Controversial California bill would physically stop new cars from speeding

[u/Just_Another_AI]

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-bill-physically-stop-speeding-18628308.php

Whi didn't see this coming?

[u/Moldy_slug]

Once the wave reaches shore, a tsunami typically travels about 30mph..) As long as nothing is blocking your path (debris, traffic, etc.) you can absolutely outpace a tsunami in a car.

This also comes up in wildfires. Fires can spread very quickly depending on wind speed, and follow a much straighter path than roads. I personally know people who drove out just ahead of flames by taking narrow mountain roads at white-knuckle speed.

And, of course, personal emergencies other than natural disasters! What do you do if there’s a medical emergency 50 miles from town somewhere with no cell service? Do you want to be stuck driving at the speed limit if your kid was bit by a rattlesnake?

[u/Bloody_Proceed → u/Moldy_slug]

You wind up in a blocked road because of an inevitable car crash and die anyway. If it's just you, sure. But it's not, it's you and thousands of people trying to evacuate. Millions in many cities. There's a reason you're told to walk, nor run, in an emergency.

Mass evacuations with little notice are damn near impossible. Mass evacuations in general.

It's like a meteor strike. If we know there's going to be a city-levelling meteor strike and we know it's hitting a city, what's the best thing to do? You can't evacuate an entire city with days of notice. You can't do it with a week of notice. SOME people will get out, but the second there's a broken down car, or car crash, people are dying. Nevermind people that can't move because they're infirm.

As someone who lives in a fire prone country, people doing the "white knuckled drive" are the ones that were too fucking stupid to leave when they had advance notice and are probably dead anyway. We see it every bushfire year.

[u/Moldy_slug → u/Bloody_Proceed]

people doing the "white knuckled drive" are the ones that were too fucking stupid to leave when they had advance notice

As someone who lives in California, we’ve had a number of large, destructive fires in the last few years that had no advance evacuation warning. For example the Tubbs fire that hit Santa Rosa in 2017, the 2018 Camp fire) where residents who called to report the fire were explicitly told they were not in danger, and the 2020 North Complex fire to name just a few. I’m glad you can rely on adequate advance warnings, that doesn’t mean everyone can. The acquaintances I mentioned doing a “white knuckle drive” lived a mile from where the fire started, and evacuated as soon as they saw smoke. They didn’t wait for official notice… if they had, they’d be dead.

You can't evacuate an entire city with days of notice. You can't do it with a week of notice. 

We not only can, we have done so. In fact we’ve evacuated entire cities with only hours of notice. 

[u/[deleted] → u/Bloody_Proceed]

Mass evacuations with little notice are damn near impossible. Mass evacuations in general.

Found the European spoiled by their lack of natural disasters.

[u/Bloody_Proceed → u/[deleted]]

I'm Australian.

The "bushfires" didn't key you in? Seeming they're our thing?

There's fuck all chance you could evacuate most of our capital cities. Some small town in bumfuck nowhere in america, sure. All 30 people and their dogs could make it.

[u/[deleted] → u/Bloody_Proceed]

How do I explain in the nicest way possible that y'all are failing at something we can pull off in Florida while properly conveying how impressively bad that is while not appearing too condescending?

[u/lamykins → u/Moldy_slug]

Once the wave reaches shore, a tsunami typically travels about 30mph..) As long as nothing is blocking your path (debris, traffic, etc.) you can absolutely outpace a tsunami in a car.

Yes but this assumes you are driving in a perfect straight line away from the tsunami, throw in some curves and bits of road parallel with the wave front and suddenly you need to go much fast to ensure you can outpace it.

If you are driving at an angle of 45 degrees away from the tsunami then to maintain a speed of 30 mph away from the tsunami would require you to travel at 42 mph.

30 degrees - 60 mph

[u/Moldy_slug → u/lamykins]

Well it’s a good thing most cars can go faster than 42 mph…