Originally posted by Soothfast
Speed limits are instituted primarily as municipal revenue enhancement devices,

...says the man who's never been tailgated by a dumbo in a German car.

Most often because he is that dumbo in a Merc, Beemer or Golf, IME.

I wonder how many people have been killed by a car because the driver, for a critical fraction of a second, was consulting a speedometer?

I wonder how often you check your mirrors.

Not often enough, I fear, if you really believe that checking your speedo as well is going to make a difference.

Richard

Originally posted by Shallow Blue
...says the man who's never been tailgated by a dumbo in a German car.

Most often because he is that dumbo in a Merc, Beemer or Golf, IME.

[b]I wonder how many people have been killed by a car because the driver, for a critical fraction of a second, was consulting a speedometer?

I wonder how often you check your mirrors.

Not often ...[text shortened]... you really believe that checking your speedo as well is going to make a difference.

Richard[/b]

I CAN'T say I don't half agree. Good Point!

I was a design consultant for Jaguar Cars Ltd. for many years. I had to take a Jaguar advanced test even before I was allowed to sit at the wheel of Jag.

I was, on occasions, asked to speed test, on the track at Brown's Lane, Coventry Plant, an X-K8 or saloon X-J6.

Prior to doing that, the advanced course of driving, that was NECESSARY, was intensive. It involved advanced thinkings, that are never taught in general driving lessons.

One example: You are approaching a school area, speeding in your Jag of course, not too much, but you ain't doing 30mph or 25kmh in US. What do you look out for 100m ahead, as you approach.

Most normal answers are : a Zebra crossing, orange lights flashing, etc.

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How about shadows underneath the cars you are approaching?

Look at not the road, as that is clear. Look at shadows and the light effect! If a child is behind a parked car, and either motionless or moving, you can see the shadow, beyond the 4 wheels and normal shadow of a car. You can anticipate, even at speed, IF THERE is risk or a child! (I don't condone driving at speed near schools by the way. IN FACT any knowledgeable driver wouldn't be at speed in a school area anyway.

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But camber of the road? Negative camber? How many know what this is?

If you take a corner at speed, with negative camber, you'll lose your back-end, unless you put your foot down in rear-wheel drive.

What drive does your car have? Front or rear-wheel drive? Do you know?

Lots of extra lessons are taught at Advanced level driving. How to control the vehicle when on ice, turning the wheel and redirecting the car when planing on water etc. etc.

Jaguar insists on an Advanced driving course for all customers.

I wonder if Porsche, Ferrari and the rest are at that quality level?

I doubt not. They just take the customer money, and forget who they are putting into the vehicle! 🙁

(Those persons maybe just the dim-wits who kill or injure people)

I've been driving at speed, not always but when I want to, and I've never hit a car, had an accident, or been close. There are times I have anticipated other drivers being ass- *holes, and I have been more than prepared to slow, change lane or accelerate into them and pull off, just to pass them off. 😉

Tailgaiting is just a no no. It's just easier to take the middle lane or slow lane at speed, in and out, rather than sit behind the moron who drives at the speed limit. 😀

Driving at speed is safer than driving with the lunatics... once trained to do so.

-m. 😀

Originally posted by Soothfast
Upon reflection I suppose the only reason why I ever look at my speedometer is to make sure I'm not going much more than 10 mph over the speed limit -- and that's only because of a desire to avoid a heightened probability of a citation, not because the speed limit has any inherent validity.

Speed limits are instituted primarily as municipal reven ...[text shortened]... for a critical fraction of a second, was consulting a speedometer?

Authoritarianism sucks.

Im going to go with Shallow Blue, and say the number of instances of people checking the speedometer causing an accident is low, probably in the 10's of people.🙂 But I would suspect that number is directly porportional to the speed at which the driver was going when they decided to check. I can envision the scenario of a teen attempting to peg the speedo, constantly checking it at a high rate of speed being a problem (Most of us probably know from experience), but other than that, checking it at regular rates of speed is safe ( in my opinion).

Originally posted by Shallow Blue

I wonder how often you check your mirrors.

You check your mirrors because you have to. You check a speedometer to avoid getting fisted by The Man. Vive la différence.

Originally posted by mikelom
I CAN'T say I don't half agree. Good Point!

I was a design consultant for Jaguar Cars Ltd. for many years. I had to take a Jaguar advanced test even before I was allowed to sit at the wheel of Jag.

I was, on occasions, asked to speed test, on the track at Brown's Lane, Coventry Plant, an X-K8 or saloon X-J6.

Prior to doing that, the advanced course ...[text shortened]... at speed is safer than driving with the lunatics... once trained to do so.

-m. 😀

Obviously you don't live where there are lots of two-lane roads with no passing zones.

I always groan when I get stuck behind a Jaguar (which MUST be pronounced like a monocle-wearing blue-blood wearing driving gloves: YAG-oo-war). At least where I'm situated Jaguar drivers are invariably putt-putt pussies who couldn't achieve the speed limit if they had a calculator to help them.

Originally posted by Soothfast
Obviously you don't live where there are lots of two-lane roads with no passing zones.

I always groan when I get stuck behind a Jaguar (which MUST be pronounced like a monocle-wearing blue-blood wearing driving gloves: YAG-oo-war). At least where I'm situated Jaguar drivers are invariably putt-putt pussies who couldn't achieve the speed limit if they had a calculator to help them.

You are Jeremy Clarkson, and I claim my five pounds.

Richard

Originally posted by sonhouse
I guess he is referring to the sound of the car going by at 200 Km/hr because his speedo broke....

It's the sound of a silent fart exiting a colostomy bag.