Dave!

Absolutely, my gas pedal has been my get-to-safety pedal on more than one occasion.

ivangene

I think the car should be considered when these "general laws" are put in place... I mean if someone is in an SUV or a 72 Pinto doing 100 they are clearly a danger to everything around them. if someone pops up to 100 for 10 seconds in a sports car and is back down, there really is limited risk because the car is set up for these conditions. (unlike an SUV with HUGE tires and a really high CG)

I hope to never be in those shoes, but I agree... its pretty stupid to have these laws and some states clearly have way to tight of restrictions on poeple......

rudy1024

+1... I've been driving the 5 to 73 to 405 route a lot lately (the wife's fancy doctors seem to congregate around Marina Del Ray...) My observation is that everyone pretty much ignores the cellphone law now... they were pretty good when it started last summer, but these days they're all back on the phone again...

Back in the day, I dated a girl from Pacific Palisades... I would usually drive her on her occasional weekend visits home... the incentive for me driving her was the "whatever"... and the stretch along Camp Pendleton was never quite long enough... or maybe I was just driving too fast?

Is that what you meant???

Rudy

Meister Fahrer

Hey Rudy, you weren't driving too fast, you were just being efficient with your time (and your girl, ha).

And I don't know anything about triple-digit speeds runs along the Camp Pendleton route when it's wide open in the early morning hours.

rudy1024

Well you know the area - hard to REALLY enjoy a happy ending once you get into San Clemente...

And if you don't know about triple-digit speeds then I shouldn't ask... But, on that particular stretch, I "accidently" eased into triple digits on my maiden voyage home with the car (I bought it from EuroCar in Costa Mesa)... I remember that the engine didn't sound that happy at 70... rather than looking at the speedo, I slowly kicked it up until the engine "sung a little sweeter"... which was on the wrong side of 100... I've since gotten used to what 70 mph sounds like... Fortunately that stretch of 5 leaves lots of room for you to play a little bit...

Rudy

medtech

I agree 100%

jerome951

My solution for when I'm king....

Each vehicle is assigned on eof 3 ratings based on it's capabilities and must be inspected to ensure it is maintained sufficiently.

Each driver is tested for driving capabilities every 5 years (more frequently for younger and older drivers) and assigned 1 of 3 capability ratings.

The combination of driver and vehicle capabilities determines how much over the posted limit you can legally drive (only where the posted limit is 55 or greater). A colored/numbered sticker on the license plate makes it easy for a following officer to determine the rating.

However, this applies only to the primary driver of the car.
Driving an unfamiliar car or one you share with your wife? You are held to the lowest-level driver for that vehicle. Want to go faster? Get your wife to drive better and achieve a higher rating.
Busted driving your level in an unfamiliar car? You've just been dropped a capability level and heavily fined.

For example:
Highly- capable car and highly-capable driver (e.g. DE instructor-level) = 15 over
Moderately-capable car and highly-capable driver = 10 over
Moderately-capable driver and highly-capable car = 10 over
Moderately capable car and driver = 5 over
Low capability car or driver = posted speed limit

jsmirand

I vote jerome951 King for setting road speed limits!

Keep all the Escalades/Yukons/Expeditions/Range Rovers/etc limited to 75MPH in the right lane (mandatory, otherwise $1500 reckless sports car blocking fine), let our 996s go 100MPH! Set our Porsches free!

htny

I think the chances of any sort of meritocracy based system being endorsed by the current executive or legislative branches of our government are slim to none. I'm for pay to play, using proven TUV rules whenever possible.

I personally would pay an extra 1000 or 2000 or 3000 dollars a year, sign tort waivers or limitation agreements, and take any proscribed battery of aptitude and physical tests for a license to drive at 150 miles an hour on major highways, just convert the HOV lanes to Autobahn rules fast lanes.

- Revenue from license fees distributed to local governments for roadwork and shoring up their sagging muni budgets would more than offset lost ticket revenue and preserve the yield and rating on their bonds.
- Maintain a list of vehicles already certified for high speed operation (*cough* TUV *cough*). Between that and tort waivers, offsets increased injury costs that nanny staters will forecast. Or create an enhanced inspection/readiness process which all vehicles are eligible for, more revenue for the states.
- Enforce with mandatory transponders ala high speed EZ pass (I understand existing EZpass tech works up to 200+mph anyway, so new new investment in technology). Make the fine for driving through without a transponder really, really punitive, like 3K
- I might even agree to a breathalyzer lock required to activate the transponder.

I personally believe it would self finance, and serve to reduce congestion at least as well as the HOV system (which many studies indicate makes traffic worse when an existing lane is repurposed and no new lane is added). Additionally, municipalities would save revenue by requiring fewer LEOs per speeding ticket and a lower burden on their courts. LEOs can then, I don't know, stop crime. Insurers would be able to handle it because the tort waivers or limitations would reduce punitive damages from their worst wrecks. And technically if they wanted to collude and profiteer they could raise our premiums.

Schumer, if you're reading this, get cracking! Your constituents will love the higher revenue and lower costs of administration, and hey you can sell it as a TAX on the RICH, which is selling like hotcakes right now. Heck the Operation New New Deal American Freedom Rescue plan is supposed to fund shovel ready infrastructure projects right? Here's one that might actually repay the loan!

washington dc porsche

I've been caught a couple of times at speeds greater than 100 but never by a Trooper though.

sjfehr

Isn't that pretty much what it already costs annually to drive 150mph in most states?

It's simply NOT SAFE to drive this fast on US highways, though. US drivers aren't like germans; they don't have the lane discipline required to allow for high disparities in speed. We either have to raise the limit for everyone (and to a limit that every car can drive), or we can raise it for no-one.

And that's assuming we can even that much past the deep green lobby who would lower speed limits to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

I tell you what, though, I would LOVE to see limited-access HOV lanes raised to high-speed zones with high minimum speed limits

cdburnguy13

Wow, so I think I feel be a little out of place here to admit that I hit deep triple digits just about every single day, even if only for a mile or two on my DD to/from work in the SF Bay Area. I stick to the fast lane and don't consider it the least bit risky if I stay in my lane and see daylight ahead of me while cranking it up to 130(+?). My cruising speed is much lower, but still about 95ish.
I have zero tickets (knock on wood) and am a hawk on things like upcoming on ramps & shoulders. I can also recognize several types of police vehicle taillight configurations from a good distance. I never use any type of phone, navigation device, food/drink, nor do I monkey with the AC or anything else. If I'm driving, that's ALL I'm doing, and I stay very focused.
Am I alone or do others do this too?

desidon

Why does VA have to be a cut above the rest when it comes to being <insert fav expletive> about speeding

htny

I know plenty of people in the bay area that do it! but impossible in LA or NY to do this even remotely regularly. In fact, I'd say impossible almost anywhere else near a major city during the day, you guys just have some unique layouts, really well done roads, and really lax enforcement.

If it's any comfort, I've gone real, real fast in both a 996, a dozen sedans and rental cars and on bikes on runs from greater half moon bay and palo alto to SFO area

and I've never been anywhere in the US with a higher average speed on the freeway than that whole stretch from SFO to SJC, average 95 does not startle me at all up there. Sometimes I've felt like I was in heavy, heavy traffic in that area, I look down an I'm going 50 or 60, just something about the way the roads are marked!

But it can get wacky, especially on the foggy mountain roads and in the forest areas. One day I will tell the story of passing the wreck of a McLaren F1 up there coming down some roads up in Ben Lomond or Redwood City, or the biker I met who fell and got dragged a quarter mile on the 1 past miramar

dresler

you are not alone.