Is 70mph too slow?

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Unfortunately this takes little account for those 50mph drivers that fail to check mirrors properly before pulling out in front as you try to pass at 100mph.

If the driver has passed an extended test to drive at 100 mph he will be well aware of idiots trying to pull out at 50 mph and will have anticipated this from forward observation and the vehicles position and likely change of course.

I regularly drive at 100 mph+ in Germany and you dont get the 50 mph idiot because the police strictly enforce lane decipline, you do get the odd person that cuts you up but by then you have already backed off creating the safety cell around you
 
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Here's a thought.........

To those who are happy to take an advanced driving test, to allow them to drive at 100mph, would you also be willing to have a 'black box' in your car to record your driving activity?

Personally I'd be happy for all cars to have 'black boxes', but that's another thread.
 
Personally I'd be happy for all cars to have 'black boxes', but that's another thread.

You would? :confused:

Just think of all that revenue that would be made out of you.

Insurance companies using the data to say that you drove at high risk times of day or in high risk places or that in some way you present a higher risk.

Random tickets, demanding money by the authorities because your cruise control briefly let your car go 4mph over the limit on a hill or some such nonesence.

Lease and warranty companies trying to weedle more money out of you by claiming the data showed abnormal usage or something silly.

Oh, and I've not started on the right to privacy and the fact that the black box could be a very powerful spying tool.
 
All this talk of reaction times is well and good .

However , an advanced driver will have perfected his observational skills and anticipation to the point that he/she very , very seldom gets caught out and has to rely on fast reactions - indeed needing to react quickly to a surprise on the road is almost a sign of failure .

It is entirely possible to travel very quickly whilst maintaining extended observations and a safe distance from other vehicles . Only truly unforseen events such as sudden tyre deflation or bird strikes cannot be planned for .
 
Here's a thought.........

To those who are happy to take an advanced driving test, to allow them to drive at 100mph, would you also be willing to have a 'black box' in your car to record your driving activity?

Personally I'd be happy for all cars to have 'black boxes', but that's another thread.

Yep, our training car is fitted out with the same spec black box used in the Police Traffic cars, activates automatically as soon as the car moves. Although we use the data for driver training and advancement and to point out bad habits and not to apportion blame if anything goes wrong.

Would make no difference to me thats why I'm happy to sit my advanced test and instructors test every 3 years and 2 years respectively,
 
Speed does not kill.
As some evidence to this I had the fastest man on earth staying with me last weekend, and he seemed to be honest……. very well!:D
He was undertaking his first ever motor race in a Lotus Elise and was duly picked on by all the regular racers. ‘Encouraged to take a wider line’ whenever the opportunity arose and rear ended more than once.
The number plate on his car displayed 1000 MPH, his next target with Bloodhound SSC, so he became a target!
‘Not seen aggression like this since flying Tornados in Iraq’ was his take on the racing.

Seems to me like a microcosm of our roads. Some folks see the make of car we drive as an invitation to display aggression, but use of appropriate speed is certainly not a killer.
The debate as to what is appropriate will of course be endless.:wallbash:
 
You would? :confused:

Just think of all that revenue that would be made out of you.

Insurance companies using the data to say that you drove at high risk times of day or in high risk places or that in some way you present a higher risk.

Random tickets, demanding money by the authorities because your cruise control briefly let your car go 4mph over the limit on a hill or some such nonesence.

Lease and warranty companies trying to weedle more money out of you by claiming the data showed abnormal usage or something silly.

Oh, and I've not started on the right to privacy and the fact that the black box could be a very powerful spying tool.
What would the difference be between this and the tachograph?

I think a more pertinant question might be, 'How many modern cars do NOT have some type of black box fitted somewhere in the management systems?'

Pontooner
I think 'making progress' might be better than 'travelling quickly' :)
 
A bend does not kill.

A tree does not kill.

...but put all three together and they will kill you........

Yep! and the only thing we can be absoloutley sure of in this world is that we will die.
Sometimes by stopping very quickly, but rarely by going very quickly.......
 
A bend does not kill.

A tree does not kill.

...but put all three together and they will kill you........

Nope, but the point is that excessive speed is more likely to put all three together and someone in a wooden box before their time.

Modern cars are capable of travelling well above the NSL and make light work of a 120mph cruise, even my humble engined 211 can do this.

However other road users will not antipate a car travelling at this sort of speed and on a motorway some plonker will pull out and the 120mph driver will be braking very hard, and it the time taken to slow down will seem like an age....

