Hang on to your wallets NSW

who cares about speed limits?

if we all didn't spend so much time in the bluddy car anyway it wouldn't be an issue.

we could folow the netherlands route - blanket 80kph limits.

"hoons" need outlets. i'm a "hoon" from way back. you provide a small motorsport event every sunday and watch it grow. all you need is a truckstop motorkhana on the fringes, a skidpan day, 1/8mile drags on a closed road - the cops have the powers to do it. where did the blue light drags go, anyway?

my point is, after an event like this, your adrenaline is wasted. i drive like a nanna after a few laps of wanneroo, and if i knew a small organised event were on every sunday i'd just hold out for the event instead of driving like a nutter every time it drizzles.

motorsport may be a little loud or a social faux-pas, but youth + power = trouble. give them an outlet for that power and the road toll from such activities will drop markedly.

i speak from experience and from these circles and the proof that more legislation is not working is staring you in the face. where fast cars + P Platers hae been banned, now standard pulsars and falcons are being impounded because the'yre just moving to the next most powerful class of vehicle.

we had more fun in a 120Y with a 180B engine in it than when we used to thrash the fivepointoh commodore. i know of a few excels getting around with worked 2.0L lantra engines in them - but you wouldn't know to look at them.

thought, not legislation, is needed to curb the road toll.
 
As always there are "facts" but what meanings we can attribute them are variable due to context

I suppose if we had Indonesia, PNG, NZ, China, Malaysia driving on our roads to get to each other countries our figures would be a little different


And think of the so schmick freeways and roads (sans the tolls) we could have if we had Germany's current accounts :

last 8 quarters

Australia :
-13507, -10772, -5744, -3584, -8555, -12 743, -17837, -14115

Germany :
68433, 52420, 52117, 29295, 32144, 36900, 70031, 43467
 
Generally, you don't increase road speeds on existing carriageways, apart from highways and freeways, after considerable testing has been carried out.

Road speeds are a factor of the geometry of the road, the sighting distance, curvature and super elevation, and even road surface, and will be designed at a certain regulatory road speed in the conceptual and preliminary stages of a design / project.

There are many roads that had higher speed limits which have had their limits reduced carte blanche. I know at least one that had a 100 limit until a new toll road was constructed, then the old road was reduced to 80. Coincidence, I don't think so.

For everyone that's whinging about getting done speeding, here's an idea...how about you all live in the one city, we'll have no road rules what so ever and you can go nuts...oh, and you will not have any emergency services to pick your body parts after your inevitable crashes...:mad:

Who's whinging about being booked. I have full points and have not been involved in an accident for many years, only one of which I was at fault (over 25 years ago).

The fact is that there are more effective ways to ensure road safety but none of them are as profitable as speed cameras.

Regards

Andrew
 
If road safety is the main concern then warning people to slow down will lower the risk here and now at the blackspot, not in three weeks when the fine appears.

Warnings do nothing to change peoples behaviour. Granted, a fine 3 weeks later is not as effective as being stopped by a copper, but at least it should force people to stop speeding because the threat of getting caught is always there.
 
There are many roads that had higher speed limits which have had their limits reduced carte blanche. I know at least one that had a 100 limit until a new toll road was constructed, then the old road was reduced to 80. Coincidence, I don't think so.

I am not saying it doesn't get done the other way! (Reducing speeds from a previously higher regulated road speed is not making the conditions any more hazardous, hence there is no issues with doing this)

Reducing speeds on a given road / highway is quite common. We have had a recent reduction from 110km/h to 100km/hr on the Sunny Coast.

F
 
Some of the German Autobahns carry a massive amount of trucks and general traffic. Much more than our Hume/pacific Fwys. Also can get heavy fog, ice etc.

When I drove there, I pushed the high speeds a few times when the traffic occasionally thinned out (curiosity:D).

But I do remember thinking at the time, that really, anything above around 140kmh becomes very unsafe, due to the differential in speed between slower and faster traffic. Speeds at 200kmh+ are just insane with slower traffic around.

Major accidents at that speed have catastrophic outcomes.
 
