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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

#491

Post by bayindirh »

ysavir wrote: post #486
bayindirh wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, because people are overestimating themselves. I know a couple of people who can do 2x the speed limit relatively safely , but this is because they were race drivers in a previous life. However, not everyone (incl. me) has that reflexes and situational awareness all the time. Recently I got into an accident. A car changed into my lane completely unannounced, and I was blinded by a car in my front diagonal. The c…

> Nope, because people are overestimating themselves. I know a couple of people who can do 2x the speed limit relatively safely, but this is because they were race drivers in a previous life. However, not everyone (incl. me) has that reflexes and situational awareness all the time. And even then, although the ex-race drivers can drive safely at high speeds, it doesn't mean other people can drive safely while other pe…

Exactly. This is why I used the word "relatively" there. Moreover, a prominent race driver, happened to be a friend of my dad, died because of the same unpredictability of the traffic.

Another race driver, whom I forgot his name, said "A race track is where people who know what they are doing drive at high speeds, and traffic is a race track where people don't know what they are doing, yet still drive at high speeds". I always keep that in mind and cite to other people to urge them to be careful in the traffic.

What caused my accident was that unpredictability. A car changed lanes in front of me, without proper signaling and precautions from a point where it was impossible for me to see them.

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

#492

Post by georgyo »

solatic wrote: post #453

Cities can replace smooth asphalt with rough brick and cobblestone, and replace traffic lights with traffic circles / roundabouts. If they really want to force cars to slow down, they could, in a way that doesn't take anyone's rights away and doesn't require any vehicle manufacturer to play ball. Freedom isn't free. It's always cheaper to take away people's freedom instead of doing the hard work of building infrastru…

You should look into why cities use smooth asphalt over concert which would be significantly less maintenance.

Cars driving around create a lot of noise. Driving on a rough surface like concert, let alone a bumpy surface like brick or cobblestone, creates a ton of additional noise. Another hint is that gravel driveways are cheap, but they also make it very very easy to hear when someone is pulling up to your house.

Anyone living next to these roads _might_ have some cars go a bit slower, but at the cost of not being able to sleep at night.

Then there is the fact that America loves big cars with big off roading wheels. I think the assumption here is that most speeders would be discouraged by the uncomfortable ride, however I think reality is that the people in that hummer going 90mph on a city street just won't care about a rougher ride.

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

#493

Post by davemp »

The US has really poor highway policy that encourages speeding. Many highways have a speed limit of 55mph (89kmh) left over from some ancient oil rationing law. [0] So folks are conditioned to think that speed limits are stupid, because frankly many of them are here. I regularly drive on highways that would be 120kmh (75mph) in Europe but are instead 89kmh. Most traffic ends up going 70-75mph (including traffic enforcement) anyways which makes the speed limits look like a joke when 80% of folks ignore it.

Which brings me to why I think folks are generally against better speed limit enforcement here—most people regularly speed (by 15-20mph) without being unsafe.

The US should first revise its limits and actually get police officers out there enforcing them before resorting to automatic limiters.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law

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

#494

Post by ysavir »

bayindirh wrote: post #491
ysavir wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nope, because people are overestimating themselves. I know a couple of people who can do 2x the speed limit relatively safely, but this is because they were race drivers in a previous life. However, not everyone (incl. me) has that reflexes and situational awareness all the time. And even then, although the ex-race drivers can drive safely at high speeds, it doesn't mean other people can drive safely while other pe…

Exactly. This is why I used the word "relatively" there. Moreover, a prominent race driver, happened to be a friend of my dad, died because of the same unpredictability of the traffic. Another race driver, whom I forgot his name, said "A race track is where people who know what they are doing drive at high speeds, and traffic is a race track where people don't know what they are doing , yet still drive at high speeds…

> "A race track is where people who know what they are doing drive at high speeds, and traffic is a race track where people don't know what they are doing, yet still drive at high speeds".

Brilliant! That's so well put.

