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Re: Speeding is good? No I don't agree... [What is a good driver?] <long>
At 03:45 PM 11/1/2001, Patrick Bureau wrote:
>jason,
>
>you know I need to find out if you on my way back home from Montreal and I
>really hope you are *or anywhere close to a single 5hrs detour)
>I would like to sit and have a beer with you on day. sounds like we coudl
>discuss this for days at LONG lengh on this list but I am afraid we are
>boring the other folks...
Well, I could be on the way, but it depends on where you're coming from.
;) I'm right outside of Pittsburgh.
Sounds like a plan, though. :)
Jason
> ___ ___________
> / |/_ __/ ___/ A Texan's Scirocco 1985 8v
> / /| | / / \__ \ http://www.longcoeur.com/scirocco
>/ ___ |/ / ___/ / (AIM) patricdlc, (ICQ) 32918816
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>
>
>
>----Original Message Follows----
>From: 16V Jason <jason@scirocco.org>
>To: pbureau@home.com, scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>Subject: Re: Speeding is good? No I don't agree... [What is a
>good driver?] <long>
>Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2001 15:04:41 -0500
>
>At 12:41 PM 11/1/2001, Patrick Bureau wrote:
>
>>Jason, glad you see it still as a conversation.
>
>Hey Patrick,
>No worries, it'll stay a conversation always with me; you'll never see me
>mad on this list. :)
>
>I do have a few comments though:
>
>
>>Technology as been claiming many lives in cars, telephones, radio now with
>>cdroms, Tv sets etc etc etc... that is just a fact that people, the
>>average job actually LETS himself be distracted because driving is such a
>>common occurence and 90% of the avergae joe on the road beleives they are
>>good drivers because they have not had an accident in teh last 2 years of
>>driving (as per inforced by inssurance corporations...), this has worsen
>>since the arrival of SUV's now they drive tanks and don't even get hurt
>>when they run over other peoples car with them.
>
>Right. Being accident-free is not an indicator of being a good driver. My
>Grandmother, whom I absolutely adore, is regrettably a horrible driver, but
>one with a 50+ year driving history and not a single accident. And on the
>other hand, some of the best drivers I know have had many accidents.
>
>
>>100MPH (as previously quoted by example in a zone of 45-50MPH) is
>>reckless. dangerous, even if you are a consiencious driver, a tire blow
>>out at 100MPH on a daily road will take you into a house, a telephone post
>>or even worst... that kid admiring how fast you car was coming up the
>>road, just before you squash him on the sidewalk and kill him. that is
>>what I am talking about.
>
>Well, you're right. Stopping distances grow exponentially as speed
>increases -- as does the force involved if you have an accident. However,
>to say that 160km/h/100mph is a reckless speed is exactly the type of
>brainwashing I was talking about because of speed limits. 100mph is most
>certainly a reckless speed in a city. But on a purpose-built highway with
>limited access, medians, etc? There's a very good reason why Germany has a
>lower death rate than the US even though they have much higher speeds and a
>much more densely populated country: Prudency. Their speed limits are
>prudent -- they make sense, so people follow them.
>
>Now driving at 100mph next to a sidewalk where there's a remote chance of
>*anyone* standing is reckless. But as far as I'm concerned, so is
>60mph. Given the right conditions, though, 150mph isn't unreasonable at all.
>
>And, for the record, the 110-in-a-55mph ticket I got was a limited access,
>4-lane-in-each-direction, perfectly flat, perfectly straight, perfectly
>paved section of I-95. North and South lanes are separated by a 10-foot
>high wall, and there are guard rails on both sides of the roadway. There
>are no houses nor children to hit, and as I said, having passed only 3 cars
>in 32 miles, there also wasn't anyone else to hit.
>
>
>>I am not arguing the speed laws in some areas are below logical
>>explanations (I have seen 15MPH limits on 3 lane roads) but in hine-sight
>>the limits are what they are NOW, because every hot-rod-head in his
>>mustang and camaro has blown and raced on the same road, killed children,
>>injuded others, destroyed property etc, and the towns and cities are tired
>>of the massacares because these "children" holding a steering wheel. (I am
>>using children not in an age sense but in a frame of mind sense)
>
>Rightfully so! I'm the asshole holding up traffic actually doing 15mph on
>school zones! And then people get mad at me for wanting to drive 70mph on
>an open country road.
>
>
>>I may sound like a preacher and perhaps my point of views come being in
>>teh 70's driving a monster car, able of 9s 1/4 mile racing on street
>>tires, being reckless myself, and first accused of my statements above,
>>but I have encountered an accident that me realize in the 90's that even
>>if you know you car, even if you are carefull, you will have an accident
>>at least once in your life, and as "insane" as I might of been in teh
>>past, and probably because of it, I got "lucky" ran into a ford 1955 with
>>a Honda civic, I walked away from the accident with a bump on my head, the
>>car was totaled. the truck has a bent license plate (damn trucks are built
>>tuff in those days...)
>
>I, too, had an accident that forever changed the way I feel about
>speed. Many of you know about it. I was in the passenger seat for 2
>accidents separated by 3 weeks, both with the same driver. The first, we
>totalled the S-10 Pickup we were riding in when a drunk driver pulled out
>of a blind intersection in front of us. Impact speed was close to
>75mph. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
>
>Three weeks later, we're in the rental car because the S-10 (which had only
>a few thousand miles on it), was totalled. We entered a curve at 110mph
>and halfway through, the driver got spooked and hit the brakes. We wound
>up flying off of a 17-foot cliff at an estimated speed of 100mph, only to
>land below, flipping one time back-over-front and then 5 and a half more
>times side over side. We were the first people to ever survive this cliff
>and we made the evening news, etc... apparently it's a very dangerous
>corner, and accidents happen there all the time, but we were going fast
>enough that we flew over the trees rather than slamming into them.
>
>All things considered, we both were extremely lucky. But it did leave me
>with more than a year of physical therapy and a number of permanent injuries.
>
>>Andy used to drive Sprint cars in the USA, the details I got is that he
>>was driving ~ 100MPH on the highway (clear day no rain) and some drunk
>>bastard on the right lane, saw him coming up on the left lane and decided
>>it would be fun to play crash derby with his cadillac. Andy got
>>side-winded, and flew into the middle ditch and velocity took him across
>>the bank into opposing traffic he ran under an 18 wheeler that never saw
>>him coming and crushed the car with his rear wheels.
>
>But here is a perfect example where the conditions were not right for
>driving 100mph. Yes, it was a clear day -- but he was passing a car with
>an obviously high speed differential. That's fine on an Autobahn, where
>people are prepared for, and expecting, that. I have no problem passing
>cars at 150mph, but not if they're going only 60. Speed doesn't kill;
>speed differential does. Sorry to say, but it sounds like Andy should have
>slowed down before he passed the asshole in the Cadillac.
>
>
>>It will always be hard for me that anyone driving a mass produced car at
>>the limit of the edge on public roads is a consiencious driver.
>
>Well, I think you know I disagree, depending on where, when, and how... but
>that's what makes life interesting!
>
>Take care,
>Jason
>
>
>
>
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