Driver whinging has to stop

[PaddyO]

The problem is the line is set low for the incompetent and weak and it frustrates the hell out of those that are better.

The best should dictate limits. Not the weak and incompetent.

If speed kills you, you are better off dead.

I'm gonna assume you're being facetious here....I definitely don't want the "incompetent and weak" doing whatever the hell speed they want on the roads when I'm driving my little kids to school.

 

[little graham]

The problem is the line is set low for the incompetent and weak and it frustrates the hell out of those that are better.
.

I'm quite confident in a v8 torana at 100 mph on unsealed roads. I'm more than confident, I'm ecstatic. So you're 100 % correct. Its a fact of life statutary law is about controlling the weak and insipid.

Unfortunately its not a good look when some fresh faced snotty nosed pig straight out of school lectures me about road saftey.

 

[vealesy]

I'm gonna assume you're being facetious here....I definitely don't want the "incompetent and weak" doing whatever the hell speed they want on the roads when I'm driving my little kids to school.

So make them catch a bus.

I never said people should be allowed to do whatever speed they want.

I just want those that drive around 10-20kms UNDER the already low limit to die or gtfo off the road network.

 

[kfc1]

No you just have to 'like' the appropriate Facebook pages.

I have it on good authority that Kony is behind these speed limit increases.

 

[Catfish Alley]

What's the crackdown on distracted driving like in Australia? They are reporting here that accidents now equal those of impaired driving. They've increased the fines (up to $1,000 in Ontario) and now take points off for talking/texting on phones. They are also extending that to eating, playing DVDs, having a dog in the front etc.

 

[Taylor]

They are also extending that to eating, playing DVDs, having a dog in the front etc.

and most of the time that stuff isn't going to cause a crash either.

For a country that apparently speeds and texts on the mobile phone so much we have very few road fatalities. Perhaps all three aren't that big of a problem but they make for easy policing.

btw, I've never had a fine.. yet.

 

[Catfish Alley]

and most of the time that stuff isn't going to cause a crash either.

In British Columbia they say distracted driving causes second most fatalities - 88 compared to 104 for impaired driving. But yeah, I would say nearly all of that is phone related.

 

[Taylor]

I think we need to give up the fantasy that traveling at inhuman speeds inside a tonne of steel is a safe idea for everyone, all of the time.

The point I was making before is that I don't expect to see a decrease in the death toll due to higher penalties for phone related and speeding infringements when our current death toll is so low that a single accident can skew the results by 2-4%.

 

[Tulip]

Two things I've learnt ITT.

1. You can be fined for eating while driving??

2. South Australian P Platers have a 12-5 curfew? WTF is that? Tbh I stopped drinking often when I got my license so I could park at a station near the CBD, still go out and get the last train. Surely the curfew just encourages you to get on the piss and get home a more dangerous way?

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

Never understood why talking on the phone while driving is considered so bad. People have used CB radios for years, and are still legally able to - how is this any different talking on a phone? To be honest, I don't think talking on the phone is any more dangerous than talking to someone in the passenger seat - should we ban all talking while driving, since it is a distraction?

Obviously texting while driving is a different story (though I still don't think it is nearly as bad as it is made out to be, depending on the circumstances), but I just don't see the logic with talking and driving.

 

[Taylor]

In WA if you use your mobile phone as a GPS navigator and press the start button on the screen while driving you get fined for using your mobile while driving.

If you have your TomTom beside it and press the start button on that screen, no issues.

It's a strange situation but when have you ever known old men, who make the laws, to understand technology haha

 

[Catfish Alley]

Obviously texting while driving is a different story (though I still don't think it is nearly as bad as it is made out to be, depending on the circumstances), but I just don't see the logic with talking and driving.

Yep, it's the looking down while texting. People just use bluetooth if they are talking. Problem is that people rarely talk on their phone these days.

 

[brahj]

Why not just do as the Germans do?

The Autobahn has no speed limit and very few fatalities, the best thing about it is that the police enforce distances between cars, for example, according to German law you should always be half your speedo from the car infront e.g. you're sitting on 180km/h, you need to be no more than 90m from the car in front, they also have markers on the side of the road every 50m, and drivers failing to give way and pull over to the left lane are also booked...

I think we'd be better off if we started booking sloth-like, mouthbreathing dickhole's who seem to have an aversion to driving in the left hand lane.

 

[little graham]

If you believe the pigs, road crashes add up to about 10 million %

70 % distraction
60 % speed
55 % dui
45 % drug driving
76 % no seatbelt
10 % defective vehicle

Ect ect

 

[PaddyO]

I believe the fine for using your mobile is somewhere upwards of $400.

