Jalopnik: speed limit

Polling Confirms Americans Will Not Drive 55, Also They Don't Understand Energy Policy

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Lacking a call-center or professional statisticians, we asked you what you thought the national speed limit should be. Apparently Rasmussen Reports don't trust us, and since they have both of those things, they decided to ask pretty much the same question. They found 59% oppose one, 34% support one and 7% aren't sure. What the poll also found — as well as our own version of the poll — after the jump.

Rasmussen found 59% of people support drilling offshore and in ANWR. They also found 61% of people didn't believe that driving slower would reduce the price of oil. But here was question one:

John McCain favors drilling in offshore oil wells to help reduce the price of gas. Barack Obama opposes offshore oil wells and says it would not reduce the price of gas. Should drilling be allowed in offshore oil wells off the coasts of California, Florida, and other states?

We think maybe a question set up like this might have gotten a slightly different response:

"Do you favor offshore drilling when economists almost unanimously agree it will not decrease the price of oil beyond a negligible amount sometime in the distant future?"

We can't imagine why they didn't ask that...
(Hat tip to Scotte!) [Rasmussen Reports]

Next Up, Skynet: Siemens Teaches Cars to Read!

Davey G. Johnson — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:30:00 EST

Never let it be said that the Germans haven't done their part for literacy. Besides providing the world with the works of Goethe, Brecht and Werner von Braun, Deutschland also gave rise to industrial conglomerate Siemens, who've developed a system that reads speed limit signs and can adjust a vehicle's speed downward at the driver's discretion to stay within limits. The all-seeing eye cross checks the electrosensory stimulus it takes in with GPS data to ensure it's not wonky. We imagine this would be a highly-useful invention in a Gatso-riddled society. – Davey G. Johnson

Cars to Automatically Detect Speed Limit [Driving.ca]

Danish Bikini Speed Bandits Help Make Copenhagen A Less Fast Place

Ray Wert — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 17:22:49 EST

The movie below via the link, which is NOT SAFE FOR WORK, was made by the Danish Road Safety Council in a misguided attempt to cut down on speeding by drawing attention to speed signs and speed limits. Right, because if this were to actually find its way into real life, instead of 7 out of 10 Danes flogging a whip on a regular basis, you'd have 7 out of 10 Danes speeding and flogging a non-vehicular whip. – Ray Wert

[Speedbandits]

Where's The Fun In This? SpeedAlert Tells Drivers To Slow Down

Ray Wert — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 12:30:43 EDT

Some folks at the Aussie company Smart Car Technologies have created a new system to stop speed-demons from having their way with the road. It's called SpeedAlert and it links real-time location data and speed from GPS satellites and checks it against a database of posted speed limits a driver stores on his or her PDA or phone. Because it relies on GPS, it doesn't even need to be hooked up to a car's speedometer. Instead, a little dashboard receiver sends a bluetooth signal to the PDA or phone with the software. If the driver exceeds the speed limit, the PDA shows the speed and sounds an audible (and programmable) alert if you don't slow down. Wow. We could have loads of fun with this one. Except we only want it if we can set it up the other way, so that it tells us to speed up when we get close to the speed limit. Otherwise, the thing is just totally useless to us.

SpeedAlert ::: Aware Everywhere [speedalert.au]

Oh Man, Bo Darville Would've Dispatched These Guys Right Quick-Like

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:41:58 EST

We're a little bitter at Southern hipsters right now (except for Henry because he's as impossible to hate as he is irascible), but these Georgia kids had a great idea for a speed-limit protest. They drove four-wide on a four-lane at the posted limit and filmed the ensuing craziness, including an Angry White Van Man exploding his mirror on a disabled car on the side of the road. Plus, you know, we'd totally date at least two of those chicks. [Thanks to Nick for the tip.]

A Meditation on the Speed Limit [Google Video]

Chastise, Don't Punish: Brits Say Signs Reduce Speeds Better than Cameras

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 06:58:12 EST

Here on 25th Street in Pedro, we've got a solar-powered, radar-equipped sign that ticks off numbers up to the posted limit of 35mph. After that, it flashes the word "SLOW!" in big yellow letters with the vehemence of a significant other you may or may not have exposed to the clap. And you know what? The damn thing works (on us at least latent Catholic guilt?), and it's a damn sight less heart-rending than spotting a cop pointing a radar gat atcha whip.

In Britain, a study's shown that while 25 percent of drivers sped within the vicinity of the camera, only 16 percent sped near the sign. On the flipside, road signs aren't generally revenue generators. Sergey, Larry call us, have we got an idea for you!

Warning signs slow cars better than cameras [Scotsman, UK]

Related:
Speed Camera Warning Service Launches in UK [Internal]