Originally Posted by
Brian Hjelm
Well, I think it was more fun then. The cars required a great more skill and concentration to drive fast.
yes, but most of them did not go anywhere near as fast!
The roads were nothing like as good as today, even the ones we then thought were good roads.
Yes. I drive today on roads that have had no work done since the seventies (there still are a few) and think "This is what we thought was a good road?". Round here for example the big improvement was sealing the main highway in the mid seventies, and we thought we had it made - only two level crossings in the fifty kilometres to town instead of six. But thinking about it there have been steady improvements ever since - smoothing corners, improved grades, edge lines, wider bitumen, better safety barriers etc. But on the other hand there is probably twenty times the traffic including B-doubles.
In NSW most roads outside built-up areas were unrestricted, meaning there was no arbitrary speed limit. .........
The road toll, based on number of registered vehicles and distances travelled, in the early-mid sixties was horrific by todays standard. A number of things have contributed to the improvement in this. Seat belts the big one, collapsible steering columns another. The steering column was regularly referred to as "the spear aimed at the driver's heart". Better brakes, better tyres, better crash resistance of cars, better roads, better emergency medicine, all played their part.
Right - the actual number of deaths is less than it was in 1970, despite vast increases in the number of cars and their average mileage. The two big improvements have been seat belts and random breath testing. While safety improvements in cars have greatly reduced injuries and deaths when there is an accident, none of these has been near as significant as simply fitting (and using) seat belts. And in any case, the reduction of accidents from less drink driving and better roads has been much more effective at reducing overall deaths and injuries. Improved brakes and tyres have contributed but their effect has been offset by much higher average speeds. Fifty years ago a Holden weighing a bit over a tonne and carrying six people was considered relatively high powered with less than half the power that would be thought underpowered for a four seater the same mass today.
In spite of the almost exponential improvement in cars and roads, I cannot travel Brisbane-Sydney any quicker today than I could in around 1963-67 when I was involved in buying used cars in Sydney for sale in Brisbane. Twelve hours was the benchmark and this is about what you can do it in today with speed limits, speed cameras, & highway patrol. We had a lot of fun driving the New England Highway overnight and trying to cruise the underpowered drum braked retread shod beaters from the auctions almost at the top speed of many types. I did bring a Chev Camaro327 with drum brakes up in 8 3/4 hours one night. This jigger was good for an indicated 120mph cruise. Another night I got a higly modified Plymouth Belvedere loose on a gentle bend somewhere over 100mph and it took a good 1/2 mile of road to get it tucked back in and pointing straight. I had a passenger that night and he was very, very, quiet for a good while afterwards.
YarnMaster
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