A morning rumination on speed limts

[Cormanus]

I must be feeling particularly contrary today. :dodgy: I started driving cars before all those things were fitted and still wanted to drive them as fast as I could. ABS, air bags, power steering etc made no difference to my hooligan instincts. It was the enthusiastic adoption of the speed camera by Australian police that slowed me down. Probably age too.

 

[the Ferret]

Sure maybe in some rural spots with no traffic you can get away with that, but imagine the general population in rush hour traffic today with drum brakes, metal dashboards, no air bags and no power steering. It would be war like bloodshed. Those safety features allow the average person that maybe doesn't have stock car racing driving skills to go fast relatively safely, and they know it.

 

[misterprofessionality]

Others may have already said the same thing but my take on speed is this: it isn't being fast or being slow that's the problem. It's being **different** that's dangerous. If traffic is doing 80 sitting at 60 is dangerous. If traffic is doing 35 speeding past everybody is dangerous.The rock in the stream is the cause of turbulence.

 

[the Ferret]

good point Mr P

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Nice analogy Mr. P.

 

[Tev62]

Nicely put misterprofessionality, tis true.

 

[Cormanus]

This on ADVRider this morning, https://www.advrider.com/ntsb-wants-electronic-countermeasures-to-slow-traffic-down/

 

[the Ferret]

Speed limiting is already on all motorcycles... some high like the mfg agreed upon 187 mph, like the Hyabusa, Ducati Panigale V4 etc and others low like the 112 mph CB 1100 for example. Linking it to a GPS system would be easy enough for the government to mandate and the manufacturers to implement... and we'd have no one to blame but ourselves if they do.

 

[Gone in 60]

I can see it now.... before Moff Gideon blew up the Razor Crest and I threw my dinner across the room and screamed NOOOOOOO, whenever anyone rode in it, they'd marvel that "Wow, this ship is Pre-Galactic Empire! It can't be tracked by The Republic!"

So, cars and bikes that are pre-tracking will be prized for their ability to skirt electronic remote limiting.
Cars are currently running OBD2 universal computer software. The pundits in the industry tell me that our doom will be on the horizon when we go to OBD3, which will allow the ECU to receive commands, not just send them.
And if you're gonna speed at night, for gosh sake, memorize your headlights, people!
Used to be easy... a Crown Vic had two big white square lights with two jeweled orange lights outboard of them. Newish Chargers have white dots for headlights with C-shaped white surrounding trim lights. Late-model Explorers have those little eyebrow trim lights over the headlights...

Forgot that back in April when it was 1:00 am, I had been flying since sunrise, had three hours of rural North Carolina back road to go, and was on Yellow Jackets just to make it to the hotel. So tired that I let that Dodge stick to my back bumper for a full ten minutes before I realized he was pacing me at 80.

 

[Whoops]

I can see it now.... before Moff Gideon blew up the Razor Crest and I threw my dinner across the room and screamed NOOOOOOO, whenever anyone rode in it, they'd marvel that "Wow, this ship is Pre-Galactic Empire! It can't be tracked by The Republic!"

So, cars and bikes that are pre-tracking will be prized for their ability to skirt electronic remote limiting.
Cars are currently running OBD2 universal computer software. The pundits in the industry tell me that our doom will be on the horizon when we go to OBD3, which will allow the ECU to receive commands, not just send them.
And if you're gonna speed at night, for gosh sake, memorize your headlights, people!
Used to be easy... a Crown Vic had two big white square lights with two jeweled orange lights outboard of them. Newish Chargers have white dots for headlights with C-shaped white surrounding trim lights. Late-model Explorers have those little eyebrow trim lights over the headlights...

Forgot that back in April when it was 1:00 am, I had been flying since sunrise, had three hours of rural North Carolina back road to go, and was on Yellow Jackets just to make it to the hotel. So tired that I let that Dodge stick to my back bumper for a full ten minutes before I realized he was pacing me at 80.

