Well, My Luck Has Finally Run Out.

[Skoshi]

Because there are people in this world who are so stupid, that they think they are safe when driving 3x the limit.

An example that happened in my town, there's this parkroad or whatever, 40km/h limit. Loooong stretch of straight road. 3.00 at night, this guy decides to open up and is doing 150km/h. An older chap comes from an intersecting road, where he is supposed to wait and let others pass. He sees the cars headlights, and thinks they are still far away, and since its 40km/h, he has plenty of time to turn before he gets there.. Wrong. The other guy doesn't have time to react and rams his rear quarter and both cars are pretty much totaled. Two people dead.. Yeah it was plenty safe to drive over three times the limit at night, when no one else is one the roads.

 

[Hazardous]

I think speed limits are there for a reason, but however, I believe they instead of having a limit, it should just be the recommended speed, the driver can drive at whatever speed they think is safe.

Disagreed.

Please explain why? I'm pretty sure both you and I know we would never drive at 120mph in a area with no speed limit if everyone is driving, say 80mph? A state with no speedlimits does not nessasarily mean greater accidents. (unless it is in a land full of rice boxes and crazy kids), but aren't we all responsible enough to know the limits? I can garuntee that every time you guys went over the limit, it was well safe and it wasn't wreckless, it was just driving abit quicker because there is no one and maybe just want to have a slight adreneline at going 160 in a 100 zone

I see that Skoshi already pretty much said what I intended to say. In traffic each car is driven by a human being who not only can make mistakes, but also has a limited capability to make judgements. That's why common rules are needed so that everyone can work with others in some sort of harmony. If we had no speed limits on roads it would remove one big rule, and the end result would be chaos. On a same highway there could be people doing 100kph and 250kph. That would not work.

 

[jeffy777]

but aren't we all responsible enough to know the limits?

You and I and other people on this forum may be responsible enough, but no, not every driver on the road is. In fact, tons of them aren't. I kind of already explained this in my last post: The guy who pegged my sister in the side was obviously not responsible enough to be driving as fast as he was. To say that speed limits are just a suggestion is just asking for trouble from leadfoots who are more concerned about being late dinner than they are about other people''s lives.

 

[andyhui01]

okay, maybe I should rewrite one part I got wrong... I was meaning for highways with no intersection... because as I have observed after being to different parts of the world (Germany's autobahn included) is that having no speed limit doesn't make the highway more dangerous, it is drivers with no lane dicipline.
For example, when my dad and I was driving in germany, we were in a rented A4 at about 230kph (top speed) and of course, my dad knowing the strict lane dicipline in Germany, he followed as well only using the outermost lane to overtake. I was very surprised that everyone was doing the same and this definetly made the highway safe.

Try doing this in malaysia, people jump in and out of highways, there are people doing 100kph and 180kph on all the 3 lanes on the highway.

 

[STi Nut]

Good ridence I say. I have very little tollerance for people who speed and endanger innocent people.

I know several people who have been killed or lost family members because some asshole young guy is in his cheap plastic Japanesse car with a large engine doing, lets say, three times the speed limit, makes a mistake for one second and ends up killing people.

All because the are so pathetic and irresponsible to think that the rules are there for a reason and that they are God's gift to driving!

come to Adelaide and i will show you where the cop let you go as fast as you want....if you have the correct car that is

And whilst my example was about young people in Japanesse cars it is equally to people in more expensive cars. It is just that usually the cost of the car limits its availablity to the people.

It is equally as bad to see young people, usually P platers, that have borrowed their parents car and think this lets them drive faster and better.

On a side note, I get so pissed off when I am driving Merc, Bentley etc. and some tool in his 80's Skyline or shitbox Commodore pulls up at the lights and revs to try and make you race them.

A) I'm not stupid enough to endanger myself, other people and my car doing such stupid things.
B) I already know that if I wanted to I could put my down and blow them away.

I think people just need to grow up and use a brain...and it is pretty sad when a 21 year old is telling you that.

you have alot of very good points.

P.S. my comment was a

 

[Plexface]

okay, maybe I should rewrite one part I got wrong... I was meaning for highways with no intersection... because as I have observed after being to different parts of the world (Germany's autobahn included) is that having no speed limit doesn't make the highway more dangerous, it is drivers with no lane dicipline.
For example, when my dad and I was driving in germany, we were in a rented A4 at about 230kph (top speed) and of course, my dad knowing the strict lane dicipline in Germany, he followed as well only using the outermost lane to overtake. I was very surprised that everyone was doing the same and this definetly made the highway safe.

Try doing this in malaysia, people jump in and out of highways, there are people doing 100kph and 180kph on all the 3 lanes on the highway.

