Speed limits are meaningless when you're stuck in traffic gridlock..may as well eliminate the speed limit as in most parts of CA you'd be hard pressed to average 40 mph on most days.
Shadow the Cats owner My one thought on CA wanting to have no speed limits on their highways for cars. They better raise the speed limits for the OTR guys then. Can you imagine the carnage of a Vette doing say 120 underridding a 57 foot trailer and yes those are legal in CA with the tandems set for 40 feet which is required. The driver of the Vette's head is right about floor level on a Swift trailer which has the largest fleet.
My one thought on CA wanting to have no speed limits on their highways for cars. They better raise the speed limits for the OTR guys then. Can you imagine the carnage of a Vette doing say 120 underridding a 57 foot trailer and yes those are legal in CA with the tandems set for 40 feet which is required. The driver of the Vette's head is right about floor level on a Swift trailer which has the largest fleet.
As I have noted earlier in this thread, speed differential is the real safety hazard......
Back to work now, building a kitchen today.
Sheldon
CMStPnP Shadow the Cats owner The driver of the Vette's head is right about floor level on a Swift trailer which has the largest fleet. There is also the open question if adaptive cruise control can work safely at the higher speeds as well. Lots of assumptions made with the lets just abandon the speed limit crowd.
Shadow the Cats owner The driver of the Vette's head is right about floor level on a Swift trailer which has the largest fleet.
There is also the open question if adaptive cruise control can work safely at the higher speeds as well. Lots of assumptions made with the lets just abandon the speed limit crowd.
I don't know that we should abandon speed limits, but they could easily be higher.
The adaptive cruise control on my FLEX has been reliable and predictable in the 80 mph range.
CMStPnP ATLANTIC CENTRAL And I'm not retired, so you won't hear much from me tomorrow...... Sheldon I'm not retired either but am able to work almost entirely from home.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL And I'm not retired, so you won't hear much from me tomorrow...... Sheldon
I'm not retired either but am able to work almost entirely from home.
I work both as a residential designer/historic restoration consultant and a restoration carpenter. So my work is sometimes at home on the drawing board, sometimes in the field working with my hands, both very rewarding.
I wonder how much of a bribe he took from the auto makers?
Caldreamer
ATLANTIC CENTRALAnd I'm not retired, so you won't hear much from me tomorrow...... Sheldon
Shadow the Cats ownerThe driver of the Vette's head is right about floor level on a Swift trailer which has the largest fleet.
CMStPnP Flintlock76 To say nothing of stultifying 3d world style bureaucracy that seems to be growing like a fungus in this country. Good point and getting back to the topic. The biggest single item that has slowed every single HSR project in the country including Brightline is the Environmental Impact Statement Requirement (publication, review and approval process). You can see it in every project timeline. Streamline that process and you have sped up future implementations.
Flintlock76 To say nothing of stultifying 3d world style bureaucracy that seems to be growing like a fungus in this country.
Good point and getting back to the topic.
The biggest single item that has slowed every single HSR project in the country including Brightline is the Environmental Impact Statement Requirement (publication, review and approval process). You can see it in every project timeline. Streamline that process and you have sped up future implementations.
For, or against, or indifferent to high speed rail, I agree our government and its bureaucracy are beyond out of control.
We don't know half as much about "environmental impact" as we think we do......
My view, we are not powerful enough to perminately harm the invironment, it has always changed on its own. Should the mothership beam us all up tomorrow, mother earth would clean up any small mess we have made in a blink of her eternal eye.
Sure, we should try to be reasonable stewards, just like I save old houses, but to be so arrogant as to assume we can "fix" things we might not even be the main cause of, is well, arrogant......
I'm sure this view will not set well with some....
Climate change is real, but so was the ice age, the mini ice age, and lots of other climate shifts before we started burning oil and coal..........
Flintlock76To say nothing of stultifying 3d world style bureaucracy that seems to be growing like a fungus in this country.
