For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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#1653437
skydriller wrote:
johnm wrote:I do wish there was evidence for that but my observation of drivers on motorways at 70 mph plus is that they look little further than the end of the bonnet....


My own observations of the new 80kph speed limit in France is that traffic now bunches up closer together, notably behind lorries, which now nobody will overtake as they are scared to break the speed limit by doing so. Then they sit there bored and tune out...


That's one of the use cases for an electric car with adaptive cruise control and lane assist! Safe, economical and relaxing. [That and the M62!]

These days I always use the speed limiter or the Propilot. It's a side effect of cameras everywhere, variable speed limits congestion, The car is rarely driven without one of these engaged. Once you get used to driving with a single pedal and a speed limiter then its actually quite relaxing. You've made a conscious decision on a maximum speed and the car won't go any faster, so you may as well relax and concentrate on the task.
User avatar
By flybymike
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1653438
20 mph is a good speed in build up areas as the risk of killing people on impact is so much lower.

10mph would be lower and safer still still. Where do we draw the line.
Driving at a maximum of thirty when appropriate and then slowing down with brakes or even stopping altogether when required seems another option.
Colonel Panic liked this
#1653453
I think the knocking scrotes off their bikes even sans helmet is a clever move by plod. It's great PR, gets lots of shares so the message gets to all people, especially the gangs - who probably aren't watching the nine o-clock news. The Police don't actually need to do it very often to have an effect on the criminals- just play a few vids on social media. Makes the crims look a bit stupid and weak and the cops as an organisation who won't take any ****.
Flyin'Dutch', Lockhaven, Rob L and 4 others liked this
#1653466
avtur3 wrote:Appears I might have been ahead of my time. Some years ago, as on off duty PC, I witnessed an aggravated theft, it occurred right in front of me while out shopping with my wife.

You lot are must all have had a bit of a screw loose. My dad (beat bobby) once played chicken with a kid playing on a motorbike. It put him in hospital but not before he'd got the scrote around the neck as he drove over him. Wouldn't have your job for the word, but really glad that plenty of you do / did. :thumleft:
#1653468
My my you are all complaining about the the standard of driving in the UK, 5mph over the limit, erratic driving, using mobil phones, not concentrating, speed control devices because of cameras.
Reading this you would think you have all been brain washed and cannot wait for driverless government controlled cars, if you get a chance spend a day driving around Moscow, 99% of you would probably have a stroke or heart attack before you get to the end of your street. :lol:
riverrock, plus7g liked this
#1653481
I am very much looking forward to driverless cars.

Too many close shaves with incompetent and impatient drivers and too many people I have known directly or indirectly who have been killed or seriously injured.

It’s not just the human cost, there are also selfish reasons around reduced congestion and more efficient use of time.
Flyin'Dutch' liked this
#1653507
In many ways this is the problem we face at the moment. People who don’t engage in driving, distracting themselves with technology and/or thinking they know better and have more rights than other people around them.

The switch-over is likely to be more sudden than we might think. At the moment mass fatalities rarely make the news, single fatalities even more rarely. This is due to us being desensitised. As driverless cars create a safer environment then perceptions of risk will change. At some point there will be a sequence of news items where children and families are killed as a result of bad driving and there will be pressure to get drivers off the road.

I suspect that somewhere along the way there’ll also be retrofit speed limiters and collision avoidance systems.
#1653511
How will pedestrians (and cyclists perhaps) be separated from driverless cars? They will know that if they step out in front of (or cycle into the path of) a driverless car and it’s able to stop, it will do. Surely this could be taken advantage of? ( .... and the pax in the car won’t even be able to blow the horn in disgust!)
#1653520
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
PaulB wrote:They will know that if they step out in front of (or cycle into the path of) a driverless car and it’s able to stop, it will do. Surely this could be taken advantage of?


Meh, this was happening when I was driving around town earlier anyway, even with human driven cars.


But the pedestrian (if they value their life) has to ensure that the driver (a) has seen them and (b) is able to stop and (c) is not a homicidal maniac.

Admittedly, (c) is unlikely but with driverless cars, both it and (a) will disappear and pedestrians will be able to cross roads at will *knowing* that driverless cars will take action to avoid them. Every road everywhere might as well be a zebra crossing and painted black & white.
#1653524
PaulB wrote:How will pedestrians (and cyclists perhaps) be separated from driverless cars? They will know that if they step out in front of (or cycle into the path of) a driverless car and it’s able to stop, it will do. Surely this could be taken advantage of? ( .... and the pax in the car won’t even be able to blow the horn in disgust!)


Pedestrians could just ignore the signals at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and cause grid lock.

There could be a new crime wave with the victims being inside the car and unable to drive out of trouble. Driverless cars should be banned immediately as a crime prevention measure :wink:
#1653526
GAFlyer4Fun wrote:Pedestrians could just ignore the signals at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and cause grid lock.

There could be a new crime wave with the victims being inside the car and unable to drive out of trouble.


...and in the changeover period when there are cars with drivers and driverless cars on the roads, the former will be able to do what they like, safe in th knowledge that the latter will be programmed to avoid contact.

More seriously, there’s a stretch of road in the town where my mum lives where that is effectively 1 lane with passing places due to parked cars. How will two driverless cars react if they end up nose to nose with no way of passing? (This particular road used to be regularly gridlocked as it’s quite long and there were no passing places until the council “created” some with double yellows.)

There will have to be some sort of communications between these supposedly autonomous vehicles, which presumably makes it possible that some (thinking emergency service vehicles (and BMWs/Audis of course)) may have priority over others?

There’s loads of stuff to sort out before this tech becomes mainstream.
#1653528
CSMA/CD - IEEE 802.3.

This was sorted out many years ago for data. Cars are just another form of traffic flow. Agree an international standard and then have the vehicles communicate with each other. You could retrofit an override to legacy vehicles during the transition period too.

As for pedestrians, a simple IoT device could be carried to request priority to cross the road.

Most of the problems with congestion are caused by vehicles and driver behaviour. Drivers are impatient to get to the next obstruction and perceive non-vehicle traffic as being the problem. Driverless cars won’t need speed signals traffic lights or randomly placed pedestrian crossings to control them.

The idea that people “might take advantage” to cross a congested road underlines how distorted our thinking and perceptions have become. We’ll have spaces that work for people.
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