Just to make sure, the autobahns in Germany are troubled with more accidents than most other roads, so it's not that safe to drive there. Speed + human error = death (to often atleast)

 

[andyhui01]

Despite the general high speeds, the accident and death rate on the Autobahn is relatively low. Autobahn crashes account for only 10% of national traffic fatalities and, in fact, the fatality rate is lower on the Autobahn than on US Interstates.

http://www.rapidcars.com/autobahn.php

Despite the general high speeds, the accident, injury, and death rates on the Autobahn are remarkably low. The Autobahn carries about a third of all Germany's traffic, but injury accidents on the Autobahn account for only 6% of such accidents nationwide and less than 12% of all traffic fatalities were the result of Autobahn crashes (2004). In fact, the annual fatality rate (3.2 per billion km in 2004) is consistently lower than that of most other superhighway systems, including the US Interstates (5.0 in 2003).

http://gettingaroundgermany.home.att.net/autobahn.htm

another site(not the autobahn though, its the US state of montana)
http://www.hwysafety.com/hwy_montana_2001.htm

and Plexface, I agree with you that speed kills, but speed doesn't kill if you have a well maintain road, good drivers.... etc. Really, I was really amazed by the roads on the autobahn

 

[Plexface]

Problem is, you don't have good drivers. Lots of crappy drivers out there, who just managed to pass their driving test after like 7 times or something. And if the accident rate is so low why are the german government thinking of establishing speed limits on the autobahn?

 

[Janus]

Problem is, you don't have good drivers. Lots of crappy drivers out there, who just managed to pass their driving test after like 7 times or something. And if the accident rate is so low why are the german government thinking of establishing speed limits on the autobahn?

That is a very good point. The very scary thing about driving is that no matter how careful you are and how many road rules you follow, it only takes one person who doesn't care and thinks they are above everyone else to slip up for one second and it can be the end of your life.

The autobahn is one very scary place. The max speed I've been to is around 250km/h (the Mercedes limited speed), and for the whole time you are on edge constantly checking what is going on around you, checking out the road a mile ahead for other traffic and what lane they are in and that is in a Merc with radar cruise control to, in theory, slow you down behind traffic up ahead. I sat around that speed for 15-20 minutes, I wouldn't want to drive for a long time at that speed or trying to do anything at the same time, like carry on a conversation.

 

[Beni]

-remove post-

 

[hajj]

Problem is, you don't have good drivers. Lots of crappy drivers out there, who just managed to pass their driving test after like 7 times or something. And if the accident rate is so low why are the german government thinking of establishing speed limits on the autobahn?

That is a very good point. The very scary thing about driving is that no matter how careful you are and how many road rules you follow, it only takes one person who doesn't care and thinks they are above everyone else to slip up for one second and it can be the end of your life.

The autobahn is one very scary place. The max speed I've been to is around 250km/h (the Mercedes limited speed), and for the whole time you are on edge constantly checking what is going on around you, checking out the road a mile ahead for other traffic and what lane they are in and that is in a Merc with radar cruise control to, in theory, slow you down behind traffic up ahead. I sat around that speed for 15-20 minutes, I wouldn't want to drive for a long time at that speed or trying to do anything at the same time, like carry on a conversation.

It's not all the time safe to do 250kph on the Autobahn, but there are times when it is perfectly safe. There are also careless people around, when I drive form Holland to Germany the first stretch of road in Germany is always rather dangerous to drive. There are normally no cars in the left lane which travel under 200kph, whereas in the right lane you are stuck at 120kph, but there are always people coming onto the left lane with only 130-140 kph just to overtake one or two cars, they normally get the speed of oncoming cars wrong, since in Holland most traffic does around 140 in the left lane, so you have to it the brakes rather hard, if you are in the left lane. That are always scary moments.

 

[freerider]

I'm just wondering. WHY do most people want to drive fast? Do you think it's cool? You really think you're going to get somewhere noticable(sp?) faster? Just obey the rules, it's not that hard. Most people who react the way most here do, don't see the danger in speeding. And it's just not relevant to start about the Autobahn. It's a whole different place, which is made for this purpose. And believe me (I've been there lots of times), not a lot op people drive very fast on the Autobahn. Lots of them stay around 120-130kph. I wouldn't recommend driving 200kph on the Autobahn, when you just received your drivers license. It's really hard driving at high speeds for a longer time. Lots of youngsters think they can drive after 1 year. Forget about it. Speeding doesn't kill, but stopping really fast does. If you want to learn how to drive, take courses, go to trackdays,... I know it really helped me and I'm still learning.

When someone posts a video about someone crashing because of high speed or misjudgement, everybody says he's stupid, but this person could be you. I'm not saying that staying below the speed limit will result in a crash-free life, but it will surely help.

Greetz Johan

 

[Hazardous]

Problem is, you don't have good drivers. Lots of crappy drivers out there, who just managed to pass their driving test after like 7 times or something. And if the accident rate is so low why are the german government thinking of establishing speed limits on the autobahn?

Actually, one of the biggest reasons(AFAIK) is the enviromental impact since driving faster uses much more fuel and creates more pollution. Remember, the 250kph limiter that the german cars have was brought in by the demand from the green party.

 

[mautzel]

Yep, the Green party is definitely a bigger issue for speed limits on German motorways than accident rates. And please don't forget, that only a mior part of the German motorways don't have any speed limits, and those are largely stretches in rurual areas, whereas in city areas you will be restricted to 120 or 100 KM/H, and that's for a good reason. And though the number of accidents on motorways might be surprisingly low: if something goes wrong on a motorway, it usually goes seriously wrong including injuries or even deaths, and that's what you always have to keep in mind when driving that fast!

