I’ve rented a car twice in the last 6 weeks while out of town, since the news of that company charging the guy for speeding came out. (Hertz & Avis.) Not only should you read what you sign, but yes they tell you if they do, and to my knowlege none of the major auto rental companies do this.
If you tell me a car can only go 65mph, then I will naturally try to make it go faster. Pretty much like GM putting a speedometer that goes to 80mph in the 82 Corvette. Sure, it pegged at 80mph, but I knew it went at least 110mph in my hands. 
Sometimes ya just have to know.
Starfish wrote:
Try telling that to the court handling the Napster case. :rolleyes:
Please everyone interested in the dialogue in this thread between manhattan and I refer to this thread.
Thank you.
–Tim
There might come a day when cars are all required to have governors built in that will keep them from attaining excessive and illegal speeds. Until then, we have speed limits which, if followed by everyone, would reduce accidents on our roads. Won’t that be a dark day for all those speed demons?
Relativity…
Relative speed between vehicles is important, vehicles that are moving over or under the posted speed limit can pose a hazard. If the speed limit is 70 and I drive 90 I will be catching up on the law abiding drivers although my approach won’t be so fast that I won’t have time to compensate by changing lanes or slowing down. It would be like driving through a school zone where things don’t come up too quickly. If I come up behind someone who is doing 50 in the 70 zone (with me still doing 90) things are going to be different as the distance between myself and that other car will close much faster.
When turning into traffic one watches the oncoming cars and we make our turn when we see an adequate opening that we consider safe. We judge the speed of those oncoming cars in making our decision. If another driver enters that flow of oncoming cars and drives at excessive speed the person making the turn may mis-judge that persons rate of approach. Their adequate opening might get closed sooner than they thought and accidents can result. The person speeding will require a greater distance to stop as well.
I have never had an accident in twenty years and over a million miles of travel. If I decided that I no longer wanted to follow the speed limit I am sure that record would soon be erased.
Thank you, starfish and casdave, for, well, you know, actually answering the question.
With all due respect, I think starfish and casdave got it wrong and Homer hit the nail on the head (albeit a tad too forcefully).
Here in the good ole USA anyway, it is not a matter of mechanical ability. It is a matter of personal freedom. Any auto maker that proposed such a restriction would be laughed and ridiculed into backrupcy. And any politician that did would be tarred and feathered.
Howyadoin,
Using the word “ridiculous” rather colors the question, don’t you think?
It should be noted that speed limiters in cars are usually installed to match the speed rating of the factory tires. This absolves the manufacturers of the car and/or tires from being sued if somebody exceeds the design limits of the tire through excessive speed.
Also, would it be unfair to say (sans cite) that some speed limits are set for the purpose of revenue generation for both the government and the auto insurance companies? Police receive and use radar and laser equipment donated by insurance companies.
Just thought I’d load up for the trip to IMHOland…
-Rav
(whew, when I first saw another raven here, I thought my computer was websurfing while I was at work…or maybe the cat was…anyways, hi there!)
about speed limits…well, I dunno. My little Honda Civic’s speed dial goes up to 120 mph, but I can’t actually push it past 80 without causing the engine to make scary noises. This was conducted, I should hasten to add, along a private road with no official speed limit. So I supposed other cars were the same, with the extra stuff there just for ‘show’.
I think casdave, starfish and even our goodfella Homer have zeroed in on the answer to the OP. But as long as we’re here, The Raven, my car’s speedo is annotated all the way up to 160 mph, but there’s definitely a dusty half of the dial. I’ll never know.
I know, I know, manny…, sometimes we just get to talkin’.
Rental companies have another good reason for wanting people to obey the speed limit. People who speed occasionally get stopped by police, and, depending on how much they are speeding, and the degree of the offense, etc. sometimes get arrested. When you get arrested for a traffic violation, your car gets impounded. Rental companies don’t want their cars impounded.
Second reason: the faster you are going when you are in an accident, the more your car is damaged. Rental companies don’t want their cars damaged excessively.
Third reason: It’s their car, and they say so. When someone rents you their property, they have the right to specify the conditions under which it will be used. You don’t have to agree to those conditions; you are free to refuse to sign the contract and walk away. When you sign a contract, part of the rental contract usually says something like you agree to “obey all state and local traffic laws”. If you speed, you are violating the terms of a contract you chose to sign.
In the recent case that made the news, the guy WAS told about it, and was made to initial the section of the contract that explained the penalties. They didn’t get him for just speeding, they only penalized people who went 80 or faster for 2 minutes at a time, which doesn’t hurt people who sped momentarily to pass someone. I cannot see why anyone would think the guy who got fined was treated unfairly, especially when you take into consideration that the car was not used for highway driving, he spent the whole time driving around in a town.
I speed, I admit it. I got some tickets, not any lately but for a while I got several a year. It didn’t seem unfair at all to me - I knew what I was doing, and I knew the consequences.