Stop letting your kids drive fast cars (Syosset, Lima: fit in, to live)

[Cardiff Giant]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

The new BMW 335d is incredible: 0-60 in 6 seconds and 35MPG highway, that's amazing!

I would LOVE a 335d as my next car. Maybe if I'm a good boy...

[LIMA]

Originally Posted by minesbroken

Instead of having a "commercial vehicle" law designed to keep big heavy vehicles off of the parkways they should have a weight limit. Then see how many 8 thousand pound vehicles they sell when you cant drive your excursion on the parkway anymore and your all crammed onto the LIE with all the big rigs. Nobody needs an 8000 pound vehicle to get back and forth to work. A Ford Excursion is an absolutely useless vehicle, The only vehicle more usless than that is a Hummer H2.

Commercial vehicle plates are designed to Keep Commercial vehicles off of public use roadways... If you are going to state something, please do it correctly...
Commercial is a vehicle used for business...

Not someone who bought a p/u and used to get screwed and had to have comm plates and pay more for registration fees and not be able to use it on all public roads.

Commercial is designed to keep business off of restricted passenger roads designed to keep those particular roads as faster destination roadways

In the past bad laws passed on the books, never revisited caused problems....
USED to be that heavy vehicles were all commercial use vehicles, so saying a vehicle weighing more then 5500 is a comm vehicle would have been somewhat right.... 70 years ago...

With govt interference in Auto making and having to make cars keep retarded drivers alive hitting objects mostly of there own doing, it forces them the car makers to make heavier vehicles... which adds huge weight....
So in another year then according to your wishful thinking any vehicle bought as a personal use vehicle over 5500 should be comm...
Most mid size cars right now weigh 4400 lbs+ ... that was a SUV's weight in the late 80's...

Remember when a camaro weighed 3400/3500 , now a camaro weighs 4000..
A challenger weighed 3500, now it's 4200
How do you feel about a dopey weight law now restricting use based on a old rule


Same with no commercial vehicles in the left lane law....

When that law was made most trucks had a hard time picking up speed, so why should it need to use the PASSING lane...

Half the p/u's and trucks nowadays are a lot quicker then people think.... but those are the people that don't grow as the world changes, and continue with old rules that are outdated.

I also happen to have 3 boys and 3 dogs.... So i should get a little car because you say that is all i need....
Then what smart guy? leash the dogs to the bumper and let them run along side.... Only if you were behind me, i would leash them to the front bumper and let them pull.... see how quick you want me back in a p/u

What a real dopey statement to make, no one needs anything big because minesbroken believes it's not neccesary....

How about just keeping real business vehicles like Limos, charter busses, church busses and every other vehicle used for business off the highways and parkways...

[minesbroken]

The point was really to not see them barreling down the same road as a honda fit. I am not against having 8000 pound vehicles available but its huge and maybe their should be license requirements for that and weight restrictions on parkways. That might encourage people to buy them only when they really need them. I retract my statement about the vehicle being absolutely useless as you have proved your point.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by minesbroken

The point was really to not see them barreling down the same road as a honda fit. I am not against having 8000 pound vehicles available but its huge and maybe their should be license requirements for that and weight restrictions on parkways. That might encourage people to buy them only when they really need them. I retract my statement about the vehicle being absolutely useless as you have proved your point.

I would LOVE to see a stiffer driving test for large, full frame SUVs & pickups...no extra cost, just have a different class license like they do for CDL/commercial drivers.

[Egobop]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

I would LOVE to see a stiffer driving test for large, full frame SUVs & pickups...no extra cost, just have a different class license like they do for CDL/commercial drivers.

Why should someone need a different class license to drive these vehicles? You are making these statements but not giving reasons for them. The curb weight of the 2010 Buick Enclave is 5,000 pounds should this vehicle need commercial plates? Should drivers need a special license to drive one?

