Road Saftey

[cdm]

I believe some members may find this site interesting. Being an enthusiast, I have been following with great interest the discussions on revenue raising and road safety issues in magazines such as Wheels and Motor. This appears to be a very informative site and I would be interested to hear peoples oppinions on this matter.

Road Saftey - The real truth

[Falchoon]

You don't have too be too clever to work out that the various governments (both state & federal) are only paying lip service to road safety and are not really seriously interested in really doing much about it. Rather they are blinded by the $$ raised from fining people for exceeding a ridiculously low speed limit by a ridiculously small amount on a perfectly smooth, safe stretch of road. Victoria seems to be the worst offender with stories being heard of people caught driving as little as 2 or 3km/h over the speed limit.

Driver (un)education is a big part of the road toll IMO. It is simply too easy to get a Driver's Licence in the first place and there is no retest. Road rules change, as do vehicles. In ACT a person can get their licence driving an automatic 4cyl Hyundai or similar and six months later they are legally allowed to drive a Hummer if they so desire! I reckon it should be compulsary to learn to drive and be tested in a manual car. If you are too unco to drive a manual, well we don't want you on the road. You are a danger to yourself and other motorists. Once you get your licence then if you so desire you can get an auto to drive, but learn in a manual first.

There should be compulsary re-testing of both theory and practical every 10 years.

Insurance companies don't help either. When I purchased my previous car (EB 6cyl) the shocks were stuffed and the standard 14" tyres were almost worn out, the car handled like a boat and quite dangerous to drive, especially in the wet. I decided to upgrade with Lovells lowered springs (1 1/2"), Koni shocks and 17" wheels. I couldn't believe the hoops that the insurance company made me jump through to get the thing insured after that. It was perfectly OK for me to drive around with worn out shocks and a car that didn't handle but I was such a bad person for wanting to drive a car that handled safely. I tried to explain this to the person at the insurance company but they had no concept of what I was talking about. They just saw it as a modification and deemed it to be suspect. I got it insured in the end but it wasn't a straightforward job.

[ducatijb]

The various governments couldn't give two hoots about people dying-if so they would do something about our hospitals and roads-where is all this extra revenue going??THIS is just pure revenue raising

[NT TURBO]

If it was dangerous you'd be booked for dangerous driving, so why are we booked for speeding?, revenue.

[Dagabond]

You can argue the ya's and nay's of this until your blu in the face.

But until we the people make a united stand nothing will come of it.

[Guest AussieCJ7]

You can argue the ya's and nay's of this until your blu in the face.

But until we the people make a united stand nothing will come of it.

I aggree 100%.

One other interesting comment that was made to me by a eurpean vistor a few months back

Vistor " Why are you driving so slow ? " we were doing 110KPH on the freeway

Me " cause it is the road rules and the fines are too much if I dont "

Vistor " wow dont you all get bored and fall alseep driving so slow for so long ?"

Made me really thing does "speed kill" or is it lack of concentration ? I think it is the latter and that if the police and pollies balme speed they do not have investigate the crash fully and dont have to adress the real problems of road quality the road worthy state of the cars and driver training.

Why do we allow the extra small town cars on the open highway? I dont me the 4cy hatch back but the ones like the nissan micra etc that have small wheels that are only designed for city low speed driving The also have bugger all crash protection they do well in a sub 40k crash but not in a 100k crash sure most cars wont cope well but some do better than others

Some cars should not be allowed on the open road only in the city

[NT TURBO]

You cant talk about crash protection if you're going to register motorbikes.

[cdm]

You can argue the ya's and nay's of this until your blu in the face.

And indeed this is the point of a forum, and particullarly this thread. Not to argue, but to discuss.

It's my oppinion that driver education must be vastly improved. I watched an episode of Austalias worst drivers on TV the other night and was disgusted. I think that the level of training in this country is, if I'm allowed to say it, piss poor. To get your liscence in Vic is stupidly easy. Instead of teaching emergency braking tecniques they are teaching parallel parking. No road tests are conducted at night, at no point during the test do you have to go above 60km/h. THIS IS REDICULOUS. As is mentioned on that website, a vehicle is a potentially leathal weapon. I know so many people who should never have got their liscence. It is all far too easy. Driving a car should be viewed as a privelage not a right.

The biggest problem I see is people being distracted. About a week ago a girl ran into the back of my girlfriend (not going that fast so she is ok). The other drive was a p plate girl, driving a BMW with a cigarette in one hand a mobile phone in the other. How alert could she have been?

I am not saying speeding everywhere is safe. I think anywhere near a school should be a 50 zone. However, I would not see the danger if the freeways were quicker in the future. I say in the future, because at the momment there are too many morans driving around, unalert, in dangerous, unroadworthy vehicles.

My friends dad was driving through the tunnel the other day (Melbourne) in his new CLK500 (dammmmm nice car!) and got booked for 44km/h, because they were working on the tunnel and the limit was dropped to 44. This is a joke.

Labelling P platers as a danger on the road is not fair either. I admit there are many reckless P platers on the road, but this applies to everyone. A reason why they may not be as safe, is because of the lack of training so they must rely on experience. However, there is a good chance that they will have a much quicker reaction time then a 60 year old (no offence to any body).

They don't let anybody fly a plane, because it is a responsibility. The pilot has his/her passenger lives in his/her hands. The key to safer roads, I beleive, is not penalising people for doing 44 in a 40 zone. People need to be able to adjust to the conditions. I sometimes see people going down the freeway in torrential rain, at night, at 100km/h. This is legal, why? Clearly it is dangerous, whereas doing 140km/h on the Hume Hwy in broad sunny daylight with no one around is illegal, to quote Rove, "What the?"

We need, higher education of drivers, continous retesting (say 3 years after liscence issue, then every 8 years there after untill a certain age), whenever liscence retesting is conducted, perhaps also a medical. (Private pilots are retested every 2 years, commercial every 1 year, and a medical is done every 2-4). Be tougher on drink drivers and not speeding motorists, improve known blackspots. Perhaps increase rego costs for older cars (like Japan) and have exemptions for classic or vintage cars.

As for standing together and doing something about it, I agree, check this out.

Few, time to take a breath.

[Phantomxr6]

some good points cdm.Iagree 100% :o

[cdm]

Oh, and while I'm at it, for all fellow Victorians interested in the recent Brumby budget surplus of $245 million for 2003-4 (was approx. $160 million in 2002-3) guess how much they made from speed camera revenue in the fiscal 2002-3, $334 million (mostly from exceeding the limit by less than 15k/h), and there expecting a lot more this year (adding more tax collectors....err, sorry, cameras).

Bracks needs this revenue to stay afloat, no two ways about it. Without it, the budget would have been in deficit since he got in. Food for thought...