CMStPnP ATLANTIC CENTRAL How do I benefit from those who are willing to pay outrageous rents in the city? And most of those people do not produce wealth, they simply make money manipulating wealth. Their "productivity" is not likely to increase, or benefit others in any way that equals the cost of limited route high speed rail. I create wealth, I take $200,000 worth of raw materials (and labor) and turn it into a $300,000 home....... Sheldon OK, I am not going into basic Economics again in this forum. It's futile. Just have to trust that increasing productivity for just one class in the economic strata results in increased GDP. I believe there were some income equality people a ways back that wanted to eliminate all Corporate jets. You do that for someone getting paid millions of dollars in salary and it will significantly impact their ability to be productive...........and we would all pay the price for that, not just the executives with the planes.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL How do I benefit from those who are willing to pay outrageous rents in the city? And most of those people do not produce wealth, they simply make money manipulating wealth. Their "productivity" is not likely to increase, or benefit others in any way that equals the cost of limited route high speed rail. I create wealth, I take $200,000 worth of raw materials (and labor) and turn it into a $300,000 home....... Sheldon
OK, I am not going into basic Economics again in this forum. It's futile. Just have to trust that increasing productivity for just one class in the economic strata results in increased GDP. I believe there were some income equality people a ways back that wanted to eliminate all Corporate jets. You do that for someone getting paid millions of dollars in salary and it will significantly impact their ability to be productive...........and we would all pay the price for that, not just the executives with the planes.
I understand economics pretty well.....
I'm not doubting that a very small percentage of several very specific classes of workers would have increased productivity. I'm questioning the assumption that the increase would offset the cost of high speed rail.
I'm in favor of corporate jets, yacht's for corporate meetings, however rich executives want to spend their money, or their companies money to do their jobs - but don't ask me to pay for it in the form of public spending.
Believe me, I'm a capitalist of the first order. Higher GDP or lower taxes, same effect for most classes........
I've been self employed most of my life.
In keeping with the OP's comments, how about the government getting all the big slow tractor trailers off I-95 and on to flat cars, raise the speed limit to 85 and increase my productivity by getting me to my jobs sites faster.........
And just give me reliable intercity rail service at some normal speed, like 80 or 100 mph...........serving more than just one "special" route.
But what do I know, I'm just a hick in flyover country with a pickup, a turbo charged station wagon, a gun (or 2, or 3), no mortgage, no car payments, and some little HO trains with no brains......
And I'm not retired, so you won't hear much from me tomorrow......
charlie hebdo Flintlock76 If you haven't done so, I'd suggest everyone read Fred Frailey's blog "The Week Of Broken Trains" plus the links Mr. Fred set up. Quite an eye-opener. The curtain's coming down on high-speed rail, for a variety of reasons. It'll be a long time before it rises again, if it ever does. More and more we are becoming like an LDC (formerly known as 3rd world nations) in terms of infrastructure, whether roads, rails, bridges, electric grid, etc.. This from a nation that went to the moon. Sad.
Flintlock76 If you haven't done so, I'd suggest everyone read Fred Frailey's blog "The Week Of Broken Trains" plus the links Mr. Fred set up. Quite an eye-opener. The curtain's coming down on high-speed rail, for a variety of reasons. It'll be a long time before it rises again, if it ever does.
If you haven't done so, I'd suggest everyone read Fred Frailey's blog "The Week Of Broken Trains" plus the links Mr. Fred set up. Quite an eye-opener.
The curtain's coming down on high-speed rail, for a variety of reasons. It'll be a long time before it rises again, if it ever does.
More and more we are becoming like an LDC (formerly known as 3rd world nations) in terms of infrastructure, whether roads, rails, bridges, electric grid, etc.. This from a nation that went to the moon. Sad.
To say nothing of stultifying 3d world style bureaucracy that seems to be growing like a fungus in this country.
Back in the '70s I read a very interesting book which I never forgot called "The America We Lost" by a Professor Mario Pei that warned about that very issue. Professor Pei's parents left Italy to get away from crushing governmental bureaucracy that stifled everyone's efforts and crippled individual initiative. He saw the same thing happening here. Professor Pei seems to have been as accurate a prophet as any of Macbeth's witches.
charlie hebdoMore and more we are becoming like an LDC (formerly known as 3rd world nations) in terms of infrastructure, whether roads, rails, bridges, electric grid, etc.. This from a nation that went to the moon. Sad.