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

#495

Post by beardicus »

lots of "freedom"-loving pushback on this law here. sorry y'all, we live in a society and your actions affect others. you choosing to endanger my life on the road does not make me more free.

i think these speeders should just lose their license to drive forever, so maybe choose to view this law as a compassionate compromise.

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

#496

Post by nkrisc »

davemp wrote: post #493

The US has really poor highway policy that encourages speeding. Many highways have a speed limit of 55mph (89kmh) left over from some ancient oil rationing law. [0] So folks are conditioned to think that speed limits are stupid, because frankly many of them are here. I regularly drive on highways that would be 120kmh (75mph) in Europe but are instead 89kmh. Most traffic ends up going 70-75mph (including traffic enfor…

Enforcement should focus on the speed outliers, less on the posted limit itself. If the speed limit is 65mph, but all traffic is moving at 75mph, then I'm going to drive at 75mph. The most dangerous drivers I've seen are those going 30mph or more faster or slower than the rest of traffic. Yes, the problem is that then makes enforcement subjective and that itself can lead to abuses. But it's a sensible approach in the short term.

Because of my morning routine, I often end up getting on the highway around the same time as this other driver who merges into highway traffic at 35mph, and several times they've nearly caused a crash. They're as much a menace as the idiots weaving in and out of traffic at 100mph+.

In many cases the state and local police are always speeding here as well, going the same speed as everyone else (regularly 15-20mph over the limit). Fortunately I do often see them pulling over the aforementioned idiots going 100mph+. Though I wish they'd at least give warnings to the people going dangerously slow as well.

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

#497

Post by GuB-42 »

Gareth321 wrote: post #422
GuB-42 wrote: 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…

The primary reason is political: people don't like the idea of the government living inside our cars 24x7, telling us how fast we're allowed to go. Even though most of us don't speed. Other examples of this phenomenon include: * A government mandated alcohol, cigarette, and BMI limit to prevent major health issues. * Government surveillance of our emails, messages, phone calls, bank accounts and internet activity. *…

There is that, but in this case it is not particularly authoritarian.

- There is already a whole lot of regulations on what makes a car street legal, including rules that can be quite unpopular among drivers and yet important on a large scale. In particular those related to the environment.

- Limiting the top speed of cars does not imply surveillance or advanced GPS-based systems. The idea is just to make it so that the car can't exceed speeds well beyond the highest speed limit in the country.

- The gouvernement is already telling you how fast you are allowed to go, and will watch you for it.

A 100mph limitation will only affect you if you are speeding, if you don't speed, nothing will change for you. There are some exceptions and special cases: race cars, imports, etc... but these are just details that can be dealt with, as it done today on other aspects.

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

#498

Post by gregoriol »

beardicus wrote: post #495

lots of "freedom"-loving pushback on this law here. sorry y'all, we live in a society and your actions affect others. you choosing to endanger my life on the road does not make me more free. i think these speeders should just lose their license to drive forever, so maybe choose to view this law as a compassionate compromise.

A lot of things are more dangerous than going over speed limits, and it will not be possible to prevent everything with technical gadgets.

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

#499

Post by [deleted] »

solatic wrote: post #453

Cities can replace smooth asphalt with rough brick and cobblestone, and replace traffic lights with traffic circles / roundabouts. If they really want to force cars to slow down, they could, in a way that doesn't take anyone's rights away and doesn't require any vehicle manufacturer to play ball. Freedom isn't free. It's always cheaper to take away people's freedom instead of doing the hard work of building infrastru…

[deleted]

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

#500

Post by UncleMeat »

mschuster91 wrote: post #387
jonathanlydall wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is people who as matter of course travel above the speed limit regardless of if any other motorists are around them, as they are “playing by different rules”, making them more unpredictable and stressful for those around them. Just two days ago I did a long distance trip and in general I could engage cruise control at the speed limit allowing me to focus more on other potential hazards around me. Occasion…

The question is, if everyone is speeding, would it not make sense to raise the speed limit?

The number of people I see on the highway driving 20mph over and weaving through traffic or driving like 30ft behind the car in front of them is alarming. These behaviors are just simply less safe.
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