Husband drove child at 120mph

[WeevilKnievel]

Am I right to be upset? DS (10) came home last night all excited because daddy had driven him at 120mph on the (70) dual carriageway.
I'm furious, apart from risking our child's life and everyone else's. He's setting a stupid example for in a few years and DS learns to drive.
H thinks this is reasonable as he's a good driver ( better than anyone else of course) - his words

I would add that this was 30 years ago and attitudes have changed in that time. Some of the stories of things they got up to 40/50/60 years ago are just incredible, not car related but they obviously had fun (I’m talking jokes and pranks, not fitting people up for murder 🤣) Nowadays it would mean serious trouble, the black box would tell tales for a start. And yes, an exceptional driver with a proven track record and a relatively senior rank.

Motorways are the fastest roads in the UK, and some of the safest. Not only in the UK, but the world. Far more children are injured in 20/30/40 limit areas where people who believe the mantra ‘speed kills’ think that just because they’re adhering to the speed limit they’re safe, while simultaneously chatting to friends via Bluetooth, keeping an eye on kids, glancing at WhatsApp messages and sipping a latte ;) The risk of an accident in those circumstance is far higher than a motorway accident, and the consequences can be almost as devastating. But people do it all the time.

Cars are designed to be safe for the people in them but not generally for the people outside them. Part of the reason motorways are safer statistically is because they keep motor traffic away from pedestrians. If you're considering traffic stats, you need to think about who is being affected - pedestrians or drivers and passengers?

And even in those 20/30/40 zones I'd question the idea that people think they're fine so long as they stick to the speed limit. 86% per cent of drivers break 20mph limits. Figures for 30 limits are similar.

You cannot justify travelling at 120 mph by saying 'oh using your phone at 30 is bad'. We know that, that's why you'd get 6 points on your licence if you were caught doing it. They're both stupid things to do. But basic physics will make the consequences of higher speed crashes worse.

If he cannot be persuaded that he's not gods gift to driving, how about asking what he'd do if someone pulled out in front of him?
Even the best drivers in the world have to contend with arseholes - always drive as if someone else has the potential to do something that will kill you.

My ex is like this. He's the best driver in the world apparently. I did try and explain that it's not about wether you are the best driver on the road ever it's about everybody else. You know, defensive driving. I drive as though everybody else on the road is a moron. Isn't that what the hazard perception test is about.

A disqualification on the way.

In fairness German cars are generally built for German roads and Germans drive faster than this on the Autobahn all the time. I've never felt unsafe in a car in Germany.

I do think though that your DH is a moron for doing it on a UK road though where drivers aren't trained for it usually.

Dangerous driver - twats gonna twat.

I said earlier I lived in a country with no speed limit in places. I was indeed talking about Germany. Like fuck would dh and I have used cruise control at 120mph. That’s dangerous and we both hate function. Cruise control is risky because it encourages inattention and delayed reactions, thus increasing the risk of accident. We worked up our speed, got used to other drivers, saw the caveats and didn’t just bang our (German made) cars out there at such fast speeds. And don’t let me get started how bloody dangerous it is to do this with right hand drives!

If you lived in Germany, you’d know how risky it is to be made the meat in the sandwich, where as a driver you’re going say 180 kph and pull into the fast lane to overtake one doing say 110 kph in the middle lane, seeing a Porsche in the distance as a speck. Then as the Porsche is fast approaching and almost neck and neck with the one doing 110, the driver pulls out in front of you, you break hard and pray the Porsche stops. This happened a lot post reunification, primarily with Porsches or similar and Trabants. Due to the differentials in speeds, the fast car could not and there were spectacular crashes apparently. I remember seeing a car on the opposite side of the road launch in the air and flip. Flippantly talking about cruise control makes me feel sick.

Whilst it's not the most sensible thing to do and obv increases risk, occasionally driving at 120mph on a clear road for a brief period really isn't the death defying stunt many on here seem to think, although not something you really want to do all the time.

My boss once lent me the company SVR while my car was being worked on. I'd not got it above 40mph all day as we're based in the city centre, and the motorway was dead as I was driving back around 11pm. I opened it up as I merged onto the empty motorway and looking down was shocked to see I was doing 110mph. It only felt like about 80 as it was so smooth and composed.

Doing 120 in a fast German car or some other vehicle designed with performance in mind is light years away from doing it in your typical family saloon. Such cars can go from 80-120 and back again in seconds and are designed to be stable with good handling and brakes. People drive at these speeds on the autobahn all the time. It's just illegal because it raises the overall risk.

Anyone who hasn't ever driven above 100mph, or driven a fast car/done track driving probs doesn't really know what they're on about. 120 in a fast BMW is likely safer than 90mph in an old banger. Obv not the smartest move but not the drama that some are making it out to be.

