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Re:Big cars are killing Americans by cozzyd on Thursday December 30, 2021 @04:36PM (#29741733)
Easy solution is to set a momentum (or kinetic energy?) limit, rather than a speed limit.
Re:Big cars are killing Americans by tzs on Thursday December 30, 2021 @10:44PM (#29744645)
I don't think either momentum or kinetic energy are very good measures here.

Consider getting hit in the head with a fastball pitched by a major league baseball pitcher. A baseball weighs ~0.145 kg, and a fastball might be going 45 m/s.

That gives a momentum of 6.5 kg m/s, and a kinetic energy of 146.8 J, and a serious possibly life threatening injury.

Now consider getting hit by a fully loaded B-52 (220000 kg) being towed at 0.5 m/s.

That has a momentum of 110000 kg m/s, and a kinetic energy of 27500 J. That's ~17000 times the momentum of the baseball and ~190 times the kinetic energy, but all it will do is knock you over. (You might subsequently get run over by it, which would do a lot damage, but that injury will be from neither the momentum nor the kinetic energy).

Re:Big cars are killing Americans by blacksmythe on Saturday January 01, 2022 @09:53PM (#29765299)
Kinetic energy is a good measure for a baseball, because essentially all of the kinetic energy is being transferred from the small object to you.

Kinetic energy is not a good measure for a car or B-52, as after the collision the large object has essentially the same kinetic energy, and a very small fraction has been transferred to you.

A bicycle is more toward the small object side, as a pedestrian is going to absorb a good fraction of the kinetic energy of the rider, which is much larger than the kinetic energy of the bicycle itself.

Re:Big cars are killing Americans by tylerfontaine on Thursday December 30, 2021 @04:51PM (#29741899)
So then a motorcycle could legally go 200mph? And loaded tractor/trailers could go 20MPH?

NB: I didn't do the math, so this is probably mildly hyperbolic, but I think it illustrates the point.

Re:Big cars are killing Americans by jessaustin on Thursday December 30, 2021 @09:47PM (#29744312)
This proposal makes a lot of sense!
Re:Big cars are killing Americans by cozzyd on Thursday December 30, 2021 @05:08PM (#29742089)
No, motorcycle could go 25 MPH. Loaded trailer 2.5 mph. Sounds about right to me for urban areas :)
Re:Big cars are killing Americans by bifrost on Thursday December 30, 2021 @04:51PM (#29741903)
Or keep people away from cars.
Re:Big cars are killing Americans by tmnvix on Thursday December 30, 2021 @04:57PM (#29741964)
How about keeping cars away from people?
Re:Big cars are killing Americans by drewcoo on Thursday December 30, 2021 @05:27PM (#29742282)
How about we just keep the people?
Re:Big cars are killing Americans by spixy on Friday December 31, 2021 @05:32AM (#29746651)
And transforming stroads to streets and roads helps to solve that.