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SXSW: 2 dead, 23 injured.

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Re: SXSW: 2 dead, 23 injured.

#101

Post by freehunter »

jcromartie wrote: post #83
freehunter wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wonder why we make cars that can go so fast. Even my car with a 1.4L engine making 100 HP can easily do 100mph, even though there's almost no place in the US where that's legal, and no place in my state where it's legal. The fastest speed limit in my state is 70mph. Why not speed-limit cars to 70mph by default, with an option to disable this limiter in a controlled fashion if the person wants to go out on a…

Speeding is not involved in the majority of fatal accidents.

Maybe, maybe not (I don't know), but two things come to mind:

1) Speeding is illegal. This is a law that is broken every day by millions. Obviously the law and the punishments aren't working as a deterrent, and the next steps usually involve control rather than deter.

2) Do you know how reaction time and braking time change for every 5mph faster you're going? It might not make you cause an accident, but it sure doesn't help trying to avoid an accident.

Re: SXSW: 2 dead, 23 injured.

#102

Post by freehunter »

wtracy wrote: post #84
freehunter wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? What's the situation where you would need to go faster than the speed limit?

Passing another vehicle comes to mind. I'm not sure I would call that "extremely dangerous", though.

Breaking the speed limit to pass another vehicle is against the law. At least in my state, you can't legally pass unless the other car is going 5mph under the speed limit, and then you can only pass at the speed limit, not over.

Re: SXSW: 2 dead, 23 injured.

#103

Post by overdrivetg »

jakobe wrote: post #98
jcromartie wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speeding is not involved in the majority of fatal accidents.

That is a pretty bold statement. Pretty much all fatal accidents I've heard about involved speeding in some way. Now, anecdotes aren't reliable, so do you have some numbers to back up your claim?

"Q. Aren't most traffic accidents caused by speeding? A. No, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims that 30 percent of all fatal accidents are "speed related," but even this is misleading. This means that in less than a third of the cases, one of the drivers involved in the accident was "assumed" to be exceeding the posted limit. It does not mean that speeding caused the accident. Research conducted by the Florida Department of Transportation showed that the percentage of accidents actually caused by speeding is very low, 2.2 percent."

from http://www.motorists.org/speed-limits/faq

Q: Is the National Motorists Association a reliable source for this data?

A: I did the 30 seconds of work to go and Google this, go find your own stats if you don't like mine.

Re: SXSW: 2 dead, 23 injured.

#104

Post by freehunter »

wtracy wrote: post #88
freehunter wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wonder why we make cars that can go so fast. Even my car with a 1.4L engine making 100 HP can easily do 100mph, even though there's almost no place in the US where that's legal, and no place in my state where it's legal. The fastest speed limit in my state is 70mph. Why not speed-limit cars to 70mph by default, with an option to disable this limiter in a controlled fashion if the person wants to go out on a…

I always wonder why we make cars that can go so fast. If you are actually questioning why car engines have enough power to do that in the first place: An engine capable of hauling a heavy load uphill at the speed limit is capable of exceeding the speed limit on a flat surface. Ditto for an engine capable of accelerating quickly to perform a merge in a short space. If you are asking why cars don't come with interlocks…

I understand more power. What I was trying to get at was "why is it not required to speed limit cars to 70mph". That's common with semi trucks; the trucks at my company are speed limited to 65mph (the semi speed limit here).

Re: SXSW: 2 dead, 23 injured.

#105

Post by malandrew »

unethical_ban wrote: post #69
trippy_biscuits wrote: post #41

When I think of all the money spent in the name of improving and enriching the lives of human beings, it troubles me that we don't have a reliable solution for ending DUI. I know many companies fund research to end cancer or improve the quality of life for those with various diseases. While this research may help save or improve lives, it's motivated in part by a potential return on investment. Why can't we do someth…

DUI is a problem, and any human loss is painful, especially when avoidable. All that said, I feel like DUI is an overblown problem, in a way. 8 people dead per 1 million estimates incidents of DUI with a max. toll of 10k lives is not insignificant, and human loss is always bad. However, I disagree with your thesis. Curing cancer, raising the standard of living for the poor, and the death toll to obesity are all much…

The leading cause of death for people under 35 are automobile accidents. About 1/3 of automobile accidents involve alcohol. With those two figures, I'd say it's pretty likely that it's not an overblown problem.

Re: SXSW: 2 dead, 23 injured.

#106

Post by the_watcher »

techpeace wrote: post #70
the_watcher wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has lived in Los Angeles (which has actually horrible public transit in that it doesn't exist really and is expensive), and now Austin - while our public transit here is sub-optimal, it's far from the worst in the country, and you actually can get most places with it (I lived here for 18 months with no car, so I am intimately familiar with it).

True, but "far from worst in the country" and "capable of dealing with the city's growth" are two different things. I'm originally from Arlington, Texas, which actually held the distinction until very recently of being the largest city in North America with absolutely no form of public transport whatsoever. I've seen both ends of the spectrum, and Austin still falls far short of where we need to be. There's also the…

>>There's also the problem of finding a ride home after the bars close

Completely agree here, but this has a really easy solution: let in Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, etc.

Re: SXSW: 2 dead, 23 injured.

#107

Post by jakobe »

overdrivetg wrote: post #103
jakobe wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a pretty bold statement. Pretty much all fatal accidents I've heard about involved speeding in some way. Now, anecdotes aren't reliable, so do you have some numbers to back up your claim?

"Q. Aren't most traffic accidents caused by speeding? A. No, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims that 30 percent of all fatal accidents are "speed related," but even this is misleading. This means that in less than a third of the cases, one of the drivers involved in the accident was "assumed" to be exceeding the posted limit. It does not mean that speeding caused the accident. Research…

> 30 percent of all fatal accidents are "speed related"

Almost all accidents are "speed related". Very few accidents happen with cars standing still.

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