Thread: 130km/h speed limits

Police slam speed stunt: Melbourne to Sydney in 6.5 hours | Information, Gadgets, Mobile Phones News & Reviews | News.com.au

selective quoting

POLICE have slammed as "reckless" a magazine stunt that commissioned a foreign journalist to drive from Melbourne to Sydney above the speed limit at 130km/h - slashing more than an hour off the journey and completing it in less than six-and-a-half hours.
In a campaign to increase the limit between the two capital cities, the latest issue of Wheels magazine boasts "we drove from Melbourne to Sydney at 130km/h, didn't die and didn't get booked".
Defending the stunt, Wheels editor Stephen Corby said: "We've been told for years drowsy drivers die, but increasing the speed limit would reduce fatigue.
"You're less likely to have a microsleep, less likely to wander off the road. We see it as a positive for road safety."
The magazine was prepared to pay for three speeding tickets before calling off the attempt, done on a Saturday, but was amazed to find it didn't once get stopped by police in Victoria or NSW.
Travelling 20km/h above the posted limit cut more than 70 minutes from the 800km journey between the northern outskirts of Melbourne and the south-western outskirts of Sydney on the Hume Highway, to just six hours and 23 minutes.

stunt has potentially endangered other people's lives. Speed is still one of the biggest killers on our roads," said NSW Police Assistant Commissioner, Commander of Traffic and Highway Patrol, John Hartley.
"It's a deliberately reckless action. We take a dim view of what is clearly a stunt. It sends a bad message to other drivers and could have had tragic consequences."
Victoria Police Superintendent of road policing, Neville Taylor, added: "This has been a ridiculous high-risk stunt and is most certainly not an appropriate method of doing research into road safety initiatives. Speed is a significant contributor to one in three road traumas."


The author also "marvelled at the staggering wrongheadedness of the constant roadside signs warning drivers of the dangers of fatigue when an unnecessarily low limit forces them to remain behind the wheel for longer".

i would be in favour of 130km/h limits.

I would love to have speed limits such as 130 km/h in this country - however, the reality is that most city drivers are total numpties. Can you imagine driving on an autobahn and sitting in the right hand lane doing 80 km/hr in your Hyundai Excel? That's pretty much the situation here in Australia. High speed roads work in Europe because people follow the rules, ie only get in the right hand lanes if you are overtaking and never, ever overtaking on the inside lanes. Stuff people totally ignore in this country. If we had roads where you could travel at speeds above the "ton" then there would be carnage. Then again, it's the Darwin theory!