Sherlock Holmes

Naughty, naughty, when you come to do you citizenship test, you'll need to know that ACT is a territory, not a state. Although some say that it is in quite a state!

Kelli28

I have a few points, how many do you need to win a kettle?

Wol

The tailgater was probably a police car - they seem to have the same grasp of Newtonian physics as the rest of the drivers on the road.

Swerv-o

A gentle tap on the brakes *should* see the tail gater back off a bit...


S

GreenMan72

Have been driving for 22 years - one accident (during my first year of driving ).

One parking fine in NZ across 12 years.
No fines (speeding or parking) during 8 years in the UK.

One speed camera fine and one red light fine since start 2010, here in Sydney :curse:

4 demerit points, over $400 in fines and one bruised ego. Wifey drives more now....

meelie

Me driving in UK for 12 years nil points
Me driving in Australia 5 years got one speeding fine for doing 81km in 70 km zone ( was on my way to work at 06.30 on a Sunday morning and speed limit went from 90 to 70 and just didnt slow down quick enough when the crafty blighters who were hiding in the bushes caught me)

Hubby driving in UK 30 years nil points
Hubby driving in Australia 5 years one speeding fine for doing 71km down a hill in a 60km zone.

Sure speed kills but so does driving like an ass, sitting up the ass of the car in front, cutting in front of other drivers causing them to break sharply, not allowing cars to merge, not checking whether theres a car in the lane beside them before changing lanes ( have had sooooo many close calls with that one) need I go on!

IvanM

NSW has just brought back mobile speed patrols. Basically you can be caught anywhere and not know it. My points from a long time ago have expired. My fault and no one to blame. Speeding makes you far more likely to kill someone.

Swerv-o

Yes, these are all factors, yet the police appear reluctant to pursue this sort of behaviour, choosing instead to focus pretty much only on driving.



The locations and times for the camera placings have all been made public though, and the vehicles are pretty obvious. I think that if you are concentrating on your driving, then you should see them before they ping you.


S

BadgeIsBack

People DO seem to report, and accrue points here. I can only assume they come from the country and then go head to head in the suburban megatropolisesthingos of Australian Capital cities where there are cameras on every intersection...and Big Brother is your mate. Where mate compares points with mate....and people get to work in taxis whilst disqualified...

I got 2 points 2 years ago (since lapsed) for being the last car across the lights at Tullamarine airport: "My wife was in labour, my daughter had a full nappy and I had a temporary heart attack 'officer." (I've also gone through red lights in the fire truck but that was sort of fun).

Never had a speeding ticket here in almost 7 years. There is only one 'civvy' camera car in one place where we live and it's so obvious everyone nods at the driver and asks him over for tea. Never seen a cop car in the bushes, but then I've no reason to worry either. If I speed, I cop a fine. Simple.

BadgeIsBack

QLD is doing well, but then lots of people say they haven't had points either.
Good.

DadAgain

This is worthy of debate.

Without question speeding makes you more likely to kill someone *IF* you have an accident.

But when speed limits are set artificially low, speeding may actually may you LESS likely to have an accident (you're more likely to be paying attention).

I suspect the net effect of both of these factors on the overall death rate in road accidents is very close to zero.

Wol

Certainly the accident rate is far more aligned to the number of useless and irresponsible drivers on the road than it is to minor exceedances of the speed limits (and also given that the aforementioned are in any case more likely to speed anyway.)

IvanM

In your opinion they are too low. Speeding also makes you more likely to have an accident. The faster you go the more distance you travel before you can react to a situation that is not under your control. It makes you more likely to be a killer and possibly kill your own family.

I also understand the margin for error in NSW will be reduced to 4kmh. There was anecdotal evidence it was higher before.

I suspect that with a reduction in speeding that the road death toll will come down.

DadAgain

Evidence? The GREATEST cause of accidents on the road is not speed its inattention. Travelling at 40kh whilst reading the newspaper is obviously more likely to result in an accident than travelling at 70kmh carefully looking at your surroundings (extreme example made to demonstrate point). Since excessive speed accounts for a very small percentage of road accidents (<8% was the last study in read) then perhaps its time to consider why people crash - perhaps its because their attention is not being held by the tediousness of driving at barely above walking pace?


There has been a clear marked change in driving over the last decade or so with driving speeds plummeting thanks to one-eyed single-issue police policy. However, the road based death toll has continued a very even predicatable decline - which suggests it is unrelated to vehicle speed. The last time there was any signiicant change to the 'rate of change' of road based death toll was in the 1970s when seat belts were introduced. Since then the decline in death toll has been remarkably linear. Occams razor suggests therefore than speeding is by and large irrelevant to the road based death toll (since if speed were to blame for deaths then a massive, sudden, widespread drop in speed would surely result in a similarly massive, sudden, widespread drop in death - this correlation has NOT been observed).


From the following research for the US department of Transportation (http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/sl-irrel.html):
"Lowering speed limits below the 50th percentile does not reduce accidents, but does significantly increase driver violations of the speed limit. Conversely, raising the posted speed limits did not increase speeds or accidents...


... It is interesting to note that compliance decreased when speed limits were lowered and accidents tended to increase. Conversely, when compliance improved after speed limits are raised, accidents tended to decrease. "

IvanM

So reading a newspaper whilst driving is dangerous. Thanks for the revelation. Accidents normally have a number of contributing factors. The faster you drive whilst reading a paper the more likely you are to crash and kill. Does that diminish the risk of speeding?

All research I have read indicates a lower speed reduced accidents and deaths.