And if you want to see something that is even more depressing, check your CSPAN schedule and look for the next time the Fed Chairman testifies before Congress. Watch it if you can or tape it on your DVR. I watched it back in April or May of last year. He was like a broken record "We do not have the tools at the Fed to do that, that is your job as the Congress to do that"..........he repeated it like 7 times to various Congress people. The Congress folks listening to him gave him a look like they just landed from the moon...all confused. Then one of them spoke up and said "So could you help us understand what to do to address this? Because the last person the Fed sent to testify here wasn't speaking english (meaning they could not understand them)"
Guess what they were talking about? Wage growth and income inequality (lol). The same topic that we have Congress people running on now for office of POTUS that are saying it is someone elses fault.
Sad but true.
ATLANTIC CENTRALHow do I benefit from those who are willing to pay outrageous rents in the city? And most of those people do not produce wealth, they simply make money manipulating wealth. Their "productivity" is not likely to increase, or benefit others in any way that equals the cost of limited route high speed rail. I create wealth, I take $200,000 worth of raw materials (and labor) and turn it into a $300,000 home....... Sheldon
OK, I am not going into basic Economics again in this forum. It's futile. Just have to trust that increasing productivity for just one class in the economic strata results in marginally increased GDP for that class (if you like to view the world via income classes that is).
I believe there were some income equality people a ways back that wanted to eliminate all Corporate jets. You do that for someone getting paid millions of dollars in salary and it will significantly impact their ability to be productive...........and we would all pay the price for that, not just the executives with the planes. I think a similar decision in the Reagan administration was made about large yachts. We don't need large yachts lets tax them so much it make them harder to purchase. Then the shipyards across the country that also manufactured DoD contracts started to layoff people that built the yachts and Congress reversed itself and repealed the tax. Now there is a lesson in Economics if I ever saw one.
ATLANTIC CENTRALReally? A few thoughts from someone who was a shop foreman in the BMW store, and who has built high performance FORD's and CHEVY's from the ground up. I drive my 2015 FORD F250 4x4 pickup at 80 mph every day on I-95, it has 85,000 miles on it already, has had no repair issues, runs like new, and drives fine at 80 mph with its 4 wheel disc anti lock brakes, electronic traction control, and roll stability control, all 7,500 lbs worth. When I'm not driving that, I drive a 2015 FORD FLEX LIMITED with the eccoboost 3.5 liter engine. Full time AWD, 6 speed w/paddle shifters, twin turbo, 365 hp, 360lb/ft torque, electric power steering, RSC, anti lock 4 wheel disc brakes, etc, etc. And way more practical for my needs than any Benz or BMW........ Most domestic cars are way better than you think...... Sheldon
Hope your luck holds out. :)
ATLANTIC CENTRALAnd given the error purposely engineered into speedometers, even modern electronic ones, by the time it reads 84 you are really only doing about 80.
To keep my mind occupied when driving long distances, I like to check the odometer against the mile posts for 10, 20, 50, even 100 miles and figure the percentage of error. Then I check the speedometer against the odometer and my watch. The error has never been as high as 2%, and is usually within 1%. In fact my last car was actually about ½% low. I do remember, though, reading reviews of cars in magazines like Popular Mechanics back in the '50's and '60's that they reported that the speedometers tended to test about 5% high.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
BaltACD High Speed Rail is actually building something. Changing highway speed limits isn't.
High Speed Rail is actually building something.
Changing highway speed limits isn't.
But the question is, do we need it? Will it make things better? For whom? At what cost? And who will pay?
As I illustrated above, I can, and have, driven from Harford County, MD to Farmington, MI as fast as you can fly there, negating the value of air travel in my view.
I'm looking to be shown who will benefit from high speed rail and how?
I think the government should invest in rail passenger service, I'm just not sure we need high speed rail.
