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j_davo24

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iamsickofyear12 said:
By that logic I can't safely do the speed limit either, because a tyre blowout at 110 could also put me around a tree or pole.
Yes, but there is more chance at 130km/h than 110km/h. It's all about risk, and I'm afraid that your risk taking is affecting the rest of us. It's unfortunate that you value saving 3 minutes a day over the lives of innocent people.

As I mentioned previously I've done stupid things, and still continue to do so, but setting it as a goal every time you go out there is completely irresponsible.
 

iamsickofyear12

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j_davo24 said:
Yes, but there is more chance at 130km/h than 110km/h. It's all about risk, and I'm afraid that your risk taking is affecting the rest of us. It's unfortunate that you value saving 3 minutes a day over the lives of innocent people.

As I mentioned previously I've done stupid things, and still continue to do so, but setting it as a goal every time you go out there is completely irresponsible.
Not all that much more. If you were to measure the difference in risk it wouldn't be enough to matter. Modern cars and tyres and designed to go that fast.

It doesn't effect anyone else. I see people all the time going the speed limit cutting people off and doing completely stupid things, I don't do any of that. I'm past people in 10 seconds and into open space, that is much safer than if I was sitting right beside or behind them for 10 minutes.

I save at least 15 or 20 minutes a day... a couple hours a week. It's not a goal, it's just an effective speed to stay around, sometimes I go faster sometimes I go slower depending on traffic. I judge my speed based on conditions, not on signs posted on the side of the road... I drive on the same roads constantly. I know better than the person who randomly assigned the 110 speed limit to that road.
 

circusmind

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j_davo24 said:
Yes, but there is more chance at 130km/h than 110km/h. It's all about risk, and I'm afraid that your risk taking is affecting the rest of us. It's unfortunate that you value saving 3 minutes a day over the lives of innocent people.
And there's more chance of it at 110km/h than at 60km/h. It's absolutely ludicrous to believe that there is some magical number at which driving is safe, and above that you're "irresponsible". Drive to the conditions, to your skill level, and to the speed of traffic surrounding you.

IMO there are many more safe drivers who consistently speed than than safe drivers who consistently drive below the speed of traffic. There's plenty of boring middle-aged guys who whiz past me in the right-hand lane in their Commodores doing 10-20 over the limit on the commute home. More power to them--they've got a family to get home to, they drive predictably and safely, and they're willing to take the occasional fine for their consistent speeding.

It's the knobhead who drives 20 below the limit in the right-hand lane, fails to indicate and wobbles around who's a real danger to others.
 

j_davo24

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iamsickofyear12 said:
I know better than the person who randomly assigned the 110 speed limit to that road
They aren't randomly assigned at all, AFAIK they are based on the conditions of the road, whether there is likely to people pedestrians around, the proximity of property in relation to the road and depth of visibility in the area. I do agree they don't always get it right, and if a fatal occurs on the road they generally lower the limit these days for some strange reason.
circusmind said:
And there's more chance of it at 110km/h than at 60km/h. It's absolutely ludicrous to believe that there is some magical number at which driving is safe, and above that you're "irresponsible". Drive to the conditions, to your skill level, and to the speed of traffic surrounding you.
Firstly, I never said he was irresponsible for doing some 'magic number'. I said it was irresponsible to plan to go out there and do 30km/h over the limit.

Secondly, who decides your skill level exactly. You, the police, other drivers? The majority of people have no clue as to what their vehicle and skill set is completely capable of. Unless you have completed every stage of those three stage advanced driving courses you couldn't possibly no what you are exactly capable of doing. Even if the poster has done this I'm fairly sure that the attitude they possess is not taught in these courses, quite the opposite I would suggest.
circusmind said:
It's the knobhead who drives 20 below the limit in the right-hand lane, fails to indicate and wobbles around who's a real danger to others.
This I completely agree with you on. People who consistently stop the flow of traffic, do not indicate and sway from one lane to the other are the worst. The fact that they have a licence in the first place puzzles me somewhat. There needs to be some kind of review process for existing licence holders other than an eye-test and paying a fee.
 

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I think what he means is where did they come up with the universal cap of 110? how long ago was this decided? cars have advanced alot in the last 20 years, breaks especially are far far superior, crumple zones, improved traction, better steering, its all better, so why the same speed limit? Is it because our roads are shit and cant handle faster speeds? then why dont we build better ones. If the reason really was our roads though, why is it that people in the 85th percentile who drive about 20km faster than the speed limit are the least likely to crash?

Times change, cars get better, modern motorways are feats of engineering that make the roads that were made when the speed limit was made look like goat trails. Lifestyles have changed, people live further away from work, more commuters etc. Every. single. driver. speeds. If the average respectable citizen is breaking the law on a regular basis and sees nothing wrong with it then laws need to change.
 

iamsickofyear12

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j_davo24 said:
They aren't randomly assigned at all, AFAIK they are based on the conditions of the road, whether there is likely to people pedestrians around, the proximity of property in relation to the road and depth of visibility in the area. I do agree they don't always get it right, and if a fatal occurs on the road they generally lower the limit these days for some strange reason.

