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I would also like to understand why the most basic regulations aren't in place on cars to limit their maximum speed, and maximum acceleration and/or power? It

I would also like to understand why the most basic regulations aren't in place on cars to limit their maximum speed, and maximum acceleration and/or power? It seems like the general public all agrees that it would be insane to allow arbitrarily powerful e-bikes, and so they are limited to (depending on your jurisdiction) 500 watts and 32km/h. This, despite that there are nearly 0 deaths from e-bikes per year. Cars and motorcycles on the other hand, are orders of magnitude more dangerous and we have no restrictions whatsoever. There are street-legal cars with 1000 horsepower and top speeds of over 400km/h.

cenamus 2y ago
In most jurisdictions they're limited to that power because they're ebikes. Above that you just have an electric motorcycle, which mandates different brakes and so on, but you can still do that. Just need a another license, more taxes, etc.
- BytesAndGears 2y ago
  Couldn’t you also require a higher tier license for large and dangerous cars, just like motorcycles require extra privileges? Allow anyone to own a sedan or compact SUV with up to 200hp. If you want to own something larger, you need an “oversized vehicle” endorsement. And if you want to own something more powerful, you need a power-level endorsement. And maybe you need to pay extra to have those endorsements, and they can be taken away if you are reckless. It could be a grandfathering system too, so not to disrupt the entire market. Automatically grant partial endorsements to people who already have those vehicles when the law goes into effect, but require testing within 5 years or when registering any new vehicle that meets those criteria. But cars and trucks are incredibly dangerous and it’s ridiculous society has basically zero restrictions. (I own a “small” truck and would be happy to have it restricted if it means the roads start to become safer for cycling and walking)
  - HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
    What evidence do you have that vehicles over a certain size and power are inherently more dangerous? And what about the problem would an endorsement solve?
    - david-gpu 2y ago
      > What evidence do you have that vehicles over a certain size and power are inherently more dangerous? Basic physics and historical collision data collected over decades. But don't take my word for it! Look up your local official collision data -- how many pedestrians have killed people inside a four-wheel vehicle? What about the other way around? Now repeat for cyclists, mopeds/motorcycles, and other four-wheeled vehicles. The heavier vehicle kills the lighter vehicle, primarily because of momentum.
    - MisterTea 2y ago
      > What evidence do you have that vehicles over a certain size and power are inherently more dangerous? It's not the vehicle but the entitled douche bag who thinks they own the road while wildly speeding around, cutting people off and weaving around traffic like a drunkard. No one needs that power save for insecure men.
      - HPsquared 2y ago
        Sounds like the driver is the problem. A rampaging driver can do pretty much the same damage regardless of the exact car. Police should focus on driver behaviour with stricter enforcement of "road manners" type rules. Broken window theory.
        MisterTea 2y ago
        Of course the driver is the problem but you can't fix stupid with police. Also realize that in the USA there has been a reduction in the amount of policing done on the roads for various reasons so don't expect much from the cops.
        2y ago
  - nradov 2y ago
    The actual data shows that some of the largest and most powerful vehicle models have quite low insurance claims for injuries to others. https://www.iihs.org/topics/auto-insurance/insurance-losses-by-make-and-model https://www.iihs.org/topics/auto-insurance/insurance-losses-...
    - david-gpu 2y ago
      Can you provide some examples? Because when I compare between classes, there is a clear trend in the data you provided where large four-door cars have higher rates of bodily injury than midsize cars, and it goes down again for small and mini. And it makes sense: in a collision, the heavier vehicle crushes the lighter one. Am I misreading the data?
      - samatman 2y ago
        Did you look at the data for pickups?
    - HPsquared 2y ago
      This really just looks like a proxy for social class. Edit: though interestingly there's an uptick when you get to the ultra-ostentatious vehicles like Bentley and Lamborghini.
  - bluGill 2y ago
    We already have higher tier licenses for large vehicles. However they are set such that only heavy duty trucks qualify - dump trucks, semis, and other such things. That is the types of things you drive as part of a job, as opposed to personal vehicles.
karlgkk 2y ago
> I would also like to understand why the most basic regulations aren't in place on cars to limit their maximum speed, and maximum acceleration and/or power? If you bring this up, the amount of visceral reactions, you get from people who demand that you stop talking about the subject is incredible. They come up with all sorts of crazy hypotheticals (what if I need to rush to the hospital at 105 miles an hour).
- DiggyJohnson 2y ago
  Point taken. But I do think it’s wrong to put no value on the reason behind the popularity of that visceral reaction. Unless safety and efficiency are the only things we are optimizing for. Being able to drive what you want, where you want, when you want, and how you want, within reason, is one of the emergent freedoms ever granted by the progress of civilization.
  - joshlemer 2y ago
    I think it's a bit hyperbolic to characterize limiting car speeds to, say, 150 or 170 km/h, as a serious curtailment of our civilization's fundamental freedoms.
    - simondotau 2y ago
      How many people are dying because cars are exceeding 150 km/h?
      - joshlemer 2y ago
        I don't know, but many people are caught driving in excess of 200km/h where I live in BC, when the maximum speed limit anywhere is 110km/h. There's literally never ever one single reason to drive over 150km/h, so any case of anyone ever doing it is already one too many. Even if there is just one death, that's too many, according to me. How many would it take to convince you?
      - david-gpu 2y ago
kart23 2y ago
Is there any evidence showing that cars with 1000 horsepower and top speeds of over 400km/h have higher fatality rates than lower powered cars?

cenamus 2y ago

In most jurisdictions they're limited to that power because they're ebikes. Above that you just have an electric motorcycle, which mandates different brakes and so on, but you can still do that. Just need a another license, more taxes, etc.

