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Strangely enough my speedometer appears to be perfectly calibrated when I have my snow tires on. They must be larger diameter than my regular tires. Is it easy to do a speedometer calibration? My brother's car is pretty far off. In terms of speeding, I often set my cruise control at exactly the speed limit. People then speed by me and then slow down, and I overtake them... and it happens again and again.
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Oct 21, 2013 08:02
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ExecuDork posted:I don't know how much of a difference it makes to population-level driving habits, but I assume pretty much nobody else knows how far off their speedo is. I had mine calibrated by the RCMP ("Do you know how fast you were going?" "Uh... no. Too fast, I guess. Why don't you tell me?" *realizes GPS that said 131 km/h is entirely accurate, in-car speedo indicating something over 140 km/h is not*), but I already strongly suspected a correction factor of 10%. I am assuming those "YOUR SPEED: __ MPH" radar signs they set up along the road periodically are somewhat accurate, as they tell me my speedo is about 10% high. So I'd expect joe sixpack to know about how far off his is based on these, even if he doesn't have a phone or a standalone GPS that can tell him.
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Oct 21, 2013 08:58
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Raluek posted:I am assuming those "YOUR SPEED: __ MPH" radar signs they set up along the road periodically are somewhat accurate, as they tell me my speedo is about 10% high. So I'd expect joe sixpack to know about how far off his is based on these, even if he doesn't have a phone or a standalone GPS that can tell him. You're assuming that "most people" even give it a second thought.
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Oct 21, 2013 09:00
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Just my observation but the signs only seem to be accurate at certain distances. It may depend on the setup though.
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Oct 21, 2013 11:25
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There was actually a case here where some motorist was using the radar YOUR SPEED IS ___ displays to calibrate his speedo, and then got a speeding ticket (because it was off). He (or rather, our equivalent of AAA) took it pretty far up the court system, but in the end he lost. The average sign is probably more accurate than the average speedo, though, especially considering that wheel circumference might not be what the speedo was calibrated for.
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Oct 21, 2013 12:30
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Oddly enough my speedo reads slow. I've checked with 3 GPS devices and when the car indicates 80mph it is actually going 83mph. If I go the standard 5mph over at 80 I'm pushing 90.
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Oct 21, 2013 12:34
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KozmoNaut posted:You're assuming that "most people" even give it a second thought. Also that they look at their speedo, understand a speed limit, and have the ability to maintain a speed for any length of time.
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Oct 21, 2013 13:19
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Raluek posted:I am assuming those "YOUR SPEED: __ MPH" radar signs they set up along the road periodically are somewhat accurate, as they tell me my speedo is about 10% high. So I'd expect joe sixpack to know about how far off his is based on these, even if he doesn't have a phone or a standalone GPS that can tell him. Haha, there's currently one on I95 northbound into DC that's reading roughly 15 mph too low (accordingly to our speedos and GPSs). I have a pie in the sky conspiracy theory about it, that maybe it's a deliberate effort to make people think their speedos are reading 65mph when they're supposedly going 50mph so obviously just to go the speed limit (65) they should crank it to a reading of 80mph. Which is actually ~80mph and will get you a pretty stiff Reckless Driving charge added to the speeding ticket. I mean, it's been sitting there being that wrong for at least 7 months, it was already wrong when they put it out, and it's getting driven past by literally hundreds of thousands of people a day. How can it not be deliberate?  Hell, there's one on I95 southbound up by the DC Beltway that can't measure higher than ~18mph, by the last southbound HOV entrance. I don't trust any of them.
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Oct 21, 2013 13:29
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I always thought those signs were a "see if you can get the high score" game  Speedos aren't easy to calibrate on some cars, mine is pretty easy, just costs about 40 bucks in parts every time I have to do it. Reminds me, I need to check what speedo gear tooth count I have now, pretty sure it's a factory 34 tooth, I need either a 35 or a 36 tooth depending on which way I round it and how much air is in the tires.
