Stop letting your kids drive fast cars (Lima: transfer, taxi)

[minesbroken]

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.

Because SUV's are Higher off the ground, not as stable as a car, much heavier ( some of them reaching a staggering 7-9 thousand pounds. when you have a ford f350 diesel pick up truck, having a crew cab doesn't make it a passenger vehicle. If you really wanted to make the roads safer you would set a weight limit to separate the heavy vehicles from the tiny vehicles and have more strict license requirements for heavier more dangerous vehicles. If you want to drive a 7 thousand pound vehicle you should have to parallel park one on your road test.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by minesbroken

Because SUV's are Higher off the ground, not as stable as a car, much heavier ( some of them reaching a staggering 7-9 thousand pounds. when you have a ford f350 diesel pick up truck, having a crew cab doesn't make it a passenger vehicle. If you really wanted to make the roads safer you would set a weight limit to separate the heavy vehicles from the tiny vehicles and have more strict license requirements for heavier more dangerous vehicles. If you want to drive a 7 thousand pound vehicle you should have to parallel park one on your road test.

I wholeheartedly agree. We've created a virtual arms race on public highways. Hey, I'd rather drive a light, high gas mileage sedan, but I also have to realize that many of these 7 thousand pound monsters being driven around often by inexperienced drivers or excessively macho drivers, have their grills about the level of my head, and any impact over 20MPH or so is going to kill me or a member of my family. So, now I consider an SUV as my next car..I'm inexperienced or my wife is, and now other people are in danger because of us.

My personal observation is that the worst tailgaiters on LI highways are people who drive Cadillac Escalades....very heavy trucks. People are following at distances that are not nearly enough to give them room to stop in an emergency.

[Egobop]

I have mentioned in other posts that I average around 24 miles per gallon with my diesel Excursion which is better than most cars I have owned. I can't say that other people do not tail gate with their larger SUVs but I do know that I would not do such a thing with my truck. I have already put in the posts that I know my Excursion is actually a truck and I drive it as such by leaving extra room between myself and the driver in front of me, not driving at excessive speeds, etc.

I do not believe that the driving habits of people whom do these things would change if they had to get a different license. They would drive normal for the road test and once they are on the road they would continue driving the way they do now.

It is funny you mention people with Escalades tailgating. I do not know about the newer models but I remember a few years back when they were testing them on a Motor Trend show the biggest issue that had with it was the fact that they needed a lot of room to stop. They said it suffered from brake fade problems in numerous braking tests.

Also, just for the record, an F350 with the crew cab can only get commercial plates. It is considered a pick up no matter how many doors are on it, regardless if it has a dually rear or not. Being that it is considered a pick up the weight factor puts it in the commercial category, the same is true for the F250. The F 150 is the only one that you can get passenger plates on. Same goes for the GM and Chrysler heavy duty 2500 and 3500.

If people would need a special license for a large SUV then they would need one for full size passenger vans as well. Passenger vans can be just as heavy as the large SUVs and heavy duty pick ups. My second vehicle is a 1993 GMC conversion van. I rarely use it. I really have it so that if the Excursion breaks down I can still do what needs to be done until I fix the Excursion. Do you think the privately owned passenger vans should need commercial plates as well?

I guess that I can see the argument for a special license for the larger vehicles more than I can see the argument for saying they should all have to have commercial plates.

[LIMA]

Originally Posted by minesbroken

Because SUV's are Higher off the ground, not as stable as a car, much heavier ( some of them reaching a staggering 7-9 thousand pounds. when you have a ford f350 diesel pick up truck, having a crew cab doesn't make it a passenger vehicle. If you really wanted to make the roads safer you would set a weight limit to separate the heavy vehicles from the tiny vehicles and have more strict license requirements for heavier more dangerous vehicles. If you want to drive a 7 thousand pound vehicle you should have to parallel park one on your road test.

Weight limit isn't going to make anything safer..... The idiot behind the wheel not knowing the rules and what to do is the change to make...

Anyone read the article in newsday with the accident in kings park w/Jet sanitation and read what the imbecile said about making there driveway wider and WHY...
That is the problem, and nothing else with why accidents happen...

I would love to see how many of you would pass a cdl a test.... im gonna bet 20% of you would pass.

[minesbroken]

Originally Posted by LIMA

Weight limit isn't going to make anything safer..... The idiot behind the wheel not knowing the rules and what to do is the change to make...

Anyone read the article in newsday with the accident in kings park w/Jet sanitation and read what the imbecile said about making there driveway wider and WHY...
That is the problem, and nothing else with why accidents happen...

I would love to see how many of you would pass a cdl a test.... I'm gonna bet 20% of you would pass.

It would be safer for me since I'm on the parkway every morning and the big trucks wouldn't be allowed anymore. But I have already come to the conclusion that the government has absolutely no interest in your safety unless there is money to be made. The safest cars in the world are race cars and yet race cars don't have ABS brakes or airbags. We need to make sure people can drive before they get they're license and stop building cars for stupid people. We are a nation of selfish greedy Moderator cut: language
and that is why things will never get better, No profit in it.

