The "accelerate out of trouble" claim ..... .djnotts wrote: ↑29 Jan 2023, 12:57pm Cugel:
"I'd do the same with cars - power limited so no car could ever get above around 70mph in practice. Why do motorists need to go from 0-60 in 7 seconds, 11 seconds or even 30 seconds? Only 'cos that's what they're used to and like. There's no safe and sensible reason, despite the cries that, "I accelerate out of trouble". (Into it, more like)."
+1. But the max speed limit should be at least 10mph less than max achievable speed. Especially on a m'cycle, acceleration IS one way out of trouble. As the police m'cycle training manual used to advise, always have at least 10 in hand, giving a choice between decreasing or increasing speed in order to minimise time in a vulnerable position.
Vehicles simply should not be capable of speeds double the max limit on the roads.
If the driver/rider is a professional trained to professional standards and abilities, such a tactic may occasionally be the best as the driver/rider approaches a dangerous potential collision. But the vast majority of driver/riders are competent only in the 99.99% of cases where there is no potential collision upcoming in a very, very short time. Most who try to "accelerate out of trouble" end up accelerating into it and increasing the combined momentums involved in the ensuing crash.
The problem with motorised vehicles is fundamentally too much power, not too fast a maximum speed. Maximum speed is, anyway, automatically limited by power - on the flat and uphill, at least.
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The objection to a slightly higher assist speed for e-bikes seems to be based on the notion that owners will somehow all throw caution to the wind and also head for the so-called shared paths with pedestrians, where they will try very hard to ride into people as fast as possible. This is just nonsense - and a complete red herring. The problem is inconsiderate cyclists of all kinds, not just e-cyclists; and inconsiderate pedestrians. A combination generally known as "bluddy humans".
As a fit ex-racing cyclists, I know that cycling in traffic at speeds closer to that of the traffic is actually safer than being forced to pooter along in the gutter inside a useless white line, as every motorist does a close pass on us "because they're in the cycling lane and I'm in the car lane" (the thickness of the white line away). Doing 20mph in town traffic, owning the lane, is a lot safer.
Cugel