Wow... I cannot believe it. I have always wanted to to do this... I had the idea about 2 years ago and it seems some guys AT MY VERY SCHOOL did this a few months ago. I remember telling some friends of my idea, maybe they heard it from them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlLDeRmMAaE&search=gsu

is that the video with everyone driving 55mph? if so then i definitely agree that it should be increased. if you convert our speeds to imperial measurement, then the highway speed limit in canada is just under 69mph(110kmph).

Yea that was done here in Atlanta on a perimeter interstate... the speed limit is in fact 55 mph. And they do not lie about most everyone doing 75 on it, and going 80 you get a ticket.. happened to me once :(

In the UK the speed limit is 70 mph. In most of Europe its 120 km/h (about 75 mph). In Germany, some motorways don't even have a speed limit, and on the ones that do it's usually 130 km/h.

oh my god im still recovering, that white van

lmao!

We need four things in America in order to make driving at reasonable speeds like 80mph safe enough to silence the nannies.

1. Get the incompetents off the road. Most Americans can't pass the driving exams in Europe, and many countries compromise and give dumbed-down versions to Americans. Americans don't know what to do in a skid, what the stopping distance of a car is, how sharply they can turn to make an exit they suddenly realize they almost missed, or what factors cause a vehicle to topple over.

2. Get the junk off the road. Walk through any parking lot and count the cars with bald tires and other obvious safety defects. Then extrapolate to the invisible defects like worn-out brakes, marshmallow shock absorbers, bent wheels, never-adjusted wheel alignment, and disintegrating steering linkage.

3. Get the drunks off the road. Cops spend too much time pulling over people who have had one or two drinks. Sure, they increase the statistical probability of accidents, but they're still barely sober enough to realize they're impaired and most of them drive more cautiously to compensate. The real problem is the stone drunks who practice driving home at closing time every night after getting plastered and so are very good at appearing sober. But they have no judgment, no reaction time, and are constantly on the verge of falling asleep. And they don't actually just drive at 2am, there are shitfaced drivers out there at all hours.

4. Get the kids off the road. I'm very sorry that we live in a country with almost no public transportation and a culture that says if you don't have a car you're a second class citizen. But teenagers simply should not be driving because 90 percent of them don't have the maturity to take driving seriously. Apologies to you ten-percenters, but road accidents are one of the top causes of death among teens and as often as not they take somebody else with them. It used to be that female adolescents were more responsible, but their accident rate is now just as bad as the boys. You put two teenagers in a car together with a good sound system, and within five minutes nobody is looking at the road.

5. Make the highways as smooth as the Autobahn and constantly inspect them and always keep them in good repair.

Require motor cars to be more safe, and with more safety equipment, such as crash helments and harness belts.

I didn't understand anything. fucking retards, you can't make any sense of what the fuck they are talking about.

I didn't understand anything. fucking retards, you can't make any sense of what the fuck they are talking about.

I see you cannot understand spoken English.

Basically, they hold the view that 55 mph is way too slow for Atlanta. Obeying the speed limits on the Interstates around here where I live (where this was filmed) is hazardous. Truck drivers call I-285 the "suicide circle." The average speedlimit is 75 mph on 285. They set out to prove a point.

They say most accidents happen when people are speeding, I wouldn't doubt that.. because 80% or more speed anyway.

wow, 130km speed limits in europe? :eek: here the limit is 100 :mad:

of course thats only a recommendation. most people in my area completely ignore the speed limit on the open road.

I didn't understand anything. fucking retards, you can't make any sense of what the fuck they are talking about.
Calm down, calm down. That's just because you're muslim. I thought you'd be used to that by now?

I live in Michigan and, for the moment, commute about 45minutes, 30 of which are in construction zones. it amazes me how poorly people drive in work zones. people go speeding in, and when someone is going slow, they fly up on them and slam on their breaks. the slamming of the breaks sends a ripple back through traffic, thus bringing the average speed down 20mph. at least once a day I am personally responsible for "cushioning" the ripples of braking in traffic, and probably increase the speed by 5-10mph each time.

the sad part is, drivers training essentially teach nothing about construction zone driving. the basically just say "be careful, drive slower"

perhaps we need a dual license system, when you can drive 10mph faster if you pass a special (harder) test. (that probably wont help, but its worth a shot)

I live in Michigan and, for the moment, commute about 45minutes, 30 of which are in construction zones. it amazes me how poorly people drive in work zones. people go speeding in, and when someone is going slow, they fly up on them and slam on their breaks. the slamming of the breaks sends a ripple back through traffic, thus bringing the average speed down 20mph. at least once a day I am personally responsible for "cushioning" the ripples of braking in traffic, and probably increase the speed by 5-10mph each time.

