Dan wrote:I think it's a fact that the majority of people that speed are paying more attention
Actually, I beg to differ. Why is it that I can stand on the side of a road, next to a big white bike with red and blue lights on it, in a fluro-yellow rain suit, holding a laser gun, and the only people that don't see me are those over the speed limit? Those that are sitting at or under the limit often wave. I don't hide under bushes wearing green camo, but I will sit under a tree to keep out of the sun.
I think you'll find that most people who speed are more interested in getting to their destination quickly than what is happening in their immediate surroundings. Others are speeding BECAUSE they are distracted.
Chicken wrote:They say, "Every K over is a killer" Well, why aren't there massive pile ups in Europe, where they drive much faster?
1) I think you miss the point. I honestly don't think they are trying to suggest for one minute that doing 61 instead of 60 is going to cost lives. I believe they are trying to suggest that if you aren't paying attention, then suddenly you are doing 80 instead of 60, and that can certainly hurt.
2) The Eruopean roads that have the higher speed limits are often triple carriage-way roads, seperated by armco and several metres of nothing. When accidents occur on these stretches of road, they are often rear-enders or sideswipes, not nearly as deadly as the goold old head-on!
Although there are some stretches of the autobahn in Germany that have unlimited speed limits, the majority of it is restricted to 130km/h. Whilst this is still higher than our highway limits, the average age of cars in Germany is much lower than those here, their cars have more safety features than those produced here and the driver's are far more couteous than the average Australian driver.
Not only that, but the quality of the roads in general is much higher. Their population rate is high, and the total size of their country is small in comparison to Australia. This means that there is more money to spend on roads.
Gosling1 wrote:If Speed Kills, how come there are NO deaths in NT over a holiday period......with NO speed limits in *certain* areas ???????
As someone else has said, minimal traffic flow. But on top of that, most of the people driving on rural roads in the NT are locals, not tourists with NFI! I have also heard that although there are some roads with unlimited speed limits, a large number of drivers still tootle along at 110.[/quote]
Gosling1 wrote:What kills is *Inappropriate* speed, *Inadequate* training, *Incompetent* fuckwit drivers........that is what kills......
No argument there. Make a road, let it detirioate over a few years, stick a 110 km/h sign on it, and everyone hustles along it at 110-120km/h. Just because the sign says you can travel at a certain speed, doesn't mean you have to. Instead of bitching about the condition of the roads, how about we try slowing down?
Chicken wrote:$peed cameras don't do a God-damn thing either.
And I don't believe that the fines of $150 are doing a damn thing either. They piss the driver off, but they don't learn from it.
Well, actually.... without them, there would be a much higher number of vehicles travelling above the speed limit. If people think they can get away with something, they'll give it a shot.
Who actually knows if fines are working or not. Do you have a better idea?
Now, it's obvious that speed in itself doesn't kill. But at the same time, if you are travelling faster when you crash then you are probably going to get a little more hurt. If you are driving along a country road and two wheels enter the dirt verge, then there is a higher chance that your car will become out of control.
A high number of accidents in towns and cities are caused because of failure to give way and following too close. If we increase speed limits to 80 km/h, people will still follow too close and accidents will still happen, only at a much higher speed. And when Pa Kettle fails to give way, instead of hitting him at 60, you'll hit him at 80. Sure, you may miss him, but sooner or later someone is going to get hit.
Let's say the government made highway speeds 150 km/h. How long do you think it would be until people started to complain they are too low??
I agree that there is such a thing as "safe speeding", but how do you police who is speeding safely, within their abilities and the ability of the vehicle, and those who are just an accident waiting to happen?