4 ms·

Well that's a pretty silly way to look at this. No one needs a car that can go faster than 85mph, but pretty much every car on the market can break that limit.

by epmatsw 11y ago

Well that's a pretty silly way to look at this. No one needs a car that can go faster than 85mph, but pretty much every car on the market can break that limit. What makes this different?

ck2 11y ago
It takes a lot more effort to go more than 85mph (and the engine has to work differently depending on the environment). Someone stepping on the pedal and being where a pedestrian is in 2 seconds could be very fatal for inexperienced drivers.
- steffan 11y ago
  > Someone stepping on the pedal and being where a pedestrian is in 2 seconds could be very fatal for inexperienced drivers. Probably far more likely to be fatal for the pedestrian
zzzeek 11y ago
my dad has a Tesla, I've driven it, and I think it is entirely different. The acceleration you see in a Tesla happens at times like, when you're trying to make a left turn in front of some other cars really fast; you're going from zero to about 30 miles in hour in less than a second, silently. If you happen to not have seen a pedestrian in the crosswalk as you do this, that pedestrian is dead; they will not hear you, and you will be through them before you even know it. The acceleration of the Tesla presents a challenge to normal human reaction times on a routine basis. It encourages the driver to use the greater acceleration advantage to do things that would not be possible in more traditional cars, like zooming from a dead stop to a very high speed to get through turns or rapidly changing traffic blockages. All with zero engine noise emitted to the world around you. I love the tesla but the acceleration / noise thing is definitely going to cause more accidents until some mitigation is applied (which I hope to be that the cars just drive themselves).
cbd1984 11y ago
> No one needs a car that can go faster than 85mph ... until they REALLY do.

4 ms·

Well that's a pretty silly way to look at this. No one needs a car that can go faster than 85mph, but pretty much every car on the market can break that limit.

by epmatsw 11y ago

Well that's a pretty silly way to look at this. No one needs a car that can go faster than 85mph, but pretty much every car on the market can break that limit. What makes this different?

ck2 11y ago
It takes a lot more effort to go more than 85mph (and the engine has to work differently depending on the environment). Someone stepping on the pedal and being where a pedestrian is in 2 seconds could be very fatal for inexperienced drivers.
- steffan 11y ago
  > Someone stepping on the pedal and being where a pedestrian is in 2 seconds could be very fatal for inexperienced drivers. Probably far more likely to be fatal for the pedestrian
zzzeek 11y ago
my dad has a Tesla, I've driven it, and I think it is entirely different. The acceleration you see in a Tesla happens at times like, when you're trying to make a left turn in front of some other cars really fast; you're going from zero to about 30 miles in hour in less than a second, silently. If you happen to not have seen a pedestrian in the crosswalk as you do this, that pedestrian is dead; they will not hear you, and you will be through them before you even know it. The acceleration of the Tesla presents a challenge to normal human reaction times on a routine basis. It encourages the driver to use the greater acceleration advantage to do things that would not be possible in more traditional cars, like zooming from a dead stop to a very high speed to get through turns or rapidly changing traffic blockages. All with zero engine noise emitted to the world around you. I love the tesla but the acceleration / noise thing is definitely going to cause more accidents until some mitigation is applied (which I hope to be that the cars just drive themselves).
cbd1984 11y ago
> No one needs a car that can go faster than 85mph ... until they REALLY do.