Can you imagine Australia allowing this?

[p38arover]

I really can't see any State govt. traffic authority allowng this. I have experienced the exasperation of it.

Kansas House Approves Bill Allowing Motorcycles to Run Red Lights - FoxNews.com (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/23/kansas-house-approves-allowing-bikers-run-red-lights/)

[Hymie]

There are a few States over there that allow it, as well as turning right at Red lights for cars.

[p38arover]

as well as turning right at Red lights for cars.

That was one thing I noticed everywhere I went - it's the norm except where there is a sign forbidding it. I reckon it's a great rule and should be the norm here where it is the opposite - we can only turn left on red if so posted.

[digger]

Which, the red light thing or the $5 seatbelt fine :eek: here is $250+ and expected to rise in july!!

[Gumnut]

Hey,

What's the problem???

I just spent a few quiet weeks r&r in Vietnam, and suffice to say it's Rafferties Rules, if any at all!!!

Pedestrian crossings - novel concept
Red lights - universal colour blindness
Driving on any particular legislated side of the road - Que????
Speed limits - Ha Ha
Give way at roundabouts - Nanu Nanu - does not compute........

Andy

[Rosscoe68]

sounds like Fiji
i made the mistake of stopping at pedestrian crossing for pedestrians and got abused the hell out of by cars behind, and strange looks from the people waiting to cross.
oh, and the other good one was being overtaken by a school bus full of school kids, i was doing the speed limit of 40 through a designated village speed restricted area, bus overtakes me over double white lines and as we were going over speed bumps to slow traffic.

[ugu80]

Hey,

What's the problem???

I just spent a few quiet weeks r&r in Vietnam, and suffice to say it's Rafferties Rules, if any at all!!!

Pedestrian crossings - novel concept
Red lights - universal colour blindness
Driving on any particular legislated side of the road - Que????
Speed limits - Ha Ha
Give way at roundabouts - Nanu Nanu - does not compute........

Andy

I had a Vietnamese neighbour and was discussing the fatality rate in Vietnam being dozens of times higher than here. He told me that in Vietnam there is no CTP. If you are at fault and injure someone then you have to support them for the rest of their lives whereas if you kill them its a flat payment to the family of a few thousand dollars. The result tends to be that if you seriously injure someone they get run over again to make sure they're dead.

[x-box]

It is already happening on the Gold Coast - I was absolutely gobsmacked again last night driving home..... some people absolutely have no idea how to drive with decent road rules in place, I can imagine the carnage if that legislation ever gets implemented here.
Personally I feel there should be much more driver education and less traffic violation tolerance - and yes if it means more unmarked cop cars and hidden cameras - so be it.

[Bigbjorn]

I really can't see any State govt. traffic authority allowng this. I have experienced the exasperation of it.

Kansas House Approves Bill Allowing Motorcycles to Run Red Lights - FoxNews.com (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/23/kansas-house-approves-allowing-bikers-run-red-lights/)

Ha, how sporting. Now moving targets not sitting ducks.

[mike 90 RR]

Personally I feel there should be much more driver education and less traffic violation tolerance - and yes if it means more unmarked cop cars and hidden cameras - so be it.

It USE to be this way .... Unfortunately tho, This defeats the purpose of the cameras ;)

[85 county]

Russia, 35000 dead a year in traffic accidents, this is not including pedestrians hit by cars. 140 000000 that's 1 per 4000

china 81 600 deaths a year. 1,339,724,852 1 per 16 000

Thailand 12 000 deaths 67 000000 1 per 5500
Vietnam 12000 deaths 87 000000 1 per 7000

Australia 1700 deaths 22 0000 1 per 13 000

New Zealand 194 deaths 4400000 1 per 26 000

interesting, car ownership would be the highest in Australia and lowest in Russia.
getting a drivers license is harder in Russia than it is in Australia

the infrastructure/ roading is better in NZ than Australia. its a new topic in Russia. china Thailand and Vietnam have reasonable infrastructure in the larger city's where car ownership is concentrated.

just based on my observations

[roverrescue]

Thanks 85county - perspective is a great teacher... how about we add:

'There were 2,133 deaths from suicide registered in Australia 2009' (source:ABS)

I dont think I want to know how much public money is spent on 'road safety' compared to mental health. I guess its hard to fine someone who is contemplating taking there own life.

S

[ugu80]

Russia, 35000 dead a year in traffic accidents, this is not including pedestrians hit by cars. 140 000000 that's 1 per 4000

china 81 600 deaths a year. 1,339,724,852 1 per 16 000

Thailand 12 000 deaths 67 000000 1 per 5500
Vietnam 12000 deaths 87 000000 1 per 7000

Australia 1700 deaths 22 0000 1 per 13 000

New Zealand 194 deaths 4400000 1 per 26 000

interesting, car ownership would be the highest in Australia and lowest in Russia.
getting a drivers license is harder in Russia than it is in Australia

the infrastructure/ roading is better in NZ than Australia. its a new topic in Russia. china Thailand and Vietnam have reasonable infrastructure in the larger city's where car ownership is concentrated.

just based on my observations


Statistics and damn lies. Apply the stats different way, you get different results. Ratio of death/1000 vehicles/kms travelled all get differing results. When I was working in this field, I could prove that, during long weekends, country roads were more dangerous than city roads or that city roads were more dangerous than country roads, depending on what stats you chose to follow. i.e. country accidents increased purely on numbers of accidents but they decreased in the country and increased in the city per 1000 vehicles on the road.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Which, the red light thing or the $5 seatbelt fine :eek: here is $250+ and expected to rise in july!!Ah yes, but in the USA the government is not responsible for the health costs, here the state governments pay for the Hospitals and if a fine saves money (including Ambulance Officers wasting time looking ejected for bodies) the Government's on top of it.

