MataHari

MacScot

That'll probably explain why I see so many drivers passing me at about 160 kph to 180 kph and then breaking just before known radar monitors and then speeding up again. However, I am often caught unawares by fast approaching cars...so I am extra careful and vigilant when changing lanes as the speedsters rarely use their indicators (probably don't have time when weaving in and out of the traffic).

admon

the signs aren't incorrect.
Doesn't matter what the cameras flash at.
The speed limit is the number on the signs.
So people at the speed limit have no need whatsoever to move over for you.

Bison

For my own peace of mind I have just called RTA to get some clarification, the guy was all to willing to tell me the speed limits and at what speeds the cameras flash at.

He said:

So it seems that I was wrong about the Dubai speed limit, and I put my hands up, I have always assumed it was 140kph because of the cameras not triggering, I thought they did they same as AD (who still have incorrect 100kph signs) increased the limit but forgot to change the signs.

Bison

MacScot

Maximum speed:

1,079,252,848 kph. It's not just a good idea. It IS the law.

Sky Blue

Are you a racing driver?

Shehryar

I think they might 'recalibrate' the new cameras every now and then too, just to catch people out. On one eventful drive to AD during the Eid holidays, four cars overtaking me in the Dubai part of SZR were flashed by four difference 'new' cameras - I was doing 100, and they didn't appear to be doing any more than 110 given the length of time it took for them to overtake. Hence safest to stay below 120 in the metropolitan Dubai areas of SZR.

Abu Dhabi I agree is 160kph - I have overtaken the red/crimson AD police vehicles whilst doing close to that speed, with no issues.

Ronnie Biggs

The public health crisis on our roads

Last Updated: November 20. 2008 9:30AM UAE / November 20. 2008 5:30AM GMT Obeying traffic laws is not simply a matter of good manners or personal responsibility. Aggressive driving and its human costs have created nothing less than a public health crisis. Car crashes are the single greatest cause of childhood deaths in the UAE. And for all age groups, the rate of traffic deaths per vehicle is six times the rate in the United States.

If this were a tragedy caused by illness or by terrorism there would be a a public outcry and demands for immediate action to address these horrific statistics. The mortal danger of driving in the UAE is often caused by what many wrongly consider to be venial sins of necessity: tailgating, abrupt lane changing, and speeding to make more time in the day. But too many young people’s lives have been cut short for the Government to consider these dangerous practices mere petty crimes.

Both education and deterrence must play equal roles in reducing road deaths. All drivers must be educated to understand the carnage that cars – even in collisions at low speed – can create. Simple measures such as child-safety seats could save dozens of lives each year. Far too often at any stoplight in the UAE, children can be seen on the laps of adults in a vehicles’s front seat. This is not just poor parenting, it is negligence – and laws against it must properly reflect this.

A separate set of regulations should be implemented to address the disproportionate number of those who die on our roads who are in their teens and twenties. In the first half of 2008 alone, traffic accidents resulted in the deaths of 65 young people. Certainly, the young tend to be more impetuous than adults; they fall in love more readily and are often more heroic in battle. But this need not mean that they must be such an incredible danger to themselves and others behind the wheel. Scientists have discovered that the areas of the brain responsible for assessing risk do not reach maturity until people are in their mid-twenties. To take account of this, those under 25 require stronger deterrent measures to curtail their propensity for risk-taking. Young people who commit a third traffic violation should have their licence suspended and their car impounded for six months.

The phenomenon of drifting, a motorsport in which drivers perform stunts in hyper-charged vehicles, is of particular concern. In unreg- ulated, unsupervised drifting events, “hundreds of these guys have died in the streets and out in the desert”, according to Mohammed al Darmaki, the general manager of Al Ain Sportcomplex, which hosts automotive events. More licensed and regulated motorsport tracks should be built so that young people can learn how to properly control powerful vehicles in a supervised environment, with paramedics on hand in case of accidents. “We need them to sit down with us and get the safety regulations and rules in place. But without all these people, it will go slowly,” Mr Darmaki says about forging new regulations for motorsports.

His advice could just as readily apply to all facets of traffic regulation. Because dangerous driving puts everyone at risk, everyone must be part of the solution. Far too many lives have been lost for us to do otherwise.


Out of interest, how old are you Bison?

Shehryar

It does.

As you note, a large number of variables can cause fatalities on the road - not wearing seatbelts, poorly maintained brakes, rash driving, speeding, bad driving conditions, no headlights, clueless pedestrians etc etc. To ascertain whether any of these many variables on its own can cause fatalities, you'd need to do an experiment where you keep all the other variables constant, and just vary/manipulate your selected variable - the other variables are all kept constant at their 'real world' levels, not at some ideal laboratory levels.

So if all the other variables are kept as they 'normally' are (i.e. the 'normal' number of bad drivers, idiot jaywalkers, etc etc), then you are far more likely to, (a) cause an accident, and (b) kill someone in that accident, whilst driving at 180kph as compared to 80 kph. That's simple physics - more velocity means greater momentum. Hence, speeding alone can kill - it doesn't always kill, of course...but on probabilities, speeding alone can kill, and will kill more often than not.

The question isn't whether speeding is more likely to kill than the other reasons for road deaths. The question is: can speeding kill? The answer: yes, obviously. To argue otherwise is illogical, surely?

Bison

You are wrong my friend, speeding alone cannot kill.

If I was driving along an open empty stretch of road with nothing in my path at 240MPH in my Bugatti Veyron I would not be killed due to my speed 'alone' I would simply keep driving at that speed until I ran out of petrol.

There would have to be another contributing factor to cause death, like someone on the road, or something failing in my car or driver error causing me to crash or a flat tyre. Anything other than driving at a high speed is a contributing factor!

Therefore it is logical that speed alone does not kill.

Bison

admon

this is going to go on a bit, I can feel it..

MrsHaps

Exactly what point are you trying to make. speed alone does not kill, congrats you have made it....

You are still an arse for speeding, arent you in effect contributing to the possible death of someone by your speeding...

Bison

No, not at all.... plus you just called yourself an arse to, you admitted speeding earlier!

So I'm glad you agree with me, but you answered YES in the pole?

Bison

MrsHaps

Shhhhhhhhhhhh........ time for beddy byes.... the adults need to get back to talking....

lobby lou

sounds like small P**** syndrome to me ..........................