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Speed Limiting Cars
V8MoneyPit:
The proposal is that it would be voluntary. The suggestion is that it might be suprising just how many people would fit them. It would also be switchable in the car so you can turn it off if you need a little extra to overtake a car safely.
Personally, I would consider it simply as a 'cruise control' in average speed camera zones, etc. I've made my views on speeding perfectly clear before and I maintain that speed in its own right is not dangerous. It's the use of excessive speed in the wrong places that is. 30mph in a 30mph zone is not always appropriate. Often it is better to be going rather slower. Equally, it could be perfectly safe to do 70mph in some 60mph zones. The 60mph limit is simply there because it's the national speed limit for a single carriageway.
I can't help thinking that some poeple might use the limiter to just do 30mph in a 30mph zone regardless of whether it's appropriate or not. It could have the effect of switching off the brain which is the most dangerous thing you can possibly do when driving.
Mark_Solesbury:
--- Quote from: V8MoneyPit on December 30, 2008, 14:30:53 ---It could have the effect of switching off the brain which is the most dangerous thing you can possibly do when driving.
--- End quote ---
Indeed.
Disco Matt:
No problem with it being voluntary, however I'd find it very insulting if we were forced to have them (as would probably be the next step with the current bunch in power). My view is that I've passed my test and avoided any points, so why can't I just be trusted to obey laws? Mind you, innocent until proven guilty has taken a bit of a battering in recent years...
I've driven with cruise control and tend to use it for those long sections of roadworks with reduced speed limits. It can be dangerous though as it means that your natural tendency to lift off when you notice a hazard doesn't make any difference - you have to either tap the brake or switch it off.
V8MoneyPit:
One of the safest things the government could enforce would be the removal of all 'safety' devices fitted to modern cars. In the extreme fitting a blade to the centre of the steering wheel would stop anyone having a crash. They would all drive *very* carefully!
Over the top, but my point is that modern cars take any feeling of vulnerability away giving the occupants a false sense of security. And there is no question that this affects the way people drive. If we all drove round in old Minis or 2CV's, the roads would be a much safer place because we would be more aware of the world around us and not cacooned in our own little padded cell.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that crashing is almost an inevitibility and buying a 'safe' car filled with airbags, etc is a good thing. If they didn't crash in the first place, they wouldn't need all this junk in their cars and nobody would be proposing the use of speed limiters. A bonus would be dramatically reduced fuel consumption too because you're not carrying around all that extra junk.
The general public have been brainwashed into believing they need secondary safety devices in their cars instead of having to maintain their driving skills to a higher standard. Nobody in governement or the motor industry seems to talk about primary safety much. There are a few primary safety devices in common use like ABS and that's great. But the majority of what is banded about relates to secondary safety (i.e. after you crash).
Sorry. This has been one of my pet niggles ever since my days at Lotus. I'll get of my soapbox now. :lol:
auf_wiedersehen_pet:
--- Quote from: V8MoneyPit on December 30, 2008, 15:38:47 ---One of the safest things the government could enforce would be the removal of all 'safety' devices fitted to modern cars. In the extreme fitting a blade to the centre of the steering wheel would stop anyone having a crash. They would all drive *very* carefully!
--- End quote ---
My thoughts exactly! Bumper sensors mounted to a glovebox of TNT.
As V8MoneyPit says, They would all drive *very* carefully!
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