Food for thought

[billynjoanna]

Someone at work had the pleasure of getting a speeding ticket today. So, while we were talking and making fun of them I ask the question "If driving your car over the posted speed limit will get you a ticket and 75mph or whatever the highest mph is in the US why does the car companies make cars that will do 140mph".
My thought was if car companies made cars that only did the max speed limit it would mean that we would use less gas, cars would last longer, and high speed wrecks would be less to happen.
But, that would also mean that gas companies would make less money, the car companies would sell less replacement parts and the government (state and local) would loss the money they make on speeding tickets.
I not saying there is a big conspiracy or anything but, I think it would help us all if cars where made to go just a little slower.

Will

[PriusOwner004]

In Europe just recently they were considering forcing car makers to limit the speed of all new cars to 80 mph or something, exactly for that very reason - less polution. Most people however feel funny about limiting their rights/freedoms, so that proposal failed miserably.

[patsparks]

In answer to the title, because they can and because it sells cars.
People who feel inadequate in themselves like to own fast cars, they connect things like dignity to their car. A confident person would never feel shame at owning a small or slower car.

[justlurkin]

I used to live in Oklahoma where we get lots of tornadoes.. You REALLY don't want to be driving a car that has a speed limiter when trying to outrun one of those funnel clouds. :P

[PriusOwner004]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Sep 11 2007, 02:56 PM) [snapback]510751[/snapback]</div>

People who feel inadequate in themselves like to own fast cars, they connect things like dignity to their car. A confident person would never feel shame at owning a small or slower car.
[/b]

Thats a horrible stereotype, no bettter than any other racial or sexist stereotype. Maybe it's true for some people, Im sure it is, but many people just love the sport. Ive been an avid race car fan all my life, I love racing on the track and I enjoy driving a fast car on the street. Its nothing to do with confidence.

[Allannde]

I find it is best to use almost any possession to less than its capacity for long life. If cars were made so that they were at their maximum capacity at the speed limit, I would assume that they would have SHORTER lives.

What I think is foolish is people who insist on using their things to the maximum and then wearing them out prematurely. But that is their right if they do not violate the law or my rights in the process. It is a deleicate balance, but one which we live with daily.

[qbee42]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Allannde @ Sep 11 2007, 04:52 PM) [snapback]510794[/snapback]</div>

I find it is best to use almost any posetion to less than its capacity for long life. If cars were made so that they were at their maximum capacity at the speed limit, I would assume that they would have SHORTER lives.

What I think is foolish is people who insist on using their things to the maximum and then wearing them out prematurely. But that is their right if they do not violate the law or my rights in the process. It is a deleicate balance, but one which we live with daily.
[/b]

The OP made no suggestion to design cars to run at their maximum capacity, but suggested cars be limited to a maximum speed. This would also enforce your idea for making them last longer.

As for individual rights, I fully agree: a person should be able to drive a car just as fast as he wants as long as it is being driven on private property. As soon as you pull onto a public road, your rights as an individual must be subjugated to the rights of society. It's the same reason I can't target shoot in my back yard inside the village limits.

Tom

[TonyPSchaefer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Sep 11 2007, 04:00 PM) [snapback]510798[/snapback]</div>

It's the same reason I can't target shoot in my back yard inside the village limits.[/b]

"legally"
I work with electrical engineers. At a meeting once, someone asked if they could power "this" with "that" supply. Almost simultaneously a handful of engineers said, "not for long."

As for limiters on vehicles, is it truly a God-given and self-evident right to drive a car at 100+ MPH? Really? The law says that the speed limit is 55 but we hold this truth to be self-evident: I can drive 105 in my Prius.

In my opinion, the government has the responsibility of protecting the citizenry and is that means busting drunk drivers, I'm all for it. If that requires people to wear the seatsbelts the manufacturers were forced to put in their cars, I'm in favor of it. If that means testing cars for emissions and discontinuing leaded gasoline then I don't have a problem with it. And if it means that thousands of drivers will not be killed when cars' speed is limited, I think the government should have the ability to make it happen.

[ohershey]

While I am not fundamentally opposed to the concept of speed limits, I can personally remember at least two occasions (one involving a tire bouncing down a freeway, and one involving a County Sheriff doing 100+ in the fast lane with his lights on), where a quick burst of speed and power enabled me to extract myself from a bad situation with minimal danger and disruption to other drivers. This is actually on of the things I dislike about the Prius - it, by it's design and nature, doesn't have the power reserves of a bigger (Straight 6, V6, V8) engine.

[Soapbox]
Just because some people a jerks, and abuse their toys, doesn't make it okay to take the toys away from the rest of us. Give them tickets, take their license, and, eventually, put them in jail. Don't punish everyone else.
[/Soapbox]

[bredekamp]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JustLurkin @ Sep 11 2007, 10:07 PM) [snapback]510759[/snapback]</div>

I used to live in Oklahoma where we get lots of tornadoes.. You REALLY don't want to be driving a car that has a speed limiter when trying to outrun one of those funnel clouds. :P
[/b]

or when you're wife's in labor