Car Tech 101: When cars go too fast, bad things happen | Cooley On Cars

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#speeding #cooley #supercar
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C19STACK

[joemacleod-iredale]

I felt safer driving almost 140mph in Germany than 70mph in the USA...

[CannonKnight]

I really, really, really miss CNET on Cars. Cooley is simply the best at what he does.

[AmperageY]

“Speed limits on the autobahn to reduce carbon emissions” so Zero Emissions vehicles could get exempt? 😌

[_kanon_]

If a car locks my speed to a designated limit I most definitely will not buy it. Autonomous cars doing the speed limit is a different animal though. At that point I'll just entertain myself with something entirely separate from driving.

[eduardoig]

I live in San Antonio Texas and I regularly visit Houston, the speed limit is 75 most of the way but people are normally doing around 85-90. Most of the way I am going anywhere between 85 and over 100

[problu]

Rare to see someone driving at or below a posted speed limit. Many drivers express anger toward a driver complying with a posted speed limit if that driver hinders their preference to exceed the posted speed limit.

[dansanger]

Trying to drive fast on US freeways, where no one practices lane discipline, is an exercise in frustration and futility anyway. That's why I set my cruise control at the speed limit, stay in the slow lane, and listen to podcasts. It's much more relaxing.

[JamesPhieffer]

The US Interstate highways, and Canadian Freeways like Ontario's 400 - series, were modelled on the autobahns, and engineered for the same speeds, so that isn't a valid issue regarding maximum speeds.

But driver training definitely is, as is expectations regarding speed differentials.

And speed differential is the most dangerous factor when it comes to driving on a controlled access freeway. Hence the stupidity of all those places where there are different posted limits for different types of vehicles (usually commercial vehicles vs cars). In contrast, there are the safer jurisdictions where both a maximum and a minimum speed are posted, and the range is fairly tight (10 mph/20 km/h max).

As to electronic speed restrictions, I've always thought it would be a great idea to allow the driver to easily turn on a governor, allowing the cars max speed to be temporarily restricted. This would be especially nice on long trips in poor weather, when you don't necessarily want to use cruise.

[Dwilsonmusic]

America is filled with speed traps just to make money! For example in my state not on my commute the highway goes from a speed limit of 65 where there are all kinds of curves hills in the highway but somehow the speed limit is 50 on a 3-4 mile straight with a cop speed trap just waiting for you at the end. This is the issue most Americans have with speed! I can have a speed limit on a road where there are businesses churches and everything else pouring in and out at 55 but the highway which is restricted to on and off ramps has a speed limit of 50 in certain areas hmm.... 🤔

If the speed limits made more sense people would abide by them. But currently what's happped so that these speed traps can be made up is that people go the speed of traffic and go the speed they think is safe. Not what's posted.

[Packerm]

People are too distracted behind the wheel. People are too distracted behind the wheel. And I can keep saying it. I use to work with someone who lived in Germany for 3 years because their father was active duty there and they told me getting a drivers license is so hard to, people often give up and stick to public transportation. States will literally give ANYONE a drivers license here. Americans aren't punished for poor behavior on the road. Our cars would be a lot different today, if people put the phones down, paying attention to what they were doing, and drove in the correct lanes. Germany has a STRICT law against driving in the left lane. But if you notice, they do not have signs or police, monitoring the behavior and that because they are taught what to do and it's a felony if they break the laws. I agree with him when he says it's like getting your master degree over there but it's about discipline. And technically we do have the same highway laws at the autobahn, just not one follows it and it's not enforced.

I live in Delaware, and people don't know their right from their left, it drives me crazy and it's very annoying. I grew up in Jersey where if you hogged the left lane, you would have police on your ass in 5 minutes. I vacationed down in FL, and the highway speed is 70, and people were doing almost 90, and cops didn't care because everyone shared the road and got out of the way. Poor judgment and arrogance are what makes driving dangerous.

