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> “When all is said and done, there will be three kinds of reactions to an achievement of this kind. One will be outright indignation that anyone would endanger

by zaroth 7y ago

> “When all is said and done, there will be three kinds of reactions to an achievement of this kind. One will be outright indignation that anyone would endanger public safety by traveling at such speeds... To date, no one has been killed or seriously injured doing a Cannonball or setting a cross-country record in the U.S., but American motorists don't expect such high speeds, and truckers usually resent it. There's potential for disaster.” > “The other responses will be from another crowd—Cannonballers and motorheads of all stripes who believe that driving skill, and not traffic law, is more beneficial to actual safety than simply slowing down. From this side of the aisle there will be unadulterated joy that such a cross-country time has been posted, as well as begrudging appreciation from former record holders and disappointed fanatics who may have been planning record runs of their own...” > Was it a good idea? No. It never has been and it never will be. But like Everest, it presents itself as a risky challenge that is, to some, irresistible. To those who think it was irresponsible to attempt such a feat, a lot of what we do as humans—at our best—is frankly irresponsible. Humans acting perfectly responsibly, obeying all the laws of their local jurisdiction, never willing to put themselves and even perhaps others in harms way, and worried more about their carbon footprint than whether they can accomplish some mythical (to them) feat... I imagine that without the traits that lead to these types of attempts, and without a society that is willing to at least tolerate (if not celebrate) their achievements, we would lose out on a lot of inventions, discoveries, freedoms and social progress that stems from people with the same basic instinct to leave a dent.