I don't think airlines should be allowed to charge one person $500 and another person $50 for the same product. I don't think the tax payers should support the airlines infrastructure, unless we do the same with rail service and we can show the economic and social benefit of both.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD ATLANTIC CENTRAL I create wealth, I take $200,000 worth of raw materials and turn it into a $300,000 home....... Sheldon If you are taking $200K of materials and turning it in to a $300K home, you must not value your own time very highly. $100K sounds like a lot - in today's world, considering you won't bet the only individual that is putting the home together there are a lot of subcontractors time and efforts that will have to be compensated.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I create wealth, I take $200,000 worth of raw materials and turn it into a $300,000 home....... Sheldon
If you are taking $200K of materials and turning it in to a $300K home, you must not value your own time very highly. $100K sounds like a lot - in today's world, considering you won't bet the only individual that is putting the home together there are a lot of subcontractors time and efforts that will have to be compensated.
Well, you are right, I was typing too fast, and left out "and labor". The gross margin is about 30%.
And to be more specific, we hardly ever build new homes, we do custom renovations and historic restoration work.
And we are highly "green", we stop our history from ending up in the land fill, replaced by vinyl and cardboard cracker jack boxes......
We save stuff like this from the wrecking ball or the cheezy vinyl siding remodeler:
I've checked mine via GPS a number of times - it's about 2 MPH high at 65.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
ATLANTIC CENTRALI create wealth, I take $200,000 worth of raw materials and turn it into a $300,000 home....... Sheldon
tree68 CMStPnP The problem is that the Autobahn was built to be higher speed in some areas, our Interstate system I believe was built to 70 or 75 mph standards? Not sure which, one of the posters here older than me might be able to clarify that. As with HSR design, you can't just increased the speeds ad infinitum without re-engineering the on and off ramps as well as the curves in the road. So 85 mph is probably as high as your going to see the speed limit. The Interstates were built for two reasons - to move military equipment (which is why they were thick reinforced concrete) and to quickly evacuate people from population centers. These days you're not likely to see an M1 Abrams on the Interstate, and the only time you see evacuations is on the weekends and ahead of hurricanes (when they turn into linear parking lots). I was pleasantly surprised to see the speed limit on I75 in Michigan rise to 75 MPH once I got north of Saginaw on my way to cross "Big Mac" last year. A retired trooper I know once said "nine is fine, ten you're mine." So the cruise got set for 84 MPH and away I went. Around here the majority of traffic incidents on the Interstate are related to the weather - a la winter - when folks forget or don't know to slow down, thus finding themselves in the ditch. And yes, most accidents occur within a mile or two from home - which is why Bubba moved...
CMStPnP The problem is that the Autobahn was built to be higher speed in some areas, our Interstate system I believe was built to 70 or 75 mph standards? Not sure which, one of the posters here older than me might be able to clarify that. As with HSR design, you can't just increased the speeds ad infinitum without re-engineering the on and off ramps as well as the curves in the road. So 85 mph is probably as high as your going to see the speed limit.
The Interstates were built for two reasons - to move military equipment (which is why they were thick reinforced concrete) and to quickly evacuate people from population centers.
These days you're not likely to see an M1 Abrams on the Interstate, and the only time you see evacuations is on the weekends and ahead of hurricanes (when they turn into linear parking lots).
I was pleasantly surprised to see the speed limit on I75 in Michigan rise to 75 MPH once I got north of Saginaw on my way to cross "Big Mac" last year. A retired trooper I know once said "nine is fine, ten you're mine." So the cruise got set for 84 MPH and away I went.
Around here the majority of traffic incidents on the Interstate are related to the weather - a la winter - when folks forget or don't know to slow down, thus finding themselves in the ditch.
And yes, most accidents occur within a mile or two from home - which is why Bubba moved...
And given the error purposely engineered into speedometers, even modern electronic ones, by the time it reads 84 you are really only doing about 80.
Most of the time around here on I-95, your speedometer would be saying 85 before a State Trooper would even look up from his cell phone as he sits in the median with his radar switched on........again, the posted speed is 65.......
My 1963 Chevy Nova Convertible with its built up 283 would hit 135 mph on its factory looking Corvette 160 mph speedometer.
