Current mood:

Suicidal

It's not rocket surgery.
Msnbc.com has a recurring feature, "Ads of the Weird". This week's column discusses an Australian PSA which implies that men who speed are deficient in the sausage department. (I know, I know, a clever idea that no one ever thought of before!)

The comments are full of everyone's Personal Philosophy of Driving, which (like driving itself) turns wanky and obnoxious immediately:

Or maybe people just like to drive fast and it has nothing to do with being macho or manly. Driving fast doesn't mean you have to drive stupid, and I think it's just as likely that people driving BELOW the speed limit cause an equal number of accidents as SOBER drivers driving ABOVE the speed limit. If you don't like someone driving fast behind you, GET OUT OF THE WAY. Especially if you're in the left lane people c'mon, learn how to drive.

John B

Aaaaand they're off. After wading through a couple pages of this, it's enough to make me want to give up driving forever and dust off my trusty old bicycle, rather than chance sharing the road with some of these people.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

eilan
2007-07-19 03:35 pm UTC (link)

I thought I would mention that speeding is NOT was kills people. Idiot drivers that don't know how to drive kill people. Just look at the Autobahn for an example. They have far fewer deaths per mile of road then we do here in the US and people drive at over 200mph.

Up until that 200 mph, the guy had a very small point. Small, but there.

Then it became obvious he can't even do basic Maths.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	alya1989262 2007-07-19 03:38 pm UTC (link)
	Isn't 200 mph something akin to 300 km/h? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	eilan 2007-07-19 03:41 pm UTC (link)
	~320, yes. And even 200 km/h (120 mph) are speeds you don't regulary see here. From what I can tell 180 km/h is usually the fastest. The roads aren't THAT good. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	doomsday 2007-07-19 04:35 pm UTC (link)
	people drive at over 200mph So in Germany, cars have no governors? Okay! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	pet 2007-07-19 07:22 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, I don't think they do! Or at least they're set a lot higher than they are here. My friend got a souped-up VW from Germany, and before they'd let it out of customs he had to put a US-standard regulator on it, because the European one was set far, far too high. (I think the poster meant 200km/h, though. grin) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

eilan
2007-07-20 07:02 am UTC (link)

There shouldn't even be one in German cars except maybe to stop the car from exploding when it is going too fast and the motor gets too hot, because there's no total upper speed limit + you can go whatever speed you like on private property.

(I think the poster meant 200km/h, though. *grin*)

That's still a stupid thing to say. Even really fast car rarely go faster than 170, 180 is normally the upper limit people go.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	eilan 2007-07-19 08:24 pm UTC (link)
	Well, if you explain to me what that is, as my dictionary won't tell me, I could answer that. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

aposiopetic
2007-07-19 10:56 pm UTC (link)

There's a thing in cars - my friend used to call it a nanny chip - that won't let you accelerate past a certain speed. I think it does it by decreasing the gas flow.

As a completely arbitrary example, I'm pretty sure you can't get a 1998 Ford Escort to go faster than 110 mph (which is 180ish km/h) unless you hit your top speed and then go down a huge hill.

~~Although it starts shaking at 100, so it's probably not the smartest thing you'll ever do anyway~~

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

eilan
2007-07-20 07:00 am UTC (link)

No, those things are not in effect in Germany. Because we don't have speed restrictions on some of our streets there is no legal reason for them to build those things in (motorbikes for people with licenses for only specific speeds have them, though).

Also, I don't see why they should be build in anywhere at all. You can drive whatever speed you want on private property after all. If I drive at the Nürnbergring (Formula 1 track) I can certainy go as fast as my car can without worrying about laws.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	chikane 2007-07-26 04:02 pm UTC (link)
	And we would have even less deaths if we had speed limits. It's not really a clever argument, that. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -