🗣️Special licensure requirements for drivers of large trucks SUVs and super high-horsepower cars, especially if they drive in major cities.
— Angie Schmitt 🚶♀️🚴♀️ 🚌 (@schmangee) January 30, 2020
I’m fine with this. I drive a car with 415 horsepower. One of the main reasons is because a high-HP car has much, much better brakes than the average car. There is usually no way to get such excellent brakes on a regular car, even as an aftermarket part — they simply won’t fit. My car is safer than most similar cars for just this reason.
My car can stop from 60mph to 0 in around 108 feet. The average large SUV is going to need at least 135 feet. The Toyota Camry takes 126 feet.
I think people who have never driven a car like mine don’t realize how much of a superpower having really great brakes is. I’d sooner give up the horsepower than the brakes. And it’s not just stopping distance — there is no fade, they don’t easily overheat, water doesn’t impede them as much, and they do exactly what I want them to, every single time. By comparison, using the brakes of a regular car feels like near-suicide.