Safe Speed Forums

Dusty's lorry braking made me think of this.

Given an HGV for whatever reason is not decelerating at a fast enough rate to come to rest before the car stopped in front of it, is there anything - closed cell foam, air, whatever - to soften the blow?

This may be a total non-starter because of the momentum involved - or, what about anchor bolts firing down into the ground?

Not too sure what to make of this.
I would worry about the tarmac being ripped out of the ground, although that may still be preferable compared to relying on just the brakes/tyres. Worse still, once the emergency brake is applied and the bolts are fired, even accidentally, there’s no going back....

You've been watching too much Robocop!

I imagine if this ever caught on, cars would need to have a similar system to avoid ploughing into the back of the truck, then before you know it we're back where we started. Except that now every minor shunt would involve relaying tarmac as well as shoving the dead cars to one side!

While we're brainstorming though, I wonder why cars don't have something like parking radar covering the blind spots. I suppose the constant beeping might get irritating in normal driving but perhaps it could be coupled with indicators or something like that so that it only warned when applicable. Silly idea? Or is this what I'm going to make my millions from?

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Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

We have paddled in these waters before: http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4532

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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

so we have. Sorry.

No need to be sorry. I must say the previous thread is a really cracking read, with some cool innovative ideas and JT at his witty best.

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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

I would postulate that the kind of person who doesn't check their blind spots is also unlikely to indicate before changing lanes.


Now if you were to combine it with Citroen's thingy that detects when you cross the centre line, you could be onto something, but I want 50% of your profits.

can't recall where i've seen this.... production or concept... but i've seen wing mirrors with a warning LED in the corner that illuminates when there's someone alongside.

There is a very effective mechinisim for providing a solution to this!

It is called "The Market"

Now, whilst I do not believe it is in any way infallable, It can, neverthless, on occasion, be effective at producing practical solutions!

So!

I propose a new class of comercial vehicle (Class <whatever>)

This new class will be granted the same speed allownces of private cars (IE No 56 MPH limmiters, No 40MPH restriction on NSL single carrageways etc)

However, to qualify the Tractor/trailer combinations need to be capable of achieving;

1) 3 successive "emergency" stops in quick sucession from 70 to 0 MPH with a full load achieving 0.9g deceleration, (Dry road) allowing 120 secs to build up speed betwen runs (Or what ever is needed under hard acceleration)

2) capable of maintaining a speed of 40MPH up a 1:9 hill!

Let the Engineers commense battle! And the Haulage industry beat a path to their door!

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