this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024
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Fuck Cars

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A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You are a bad driver and are probably too reckless to have a drivers license.

In Sweden, if you go 15 mph over the speed limit, you immediately lose your license on the first offense. No one deserves to die because you decided to play Nascar.

You understand how speed limits are set in the US, right? they're designed so that 85% of drivers will instinctively not speed on them. If you're speeding, that makes you worse than 85% of drivers out there.

The US is the only western country with rising traffic fatalities for a reason.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Yep, totally aware how they are set.

Thats a big jump to say because I hate the idea of things beeping at me that I'm a bad driver or that I speed. I typically don't speed, I just really hate the idea of anything monitoring what I am doing and nagging me.

I want fewer distractions when I'm driving, and having something beep at me for whatever reason is distracting. Collision avoidance does it quite frequently when I'm coming up to a bend in the road and cars are parked on the curb. The car doesn't realize that the road curves and that I will too. I've even had it hit the brakes for me when coming up to a trailer pulled off at a turn out so we could pass on the turn.

My girlfriends car uses a camera to put the speed limit on the screen in the gauge cluster and it frequently misreads the signs and I don't want to hear a car nag me when it's wrong. My aunt's car beeps frequently when going through an intersection to say it can't detect lane lines and it can no longer warn me if I drift out of lanes. The driver assist will push me towards the center of the lane even when I intentionally am hugging the shoulder to give construction or emergency workers more space.

When something beeps at me. I have to look down at the silly gauge cluster to try and see why it's beeping, taking my eyes off the road and more importantly my mind away from the task of driving to decipher what the car misinterpreted.

There are too many things the car is trying to notify us of that the car itself is becoming a distraction.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I've had this exact experience in a few rentals I've driven. The car can't actually see or have judgement of what's going on. A random beep and pop up message that I have to read while going down the highway is as distracting as a text message. If I move the wheel, it's because I want to go somewhere, and if the car decides to fight me I end up overcompensating. Just let ME drive the car. I'm the one with the license.

Some improvements have been overall great, but more and more I'm seeing those that are unnecessary and down right dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

As my girlfriend will attest when it happens, I will yell at the car "I know more than you!"

Maybe they help sometimes, but they have too many false positives.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Ah, that's a fair nuance. Most of the discussion here is either pro- or anti-speed limiters.

I agree, modern cars suck and often do things that surprise drivers which can hurt safety. Stuff like ABS, TCS, automatic braking, and rear view cameras have helped road safety significantly, but some features might not be as useful as just having 90's era direct control.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is absolutely not how they are designed. Maybe in theory, but in practice I'd say its way more than 15% of traffic speeding.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Traditionally it is how they're determined, but it's possible that this percentile goes up as roads get widened and the speed limit is never changed, or if the speed limit is lowered when there are concerns with fatalities.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Folks drive at what they feel is a safe speed for themselves. The posted speed limit doesn't really seem to impact much, when the road is wide, the lanes are big, and there aren't many turns or traffic calming elements, people will go fast because others are going fast.

That's been my lived experience, and generally is supported by research that its road design more than anything that dictates speed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

That's also definitely true. My point was that road designers typically design the speed limit after the road, not the road after the speed limit. This is why residential neighborhoods and commercial districts often have 45 mph speed limits.