135 was a bit much in that thing, but with the suspension mods I did to it, it handled pretty well for the time, up to about 110 mph. 0-60 in 5 secs, 1/4 mile in about 15 secs, 20 mpg if you drove "normal".
CMStPnPThe problem is that the Autobahn was built to be higher speed in some areas, our Interstate system I believe was built to 70 or 75 mph standards? Not sure which, one of the posters here older than me might be able to clarify that. As with HSR design, you can't just increased the speeds ad infinitum without re-engineering the on and off ramps as well as the curves in the road. So 85 mph is probably as high as your going to see the speed limit.
CMStPnP ATLANTIC CENTRAL Simple fact, looking at the country as a whole, only a small percentage of people have life styles that would benefit from high speed rail. Lets assume that were true. 1. Non riders would still economically benefit from the higher rents people were willing to pay to be near the HSR stations and off shoot commercial developments. 2. Non riders would still economically benefit by increasing the productivity of the few that could take the HSR, if the HSR was comparitively faster than taking a plane.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Simple fact, looking at the country as a whole, only a small percentage of people have life styles that would benefit from high speed rail.
Lets assume that were true.
1. Non riders would still economically benefit from the higher rents people were willing to pay to be near the HSR stations and off shoot commercial developments.
2. Non riders would still economically benefit by increasing the productivity of the few that could take the HSR, if the HSR was comparitively faster than taking a plane.
How do I benefit from those who are willing to pay outrageous rents in the city?
And most of those people do not produce wealth, they simply make money manipulating wealth. Their "productivity" is not likely to increase, or benefit others in any way that equals the cost of limited route high speed rail.
I create wealth, I take $200,000 worth of raw materials (and labor) and turn it into a $300,000 home.......
BaltACD ATLANTIC CENTRAL Convicted One ATLANTIC CENTRAL Why should the rest of us pay for it? I think that forcing others to pay to advance your own priority has become the modernday definition of "power". Liberal = A person who feels a great debt to his fellow man, a debt he proposes to pay with other peoples money. Conservative = A person who thinks he has paid his debt to his fellow man, by earning his own money - but in reality hasn't Sheldon What we really have is the divide between Progressives and Regressives. Regressives never progress!
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Convicted One ATLANTIC CENTRAL Why should the rest of us pay for it? I think that forcing others to pay to advance your own priority has become the modernday definition of "power". Liberal = A person who feels a great debt to his fellow man, a debt he proposes to pay with other peoples money. Conservative = A person who thinks he has paid his debt to his fellow man, by earning his own money - but in reality hasn't Sheldon
Convicted One ATLANTIC CENTRAL Why should the rest of us pay for it? I think that forcing others to pay to advance your own priority has become the modernday definition of "power".
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Why should the rest of us pay for it?
I think that forcing others to pay to advance your own priority has become the modernday definition of "power".
Liberal = A person who feels a great debt to his fellow man, a debt he proposes to pay with other peoples money.
Conservative = A person who thinks he has paid his debt to his fellow man, by earning his own money - but in reality hasn't
What we really have is the divide between Progressives and Regressives. Regressives never progress!
I guess we all have different opinons on what constitutes "progress".
For me progress does not include more control, more welfare, more taxes, or more government.
Adam Smith suggested that the government that governs least , governs best, and that my first obligation to my fellow man was to take care of myself and my family so that others would not have to.
After that I have a moral obligation to do what I can for those in need, but Jefferson suggested I should not be compelled to do that against my values at the gun point of the tax collector.
How about some real progress, inact the tax system proposed by Henry George and do away with the low bid system of government contracts like he proposed?
His tax plan would force the landholders to manage that God given resource to the benefit all, not just to their benefit.
