Topic: Speeding - shocking new developments

[eAyeAddio]

Yesterday was an historic day for me, a day which  I never thought possible, when 2 unconnected news items could be announced with such opposing and unlikely scenarios......

As a fast and experienced driver who has spent many years travelling on German autobahnen when living in Germany and an equal amount of time driving on interstates when I lived in California, I consider the two outstanding news items are worthy of your attention.......

1)  European law will make  GPS speed limiters compulsory and will be required to be fitted to all new cars from 2022.

German legislation will impose a blanket speed limit of 130 kph on it's autobahn system at the same time, finally ending limit-free roads.

2)  California introduced a bill for approval by the legislature  which will see Interstate 5 and State route 99 in Orange County, which connects Los Angeles to the Bay area, widened by 2 lanes in each direction and these new lanes will have NO speed limits.

I am in shock at both events and for them to be announced at the same time is nothing but a cruel joke.

[TepidT2O]

Bugger of a drive in California that...

Takes ages

[stoa]

Is there a source for the 130 limit on German Autobahnen, because I can't find one and have heard nothing about it. They are debating it every now and then but nothing has been done so far to my knowledge. And the speed limiter stuff is not a big deal I would say. It's just a driving assistance as far as I can tell and you can still go faster if you want. You can even turn the limiter off.

[Qston]

Speed limiter. Uuurggghhhh

[rob1966]

No need for them, won't have any effect on road casualties.

Can't find the latest figures, but in 2008 speeding caused 3% of all car accidents. It is poor driving, use of mobiles and INAPPROPRIATE speed that causes accidents. This is things like taking a bend too fast, driving too fast in poor weather conditions etc. Most motorcycle accidents are caused by cars pulling out on them, I'd hazard a guess that cyclist accidents are the same - this is down to drivers just not looking properly.

[۩ Imperator ۩]

People are going mental about this, but the limiters will have an over-ride switch. If you want to knowingly break the limit, you still can. The idea of the limiters is to stop people going too fast by accident.

[Ziltoid]

People are going mental about this, but the limiters will have an over-ride switch. If you want to knowingly break the limit, you still can. The idea of the limiters is to stop people going too fast by accident.

I thought that was cruise control

[Brissyred]

In the northern territory they had no limits on certain roads, a few years back the introduced speed limits and accidents went up, they then took the limits away and the accidents went back down again........

[ChaChaMooMoo]

In the northern territory they had no limits on certain roads, a few years back the introduced speed limits and accidents went up, they then took the limits away and the accidents went back down again........

Googled this and unable to find a link to this stat. Could you help me?!?

[Alan_X]

I thought that was cruise control

Cruise control just lets you maintain a steady speed on a long journey without keeping your foot on the accelerator. You can set the cruise control at 100mph if you want.

[Alan_X]

Googled this and unable to find a link to this stat. Could you help me?!?

I found something relating to one particular highway in the Northern territories:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Highway#Speed_limits

Interesting bit in this article is the ridiculously high accident rate in the NT with or without speed limits.

Annual road deaths in Australia have decreased from 7.9 to 5.2 per 100 000 population in the period from 2004 to 2013 (Box).1 In contrast to the national figures, the Northern Territory has recorded a mean of 21.8 deaths per 100 000 over the same period.

also:

Among NT road users, alcohol usage is high and seatbelt usage is low.2 Additionally, NT roads are almost invariably single lane and unseparated, many are unsealed, they are subject to the extremes of weather and are also exposed to wandering livestock and wildlife. Consequently, NT roads have attracted the lowest of Australian Road Assessment Program safety ratings, with over half having one and two stars out of five.

And I'm not even sure that there was an increase in road deaths after the imposition of speed limits:

The small numbers involved make statistical interpretation difficult. The Australian road deaths database shows a decrease in fatalities of 3.4 per year on those NT roads with speed limits of 110 km/h and above after the abolition of open speeds (mean deaths: 2000–2006, 31.1 per year; 2007–2014, 27.7 per year).

So with all due respect, I don't think there's a great deal to be learnt from the Northern territories.

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2015/203/1/open-speeds-northern-territory-roads-not-so-fast

[CraigDS]

Ridiculous. Soon you won’t be able to speed anywhere 

[rob1966]

Ridiculous. Soon you won’t be able to speed anywhere 

It's OK, you can sit in the middle or outside lane of the motorway at 70mph, posting on facebook, instagram, sending texts and playing candy crush saga, safe in the knowledge no bellend in a BMW will come flying past.