janeyray

Since last night (Friday) seven people have been killed in different accidents on the roads in Western Australia. They are thought to have been speeding and drunk. Not all were young but it seems that every week someone dies in or around Perth and they are under the age of 25.

Wonder why they allow young 'new' drivers to drive a vehicle with such large engines, all the 'hoons' want to do is race up and down the roads doing 'donuts' in the road with their tyres.
We have friends that live in Mindarie and throughout the night, every night they hear the cars racing up and down Marmion Avenue.

dibrucewillis

Janeyray

Didn'y you say that there are always lots of little makeshift crosses at the side of the roads where fatalities have occurred.

It sounds a bit worrying ,I thought that the police were pretty keen on drink drivers and speeding offences.

Maybe not

Diane

HiddenPaw

Hi Jane

I know exactly where you are coming from with this. We live in Melbourne and we are sick and tired of being woken up every night by screeching tyres and the roar of big engines. We live in a decent area but you just can't escape these hoons. There has been a report on 'A Current Affair' recently about the drag racing problem that goes on around the streets.

I am shocked by the road death toll in Australia - from Jan to end of August there were 1085 people killed on the roads in Australia - that's more than 12 times the number of Australians killed in Bali. The Victoria road toll stands at 270 for the year to date.

Do you remember a couple of weks ago there was a family of 5 killed in a plane crash in north Qld? It made front page of the newspapers. The day prior to the plane crash 4 were killed in a single road accident in Victoria and the day after, another 4 were killed in an accident in n NSW - it was barely mentioned and certainly not front page news. Plane crashes make big headlines yet the road toll seems to be an accepted part of daily life.

I too wish that more was done to educate drivers, especially the young P platers who tear around thinking they own the roads. My sister lives in country Victoria and just recently one of the local's sons was given a brand new Ford XR6 v6 Turbo for his 18th birthday. I think it's crazy giving someone that young a car like that.

Totally understand your thoughts on this one.
HP

PeteY

Firstly....I do agree about young kids owning powerful cars...

However.....

There are 25 million cars in the UK.

Last year there were 9825 pedestrians killed or seriously injured in the UK, thats 26 a day.

There were 3176 cyclists killed or seriously injured. Thats 8 a day.

There were 20'368 car drivers killed or seriously injured. Thats 55 a day.

Most shocking of all were the stats for childeren. There were 5699 childeren killed or seriously injured. Thats 16 a day.




In the same period in Australia.

11 million cars registered.

Last year there were 2661 pedestrians killed or seriously injured , thats 7 a day.

There were 2389 cyclists killed or seriously injured. Thats 6 a day.

There were 6902 car drivers killed or seriously injured. Thats 18 a day.

There were 3102 childeren killed or seriously injured. Thats 8 a day.

HiddenPaw

Can't disagree with the stats Pete.

Would just like to add a disproportionate number of fatalities in Oz occur in rural regions - there are far more single vehicle fatalities in Oz than UK - rural areas have big probs with drink driving and fatigue. A greater proportion of accidents in the UK are multiple vehicle (which you would expect with such crowded roads)

I haven't checked the Uk stats on age but for Oz, again, the breakdown of accidents & fatalities reveals a disproprotionate number are in the 18-25 age group (i.e more than any other age group).

janeyray

They are very keen here on banning all drunk drivers and the 'booze buses' are out regularly, even hubby got stopped for the first time in his life.
However the first offence for being caught drink driving is just 3 months, the second time is 6 months and the 3rd is jail. In the UK they don't random breath test (but should) but the penalty is far higher than here for being caught.

Hubbys has an aunty here and all three of her 4 children (one can't drive yet!) have drink driving offences, and one was caught for the second time while we were staying there. He is just 19. There attitude is completely wrong and don't see that they are doing anything different from all their other Aussie mates!!

Yes, there are homemade crosses at the roadsides of many roads here, not very nice to see and doesn't seem to have an effect on the younger drivers??

Bed Of Roses

Hi,

Try the M25 any day of the week, i drive it four maybe five time a day and i can honestly say i c 1 accident a day, cars are driven here at a tow ropes length from one another and most of the drivers arnt young!!!!!

I do agree streetracing needs to be stamped on. over here we have the same drivers but with cars totaly ill equiped to deal with speed and consequently we end up with accidents every weekend normaly resulting in fatalities.

I would say limit the drivers to a small engine to start but the cars with the small engines and are affordable tend to be old and cant handle the boy racers!!! (cos they will still try and race them) :scared:

Uni

jandjuk

Perhaps the reason all four of them have been caught is that they police it more in aus.... as you point out in your first paragraph....

I don't think the numbers would be any different in the UK vs Aus, except perhaps because people often walk or bus home from the pub in the Uk instead of drive.


