Geek and Gadgets Set Cross-US Speed Record

Brikus writes "And you thought your car had gadgets. In this story from Wired magazine, we hear about Alex Roy and his quest to break the record time for a cross-USA road trip. One of the biggest roadblocks to breaking the record: highway patrol officers, about 31,000 along the way. So Roy decked out his E39 BMW M5 with a thermal camera, radar/laser detectors, GPS devices, police scanners, and other high-tech gadgets and toys."

Comments

Wow, so many people bitching

[heinousjay]

I should have expected everyone to hop on and whine about the danger, but it still took me surprise. I don't know why I thought there would be people who understood the idea of having a nice heavy pair of cojones here.

Re:Alternate headline

[ACDChook]

Oh, come on, for God's sake, grow a sense of humour. This is an astounding driving achievement. And as the article points out, this guy has become known as a fast but SAFE driver. I would have no doubt that he poses far less of a risk to other drivers than all those 'normal people', as you put it. There is a difference between driving fast and driving dangerously.

And besides, as a road user, doesn't it just go with the territory that you accept the risk that another driver may hit you? I know I do. I know there are a few drivers out there who will sometimes drive well above safe speeds (which are not necessarily the same as the speed limits), and if one of them takes me out, well, it's just all part of the game of driving.

What a fuckwit Alex Roy is.

[mike_diack]

Did he not give a s**t about the risk of killing people on route.
Fuck him.

Re:What a bastard.

[satoshi1]

There you go again.

Someone can be a geek and can be a psychopath. This one dude is NOT setting a stereotype for geeks. He's setting a stereotype for idiots, and the average person will see that. They won't say "wow, geeks are reckless assholes," they'll just say "that dude's a fucking idiot."

Re:How stupid...

[Anonymous Coward]

belmolis, dont be a pussy!
50 mlph is a BS speed limit on most roads!

Re:How about non-traffic violations?

[Anonymous Coward]

Um unless the law actually saw him doing it ... you got nothin FUCKTARD

See you must have proof and that proof is basically only good if law enforcement catches him doing it.

Maybe you want camera up on all roads in america....hell you probably want them up everywhere including peoples home.

WELL FUCK YOU ASSHOLE....this is america...i have a vault full of firearms and a basement full of ammo just for the day we have to liberate america from the nanny state motherfuckers like yourself.

Oh and btw have you ever been in an accident? was it your fault? (or your wifes?) if so then i say we shoot you or your wife in NOW!!!! cause your a danger.....FUCKER...Me...i speed all the time....after 30 years of driving and riding I have NEVER , not once caused an accident. I have been in 2....both hit while i was sitting still at a light. So by your metric....most idiots like yourself dont deserve to live.

STUPID ASS HOLE

Re:Americans can't drive

[rolfc]

Often, BMW and wreckless driving are linked together. I wonder if they are just as stupid when they choose an overpriced german car.

Re:Team Polizei

[LurkerXXX]

You are a moron who didn't live through the gas crisis of the 70's.

Re:What a bastard.

[zig007]

Free speech?
Do you believe the crap you write? I am about as non-conservative as they get, moron. And I am an atheist to.
I am not easily offended, I can assure you that, but when someone writes crap like this i tend to get pissed off.

This has nothing to do with naked tits or cursing or anything like that.
It is about not glorifying fucking awful behavior. I don't tolerate that. And you shouldn't either.

You are actually making free speech harder.
Your are using it as a means to try to suppress my views and to try and turn this into what you think it is:
Kind of cool.

Re:What a bastard.

[zig007]

Jeeze I hope that's not illegal. This is a free(ish) country still isn't it? I've gone on road trips where I drove about 12 hours straight, by myself. To call that "extremely dangerous" is to make yourself sound like an old granny. No, but it makes you sound REALLY stupid. No one drives for twelve hours straight unless that person is totally ignorant of the risks of doing so. Also, it is a quite masochistic exercise. We ARE talking no stops or pauses WHATSOEVER. Not to eat, rest, nothing.
Actually, it is illegal for truck drivers, for example. I think they have a 10 hour limit. Remember that they are professionals with a comfortable working environment and that they have experience of doing these things regularly. Also, they stop for short intervals. They have to keep itineraries.

Whether he actually killed someone or not is obviously completely irrelevant.

Since we know the outcome, we have more information about what went into it. Yeah, if you look at it solely as a mathematic problem with a known complexity.
If you don't know anything, the amount of information you get from the first outcome i so unimportant that it doesn't matter, hence it's low relevance.

Now you've really revealed that you think the positive outcome of this event was pure coincidence Have I? Interesting, since i never did so.
No, I don't think it was pure coincidence. He probably tried to avoid collisions to not have to go to jail for reckless endangerment or even murder(implied malice, the felony murder rule).