 

[Janus]

I'm just wondering. WHY do most people want to drive fast? Do you think it's cool? You really think you're going to get somewhere noticable(sp?) faster? Just obey the rules, it's not that hard. Most people who react the way most here do, don't see the danger in speeding. And it's just not relevant to start about the Autobahn. It's a whole different place, which is made for this purpose. And believe me (I've been there lots of times), not a lot op people drive very fast on the Autobahn. Lots of them stay around 120-130kph. I wouldn't recommend driving 200kph on the Autobahn, when you just received your drivers license. It's really hard driving at high speeds for a longer time. Lots of youngsters think they can drive after 1 year. Forget about it. Speeding doesn't kill, but stopping really fast does. If you want to learn how to drive, take courses, go to trackdays,... I know it really helped me and I'm still learning.

When someone posts a video about someone crashing because of high speed or misjudgement, everybody says he's stupid, but this person could be you. I'm not saying that staying below the speed limit will result in a crash-free life, but it will surely help.

Greetz Johan

Here, here!

 

[oliB]

Well i've just learned that my suspension doesn't come into effect until April. Which is nice.

Can someone explain how the hell that works? Surely if you're going to be suspended then you should be suspended immediately, not in a few weeks time. Talk about stupid rules .... some idiot bureacrat has outdone himself there...

Agreed.

You know what, here in Germany you can actually choose when the suspension comes into effect.

Very handy for people who have, for instance, a 2-3 week vacation coming up and a suspension of 1 month. They'll schedule the suspension accordingly and have only 1 week off.

 

[No Boss]

You know what, here in Germany you can actually choose when the suspension comes into effect.

"In Soviet Russia, Car drives YOU!"

But seriously, I'm really surprised with how many people on this board are condemming this excessive driving. Just because, I'm surprised there are this many people out there that drive the speed limit. Granted we are all from different countries, but in the US where I live, there isn't much speed limit reinforcement. So, straying 10-20mph over the speed limit, is quite a commonplace. But props to all of you for being such compliant drivers

 

[freerider]

But seriously, I'm really surprised with how many people on this board are condemming this excessive driving. Just because, I'm surprised there are this many people out there that drive the speed limit. Granted we are all from different countries, but in the US where I live, there isn't much speed limit reinforcement. So, straying 10-20mph over the speed limit, is quite a commonplace. But props to all of you for being such compliant drivers

I'm not doing it because of the tickets. I'm doing for the safety of everybody else on the road and my safety. Also, I just love to drive, so why should I risk loosing my license?

Don't get me wrong, I don't always agree with certain speed limits, but they are there for a reason. Not slowing down for a sign and saying that you don't see the danger is the stupiest thing you can do.

Offcourse you can drive a lot faster on most places, but you have to think about this. What if something happens? Are you still able to avoid an accident? The public road isn't a racetrack where you drive on the limit.

And I do drive fast on the Autobahn, but I concentrate purely on the driving and don't care when someone is faster. I drive the speed I feel comfortable with (depends on the car, road, weather,...) . But as said before, the Autobahn is totally different place. The roads are made for it and people keep in mind that there are people who drive a lot faster. The problem are the foreigners who drive the Autobahn for the first time, without knowing all the "rules"...Speedfreaks

I see it every time when I do a driving course or go to a trackday. A lot of people think they already know it all. They just don't listen to the instructor and/or are afraid to ask questions. Those are the people who crash/get into trouble or don't complete the course succesful.

Greetz Johan

 

[Plexface]

But seriously, I'm really surprised with how many people on this board are condemming this excessive driving. Just because, I'm surprised there are this many people out there that drive the speed limit. Granted we are all from different countries, but in the US where I live, there isn't much speed limit reinforcement. So, straying 10-20mph over the speed limit, is quite a commonplace. But props to all of you for being such compliant drivers

I usually drive just under the limit of loosing my licence if the traffic and roads allow it. Most of the time though I drive like 10-15km/h over the limit. Only place where I really follow the speed limit is residential areas.

But the point I was trying to make is that if you have no speed limits at all, it really opens it up for a little of people to drive reckless and idiotic. And lets face it, trying to triple the speed limit will usually be pretty reckless, no matter when you do it.

 

[jeffy777]

You know what, here in Germany you can actually choose when the suspension comes into effect.

"In Soviet Russia, Car drives YOU!"

But seriously, I'm really surprised with how many people on this board are condemming this excessive driving. Just because, I'm surprised there are this many people out there that drive the speed limit. Granted we are all from different countries, but in the US where I live, there isn't much speed limit reinforcement. So, straying 10-20mph over the speed limit, is quite a commonplace. But props to all of you for being such compliant drivers

yeah, 10 miles over isn't a big deal, even to cops. But around here, you're getting pulled over for sure if you're cruising at anything over that. There's not much crime in this area, so the pigs have nothing better to do than to pull people over, not just for speeding, but to search their car for drugs and give breathalizer tests. They're just bored I guess.