Do you make a conscious effort to help fix the traffic? I do it a lot... I read an analysis on traffic once and they had suggestions on how to fix stop-and-go traffic :)

[QUOTEthe sad part is, drivers training essentially teach nothing about construction zone driving. the basically just say "be careful, drive slower"

perhaps we need a dual license system, when you can drive 10mph faster if you pass a special (harder) test. (that probably wont help, but its worth a shot)[/QUOTE]

The problem would be who gets pulled over? And it would be an excuse for others to drive faster that shouldn't even be on the roads to begin with.

one could attach a beacon to ones car, that the police can check against their database, and if you are speeding and don't have the higher speed license, and thus no beacon, you get pulled over.

I know its not a very practical idea.

Well as for the beacons... they are on cars that drive themselves. Not on the market yet, but they do exist.

or you could just have an E plate, as opposed to an L or P plate, which could only be purchased by people with an advanced license

How could the police sitting on the side of the road with a radar gun tell if you got such a plate? It would be a waste of time and money to catch up for nothing.

The best thing to do that would work is to make it much much harder to get a license in the first place, then increase the speed limit. People drive safely (in general, anyway) around here in downtown on the interstate where the limit is 55... while everyone does 70 or more. It's the idiots that usually mess it up for everyone.

I once did 100 mph from South Carolina to my home in south metro Atlanta without one problem... as a matter of fact, I had a some stranger going the same route and he thought it would smart to follow me all the way home so it would decrease the odds he gets pulled over.

the same way a cop sitting there with a radar gun could see your license plate. L plates are big yellow squares with a large L on them about 20cm in diameter that are displayed in the corners of the front and back windscreens. do you not have them in america?

as for going 100mph, when i am in a hurry and on a suitable road i will sometimes drive 160kmph(i usually only drlive a 80kmph save on fuel however), the only problem with any speed on the open road is those idiots that get right up on your arse and wait to pass you.

Most cars sold in America--especially the American marques--are not equipped with tires that can be safely driven at high speeds for prolonged periods. I've always limited myself to 95mph except for short bursts. The rubber overheats due to increased friction--both rolling friction and the propulsion effort--and then the increased centrifugal force can literally tear a tire apart. That's not something you want to experience at 120mph. So be careful if your car still has the factory tires.

vslayer The license plates in America vary from state to state, and then each state has numerous plate designs depending on if you're going with the standard or special interest plates. I think the variety stems from the fact that the laws for motor vehicles in the country are a state's rights issue, not a federal one. They are normally in the dead center of the rear bumper or tailgate, but people customize their cars and trucks and put them in all kinds of places (illegal, but not enforced as long as the plate isn't obscured). Front plates are also required but not enforced, especially if the model wasn't designed to hold a front plate (many muscle cars are like this). Ins ome cases, a plate will be displayed on the rear deck laying flat. People will actually modify their plates with cartoon character stickers (illegal), put tinted plastic covers over them (illegal) or make additions to the letters/numbers to make them spell something (highly illegal, personalized plates are obtained form the issuing agency only).

Personally, I think the driver's license should be harder to get in this country. Too many people regard driving as a secondary or even tertiary activity while behind the wheel. I'd seen something on TV that said a DL in Germany costs something like $1500. Is that true?

Front plates are required by law here in the USA? Are you serious?

Just for everyone's curiousity.. my plate is "Support Wildlife" and has a picture of deer on the right side of the plate. $15 extra for it... no biggie.

i think you misunderstood me when i mentioned L plates. number plates are completely different. an L plate is displayed in the corners of the windscreen of any car being driven by a person with their learners license:

http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/publications/rsnz/1999/may-04.html
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/licensing/gfx/l-plate.gif

Yea that was done here in Atlanta on a perimeter interstate... the speed limit is in fact 55 mph. And they do not lie about most everyone doing 75 on it, and going 80 you get a ticket.. happened to me once :(
Wow that is a really great idea that they stole from you.
A a public act of civil obedience.
Nice!!!!

Absane Sorry. I should have made myself clearer. There are no federal laws regarding motor vehicles that I'm aware of (although Grand Theft Auto used to be a federal offense), but most states, I believe require a front plate. It's one of those laws that rarely gets enforced.

Vslayer Ah, sorry. I thought you were just abbreviating License plate. In California, at least, a learner's permit requires you to be driving with at least one licensed driver in the vehicle. It's not displayed anywhere, but you must have it on you if you're driving. I think it also prohibits driving at night. I got mine in Arizona in the 80's, and all that was required that you drive only during daylight hours, no other person in the car required. I'm sure it's changed by now.