BytesAndGears 2y ago
Couldn’t you also require a higher tier license for large and dangerous cars, just like motorcycles require extra privileges? Allow anyone to own a sedan or compact SUV with up to 200hp. If you want to own something larger, you need an “oversized vehicle” endorsement. And if you want to own something more powerful, you need a power-level endorsement. And maybe you need to pay extra to have those endorsements, and they can be taken away if you are reckless. It could be a grandfathering system too, so not to disrupt the entire market. Automatically grant partial endorsements to people who already have those vehicles when the law goes into effect, but require testing within 5 years or when registering any new vehicle that meets those criteria. But cars and trucks are incredibly dangerous and it’s ridiculous society has basically zero restrictions. (I own a “small” truck and would be happy to have it restricted if it means the roads start to become safer for cycling and walking)
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
  What evidence do you have that vehicles over a certain size and power are inherently more dangerous? And what about the problem would an endorsement solve?
  - david-gpu 2y ago
    > What evidence do you have that vehicles over a certain size and power are inherently more dangerous? Basic physics and historical collision data collected over decades. But don't take my word for it! Look up your local official collision data -- how many pedestrians have killed people inside a four-wheel vehicle? What about the other way around? Now repeat for cyclists, mopeds/motorcycles, and other four-wheeled vehicles. The heavier vehicle kills the lighter vehicle, primarily because of momentum.
  - MisterTea 2y ago
    > What evidence do you have that vehicles over a certain size and power are inherently more dangerous? It's not the vehicle but the entitled douche bag who thinks they own the road while wildly speeding around, cutting people off and weaving around traffic like a drunkard. No one needs that power save for insecure men.
    - HPsquared 2y ago
      Sounds like the driver is the problem. A rampaging driver can do pretty much the same damage regardless of the exact car. Police should focus on driver behaviour with stricter enforcement of "road manners" type rules. Broken window theory.
      - MisterTea 2y ago
        Of course the driver is the problem but you can't fix stupid with police. Also realize that in the USA there has been a reduction in the amount of policing done on the roads for various reasons so don't expect much from the cops.
        2y ago
- nradov 2y ago
  The actual data shows that some of the largest and most powerful vehicle models have quite low insurance claims for injuries to others. https://www.iihs.org/topics/auto-insurance/insurance-losses-by-make-and-model https://www.iihs.org/topics/auto-insurance/insurance-losses-...
  - david-gpu 2y ago
    Can you provide some examples? Because when I compare between classes, there is a clear trend in the data you provided where large four-door cars have higher rates of bodily injury than midsize cars, and it goes down again for small and mini. And it makes sense: in a collision, the heavier vehicle crushes the lighter one. Am I misreading the data?
    - samatman 2y ago
      Did you look at the data for pickups?
  - HPsquared 2y ago
    This really just looks like a proxy for social class. Edit: though interestingly there's an uptick when you get to the ultra-ostentatious vehicles like Bentley and Lamborghini.
- bluGill 2y ago
  We already have higher tier licenses for large vehicles. However they are set such that only heavy duty trucks qualify - dump trucks, semis, and other such things. That is the types of things you drive as part of a job, as opposed to personal vehicles.

karlgkk 2y ago

> I would also like to understand why the most basic regulations aren't in place on cars to limit their maximum speed, and maximum acceleration and/or power? If you bring this up, the amount of visceral reactions, you get from people who demand that you stop talking about the subject is incredible. They come up with all sorts of crazy hypotheticals (what if I need to rush to the hospital at 105 miles an hour).

DiggyJohnson 2y ago
Point taken. But I do think it’s wrong to put no value on the reason behind the popularity of that visceral reaction. Unless safety and efficiency are the only things we are optimizing for. Being able to drive what you want, where you want, when you want, and how you want, within reason, is one of the emergent freedoms ever granted by the progress of civilization.
- joshlemer 2y ago
  I think it's a bit hyperbolic to characterize limiting car speeds to, say, 150 or 170 km/h, as a serious curtailment of our civilization's fundamental freedoms.
  - simondotau 2y ago
    How many people are dying because cars are exceeding 150 km/h?
    - joshlemer 2y ago
      I don't know, but many people are caught driving in excess of 200km/h where I live in BC, when the maximum speed limit anywhere is 110km/h. There's literally never ever one single reason to drive over 150km/h, so any case of anyone ever doing it is already one too many. Even if there is just one death, that's too many, according to me. How many would it take to convince you?
    - david-gpu 2y ago

kart23 2y ago

Is there any evidence showing that cars with 1000 horsepower and top speeds of over 400km/h have higher fatality rates than lower powered cars?