jeffwass 7y ago
On the Everest comparison, the difference is Everest climbers primarily risk their own lives as people who agreed to make the climb. Whereas Cannonballers risk the lives of everybody sharing the road with them. Ie, regular drivers who have not agreed to let someone charge up behind them at >100 mph.
- celticninja 7y ago
  Honestly that's not true anymore. Very few people are climbing it unaided and it is Sherpas who help that are also killed alongside these climbers. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030 https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/14/599417489/one-third-of-everest-deaths-are-sherpa-climbers https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/14/599417489/...
  - ubermonkey 7y ago
    The Sherpas who climb professionally have also chosen to climb, and are compensated for it.
    - rtkwe 7y ago
      Somewhat. There's the very distorting fact that Sherpa-ing is multiple times more lucrative than any other job they could possibly get in the area.
      - ubermonkey 7y ago
        Yes, yes, yes, but you're picking apart a metaphor here. This distinction does not damage the comparison. Cannonball participants are taking large risks, and are imposing those risks on many, many people who have no real way to avoid them. This is unkind and immoral.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - namdnay 7y ago
    Sherpas are everest climbers, they willingly participate in climbing everest. None of the other road users willingly participated in these idiots' dangerous driving
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- ubermonkey 7y ago
  Exactly this. When I was younger, I did a lot of speeding on Interstates (US). I had a fancy radar detector, and I was almost never ticketed. Part of getting away with it, though, is doing it when you're mostly alone on the highway. Driving much, much faster than the cars around you is both reckless and terrifying; the risks are enormous. (Interestingly, my preferred highway pace back then was 75-80MPH. Now, when I drive on the Interstate, I'm nearly always going this fast or nearly this fast, but in the interim speed limits have risen on these open stretches of highway such that 75 is probably not even "ticketable" anymore; in some places, it's actually legal. Therefore it's hard for me to say that my middle-aged increased law-abiding nature is due to maturity, or the fact that the speed limits have mostly risen to the speeds I was driving at anyway.)
ivanbakel 7y ago
With that attitude, maybe you can volunteer to be the one they leave a dent in. I'd rather not be a victim of progress, especially not if the progress is in the incredibly vapid terms of a speed record on federal roads.
- MrBuddyCasino 7y ago
  Those speeds work just fine here in Germany, 120mph isn't even that fast. Some social conventions like drive in the right lane if you go slow and only overtake on the left lane is all it takes. Our number of deadly car accidents per capita are one of the lowest world-wide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r... Granted, they were probably driving on roads where it really was risky, but I'm always amazed the American speed limits are as low as they are, especially since there are so many long stretches of straight highway.
  - sgfdsagfsagf 7y ago
    American's won't understand you. I mean, even I can't fathom regular people doing 120 mph on freeways and I realize how silly our speed limits are. You want to cut road mortalities? Get all the cops off the interstate and issuing tickets to texters and ppl speeding inside the cities.
    - ollie87 7y ago
      As someone from the UK who's driven a lot in the US, to cut road deaths you guys should just make your driving test more standardised across states and also much more difficult to pass.
  - saiya-jin 7y ago
    Yeah but there are mostly germans driving there. Nations are not equal when it comes to rationality, temper, ego etc. One proof - Swiss have often direct votes on important matters, and country runs like... swiss clock. Give British, often considered reasonable folks, a public vote on an important matter, and we have Brexit.
andybak 7y ago
If anyone you loved had been killed by a speeding driver you might feel differently.
- slowhand09 7y ago
  Or a self-driving car?
  - andybak 7y ago
    It would be interesting to compare deaths per km driven for both these endeavours. I wonder if there is much overlap in the group that is bullish about the risks for each.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
dexen 7y ago
I hear your points, lets add two minor nitpicks: >a lot of what we do as humans—at our best—is frankly irresponsible There's no responsibility without risks. If anything, responsibility is in the conscious & reasoned risk-taking, having prepared to clean up or nullify any negative side-effects. >obeying all the laws of their local jurisdiction Speed limits are set at 85 percentile of traffic's speed[1]. Without the speeders we'd be having even more regressive speed limits. The run was a good idea, and I am looking forward for the next attempt. -- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit#Maximum_speed_limits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit#Maximum_speed_limi...
frob 7y ago
The big difference here is who is risking what. When astronauts went to the moon, the only people at risk were the astronauts and possibly the ground crew, all of whom signed up for what they were doing and were trained and aware of the risks. When I am driving on the highway and I see a pair of headlight way back, I can assume they're doing 60-80 and make a judgement as to whether is safe to change lanes. If that person is violating all social norms and doing 160, then my decision to change lanes could end up with them rearending me due to my complete inability to guess they they are acting in an extremely selfish and antisocial way. They could be the best drivers in the world with millisecond reaction times, but at some point, physics won't allow you to stop in time. These are just a couple of rich dudes who feel their money and technical skill makes them above the law.
PhasmaFelis 7y ago
> Was it a good idea? No. It never has been and it never will be. But like Everest, it presents itself as a risky challenge that is, to some, irresistible. This is a bunch of bullshit. If you lose your grip climbing Everest, you don't crush a family sedan when you hit.

by zaroth 7y ago

jeffwass 7y ago

On the Everest comparison, the difference is Everest climbers primarily risk their own lives as people who agreed to make the climb. Whereas Cannonballers risk the lives of everybody sharing the road with them. Ie, regular drivers who have not agreed to let someone charge up behind them at >100 mph.

celticninja 7y ago
Honestly that's not true anymore. Very few people are climbing it unaided and it is Sherpas who help that are also killed alongside these climbers. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030 https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/14/599417489/one-third-of-everest-deaths-are-sherpa-climbers https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/14/599417489/...
- ubermonkey 7y ago
  The Sherpas who climb professionally have also chosen to climb, and are compensated for it.
  - rtkwe 7y ago
    Somewhat. There's the very distorting fact that Sherpa-ing is multiple times more lucrative than any other job they could possibly get in the area.
    - ubermonkey 7y ago
      Yes, yes, yes, but you're picking apart a metaphor here. This distinction does not damage the comparison. Cannonball participants are taking large risks, and are imposing those risks on many, many people who have no real way to avoid them. This is unkind and immoral.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- namdnay 7y ago
  Sherpas are everest climbers, they willingly participate in climbing everest. None of the other road users willingly participated in these idiots' dangerous driving
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ubermonkey 7y ago
Exactly this. When I was younger, I did a lot of speeding on Interstates (US). I had a fancy radar detector, and I was almost never ticketed. Part of getting away with it, though, is doing it when you're mostly alone on the highway. Driving much, much faster than the cars around you is both reckless and terrifying; the risks are enormous. (Interestingly, my preferred highway pace back then was 75-80MPH. Now, when I drive on the Interstate, I'm nearly always going this fast or nearly this fast, but in the interim speed limits have risen on these open stretches of highway such that 75 is probably not even "ticketable" anymore; in some places, it's actually legal. Therefore it's hard for me to say that my middle-aged increased law-abiding nature is due to maturity, or the fact that the speed limits have mostly risen to the speeds I was driving at anyway.)