Oh yeah. My truck's plate is an old, 1968 standard-issue black and gold California plate, and the Camaro has a normal 1992-style white and blue California reflectorized plate. (They started reflectorizing them because nobody was replacing their license plate lights, making plate numbers hard to get at night.)

That was fucking hilarious. Brilliant.

but most states, I believe require a front plate. It's one of those laws that rarely gets enforced.There are actually quite a few states without front license plates. Influential ones at that, like Pennsylvania. So it's difficult to enforce because you have to see the car from both ends before you're sure that it's supposed to have two plates. It's less important now that revenue generation--whoops sorry I meant to say "traffic law enforcement"--is increasingly being handled by computers with cameras. They always shoot from the rear because they have to wait and see whether you did anything.

We used to do this thing about radar cameras in San Jose, Ca. They'd set up these obvious "secret speed cameras" (still cameras mounted in the back of a vehicle at the side of the road) to take a picture of your car if it was approaching at a high rate of speed. The shot was from the front. Because not all cars had front plates (ours didn't), they'd focus on the driver and go visually (not sure how). My brother and I used to see these plain, white former postal jeeps and minivans with severely tinted rear windows and put on Groucho Marx glasses, then punch it past the camera. We never got a ticket.

I did hear of one guy who had apparently gotten busted by a speed camera. The police would mail the ticket and a photograph showing the vehicle caught in the act. The guy got clever and mailed in a photograph of the money to pay the fine. The police got cute and mailed him a photograph of handcuffs. I don't know if it's a true story or not, but it's nice to see cops with a sense of humor.

And if you can stand one more little story, there's a street in Livermore, Ca. that was marked at 35 mph. There's no reason not to keep 45. It's a long, wide street with few intersections and excellent visibility. Everyone does about 45-50. The cops would set up and bust speeders, but enough people complained about the unnecessarily low speed limit. They wanted the city to raise the speed limit. So the city did. One Monday the commuters who used the street saw the signs raised 3 feet higher on the poles! (To be fair to the city, they did boost it to 45 that week.)

Absane Sorry. I should have made myself clearer. There are no federal laws regarding motor vehicles that I'm aware of (although Grand Theft Auto used to be a federal offense), but most states, I believe require a front plate. It's one of those laws that rarely gets enforced.

Probably because the fines are too low to be worth the trouble.

I wonder if there is a fine for jay-walking. lol.

what you can do with speed cameras is put some cellophane over your number plate, that way if they catch you at night all they get a picture of is glare from the streetlights. and during the day it is almost impossible to tell from an unadulterated plate, so they dont catch you for obstructing it

Absane Yes, there is a fine for jay-walking. Back in the early 90's in San Jose it was 55$. They enforced it like Nazis, but for some curious reason, it was only enforced while they were setting up the budget for downtown revitalization. Hmm....

I have to drive I-81 through Virginia to get to school (Virginia Tech) several times a year. The speed limit is only 65, but I always get away with going 85-90 because of my car. I drive a 2001 chevy Impala, dark green with tinted windows, and an extra antenne for a cb radio. It is very similar to an undercover cop car. I often times have people get out of my way very quickly when they see me behind them. So get a car that looks like a cop, and you'll be less likely to get pulled over.

but cops know the difference. they will radio you in to central when they catch you speeding, and if you arent a cop, then they will fine you just like aynone else.

There's a book called something like "How To Avoid A Speeding Ticket" written by an ex-cop that rolls over on a lot of tricks cops use when they're in their personal vehicles that lets them speed and get away with it, and it has nothing to do with their on-duty buddies recognizing them. The tactics we've had the opportunity to use seem to work so far.

The author also warns you about sneaky tricks they use to get you to pull over and get a ticket even if you weren't doing anything. We found ourselves in the middle of one when this one chippy (California Highway Patrol) was going through a pack of moderately moving traffic with his lights on. Most people were just getting out of his way, and we thought he was on a code 2 call (lights, no siren). But when we saw him start falling back and pushing his way in behind cars we got curious. He dropped behind us and snugged up to our rear and booped his siren a couple of times. Naive me, I started looking for space for my husband to pull over, but he just said "Fuck him. He's fishing." When we didn't pull over, the cop got out from behind us and snugged in behind someone else. He did this to three people before getting someone to pull over. An honest, average driver will assume that he must have done something wrong, and will most likely accept the ticket and fine without argument.