Who else drives fast?

[J5545]

If you enjoy the buzz of driving fast-go to track days!Dont get me wrong I speed from time to time like most but I dont do stupid speeds like what are being mentioned. Its all very well saying it isnt speed that kills its the people who drive fast and dont know how to control their cars that do. Infact speed does kill even if you know how to control a car. NASCAR drivers etc have reliable sufaces on which to drive,the roads in this country are shocking. NASCAR also have paramedics ambulances helicoptors because accidents do happen even with talented drivers on predictable surfaces which they know like the back of their hand with cars that are perfect in everyway at the start of each race. Car companies dont make cars to be taken out and driven like a racecar eg,if your on and off the breaks for bends etc they heat up and become useless.If a balljoint or wheel comes off at the wrong time or 100+mph you will be in serious S*** compared to driving down your street at even 30mph. Cars arnt built to withstand crashes at 100+ mph look at touring cars for example and notice how much safety equipement they have. so saying your going to crash anyway is a very stupid and nieve outlook to have-how bad a crash is,is purely related to how fast the car was travelling.

[cherryred]

NASCAR is a little boring for me. WRC all the way!!! Also, my boyfriend and I went down to the drag strip last weekend to do a few runs. Good times!

[AussieAdam]

If you like to break the laws by flying way above the speed limits thats fine but please can you pay your own medical bills whn you wrap yourselves round a tree.

Could you please be the one too that has to go to the house of a 6 year old you have just flung across your bonnet and tell her parents. Or perhaps explain to the kid why you have just pulped his dads brains.

I get really pissed off hearing about so called expert drivers that say they are more than capable of driving a car at ridiculous speeds. Capable says who? You think that cos you have been lucky enough NOT to have an accident in several years despite busting speed limits every day it wont happen? - You rhink you have some kind of immunity.

Sure we all bend the needle but you can be as lucky for years on the road avoiding accidents - You only have to be unlucky once and then some poor buggar is arranging a loved ones funeral.

You can never account for the kid that runs out in the road for a ball, The car that suddenly breaks in front of you to avoid a lump of rock or wood, the animal that suddenly cross in fron of you. Or the other pratt that flys out of the junction at 70kph believing he too is invincible.

I believe that anyone convicted of speeding at more than 15% over the speed limit more than once in a year should recieve an automatic ban and have to take an extended test.

If they continue to speed then Id pulp their car and ban em for life as they clearly have no respect for the law or others on the road.

Every freaking week the obituary colums have deaths in them caused by so called skillful drivers who ''know the limits of their cars and how to handle them at speed''

[Exodus]

Live with it Aussie. It is possible for people to have confidence in their driving skills and know what their doing. Do you think people that race in Nascar, or Rally X, etc all just got hired one day to be a driver and became one? Yea right . . . It takes skill, and you pick them up from expieriance. I speed, and I've never hit anything, spun out, lost control, etc. There is a measure of common sense while speeding, and god forbid some people DO have it . . .

[AussieAdam]

I have confidence in my driving skills thank you ok. In fact since I came to the Uk I have taken and past an advanced driving test ok.

If you speed its not skill any moron can drive fast AND get away with it for a reasonable time. Limits are set for a reason and its pratts like you that think they are above the law that put people in hospital.

Ive nevr hit anyone, spun out, lost control etc. There is a measure of common sense while speeding ...and god forbid some people DO have it.

Dont make me laugh - Your just a boy racer who thinks he knows it all. If you wanna speed then take it to a racetrack not a public road. You might think your clever - Most other people think your a dipstick

To be honest you tell ME to LIVE with it -- I honestly hope that when you DO have your first crash ( cos you will ) its in a tree or a fence and not into some poor bloke who respects other road users.

Maybe a visit to a hospital and a chat with RTA victims in a spinal unit might educate you --- But then I dont think it would

[AussieAdam]

Myabe they should just jail guys like you for 12 months, crush their car and make you take a re-test Mr Exodumb - Perhaps then you would take ya foot off the peddle

[Sam_oz]

my simple logic - it has worked for me nicely, and although loosing my licence caused me to follow rules a lot more stringently, i still have the same belief:

drive as environmental surrondings allow

ie - tearing it up at 100clicks along backstreets of a surburban area is an incredibly stupid idea, but doing the same thing in the middle of nowhere on a road with wide shoulders, no side streets, and high visibility and on-camber corners is much more safe, provided you know the road and the road surface...

