Safe Speed Forums

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx-Pz042vyg (Audio is NWS due to swearing, use headphones or mute it)

The moral of this story, before starting a tow, take your steering lock off, especially in a Scooby as it takes 3/4 of a turn to activate it, as these guys found out, having spent silly money on engine mods and getting it towed to the mappers.

Having said that, I have never liked the idea of steering locks! I am sure I have read of incidents involving steering locks activation while on the move.

(I've never liked "Drive by wire" for similar reasons and I am *alarmed* at the idea of "Brake by wire" soon to be seen in a new cars)

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

That one activated simply because they hadn't bothered to turn the ignition on all the way.

The long version of the video (not linked) shows them being towed at speeds of up to 50mph on the equivalent of a single carriageway B road, weaving all over the place, thankfully there were only narrow corners when they were endangering oncoming traffic. Oh and the engine wasn't running so no power assisted brakes.

Muppets.

I had gathererd that, in this case, there was an element of stupidity involved .

I also thought they were towing rather fast (I H8 towing/being towed )

However, I am sure I remember cases of steering locks engaging even when they should have been released by the ignition key.

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

I think this is urban myth rather than fact.

Steering locks require, at the very least, the key to be removed (provided they have been disengaged properly).

Agreed, if you watch the long version you can see some of the stupidiest driving you'll ever see. They are clearly trying to get as a high a speed as they can while being towed, generally act like idiots and even do some very tight overtakes!

It's actually good they were so stupid they left the key in the zero position, as if they hadn't crashed into the tree they could easily have caused a far more serious accident.

I've often desired a 'weak link' in the tow rope - something you could break with firm braking. Surely there's a threshold tow rope load which would be under max load in normal towing, but well over in emergency braking.

That way, if you were in the towed vehicle and it was going wrong, you could plant the brake and 'pop' the weak link.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

we often used 2 ton breaking strain to tow cars as it was eaisily available from work. But that would easily break on the initial snatch. I have never been able to break the rope by breaking. My perception is that the inital snatch is much higher than you are likley to get by breaking.

We could not break this two ton rope by tug of war with 10 men pulling.

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Yes I can see some merit in that, but unless you have servo assistance for the brakes you may not be able to brake hard enough to snap the rope, would you?

I know there is normally a brake servo reservoir, but its capacity would soon be exhausted unless you were able to keep the engine running.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

No reason why there could not be a weak link.

glider pilots have been using a two stage weak link in their winch launch cables for years.
When you feel the first weak link go, and you can, you either take the pressure off the stick, or abort the take off by relasing the cable.
It is there to allow you to obtain a higher altitude at a lower rate of climb.

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

I believe that it is a design requirement that a 'normal person' can apply sufficient braking effort to execute an emergency stop without servo assistance. This allows for the possibility of servo failure.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

The longer version at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCbk_JZf ... ed&search=
is quite revealing

The snatch force would be much greater than can be achieved by breaking.

To substantially reduce the snatch force would require the inclusion of a long stroke spring and damper system, which is unlikely to to practically economical.

When I asked my wife to tow my car, she dislocated the antiroll bar when she drove off as normal at full speed.

"well that was close.. ha ha ha ha"

It shows 50 KM/h...?

Lovely scenery though. I wish there was anywhere like that over here.

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Andrew.

Why would the steering lock? They had turned the wheel a lot more before it did.

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Andrew.

Subaru steering locks are special. They only seem to lock at one position.
They are made primarily for a country that has very little petty car crime, so are pretty much an afterthougt.

they coulda just got the proffesionals in after spending lots of money on engine improvements another little bit wouldnt make a lot of diffrence!!!

A steering lock consists of a bolt going through the centre of the steering column. On most cars it only locks in two positions 180degrees apart. This normally coincides with the straight ahead position on the wheel but if the key is removed with a small amount of lock applied or for various reasons the column alignment has changed then it won't lock until the bolt lines up with the hole. This could be a few degrees or almost half a rotation.