So there's no safe speed - kinda makes the question pretty moot.
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Should new cars sold in the future be throttled to a maximum speed of 90-100 MPH or even the current speed limit?
- Thread starter ItWasMeantToBe19
- Start date
Couldn't you just use a like 5 dollar hand pump to trick a completely automated breathalyzer? I don't even drink and i might use one just to get around making the probably difficult to clean apparatus grody.
I'd be okay with setting a limiter to whatever the speed limit is, but I also think speed limits are currently too low in the UK.
70MPH is such a snail pace on open motorway.
70MPH is such a snail pace on open motorway.
As a non driver it isn't, it's the perfect representation of why I don't want be on a road.
Basically. For what it's worth, highways (at least in the US) kinda force you to go faster than the speed limit because everyone else is, and speed limits like 55-60 are arguably a bit lower than what's realistic. Those limits were set by fairly arbitrary methods from like the 1960's, if I'm not mistaken.
Not that I disagree with the premise but this seems like a good way to boost the used car market and kill the new car market for many years. Plus those with new cars who care enough will just mod their car to remove it.
OP
OP
...................................................... If a car goes from 156 MPH to 0, do you think there is an acceleration element there.
yeah, US highway speed is an absolute joke. No way they should be as low as they are. street speeds on the other hand should stay or go lower. NO reason to be beyond 25 in a residential truly. I think I don't go beyond 18 or so on my street.
OP there are too many choices for the poll. I voted no.
nah, maybe a speed limiter for stunt/race/speed and breathalyzer for DUI but taking away a license is taking away the opportunity to work etc for a lot of people and families.
OP there are too many choices for the poll. I voted no.
that is already the case except car limits are currently 120-155 depending on the model. You can easily get it removed with not much trouble if you want, so not much different than what we have just lower.
Make the entry to driving more difficult too. Isn't it real fucking easy to get a license in the US?
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So you don't ever use a bus? Or cross a street?
Also, driving is fun for some of us. There's lot of pluses to it also lol
Pretty much every other country I can think of has cars and roads
That's not a bad idea and EU is actually looking into implementing this I think.
Both this and electronically throttling cars to some reasonable speed isn't a bad idea. I think top speed in US is 80? So set it at 90 ans call it a day. Hell, tie it to GPS ans throttle even further within Metro areas.
They are exactly what I expected. The astonishing thing to me would have been if people unanimously supported it.
OP
OP
Well, except making collisions less dangerous would kill fewer people and people not being dead seems more relevant than your bizarrely limited philosophical question.
Sports car drivers can get unlock at the track based on GPS. They have 0 need to go over 90 on regular roads.
I think this also varies by location. From what I've seen everyone on the east coast US drives really fast. I'm in AZ and I can sit at 65 on the freeway, which is the speed limit, and I'm going close to what most people are doing. If you go more than 10-15mph over the speed limit you're going faster than everyone.
GPS and proper maps. Similar how to people know where they can and can't fly drones for example.
I can confirm we all drive 75-80(edited from 80+ that was probably not the average) on the Merritt parkway in CT. The speed limit here is 55 lol.
And this includes the cops.. it's the flow of traffic speed so driving the speed limit actually is more dangerous /shrug.
not saying I agree with this but the flow of traffic is the flow of traffic.
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I doubt you mean it that way, but your statement comes off as "speeding is okay, just not on my street".
The whole reason we have speed limits is because of the energy crisis, fuel efficiency falls off dramatically the faster you go. After speed limits were in place, there were then compelling arguments as to lower speeds reducing vehicle fatalities.
Having driving out West, I don't blame people for doing 80-90 on an open freeway, as long as they can back off once they get onto normal roads.
I think this is sort of an impossible question. Do cars the public can buy need to go over 100mph? Probably not, but iirc the vast majority of car accidents happen under 40mph. It's far more likely that a speed cap would just mean the next high-speed tragedy would occur at 99mph rather than 156mph. The problem--and I say this as someone who loves driving--is cars themselves as a concept, not an arbitrary speed they hit.
I think this is a much easier short-term problem to fix. some new car designs are absolutely out of control and actively hostile to the safety of both the driver and everyone around them. A 40mph rear-ending in that colossal heap is going to cause far more damage and injury to the recipient than a reasonably sized coupe.
More important than either of those, actually, is to regulate vehicle design to make them less fatal when striking pedestrians. Look at this shit:
This is a 2022 design that makes it basically impossible to see a human less than 5 ft tall and the grill shape makes collisions more fatal as it will push them under the truck and drag them or crush them. You shouldn't be able to design vehicles like this anymore.
