Republicans: Don’t tread on my freedom! No seatbelts, no helmets! FREEDOM!
Also Republicans: Let’s install a device in your car to track and enforce your activity
Republicans? The Virginia state legislature is controlled by Democrats.
Edit: I think the author is talking about this bill. It has Republican support but I didn’t think presenting it as a solely Republican initiative is fair.
Virginia’s bill was signed into law by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin
Sorry, I edited my post to add more specific information before I saw your reply.
The bill had enough support from both Democrats and Republicans in the legislature that the governor couldn’t have vetoed it.
A single car with ISA can also prevent multiple drivers behind it from recklessly accelerating, so even a small number of ISA-equipped vehicles could have a dramatic impact on regional or even national road safety.
In my experience, a slow driver will be passed (often rather aggressively) by drivers wanting to go faster if that is at all possible. That feels a lot more dangerous than simply having everyone drive at the rate of traffic. Or is the author envisioning a scenario where there are enough of these slow cars to cause a traffic jam?
This is why assholes who sit in the left lane when not passing are dangerous.
They wouldn’t be driving slowly, they’d be driving at the posted limit. If the limit for the road is wrong, and other people are ignoring it, that is a separate issue that needs dealing with.
It really grinds my gears when people complain about others driving at the posted limit (and, to be fair, I do it too sometimes, but I try to catch myself). You either think the limit is reasonable, in which case there isn’t actually a problem, or you think it’s wrong, in which case the driver isn’t the problem, the limit is. In that case rather than grousing about other drivers actually take action to have the limit changed. That goes just as much in areas where the limit is too high.
Anyway, rant over, I shall take a couple of deep breaths.
Driving at the posted limit if everyone else is going 15-20 over can be incredibly dangerous. Which is why its legal to drive with the speed of traffic.
And it may be rare to see that situation in some places, but my local highway is often like that. I prefer to drive 5-10 over and no more, but if literally everyone else is driving 15-20 over then you really ought to not drive at the limit. If you do youll have people swerving around you at 20 over the limit.
That’s a slippery slope. The limits are there for a reason, and it’s considered unsafe to go faster. Everyone should be doing the speed limit, and if people consistently drive over the limit, they should absolutely have their licenses removed.
I’m not going to say that sort of thing doesn’t happen, they undoubtedly do, but in places where the rules don’t permit speeding, just because everyone else is, the problem self corrects. If too many motorists exceed the limit, the police have a field day ticketing as many as they can, and the situation reverts to people driving at the limit.
That does take setting the limits appropriately, constant enforecement that can be scaled up, a certain margin of error being accepted so everyone doesn’t have their eyes glued to the speedo, and the understanding and acceptance from motorists that the rules are fair and there for a reason. Absent any one or more of those, and things will inevitably turn into a racetrack again. Fortunately, much of the management and enforcement is usually local, so political pressure applied locally can often help correct issues.
Permit speeding? US laws literally say the speed limit is the 85th percentile of the flow of traffic. The number on the sign is a suggestion, a safe one.
https://highways.dot.gov/safety/speed-management/speed-limit-basics
There’s nothing on that page that says the speed limit is the 85% percentile of the traffic flow. It states quite clearly that ‘Statutory speed limits are established by State legislatures for specific types of roads (e.g., Interstates, rural highways, urban streets) and can vary from State to State. They are enforceable by law and are applicable even if the speed limit sign is not posted’ and ‘Posted speed limits (sometimes called regulatory speed limits) are those that are sign-posted along the road and are enforceable by law.’
Those speed limits are initially set based on the design speed of the road, then later they can be assessed and possibly modified based on a number of factors including the 85% percentile you referenced, however’ ‘The 85th percentile speed is not the only factor practitioners evaluate when determining an appropriate speed limit; they complete engineering speed studies and often utilize supporting tools like USLIMITS2.’
Critically though, none of this means you can just drive at the prevailing speed of the traffic if it’s above the statutory or posted limit and not be considered to be speeding. The 85% percentile may be used to set the speed limit, but when it’s set, it’s the law.
Yet I have zero moving violations at age 45, and I drive fast as fuck. I’ve even been pulled over, no mention of speed, just a quick “where’s your front plate” question.
What the law says, and what gets enforced are, unfirtunately, sometimes very different things. Sometimes that works in your favor, sometimes it doesn’t.
Repeat speeders should need to have speed limiters installed on their vehicles.
Someone I know speeds all the fucking time and constantly gets tickets but fights every single one because he knows the cops probably won’t show up and he keeps his license. He just says he needs his licence to work and the judge takes pity and gives the fine but not the points which would take the license away. Wasted court time and he is never going to not speed… Even if his license were taken away I bet he would just drive without one.
Shouldn’t the current laws simply be enforced, rather than passing new laws?
When the only other option is to take someone’s license away and they can’t work anymore it makes it difficult. Another option that forces people to obey the law would help everyone.
That’s the thing, this is the laws being enforced.
Feels like sooner or later they’re just going to govern every car to the posted speed limit of the road it’s driving on. The tech definitely exists, and there isn’t really a nonemotional reason not to.
Um, driving someone to the hospital? That’s a pretty non-emotional reason to speed
Speeding doesn’t shorten travel time unless the distances are significant (hundreds of Kilometers). So speeding to a hospital is more likely to lead to a crash than save time; it’s irrational and emotional.
Haven’t you ever noticed that car you blew past pull up next to you at the red-light?
Fun fact, lots of people don’t live in congested cities
Like most humans you are bad at calculating risk. Speeding on a trip to a hospital will likely only save you seconds. An ambulance that can avoid traffic and skip red lights is going to save significantly more time.
It will also cost significantly more money. Even in Canada.
Yeah, but not more than a life, or a car accident, or both.
That’s what ambulances are for.
Somebody tell my butler to order me a luxurious ride to the hospital in the wee woo ultra deluxe premium hospital Uber
You pay for ambulance rides?
Lol wow. Virginia was already the most obnoxious state in the country with their traffic cops, but they just had to find a way to make it even worse 🫠
If only they had all the cars on the same road, lined up, and they all went the same speed, and only the person in front does the driving and that person is really safe, and maybe instead of a road we could use rails and damn it we invented trains again
Ever since GPS has been standard in all cars they have had remote engine kill switches that the police can use.
Really we shouldn’t have to own cars to participate in society.
I’m surprised any Republicans would vote to limit our freedom machines.
Are you really surprised, though?