I just wish the coppers would start issuing fines for fog lights and overly bright HID headlamps.

[isuzurover]

Russia, 35000 dead a year in traffic accidents, this is not including pedestrians hit by cars. 140 000000 that's 1 per 4000

china 81 600 deaths a year. 1,339,724,852 1 per 16 000

Thailand 12 000 deaths 67 000000 1 per 5500
Vietnam 12000 deaths 87 000000 1 per 7000

Australia 1700 deaths 22 0000 1 per 13 000

New Zealand 194 deaths 4400000 1 per 26 000

interesting, car ownership would be the highest in Australia and lowest in Russia.
getting a drivers license is harder in Russia than it is in Australia

the infrastructure/ roading is better in NZ than Australia. its a new topic in Russia. china Thailand and Vietnam have reasonable infrastructure in the larger city's where car ownership is concentrated.

just based on my observations

You may want to revise your NZ statistics:

NZ has a higher road toll than AU, however you interpret the numbers.
List of countries by traffic-related death rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate)

AU is fairly good by world standards - about on par with Germany (however they drive MUCH faster on the autobahn...)

We are also a fair way ahead of the US.

[Ferret]

Hey,

What's the problem???

I just spent a few quiet weeks r&r in Vietnam, and suffice to say it's Rafferties Rules, if any at all!!!

Pedestrian crossings - novel concept
Red lights - universal colour blindness
Driving on any particular legislated side of the road - Que????
Speed limits - Ha Ha
Give way at roundabouts - Nanu Nanu - does not compute........

Andy

Ha Ha.

Just back from Lombok where the red lights have large visible count down timers on them showing the number of seconds till they change green. I am not sure what the real purpose of them is but they are used by drivers approaching a line of cars stopped at a red light to time their run up the wrong side of the road at speed so they cross back to the right side of the road in front of the lead car in the queue just as the lights change green.

Requires great driver skill, timing, courage, a complete lack of regard for life and limb plus is a new innovation I have not seen before. Should be trialled here :)

[85 county]

Statistics and damn lies. Apply the stats different way, you get different results. Ratio of death/1000 vehicles/kms travelled all get differing results. When I was working in this field, I could prove that, during long weekends, country roads were more dangerous than city roads or that city roads were more dangerous than country roads, depending on what stats you chose to follow. i.e. country accidents increased purely on numbers of accidents but they decreased in the country and increased in the city per 1000 vehicles on the road.

what ever , one thing is for sure, you haven't lived in Russia Thailand china Australia and New Zealand have you. so all you have is numbers and your Lies

[BigJon]

I just wish the coppers would start issuing fines for fog lights and overly bright HID headlamps.

I agree 100%. The things that annoy me the most in my frequent night driving (most often between Horsham and Adelaide) are poorly adjusted headlights and foglights turned on when not required.

[85 county]

You may want to revise your NZ statistics:

NZ has a higher road toll than AU, however you interpret the numbers.
List of countries by traffic-related death rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate)

AU is fairly good by world standards - about on par with Germany (however they drive MUCH faster on the autobahn...)

We are also a fair way ahead of the US.

interesting, all i did was look up populations CIA and fatality s from each country using Google. did the maths myself. so i doint know why there are different numbers. doint realy care, i rounded the numbers any way.

[SuperMono]

I really can't see any State govt. traffic authority allowng this. I have experienced the exasperation of it.

I rarely ride these days but can recall a few times getting off the bike and pushing the pedestrian button to get things moving.

[ATH]

I'm with those that would like the cops to properly police all road rules, not just concentrate on their favourite "speed kills" thing.
I followed an unmarked cop recently on the Reid Hwy and a car chopped across lanes in front of them 4 times without any signals and they took no notice at all. Too busy chatting to notice maybe.
And I'm also against allowing drivers to turn left against red lights as the driving population is just too dull witted to do that with any safety.
This is why at certain light controlled junctions, especially in low socio economic areas (Main Roads Dept. words, not mine) in Perth there are red lights to stop drivers turning left but at others there are "Give Way" signs.
Lets have proper police enforcement of all rules combined with some education and a test to see if drivers have any grey matter at all before handing them a licence.:D
AlanH.

[antichrist]

I like the headline, "run red lights". Makes it sound like there's no need to even stop. Nice way sensationalize it.

Nearly every state in the US allows right on red unless otherwise posted. I don't see this as much different. Though I never had it happen when I rode, I'd have just turned right then made a u-turn. LOL

[Rosscoe68]

I'm with those that would like the cops to properly police all road rules, not just concentrate on their favourite "speed kills" thing.
I followed an unmarked cop recently on the Reid Hwy and a car chopped across lanes in front of them 4 times without any signals and they took no notice at all. Too busy chatting to notice maybe.
And I'm also against allowing drivers to turn left against red lights as the driving population is just too dull witted to do that with any safety.
This is why at certain light controlled junctions, especially in low socio economic areas (Main Roads Dept. words, not mine) in Perth there are red lights to stop drivers turning left but at others there are "Give Way" signs.
Lets have proper police enforcement of all rules combined with some education and a test to see if drivers have any grey matter at all before handing them a licence.:D
AlanH.

we have to legislate against stupidity.
in the old days and in nature the stupid just kill themselves off.
we seem to want to keep stupid people around though.

[AKW]

I am an interstate truck driver and HATE fog lights
most of which are not true fog lights but low
mounted driving lights.
So now anyone coming toward me with them on
gets full high beam (so long as there is no one behind them).

Andrew