By law 70mph is the limit and on motorways this is completely disregarded, much more so in England in my experience and keeping up with traffic on the M40 is a near 3 digit affair and 70mph gets you overtaken by AA trucks towing broken down renauts. I guess if the limit was set to what people actually do, speeds would rocket to well over 110mph as an average and people simply do not have the skill to operate a car at this speed, especially if something goes wrong.
 
I think a more pertinant question might be, 'How many modern cars do NOT have some type of black box fitted somewhere in the management systems?'

A case in point from our local news a few months back. Mr and Mrs (both well over alcohol limits) were imprisoned after they killed more than one member of a family when they failed to see that the traffic had stopped in front of them. The brand-new Jaguar XJ they were driving sportingly gave away their speed following electronic interrogation, and they were successfully prosecuted on the results. The Jag was still doing >100 MPH at point of impact.

The car was spying on them, but in this case at least it helped to ensure justice was rightfully served.

Still a tad unnerving though. What else will it give away, and how, and to whom?
 
A case in point from our local news a few months back. Mr and Mrs (both well over alcohol limits) were imprisoned after they killed more than one member of a family when they failed to see that the traffic had stopped in front of them. The brand-new Jaguar XJ they were driving sportingly gave away their speed following electronic interrogation, and they were successfully prosecuted on the results. The Jag was still doing >100 MPH at point of impact.

The car was spying on them, but in this case at least it helped to ensure justice was rightfully served.

Still a tad unnerving though. What else will it give away, and how, and to whom?

Very unnerving. The XF will show speeds, driver inputs 30secs upto impact. The police have no right using YOUR car to CONVICT you. All cars should be fitted with a scrub data button that a driver can press to protect themselves.
 
Very unnerving. The XF will show speeds, driver inputs 30secs upto impact. The police have no right using YOUR car to CONVICT you. All cars should be fitted with a scrub data button that a driver can press to protect themselves.

What is wrong with that if the data is obtained by court order. It is the same with any evidence. The police cannot search your house without warrant. Having such button could be the equivalent of every stabber being given a bleach laced rag to wipe their knife clean after every attack.
 
A bend does not kill.

A tree does not kill.

...but put all three together and they will kill you........

No they wont your lack of ability will kill you by not recognising the hazard in the first place and taking the appropriate action, create that margin of safety and it WILL save your life
 
Very unnerving. The XF will show speeds, driver inputs 30secs upto impact. The police have no right using YOUR car to CONVICT you. All cars should be fitted with a scrub data button that a driver can press to protect themselves.

Of course the XF's recording could also prove you did nothing wrong and so help to confirm your innocence.

As for your 2nd sentence ***, is it law that using your car to convict you is illegal or just wishful thinking on your part. As this 30s recording is something recently introduced in this country for cars, I doubt if it's use has been tested in a court case to decide if it is admissible evidence or not. Happy to stand corrected if I'm wrong of course.
 
What would the difference be between this and the tachograph?

Erm... well potentially, everything.

This black box could very easilly monitor an awful lot more than you'd want it to. GPS coordinates, times, placews, speeds, changes of direction, braking forces, throttle positions in fact it could gather a few thousand bits of data including video or audio and upload it on the fly to a central repository available to whoever and whatever.

My old W124 is barely able to store any form of error codes. :eek: I agree though that modern cars already have some potential for evidence gathering should there be a serious enough requirement.

The only cars that I know of to date that automatically phone home and upload data all come hail from Maranello.
 
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Because it's a bit rubbish when your everyday belongings drop you in it...

What about when you yourself provide the evidence to convict yourself, just by doing something legal, natural and vital to support life.

All these arguments were brought up when breathalysers were introduced, and failed.
 
Very unnerving. The XF will show speeds, driver inputs 30secs upto impact. The police have no right using YOUR car to CONVICT you. All cars should be fitted with a scrub data button that a driver can press to protect themselves.

Why not ?

They absolutely have the power to sieze any vehicle involved in a crash and take it to the pound for examination . Data downloaded from a car's electronic systems is no different from evidence gathered from skid marks left on the road , examination of tread depth on a vehicle's tyres , testing of the efficiency of a braking system or 1001 other things they are empowered to check including MOT , insurance and maintenance records .
 
Because it's a bit rubbish when your everyday belongings drop you in it...

No different than you yourself dropping you in it if you , for argument's sake , you are intoxicated and provide a positive blood or breath specimen .

If someone is guilty of some wrongdoing , why should they be able to escape conviction on technicalities or because of political correctness .

By all means protect the innocent , but let's also see the guilty banged to rights .
 

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