The 2010 Chrysler Town & Country, Honda Odyssey mini-vans both have a curb weight of just under 5,000 pounds. Should you need a special license or commercial plates to drive them? The new Chevrolet Suburban weighs just 1,000 pounds more than them.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by Egobop

Why should someone need a different class license to drive these vehicles? You are making these statements but not giving reasons for them. The curb weight of the 2010 Buick Enclave is 5,000 pounds should this vehicle need commercial plates? Should drivers need a special license to drive one?

The 2010 Chrysler Town & Country, Honda Odyssey mini-vans both have a curb weight of just under 5,000 pounds. Should you need a special license or commercial plates to drive them? The new Chevrolet Suburban weighs just 1,000 pounds more than them.

Those aren't trucks, they're minivans (bloated as they may be) and in the case of the Enclave a "crossover" is what I think they call it. They're essentially based on front-wheel-drive car platforms and don't sit very high off the ground.

I never said anything should or shouldn't have commercial plates, but I do think there should be some kind of advanced driving requirement test for anyone driving a large SUV, pickup or even fullsize van. Do I really even have to explain this?? It should be pretty obvious looking around the roads on LI, especially North Shore Nassau County....where you're nobody if you're not behind the wheel of a Land Rover or M-class.

I've seen and known way too many idiot drivers who have caused serious accidents and ended lives early because they had absolutely no idea how a 6,000lb+ vehicle with a center of gravity 4ft off the ground reacts in an emergency driving situation. I really don't trust the same kind of person who buys a Grand Cherokee that matches their Prada bag to not vehicularly manslaughter me when they lose their shiite doing 70 on Northern Boulevard in a snowstorm. A few months ago, I saw a brand new Dodge Ram flipped over in the middle of Laurelton Parkway, cab sheared off (the turn right after the eastbound entrance to the CIP), blood and chrome everywhere. Thank god it was 4AM and hardly anyone was on the road. How does that even happen? You have to be excessively stupid/reckless to get your car to flip multiple times on a deserted parkway....and yet it happens all the time!

The downside would be that the car companies would start building trucks with less and less ground clearance and generally "dumb them down" altogether. I like trucks...I own a Jeep and have owned about 5 others. I go four wheeling every chance I get, but if that's what it takes to put sensible drivers on the road then so be it.

What do you say, Long Island?

[propain]

Originally Posted by Egobop

Why should someone need a different class license to drive these vehicles? You are making these statements but not giving reasons for them. The curb weight of the 2010 Buick Enclave is 5,000 pounds should this vehicle need commercial plates? Should drivers need a special license to drive one?

The 2010 Chrysler Town & Country, Honda Odyssey mini-vans both have a curb weight of just under 5,000 pounds. Should you need a special license or commercial plates to drive them? The new Chevrolet Suburban weighs just 1,000 pounds more than them.

I don’t think it has to do with weight, but rather size. I’ve seen some scary SUV drivers out there. Men and woman who really aren’t able to command the vehicle. Drifting in and out of lanes and parking out of stall. My wife got creamed by a woman driving a F3500 dual hub because she didn’t know the turn radius of her husbands work truck. She made a right on a busy road turning directly into the middle lane instead of the right lane and into the side of my wife’s car. She should have never been behind the wheel.

I hear what he is saying, should the rest of the world suffer because you want a truck size vehicle but cant handle it?

[LIMA]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

I would LOVE to see a stiffer driving test for large, full frame SUVs & pickups...no extra cost, just have a different class license like they do for CDL/commercial drivers.

Why not just make the road test like a CDL road test where you must prove you know the rules of the roads and show it as they make you go thru all senarios.....
A car has to follow the same rules of the road as a truck, so why not just make everyone take the same road test? ? ?

Traffic as we know it will be non existant, and many people will not possess a license...

I have been writing NYS to do this for YEARS... Along with putting jersey barriers on high speed roadways, like there should be...

Those aren't trucks, they're minivans (bloated as they may be) and in the case of the Enclave a "crossover" is what I think they call it. They're essentially based on front-wheel-drive car platforms and don't sit very high off the ground.

Doesn't matter if they look like a truck or not.... Weight dictates PLATES classification....
This is the insane point we are pointing out...

