AT REST
Mike, it has been proven over and over that Inattention is the largest cause of road fatalities in Australia, not Speed. Most drivers are dangerous at any speed, most drivers don't even know the basic rules of the road, e.g. how many drivers do you see speed up to get into a roundabout, law says you MUST SLOW DOWN when approaching a roundabout, how many drivers do you see giving way to their right at a roundabout when they clearly have time and space to enter the roundabout, how many times have you sat in queue behind a driver at a roundabout giving way to their right. What chance do we have of having a low road toll when MOST drivers don't even know the simplest basic rules of the road. How many times have you been trapped behind a car on the road doing 20 or 30klm/h below the speed limit, only to speed up to 5klm/h over the speed limit when an overtaking lane appears, I could go on and on, but it seems the majority of drivers on the road have no concept of commonsense or the rules of the road. I used to drive trucks interstate and in cities as well and I can tell you that 99% of my driving was avoiding accidents that were the result of ignorance and inattention by other road users. The standard of driving in Australia is woeful if not downright criminal, most drivers behave as if they are the only car on the road, they turn around and talk to back seat passengers, they use cell phones to text messages, they let children run around unrestrained in the car, they think the rear view mirror is a convenient make-up mirror.Originally Posted by mikehzz
Pedestrians are not much better, I have often had to brake or swerve severely to avoid a mother pushing her pram/stroller out between to parked vehicles without looking first, testing the water it seems.
So before people go jumping on the bandwagon so heartily pushed by revenue collecting governments, look at the real facts, ALL accidents are caused by a driver, Regards Frank.
Swaggie
You are very close to the mark Frank, I would like to add that the conditions of our roads are not way close to the ones in Europe and that can cause accidents as well.
Also in States where the anual inspection it is not compulsory you see many cars on the road that handle very bad and they are an accident to happen any time.
Master
After an investigation Brisbane speed limits in school zones were dropped to 30kph but they went back up to 40kph after a short while. I never heard why they went back up but my experience was that when doing 30 kids just walked out all the time knowing you were going slow. A bit like the video drivesafe posted from 1906. I felt it was safer with the limit at 40 cause the kids at least stopped and looked.
AT REST
Chucaro, I live on the south coast of NSW and every week the local and regional papers are calling on the governments to improve the Princes Hwy. and the Kings Hwy. because people are dying at an alarming rate.
Most of these deaths occur on nice long straight stretches of road, evidenced by the many crosses and flowers at the side of the road, these accidents usually involve a tree or two. So either the person driving was asleep/not watching the road, as not many involve other vehicles. The accidents on or near corners usually had more than one vehicle, with at least one vehicle crossing to the wrong side of the road, cutting corners, so NOTHING to do with the road, driver inexperience or incompetence or both. The only way to stop this happening is to build a 2 metre high concrete barrier down the centre of the road. I have never seen a road that was considered dangerous IF it was driven to it's condition, no road ever appeared in court for dangerous/negligent driving, it all boils down to : keep your mind on the job at hand, drive to the conditions and plain old commonsense, Regards Frank.
Master
Have you seen who is behind this, tho - one Harold Scruby ... I think he hates cars.
Willem
Wizard
G'day Willem.
Yep the Pedestrian Council (Harold Scruby) are firmly behind this - and firmly against 4WD's in suburbia - I copped a Ped. Council sticker on my bullbar one morning.... He's passionate and very well connected but, I believe, seriously misguided. There's nothing wrong with advocating safety, but simplistically, if some people didn't walk all over the road whenever it suited them, they wouldn't get skittled....
It all keeps coming back to education and respect for others (on the road and in general).
Matt
Moderator
bingo !
RoverLord
I will make two points on this discussion.
1. Road deaths have been dropping ever since records started, and are now well below other causes of death, including suicide. This does not match the statements above about how bad driving is. Certainly it is not perfect, but in most cases it is adequate. In my view the only changes that have had a major impact on road fatalities have been seat belts and random breath testing. Most of the rest of the improvement has been from improved road conditions and driver attitude.
2. One of the advantages of random breath testing is that it gives a direct measure of what proportion of drivers are intoxicated. This figure, for recent campaigns, is always well below 1%, often a long way below. All drivers involved in fatalities are tested for blood alcohol (post mortem if necessary). Recent figures run from 20 to 30% above the limit. This data does not support speed as being a primary cause of accidents - draw your own conclusions. Of course this leaves teh cause of the other 70-80% unclear, but considering that many of the fatal accidents involve two or more drivers, and only one may be intoxicated, add in the undetected drug affected drivers, and subtract the deaths that are really suicide, and it is, to me, fairly clear that substance abuse is far more important than speed.
I would also caution that any accident will not have a single, or even necessarily a major, cause. See references to the "swiss cheese model".
John
John
JDNSW
1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol
Master
Look, i am a interstate truck driver of many years. I have seen the limit reduce for people to feel better. How many lives have been saved when they reduce the speed limit, Look at NT. It reduced there Max speed limit to 130. Then the loss of life increased by 15%. Makes u wonder y bother. I have a stroked falcon and it is a race car with plates but i drive to the conditions. I couldn't say that for alot of other motorist's in the middle the capital ciy.
I think that there is a easier way to combat the issue of driver training is to take everyone thru a driver safety coarse at a race track. I mean EVERYONE! The p platers r alot better than the rest of the population in there rules and education and it would be better that all went back and brushed upon there skills and rules.
I as a truck driver i must know everything as in routes, fatigue, road safety, rules, length and measure. It would be good that everyone could know theres like how much weight can i put on that tow ball, how do i back that trailer, What a pre trip inspection is, Know there limits and know what fatigue is.
It is very easy to drop a limit to raise revenue isn't it? I know i am not rite but it is a very valid view as i do over 250,000kms a year.
More that most in a capital city in 20 years!
cheers
brian
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