Great Pig

I don't think you actually understand the points I am making.

1. The law states that an area is 60kmh, if you go over this then there is a fine, no different to if there is a parking bay for 2hrs and you park there for 2hrs 15min expect a fine. I don't know whether having more speed cameras in a area actually reduces fatalities but someone out there has probably done this study.

2. People who go well over should be held a lot more than just a couple of dollars and loss of licence and these are the idiots I was referring to.

The police comm in Vic only came out last week and said that he understands the biggest frustration to drivers is how they have to concentrate on so many things these days on the road and to have as pointed out a straight road of 2km that had 8 speed changes was rediculous.

Jezza
 
Granted, a fine 3 weeks later is not as effective as being stopped by a copper, but at least it should force people to stop speeding because the threat of getting caught is always there.
Or maybe not.

This is admittedly a little old now, but a study around 1990 (PDF) on risk homeostatis concluded that increased fines for exceeding speed limits had no effect on the accident rate, while increased cost of accidents dramatically lowered the rate but had no effect on speed choice.

GP
 
what I do believe is that 1 death on our roads is one death to many.

simple... ban cars. but we can't accept that outcome. See, we tolerate an acceptable level of death for convenience. Life is full of risk, risk that we mitigate where reasonable. Pinging some cardigan wearing accountant who in a moment of madness took his Kia 2kms over the speed limit is not part of a risk strategy, this all about the bucks. I don't have a problem with it, I just wish they were honest. "we are installing speed cameras, it's a tax raising measure" phew, was it that hard?
 
Ausprop

Yes some people still put there knife in the toaster thats the risk they take. Like I mentioned in my prev post, if you don't want to get a fine its simple. Don't go over the speed limit and don't park in areas for longer than required. If you do then pay the money it helps me out as then the govt look at other ways of getting there money.

Jezza
 
I agree, if you don't speed you won't get fined. this has nothing to do with reducing the road toll tho. I would counter that pedantic policing of spped zones increases inattentiveness at the wheel. Ever noticed the screeching sound of tyres if you spend any time near a red light camera? Safety goes out the window, people just want to pull up at all costs to avoid the happy snap.
 
The law states that an area is 60kmh, if you go over this then there is a fine
Agreed. That's a matter of fact, not opinion. However, that doesn't mean the stated reason for the law is in any way correct or just, or even that the stated reason is in fact the real reason. It's not called politics for nothing.

People who go well over should be held a lot more than just a couple of dollars and loss of licence and these are the idiots I was referring to.
Again, you make the gross assumption that being "well over" the legal limit is necessarily idiotic. Depending on your idea of "well over", it may often be, but not always. It may also just be that the speed limit is totally inappropriate for that time (sometimes too high as well as too low).

The police comm in Vic only came out last week and said that he understands the biggest frustration to drivers is how they have to concentrate on so many things these days on the road
Quite. All I want to do is concentrate on my driving, and that's becoming harder and harder to do.

GP
 
I agree, if you don't speed you won't get fined. this has nothing to do with reducing the road toll tho. I would counter that pedantic policing of spped zones increases inattentiveness at the wheel. Ever noticed the screeching sound of tyres if you spend any time near a red light camera? Safety goes out the window, people just want to pull up at all costs to avoid the happy snap.

Ausprop

Yes saw a nice rear ender on weekend when a car in front noticed a speed camera at the side of road and slammed on breaks and had car run up his ar$e

At no stage have I said I have any facts and figures to justify them being in place, what I am saying though is that it is a law. In govt its not a hard argument to win and oppositions will not vote against it.

Jezza
 
Other good earners for the government:

- Tobacco
- Alcohol
- Gambling

Other areas with significant social problems and costs:

- Tobacco
- Alcohol
- Gambling

What's one more on the list I suppose...

GP
 
Other good earners for the government:

- Tobacco
- Alcohol
- Gambling

And along with speeding, these are optional. I don't pay speeding fines, I don't smoke, I don't drink and I don't gamble. So as far as I'm concerned, government can take as much as they want from these things. The higher the cost of these things, the less likely people should want to waste money on them.
 
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