Cruise Control - Page 3

Neil · 04-09-2005, 09:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busman747

I am shocked Fireman that you should be so acidic at my admission of driving at 5 mph over the speed limit on a motorway, were you in that Reliant I passed that evening?

By his nickname I am guessing he used to be a fireman. I wonder how many dead bodies he has unfortunately had to cut from cars speeding on the motorway? I think working for the emergency services must give you a different perspective on driving.

WINGY · 04-09-2005, 09:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwisi

You will find that 75mph indicated on a car speedo is an actual 70 or sometimes less. My GPS shows my cars speedo at 76 for an actual 70, 84 = actual 77 (speed limit +10% which is the actual speed coppers will start to look at issueing a ticket)

Some cars are even further out.

So sitting at an indicated 75 busman will probably not have been speeding.

I totaly agree with entwisi on this as i use GPS. I'v had the GPS unit in numerous cars of my own,Roys (seeing that it belongs to him

) and company cars. Everytime it shows 5mph error at 70 mph. when i have it in the car i totaly ignore what it says on the spedo and read the GPS, that includes going through speed traps, contraflows and passing police cars. The GPS is usually picking up between 5 and 8 satelites and has no or little chance of error, where as your car spedo has! Worn tyres as an example, if your traveling at 70 mph one day on worn tyres and the next on new ones, how can it possibly be the same speed?????

WillowTheWhisp · 04-09-2005, 09:39

I think Fireman is totally missing the point on this. Yes a driver may well read his manual but how many times have you been given a lift in somebody else's car? Did you read the manual before accepting the ride? Did you know what every switch in their car did? It's not a case of the driver being able to find the switch (which in this case is neither a switch nor a button) but of the passenger in the next seat being able to switch off cruise control in an emergency.

Maybe it could be argued that cruise control itself is dangerous and should be scrapped.

Yes, if the driver slumped forward onto the wheel it would be nigh on impossible to steer anyway but at least if the car were slowing down you would have a better chance of survival than one continuing on at the same speed.

BTW many other cars pass us on the motorway when we are keeping to the 70-75 speed range. There are also times when somebody pootling along at 20mph can cause problems.

fireman · 04-09-2005, 10:10

i THOUGHT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND IN THE CAR NOT WHEN ONE ACCEPTS A LIFT FROM OTHERS, SORRY IF YOU THINK I MISSED THE PIONT BUT I ASSURE YOU I DIDN,T. YES I TOO THINK THAT CRUISE CAN BE A DANGEROUS THING AND I AM SURPRISED THAT MANUFACTURERS GET AWAY WITH FITTING IT WITHOUT A FAILSAFE DEVICE IE A PESSURE SWITCH ON THE STEERING WHEEL WHICH WOULD DISENGAGE CRUISE WHEN THE DRIVER TAKES HIS HANDS OFF IT. and no i'm not shouting i had just typed too much of this to switch off my caps lock and re type. Also if the driver is wearing a seat belt then slumping over the wheel would be unlikely. I already said that the reference to being 5mph over the limit was a quip but it seems to be praying on your mind. Yes people do travel at way over the limit on motorways and, as Neil said it would change the attitude of drivers if they had had to scrape people fromunder a wagon wheel arch or sweep the remains of someones beloved child into a bag and rinse the rest down the guttering. I don't want to be argumentative I was just giving a piont of view and already admitted to a small joke at Pilkybuses' expence I have made my piont and really do not want to continue to bring back some dire memories of my experiences. Thankyou.

Neil · 04-09-2005, 11:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Maybe it could be argued that cruise control itself is dangerous and should be scrapped.

Lets face everything about cars and driving is dangerous. I we thought about all the what if's we would never get into a car.

fireman · 04-09-2005, 12:14

Nice one Neil.

WillowTheWhisp · 04-09-2005, 14:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by fireman

. I already said that the reference to being 5mph over the limit was a quip but it seems to be praying on your mind. Yes people do travel at way over the limit on motorways and, as Neil said it would change the attitude of drivers if they had had to scrape people fromunder a wagon wheel arch or sweep the remains of someones beloved child into a bag and rinse the rest down the guttering. I don't want to be argumentative I was just giving a piont of view and already admitted to a small joke at Pilkybuses' expence I have made my piont and really do not want to continue to bring back some dire memories of my experiences. Thankyou.

OK, "quip" accepted, perhaps if you'd included a "lol" in the original post or a smiley image then it wouldn't have appeared the way it did when I read it. You gave the impression that you do not regard Busman as a safe driver and I naturally felt defensive about that. He doesn't only drive a car but also buses and coaches and sees many accidents caused by people behaving foolishly. He may not have had the personal experience of having to remove injured or deceased persons from their vehicles as you probably have but I assure you that he isn't an irrisponsible idiot when he gets behind a wheel. He was simply trying to point out what he considered to be a design "fault" with the car we have in that the switch is such an obscure thing when ideally it should be something more obvious and apparant. I do know where and what it is but have to admit that without a reminder from time to time I could quite easily forget.