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Oct 21, 2013 14:11
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ExecuDork posted:I don't know how much of a difference it makes to population-level driving habits, but I assume pretty much nobody else knows how far off their speedo is. I had mine calibrated by the RCMP ("Do you know how fast you were going?" "Uh... no. Too fast, I guess. Why don't you tell me?" *realizes GPS that said 131 km/h is entirely accurate, in-car speedo indicating something over 140 km/h is not*), but I already strongly suspected a correction factor of 10%. Every car I've owned has been off by at least 10%. The one I have now is shockingly accurate - both radar and GPS say it's dead on. I used to drive at least 5 over outside of residential, since I knew the speedo was off by at least that much. This uh, may have come close to biting me in the rear end recently.
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Oct 21, 2013 14:24
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kastein posted:I always thought those signs were a "see if you can get the high score" game They put one of those overhead speed check thingies on the Hume Highway just south of Albury/Wodonga and didnt bother to set a max display on it, until photos of the thing showing 200, 230, 280kph started to appear online. Now theres a sign on the side of it "MAX SPEED DISPLAYED 120KPH" Being Victoria, Im honestly surprised there its not back to unlimited display and has a speed camera hanging off the back of it
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Oct 21, 2013 14:33
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Yeah over here they wised up after they came out and just made them start to blink and say "slow down".
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Oct 21, 2013 14:48
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Speedos reading high is a common thing on bikes. My understanding was the DOT mandates that it read not more than 10% over reality and not under at all. Significant number of modern bikes read 10% over. Because bikers are unhinged delinquent speed freaks whose only desire is to violate civil ordinances and customs of decency, so if you tell them they're speeding, they'll be content and might commit fewer other crimes.
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Oct 21, 2013 15:09
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A town I drive through a lot (Newtown CT) has a few of the little "Your Speed" things they like to put on telephone poles and move around every now and then. They never fail to put them as far away from an actual speed limit sign as possible. So all you have to go by is when they stop blinking. This wouldn’t be a problem but most of them that I've seen don't actually start blinking until you're doing 5-10mph over but at least they're on speed limit signs most of the time. Ford Fiestas come from the factory with speedos that are slightly off. When I got tires for mine recently I went with common suggestion to go from 195/50R16 to 205/50R16 to correct this. Judging by GPS and your speed signs it is better. My LTD is badly off since I replced the 2.75 open rear end with a 3.50 limited slip. So indicated 80 is more like 60mph. SFH1989 fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Oct 21, 2013 |
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Oct 21, 2013 15:34
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My offices underground parking has those radar signs for speed. The limit is 5 mph, the security guards get sent out to sit behind a concrete column to write down plates of those who break the limit by a factor of 3: those that do get their parking privileges revoked for a month.
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Oct 21, 2013 15:50
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kastein posted:I always thought those signs were a "see if you can get the high score" game Every time I pass one of those radar speed signs (even walking - they put them up on campus sometimes) I wish I had a white board and a marker on me, to set up a High Score board. Like this photo, that everyone has seen: 
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Oct 21, 2013 22:54
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That's hilarious. Though anyone pulled over for doing 88 in a DeLorean, regardless of the posted limit, should automatically be given a free pass.
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Oct 21, 2013 23:00
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SFH1989 posted:A town I drive through a lot (Newtown CT) has a few of the little "Your Speed" things they like to put on telephone poles and move around every now and then. They never fail to put them as far away from an actual speed limit sign as possible. So all you have to go by is when they stop blinking. This wouldn’t be a problem but most of them that I've seen don't actually start blinking until you're doing 5-10mph over but at least they're on speed limit signs most of the time. If you're anywhere near the flagpole and assume it's a 25 MPH zone riddled with ticket-happy police who jump at the first echo of engine burble, you're probably not far off
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Oct 22, 2013 03:22
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Snowdens Secret posted:If you're anywhere near the flagpole and assume it's a 25 MPH zone riddled with ticket-happy police who jump at the first echo of engine burble, you're probably not far off That's a given. I've seen plenty of stupid driving around the flagpole. Last time I was there, at the stop sign coming away from Sandy Hook waiting to cross 25, the person in front of me was trying to take a left. So they pulled away from the stop sign and stopped next to the flag pole , partially blocking lanes in both directions, with cars coming in both directions. Luckily people slowed down an squeezed by until they felt like it was a good time to finish their left turn. Here's a good one I saw today. This is after she moved over a little when the second car pulling onto this street almost hit her. 