[Egobop]

Originally Posted by minesbroken

It would be safer for me since I'm on the parkway every morning and the big trucks wouldn't be allowed anymore. But I have already come to the conclusion that the government has absolutely no interest in your safety unless there is money to be made. The safest cars in the world are race cars and yet race cars don't have ABS brakes or airbags. We need to make sure people can drive before they get they're license and stop building cars for stupid people. We are a nation of selfish greedy a$$holes and that is why things will never get better, No profit in it.

How would you be safer without the bigger vehicles on the parkway? It would be safer for motorcyclists if they were the only ones allowed on the parkway. Maybe they should ban cars from the parkways as well. Oh wait; you personally own a car so it would be safer for you if they banned the motorcycles from the parkway. Hey, I got it; only allow whatever type of vehicle that you actually drive on the parkway. It would be safer for you. Where does it end?

If you see someone driving a truck or a large vehicle in an unsafe manner, chances are that same person would drive a car in an unsafe manner as well. I do not think your issue should be with the larger vehicles but with unsafe drivers in general.

You are correct when you say that race cars are the safest cars in the world but those cars do not need air bags since they have numerous other safety features that would simply be too expensive to incorporate into a mass produced passenger vehicle.

[hotkarl]

I think we should ban all motor vehicles and go back to riding horses.
Think of the fuel efficiency!

[LIMA]

Originally Posted by minesbroken

It would be safer for me since I'm on the parkway every morning and the big trucks wouldn't be allowed anymore.

1. BIG trucks are not allowed on certain highways.

In most cases a pick up is no longer, wider then most cars on the road, higher...yes...heavier, not always.

But I have already come to the conclusion that the government has absolutely no interest in your safety unless there is money to be made.

2. We live in the United States, If you want a govt that tells you what, how and where to drive you need to find that country and move there, more govt control is not the answer....the govt makes more problems then they fix.. they love throwing around stupid laws

So you know in the Automotive world... The problem is Govt intervention, especially in the US automakers world and no involvement in the foriegn market.


2a. Our govt makes our companies meet strict guidelines that the foreign car makers do not need to live up to whether there made here or not (excluding most german companies, have there own standards)

2b. This drives up the cost of our vehicles because people aren't SMART enough to learn the rules of the road and follow them, instead our govt forces them to build vehicles to keep imbeciles alive in a crash that should have killed them. increasing the weight and decreasing the performance.

2c. Our govt has huge taxes on our car companies, this is why they needed to borrow money, they pay taxes prior to making the money.

They have to build vehicles to keep idiots with no clue alive.... BECAUSE OUR govt doesn't want to change the road test...Because then most people, even maybe most of you wouldn't have a license because they really do not know how to use the roads properly....

That is the problem.

The safest cars in the world are race cars and yet race cars don't have ABS brakes or airbags.

This is not entirely true, certain classes of racing does infact use technology in the cars, this is where the technology comes from that is in your everyday passenger vehicle, infact some of those classes of racing are amazing in what there tech has brought out

There are some forms of racing that do not allow the tech part to be involved where it helps the driver perform better.
Though just about all tech and safety is from racing.

We need to make sure people can drive before they get they're license and stop building cars for stupid people. and that is why things will never get better, No profit in it.

Yes we do need more serious efforts in teaching people to drive since the govt is doing nothing on there part in making the tests REAL.

We do need to do more since the real safety is just not known by many drivers and there mindset is way off on many issues and they cause more problems then they have any idea about.

I am still waiting to see when people are going to stop backing into traffic....
When and if people would follow those rules then govt wouldn't have to get involved and YET again force the auto industry to give YOU* the
problem a back up camera or proximity device so you don't back out of your driveway or parking spot and kill someone...like we see so many times.

This is why we need a true motorsports facility.... might not get all the people already out there causing problem after problem everyday...
But we can get all the new ones and have them set the example for the idiots to watch and wonder why all these others perform there driving so differently and make them take notice of there mistakes..
OR have them coach from the passenger seat.



*You = 99% of the population

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by dman72

Passenger, 19, killed in Syosset one-car crash -- Newsday.com (http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-lifata2012898546jun19,0,6939805.story?track=rss - broken link)

I was driving into Queens the other afternoon, around 5:30 or so..couldn't believe how many 20 something jerks are zipping in and out of lanes, making triple lane changes, cutting people off with inches to spare.

I've seen 3 of these stories in the past 3 or 5 days on the Newsday and News 12 websites. Stop the madness.

Responsble parents can buy governors for their kid's cars. It won't stop anyone from doing 40 in a 20 mile zone, but it will sure stop them from going over 50.

20yrsinBranson

[LIMA]

I even sell devices and make alterations to vehicles for parents that have a problem involving that type of situation....and businesses to keep there comm fleet from exceeding a predetermined speed

That isn't the answer though.... just a bandaid or even a problem for other instances

This could have been prevented thru teaching

Originally Posted by dman72
Passenger, 19, killed in Syosset one-car crash -- Newsday.com