CMStPnP zardoz The California state senator proposes a no-speed-limit highway, by using funds originaly marked for the state's high speed train. As frosting on the cake, T.Rump has cancelled $929M in funding for the rail project. Anyone surprised? Easier said than done....... The problem is that the Autobahn was built to be higher speed in some areas, our Interstate system I believe was built to 70 or 75 mph standards? Not sure which, one of the posters here older than me might be able to clarify that. As with HSR design, you can't just increased the speeds ad infinitum without re-engineering the on and off ramps as well as the curves in the road. So 85 mph is probably as high as your going to see the speed limit. Also, your really optimistic that a General Motors car will hold together if driven routinely at 85 mph. I don't have that optimism having almost a lifetime of experience with GM cars before I switched to Mercedes. Interesting how my Mercedes SUV compares to my former Buick Lucerne in body weight, MPG, pollution, road vibration, safety features, etc. The Buick was more expensive to own on an annual basis (maintenence wise), burned more fuel with about 1/3 less body weight, I could fill half a page with the GM issues. Also, I can tell you from experience driving 30 mph on the Autobahn with a 13 ton armored vehicle in a convoy.........not everyone goes 110 mph or faster. It is mixed speed even without the NATO convoys. Perhaps at the most 15-20% use the higher speed in unlimited areas and typically only in the far left lane. Some rural drivers will insist on driving the lower speed limit of the range no matter what the upper speed limit is. They used to have a much higher octane fuel in Germany than is sold in the United States and the German engines are also engineered to use the higher octane fuel.......it's why they insist on only Premium High Octane Fuel for Mercedes........though in the United States I believe the Octane level is a downgrade from German levels, could be wrong there. Definitely you do not want to pump regular gasoline into a BMW or Mercedes in the United States or you will get a GM level of performance out of an excellently tuned engine.
zardoz The California state senator proposes a no-speed-limit highway, by using funds originaly marked for the state's high speed train. As frosting on the cake, T.Rump has cancelled $929M in funding for the rail project. Anyone surprised?
Easier said than done.......
The problem is that the Autobahn was built to be higher speed in some areas, our Interstate system I believe was built to 70 or 75 mph standards? Not sure which, one of the posters here older than me might be able to clarify that. As with HSR design, you can't just increased the speeds ad infinitum without re-engineering the on and off ramps as well as the curves in the road. So 85 mph is probably as high as your going to see the speed limit.
Also, your really optimistic that a General Motors car will hold together if driven routinely at 85 mph. I don't have that optimism having almost a lifetime of experience with GM cars before I switched to Mercedes. Interesting how my Mercedes SUV compares to my former Buick Lucerne in body weight, MPG, pollution, road vibration, safety features, etc. The Buick was more expensive to own on an annual basis (maintenence wise), burned more fuel with about 1/3 less body weight, I could fill half a page with the GM issues.
Also, I can tell you from experience driving 30 mph on the Autobahn with a 13 ton armored vehicle in a convoy.........not everyone goes 110 mph or faster. It is mixed speed even without the NATO convoys. Perhaps at the most 15-20% use the higher speed in unlimited areas and typically only in the far left lane. Some rural drivers will insist on driving the lower speed limit of the range no matter what the upper speed limit is.
They used to have a much higher octane fuel in Germany than is sold in the United States and the German engines are also engineered to use the higher octane fuel.......it's why they insist on only Premium High Octane Fuel for Mercedes........though in the United States I believe the Octane level is a downgrade from German levels, could be wrong there. Definitely you do not want to pump regular gasoline into a BMW or Mercedes in the United States or you will get a GM level of performance out of an excellently tuned engine.
Really?
A few thoughts from someone who was a shop foreman in the BMW store, and who has built high performance FORD's and CHEVY's from the ground up.
I drive my 2015 FORD F250 4x4 pickup at 80 mph every day on I-95, it has 85,000 miles on it already, has had no repair issues, runs like new, and drives fine at 80 mph with its 4 wheel disc anti lock brakes, electronic traction control, and roll stability control, all 7,500 lbs worth.
When I'm not driving that, I drive a 2015 FORD FLEX LIMITED with the eccoboost 3.5 liter engine. Full time AWD, 6 speed w/paddle shifters, twin turbo, 365 hp, 360lb/ft torque, electric power steering, RSC, anti lock 4 wheel disc brakes, etc, etc.
And way more practical for my needs than any Benz or BMW........
Most domestic cars are way better than you think......
ATLANTIC CENTRALSimple fact, looking at the country as a whole, only a small percentage of people have life styles that would benefit from high speed rail.
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