"There attitude is completely wrong and don't see that they are doing anything different from all their other Aussie mates!!"

This is an observation that could be made of many UK youngsters and is not peculiar to Aus.

janeyray

I didnt know anyone before I came to Oz that had been banned from driving due to drinking under the age of about 30!, my point being.. that here I have met lots of people who have been banned and on more than one occasion, if the penalty was more severe then maybe they would think twice about having a drink before driving.
And whats that' Extra-ordinary Licence' all about then!!
Fancy being able to drive to work if you have been banned from driving!! Should have thought about that before they had the drink!!! Hard cheese if they can't get to work I say

markeh

Hi PeteY,
love the stats, makes grim reading but that's life.
Hard, but true.

105 people per day, just in the UK.

It's no joke when you think about it.

On that somber thought
Bye
Markeh

Jirrupin

Its a bit of a shame that this post ended up in a comparison contest between the uk and oz for those of us now living in WA the local driving is a problem. We have been on the road to the southern coast over the past three days, we stopped counting the lonely graves at the side of the road there were that many sometimes 5 crosses together where clearly several friends or family lost their lives.

Driving on the roads and the tyre marks are clearly visible from handbrake turns, which appears to be an active leisure pursuit. We have seen people openly drink driving and the general driving here is bad at best.

I think it is important information to share for families that intend to come to live in OZ to be aware of.

jandjuk

Jirrupin, but the stats above show this claim is baseless. Compared with number of cars on road the numbers of deaths are not very different...

I'm sure if you posted white crosses on the road in britain, they would be everywhere as well. they just don't have them that's all.

janeyray, you seem to be saying that more people in aus drink drive, but you also say your husband had never been breath tested in the UK - my point is that perhaps the reason you know so many to be caught in Aus is because they devote more police resources to catching people!

People die on the roads in Aus, and people die on the roads in the UK.

I agree there are more hoons and boyracers in Aus, and that is a valid point, but if the driving is that much worse, why the numbers of people (cf no of cars on road) dying about the same? Especially when the standards of roads and vehicles are much better in the UK?

I agree it is important to warn others, but equally it should be kept in perspective.

dotty

Comparison contests, unfortunately this forum has gotten to the stage where I am seriously wonder why any of us living in OZ bother anymore. Its so obvious that certain members will immediately jump on any topic and try to convert it into "THE UK IS WORSE".

However anyone who has lived in both countries has probably come down to the realistic fact that lots of these problems happen in the UK and OZ, some worse some a little better, however its all happening here too. The "save my dream, I wont have anything bad said about OZ" is becoming unbelievable considering the amount of people who have now arrived and posted far more realistic stuff once they are here.

As for young drivers, OZ has a very very serious problem with them, Public Transport here is very limited or non existant unless you are in a City. In my kids class of 38 17 year olds all but 2 had a car, many of the families could not afford driving school standard lessons, or a car I would consider much more than a death trap, however a car is necessary, all of these kids have part time jobs as well as school, Transport is essential, not an option.

OZ may be hot on speed traps and drink drivers which is good, however 50% of aussies take illegal drugs, so I can only assume some very stoned people are out there creating accidents every day.

Also some of the well used roads here are horrendous, take near me, a curving winding road that is the entrance to at least 4 housing estates, the road is unlit, full of pot holes, steep hill which is rarely patrolled for people going 40klm hour over the speed limit and has no crossing anywhere for kids to cross to get to school.

Janey has made a very good comment on the road toll and some of the problems, yet once again we got a "contest". Its becoming pointless, if people only want travel agent stuff I dread to think how they will fare when they get here.

jandjuk

Who on this thread said the UK is worse????!!! Have you actually read the thread and seen what people are saying??

well yes, I agree, but what relevance does this have to current thread - nobody here has said "save my dream blah blah blah"

all your other points are very realistic and not under dispute, but why do you have to finish such hogwash.... you're always making out there's dreamers on this board, but I never actually see any. SHOW ME ONE.

There's no 'contest' here, just a comparison of both countries to put things in perspective. Yes roads and drivers are bad in Aust, but comparative numbers die on UK roads. It's useful to make these observations, but what annoys me so much is that people always present them in a negative fashion.

Both places have negatives - I don't believe anyone here would actually emigrate believing there are no road deaths in Aus??? Or that people don't drink and drive, or take drugs. Come on....


there, you got a reaction from me

sky

My own son was knocked down and seriously injured in a v. quiet cul de sac in the UK when he was 3yrs it was an horrendous time for us ... but this could happen anywhere and it wasnt anybodys fault even the poor drivers although I swore a shrieked at him at the time ... these things just happen. It doesnt matter whether it is a busy city or quiet rural road it happens in any country and I cant really see the point in comparing statistics