Jeeps, minivans and cars will all be in that class.....very soon... sports cars are 4400...
Does it matter if you get hit by a 5900 lb p/u going 45 or a 4400 camaro going 65.....
Do you think the camaro being lower makes it better? It in fact has Less contact patch and would probably not stop any better really do to it's weight and decreased contact patch.....


The land rover is over 5500, 1 of the M class benz is also... but i have to have comm plates on my p/u only because it has a 6' trunk.... Not any bigger then a suburban...or station wagon really as for length.

The only difference...I can carry 6 people easily between front and REAR seats, just like almost ANY car (some can't fit 6 comfortably) the ONLY difference is the TRUNK... Mine can carry 3 bullmastiffs comfortably..... while if anyone with a car or Jeep tried wouldn't get 1 bullmastiff in there trunk....or just 1 in there jeep...or 2 and leave there kids home.....
Because of that i have to pay more and added taxes and be subject to nonsense roadway use and parking rules...

Then idiots want to pass laws on long island stating comm plated vehicles only belong at a comm property or building....

I've seen and known way too many idiot drivers who have caused serious accidents and ended lives early because they had absolutely no idea how a 6,000lb+ vehicle with a center of gravity 4ft off the ground reacts in an emergency driving situation.

So you see the importance of having a facility that would teach real driver ed to people then so they truly would understand the effects of driving different vehicles and how weight and contact to the roadway greatly effects there ability to perform certain manuevers...

Not the vehicle......the uneducated idiot driving it...
.

[LIMA]

Originally Posted by propain

She made a right on a busy road turning directly into the middle lane instead of the right lane and into the side of my wife’s car. She should have never been behind the wheel.

That is a person that shouldn't be DRIVING anything....

There are hundreds/10's of thousands more like this that seriously need to be taught how to drive ANYTHING...

[Egobop]

I have actually mentioned in the past that people with SUVs and pick up trucks should drive it differently than a car. Anyone whom owns one of these vehicles should actually know this without having to take a special driver's license test.

I drive my Excursion like it is a truck simply because I know that is what it is. It does have less of a turning radius than a car, needs more room to stop and has a higher center of gravity than a car does. Smaller SUVs tend to have the same characteristics; less of a turning radius and higher center of gravity more so than needing more room to stop.

The problem I see with the smaller SUVs is due to the fact that the companies that sell them tend to make the fact that they are more car like part of their selling points. I think this makes them a little more dangerous in the hands of the people that buy them that do not have the common sense to know it is still to be handled more like a truck than a car.

The other thing I see as a problem is the false sense of security people get from having a four wheel drive vehicle in the snow. We had one bad snow storm this past winter in which I was on the LIE and saw a number of smaller SUVs on the side of the road where they wound up after skidding there. A lot of these people think that because they are in a four wheel drive vehicle they can drive in snow and ice as if they are driving in the rain or, for some, as if they are driving on dry roads. This is simply not the case.

The four wheel drive in my Excursion locks both front wheels together in four wheel drive so it is actually working more like a spool. This means the wheels would get chewed up quickly on dry pavement in turns since one front wheel will not turn slower than the other in a turn. Obviously, in four wheel drive I have to go slower through turns as well. People with four wheel drive should know how their particular system works and drive accordingly.

People also have to realize that when they hit the brakes on their four wheel drive vehicle in snow or on ice that it is like hitting the brakes in a non-four wheel drive vehicle. You can still slide and when you are sliding your higher center of gravity and greater weight is going to make it more dangerous. So, my advice to people with four wheel or all wheel drive vehicles or actually any vehicle for that matter is to THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS BEFORE YOU DRIVE not after something bad happens.

Someone with a Mustang whom went out and bought those really cool low profile DRY WEATHER racing tires should think about that before they drive in the rain and remember seeing a Mustang in some sort of road race in the rain they saw on television. The first thing they do in those races when the rain comes is bring the car to the pits to put on the appropriate tires. THINK, THINK, THINK.