General Car Conversation 2024 - part 1
#92
Lead Lap
It's not cars, but around here it's not uncommon to have sport bikes go flying by at 100-120+ speeds on the expressways or tollways sometimes in light to moderate traffic. They're weaving in and out of the lanes, passing in the right lanes. When this happens, I can't help but wonder in the back of my mind if I'll be coming up on some debris and then some kind of an accident scene hoping all the time that I won't. Fortunately, most of the time you can hear them coming.
#93
Lexus Test Driver
this is a never ending back and forth since everyone has a different speed they consider "too fast", and eventually the only logical conclusion can be never take the car out of park since speed is dangerous... i take your words more seriously than most though since you actually have done a fair amount of fast driving in good cars, and know that 90 mph in a W222 is a far different matter than 90 mph in an original durango or something lol
btw here's me and the old man at pocono in the (then) 1 year old E63, so already i'm above average in experience and knowing how a car behaves at speed... i have nothing to show in terms of ability outside of gran turismo though so that'll have to remain conjecture haha
#94
Lexus Fanatic
The issue isn’t the speed, it’s the speed combined with the roadway that wasn’t designed for the speed and surrounded by potential hazards you can’t anticipate or react to at those speeds.
No matter how incredible the car, there’s no way I can react to a deer at 130 MPH, or react to a pothole, or some other hazard in the roadway, or something else unforeseen. On a track, those variables are controlled…could there be a kid in the road who ran off from home? It’s absolutely possible. I have a friend who was driving on a dark highway in FL in a rainstorm and hit two girls and killed them. He wasn’t speeding and there was no reason to expect to find people crossing a controlled access highway in the middle of the night in a downpour…but there they were.
The car can cruise safely at 130 all day long, but you just can never know what hazards will be present.
Ask race car drivers if they would drive 130 on a public road and I bet you will find they will say no.
No matter how incredible the car, there’s no way I can react to a deer at 130 MPH, or react to a pothole, or some other hazard in the roadway, or something else unforeseen. On a track, those variables are controlled…could there be a kid in the road who ran off from home? It’s absolutely possible. I have a friend who was driving on a dark highway in FL in a rainstorm and hit two girls and killed them. He wasn’t speeding and there was no reason to expect to find people crossing a controlled access highway in the middle of the night in a downpour…but there they were.
The car can cruise safely at 130 all day long, but you just can never know what hazards will be present.
Ask race car drivers if they would drive 130 on a public road and I bet you will find they will say no.
Last edited by SW17LS; 01-04-24 at 09:38 AM.
#95
Lexus Fanatic
The car can cruise safely at 130 all day long, but you just can never know what hazards will be present..
#96
Lexus Test Driver
The issue isn’t the speed, it’s the speed combined with the roadway that wasn’t designed for the speed and surrounded by potential hazards you can’t anticipate or react to at those speeds.
No matter how incredible the car, there’s no way I can react to a deer at 130 MPH, or react to a pothole, or some other hazard in the roadway, or something else unforeseen. On a track, those variables are controlled…could there be a kid in the road who ran off from home? It’s absolutely possible. I have a friend who was driving on a dark highway in FL in a rainstorm and hit two girls and killed them. He wasn’t speeding and there was no reason to expect to find people crossing a controlled access highway in the middle of the night in a downpour…but there they were.
The car can cruise safely at 130 all day long, but you just can never know what hazards will be present.
Ask race car drivers if they would drive 130 on a public road and I bet you will find they will say no.
No matter how incredible the car, there’s no way I can react to a deer at 130 MPH, or react to a pothole, or some other hazard in the roadway, or something else unforeseen. On a track, those variables are controlled…could there be a kid in the road who ran off from home? It’s absolutely possible. I have a friend who was driving on a dark highway in FL in a rainstorm and hit two girls and killed them. He wasn’t speeding and there was no reason to expect to find people crossing a controlled access highway in the middle of the night in a downpour…but there they were.
The car can cruise safely at 130 all day long, but you just can never know what hazards will be present.
Ask race car drivers if they would drive 130 on a public road and I bet you will find they will say no.
