I dunno, if you’re relying on a number to determine if you are proceeding at a safe speed, I am a bit skeptical you have sufficient mastery of whatever motor vehicle you are operating.
Just as if you’re relying on a speed limit sign & law enforcement to control what speed drivers go rather than road design feedback, you have insufficient mastery of your engineering trade.
Indeed. But in normal conditions the main thing you want to do is not break the speed limit. In sensible places the speed limits are usually lower than the maximum safe speed.
You know if you are going fast relative to other drivers without a speedometer.
You know about how fast you are going without a speedometer. 40 or 60 or 80 feel different to drive.
Don’t just rely on a number to drive. Ask yourself, can I see well up ahead? Would I have time to stop if someone pulled out from a blind spot? Are there pedestrians or children I should be mindful of?
Like if you don’t give a fuck and you’ll rely on insurance and following the law to protect you, bully for you.
It’s not about going a safe speed, it’s about going a legal speed. I feel safe going 100+ in a 70mph zone when there aren’t other vehicles around but it ain’t exactly legal so I often check my speed, that momentary look down would be prevented with a HUD.
Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me. Speed limits themselves are only very loosely related to safety (85th percentile rule and civil engineering voodoo science) and the speedometer is more about staying on the right side of the police state when confronted with roads that overwhelmingly signal to drivers that they should be going WAY faster than is legal.
And even then those speed limits, at least outside of the comparative safety of highways, are almost always set well higher than what is actually safe for the neighborhood or useful to keep the traffic network freeflowing.
I dunno, if you’re relying on a number to determine if you are proceeding at a safe speed, I am a bit skeptical you have sufficient mastery of whatever motor vehicle you are operating.
Just as if you’re relying on a speed limit sign & law enforcement to control what speed drivers go rather than road design feedback, you have insufficient mastery of your engineering trade.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2023/6/22/facing-an-uncomfortable-truth-about-speed-limits
Did you mean to come off sounding like a pretentious douche?
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Literally everyone uses the Speedo. This is such a weird comment tbh.
He’s right though. Conditions on the road and your speed relative to other drivers really matter. Your visibility forward really matters.
Also roads suck and are hostile to pedestrians in too many places.
Indeed. But in normal conditions the main thing you want to do is not break the speed limit. In sensible places the speed limits are usually lower than the maximum safe speed.
The safe driving speed isn’t a single number. It will drop in certain conditions and people need to be able to read the road to drive safely.
They also need to know their speed to drive safely.
… Yeah and that’s not the only important thing.
You know if you are going fast relative to other drivers without a speedometer.
You know about how fast you are going without a speedometer. 40 or 60 or 80 feel different to drive.
Don’t just rely on a number to drive. Ask yourself, can I see well up ahead? Would I have time to stop if someone pulled out from a blind spot? Are there pedestrians or children I should be mindful of?
Like if you don’t give a fuck and you’ll rely on insurance and following the law to protect you, bully for you.
Pay attention to the road.
Never said it was the only important thing.
Are you trying to argue that speedometers are unnecessary?
No they are. A poorly trained driver that is just following the speed limit is also dangerous.
It’s not about going a safe speed, it’s about going a legal speed. I feel safe going 100+ in a 70mph zone when there aren’t other vehicles around but it ain’t exactly legal so I often check my speed, that momentary look down would be prevented with a HUD.
Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me. Speed limits themselves are only very loosely related to safety (85th percentile rule and civil engineering voodoo science) and the speedometer is more about staying on the right side of the police state when confronted with roads that overwhelmingly signal to drivers that they should be going WAY faster than is legal.
And even then those speed limits, at least outside of the comparative safety of highways, are almost always set well higher than what is actually safe for the neighborhood or useful to keep the traffic network freeflowing.