(blue_j)
Maybe someday you’ll slam your foot on the gas pedal to see how fast that Ford Ranger can really go and you’ll catch the sirens in your rear-view mirror, only to wave off the patrol car and resume going way too fast just for the fun of it.
That’s the dream of a candidate running for the Nevada governor’s office, the Associated Press reports. Under his proposal, you’d submit your vehicle to an inspection, pay a fee, bring along a transponder that declares your right to floor it for a 24-hour period.
The AP says the Nevada Highway Patrol does not approve of this message, warning it would cause more accidents and deaths.
Would you vote for someone who promised to get this done?
Nevada candidate touts speedy fix to budget crisis [AP via Slashdot]
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Making sure cars can handle speed is only part of the problem. The bigger problem which affects all speeds is that people are generally clueless about HOW to drive. And all of us share the road with those people.
Many of them haven’t looked at a driving instruction book since the day they got their first license. Many of them haven’t clue one about proper driving techniques, unless “proper” includes holding a phone in one hand and a drink in the other while the deity of their choosing does the steering. Hopefully.
Things like pulling out into traffic without looking, following too closely, shooting across three lanes when they miss their turn, and general stupid head-up-ass behavior are most of what’s wrong on the roads now, and a transponder won’t change any of that.
Changing how we educate and license drivers might, maybe, but no politician is ever going to mandate tougher standards and recurring and effective testing instead of rubber stamp license renewals. It would be career-ending, as they say.
Id be fine with it if they had their own roads and they would broadcast web feeds of the roads so I can watch them crash.
If actual driving skill were a requirement to get a license, then yeah…I’d be fine with this. Or, even, if you had to prove certain levels of driving skill to get a license to drive at certain speeds.
As it is, every utterly incompetent idiot in this country can get/has a driving license. And very large numbers of them are unsafe at any speed.
That might be the stupidest idea I’ve ever seen. Of course, we already essentially have that right. If you have a fat bank account and a lawyer who will talk the points down on tickets you can speed now without any real hit to your bank account. It’s when that fine represents a larger portion of your income that it’s hard to speed. There are countries that prorate the fines based on your income so it still hurts even if your rich. It’s a lot more fair and you’ll be less likely to get passed by sports cars with drivers who don’t care about cops.
Of course the NHP doesn’t approve – it would mean less tickets they’d be able to give and thus less revenue for the cops. Plus, to have caught a speeder and not be able to ticket him, well that defeats the purpose of becoming a cop in the first place.
I’d do it, since I’ll only do it on the freeway when there’s no other cars in front of me for the next few miles. Others, might speed by schools, across crosswalks, or during traffic.
This will work if there are three things in play:
1)Outside of city limits…long stretchs of highway only
2)Well taken care of roads. Going that fast and then hitting a pot hole can be very very bad.
3)It becomes void in bad conditions (weather, construction, traffic)
This is why I think that toll roads should have a higher speed limit. Maybe not an autobahn experience, but 80 or 90 wouldn’t be so bad.
Agree.
Well-maintained, limited access roads would be the place to put this in practice. I’m not sure about how well-maintained the Nevada roads are, but the ones being spoken about in particular are certainly llmited access (not having a bunch of on ramps and off ramps).
Rather this, I think we should be allowed to take a driving course similar to police training, and that certification would allow you to drive at higher speeds (you could be differentiated by the transponder, like in this story).
Two things on this:
1 – The reason that is always given as to why police can drive at higher speeds is that they have the training
2 – The autobahn exists, but the licensing process is more arduous than ours. Still people regularly drive in the triple digits safely, because they know how drive, rather than just knowing how to execute a 3-point and parallel parking.
They should combo this with the right to run red lights while speeding.
No. That privilege is reserved for the boys in blue (donut runs)
Alot of folks are using the Autobahn in Germany as an example of how speed limits are crap. The one thing they neglect to mention however, is that the licence tests in Germany are much more rigorous and the Autobahn has MANY more regulations than US Interstates. Plus only a fourth of the network has no general speed limit and there’s always an advisory speed limit in place.
Plus, there aren’t 50 different states doing 50 different things with their driving tests. Some US states are more strict than others and some are a bit lax (When I got my Texas DL parents could teach drivers ed and sign a waiver so I didn’t have to take the road test.)
Yes please!!
To quote the great Jeremy Clarkson,
““Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… That’s what gets you.”
This article is confusing.
Right to speed for a 24-hour period? does that mean 24/7? Just 1 day? Can you only do it once or do you have to get inspected/fee’d again whenever you want to speed again?
If it’s just a 1 day deal it sounds impractical. If it’s a 24/7 deal it sounds dangerous.
25 bucks a day? Ouch. Seems like that just creates a group of “haves” and a group of “have-nots.”
I think, on multi-lane highways, the speed limit should be “reasonable and prudent.” The new government cash cow can be enforcing tailgating and aggressive driving, but I see no reason why I (an admittedly average driver) can’t go 90 down the highway. Because big brother said so? =/
151 comments means I am too late to this party … the $25 is a good deal but I doubt it comes with a guaranty that you will be traffic free enough to use it. Plus, from LA to Vegas is only about 50 miles worth of Nevada. Still, probably a good insurance policy.
I’d be for it (sort of) if people had to prove their competence on a track, but even on a track there are stupid people. This will end up causing many more accidents.
If you want to drive fast, go to your local race track. Chances are you can join up with a local group and have a track day — I know most BMW and Porsche clubs rent tracks for a day. It’s tons of fun.
I liked when Montana freeways were speed limit free. They never felt unsafe, and you could still get a ticket for reckless driving.
As much as I enjoy spirited driving, the thought of some asshat blasting along a residential street at 80mph *legally* really chills my blood. But then, the police does that pretty frequently already.
