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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

#341
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.

I had a suspended license for failing to return a license plate. I have never had a moving violation in my life. I continued to drive like normal until the DMV realized that I had turned in the other plate in a two-plate state. Should I go to jail?

Okay let's lower the number from 75 to 74 to accomodate situations like you're describing.

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

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

If you're in the left lane and being tailgated, then it's your fault, if there is no one in front of you. If you're in the right lane and being tailgated, it's the fault of the tailgater. There's a reason why some states have traffic signs that state "left lane for passing only".

I'm talking about the right lane.

And people tailgate in every lane when they feel you're going slow. Just with more frequency on the left lane.

And it's not like you can always choose. Highway lanes split in two all the time.

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

#343

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…

Ehh the roads are public property. I don't think its unreasonable that if you want your car to be registered to drive on a public road it needs some sort of speed limiter. Its about the same level of infringement on your personal rights as requiring a car have seatbelts. Feel free to buy a car with no limiter or no seatbelts and drive it on your own private roads as fast as your heart desires.

Cars have to have seatbelts, but that's different from having to not work unless they're buckled.

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

#344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm much more concerned about someone going 40mph in a 25 zone than someone going 110 in a 75.

They aren’t mutually exclusive. What reason is there ever for a car to go 110?

Autobahns prove that it can be safe and reasonable.

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

#345

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…

> I’ve got enough sense to keep it slow and safe in populated areas, yet occasionally open it up elsewhere when conditions are right. Is this a reference to your driving, or your shooting?

The problem with an American autobahn is that someone will inevitably be driving 55mph in the fast lane.

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

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speeding kills much more people than guns. It also kills much more innocent outsiders (a lot of gun death are suicides or gang infightings). It also introduces atmosphere of terror on public roads making walking or cycling dangerous. It's a way bigger problem than guns.

Gun deaths: 46,000 Car deaths: 40,901 Gun utility: small Car utility: large (data from CDC and NHTSA for 2023)

I feel like intentional self-inflicted gunshot deaths should be removed. Not to say you still aren’t correct.

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

#347
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in WA State there's not-reckless speeding, which is something like 1-14 mph over the posted limit (I argue it should be more like a _percent_ E.G. going 40 mph in a 25 is WAY worse than going 75 on a 60 mph freeway). Then there's 'reckless endangerment' tier which is +15 over the limit. The example of that guy going 100 in a 40 is beyond even that. It's SO far outside of the range of permissible I don't even…

> My argument is that tracking, inhibitors, etc should be too far for the other cases, I'm sure the judge is more qualified than you are to make this determination. But if you disagree, let me pose a simple question: In a situation when a judge would suspend someone's license. Why are you opposed to giving them this as an alternative? (If they refuse to comply with this, the judge would happily offer them the suspens…

> In a situation when a judge would suspend someone's license.

> Why are you opposed to giving them this as an alternative? (If they refuse to comply with this, the judge would happily offer them the suspension instead.)

Nobody would be opposed to it if that were really the only situation it could be used. The problem is that now that it's available, it's going to get used in tons of situations that wouldn't have been a suspension otherwise.

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

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the argument about "judging your speed". Isn't there a speedometer prominently displayed in every car in the USA as well? You don't have to "judge" anything, just read the number the speedometer shows - is it above or below the speed limit?

You can't keep a constant eye on both the road and the speedometer. Further, you might have missed the last speed limit change or remember it incorrectly. It's also possible for the speed sensor in your car to be faulty or out of calibration. This happens if you change the size of your wheels/tires significantly without reprogramming the ECU - and that setting isn't made available to the owner of the vehicle, at leas…

> In fact, most cars lie to you about the speed - reporting a speed slightly faster than reality. It's a cover-your-ass measure for the car manufacturers because it's illegal to sell a car (in the US, at least) where the speedometer is inaccurate in the other direction, that is, reading slower than actual speed.

Haven't seen that in a long time. Everything I've driven in recent years has a speedometer speed that matches roadside speed sign speed within 1 MPH.

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

#349
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My argument is that tracking, inhibitors, etc should be too far for the other cases, I'm sure the judge is more qualified than you are to make this determination. But if you disagree, let me pose a simple question: In a situation when a judge would suspend someone's license. Why are you opposed to giving them this as an alternative? (If they refuse to comply with this, the judge would happily offer them the suspens…

> In a situation when a judge would suspend someone's license. > Why are you opposed to giving them this as an alternative? (If they refuse to comply with this, the judge would happily offer them the suspension instead.) Nobody would be opposed to it if that were really the only situation it could be used. The problem is that now that it's available, it's going to get used in tons of situations that wouldn't have bee…

> it's going to get used in tons of situations that wouldn't have been a suspension otherwise.

Good! It's about time we took road safety seriously.

Far too many people drive in a completely inappropriate manner, yet are treated with kid gloves, because nothing short of putting them in prison will fix that behavior, and the courts are, for obvious reasons, reticent to use that remedy.

Ignition interlocks have gone a long way to solving this problem for DUIs.

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

#350
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…

> People love their fast cars, especially the rich and powerful

Too much correlation, not enough causation here.

Only "rich people" can afford pricey cars, while there are with much certainty "non rich people" that enjoy fast cars.

And there are a ton of affordable cars that can go 200kph+, or that can be riced into being able to do so.

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