sure, you may have the skill to drift your car around 120 degree corners doing 60km/s, but if a 4 year old girl runs out into the street can you stop in time not to hit her? Unlikely, but doing 40k's with full traction you may very will be able to stop...

if youre going to speed, be considerate, and do it away from other drivers who you are endangering, and who dont have the same desire to drive fast - and besides, people are stupid, i have never tailgated, over-taken, or passed someone closely because they cant be trusted to do something unpredictable, and if they do, you dont have the same margin to counteract their actions...


if you wanna be a hardcore racer, go do it on an open day on a race track... if you cant afford that, either dont do it, or make sure youre the hell away from other people you can hurt

also to the idiot who said:

Do you think people that race in Nascar, or Rally X, etc all just got hired one day to be a driver and became one? Yea right . . . It takes skill, and you pick them up from expieriance.

I dont know which dream world youre from, but most drivers ive met, and know about have started in go-karting, lower powered open wheelers on race courses - NOT from tearing it up on public streets... use your brain f you have one and thing - would anyone gain any valuable racing experience from fanging it past traffic doing the speed limit? Or would the experience come from trying to pass people who dont actually want to be passed?

[Exodus]

In what post did I say I RACE my car? You people really are as dumb as bricks. I speed, so with that said, where does that say I race?! WOW, you can pass an advanced driving test . . . Do you want a cookie? I speed randomly, and when conditions allow. You act as if I'm going 85mph in rush hour, bumper-to-bumper traffic cause I said I speed. Like I said, THERE IS A MEASURE OF COMMON SENSE when it comes to speeding . . .

Exodumb . . . My god, and your calling me dumb after coming up with a name like that you little t***

[Guest]

I find it so ridiculous that everyone looks upon the speed limit as a finite value. To say that it's safe to drive up to that speed and dangerous to exceed it is quite wrong. The point at which a speed becomes dangerous is a huge grey area and requires many factors to be taken ito account. Paramount are the obvious ones of traffic, time, presence of dwellings and road conditions. Also to be considered are the qualities of the vehicle and the driver.
People who are properly trained are allowed to determin a safe speed by their own judgement. They are trained to apply their own dynamic risk assessment. These include most of the blue light drivers. The fact that even they sometimes have accidents shows that it's impossible to reduce the risk to zero unless we all park up.
Speed limits are designed to allow drivers to be prosecuted for an offence without the prosecution having to prove that they were driving carlessly or dangerously. The setting of speed limits is not an exact science. Most built up areas are 30 limits regardless of any differences between them. However, it's easy to show that a car was travelling above this speed so that's an offence. If a driver exceeds the speed limit by a serious amount then a second charge of driving without due care and attention or dangerous driving is bought. These do have to be individually proven and carry a much more serious penalty.
Risk assessments are also non-exact procedures. There is no acceptable case of zero risk. Stopping all vehicles moving is not acceptable. Therefore we have to decide what is an acceptable risk. As anyone involved in risk assessments knows, this is a simple multiplication of the hazzard's consequncies and the likelehood of it happening. So the chance of a child running into the road is time and location dependant. Speed limits do not take this into account. They are dumb instruments which trained drivers are legally allowed to ignore as they carry out their own dynamic RA's.
Blue light drivers also have to balance risks. Again this is a non-exact process. If an ambulance is travelling to an incedent, time is important so the driver is allowed to accept a higher than normal risk on the journey in order to reduce the risk to the patient caused by delaying his arrival. Again, there is no case of zero risk, just a dynamic balance.
At the risk of repeating myself, speed limits are dumb tools and should not be considered as finite values when deciding if a speed is dangerous.

[Exodus]

Also, look at it in this aspect . . . The speed limit on the expressway near me is 65mph. Yet the lane to the farthest right is 45 with it being the "slow lane". How much sense does that make?! The rest of the street is all 65mph, flat pavement that is safe for 65, yet two lanes over is unsafe for 65...

Its funny, when I was in my 93 LeSabre. I was going 83mph down the expressway. I see a cop headlights coming up fast, and I say "I'm screwed anyways" and I maintain 83mph . . . The cop comes behind me, stays there for a second or two, and blows past me (without his sirens, lights, etc) going probably 90-100mph and continues on his way . . . So with that said, everyone speeds.

