Hypothetically - if the public revoluted against speed revenue, what will happen?

[dazza]

My rust bucket sits on the road pretty good at 160

The problem is not that people will go quicker in rust buckets because they won't generally! I imagine most people wouldn't go much over 120 if you give them free limit...

It's all about responsibility I think: If you give a human being responsibility to do something they have to think about the consequences of their actions and become wiser for it!

If you hold a human being back by placing rules and restrictions on them they don't learn for themselves they just aimlessly follow

[TonyJZX]

Originally posted by dazza
It's all about responsibility I think: If you give a human being responsibility to do something they have to think about the consequences of their actions and become wiser for it!

Unfortunately you come across a conundrum.

You cannot allow some people unlimited freedoms.

There will always been tools who would burn thru a school zone at 120km/h without any sort of restrictions.

I would imagine 'personal responsibilty' would work in Japan but I don't think there's a single western country I'd be game to try it on.

T.

[dazza]

Although as Forg said about 4wd's and trucks should still be limited in some way (although this completely defeates the purpose of lifting speed limits)

Quite frankly it's scary to think of some of them doing anything much over 100kph

[Jim]

Originally posted by Forg
But wouldn't you say that it's Driver Stupidity that's the main cause; because if you're in a crappy car (or a 4WD) then you should be driving accordingly?

sure, to a degree, but you don't always get the choice to drive accordingly. There's always the risk of simply making the mistake to read a billboard then look back and see the traffic stopped in front of you, or the Generic Child Chasing Soccer Ball.

[dazza]

Tony yeah well... if it was just a highway thing, I mean I'm happy enough to have 50 and 40 zones in place however I think 60 zones upwards should be given some more leway!

A question here: In regards to safety and speed cameras when have you EVER seen a speed camera in a 50 zone? NEVER! Why not?

Just thinking about it with in regards to 4wd's and how people should be more aware of their vehicle's limitations makes me realise that they won't ever!

I've driven along the M1 every day this week in traffic and it makes me realise that a whole heap of other things need to change on our highways before unlimited speeds could work...

- KEEP LEFT unless overtaking
- keep safe following distances
- pay attention

Maybe if motorists on our roads could handle that then maybe it might work - The problem with the revenue side is that police would have to be out booking people for not keeping left and for tailgaiting so they'd have to be out and about rather than just relying on a camera to change people for it

I guess the harsh truth is that although I imagine a good percentage of drivers say 70% or more could be trusted to drive within the limits of their vehicles there is definately a large percentage of drivers who couldn't be trusted regardless I guess that's just too high a figure - The only way the government could work such a thing would have to be a gradual implementation of such a scheme and see how things go!

[rowdytoot]

dazza come to sydney.. plenty of speed cameras and radar traps in 50 zones... and 60 zones......:p

Rowds

[TonyJZX]

Originally posted by rowdytoot
dazza come to sydney.. plenty of speed cameras and radar traps in 50 zones... and 60 zones......:p

LOL!

The rule seems to be that as you go further south, the more fucked things get until you end up at Phillip Island!

Lots and lots of cameras in 40 zones in Sydney and moreso, they are badly setup to fire on non school days....

T.

[smellytofu]

Originally posted by rowdytoot
dazza come to sydney.. plenty of speed cameras and radar traps in 50 zones... and 60 zones......:p

Rowds

Where? There are 40 and 60 zones but not 50 as far as I know from my travels.

Forg, if u were to drive 150 (mind you on a road that was as clear as Sydney airport and as smooth as Sydney airport), why do we have to have these low limits?

[TonyJZX]

Originally posted by smellytofu
Where? There are 40 and 60 zones but not 50 as far as I know from my travels.

Default speed for zones if not sign posted are now 50, not 60.

T.

[Jim]

there's 50 zone signs everywhere!! dunno where you get to drive mate! :D

i

[dazza]

Not really many 50 signs up here in QLD

Residential areas are all 50 unless signed

[BevanChick]

I think what it comes down to for governments is that to reduce the road toll to lower than it is now (and hasn't it been relatively static for quite some time?), they would have to SPEND money - be it on driver education, or better roads, or more coppers actually out there on the street.

Until they can find a way to do these things, yet still MAKE money out of it, they will stick with their rhetoric and their speed cameras and keep ripping people off.

There must be some way of awakening the masses and making them see that there's a lot of propaganda about, but I have no idea of how to do that. These days, I think a lot of people like being told what to think, and so they just switch off their brains and believe whatever it was they read/saw/heard. Just another way people are avoiding the 'r' word these days - responsibility!

[NAliberty]

Originally posted by BevanChick
These days, I think a lot of people like being told what to think, and so they just switch off their brains and believe whatever it was they read/saw/heard. Just another way people are avoiding the 'r' word these days - responsibility!

I completely agree! :D

[smellytofu]

Originally posted by T0nyGTSt
Default speed for zones if not sign posted are now 50, not 60.

T.

I mean fixed cameras in 50 zones... not talking about the mobile ones.

[Captiva Fan]

Originally posted by T0nyGTSt
Unfortunately you come across a conundrum.
[snippy-snip]
There will always been tools who would burn thru a school zone at 120km/h without any sort of restrictions.

OK, that may be true; yet are there truly fewer tools in Germany than here? They're certainly aggressive, and there's the occasional person who DOES drive too quickly for the conditions at times; yet they don't have any worse crash or injury or death stats than we do.

It's about attitude; I don't even accept it's car-control skill that's important, until something BAD happens to you you don't get to exercise car-control skills anyway, so even if you learn them when you get your licence (eg. Germany again) you forget them before too long anyway. But the attitude is what's wrong here; they may be aggressive over there, but they're also a fsckload more polite (eg. they drive in the correct lane on freeways).

Which basically repeats what dazza last said about keeping left, paying attention & keeping a safe distance, I guess.

Originally posted by Secoh
but you don't always get the choice to drive accordingly. There's always the risk of simply making the mistake to read a billboard then look back and see the traffic stopped in front of you, or the Generic Child Chasing Soccer Ball.

I'd argue that you basically have to be travelling more slowly in a shitbox if you're going to go around reading billboards just before blind corners. F'rigzample, I know the Volvo's got dodgy shocks & the tyres are only Nankang-or-some-such-shit brand & it needs suspension bushes & it needs strut-top bearings ... which is why uo'll find me in the left lane most of the time, unless the tools around me are going way too slowly (eg. in peak hour going AGAINST the flow of traffic, this Speed Kills scaremongering means people trundle along the Princes Highway at 55km/h in the 70 zones ...).

Originally posted by smellytofu
Forg, if u were to drive 150 (mind you on a road that was as clear as Sydney airport and as smooth as Sydney airport), why do we have to have these low limits?

D'you mean if I am able to drive at 150?
'Cos me answer is that we don't, they're stupid. But that depends on the definition of "able"; Australian gumyment departments would define it as "car can go that fast if you plant your right foot", whereas thinking in the aforementioned Germany seems to define "able" as "able safely"; I'm using the latter definition. If your Camry could do 150 but it wasn't safe, then only a bad driver would push it to 150.


PS. I vote "revoluted" as PF Word Of The Week!