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Reader Comments for
Subscribe to this threadAussie speeding PSA hits below the belt
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Torqued @ Jun 27th 2007 9:14AM
"In NSW speeding is a factor in about 40 per cent of road deaths each year. This means more than 220 people die each year in NSW because of speeding."
People don't die "because of speeding". People die because they hit stuff while speeding. Let's make it illegal to hit stuff instead.
10mph over the limit in an F250 or Tahoe is not the same as 10mph over in a Falcon or Corvette. They can stop faster and handle better at speed. Then you take into account the drivers experience and reaction time. It may not be possible to make a law like this, but the reason speed limits are traditionally enforced with a cushion is that one speed limit doesn't cut it for every driver on the road.
If I were a cop, I'd pull over the guy doing 80 towing a horse trailer before the guy doing 80 in a sports car.
epilonious @ Jun 27th 2007 9:41AM
Thank goodness you're not a cop.
The whole "Oh I am in a sports car that means I can handle better and stop faster" bullshit is what gets so many sports cars wrapped around trees and other motorists.
There is a wonderful place where you can open up your car and test all the limits of it's handling and it's called a RaceTrack! The nice thing about the race-track is there aren't any pesky trees or curbs or pedestrians and you don't have to worry about road irregularities or some other crazy person doing something, well, crazy. Also when you spin out and wreck some part of your car you have no-one to blame but yourself rather than trying to pin it on the old lady who deigned to make a lane change when you were trying to pass on the right doing 80 in a 55.
The ad got it wrong. It's not the penis of the careless speeder that's small, it's the brain.
Torqued @ Jun 27th 2007 10:13AM
epilonious-
I'm not sure I understand your argument. Are you saying that all vehicles handle and stop equally? Or that I am personally an irresponsible driver who runs into old ladies? Because I don't understand either argument.
Let me ask you this. Would you drive an 18-wheeler the same way as your daily driver? Because I would drive it more slowly and carefully. If you think one standard fits all, would you accelerate and lane change the same way in these two vehicles?
epilonious @ Jun 27th 2007 1:04PM
If you are driving a sports car on a public road. Your goal should be to drive like all the other cars, regardless of your individual cars capabilities. Whether or not your car can accelerate and turn and brake faster does NOT give you any right to speed and weave and tailgate. Thus, if a cop catches you doing it you are just as liable as the 1988 Hyundai doing the same thing. Even if you think the clunker was more dangerous because it can do less things well on a skidpad. I eschew the notion that cars should get some sort of excuse to disobey basic traffic laws based on their capabilities.
Thinking that you get to speed or weave more than other vehicles because you drive a sports car is a jackass' opinion that will get people hurt. This is because everyone else is expecting you to follow the rules of the road and not try to get around them for whatever dumb reason you can cook up (and "because I feel my car is physically capable of it" is the worst of the dumb reasons).
I retain my original point. If you have a gloriously sporty vehicle and think it can do all sorts of amazing performance feats, you take it to the race-track to prove it to yourself. You don't use it as an excuse to drive like an ass.