Mark Scaife calls for 140km/h limit on VIC freeways
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From: Toby on 20 Jun 2010 03:13 On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:19:45 -0700 (PDT), the fonz wrote: > cameras are a clever idea and this comes from some one who used to > hate them with a passion. tax needs to be collected one way or > another, so it may as well be taken from people doing the wrong thing Amazing stuff seen at aus.cars - Mk45. And who gets to Define the 'wrong thing'? Duh - the operators and beneficiaries of Camera Speed Enforcement. If you don't have a problem with that, then you're half-past-fucked. -- Toby. Caveat Lector
From: Mickel on 20 Jun 2010 03:22 On 15/06/10 11:26 AM, John_H wrote: > I've said it all before, but here we go again.... > > Road rage, in its various forms, is the most neglected road safety > issue in this country. The most common everyday examples I see > are.... tailgating (when it's done to demonstrate annoyance or to > intimidate, as it frequently is) and deliberately blocking others from > merging, overtaking or lane changing. > > Far worse examples aren't unusual and it's all down to attitude. Only > the very worst are ever prosecuted... eg irate motorist runs down old > lady in dispute over parking spot and gets 40 hours community service! > > It's been going on for so long it's now a part of the national psyche. A few points in response to that. The first is that everything except speeding is neglected in Australia. You can largely get away with driving a complete shitbox for years here if it looks ok from the outside. The second is that I think our road rage is actually a lot better than many countries. Try holding someone up for 3 seconds in the fast lane in Turkey and you'll know about it. In Australia people hold others up for kilometres pretending not to notice someone behind them and they rarely get any rage at all. The third is that why do we concentrate on the road rage and COMPLETELY ignore the cause of the road rage. We have a culture of blaming the person tail gating or swerving in and out of traffic when the real cause of this is idiot drivers in the right lane. If we get rid of the annoyances we will get rid of a lot of road rage. Michael
From: st3ph3nm on 20 Jun 2010 03:30 On Jun 20, 1:19 pm, the fonz <arthur.fonzzare...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Jun 20, 9:12 am, st3ph3nm <s...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > > > Yes, the news. The news is always going to sensationalise these big > > accidents. Sad as they are, they're relatively uncommon compared to, > > say, collisions on country roads caused by fatigue (either head ons or > > single vehicles leaving the road). > > there are still more deaths in low than high speed zones, although the > latter are over-represented as most traffic is in urban low speed > areas. i don't agree p-platers wiping themselves out on urban roads is > uncommon - i think it's sadly all too common. > > http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2009/pdf/r... > > > So why are we getting so hung up on 5kph infringements that > > specifically target the mum in her camry, rather than stupid behaviour > > aimed at the son? Oh yeah, that'd be because it's more profitable to > > put a camera beside the road to the shops, than put more cops on the > > road. And it's politically dangerous to make driver training, > > licencing and testing more stringent. > > i agree 100%. we should make licensing harder. and you're right, > cameras are cost effective. but people say that as if it's laziness on > the part of govt not to put double the police on the roads. who would > pay for that though? the same people who complain about pollies > lifting taxes are the ones who demand more cops. > > cameras are a clever idea and this comes from some one who used to > hate them with a passion. Clever way of collecting money. Not a clever way to reduce the road toll. > tax needs to be collected one way or > another, so it may as well be taken from people doing the wrong thing. > i just don't speed anymore, so i don't pay it. yet drive along > Alexandra Pde in Fitzroy with its barrage of cameras and you're almost > guaranteed to see one or two idiots set them off as they try to beat > the lights. > > thanks guys, keep it up. i don't see a great need to sympathise with > those people. if someone can't stop themselves from setting the > cameras off in that situation - everyone knows they're there - then > i'd question their ability to drive. There is no evidence to suggest that the implementation of speed cameras has had any effect on the road toll. In fact, there is evidence (increase in road toll for example, in VIC 2002) to suggest the opposite. So again I ask, why enforce a law that most people were ignoring, simply because there was no *safety* benefit to do so? To get you thinking on this, what do you think happened in the USA when they scrapped the national 55mph speed limit, and states variously increased highway speed limits by up to 30mph? The road toll in those states decreased. Inappropriate speed for conditions is always a bad thing. 5kph over an arbitrarily decided speed limit is not by definition unsafe. Cheers, Steve > > the key point is whether it's those people who represent a higher > risk. i reckon they do. it's usually that guy who just has to get > ahead, who wants to speed up, cut you off then turn left in front you, > who inevitably gets caught by cameras. i don't have much sympathy.
From: Mr.T on 20 Jun 2010 03:45 "D Walford" <dwalford(a)internode.on.net> wrote in message news:4c1dc105$0$28649$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com... > > If there is a big gap in front you can stop hard and and still have > > somewhere to go as the idiot gets close. > > Exactly. So you don't normally leave a big enough gap to do that unless being tailgated, OK I understand now. Since I do, a far bigger complaint for me is those who feel it necessary to pull into any gap left that is more than half a car length. And usually without even indicating. FAR more annoying than someone *behind* me IMO. MrT.
From: Mr.T on 20 Jun 2010 03:51
"Mickel" <mickel(a)nospam.com> wrote in message news:4c1dc1cc$0$1029$afc38c87(a)news.optusnet.com.au... > The third is that why do we concentrate on the road rage and COMPLETELY > ignore the cause of the road rage. We have a culture of blaming the > person tail gating or swerving in and out of traffic when the real cause > of this is idiot drivers in the right lane. If we get rid of the > annoyances we will get rid of a lot of road rage. Glad to see someone else agrees at least. The old adage of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" seems just as appropriate for courtesy on the roads IMO. Unfortunately like everything else they do in life, most people are FAR too selfish for it to ever happen. MrT. |