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Comment by mentos | Hacker News Reader

My only hesitation with this if there is a life saving reason to go faster.

Maybe a simpler solution is to just send notifications when the car exceeds certain limits?

A delta-V limit would be “constant” in that the teenager would build it into their mental model of how a car drives, and take it into account if/when exceptional circumstances do occur.

The greater risk comes from the car spinning out of control from a standstill because of enthusiastic acceleration.

As for safety, it’s not often we need to outrun a pyroclastic cloud/tornado/airplane crashing into your path.

What is an example of a life saving reason to go faster? What are the chances of that situation happening vs a situation where the young driver will exceed the speed limit and cause injury?

Tornadoes are the big one for me.

If you are under a tornado watch you should take shelter, not drive.

Would you say a Prius is any less safe then a Tesla because it lacks its acceleration performance?

My Prius goes 0 to 60 in high 6's

This is about acceleration, not speed.

...At which point the panicky parent needs to have enough restraint to sit and stew and get the story later, rather than immediately phoning a teenager who's driving fast in a life-saving situation.

Sometimes it is better for kids (and adults) to make mistakes and get the proper punishment, than to prevent them from making mistakes at all. It gets a little greyer when the mistake can lead to death or permanent injury though.

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