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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

#561

Post by bdangubic »

AlexandrB wrote: post #265
bdangubic wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

You must live somewhere warm. On Canadian highways 15 mph is just a fact of life a few times a year. I've never seen a Canadian highway with a minimum speed.

Of course! I did not mean that anyone should ever drive any speed that is too slow for given conditions, I have driven 5-10mph on higways with minimum speed of 45+mph during inclement weather.

I live in the USA and can tell you with 100% certainty that if I drove 15mph on a highway drivers that pass me will call 911 and I will be pulled over. driving 30-40mph over the limit is unlikely to trigger the same concern from other drivers unless I am “street racing” other cars or driving erradicaly

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

#562

Post by SnazzyUncle »

ViscountPenguin wrote: post #420
peepeepoopoo114 wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as mutually assured destruction brought lasting peace on the international scale, widespread civilian ownership of military weapons has also been a remarkably effective deterrent and safeguard against would-be tyrants across history. If both Karl Marx and the US founding fathers agreed that a well-armed public is important for a lasting civil peace, it's probably a good idea to listen.

To be frank, it hardly seems to have helped the United States out of their current constitutional crisis. Compulsory preferential voting is a much better protection against tyrants.

> Compulsory preferential voting is a much better protection against tyrants.

This guarantees worse outcomes. You will be effectively forcing people to participate that typically don't care about politics and will be ignorant of many of the issues they are voting on.

The reality is that most elections are won in the same way the X-Factor, or "I'm a celebrity get me out of here". It is nothing more than a popularity contest.

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

#563

Post by allenrb »

sksrbWgbfK wrote: post #395
shermantanktop wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve never met a person taking high risk actions who thinks they are unqualified to do so. But they always think some other people are.

This whole thread confirms it. Speed limits are always a burden for reckless drivers, but never an issue for people like me who drive under the limit. They should reflect on themselves about that but I doubt they are capable of it.

You’re not American, are you? The number of roads marked 55 mph on which nearly every vehicle is moving 75 mph is very high. Driving under the speed limit would be hazardous to yourself and everyone else.

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

#564

Post by nelox »

marketneutral wrote: post #525
dabeeeenster wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're using a highly regulated piece of equipment that kills over 40,000 people in America annually. What do you feel is the appropriate balance? How is this different to driving around with a mobile phone on?

I think the point is that we should aim to solve it without surveillance / sacrificing rights. So in this case, increasing the fines / jail time is at least one alternative.

Seriously? It is logically no different from drink driving. No one has the right to drive. You need to qualify, be tested, licensed and competent. If you break the law repeatedly, then you should be restricted from driving by any means necessary to protect you from yourself and others.

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

#565

Post by ryao »

lillecarl wrote: post #445
mschuster91 wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

KE = ½mv² shows that kinetic energy is directly proportional to the mass of an object and proportional to the square of its velocity. This means that doubling the mass doubles the kinetic energy, but doubling the velocity quadruples the kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of an 1800 kg car traveling at 30 km/h is about 62.5 kJ The kinetic energy of an 1800 kg car traveling at 50 km/h is about 173.6 kJ The kinetic ener…

Consider how none of this matters if the vehicle never touches another object. If motorists reach their destinations sooner, then there are fewer cars on the road. This naturally increases the average distance between vehicles. Bad things only happen when those distances reach 0, so higher average distances inhibit collisions.

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

#566

Post by _Algernon_ »

marketneutral wrote: post #525
dabeeeenster wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're using a highly regulated piece of equipment that kills over 40,000 people in America annually. What do you feel is the appropriate balance? How is this different to driving around with a mobile phone on?

I think the point is that we should aim to solve it without surveillance / sacrificing rights. So in this case, increasing the fines / jail time is at least one alternative.

Not sure in how incarceration can be considered a smaller sacrifice of rights than vehicle tracking.

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

#567

Post by Xylakant »

ryao wrote: post #540
Xylakant wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re trying to apply the “I am a good driver and my judgment is better than other people’s” argument - but the majority of people believe they’re an above average driver. That’s a dangerous fallacy. Now, you might truly be, but your argument paves the way for everyone else to say the same. After all, nothing happened so far. And that other driver might be the one that misjudges and crashes into you. On country road…

Yet the German autobahn suggests that the fallacy is the reasoning that highways even need speed limits. The autobahn is safer without speed limits than every single innovation we have had in setting speed limits. Perhaps it is time to stop blaming drivers and blame highway speed limits for causing safety issues.

The german autobahn demonstrates exactly the opposite. Everywhere that speed limits are introduced, the number of accidents drop. Less injured people, less fatalities. One example is the A24 https://www.geo.de/wissen/vergleich-auf-a24-weniger-verletzt... where the number of fatal accidents dropped by 50%.

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

#568

Post by artursapek »

graemep wrote: post #527

Repeat offenders should not be allowed to drive. In the UK we have 12 points, and lose them for various offences. You get a fine, usually with the alternative of a course the first time. Speed again within 12 months and you get a fine and a minimum of three points (more if you are well above the limit). Speed again within four years and you will lose more points, and AFAIK pretty much guaranteed to be more than the m…

In the UK you also have police visit you over shitposts, and you receive incessant mail demanding you pay a license for owning a TV

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

#569

Post by teeray »

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…

Also, many municipalities have stupid or predatory speed limits. Many town roads have a natural safe 40-45 mph limit, yet some coalition of neighbors got together once and convinced the town to drop it to 25-30 mph because "cars just go by way too fast on that road!" Either that or it's a small town on the way to a tourist spot that drops the limit from 55 -> 30 for a 1/4 mile segment behind a blind curve just to rake in tourist dollars through modern highway robbery.

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

#570

Post by SnazzyUncle »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #337
flustercan wrote: post #296

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?

You don't seem to have ever driven on a long, empty, well lit 4 lane carriage way at 4am in he morning. If I am going 70MPH (UK Motorway speed limit) or 120MPH in such a situation makes no difference in terms safety.

In the UK we have variable speed limit roads. When they are busy/obstructions the speed limit is lowered. It is put back to 70mph when the traffic is light / no safety issues.

The safe speed on a road is dependant on the road and the conditions. I've been in situations where driving at faster than 10mph would be dangerous and I've been on the same road and doing 40mph was safe.

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