Go Tesla
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My fundamental question is will self driving cars go the speed limit or will it go with the traffic?. Much as I despise it, I have to drive down from the woods from our town with two traffic lights to the 495 area in Massachusetts. The road system is blatantly undersized and is running well over its design capacity. How the entire system works is that the majority of the drivers run well faster than the posted limit and maintain far closer spacing between cars. There are also periods of time both posted and not posted where driving in the break down lane is acceptable. When driving in a traffic jamb where a driver needs to change lanes its a game of chicken sometimes to see if the person in the adjoining lane will open a slot for the person changing lanes. The police are pretty well dedicated to dealing with the inevitable accidents that will occur and if they did enforce the speed limits the entire system would slow down or stop. My belief is that self driving cars just wont play well in heavy traffic and will become rolling roadblocks.
I guess someone could argue that all one has to be is ban all the non self driving cars off the road and that will cure the problem.
I guess someone could argue that all one has to be is ban all the non self driving cars off the road and that will cure the problem.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
There is a cure for traffic. It is called the motorcycle. Other countries have been doing it for 100 years....and they never go the speed limit....well,,,mine don't
Maybe not the most practical thing for NE winter, but in much of America, if you legalized lane splitting (like all of the civilized world) like CA....it would work out very nicely.
I agree motorcycles help but basically useless from about October to mid may as motorcycles have a tough time on ice or the sand they use to try to remove the ice. Come visit any highway or secondary road inside of 495 in Mass from about 7 AM to 6 PM and be prepared to wonder why road rage isn't more common place.
maple1
Minister of Fire
There is a cure for traffic. It is called the motorcycle. Other countries have been doing it for 100 years....and they never go the speed limit....well,,,mine don't
Maybe not the most practical thing for NE winter, but in much of America, if you legalized lane splitting (like all of the civilized world) like CA....it would work out very nicely.
They're only good for half the year, in a lot more areas than the NE. Not a practical family vehicle either.
(Motorcycle owner here.)
FWIW MA traffic on the ring roads around Boston is insane. The do play chicken with their cars. It is more aggressive and unsafe than driving in than Mexico City.
Lost my best friend to a motorcycle accident. Not his fault, he probably had less than a second to react. I like cycles, but not in a city or dense traffic.
In 2013 motorcyclists were about 26 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a crash per vehicle mile traveled and five times more likely to be injured, according to NHTSA. (Note: statistics on fatal motorcycle crashes are also available from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.)
http://www.iii.org/issue-update/motorcycle-crashes
Lost my best friend to a motorcycle accident. Not his fault, he probably had less than a second to react. I like cycles, but not in a city or dense traffic.
In 2013 motorcyclists were about 26 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a crash per vehicle mile traveled and five times more likely to be injured, according to NHTSA. (Note: statistics on fatal motorcycle crashes are also available from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.)
http://www.iii.org/issue-update/motorcycle-crashes
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maple1
Minister of Fire
Yes - I've seen some close calls involving bikes & cars, mostly cars turning in front of them. Scary. Like the bike was invisible. Actually had to call 911 once, I was following an elderly lady in my car, she stopped to make a left turn when she didn't need to stop then stepped on the gas again right in front of a young guy coming the other way on a bike. I was grabbing my cell phone before it happened, I knew what was going to happen before it did. Luckily there were no injuries in that one.
Lake Girl
Moderator
Pretty much what happened to my sister ... she apparently did a screwed up superman flight that she doesn't remember. Design of motorcycle saved her legs, leathers and helmet did their job but couldn't avoid the broken ribs and nerve damage to her hip. After much review, realized she did nothing wrong, bought a new BMW.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
Been a lifetime rider. I know the risks. But much of this is because we don't have a riding culture. If 40% of city dwellers rode..dramatic differences start to happen in how other drivers react to riders.
Lanesplit with stopped traffic in a city were it is not legal and watch people lose their minds with anger. Americans have very weird perceptions about being wronged when in a vehicle. Ego tripping?
Times will change. I see more riding in our future not less.
Lanesplit with stopped traffic in a city were it is not legal and watch people lose their minds with anger. Americans have very weird perceptions about being wronged when in a vehicle. Ego tripping?
Times will change. I see more riding in our future not less.
Lake Girl
Moderator
Daughter spent a year in Thailand. Motorcycles common but she mentioned that drivers are very aggressive there too...
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
Yeah..but thats a 3rd world country. They haven't been driving as long as we have. We should know better.
A major thread drift here but what they heck. US fatalities per miles traveled have dropped significantly long term and continue to drop despite an overall dumbing down of US drivers. The main reason is that cars and trucks are being built far more survivable. Unfortunately there is not a lot to be done to motorcycles to make them significantly safer. Third world countries have far higher casualty and major injury rates per miles traveled thus making comparisons on what works on third world countries not really germane to what works in the US, assuming that the American public would not accept a significant increase in road fatalities.
Road safety is where vehicle electronics will prove most effective, correcting a lot of drivers mental errors from drifting when tired or distracted, to sensing around blind bends or at night in hard to see situations. I imagine freight trucks with tired drivers could use some help too.
But as mentioned before, it has to be done in a way that doesn't add to the distractions.
Then again, you can't fix negligent - just yesterday riding my bicycle I saw a big dump truck pull out of a work site and the driver didn't even check for oncoming traffic. I look a little closer at the cabin and sure enough, the driver was talking on the cell phone. I see this all the time with school bus drivers, cops, traffic cops, delivery trucks, and so on. A certain percentage of people don't care so maybe technology has to figure out a way around them.
But as mentioned before, it has to be done in a way that doesn't add to the distractions.
Then again, you can't fix negligent - just yesterday riding my bicycle I saw a big dump truck pull out of a work site and the driver didn't even check for oncoming traffic. I look a little closer at the cabin and sure enough, the driver was talking on the cell phone. I see this all the time with school bus drivers, cops, traffic cops, delivery trucks, and so on. A certain percentage of people don't care so maybe technology has to figure out a way around them.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
I just want driverless cars so I can finally legally drink a beer on the way to the hardware store.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
What happens when you get the blue death screen in your driverless car. Does it stay on the road while it reboots. Or you get a nasty virus in the software. Sorry officer my computer didnt see that stop sign.
You will just need to call India with a "hold time of greater than 15 minutes" to here "Bob" read questions from a manual before handing you off to a level 2 team located in Texas.
The downside of heavily integrated electronics is that obsolescence happens faster. In NH and many other states a perfectly functioning car can fail inspection because of a fault code in the computer. Until the fault is gone the car will not pass inspection which basically drops the value of the car to a parts car (or in my case sell it to someone in an adjoining state who doesn't have that requirement). The days of low cost beaters is pretty much gone as inevitably the emissions equipment shows a code.
Tesla has gotten pretty heavy handed with vehicles that have been serviced by other entities, unlike any other car on the road, the option of third party service apparently is not acceptable to Tesla.
Tesla has gotten pretty heavy handed with vehicles that have been serviced by other entities, unlike any other car on the road, the option of third party service apparently is not acceptable to Tesla.
"Where are you Dad? You were supposed to pick me up at school?"
"Sitting in the garage son. Waiting for the OS update download and reboot to finish. It says it is '34% complete Please do not turn off car until finished'."
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
The coyotes and other smugglers will be able to deliver their cargo without ever running the risk of arrest. License suspended? ,no problem just sit in the back. How would this car be pulled over by police? They would have to use the built in self destruct option. Whose at fault if the car runs over a pedestrian, Elon Musk?
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