Welcome back, I remember the snow tire posts - and now new information that just might change all the wonderful recommendations we made!
The speed rating on tires is based on NEW tires. as tire age, they lose their capabilities - including the ability to resist the effects of speed.
You did the right thing about pressure. Higher is better for speed capability. But why not take it a step further!
Many SUV’s come in export versions that have tires of higher speed capabilities. Why not inquire with either Ford or the major tire manufacturers to see if they have an H rated version of the tire size you have.
Needless to say, using a tire with a higher speed capability would improve the safety issue.
And what about those winter tires? Consider higher speed rated winter tires if this is speed thing is a potential!
If your old Cavalier was able to achieve 105 mpg while traveling at 106 mph, you should not have gotten rid of it! Did you use a hydrogen generator in order to get such impressive mileage?
FoDaddy, we have already had this conversation with Robert. We have tried to get him to keep his tire pressure at a safe level. Evidently, he is to stubborn to take our advice.
Just a question…do you have emergency lights, and are you licensed or trained as an emergency vehicle driver in your state ? Do you have special plates, marked car for such purposes ? Maybe I missed much of the conversation, but if not, how does the potential loss of time if picked up for speeding compare with the urgency of your deliveries ?
OK the vehicle ia authorized (even if not capable) what I want to know is the type of training the drivers recieve to make these runs safe (is that possible?).
This type of “bleeding ou durning surgey” situation should happen once before new blood storage policies are adopted.
I want to reduce the amount of 100mph emercency vehicle driving, by proper planning.
Putting other lives in danger to save another should happen in only the rarest cases,and GET A ESCORT!(not the car).
105MPH works out to 154 feet per second. If it takes three seconds to percieve danger and slam on the brakes, you’ve headed 462 feet in those three seconds. Even if you can see 1,000 feet ahead of you well enough to detect danger (no, you can’t) you still don’t have enough time to slow to a stop. Evade by going around? As if landing on your side in that topheavy beast will get you to your destination any faster. As someone with 40,000 miles in five states and Washington, DC, I can tell you that what you describe is too dangerous even in the best of situations.
You mention emergency situations. In the District of Columbia, there are speed cameras all over. I recall driving down 395 between New York Ave and 695. I was doing about 38, speed limit 45. I was passed by a police car with lights flashing and siren on…doing about 45. Why no speeding, even though he could? Because speeding is too dangerous there - hence, the speed cameras. If I were a patient it the ICU in need of blood, I would rather have the driver drive safely and have a near certain chance of the blood getting to me than have it sent via Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and risk not having it show up at all.
A lot can happen in a thousand feet, even on an empty road. Slow the hell down.
As the bumper sticker on the back of my car puts it: “I Obey The Speed Limit - Deal With It”.
He already said he has the lights for the job, way back there somewhere.
Depending on where he does this driving, exceeding 100 MPH is not all that dangerous. I-70 near where I live is quite capable of handling 100 MPH traffic. The population is sparse, and, unless it’s dark, visibility far exceeds the 1000’ that someone suggested he couldn’t see past. (Perhaps they need glasses.) Unfortunately it would get most of us arrested and our vehicles inpounded.
In my CDL training years ago we were taught to watch the roadway 15 seconds ahead. That’s still about 4/10 of a mile at 100 MPH.
And yes, there is a limiter, although I’d hesitate to call it a governor. It’s more of a rev limiter, done by the vehicle’s computer.
That brings to mind the old joke about Alabama governor George Wallace’s second wife Lurleen. She had a reputation for getting many speeding tickets, which were promptly dismissed for some reason. The joke was told that if she kept on speeding, the were going to have to put a governor on her.
My hat is off to Mr Gift. Thank you for the service you provide. It was once provided for a member of my own family. Please pay scant attention to those who have never driven 105 MPH on a sparsely traveled super highway.
That’s a reoccurring theme of those of us who disagree. Let me add that the failure to recognize this point is a deficiency in ones training to operate and others as well who seem gloss over that fact with other observations. Sorry Mr. MG, VDC has it right.
To me driving at 105 mph is still the issue.
The OP has shown his cards that he’s not interested in any advice that will make his deliveries any safer. All he cares about is getting there as fast as possible and in all conditions.
I would not want him nor anyone else who is equally untrained driving on the same roads I’m on (or that anyone is driving on).
No vehicle, emergency or other, should be going 105 mph on the highway. No matter what the emergency is, it’s not worth it endangering yourself and other drivers on the roads. If an animal or person ran across the road in front of you, it would get really messy really quickly. Also, police escorts are NOT a good idea. EMTs are taught never to use an escort in their training. A driver who pulls over for a police car may pull back into traffic after it passes and into the path of the vehicle it’s escorting.
You have no right to endanger other drivers on the road and I hope you either start driving responsibly or find another job. If your cargo is that important, call a helicopter and stay off the road where my family and I are driving.
I’d like to know what the advantage is for a person in this situation to go 105 mph versus going the speed limit or slightly higher. Considering the risk involved, the time saved is not nearly worth it, and likely not much time is saved anyway.
Chances are the driver in this vehicle could, in one millisecond, cause enough damage and injury to more than offset any time advantage that was ever achieved.
Further, if highway speeds that high are required in order for the blood to be delivered in the correct time frame, there’s something wrong with the delivery system.
As others have noted, the issue is more than whether or not one particular SUV has a governor. The real issues are, whether it has to do with the OP or not, whether that particular vehicle is safe at extremely high speeds, whether those speeds are necessary and whether the delivery system is justified if it requires speeds over 100 mph in order to be delivered.
It doesn’t matter whether the driver is an expert at speed racing, there is no good reason for anyone to travel at those speeds in any vehicle on a public road, in my opinion.
Everywhere I have lived, emergency vehicles (not including police in pursuit) are allowed to drive 10-15 MPH over the speed limit. I would not assume this one is authorized to go 105 MPH unless it is being driven in 90 MPH speed zones.