I think this is a much easier short-term problem to fix. some new car designs are absolutely out of control and actively hostile to the safety of both the driver and everyone around them. A 40mph rear-ending in that colossal heap is going to cause far more damage and injury to the recipient than a reasonably sized coupe.
Kinda surprised to see the "some people will find workarounds" argument common with gun control, as if there's no point in increasing safety if it's not 100% effective
ban alcohol if you can
why are going to ban my legal transportation from moving at my desired speed
why are going to ban my legal transportation from moving at my desired speed
Zero of the speeds posted in OP are likely to lower the fatality rate by a significant amount. If that was enforced in newer vehicles we would likely just see used vehicle prices skyrocket.
What happened with Henry Ruggs was an avoidable tragedy, but you're focusing on the wrong aspect here. He was drunk driving. And no, that does not mean that every responsible driver should have to pay a premium to get a breathalyzer installed.
What happened with Henry Ruggs was an avoidable tragedy, but you're focusing on the wrong aspect here. He was drunk driving. And no, that does not mean that every responsible driver should have to pay a premium to get a breathalyzer installed.
Hmm yeah, I'm on the east coast and in my area, 65 is a normal speed even though the speed limit is 55. A speed limit of 65-70 seems pretty reasonable on a lot of highways.
you can take it that way if you want. I am just using that as an example. Like the speed limit in NYC is 25. Other than the opening of Vanilla Sky/Open your eyes I wouldn't dare swerve through the city like that.
Ugh. Yearly tests would just clog the DMV to a beyond insane degree. And it's already shitty.
OP
OP
I am 100% certain that forcing cars to drive the speed limit would eliminate a lot of deaths. There's a lot of people who drive 55 in a 35 and that kills a lot of people.
Unclear whether capping to 100 would save that many lives since there's so few times people go above 100... but that raises the question of why it's mechanically allowed at all if no one should do it and almost no one does.
Highway speed + 9 saves virtually no lives whatsoever at scale; this is a pointless exercise.
Driver here and it's why I hate driving and living in LA lol you need a car just to get anywhere
UK here- there's no reason for cars to be able to go much over the speed limit in my opinion.
Like sure, have 80-85mph as a maximum, but there's practically no reason why a car here should be passing 100mph legally.
Like sure, have 80-85mph as a maximum, but there's practically no reason why a car here should be passing 100mph legally.
OP
OP
Do you think cars being throttled to the speed limit in all cases would save lives.
Because that is what I prefer as I state in the OP.
I mean I said that's the perfect representation as to why I don't want to be on a road, that's not to say I'm never on one ( like taking a bus ). That being said I did avoid having to for the most part.
First job was walking + metro.
Second job on foot.
Third job on foot.
Fourth and last job foot + tramway.
And yeah, even as a pedestrian, most drivers drive me crazy. I'm in a city with many many many roundabout, and people inability to even use their turn signal to indicate that they are leaving the roundabout is infuriating. And there has never been an occurence of me being a passenger without seeing very obvious problem like people speeding just for the sake of driving past 1 or 2 cars, only to still be stopped by a red light or having to wait to get on a roundabout. Congrats you just saved 30 seconds, so worth it.
I have no problem with people liking to drive, heck I would love to drive.. in a world where I would trust drivers around me. Except this is a world where I trust people to... check poll... want to drive fast and also don't want to deal with having to breath in something.
I legit never understood why cars can go over the legal speed limit.
give it a +10% for overtaking if you must.
give it a +10% for overtaking if you must.
The speeds you're proposing would make virtually no difference whatsoever; anything lower is impractical to the point of pointlessness.
Until fully driverless cars are the majority then all cars being built should be limited to the speed limit for the roads they are on, go into a 30mph area 30 is the max speed you can go etc.
Cars are so commonplace people seem to forget that they are driving around in a tons of metal and a momentary lapse of concentration can have absolutely devastating concequences.
I know driverless cars are still a long time away and I doubt they will be the majority of vehicles in my lifetime, but when the actual software for the cars gets to the point it's viable for full scale use then I don't think speed limits will even be required.
If every car is reporting it's location and what they are seeing then then convoys of cars traveling on motorways/highways at 150mph would probably be safer than they are now with every driver adding their own bit of chaos into the situation.
Cars are so commonplace people seem to forget that they are driving around in a tons of metal and a momentary lapse of concentration can have absolutely devastating concequences.