[AnarchoHumanism]

Speed limits need to catch up to current car technology. We should not be stuck on the 1973! Also the roads are not designed for a particular speed limit across the country, for example the 405 in CAlifornia, people get upset with you if you go under 80. I drove through Utah and Idaho where I can see the road aheads for about 10 to 20 miles, and there is nothing there but completely empty land as far as you can see, why is there a speed limit there?! In addition we should not adjust to the lowest common denominator, but the other way around, what I mean is we should not all drive slow, because it is easy to get a drivers licence here, vs. Germany, nor because the other driver is not expecting XY and Z. Instead make the requirements for driving beter, and allow for a left lane with higher limits, you don't like it? then don't go there. We need solid solutions not excuses as to why.
As someone who has personally been to Germany the driving there is so much safer, and carefree.
IF NOT ANYTHING ELSE THE FACT THAT I CAN PAY 100% ATTENTION ON THE ROAD RATHER THAN HAVING TO LOOK OUT FOR COPS IS PROBABLY THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR ALL SAFETY, AND CLOSE TO NO ACCIDENTS

[acchaladka]

This safety issue in the US is mostly about better driver training and requirements - there’s no reason everyone in the US should qualify for a license any more than average people do in Germany. (And by the way, what kind of asshat reasoning is it to claim that ‘everything is different in the US’ as an argument for anything? Either a system works or it doesn’t.) I’d prefer a country where everyone is forced to qualify at the highest German or Swedish licensing levels, rather than the disaster we have currently in the US. With stricter and more consistent (ie federal) driver requirements we could yes, have autobahns in some more rural places. I’m against the automation of anything but commute-level driving, and I’m pro-electrification especially of cool performance cars.

[MidnightMustang]

I don't think there should be any sort of speed limiters on a vehicle, especially so low as 80-120 MPH. As an extremely paranoid person, you will never know when being able to quickly accelerate + move at high speeds may save your life. Already saved me once.

[MrTrevorkemp]

Not to mention on the German autobahn they do not put distractions such as advertising signs up even the road signs that tell us in the US that you are coming up on this road in this interchange is that road are way different on the autobahn And even those signs are designed to be less distracting so that way drivers can concentrate on the task at hand which is driving their car at triple digit speeds As well as in Germany especially on the autobahn if you pass on the right it is completely illegal and you will get a ticket for it and the ticket depends on how much you make in a year it's not set on a flat rate basis They want to make the fine on the ticket something that you will pay attention to Many people in the US who get tickets for minor traffic violations wouldn't think twice about spending that amount of money on paying the fine So they increase the fine in Germany so it's something that you would definitely think about and probably don't want to pay but will because if you don't pay it they suspend your license In the US you can go in in the morning and take your written test and then take your driving test in the afternoon to get your license in obtain your license in A-day if you are over the age of 21 in Germany it takes a minimum of 60 days with an actual instructor in the vehicle and thousands of dollars sometimes even tens of thousands of dollars to get your German driver's license In fact one of my theories is in the US there is enough corrupt people working for the department of motor vehicles that the people who administer the driving tests will sometimes accept cash bribes for passing you on your driving tests and sometimes may not even require you to even go out on the road they just go into the parking lot behind the DMV and sit there for 30 minutes and then have you drove back around and write a past tests for you on their paperwork where you missed 1 or 2 things So essentially what I'm saying is in the US I believe that you can just buy your driver's license.

[nicholassmith]

How are American freeways designed for 65 mph? They're the straightest roads in the world.

[computernerdinside]

Like my '03 Ford Taurus Sport. Duratec sounds nice, and she's got more in her. but speed limiter cuts me back at around 110 MPH. (Mind you this was on an empty, straight road as when I have fun with my cars I don't want to put anyone else at risk.)


My 2001 Volvo V70, well, I feel like it could do faster, but it's neglect and abuse from the previous owner has it in not the best condition to do that, so I don't try it.

[GRSEMETROMALL]

So what now high speed driving is only for the privileged few? We all know race cars run on money. Track day cars run on money too. If no one speeds how are the States and municipalities going to raise money for their budgets?

[DriftTaxi]

I still find it rather interesting that the better a driver a person is, the less they feel that they're an actual sound driver. Myself and several of my racing and drifting peers know are limitations and tend to drive within them. It's the Dunning-Kruger Effect. The more confident someone is behind the wheel, the less likely they actually have the skill to back that confidence.

[jermainec]

Some ppl just need to have their license pull or redid ... A bunch of half ass driving ppl on the roads today

[roguedogx]

To be honest, I'd like the automotive driving in America more like it is in Germany. Way too many people experience oversteer for the first time, when their life depends on learning how to deal with it. Not an ideal situation.