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everybody in London is breathing toxic levels of PM2.5 particles. And the fact that the largest sources of PM2.5 particles are tires and brake dust suggests that electrification is at best only a partial answer.
We also have to drive a whole lot less.
Fortunately, London appears to be pursuing an all-of-the-above strategy when it comes to greener transportation, including electric buses to a massive investment in cycle infrastructure, the goal really does appear to be easing gridlock and rethinking how we get from one place to another.
London's cycle superhighways have already shown they can deliver 70% increases in cycling, and now Mayor Sadiq Kahn has announced an entirely new, fourth superhighway bringing segregated lanes to Southeast London for the first time.
Instead of car tire and brake dust, Londoners will be able to inhale healthier bike tire and brake dust.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @01:43AM (13 children)
What is a "reasonable speed"?
To me, it is whatever I can manage without adding substantial risk of hitting something.
So here is what I did with the speed bumps on my route to work:
The road is marked as 20 MPH (32 KPH) maximum, 15 MPH (24 KPH) advisory, with 7 speed bumps. I approach a speed bump at 45 MPH (72 KPH), then hit the brakes immediately prior. The front of the car drops down due to braking, then bounces back up higher that it started. This helps me clear the speed bump. I then stomp the accelerator pedal to the floor, getting back up to 45 MPH (72 KPH) again. I do this 7 times in roughly a mile (1.6 km).
Now, isn't that awful?
In the process I have broken two oil pans (underinflated tire) and shaken a headlight loose. That adds more debris to the road.
Since then, I ditched that fuel-efficient little car for a giant van. Now I can take the speed bumps at full speed, yeah! Either way, the noise pollution is pretty serious.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @03:09AM
To add to the fun, you know you can now add some "running on coal" effect, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @04:42AM (3 children)
Continuing with the joke...as long as your suspension has enough travel, it's not a big deal to hit the speed bumps at high speed. Suspensions are designed to be high pass filters. Watch motocross motorcycles sometime, with about 300mm (1 foot) of suspension travel the wheels move up and down while the riders get a pretty decent ride over very rough surfaces.
Of course if you don't have enough bump travel, you bottom out the spring (or damper/strut) and break suspension parts.
No longer joking...the reasonable speed is often defined by the local residents who live along that road.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @06:01AM (2 children)
My suspension couldn't quite manage. I had a 2001 VW Passat with the USA ride height. (the 2001 Passat rides lower in the EU, via different springs)
So I would often get a weird THUMP from not having enough travel. The trick with the brakes would avoid the problem if I got the timing right. Briefly slam the brakes hard to make the car nosedive, then it rebounds to get over the speedbump.
I never broke any suspension parts. I broke some engine mounts, causing my engine to be supported on the transmission. That may have caused my transmission issues. I broke two oil pans, but at least one of those was partly due to an underinflated tire. I knocked my left headlight clear off of the vehicle. I should have stopped to grab it, but I mistook it for random trash.
Now I have an E350 Econoline van which handles speedbumps decently. I guess riding in the back seat could get wild. There is lots of clearance. My van looks like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_E-Series_wagon.jpg [wikipedia.org]
Local residents often get to define the speed limit. Because of their understandable bias, they will not choose anything reasonable. There are people living on US highways; they might like the speed limit set to 5 MPH (8 KPH) so that their kids can play unattended in the road. Fortunately we don't let things get that extreme, but it is pretty normal for speed limits to be half of what is reasonable. The same people who want 5 MPH on **their** street may be speeding on other people's streets. I'm at least not a hypocrite; I speed on my own street too.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @07:06AM (1 child)
facepalm.
You know you were modded funny because we thought you were joking, right?
You even included little "hints": like driving at an unsafe speed in a residential area (45 MPH (72 KPH)), and continuing to do so after you broke your car "In the process I have broken two oil pans (underinflated tire)"
By you own admission, you were having single-vehicle collisions with the ground. Here I thought I was talented doing that on my bike (folded wheel on level ground by counter-steering after a pedal strike).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @08:55AM
Part of the street has houses with lawns. There is seldom much near the road. Cars are not parked along the road. There are no bushes near the road. Visibility is great.