I know driverless cars are still a long time away and I doubt they will be the majority of vehicles in my lifetime, but when the actual software for the cars gets to the point it's viable for full scale use then I don't think speed limits will even be required.
If every car is reporting it's location and what they are seeing then then convoys of cars traveling on motorways/highways at 150mph would probably be safer than they are now with every driver adding their own bit of chaos into the situation.
How do you propose it would work though? There is risk involved in making cars unpredictable. Let's say I'm going 55mph and suddenly the speed limit goes down to 35mph. Will my car brake on it's own? What happens if I know my cars limited to 35mph so I just have my foot floored on the accelerator and the speed limit suddenly goes up?
OP
OP
The opinion I state in the OP is that cars should automatically limited to the speed limits.
This is not just highway/freeway speeds, but capping car speed to 35 in a 35 for example.
Yeah that was a great success. And the war on drugs. What could go wrong?
I'm not opposed to it. I feel a more pressing need is for banning sales of ICE cars. I feel every car and truck sold should be a hybrid now. This is s'more significant impact on peoples lives long term.
I think a reasonable limit is fine. Like 100-120ish.
But limiting to speed limit would be so much liability. Imagine if somebody tried to get out of the way of a truck merging on the highway or something and the limiter prevented them and they died.
But limiting to speed limit would be so much liability. Imagine if somebody tried to get out of the way of a truck merging on the highway or something and the limiter prevented them and they died.
I'm honestly surprised at the amount of people opposed to this.
My car has a limiter at 115mph. And while I am capable of controlling the car perfectly well at that speed, what conceivable reason would I ever have to go that fast? Sure, I think the speed limit around here is a bit low, but my comfort spot is only around 5mph over on the freeway.
I don't know that speed is a direct contributor to causing the majority of crashes, I would bet it's the #1 contributor to the fatality rate of crashes. I'm sure that's a pretty simple number to figure out... how many people died in the last year that would still be alive today if the car that caused the crash was going at or below the speed limit?
My car has a limiter at 115mph. And while I am capable of controlling the car perfectly well at that speed, what conceivable reason would I ever have to go that fast? Sure, I think the speed limit around here is a bit low, but my comfort spot is only around 5mph over on the freeway.
I don't know that speed is a direct contributor to causing the majority of crashes, I would bet it's the #1 contributor to the fatality rate of crashes. I'm sure that's a pretty simple number to figure out... how many people died in the last year that would still be alive today if the car that caused the crash was going at or below the speed limit?
There's another pedal down there that makes the car go slower. That would be much more effective in a merging situation than the one that makes the car go faster.
Not only dickish, but uninformed, old people are the safest drivers on the road.
While the anecdote of the old lady driving is what people usually go to (I also had a car wrecked by an elderly lady who ignored a traffic stop and rear ended me at 30mph when I was stopped), it's hard to implement and the data isnt there. The overwhelming majority of car accidents are caused by young people, even accident rates by age (controlling for the number of drivers).
Elderly people age 60-69 are the safest drivers. The second safest drivers are 70-79 year olds. It isn't until 80+ year olds where you get unsafer driving, but even 80+ are safer drivers than people under 30. The decline in driving ability happens quickly, unevenly, in unpredictable ways. 80+ drivers are, I believe, the second most deadly when accidents do occur, though it's typically the driver or another elderly passenger who die, and the rate of death is high because of other health complications, not usually because of driving ability or wrecklessness.
But as a group, elderly drivers are the safest drivers on the road. The least safe are 16-18, then 18-19, then 20-25, then 25-30. It levels off from 30-60, before 60-69 year olds are the most safe, and then 70-79 year olds are second most safe. Your average millennial, members of this forum, are a much more dangerous driver than your average boomer, and if it wasn't for equity and discrimination issues, as well as funding, it would make much more sense for people age 16-30 to have to take a driving exam every 2 years than for someone 65-80. The resources don't exist and it would be discriminatory against people without the means.
Many states are starting to require cognitive exams and driving ability tests after a certain age, but it's still relatively rare. I support these but do think we need to consider discrimination when applying these unevenly.
Rates of Motor Vehicle Crashes, Injuries and Deaths in Relation to Driver Age, United States, 2014-2015 - AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
This Research Brief presents updated data on crash risk using data on crashes from the US DOT in conjunction with data on driving mileage from the AAA Foundation's American Driving Survey.
aaafoundation.org
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80? Where I live many places are 45MPH.
I don't need my commute adding another 20-25 minutes.
I wouldn't care if they limit to 100 or so, but some of the suggestions about limiters that set based on speed limit is crazy stuff.