CDM

Sorry but this attitude just makes me sick. You are willing to take the risk? When it's safe to do so? How noble of you. Are you so sure it's always completely safe to take that risk? This argument is in the same league as a drunk insisting it's OK to get behind the wheel of a car because they are sure they are in control. Funny how it only takes an accident to get them to face reality.

I'm sure you are happy to get fined but are you also happy to live with the death of a child on your conscience? Have you ever met someone that killed a child but was absolutely sure it could never happen to them? Don't think this applies to you? The police meet people like that all the time.

- CDM

Deancm

Half of them are Police. Actually, Police are the worst for it.

Cheetah7

Well said

And a very true comparison about drink/driving.

Loch Lomond

Make your decision after watching this....

teza

This is Australia. You'd be surprised how many people have houses in the middle of nowhere. Farms, wineries and family homes from decades on are all in the middle of nowhere, usually with no street lights, no traffic signs etc. Yet.... somehow you manage to drive past, well lets say within 80kms h sign, and decide that "no one around, hence 140kms is ok", and then somehow the people who have lived in the area for decades lose a child, parent, sibling or more, and you have the right to call them nutters! Excuse me, but I think we have established that you live in a country where isolation is common, people have houses in places you'd not expect and yet, just because you think speeding (usually on their land) is ok, they are "nutters"????

Makes no sense to me , and this is speaking as a person who has lived in regional, almost rural, area for most of my 10 years here. And as a person who worked as a nurse for emergency services (ambulance) b4 moving here and seeing more than I wanted to in regards to speeding and damage it does.

Someone else said 10km/h makes no difference. Actually, especially depending on the size of impacting vehicle, it makes the difference between life and death.

You speed, get fined, great! You deserve it! I have shovelled enough bodies from the roadside to have a firm opinion on this, I have heard enough "what ifs" and "if onlys". To the OP, I hope your worse half learns his lesson. If you search my previous posts you will understand why I am passionate beyond belief about road safety.

nickyjohnt

You haven't been to Perth then, Where cars are abandoned on the freeway with collapsed suspension, bald tyres ,no lights or only one light working. If a yearly test were compulsory half these death traps would be off the road and on the scrap heap where they belong.
As you said many do have their vehicles serviced regulary but the othe 50+% don't.
I have worked with lads who can't get to work before 6.30 and have stated they cant because the lights on their car don't work WTF

MartinLuther

No, I haven't been to Perth. Sounds like a scene out of Mad Max.

I hear it's boring as well

renth

So true...

...add to that the kanga/emu/camel that suddenly comes out from nowhere or the discarded stubby that shreds one of your tyres and makes you swerve across the road as you fight to bring the car to a stop.

ABCDiamond

But as they say.. those things shouldn't be there, so it isn't THEIR fault...

It makes me shudder to think that I was like that once..

renth

Yup, me too.

In fact, I often drive well in excess of the speed limit - but I'm in a fire engine with lights and sirens on when I do it.

Deancm

Speed doesn't kill. It's people behind the wheel of a car that a) drive beyond their capability, b) lack spatial awareness, c) ignore road rules and d) drive dangerously that cause accidents.

As an ex-copper I have been to hundreds of motor vehicle accidents and while the vehicles were travelling at speed, it is not the reason why accidents happen.

moneypenny20

Oh for crying out loud haven't we been here before? The people behind the wheel of the car are speeding, as such they are driving beyond their capability. Because they are speeding they will lack spatial awareness. They will be ignoring the road rules because they are speeding. Because they are speeding they are driving dangerously.

I'm pleased you were an ex-copper. My hubby is an ex-firefighter and has dug more dead bodies out of car wrecks than is healthy. So what? Speeding is illegal and stupid whether you are Jensen Button in a Ferrari or Aunt Maud in a Mini Minor.

stevemich

Sorry to be pedantic, but Jenson Button drives a Brawn

But other than that, I agree

Deancm

Wrong! Just because they are speeding does not mean they are driving beyond their capability. The two are mutually exclusive.

Wrong! Speeding has nothing to do with spatial awareness. Changing lanes and crashing into the car next to you, putting make-up on while driving, using a mobile phone is a lack of spatial awareness and that can happen irrespective of speed.

Speeding may be one of the road rules but driving through red lights or ignoring traffic signs contributes to more accidents and in those cases speed is not a factor.

Speeding in a built up area in a school zone; yes. Speeding on a freeway; no. Going too slow can be just as much a contributer to accidents as going too fast. How many accidents happen on the autobahn where there are no speed limits?

Driving dangerously is more like zipping in and out of lanes, tailgating, hanging a car sideways going around corners, putting make-up on etc.

That's great your husband is a firefighter. Fireys aren't the ones that have to investigate and compile a Police report on the cause of the accident/culpability. The Police do and the only time fireys are called to the scene of an accident is if the jaws of life are needed to extract victims from the wreckage or if there is a fuel/oil spill. Other than that the only people that attend are the Police and the Ambos.

And yet with the speed laws in Australia we still have one of the highest road tolls in the world compared to say Germany with it no-speed-limit autobahns.

Your argument is emotional and coloured with propaganda. I think you really need to look into the actual cause of accidents rather than just blanketing everything with "speed kills so speed is bad", which is just plain incorrect.

Speed can kill, it can also prevent accidents.

DunRoaminTheUK

I think the roads here in Australia are probably more dangerous than the people that drive upon them... http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...72-953,00.html