[Guest]

Also, look at it in this aspect . . . The speed limit on the expressway near me is 65mph. Yet the lane to the farthest right is 45 with it being the "slow lane". How much sense does that make?! The rest of the street is all 65mph, flat pavement that is safe for 65, yet two lanes over is unsafe for 65...

Its funny, when I was in my 93 LeSabre. I was going 83mph down the expressway. I see a cop headlights coming up fast, and I say "I'm screwed anyways" and I maintain 83mph . . . The cop comes behind me, stays there for a second or two, and blows past me (without his sirens, lights, etc) going probably 90-100mph and continues on his way . . . So with that said, everyone speeds.

Yes, having different speed limits for different lanes going in the same direction is not only non-sensical it is also unsafe. Most road designers avoid such concepts.

My experience in the US and in Canada is that the authorities tolerate around 20 to 25kph over the speed limit (approx 14 to 18mph) for most traffic on the freeways and major highways. They hold the view that there's plenty of margin for error built into freeway speed limits. (On secondary or less well constructed roads their view is a little different.) In Italy the autostradas have a notional limit of 130kph (the speed tolerated by North American police on similar types of roads). They chose this limit on freeway style roads to attain a compromise between fuel usage, safety and efficiency - in earlier years the limit was virtually open.

The absolute adherence to speed limits by the authorities (as for example in Victoria Australia) appears less enlightened. This approach allows no margin for judgment on the part of the driver or the police. In Northern Territories Australia, the speed limit is open. You can go as fast as you want as long as it is safe to do so. This calls for considerable judgment on the part of the driver and the police and you drive within parameters of safety based on road condition, road type and structure, other road users, your skill, vehicle type and vehicle condition. But their per-capita road toll and accident rate is not that different to its sister states.

[AussieAdam]

Seems like the only way you are going to learn some sense is when you wrap your car around a tree. You think your so damn perfect a driver and that you know it all when it comes to controling a car. There are so many like you buried in church yards around the world - Sadly they also take some poor b***** who was just driving home minding his own business.

So the law sets limits on the roads and you decide that you are above the law. I wonder how many other laws you feel you are above.

There needs to be laws set that mean that if you exceed a speed limit by a stupid amount ( like you do ) Then you are banned for five years, You have to sit an extended re test and the car you are caught in is sent to the crushers.

I bet you talk on ya mobile while your foots hard down on the gas too cos after all you ARE a perfect driver. I think any bloke who has a daughter prays that whatever she does in life she never ends up with a jerk like you.

Hurry up and hit a tree and make the road one car safrer Exodus

[AussieAdam]

And Guest please if your going to make a point about Driving in Australia then use a better anology.

You cannot make comparisons with Northern Territory and Other States. NT has a far lower population than any of the other states. Also its Infrastructure means that its not as easy to police as other states.

Comparing per capita of population is nonesense. Its like doing a survey of 20 people in one town then 2000 in another and then assuming that because the percentages were the same then each set of results has equal validity. There are over 1 million people in Adelaide and barely 4000 in Darwin -- Any comparisons on anything are not valid

[Exodus]

Seems like the only way you are going to learn some sense is when you wrap your car around a tree. You think your so damn perfect a driver and that you know it all when it comes to controling a car. There are so many like you buried in church yards around the world - Sadly they also take some poor b***** who was just driving home minding his own business.

This just shwos how pointless it is to argue with you. Its impossible to make you see that some people have this thing called talent. Skill, talent, identifying threats, knowing how to handle your speed, etc. Retarded douschbags like yourself just seem to think none of this is possible and that its extremely dangerous no matter what. If I do wrap my car around a tree, then I'll know I f*cked up, but until then, I'll continue with what I do. Hell, if I do get into an accident, hopefully its with some uptight jerkass like YOU that was driving under the limit which BECAME the threat on the road, and you learn your lesson and learn how to drive. Advanced course or not, you're just a pu$$y when it comes to driving.

[AussieAdam]

Just goes to show what a total moron you are - The sooner you are off the road the better- Christmas is on us so with a bit of luck you will be out on the road having had ya six beers and five shots....and this time you will get pulled.

As for being a pussy - Its so easy to be a big guy on the pc -- By your style of writing and fat gob attitude I can tell you are just a hormone screwed up teen - All attitude and mouth with no commonsense..And you wouldnt have the balls to insult me face to face boy...But I guess you need to find some place to feel like ya something.

You really do sound like a real little jerk----Everyone can see it except you.