Thank you....at last someone with a bit of perspective....

Anyone who hasn't ever driven above 100mph, or driven a fast car/done track driving probs doesn't really know what they're on about. 120 in a fast BMW is likely safer than 90mph in an old banger. Obv not the smartest move but not the drama that some are making it out to be.

Or perhaps some of us or our loved ones have been victims of drivers who caused crashes at high speeds?

120 in any car in public isn't safe (completely different ball game to track driving so no idea why you're using that as any comparison) full stop, because no matter how excellent a driver the speeder is, there are too many variables outside of their control that mean at that speed they could not maintain control of the car.

Other drivers being shit, an animal running into the road unexpectedly, a pedestrian running into the road without looking, debris in the road that isn't very visible... all things that are much, much more dangerous going at 120mph.

Anything that could cause a crash at any speed is far likelier to cause a fatal crash at that speed.

This isn't a 'they don't like it because they don't understand it' thing, it's a 'yes we do understand it which is why we know it's selfish and idiotic... let alone with a child in the car' thing.

Tell him to go onto this website, find his car and how it responds in a car crash!

www.euroncap.com/en

What a f🤬

120 in a fast BMW is likely safer than 90mph in an old banger. Obv not the smartest move but not the drama that some are making it out to be.

90 in an old banger is a bloody stupid idea as well. And safer for who? Those inside the car or those outside? Because for those outside of it, it's a death sentence if they encounter a car at that speed. BMWs don't have some built in tech that enables you to get around the gaps created by saccades in your vision www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/ Neither do they stop F=ma.

Twist it and justify it all you like. Try to tell yourself what you do is fine. But it isn't. It's fucking stupid and dangerous. And if you got away with it, it's not skill or judgement - it's dumb luck and that luck will run out at some point, if not for you, then for someone near you.

120 in a fast BMW is likely safer than 90mph in an old banger. Obv not the smartest move but not the drama that some are making it out to be.

Cool your jets @Galaktoboureko or whatever it is you need to stop yourself getting overexcited back on Pistonheads.

It's not the smartest move at all because you'll be doing 120mph and fantasising about being Steve McQueen and someone else will probably not be doing 90mph in an old banger but thinking it is perfectly okay to do 70mph in a reasonably nice well maintained car because that's the speed limit and they don't expect a wanker right up their arse until the moment of impact and then it's all over.

Life is unfair sometimes but I have learned that I do not have have the driving skills of Louis Hamilton and even if I did he probably keeps to the speed limit when not at work.

Prick.

If he got caught at this speed he would have lost his licence.

When I was around the age of ten my dad raced the train (from one bridge to another, through a town) in his tipper truck with me and my brother in the passenger seats, possibly with no seat belts back then. I remember being terrified but also excited. He told us not “don’t tell your mum” but of course we did and she went ape shit 😬😬.

Absolute twat. I wouldn't be able to forgive someone putting my child in danger so nonchalantly.

trigger warning

Tricky one in that if it's a one off i'd be inclined to be pissed off and strongly advise he never does it again. The whole 'I'm a great driver' doesn't cut it. Take it from me having had to do CPR on someone at the side of the road, thrown from his car, who we later pronounced dead, after some dickhead overtook dangerously.

Your husband is a first class bellend. I bloody hate drivers who think the speed limit doesn't apply to them because because because and something totally unrelated is a far worse crime. I live on a 20mph road and I bet your husband would also be one of the arse holes who think it's fine for them to drive at 40mph past the primary school at pick up time.

To the posters moaning....

I'm not condoning it at all. I said it was a stupid idea. However, some of you almost seem as if you've never been on the motorway before.

Driving at 80mph in the fast lane will see people behind you trying to flash you out the way. Plenty of people including emergency services/police regularly drive at 90mph, with the latter often doing it in non sporty vehicles with clunky handling/dynamics. 120 is not a whole lot faster and whilst increasing risk if you do it for extended periods, it's unlikely the car will immediately implode in the instance of a brief burst of speed.

You don't seem to understand what people are saying.

If there is an impact crash, for any reason, the effects of that are more likely to cause a fatality the faster the car is going due to the impact.

It's basic physics. The faster the car the greater the impact.

Did it happen at night on a long stretch of empty motorway?

I would be making sure that DS tells his teacher at school all about it.

I'd also be ending every sentence to DH with There We Are Then and working out my exit plan.

No, you've misunderstood my post. I used the words 'increased risk' in both posts meaning I understand it's more dangerous. My point is just that in 99% of cases you'll survive.

I wouldn't do it and am not advising it, but some people are a bit OTT about the danger. I'd say a brief blast at 120mph on a straight road is certainly less dangerous than letting your child ride a horse for an hour.

I go nuts if my husband goes over 70 with us in the car. Wouldn't be happy