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Oct 22, 2013 04:27
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Finnish highway police released 13 photos of car/truck loading done wrong Well at least the driver made sure that the lid won't open during the move.
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Oct 22, 2013 10:06
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Like this one: Happy coppers!
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Oct 22, 2013 10:46
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Goddammit I hate other drivers. Coming to work today, two lanes of traffic, I needed to go left up ahead. So I placed myself next to a gap, matched speed, waited a couple of seconds, put on my blinker and started to move over after a couple of cycles. Like clockwork as soon as I started moving over, the gargantuan douchebag in the E46 "M3" behind me in the other lane tried to move up and block me off. It didn't work, so he got on his high beams, flicking them at me for a full 10 seconds to signal his displeasure with the great inconvenience that I had subjected him to. gently caress him, there was plenty of space before he decided to act like an entitled jerkoff.
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Oct 22, 2013 10:58
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Speed Radar type devices measure the component of your velocity in a straight line normal to the measuring device. If you're coming straight at the device then your speed will be accurately measured, but usually you're driving at a bit of an angle, so your speed will be under reported slightly. Vectors and all that. You can see this if you maintain the exact same velocity while coming towards a Your Speed box, it will often drop by a MPH or two before you pass, just due to your increasing angle to the box. Edit: Component of your velocity (with a vector), not your speed (scalar). Opensourcepirate fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Oct 22, 2013 |
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Oct 22, 2013 16:22
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I measured that the M3's speedometer in the UK read high by 3%, so judging by this thread I'm a little surprised. 10% is quite a bit, do you guys think that mfrs do that to game CAFE regulations?
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Oct 22, 2013 17:18
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Germany has their own laws about speedometers that I'm assuming most German companies will just use for all of their vehicles. It's like 0.5% under to 6% over for indicated speed. I'm probably wrong about those exact numbers. My Jetta probably reads about 3% over.
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Oct 22, 2013 17:30
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Das Volk posted:I measured that the M3's speedometer in the UK read high by 3%, so judging by this thread I'm a little surprised. 10% is quite a bit, do you guys think that mfrs do that to game CAFE regulations? I think the ones that read 10% over a outliers. Both of my bikes read maybe 2-3% over at most and the car reads about 5% over.
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Oct 22, 2013 17:33
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My BMW motorcycle's speedometer is about 7% optimistic but the odometer is correct. Judging by the other bikes in the (BMW MOA) club this is normal.  Are there more strict regulations on odometers than speedometers? Galler fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Oct 22, 2013 |
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Oct 22, 2013 17:34
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Every BMW car I've owned ('98 540, '93 850, '06 550) has indicated 3mph under actual speed. I adapted, but have a tendency to drive 3 mph fast in rental cars I rent while at work.
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Oct 22, 2013 17:46
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ausgezeichnet posted:Every BMW car I've owned ('98 540, '93 850, '06 550) has indicated 3mph under actual speed. I adapted, but have a tendency to drive 3 mph fast in rental cars I rent while at work. Have you added larger wheels/tires to every car you've owned?
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Oct 22, 2013 17:47
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The UK is one of the places where the accuracy of the speedo is meant to be within certain limits (as per the contruction and use/type approval stuff, I don't think it's checked at the annual MOT). Mustn't under-read, and you're allowed to over-read by 10% + 6mph at normal road speeds (up to 70mph). The speedo's meant to be able to read up to the car's top speed. I think commercial (tacho'd) stuff is required to be more accurate.
