels (Virginia was the first place I ever saw a trans truck), or what?

Virginia also has the shameful distinction of being the only state in the USA to outlaw radar detectors (I think they are also outlawed in DC). Totally ridiculous and draconian. Anyone should be allowed to observe RF or lack of RF that gets broadcast to them.

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

#224

Post by allenrb »

Speed limiters built into cars. Anti-infringement technology built into general-purpose computers. And yet, guns and ammo freely available and unrestricted outside of automatic weapons and the like? Yeah. Can’t wait to move off-grid someday. (Yes, obviously American)

I’ve got enough sense to keep it slow and safe in populated areas, yet occasionally open it up elsewhere when conditions are right. Guess that’s another thing we’re going to lose in our brave new world.

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

#225

Post by sien »

From the article :

"Americans worried about their country’s sky-high rate of crash deaths haven’t had much to cheer lately. "

This is untrue.

America's motor vehicle fatality rate per billion vehicle miles has gone from 3.35 in 1980 to 1.27 in 2023. It's a dramatic reduction. In 1980 there were 51K fatalities in the US, in 2023 there were 40K. In 1980 there were 226M Americans, in 2020 there were 331M.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...

Other developed countries are doing even better. But it's disingenuous not to note that the US car fatalities have improved considerably over the past half a century.

For comparison, Australia has done even better : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_i...

But in Australia there are still lots of articles bemoaning car fatalities without acknowledging the dramatic decline in car fatalities by distance traveled and per capita.

Enforcing speeds for repeat speeders may well be a good idea though.

In the UK applications on phones are being used for insurance policies to work out which drivers are more likely to have accidents and change insurance rates.

https://www.zixty.com/how-do-car-insurance-apps-work/

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

#226

Post by mjevans »

vkou wrote: post #201
mjevans wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slippery slope. It'd be assigned in way more cases because they can, because the _perceived_ impact is lower to someone else. Because it can be handled like yet another tax on offenders, including the poor. Because the companies selling it to the government would continue to lobby to sell it more often for more classes of offense. Take the suspended license situation. At what point is the impact to society enough to…

This is... a regressive tax on... Reckless drivers who, after multiple convictions keep putting the lives on the public in deadly danger ? Do people stumble into that kind of criminal history by accident, or something? How many times do they have to be hauled before a judge before they knock it off? Are these Jean Valjean crimes of necessity, or something? Look, what those people need to do is never be allowed to dri…

Again, slippery slope. As use of this tool expands to _any_ driving related offense. As it applies only to those who must themselves drive.

The dangers? I think I covered that just fine with the end of my previous post. People who aren't operating as adults require different solutions. You could have the death penalty as a punishment for this and it would not change their behavior.

EDIT:

Replying within this post since this has spun out of control. What solution? If someone can't behave like an adult they aren't an adult, don't let them run around without a guardian and supervision, though the specifics are WELL beyond any random person like me to iron out.

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

#227

Post by bdangubic »

dataflow wrote: post #220
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

if slow driving wasn’t as dangerous (if not more), highways would not have minimum speed. would you personally choose cars driving 15mph on a highway you are on or 90mph? between those two choices, I’d choose 90mph any day of the week and twice on sunday

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

#228

Post by alexey-salmin »

margorczynski wrote: post #81
_bin_ wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are allowed to use the state to restrict the freedom of people who are going 100 in a 50MPH zone. You don't get to use the state to restrict people with a theoretical capacity to go 100 in a 50.

> You don't get to use the state to restrict people with a theoretical capacity to go 100 in a 50. Says who?

Anthony Burgess in his novel "A Clockwork Orange"

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

#229

Post by SoftTalker »

analog31 wrote: post #4

An interesting thing is that I've observed a lot less speeding over the years, as more cars acquire active cruise control. Correlation or causation? Who knows. I don't think enforcement has changed.

I don't know where you are but that is not my observation. More cars are going 15+ over the limit than I can ever remember. I drive on Chicago expressways a few times a year and that is especially insane. Everyone is already driving 15+ over the limit, and then there are those in Chargers, Challengers, or tuned BMW or Mercedes just weaving from lane to lane through the slightest gaps at 90+

No cops ever to be seen. I have not seen anyone pulled over on a Chicago expressway since before the pandemic.

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

#230

Post by JumpCrisscross »

nahkoots wrote: post #187
Teever wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Someone who's jailed for driving on a suspended license because it's the only way they can get to their job probably isn't going to discontinue that behavior upon their release. I don't want my tax dollars being spent on a punishment that's just going to exacerbate the problem, especially when the crime isn't particularly odious in the first place (whatever they did to get their license suspended probably was, but on…

> when the crime isn't particularly odious in the first place

“A significant association was found between all reasons for DWVL and the risk of causing a road crash. This association was particularly high for drivers with a suspended license and drivers who had never obtained a license. In these subgroups of drivers, the proportion of the relationship explained by high-risk driving behaviors is high” [1].

If the license was suspended for financial reasons, sure. If it was suspended for driving infractions, incapacitating them by putting them in jail while deterring others from driving seems socially efficient.

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00014...

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