Firstly, I never said he was irresponsible for doing some 'magic number'. I said it was irresponsible to plan to go out there and do 30km/h over the limit.

Secondly, who decides your skill level exactly. You, the police, other drivers? The majority of people have no clue as to what their vehicle and skill set is completely capable of. Unless you have completed every stage of those three stage advanced driving courses you couldn't possibly no what you are exactly capable of doing. Even if the poster has done this I'm fairly sure that the attitude they possess is not taught in these courses, quite the opposite I would suggest.

This I completely agree with you on. People who consistently stop the flow of traffic, do not indicate and sway from one lane to the other are the worst. The fact that they have a licence in the first place puzzles me somewhat. There needs to be some kind of review process for existing licence holders other than an eye-test and paying a fee.
A speed limit of 110 is not an accurate reflection of the conditions. It was the highest allowable speed at the time it was implemented so that is the speed limit. Both cars and roads have since improved. In a lot of cases the speed limit doesn't at all reflect the road conditions. The speed limit is 110 on bends and it is 110 on long straights... clearly different driving conditions but the speed limit is the same.

There are guidelines for setting speed limits but they are somewhat randomly assigned. You can look at 3 essentially identical roads, one will have a speed limit of 50, one will have a speed limit of 60 and one will have a speed limit of 70. I know of 2 roads in particular I travel on a lot. The speed limit on one of them is 50, and on the other it is 60. If you looked at these roads without knowing you would swear it was the opposite way around but it isn't.

Are you suggesting the average person is incapable of assessing their own driving skill and safe speeds to drive? People are not that stupid.
 

Azamakumar

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The argument serius posed is so awesome, but its gonna get shot down by some politician asking if redirecting/increasing taxes to get roads into such a perfect state that us 17-21 year olds can go break the sound barrier on em. Lets face it, theres nothing wrong with the speed limit ultimately, you still get from point A to B, albeit with a bit more time. Asking someone to repair roads so we can break the sound barrier on em isn't gonna get em fixed, mainly because increasing the speed limit IS NOT A LIFE THREATENING ISSUE. If you don't like the speed limits, gtfo off the road or break em and pay the fine, and then see if its worth saving that hour a week as opposed to spending 4 more on public transport.
 

circusmind

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j_davo24 said:
They aren't randomly assigned at all, AFAIK they are based on the conditions of the road, whether there is likely to people pedestrians around, the proximity of property in relation to the road and depth of visibility in the area. I do agree they don't always get it right, and if a fatal occurs on the road they generally lower the limit these days for some strange reason.
Don't forget revenue-raising. I know of several spots which seem to be intentionally designed to trick you into getting done for speeding.

Firstly, I never said he was irresponsible for doing some 'magic number'. I said it was irresponsible to plan to go out there and do 30km/h over the limit.
No, but you argued that it was irresponsible to do 30 over the limit because of increased risk of accidents. I want to know why the set speed limit is the point at which this argument is always abandoned.

Secondly, who decides your skill level exactly. You, the police, other drivers? The majority of people have no clue as to what their vehicle and skill set is completely capable of. Unless you have completed every stage of those three stage advanced driving courses you couldn't possibly no what you are exactly capable of doing. Even if the poster has done this I'm fairly sure that the attitude they possess is not taught in these courses, quite the opposite I would suggest.
I do. I don't need to do some course (though I probably should, one of these days) to know that I'm inexperienced in, say, snowy conditions. As such, I would drive more slowly in snow than someone who is familiar with that situation. On the other hand, I know the ins and outs of my local roads far better than someone from out of town, and accordingly drive faster than they would at certain spots in my suburb.

This I completely agree with you on. People who consistently stop the flow of traffic, do not indicate and sway from one lane to the other are the worst. The fact that they have a licence in the first place puzzles me somewhat. There needs to be some kind of review process for existing licence holders other than an eye-test and paying a fee.
These people need to be fined. It's a nonsense to punish safe drivers who do 10km over the limit while their dimwitted, brake-riding, indicator-shy counterparts are causing real danger.
 

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these new rules are harsh for p platers,

if your going down a hill doing 3ks over your GONEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

3 months is a logn time off the roads....
 

