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What doesn't make sense to me is why can most cars go so much faster than any speed limits? Why not just have the manufacturers build slower cars, or at least

What doesn't make sense to me is why can most cars go so much faster than any speed limits? Why not just have the manufacturers build slower cars, or at least limit them somehow. Then make it ilegal for people to tamper with their cars to make them faster. Is there any other reason than playing this game in which law enforcement/governments get to make additional money through tickets?

martimarkov 6y ago
One example I can think of is emergencies. I’d be okay paying a fine but speeding so I can drive someone to the hospital.
- ta1234567890 6y ago
  I'd love to see some data that can tell if speeding to the hospital (by random people, not by a trained ambulance driver) has a net positive effect on the outcome of the patients, as well as what the risk of car accidents happening as a result of the speeding. I also wonder if maybe by forcing cars to go slower we could: 1) reduce car accidents by a lot and 2) reduce current spend on emergency response by a big enough amount that could then allow to use it to cover faster response times (e.g. sending a helicopter)
  - sjwright 6y ago
    Indeed, it wouldn’t be speeding that would get you to a hospital many minutes faster; it would be judicious disregard for red lights and centre markings—much like ambulance drivers normally do by virtue of their sirens and lights. Speeding doesn’t save nearly as much clock time as it feels like it does, especially if you’re regularly blocked in by other cars and traffic signals.
    - _flux 6y ago
      Speeding might get you through the lights before they turn red, though. A bad luck red sequence might altogether be avoided with some speeding. You might include "old green" in this as well, different regions have a different time from you getting red to others getting green. Red lights themselves could often be somewhat safely ran through with some attention and a fast-accelerating vehicle—slow down first, check directions, etc. Preferably in particularly paying attention to pedestrians..
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
leetcrew 6y ago
from an engineering perspective, it is hard to design a car that can safely travel at 60 mph and accelerate to that speed in a timely fashion without giving it the ability to go much faster. a car with a drag-limited top speed of 60 mph would become a road hazard any time it merged onto a freeway. it's possible to program a car to cut the throttle when it hits a certain speed, but most people take a dim view of having objects that they own be programmed to disobey them. would you like to use an OS that prevents you from installing any software that could enable illicit activity?
- roywiggins 6y ago
  The EU has been making noises about requiring this. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/288592-eu-wants-speed-governors-data-recorders-in-cars-for-2022 https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/288592-eu-wants-speed-go...
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  Interestingly a lot of the EV's coming onto the market have strong acceleration but a quite low top speed.
alkonaut 6y ago
If it could be made 100% reliable I’d be happy to have a car restricted to (say) 30% over the limit. That would reduce crazy people doing 90km/h in 30 zones etc. But it wouldn’t be perfect, more likely it would occasionally pick up the 30 zone on the parallel street and limit my speed to 40 in the 90 road. No thanks. I don’t think it’s a solvable problem in the short term.

martimarkov 6y ago

One example I can think of is emergencies. I’d be okay paying a fine but speeding so I can drive someone to the hospital.

ta1234567890 6y ago
I'd love to see some data that can tell if speeding to the hospital (by random people, not by a trained ambulance driver) has a net positive effect on the outcome of the patients, as well as what the risk of car accidents happening as a result of the speeding. I also wonder if maybe by forcing cars to go slower we could: 1) reduce car accidents by a lot and 2) reduce current spend on emergency response by a big enough amount that could then allow to use it to cover faster response times (e.g. sending a helicopter)
- sjwright 6y ago
  Indeed, it wouldn’t be speeding that would get you to a hospital many minutes faster; it would be judicious disregard for red lights and centre markings—much like ambulance drivers normally do by virtue of their sirens and lights. Speeding doesn’t save nearly as much clock time as it feels like it does, especially if you’re regularly blocked in by other cars and traffic signals.
  - _flux 6y ago
    Speeding might get you through the lights before they turn red, though. A bad luck red sequence might altogether be avoided with some speeding. You might include "old green" in this as well, different regions have a different time from you getting red to others getting green. Red lights themselves could often be somewhat safely ran through with some attention and a fast-accelerating vehicle—slow down first, check directions, etc. Preferably in particularly paying attention to pedestrians..

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

leetcrew 6y ago

from an engineering perspective, it is hard to design a car that can safely travel at 60 mph and accelerate to that speed in a timely fashion without giving it the ability to go much faster. a car with a drag-limited top speed of 60 mph would become a road hazard any time it merged onto a freeway. it's possible to program a car to cut the throttle when it hits a certain speed, but most people take a dim view of having objects that they own be programmed to disobey them. would you like to use an OS that prevents you from installing any software that could enable illicit activity?

roywiggins 6y ago
The EU has been making noises about requiring this. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/288592-eu-wants-speed-governors-data-recorders-in-cars-for-2022 https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/288592-eu-wants-speed-go...
tonyedgecombe 6y ago
Interestingly a lot of the EV's coming onto the market have strong acceleration but a quite low top speed.

alkonaut 6y ago

If it could be made 100% reliable I’d be happy to have a car restricted to (say) 30% over the limit. That would reduce crazy people doing 90km/h in 30 zones etc. But it wouldn’t be perfect, more likely it would occasionally pick up the 30 zone on the parallel street and limit my speed to 40 in the 90 road. No thanks. I don’t think it’s a solvable problem in the short term.