Your timing is impeccable! I was just telling my wife that I used to be able to recognize the make and model of cars at night based on their headlights and tail lights. She didn't think that was possible (vehicles to her are just a way to get from A to B). I showed her your comments and she at least conceded that it was possible, but that I was a "car nerd". So thank you for at least moving me up one slot from "unbelievable" to "nerd".

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

... I found that much easier back in the 70s and 80s. Used to score average 9 out of 10.

I'd get things wrong around cars like Horizon vs. Omni.

 

[Whoops]

... I found that much easier back in the 70s and 80s. Used to score average 9 out of 10.

I'd get things wrong around cars like Horizon vs. Omni.

I'd be lucky to get 1 of 10 now and I'm not sure why. Don't drive as much after dark? Age related mental deficits? LED/HID lights being brighter? Many more makes of vehicles? I certainly can't identify them like I used to.

 

[the Ferret]

I used to spot light bars and bubbles easily years ago, but they dont use them much anymore.

 

[Gone in 60]

Whoops, my pleasure. I've been a car nerd from birth. My Mom says that when I was two, I asked her why a Camaro and a Firebird look the same, just with different faces. I'm sure had she known, she would have explained that both cars were built on GM's F-Body platform. I became such a good car spotter at a very young age that when we drove across the country on trips, Dad would prop me up in the passenger seat on a stack of phone books and hand me a pair of binoculars. The first time we'd see a state trooper when we crossed into a new state, he'd say "Ok kid, Arizona is gold with a blue stripe, looks like they're using Fords." My job was to be the spotter.
"What's that up there on the hill, kid. Looks like a trooper."
"Nah, dad, just a gold Lincoln."

Of course, a kid sitting on a stack of phone books in the front, with no seatbelt was perfectly OK in the 70s, as you well know. Heck, I went though the windshield once in a bad crash, but danger in general hadn't been invented yet. Maybe that's why I can't do math.

 

[the Ferret]

we used to sit facing backwards in the rear seat of my dads Chev wagon (the seat was made like that) so we could watch the car that was going to rear end us.

 

[Gone in 60]

we used to sit facing backwards in the rear seat of my dads Chev wagon (the seat was made like that) so we could watch the car that was going to rear end us.

I loved my Boy Scout Master's Country Squire wagon. Not only could you sit in those seats in back (The Ford had side fold-out seats that faced each other), but you could trap the nerd kids under those seats when they were folded down.

 

[Whoops]

we used to sit facing backwards in the rear seat of my dads Chev wagon (the seat was made like that) so we could watch the car that was going to rear end us.

I loved my Boy Scout Master's Country Squire wagon. Not only could you sit in those seats in back (The Ford had side fold-out seats that faced each other), but you could trap the nerd kids under those seats when they were folded down.

I loved my Boy Scout Master's Country Squire wagon. Not only could you sit in those seats in back (The Ford had side fold-out seats that faced each other), but you could trap the nerd kids under those seats when they were folded down.
Yep. We had multiple station wagons, including a big old blue Country Squire which my Dad affectionately called Buford (Big Ugly Ford). We used it to pull the fishing boat. It got 8-10 mpg going up the canyon with the boat behind. You hardly knew the boat was there. It also happened to get 8-10 mpg going down. It came with the most advanced seat belt system at the time, my Mom's arm that would pop out whenever the need for sudden braking popped up. Man oh man did that thing squeak and rattle though. All those metal parts rubbing against each other. Enough to drive you crazy on a road trip.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Man, I remember those big station wagons of the 70s, some with fold out back seats. Even those without them (think Plymouth Satellite wagon), kids would load in the back, close the "power gate" and watch all the cars at the rear - and no air conditioning!

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

In shopping for car insurance recently, I found that I'd have to get a phone app so the insurance company could track my every move, or pay more. I rarely really speed, but I do like a sporty pace, especially on my bikes, so a tattletale tracker would end that. I decided to stay with my current carrier, who doesn't require apps.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

In shopping for car insurance recently, I found that I'd have to get a phone app so the insurance company could track my every move, or pay more. I rarely really speed, but I do like a sporty pace, especially on my bikes, so a tattletale tracker would end that. I decided to stay with my current carrier, who doesn't require apps.