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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

#661

Post by austin-cheney »

miltonlost wrote: post #622
austin-cheney wrote: post #606

I have never understood the chronic war on travel velocity. Its like the war on drugs, but far more pointless. Speed is just one of many factors, and perhaps the least significant, in the frequency and probability of traffic accidents. Speed is absolutely a factor in the severity of an accident, but not the probability of one after accounting for all other variables. For example, if you leave sufficient distance betw…

> Speed is just one of many factors, and perhaps the least significant, in the frequency and probability of traffic accidents. Speed is absolutely a factor in the severity of an accident, but not the probability of one after accounting for all other variables. That's because you are afflicted with Car Brain and are only thinking about speeding affecting other cars and not speeding affecting acidents involving cars an…

High pedestrian traffic areas, such as school zones or city down town areas with one way traffic lanes enjoy the lowest speed limits because external factors are more important than the vehicle that is driving. These aren't areas where people are most frequently cited for speed violations, though, because those external factors are generally enough to enforce low speeds naturally.

Freeways, where drivers are overwhelmingly more likely to be cited for speed violations, are not high pedestrian areas.

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

#662

Post by _fat_santa »

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…

I will say this as a car guy, Virgina has an exceedingly bad reputation among gear heads. If you look at virtually any east coast rally, they will all route around Virginia to avoid driving through it.

- VA is the only state to ban radar detectors

- It has the lowest interstate speed limit in the country

- It has some of the stiffest super speeder and reckless driving laws in the country. In most places if you go like 30 over that's just a bad ticket but in VA that's criminal reckless driving.

- And many other anti-car related laws.

I will be the first to say, don't speed, don't street race and if you have that itch to go a track but also, VA is a horrible place to be if you're a car person. It's not in the least bit surprising that they are the first to pursue such legislation.

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

#663

Post by pc86 »

shlant wrote: post #634
pc86 wrote: post #632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a much bigger leap to go from "punish people for speeding" to "physically prevent their car from going past a certain speed" than it is to go from "prevent this car from going past a certain speed" to "prevent all cars from going past a certain speed."

your slippery slope argument is not very convincing. What do you suggest be done (that isn't already) about people who regularly speed, putting themselves and those around them in danger?

Judges already have the power to permanently revoke people's license to drive, the problem is they don't.

It's a very simple problem with a very simple solution. If someone proves multiple times they won't follow the rules of the road, revoke their ability to legally drive. Most states go to jail time on the first or second offense of driving without a valid license.

This whole argument smacks of "let's not make things too hard on these people willfully violating our laws over and over and over again."

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

#664

Post by 542354234235 »

spl757 wrote: post #288
Esophagus4 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or you have some emergency situation where a higher travel speed is a matter of life and death? Can you provide such a scenario? Or, more importantly... can you provide a reason why this hypothetical, extremely unusual edge case should take precedence over the 12,000 speeding deaths per year in our calculation? For example, I'm willing to wager more people get hurt speeding TO the hospital while their wife is in la…

Train crossings. I live in a port city with tracks that run right through the middle of the city. No, the safety lights don't always work. No, you can't always hear them coming. Yes, I've had to floor it to avoid being hit. This just seems like a bad idea on the face of it to me. It makes people drive in a way that other drivers may not expect them to, and that's always dangerous.

if you are a serial speeder that has been caught multiple times doing 100+ mph, then maybe you shouldn't be speeding over the train tracks in the first place. Maybe, go over them traveling, you know, the speed limit so you will be able to floor it for a couple of seconds if need be.

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

#665

Post by davey48016 »

jasonlotito wrote: post #623
snowwrestler wrote: post #551

The Fast Company article says “Republicans in Virginia just passed a law to make it a punishment for repeated traffic violations.” But the Virginia legislature is currently controlled by the Democrats. And the delegate quoted in this local news story is a Democrat: https://wjla.com/news/local/anti-speeding-device-car-reckles... That story is probably more useful than the Fast Company one. It clarifies that the new la…

These were the sponsors. Patrick Hope (D)*, Betsy Carr (D), Holly Seibold (D) So, really not sure how the author got to "Republicans in Virginia"

The blurb at the top says "Republicans in Virginia", but the article body only mentions it was signed by a Republican governor. I think those blurbs are often added by someone other than the author, and that someone probably over extrapolated from the governor of Virginia being a Republican.