but i'll make you a deal steve, get me a seat on the toyota gazoo racing team and i'll happily put a rain check on the bi-weekly 3rd gear pull until then it's I-495 westbound between exits 40 and 39 (conditions permitting)
#97
Lexus Fanatic
if there's a kid trying to cross a completely sectioned off interstate with full street lighting at 1am then they've got bigger problems than my bi-weekly 3rd gear pull lol... i can't react to a pothole at those speeds either, hence why i have "my spot" where i know the road is smooth with no other converging traffic... on the handful of cases i haven't stuck to that like if i'm trying to make a video there's literally been a spotter with a walkie talkie
#99
Lexus Test Driver
bottom line is though crazy s*** can happen anywhere and the only way to ensure otherwise is to just not drive... but i believe that with adequate planning and restraint fun can briefly be had with a negligible increase in risk to others
i mean FAR more catastrophe has happened from people texting or being impaired than from people going to empty stretches of interstate just to hit the gas for a few seconds
#100
Lexus Fanatic
bottom line is though crazy s*** can happen anywhere and the only way to ensure otherwise is to just not drive... but i believe that with adequate planning and restraint fun can briefly be had with a negligible increase in risk to others
i mean FAR more catastrophe has happened from people texting or being impaired than from people going to empty stretches of interstate just to hit the gas for a few seconds
i mean FAR more catastrophe has happened from people texting or being impaired than from people going to empty stretches of interstate just to hit the gas for a few seconds
#101
Lexus Test Driver
well again this will never be resolved here since we both have a different idea of when things become irresponsible and dangerous... i can point to my $1,200 yearly premium for full coverage on the E55 or my near 800 credit score but you'll just have to take my word that i'm almost exclusively a very responsible, defensive, and courteous driver
#102
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Unfortunately, that can happen any time and anywhere. 25 years ago a friend/coworker of mine had a Firebird Formula that was his pride and joy, his baby. One afternoon he went out to grab a burger on his lunch break, and some guy who wasn't paying attention stepped off the curb right into him. I doubt he was speeding because there was too much traffic at that time to really do so, but if he was it would have been minimal, like 38-40 in a 35, and he was not cited for anything. Unfortunately the guy died. After the car was repaired, he drove it once and then immediately put it up for sale. He just couldn't look at it anymore. I lost contact with him a year or so later, but he was never the same happy jovial guy that he had been. It wasn't his fault at all--literally the only thing he could have done to prevent it was go to lunch at a different time, or not at all. But it crushed him regardless.
#103
Lexus Fanatic
well again this will never be resolved here since we both have a different idea of when things become irresponsible and dangerous... i can point to my $1,200 yearly premium for full coverage on the E55 or my near 800 credit score but you'll just have to take my word that i'm almost exclusively a very responsible, defensive, and courteous driver
There is a line where you thinking something law, society and common sense dictates is irresponsible is okay doesn't result in "a difference of opinion". Its irresponsible, full stop. Thats the definition of "reckless" driving. If I have an opinion that giving my child a live hand grenade to take to school for show and tell is fine, does that mean if you think its irresponsible we have a "difference of opinion"?
Unfortunately, that can happen any time and anywhere. 25 years ago a friend/coworker of mine had a Firebird Formula that was his pride and joy, his baby. One afternoon he went out to grab a burger on his lunch break, and some guy who wasn't paying attention stepped off the curb right into him. I doubt he was speeding because there was too much traffic at that time to really do so, but if he was it would have been minimal, like 38-40 in a 35, and he was not cited for anything. Unfortunately the guy died. After the car was repaired, he drove it once and then immediately put it up for sale. He just couldn't look at it anymore. I lost contact with him a year or so later, but he was never the same happy jovial guy that he had been. It wasn't his fault at all--literally the only thing he could have done to prevent it was go to lunch at a different time, or not at all. But it crushed him regardless.
The girls were for some reason crossing the 6 lane highway to get to a stadium on one side of the highway for a concert. Insane.
Last edited by SW17LS; 01-04-24 at 12:25 PM.
#104
Lexus Test Driver
I don't think you will find many people that think driving a car on a public road at 130 MPH is responsible or not dangerous, you certainly haven't in this thread, and if you were to be stopped at that speed you'd likely be arrested, so theres that too.
There is a line where you thinking something law, society and common sense dictates is irresponsible is okay doesn't result in "a difference of opinion". Its irresponsible, full stop. Thats the definition of "reckless" driving. If I have an opinion that giving my child a live hand grenade to take to school for show and tell is fine, does that mean if you think its irresponsible we have a "difference of opinion"?
There is a line where you thinking something law, society and common sense dictates is irresponsible is okay doesn't result in "a difference of opinion". Its irresponsible, full stop. Thats the definition of "reckless" driving. If I have an opinion that giving my child a live hand grenade to take to school for show and tell is fine, does that mean if you think its irresponsible we have a "difference of opinion"?
the majority of people probably wouldn't buy your 90 mph is fine because i'm going with the flow of traffic argument... i know it's completely the truth but so many people think that anything over the speed limit immediately becomes dangerous
we're both in agreement that there are times when driving over the speed limit is acceptable and appropriate, we're just splitting hairs over how much over the limit is acceptable... do you have an absolute speed amount that should never be crossed no matter what?
toasters in bathtubs and hand grenades at show and tell aside i don't think that's fair lol... we're talking about something we both agree is safe up to a point, after which it's no longer safe, and we just differ slightly where that point is
#105
Lexus Test Driver
At speeds over 100 mph, I always worried about a tire failure or someone pulling out from a side street without looking.
Most of my craziness back in the day was under 100 mph. Lol
Most of my craziness back in the day was under 100 mph. Lol