automatic cars

Excelsior

you are so odd.
just terrifically odd.

Baz_

okay, lets all back away very slowly now, give the man some room, and remember it's not guns that kill people its just blitzy

Keeks

Hey Blitz, you may think that you can safely do 70-80 mph in your car but you got to remember that the laws are there for everybody and since 90% of the driving population don't know what an indicator is or where the brakes are or what a stop is etc. it is safer to have the speed limit at 60. Even if I do wish it was more.

Canaboid

B0LL0X. There are 3 basic things that contribute to road deaths.
In no particular order
1. Bad Roads
2. Bad Cars
3. Bad Drivers

Speed is a function of bad driving i.e. inappropriate speed for prevailing conditions. The speed limit on motorways could be raised to 90mph if the road AND all those driving on it were of a certain standard. There are an outrageous number of people on our roads who have no idea how to drive safely at any speed. The reason for this is a pathetic testing system where, amongst other flaws, drivers are not tested over 30mph. The difference between manouvering a car at 30 mph and 60 mph is immmense. So is the damage done when things go wrong.
The amount of (to pick on one group) over 70s who have never sat a driving test yet are certified by the state to drive is truely horrifying (40mph in the overtaking lane on a motorway, we've all seen them).
Better driver training and stricter more realistic testing is the only thing that will have an effect on our road death statistics no matter what speed limits are imposed.

Blitzkrieger

Originally posted by Keeks:
Hey Blitz, you may think that you can safely do 70-80 mph in your car but you got to remember that the laws are there for everybody and since 90% of the driving population don't know what an indicator is or where the brakes are or what a stop is etc. it is safer to have the speed limit at 60. Even if I do wish it was more.

ummmm......This is why I was arguing for automatic cars. I trust myself to handle my car properly most of the time, but admit I sometimes will make mistakes. I know that most people will make mistakes and handle their car properly sometimes.

The technology has been around for ages and is just about becoming affordable now. Safer roads and faster travel? It's got to be worth it.

Blitzkrieger

I've just had a rant on the humor board about how bad people are at driving, so along with the "What's happened to us topic" and how crap people are at diving - here's another reason for taking cars out of human control - speed.


Despite driving a pos car, I usually quite enjoy driving. I get it out on the dual carrigeway, bring it up to 70mph and think to myself "Look how fast that tortise is going". I feel like I should stick my legs out of the bottom of the car and run along. It's the year 2,000 ffs and the speed limit is still 60mph!

I remember one cold autum evening, I cycled up to the top of the biggest hill I could find. I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts so the only reason I wasn't shivering was because of the exertion in getting up the damn hill! Of course the only point in doing this was to go back down...........quickly. God only knows how fast I was going but it was a pretty crap road so it felt very fast. I couldn't believe how cold the wind was. Any exposed skin went completely numb, the only way I could tell I was gripping the handlebars was to actually look down.

Even that didn't help after a while because the wind caused my eyes to tear up. The only way to get some vision back was to try to blink the tears away. When they ran down my face they were so cold they burned. Twin streaks of pain that must have been ice by the time they hit the ground. By then I was going way too fast to be safe. There was no way I could take the corners staying by the side of the road, or even staying in my own lane so I had to use the whole road. I missed a lorry coming the other direction by inches. The whole way down I was barely holding on. If I fell off I would have been badly hurt. If I hit any traffic I probably would have been killed. I couldn't steer too much because I was going too fast and any of a thousand potholes could have spelt disaster.

All I had to do to bring myself under control was ease on the brakes. Even pulling them too tightly would have made me crash but doing it gently would have brought me under control.

I didn't use the brakes. I didn't use them because I've never felt so alive. That was living. Driving home at 70mph everyday is dying. Even my car could safely do 80. I try to concentrate on the road but all I can ever think about is what else I could be doing instead of being stuck behind that wheel, while second by second, minute by minute my life drains away.

C B

www.samaritans.ie

1850 60 90 90

get a grip man!!