Part of the street has fenced backyards on one side, with 20 feet of flat sand and grass between that and the road. On the other side, there is 100 feet of grass and then a fence for a school. (yes this is a silly school zone -- as if hitting kids anywhere else would be different) Normally there is nothing anywhere near the road.
My eyes and ears and hands work, and I dedicate them all to driving. There is plenty of space; the situation beats some interstate highways. https://goo.gl/maps/heBgaHJUd5S2 [goo.gl]
Oh, BTW, my wife reminds me that one of the broken oil pans was her fault, at lower speeds. (so for me just 1 oil pan, 3 motor mounts, and 1 headlight)
And no, I didn't know anybody thought I was joking. I figure it is kind of funny that I would stubbornly persist with the car damage.
(Score: 2) by http on Friday October 06 2017, @05:19AM (7 children)
You're a clueless driver, and a jerk to boot. You're slamming on your brakes for speed bumps on a route you take regularly? No wonder your car got damaged. You won't convince anyone you weren't pulling that shit everywhere else you drove.
I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @06:17AM (6 children)
How else could I get the timing right and be sure that there weren't any hidden dangers?
With a previous commute elsewhere, I got good enough that I could drift a tiny bit.
I've gone 17 or 18 years without hitting anything. I might reject the yoke of the nanny state, but that doesn't make me clueless. Aside from speed, I actually follow rules far better than the typical driver. I've worn out turn signal lights, and not by leaving them on for miles.
BTW, I learned the suspension trick (slam brakes briefly) originally to deal with potholes.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday October 06 2017, @08:50AM (4 children)
"I've gone 17 or 18 years without hitting anything. "
Luck does not equal skill.
If you truly drive like you say, it is only luck keeping you semi-safe.
(I was a professional truck driver trainer and amateur circle track and drag racer at my local tracks. Your driving stories sound like a 17 year old kid with his first set of wheels, no skills and a ton of bravado. I call bullshit.)
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @10:07AM (3 children)
It's familiarity with the road, familiarity with the car, and paranoid alertness for anything out of the ordinary.
I only drive my commute like that. Elsewhere, the worst is much more mundane speeding. I'm not out there cutting off truck drivers or street racing.
It took a couple years before I understood the van well enough to go over 60 MPH (96 KPH) in it. (no, not on my commute) One has to have a good feel for how the suspension responds. I'd be there on a highway marked for 70 MPH or 75 MPH, and I'd be going 60 MPH or even a bit less. Several years later, I've briefly done 90 on really good interstate highways. That requires top quality pavement, intense concentration, a solid grip on the steering wheel, braced seating, and low wind.
The van can not usefully be drifted. Drifting is safe only on flat gravel surfaces with low speeds. It is kind of fun, but pointless.
I'm really tempted to get a WRX STI or Golf Type R. I probably ought to spend the money on my kid's education though.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @12:54PM
Get the WRX and some life insurance. The kid will be fine.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday October 07 2017, @04:47AM (1 child)
"It's familiarity with the road, familiarity with the car, and paranoid alertness for anything out of the ordinary."
You're fooling only yourself. No responsible driver ever drives like that. Too much macho, not enough sense. It WILL catch up to you.
"Elsewhere, the worst is much more mundane speeding. I'm not out there cutting off truck drivers or street racing."
This is the first thing you've said that makes sense.
"Drifting is safe only on flat gravel surfaces with low speeds. It is kind of fun, but pointless."
Drifting is safe (for other people) ONLY at the track, and even there sometimes bad shit happens. A drift can easily get out of hand, even at low speeds. It's NEVER safe in an uncontrolled environment.
Personally I love high speed asphalt drifting, never got the hang of it myself, but my nephew Josh kicks ass at it, and spends and ungodly amount for tires over a season...
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:59AM
It's weird that people see my behavior as some sort of macho thing. I'm much more of a calm, calculating, paranoid sort. I just like to go fast.
Drifting a van is NOT safe at the track. The tires would grip a solid surface too well, causing a roll-over. To drift a van without rolling it, you need something like a loose gravel surface. Snow, ice, water, and oil might also allow drifting without rolling the van.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @04:37PM
How else do you get the timing right? Uhh you go slow over the speed bumps. I hope you break your van too.