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Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

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721–730 of 954 posts

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

#721

Thank God. People on the roads are extremely reckless and we don't do anything about it. Our highways are lawless for the most part. People can drive however they feel like it. You literally have to kill someone AND be drunk before you actually get in trouble and are locked up. If you kill someone sober though, it's totally fine under our current system. In my opinion, if you get caught driving recklessly, the punish…

What's remarkable is that we already effectively banned kids from playing outside and drivers still kill many of the few that still try.

As a parent, these comments are always so weird to read. Kids play outside, including unsupervised still. Kids getting hit by drivers is statistically very rare (though no less tragic)

Suggesting that “many” of the kids who “try” to play outside get killed by cars is the kind of conclusion you can only arrive at by living life through hyperbolic headlines or the dramatic evening news.

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

#722

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think, but that is largely not the way that political winds are blowing. There are very high rates of people who are driving vehicles illegally in states that consistently vote against public transit projects. This is because there is a perception among many of lower socioeconomic status that "spending more will raise my taxes, and I already can't afford car insurance", and that public transit projects will not…

>there is a perception among many of lower socioeconomic status I don't think this is it at all. In the US we don't enforce social norms. The public transit experience in the US is dominated by an extreme antisocial minority ("crazy" bums, drug users, bluetooth speakers, etc). This is the true killer of public transit in America.

Those things keeps the middle class from using it (outside of a couple of cities) or from voting for more public transit -- but it isn't the reason that poor people are driving without license/insurance -- which was what I was commenting on. Many of the poor in this country live in places that aren't well served by public transit, and probably won't be well served by any marginal investment in public transit. Most places in the US are generations behind in the investment that would need to be made both in terms of transit infrastructure and the housing infrastructure that would be necessary for viable public transit for the poor. Suburban sprawl is a huge challenge.

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

#723

Thank God. People on the roads are extremely reckless and we don't do anything about it. Our highways are lawless for the most part. People can drive however they feel like it. You literally have to kill someone AND be drunk before you actually get in trouble and are locked up. If you kill someone sober though, it's totally fine under our current system. In my opinion, if you get caught driving recklessly, the punish…

> In my opinion, if you get caught driving recklessly, the punishment should be that you're banned from operating 4 wheel vehicles, This sounds good if you imagine perfect enforcement, but reckless driving can be a very subjective charge depending on the location. Driving scooters to work is impossible in many places due to distance or weather. Making everyone’s livelihood hinge upon one officer on a power trip givin…

>Driving scooters to work is impossible in many places due to distance or weather.

People do this all over the world. Maybe some folks need to take a moment to deal with a little discomfort. Or better yet, build out infrastructure so people have better options.

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

#724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>... we already effectively banned kids from playing outside... Do what now?

Once upon a time crossing the street meant walking across a 20 foot road with the occasional small car going 20-25 mph. Now it's a 4-8 lane stroad full of 6,000 pound trucks that can't see anyone shorter than 5 feet past the hood going 50 mph. How far will you let your kid walk from home alone? Anyway my point is just that pedestrian deaths have gone up even as the number of miles walked and biked (_especially_ by ki…

> Now it's a 4-8 lane stroad

People weren’t letting their kids play near 8 lane freeways back in the day, either.

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

#725

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a rare case I support civil asset forfeiture: sue the car (in addition to criminal proceedings). Impound the car until fines are paid - which go into uninsured motorist funds - or else sell the car at auction and do the same. Will other parties' vehicles get impounded? Yes and that sucks. But either don't lend them your car, or else let the people closest to the offender pay the consequences more often than t…

I hope you don't wonder why civil asset forfeiture persists. It's like you're laying one brick on the road to hell. Multiply by everyone else and their pet issues and the whole damn thing gets paved. What even is the point of principals if you don't stand by them?

What other "pet issue" kills 40k people a year and injures 50-100x of that?

It's a huge issue which warrants radical steps.

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

#726

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In my opinion, if you get caught driving recklessly, the punishment should be that you're banned from operating 4 wheel vehicles, This sounds good if you imagine perfect enforcement, but reckless driving can be a very subjective charge depending on the location. Driving scooters to work is impossible in many places due to distance or weather. Making everyone’s livelihood hinge upon one officer on a power trip givin…

>Driving scooters to work is impossible in many places due to distance or weather. People do this all over the world. Maybe some folks need to take a moment to deal with a little discomfort. Or better yet, build out infrastructure so people have better options.

> Maybe some folks need to take a moment to deal with a little discomfort.

Your scooter wouldn’t even clear the snow here, let alone stay upright on the ice.

I think some folks need to realize the world is a big place that doesn’t always look like their local area.

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

#727
post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Failure to drive 70 mph on a highway posted at 60 will (very often, road depending) result in far more cars overpassing you. Each instance of passing carries a small but definite amount of risk; it is safer to match the speed of the other cars on the road than to obstinately stick to the limit and get passed hundreds of times in a single trip. (As for ripping up roads and relaying them so drivers intuitively find the…

Everyone doing 60 doesn't see each other because we're all doing the same speed, the ones going faster are the dangerous drivers.

When everyone is driving beyond the speed limit, the ones actually obeying the speed limit are the dangerous drivers. It is unfortunate that speed limits in the US have not corresponded to how people actually drive since 1973.

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

#728
post #639

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but my understanding is that you can get an exception for driving to work and those other kinds of things.

I hope my point was clear. We shouldn't let dangerous drivers back on the road because it would otherwise be inconvenient for them. Designing walkable cities has benefits beyond the obvious, including keeping criminals off the streets.

Ah, yes. I totally agree with that. I live somewhere that you could be just fine without a car. That's the exception in my experience.

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

#729

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to make a fair comparison, then one-sided car accidents should be removed too.

No, they're not intentional, they're accidents. And can be reduced by traffic laws and speed limits. Suicides (that is, guns) are intentional.

Exactly. People rarely purposely kill themselves in their cars.

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

#730

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's remarkable is that we already effectively banned kids from playing outside and drivers still kill many of the few that still try.

As a parent, these comments are always so weird to read. Kids play outside, including unsupervised still. Kids getting hit by drivers is statistically very rare (though no less tragic) Suggesting that “many” of the kids who “try” to play outside get killed by cars is the kind of conclusion you can only arrive at by living life through hyperbolic headlines or the dramatic evening news.

Having a toddler who’s a runner radicalised me. Every walk outside required a death grip.
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