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Oct 22, 2013 17:50
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SFH1989 posted:That's a given. I've seen plenty of stupid driving around the flagpole. Last time I was there, at the stop sign coming away from Sandy Hook waiting to cross 25, the person in front of me was trying to take a left. So they pulled away from the stop sign and stopped next to the flag pole , partially blocking lanes in both directions, with cars coming in both directions. Luckily people slowed down an squeezed by until they felt like it was a good time to finish their left turn. To be fair this entire thread could be ConnecticutDrivers.txt.
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Oct 22, 2013 17:50
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Opensourcepirate posted:Have you added larger wheels/tires to every car you've owned? Both Audis that I own/owned were exactly 3 MPH over.
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Oct 22, 2013 17:52
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I beg all of the drivers around me to please just stop at the stop line. Not a car length or two behind it, not in the middle of the crosswalk. Please just stop at that line.
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Oct 22, 2013 17:58
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razorscooter posted:I beg all of the drivers around me to please just stop at the stop line. Not a car length or two behind it, not in the middle of the crosswalk. Please just stop at that line. I feel your pain. This is a huge problem at a major intersection near where I live:  About 50% of the time when I take a left onto Essen from Perkins there will be some assfuck way past the line and it completely fucks up the ability of the left turn lane to actually turn. I've gotten to the point of rolling down my window and yelling at the guilty party while waving for them to back up when this happens. Sometimes they're attentive enough to know their fuckup, but usually they're on their phone or just stare at me blankly. RapeWhistle fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Oct 22, 2013 |
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Oct 22, 2013 18:02
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RapeWhistle posted:I feel your pain. This is a huge problem at a major intersection near where I live: Be careful when you do this. The neanderthals who think it's alright to stop well beyond the stop line are also liable to think that you shouting at them is an affront to their masculinity and dominance. A perceived threat to their social status paired with a deficit of well-wired neurons can be a dangerous combination. Put that combination in charge of a vehicle and, well, that's how road rage incidents happen.
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Oct 22, 2013 19:22
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Horse Divorce posted:Be careful when you do this. The neanderthals who think it's alright to stop well beyond the stop line are also liable to think that you shouting at them is an affront to their masculinity and dominance. A perceived threat to their social status paired with a deficit of well-wired neurons can be a dangerous combination. Put that combination in charge of a vehicle and, well, that's how road rage incidents happen. I just had a thought... If I just plow into their car while they are blocking my turn lane will it be their fault?
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Oct 22, 2013 19:26
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No. This is in no way a good idea.
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Oct 22, 2013 19:31
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I was helping my friend fix his girlfriend's sister's beater of a 90's E-Class Merc. After cutting the rat's nest of random wires leading to the improperly-installed aftermarket stereo (she was wondering why the battery would drain when the car was off  ), I checked to make sure the car still started. The oil pressure gauge was pegged on max, so I assumed the gauge was broken. When I mentioned it to her, the response conversation went pretty much like this: Hey, I fixed the dead battery issue. You don't have a stereo any more. That's fine By the way, I think your oil pressure gauge is broken. No, it's probably right.... Wait... what? When's the last time you changed the oil? Uh... never, I guess. And... how long have you had the car? 3 years?
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Oct 22, 2013 19:51
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Opensourcepirate posted:Have you added larger wheels/tires to every car you've owned? Bone stock on all of them, though I did put 17's on the 850 eventually and had the same 3 mph discrepancy.
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Oct 22, 2013 19:59
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KillHour posted:I was helping my friend fix his girlfriend's sister's beater of a 90's E-Class Merc. After cutting the rat's nest of random wires leading to the improperly-installed aftermarket stereo (she was wondering why the battery would drain when the car was off It wasnt the stereo, it was the car screaming "KIILLLL MEEEEEEEEE"
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Oct 22, 2013 21:04
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