How dangerous it really is to go 103 depends on the road. Some posters imagine the speeder is underestimating the risks (car in front only going 45 he doesn’t see etc) but that could be true or not. Under the assumption it’s in Britain, it’s more likely to be unsafe than long straight roads in sparsely populated parts of the US. In a significant % of the geographical area of the US that’s 23 or less over the limit on fastest roads. And are Germans recklessly inconsiderate to exploit the no speed limit portions/conditions on the autobahns? IME most people don’t drive those segments a lot faster than what you typically see on western US interstates, but 103 is nothing compared to the fastest drivers you see on no limit sections of the autobahns. Whether it’s seriously unsafe to drive really fast depends on the capability of car and driver, and conditions (in some places in Germany electronic signs post a limit if conditions dictate one, none if they don’t). I’m not ignoring the fact that it’s illegal to go 103 almost anywhere in the US, just saying the idea that it’s threatening other people’s lives really depends on the situation.
However the parental example setting aspect I don’t think is as relative. Serious speeding with pre-/early driver aboard, including the lawbreaking part, especially male (just a fact of life in general IME) isn’t a good idea IMO. I don’t agree all young male drivers speed (more than the normal 5-7mph almost everyone does at least sometimes). I didn’t as a young driver, and never with my kids in the car when they were pre-/early drivers. I don’t think my sons (now in their 30’s) are in that habit either, not just because I didn’t but it might have helped.
I’ve gone over 100 in recent years with my current car, passing on two lane roads. I floor it to pass (conditions allowing) and the car is over 100 in no time. Re a previous exchange, yeah car tires have advanced a lot since 1955 and the speed rating of the recommended tires of cars where you hardly notice exceeding 100 is much higher than 100. But it’s not zero risk to tires to sustain 100+, there can be objects in the road obviously.
It’s almost as if when you say someone who disagrees with you must not be any fun that people take that as hostile (and fittingly teenagery) in its own right.
I’m not sure there’s a valid distinction between an R-rated movie and driving over the speed limit, in terms of “needing to learn to navigate” aspects of life. Navigating the realm of cars means dealing with the question of how fast to go; navigating the realm of entertainment means dealing with the question of what is OK to watch. No person (regardless of age) ever needs to drive over 100 mph, and no person ever needs to see an R-rated movie either.
Kids may not need to watch an R-rated movie ever, but they need to learn how to make an informed decision about what kind of movies to watch, and how to process adult storytelling. This is a matter of teaching how to make complicated judgments with no right answer.
The judgment around whether to drive 100 mph on a public road is much simpler. There’s a right answer.
I was looking for something like this. My dad raced motorcycles for 25 years and then taught us how to drive. We spent every weekend every summer at the track. I grew up around gearheads and bikers. The OP’s post sounded really friggin’ FUN to me.
That said, when my dad taught us how to drive, we got some very stern safety lessons first. That could have been used as a teachable moment, e.g., how to steer out of a skid, how to accelerate properly on an entrance ramp, why one shouldn’t ride the clutch, what have you.
So, if that were my husband, I wouldn’t even blink. BUT, I would also not let a happy joy ride go without a safety discussion to make sure Kid understands why that sort of thing doesn’t and shouldn’t happen very often. (And I’m partial to back country roads rather than interstates where Troopers hang out looking for people joyriding in rental cars, but that’s just me.)
That was what I always thought too until a couple of weeks ago.
Heading to the airport at 4:30 in the morning in a Chev Impala rental car and at 55 mph the left front blew.
Loud bang. My wife and I looked at each other. A bit of shimmy in the steering wheel but nothing else.
In a bit of denial as we were running late so kept going for a bit. Suddenly the car wanted to go in a different direction so I pulled over.
It didn’t look flat as the car had low profile tires, it was dark and I was now on a snow covered road. So I drove a bit farther and then the noise started, wheel was shaking so I pulled into a hotel, parked the car and called a cab. I dropped the keys with a note in the rental company’s drop box and the airport.
I haven’t returned home yet but there is still no additional charges on my cc.
What did he say? You had the conversation and he agreed that it wouldn’t be good, then he went ahead and did it? That is more of an issue than speeding, IMHO.
Does he regularly say things just to make you happy and then does something else?
Have you asked him why it played out that way?
These conversations don’t need to be done in anger.
I didn’t notice that this is a zombie. The post that resurrected it appears to be cornfielded and with the conversation two years ago I hope people are no longer angry about it.
Good God. My father was like that. Up until he died he was bringing up things my mother had done “wrong” from before they were married.
My friend was married to a woman who did that as well. The bitterness in her voice over little mistakes my friend had done years before was shocking. They are divorced now, of course.
My folks are 93 and 88, and have been married for over 60 years. I can still get my dad upset if I remind him how my mom recklessly drove her scooter in Bermuda on their honeymoon.
Zombie or not, it bears repeating that safety at speed is dependent on circumstances. What people in Germany don’t understand about US roads is that (1) they are horribly maintained, (2) the vehicles on them are horribly maintained, and (3) nobody here has professional driver training. If you see a car on a U.S. road, there is no guarantee that it has working brakes because only 15 states require safety inspections (and for the most part those apply to commercial vehicles only).