Are speed limits really necessary?

[Ash]

Many German highways have an unlimited speed limit, but there are still penalties for unsafe driving; if the conditions are poor etc.
The Autobahn is actually safer than many US highways, even though you can go 400 km/h if your car is capable of it and the conditions are good. Why shouldn't I be allowed to drive 200 with good conditions and minimal traffic?

[Morkonan]

引用自 Ice：

Are speed limits really necessary?

I kind of wondered the opposite, with speed limits, Why do we need super fast cars??

like if a motorway is 100 kph then why have a car that can do 300 kph?

I always want a car with a good top-end. That acceleration on the Interstate in the US when truly do need it is right there at your feet. It makes a pretty big difference.

But, I'm talking about more reasonable cars, coupes, and sedans with good engine power and transmissions that can give me a burst of top-end acceleration on-demand, not something like a Lambo... Though, I'd love a Lamborghini, if anyone's buying? :)

[WaitandSee]

引用自 Ice：

I kind of wondered the opposite, with speed limits, Why do we need super fast cars??

like if a motorway is 100 kph then why have a car that can do 300 kph?

I understand it would be quite challenging, without using an engine governor, to make a vehicle that can both achieve an efficient highway speed yet have acceleration and other driving characteristics that are both practical yet safe.

An early 90's family sedan with a 1.6 litre four cylinder carburetted naturally aspirated petrol engine that makes 70kW/160Nm can still get to 100km/h assuming it had an industry standard gearing pattern for the final drive and gearbox, but a 2022 family sedan with a 2.5 litre four cylinder direct-injection, high compression, naturally aspirated petrol using high-grade unleaded that makes 140kW/250Nm this vehicle (Assuming similar weight, which I am basing this on), can reach those speeds much more rapidly, using less fuel and still have plenty of room left to go before it runs out of gearing.

Having driven a myriad of different cars over the years, I'd much rather have and not need than need and not have. A good, efficient and reasonably powerful engine with a good gearbox makes a world of difference when it comes to driving dynamics and enjoyment.

[Ice Robertson]

引用自 WaitandSee：

Having driven a myriad of different cars over the years, I'd much rather have and not need than need and not have. A good, efficient and reasonably powerful engine with a good gearbox makes a world of difference when it comes to driving dynamics and enjoyment.

Yeah I'm 37 and never driven a car in my life but my dad owns a Mazda MX5 (i think 1989 model) and he has all the power he needs even though his car probably won't go past 120 kph, But when I'm in the car i keep telling him to slow down and he thinks if i ever drove a car I'd drive like an old granny.

My opinion is just that cars are fast and dangerous so seeing a title asking if speed limits are necessary, I just have a sort of opposite assertion.

[Morkonan]

引用自 Ice：

引用自 WaitandSee：

Having driven a myriad of different cars over the years, I'd much rather have and not need than need and not have. A good, efficient and reasonably powerful engine with a good gearbox makes a world of difference when it comes to driving dynamics and enjoyment.

Yeah I'm 37 and never driven a car in my life but my dad owns a Mazda MX5 (i think 1989 model) and he has all the power he needs even though his car probably won't go past 120 kph, But when I'm in the car i keep telling him to slow down and he thinks if i ever drove a car I'd drive like an old granny. :DeadSmile:

My opinion is just that cars are fast and dangerous so seeing a title asking if speed limits are necessary, I just have a sort of opposite assertion.

Drive.

Do it.

You need to do it if you're physically able. Get whatever the equivalent is of a "Learner's Permit" and/or go take a Driver's Education class and just... do it. Seriously. It's an experience of freedom you need to have, even if you choose to not drive.

In large metropolitan areas, it's not a rare thing that someone has never driven a car. But, even so, that's an experience everyone needs to have, IMO.

[WaitandSee]

引用自 Ice：

<Snip> Mazda MX5.

The MX-5's have the advantage of being very light in comparison to quite a lot of other cars, at least their ones made this century, like the ND MX-5, they're only 1080~ kilograms in the heaviest trims, which allows them to perform above their power output would lead you to believe.

I do agree that speed limits are reasonable and understandable in most built-up and areas with considerable traffic, but I do disagree with aggressively enforced speed limits on the very long and open roads we have plenty of in Australia. Our Freeways (In my state) are generally in very good condition and numerous lanes, so having random hidden autonomous cameras pinging people for going three km/h over the limit on a four-lane dual carriageway at midday during the week in a 90 zone that should be 100, I think it's just a bit heavy-handed.

As I mentioned in my previous post, most speed cameras are only places on straight roads where a little extra speed is statistically insignificant, they selectively move the mobile cameras into high-revenue areas rather than actual black spots that have speed related accidents.

I'm by no means an aggressive driver who hoons around town a clapped-out AU Ford Falcon doing single-peggers off at the lights, but I do like to hear the purr of the big Turbo-diesel rev up in first and second under full load. Blowing out the cobwebs is good for the motor, burns out carbon deposits and regenerates the DPF.

[RRW359]

引用自 Morkonan：

引用自 Ice：

Yeah I'm 37 and never driven a car in my life but my dad owns a Mazda MX5 (i think 1989 model) and he has all the power he needs even though his car probably won't go past 120 kph, But when I'm in the car i keep telling him to slow down and he thinks if i ever drove a car I'd drive like an old granny. :DeadSmile:

My opinion is just that cars are fast and dangerous so seeing a title asking if speed limits are necessary, I just have a sort of opposite assertion.

Drive.

Do it.

You need to do it if you're physically able. Get whatever the equivalent is of a "Learner's Permit" and/or go take a Driver's Education class and just... do it. Seriously. It's an experience of freedom you need to have, even if you choose to not drive.

In large metropolitan areas, it's not a rare thing that someone has never driven a car. But, even so, that's an experience everyone needs to have, IMO.

It can be a bit costly (especially if you don't have a friend network and need to spend a couple hundred on drivers ed classes), and it can be really hard to schedule stuff due to various current events. I agree it's a good idea to get a lisence if you can but I don't think it should be an immediate goal for everyone.

Also I haven't driven yet (got a permit and am working on lisence as soon as I can find classes that fit my schedule), but I don't imagine the sense of freedom from driving is much different from an ebike or boat, both of which have varying requirements depending on where you live but ebikes generally don't require a lisence and neither do unpowered boats with some places allowing them under a certain HP/size and even the ones that do make it easier to get a boater's card then a driver's lisence.

[Γαῖα]

引用自 Sir Dookface McFerretballs：

Speed doesn't kill; idiots behind the wheel do.

And most agree everyone that speeds is a careless/reckless driver.

Im not dispelling what your trying to say, im simply saying speed does not exist without someone always being behind it and thus becomes the weak link to the argument.

[Amuro0079]

Only the universal speed limit of 1,079,252,848.8 km/h is necessary to preserve causality, none others are necessary.