Yes. Especially since on some highways it’s very common to speed.
But personally, I think a better idea would be to build a state-run track. Akin to the Nuremberg Ring, that would be the best solution.
In my younger days, I’d have been campaigning for this guy ;^) I used to drive between CA and UT all the time sometimes averaging speeds of nearly 100 MPH. Heck, the semis were all going 85 MPH so that’s not much faster. As long as you come out of hyperdrive five miles before and after cities like Reno, Wendover (Bendover), and any small one-cop towns you’ll most likely be fine. Now my buddy races at the salt flats going over 350 MPH and there’s little joy in driving fast compared to that.Almost every trip I’d see the remains of a roll-over with the family’s clothes, dolls, etc. spread through the center divide where the parent had fallen asleep at the wheel on vacation. When the road is divided and is a straight line from horizon to horizon, maybe they should bump the speed limit from 75 to 95 MPH.
When my car can drive itself (an everyone else’s can, too) I’ll say we can dispense with speed limits. Until then, human reaction speed are the limiting factor on how fast we can safely drive. There’s no magic number for any given road, but the “screw it, just go” method doesn’t instill confidence in me, considering how little you have to know to get a driver’s license.
We have stretches of highway in TX and OK that are posted at 75 and 80mph, it’s okay… It’s weird that I’ve become complacent enough to use cruise control when driving 70mph but I think that turning it on while going 80 is insane.
And it’s been so long ago, I can’t remember if this is an urban legend: When they did the Montanabahn thing didn’t they sell coupon books that people could give the cops if they got caught speeding? Or was that just what people were saying to get the highways back up to 70mph?
The good thing about the track is that you have documented bragging rights. I have every 1/4 and 1/8 mile slip I’ve ever run… but even the track can be very dangerous, and expensive.
uhhhh no. I’d live in Montana, and drive way too fast, for no extra money!!!
Up to 90mph? The speed limit on many NV highways is already 70mph or higher anyway.
Why are the highway patrol against the masses ‘speeding’? Because they are the first usually to arrive at accident scenes, and they are really good at figuring out from the tire marks how fast the vehicles were going, and hey, guess what? probably 6-8 times in 10 excessive speed is linked to fatal/high morbidity accidents.
And it’s NOT ok if YOU speed just because you’re an excellent driver. I’m sure you are, and if you are alone on a racetrack I think you should be able to drive as fast as you can handle it. But out on the public roads, we HAVE to cater to the lowest common denominator – this is the safe, civically minded thing to do.
Do I WANT to cater to the lowest common denom? No, no no no no no. Trust me, I’m also an excellent driver, and could easily handle my car at 100-120 mph on the open highway, and would LOVE to be able to drive to neighboring cities in half the time it currently takes, but I also drive with my ‘eyes open’, and every freakin’ day I see cars being driven by people who should NOT have a licence to drive.
What should this politician do? Well, it’s in his title, ‘politician’. He/she should do what it takes to get voted into office. (pls note the sarcasm intended here)
What should this PUBLIC SERVANT do, once elected? Enact laws that make it much harder to get licences – make the written test something that actually tests how people think problems through, not just how well they memorize a short list of facts. Make the driving test something that actually shows whether or not the people being tested should be out on public roads, or if they need more training first. Make the TRAINING not just more rigorous, but more FREQUENT. Got a speeding ticket? 10 hours driver’s ed. Period. no way to buy out. You WILL take 10 hrs of driver’s ed. Accident? Whether at fault or NOT, driver’s ed. (yes, perhaps you could have avoided the accident caused by some other driver if you had been prepared to EXPECT them to cut you off).
We have spent all this time/money/effort/blood/sweat/tears/LIVES, F***ING LIVES FOR GOD’S SAKE on this farce of a war in the middle east when each year we lose 10s of 1000s of lives on our public roads in AVOIDABLE ACCIDENTS.
Stop BS’ing me about terrorists – we are our most effective terrorists. We need to focus on OUR home for the next 15 years, and leave the world to its own resources.
Stop BS’ing me about accidental gun deaths each year – these PALE in comparison to the road deaths, and hey, guess what? same rule applies to licences to BUY GUNS (yes, it should require licences to PURCHASE guns, not just to carry them, and I AM A NRA MEMBER THANK YOU MUCH) ie. both classroom education and practical in the field education on how to store, clean, use, etc firearms – accidents happen when people do stupid, often avoidable things.
Hey, I’m just getting warmed up, but I’m not getting paid for this, so sayanara, my peeps.
In Texas, the speed limit along I-10 from Kerr County to El Paso County is 80 mph (daytime) 65 mph at night.
I thought Arizonas was higher than that (as in “Drive Safely”), but I guess not.
Would I pay to drive faster than 70-75? Probably not. That’s generally fast enough for me. Anything faster and you’re already pushing it as far as stopping distance, or loosing control with a blowout, etc..
Awesome Idea!
High speeds are only dangerous as far as there are slow vehicles on the road blocking you. If everybody is doing about the same speed, there is a smaller chance of an accident. That is why we have minimum speed limits on the freeways. Germany is doing just fine without speed limits on the Autobahn and there are no more fatalities per mile driven than here, but their drivers are also better educated, than here in Ohio, where at 18 years of age one needs to pass a written test and then a quick driving and has a license, at 16 one has at least to go thru school. In Germany whether you are 18 or 88 you have to go to the same school to get a drivers license.
Not everything should be for sale… especially people’s safety. If the speed limit is slower than it needs to be for that part of the road then raise it, but the basis for any speed shouldn’t be the dollar.
I’m also against people being able to pay to drive in the car pool lanes. This is a privilege that should be earn thru an environmentally responsible act… not because you know how to squeeze more money out of the system.