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[Jabberwocky]

if your that paranoid, how about just looking before you get in the car

[stonemonkey]

I think the best safety device that could be implemented would be a large spike sticking out from the center of the steering wheel and the rather sharp point will be about an inch from the drivers face. that way no one will speed and would watch out for dangers that would make them brake too much.

Wasn't there some chinese people carrier that had such a feature, in the event of a crash the steering column pierced the driver and the floor panels disintegrated.

[Jabberwocky]

yes but this would of been designed to do it.

[darwin dali]

Wouldn't a decent alarm stop an axe murderer from getting into your backseat un-noticed anyway?

When have you last seen a person paying attention to a car alarm going off?

[madbrad]

More electrical load does indeed equal more fuel usage*, but by a negligible amount in the case of a couple of headlight bulbs burning with partial voltage. I do worse; I drive with all the lights on all the time. the amount of extra fuel that burns likely amounts to pennies a year.
I live in Canada, where DRLs have been mantatory since the 1990 model year. Usually, but not always, it uses the high beam bulb or filament at reduced voltage, i.e. not the whole 13.8 V that the car's electrical/charging system supplies, so they don't glare oncomers and don't violate the law about when you can and cannot have high beams on. As was mentioned, the Scandanavian areas had it decades before that. I can attest to the increased visibility during predusk and post dawn periods. It has more importance in northern latitudes. I started driving in 1993 and became a "daylighter" then, after studying the pertinent records from Sweden on the advice of my driving teacher.
The pertinent federal laws force carmakers to put these in and sell the cars like this, but our driving is covered by a different set of laws. I live in Ontario and it is the provincial government's Highway Traffic Act that governs my driving, and it does not force me to use the DRLs. I could disable or remove the system if I wish. No cop can ticket me for that. There's nothing in the HTA here that he could say I violated. I suspect it's that way everywhere.
Remember, what the carmakers are forced by law to put in the cars and what you are forced by law to do or not do, or use or not use, while driving, are two completely different things, and are in no way related.


*it its actually more difficult to physically turn the alternator when there's more current drawn from it, because of the increase in the strength of the counter EMF it causes. The engine will hence burn more fuel because it has an additional torque load. So the more electrical stuff you turn on, the more fuel you will consume, but it is usually a trivial amount.

[madbrad]

Oh crap I killed another thread didn't I.

[Hammer278]

How about reviving it with the fact that Toyota's new cars can sense the driver's blood alcohol level? It has a built in breathalyzer where you have to huff into and the car will start if your blood alcohol is below a certain level. However, its all too often that the car does not start even if your blood alcohol is almost zero, I've heard of a few mates who couldn't get back home and had to hitch rides. Its pathetic.

Thus, never drive your Toyota to any social function which includes meals on the agenda.

[Jabberwocky]

what if it senses that all you mates are out of there heads and will not start.

[Hammer278]

Well, they are all insane to start with but it starts anyway. It only becomes a b**ch when it senses above average blood alcohol level.

[darwin dali]

How about reviving it with the fact that Toyota's new cars can sense the driver's blood alcohol level? It has a built in breathalyzer where you have to huff into and the car will start if your blood alcohol is below a certain level. However, its all too often that the car does not start even if your blood alcohol is almost zero, I've heard of a few mates who couldn't get back home and had to hitch rides. Its pathetic.

Thus, never drive your Toyota to any social function which includes meals on the agenda.

In NYS we have tons of those cars (not just Toyota) as a new law requires convicted drunk drivers to have that installed mandatory and they also get charged for installation and a monthly fee.

[Jabberwocky]

Did I read somewhere about in car video cameras that did the same, and if registered an impact it remembered the last 30 seconds of the video

[madbrad]

So next time you do something that causes a crash, do it 31 or more seconds before the crash.

Back to the DRL topic: uh, there's nothing left ot say unless you guys can think of anything.

[Hammer278]

Did I read somewhere about in car video cameras that did the same, and if registered an impact it remembered the last 30 seconds of the video

That's pretty cool. If you have an accident, you can keep the video as a 'scrapbook' memory and show it to family/friends during social gatherings.

*sarcasm*

[Selcouth_Feline]

Did I read somewhere about in car video cameras that did the same, and if registered an impact it remembered the last 30 seconds of the video

There are ones which record GPS data as well so people can see how you were driving prior to the crash. Not that there's any guarantee that the data you've recorded can, or will, be used by the insurance companies.

Co-op insurance have now got a smart box to help younger drivers lower premiums. It apparently looks at things like cornering, speed, times of journeys, braking, acceleration etc and the premium is recalculated every 90 days depending on how you drive. If you drive well, you can get up to 11% off your premium; if you drive badly, you can get up to 20% loaded on.

Not convinced really. There is nothing wrong with making progress as long as it is done safely; compare that to some of the morons who do 40 everywhere and are blatantly awful drivers. I suspect that the system would favour the latter, even though the former is a much better driver.