ivanbakel 7y ago

With that attitude, maybe you can volunteer to be the one they leave a dent in. I'd rather not be a victim of progress, especially not if the progress is in the incredibly vapid terms of a speed record on federal roads.

MrBuddyCasino 7y ago
Those speeds work just fine here in Germany, 120mph isn't even that fast. Some social conventions like drive in the right lane if you go slow and only overtake on the left lane is all it takes. Our number of deadly car accidents per capita are one of the lowest world-wide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r... Granted, they were probably driving on roads where it really was risky, but I'm always amazed the American speed limits are as low as they are, especially since there are so many long stretches of straight highway.
- sgfdsagfsagf 7y ago
  American's won't understand you. I mean, even I can't fathom regular people doing 120 mph on freeways and I realize how silly our speed limits are. You want to cut road mortalities? Get all the cops off the interstate and issuing tickets to texters and ppl speeding inside the cities.
  - ollie87 7y ago
    As someone from the UK who's driven a lot in the US, to cut road deaths you guys should just make your driving test more standardised across states and also much more difficult to pass.
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  Yeah but there are mostly germans driving there. Nations are not equal when it comes to rationality, temper, ego etc. One proof - Swiss have often direct votes on important matters, and country runs like... swiss clock. Give British, often considered reasonable folks, a public vote on an important matter, and we have Brexit.

andybak 7y ago

If anyone you loved had been killed by a speeding driver you might feel differently.

slowhand09 7y ago
Or a self-driving car?
- andybak 7y ago
  It would be interesting to compare deaths per km driven for both these endeavours. I wonder if there is much overlap in the group that is bullish about the risks for each.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

dexen 7y ago

I hear your points, lets add two minor nitpicks: >a lot of what we do as humans—at our best—is frankly irresponsible There's no responsibility without risks. If anything, responsibility is in the conscious & reasoned risk-taking, having prepared to clean up or nullify any negative side-effects. >obeying all the laws of their local jurisdiction Speed limits are set at 85 percentile of traffic's speed[1]. Without the speeders we'd be having even more regressive speed limits. The run was a good idea, and I am looking forward for the next attempt. -- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit#Maximum_speed_limits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit#Maximum_speed_limi...

frob 7y ago

The big difference here is who is risking what. When astronauts went to the moon, the only people at risk were the astronauts and possibly the ground crew, all of whom signed up for what they were doing and were trained and aware of the risks. When I am driving on the highway and I see a pair of headlight way back, I can assume they're doing 60-80 and make a judgement as to whether is safe to change lanes. If that person is violating all social norms and doing 160, then my decision to change lanes could end up with them rearending me due to my complete inability to guess they they are acting in an extremely selfish and antisocial way. They could be the best drivers in the world with millisecond reaction times, but at some point, physics won't allow you to stop in time. These are just a couple of rich dudes who feel their money and technical skill makes them above the law.

PhasmaFelis 7y ago

> Was it a good idea? No. It never has been and it never will be. But like Everest, it presents itself as a risky challenge that is, to some, irresistible. This is a bunch of bullshit. If you lose your grip climbing Everest, you don't crush a family sedan when you hit.