Texting/changing songs on a device while driving is pretty dangerous imo. Been a couple of times I've been changing songs on my phone and it's pretty easy to forget you're driving. For me at least.

I agree that speedlimits on highways could be raised. I disagree that they should be changed/not enforced strongly in urban areas. Have been on crossing duty at work (school) and seen w***ers just plough through the 40 zone at 60 or 70 when their are kids everywhere. Automatic loss of license in that situation imo.

Something that I've noticed lately is people not getting out of the road for ambos/fire crews. s**t behaviour.

 

[vealesy]

Remember as kids we were taught how to cross the road etc.

Whatever happened to teaching kids to walk sensibly near traffic?

Oh, no money in it.

 

[Catfish Alley]

Remember as kids we were taught how to cross the road etc.

Whatever happened to teaching kids to walk sensibly near traffic?

Oh, no money in it.

Gonna have to disagree with you on that one. They are kids. Their brains aren't fully developed and they are easily distracted. If they drop something or see a ball they'll run to it.

 

[JuddsABlue]

Why not just do as the Germans do?

The Autobahn has no speed limit and very few fatalities, the best thing about it is that the police enforce distances between cars, for example, according to German law you should always be half your speedo from the car infront e.g. you're sitting on 180km/h, you need to be no more than 90m from the car in front, they also have markers on the side of the road every 50m, and drivers failing to give way and pull over to the left lane are also booked...

I think we'd be better off if we started booking sloth-like, mouthbreathing dickhole's who seem to have an aversion to driving in the left hand lane.

the autobahn doesn have 'few fatalities', it averaged over 1 death per day in 2013, and over half of those deaths speed was the leading factor

 

[vealesy]

Gonna have to disagree with you on that one. They are kids. Their brains aren't fully developed and they are easily distracted. If they drop something or see a ball they'll run to it.

So we should punish the poor parenting skills, not good driving skills.

 

[Catfish Alley]

So we should punish the poor parenting skills, not good driving skills.

Haha. All the parenting in the world doesn't suddenly make a child's brain fully developed. That doesn't happen until 18-21, hence the driving age.

 

[brahj]

the autobahn doesn have 'few fatalities', it averaged over 1 death per day in 2013, and over half of those deaths speed was the leading factor

Compared with the rest of Europe, there's no spike in fatalities when looking at motorway deaths per country, not to mention it's actually safer than driving in a majority of US states.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn

Given the German population is nearly 4 times that of the Australian population I'd personally say that 360 odd deaths in a year is actually not too bad.

 

[vealesy]

Haha. All the parenting in the world doesn't suddenly make a child's brain fully developed. That doesn't happen until 18-21, hence the driving age.

So under 18s cant be pedestrians?

Do you let your kids leave the house??

 

[Simple Jack]

Haha. All the parenting in the world doesn't suddenly make a child's brain fully developed. That doesn't happen until 18-21, hence the driving age.

16 in some places?

Or 16 to fly a plane solo in Australia, which I think they actually dropped to 15 on 1/9/14, which requires far more thought, control, focus and judgement to do than driving a car?

A brain doesn't need to be fully developed (which I think might even be later than 21) to still be able to do complex things well.

Just like kids can be taught at a reasonably young age not to drink kitchen cleaner, or run onto a road. And if your kid doesn't know not to run onto the road, why are you letting them hang around roads unescorted anyway?

 

[JuddsABlue]

Compared with the rest of Europe, there's no spike in fatalities when looking at motorway deaths per country, not to mention it's actually safer than driving in a majority of US states.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn

Given the German population is nearly 4 times that of the Australian population I'd personally say that 360 odd deaths in a year is actually not too bad.

I decided not to research deaths on Australian motorways per kilometer and compare it to the Autobahn because I dont care that much about the topic, but until we have that info I dont think we can say "its not actually too bad"

It could be awfully worse or considerably better, I'm not sure, but the Autobahn isnt 'the answer' most aussie bogans look to when trying to justify speeding on freeways. Lots of parts of the Autobahn have speed restrictions, there is still an overall speed restriction of 130km, and there are permanent speed restrictions in bad weather, and plenty of people still die on it because of speed

 

[Catfish Alley]

So under 18s cant be pedestrians?

Do you let your kids leave the house??

Not on his own. He's 18 months so would be on the road in a second - like many young kids would be. Maybe your school zones are only at high schools though. I'm not sure.

In any case, I can't imagine school zones hold people up too much. They are usually on smaller streets. It's more the highways and major arterial roads where I think they should give more leeway.