I was trying to point out that it isn't the driver (whether he has read the manual or not) who is the one who is ever going to need to use that switch because he can reach the other things that knock the CC off. It's the passenger who can only reach that switch and passengers do not read manuals. Would you think of pointing it out to anyone in your passenger seat? Maybe we would now, having thiught about it, but I have to admit it had never crossed my mind before to say "Oh, and by the way this is the CC release switch if I have a heart attack while we're going down the motorway" We remarked this morning that some people who do not drive aren't even aware of the existence of such a thing as cruise control.

entwisi · 04-09-2005, 18:47

Fireman, When I have my GPS connected I too use that instead of teh speedo as I know it to be far more accurate. With the Sat Nav system as well I can plan my cornering far more accurately as I know exactly where the road goes round the next bend even if I cannot see it through the windscreen. It is an AID to safer driving. It allows me to plan far further ahead than by just looking out the wndow. It also removes that nerveousness when driving in unfamiliar roads as I know that even if I take a wrong turn it will still get me to where I want to go.

Even without the GPS I am happy to go through speed cameras at indicated 33, I regularly overtake police range rovers at an indicated 80 on the motorway. In fact in converstaions I have had with Taffic Pol they have all told me that as long as I am showing good driving skills with consideration to other road users and awareness of what is happening around me they are unlikely to stop me unless I am doing over 85 mph. They are far more interested in pulling the nutters who tailgate at 60 or sit in the middle lane when they should move over.

As for cruise control, what would be the difference between me slumping over the wheel with CC on or slumping over the wheel of my automatic volvo with my foot flat to the floor? I would rather Julie hit something at the 75 I set it at than the 155 my Volvo will do if I was to slump with my foot to the floor.

fireman · 04-09-2005, 21:43

I did along reply and then a power cut wiped it. I dont want to argue about this I put my piont, either accept it or shun it I aint that bothered.All I know is that I set my cararvan generator goin for lights whist the power cut was on and some bast-rd has had it away with it I can not believe the scum that walk the streets these days I am so pi--ed off I copuld scream the low life fecking sh-t bast-rds .

WillowTheWhisp · 04-09-2005, 21:52

My sympathies regarding the theft of your generator. It doesn't surprise me any more what people will help themselves to. We've had some really petty thefts at the caravan site this summer, down to things like a bar of soap. Whatever they steal my opinion of them is the same.

fireman · 04-09-2005, 22:38

We used this at our caravan it cost nearly £1.000. and I can't believe someone would have the ordasity to, under the cloak of darkness unplug the lead and help themselves to it. And I cant believe I stood their across the road talking to neighbours saying. " That should not have run out of fuel already I only filled it up the other day, and that gives me at least 4 hours" we then continued to laugh and joke and drink not realising some bas--rd was off on his way with the generator. Is nothing sacred these days?

WillowTheWhisp · 04-09-2005, 22:45

The nerve of them!

Maybe it's the same people who helped themselves to the electrics and jockey wheel from our trailer.

Neil · 05-09-2005, 06:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwisi

.....than the 155 my Volvo will do.....

That is another daft thing about cars, why are vehicles allowed on the road that can do above 70mph. Surely the motorway would be a safer place if vehicles only did 70mph.

WillowTheWhisp · 05-09-2005, 06:54

A very good point. And why on earth is it considered a selling point? Perhaps there is the occasional need for a sudden burst of speed in some situations.

entwisi · 05-09-2005, 07:18

There have been many a situation on my daily commute I have been in where I have needed to get out of the way of someone doing something stupid through either being half asleep or just driving like a nutter. Having plenty of reserve is what makes it safer. Likewise cars that are capable of higher speeds are equipped with better brakes, suspension etc and will stop faster(and hence safer) than a car that has only adequate brakes. Also there is no limit on how fast you can accelerate. the power needed to do this also has the knack of giving more top speed as well. On my bike I enjoy the acceleration far more than outright speed. 150mph is boring, any idiot could do it with a straight road. Getting a bike down a twisty lane at 70(%Cough%) is far more fun. There are also plenty of track days where owners of fast cars can go and put their cars through their paces.

Let me put another analogy to you. I reckon 99% of people who use this forum have PCs with processors over 1 Gig. Yet I bet 90% of people could happily get away with a p3-500 with no real difference in how it performs for what they use it for. Should Intel and AMD have been told to stop developing at 1Gig? Who really needs 1 gig RAM? unless you are into real top end gaming or rendering full res DVDs then you quite simply don't. At work I use a P3 1 gig with 512 RAM. This is for full J2EE development, Application Server builds and Message broker flow designing. These are all quite demanding yet my work PC copes quite admirably.