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

#666

Post by lenerdenator »

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…

> Get caught speeding more than once an year and you are guaranteed to lose your license.

I'm not overly familiar with British transportation outside of its major city centers, but in the US, we also yank licenses, but people drive without them anyways, mainly because there's no real alternative.

Even those convicted of DUI in my area can make a plea to the judge for a "hardship" license that effectively allows them to operate a motor vehicle only for emergencies and going to-and-from work. It's so hard to live without a car in the area that you could possibly make an Eighth Amendment case against pulling the license of a drunk.

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

#667

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

snowwrestler wrote: post #551

The Fast Company article says “Republicans in Virginia just passed a law to make it a punishment for repeated traffic violations.” But the Virginia legislature is currently controlled by the Democrats. And the delegate quoted in this local news story is a Democrat: https://wjla.com/news/local/anti-speeding-device-car-reckles... That story is probably more useful than the Fast Company one. It clarifies that the new la…

Just reading phrases like "sky-high rate of crash deaths", "Blazing-fast vehicles" (and similar ones throughout the article) makes it very clear that this is not an attempt to report news, but push an agenda.

Reminds me of the "German news is different" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jphacgBLrc0) that explains the difference between US "news" and Tagesschau (famous for being considered a neutral, trusted source across most of the political spectrum).

Edit to add: Since these are add-on systems, the requirement to install one also imposes a (usually very high) financial cost on the person, and I suspect this may be part of why it's being pushed - it's a convenient way to drastically raise fines without overtly appearing to do so.

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

#668

Post by zoklet-enjoyer »

_fat_santa wrote: post #662
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…

I will say this as a car guy, Virgina has an exceedingly bad reputation among gear heads. If you look at virtually any east coast rally, they will all route around Virginia to avoid driving through it. - VA is the only state to ban radar detectors - It has the lowest interstate speed limit in the country - It has some of the stiffest super speeder and reckless driving laws in the country. In most places if you go lik…

Sounds good to me. People shouldn't be driving 30 over. Reckless driving should be taken seriously. These don't sound anti-car. They're pro-life and safety.

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

#669

Post by mapt »

jasonlotito wrote: post #623
snowwrestler wrote: post #551

The Fast Company article says “Republicans in Virginia just passed a law to make it a punishment for repeated traffic violations.” But the Virginia legislature is currently controlled by the Democrats. And the delegate quoted in this local news story is a Democrat: https://wjla.com/news/local/anti-speeding-device-car-reckles... That story is probably more useful than the Fast Company one. It clarifies that the new la…

These were the sponsors. Patrick Hope (D)*, Betsy Carr (D), Holly Seibold (D) So, really not sure how the author got to "Republicans in Virginia"

This would be a "man bites dog is news" thing; The pretense is that of course Democrats were in favor, but this time even a few Republicans relented and joined the vote.

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

#670

Post by barnas2 »

K0balt wrote: post #552
ryao wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explain how the German autobahn has fewer collisions than US high ways with lower than 85th percentile speed limits if the lower speed limits are such an advantage. Actual data does not support the idea of low speed limits. They are only in place as an attempt to reduce fleet fuel consumption, and hurt safety by causing big differences in vehicle speeds.

The german driving culture is largely responsible for the lack of spectacular fatalities on the autobahn. In general, German culture has more respect for the “correct” way to do things, cars tend to be better maintained, and there is a much higher level of driver education going on. Comparatively, American drivers are a bunch of filthy savages. (I say that as an American driver, currently driving in a country where t…

I felt safer doing ~110mph on the Autobahn than doing 70 here in Arizona.
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