Serius

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Azamakumar said:
The argument serius posed is so awesome, but its gonna get shot down by some politician asking if redirecting/increasing taxes to get roads into such a perfect state that us 17-21 year olds can go break the sound barrier on em. Lets face it, theres nothing wrong with the speed limit ultimately, you still get from point A to B, albeit with a bit more time. Asking someone to repair roads so we can break the sound barrier on em isn't gonna get em fixed, mainly because increasing the speed limit IS NOT A LIFE THREATENING ISSUE. If you don't like the speed limits, gtfo off the road or break em and pay the fine, and then see if its worth saving that hour a week as opposed to spending 4 more on public transport.
I didnt actually suggest we fix the roads, i just used that as a preemtive counter to the argument that our speed limit is because our roads are shit. Modern roads are more than capable of taking an extra 20-30 with no increased risk. What i would like to see is 3-4 classes of speed limits

urban: 50km. We dont need to change this, its the smartest speed change we ever done
main road: 80km
Freeway: 150km

Within the freeway i wouldnt mind seeing temporary lower speeds, like if an onramp is coming up slow it down to 100 or something. Also for this to work you would need those "speed suggestion" signs that they have on bendy roads.
 

j_davo24

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circusmind said:
No, but you argued that it was irresponsible to do 30 over the limit because of increased risk of accidents. I want to know why the set speed limit is the point at which this argument is always abandoned.
Firstly there is no limit at which it is abandoned. The concept of limiting speeds is all about reducing or minimising risk while facilitating efficient transport. To just suggest that is just being petty and pedantic.

That 85th percentile stuff is great in theory. But it doesn't (AFAIK) take into consideration that if the limits are increased these people will just go even faster, nor does it take into account that the people with lower driving skill sets will attempt to these speeds and more than likely take out other drivers/pedestrians. Even the good drivers, which could very well be you.

On another note, from reading that article and website some time ago I think it even acknowledged that the faster you go beyond this so called 'magic percentile' the risk increases substantially. So what do we do? Do we just keep increasing the speed limits indefinitely to accommodate these drivers in this magical range of numbers?

Serius said:
urban: 50km. We dont need to change this, its the smartest speed change we ever done
main road: 80km
Freeway: 150km
Simpifying the speed limit is a great idea. However it's not going to be done. I also think there needs to be another category in there for 'highways' such as inland single lane in each direction roads largely in disrepair. Sometimes even the 100km/h speed limit on these is too fast IMO.

Also with the freeway conditions what about trucks? There is no way in the world it is safe for a B-Double or Road Train to go flying along at 150km/h. If an emergency situation occurs there is no way they will stop in time. Another problem with this is that there are those 'indicator shy folk' who can't do 100km/h safely. I would hate to see what happens if they were trying to do 150...

Finally I am going to suggest, even though most of you may find it hypocritical, the idea of open limit roads such as the German autobahn's. The reason I say this is if the roads are capable of the speeds then theres no reason why this can't work. IIRC in Germany many people do stick to what they feel they are capable of and seem to get it right. This maybe for a number of reasons, for example the novelty of doing nearly 200km/h in a 1980 Golf has worn off, or because there is no magic number that you 'should be doing' on the road. For example setting a limit of 200km/h on the autobahn may tempt more people to move beyond the range they are comfortable with. More of a psychological push than anything else.
 
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Serius

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Those are all flawed arguements, The point of higher speed limits is so those comfortable with higher speeds are penalised when they are infact driving at a decreased risk. Theres always going to be people driving at slower speeds, and people naturally drive according to the conditions, If a road isnt in good enough condition to drive at the speed limit then drive slower, if you drive a truck then drive slower its simple. Its allready like that, some roads should have a limit much lower, some should have one much higher. I think an open limit might be a bit dangerous because around the 90th percentile the driver is at much higher risk. The difference between you and me is i would like to see an upper limit imposed that isnt going to restrict most law abiding people. I do psychology and i dissagree that there would be a drive to go faster.
 

j_davo24

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Serius said:
Those are all flawed arguements, The point of higher speed limits is so those comfortable with higher speeds are penalised when they are infact driving at a decreased risk.
Sorry but that statement doesn't seem to make any sense.

serius said:
Theres always going to be people driving at slower speeds, and people naturally drive according to the conditions, If a road isnt in good enough condition to drive at the speed limit then drive slower, if you drive a truck then drive slower its simple.
If only it were that simple. Just saying they should drive slower doesn't mean they will. Infact truck drivers are some of the worst offenders in my experiences. If the speed limit is increased people are going to attempt to drive faster regardless of there skills I am almost certain of it. Even those people who shouldn't have a licence in the first place.

serius said:
I do psychology and i dissagree that there would be a drive to go faster.
I don't know if you are entirely correct on this fact. If you are I apologise, but I recall it being suggested somewhere that in cases where things that were illegal are legalised people who do these are less likely to do them to as much of an extreme. For example I think that the average cannabis usage per user in the netherlands is less than that here (could be wrong). In another similar example when they removed rubbish bins from the train platforms in Sydney they found there was less rubbish than when the bins were there. You cannot tell me that there is not any psychological influence on peoples behaviour by their surroundings, to the level that it could quite possibly influence someone to drive faster.
 

iamsickofyear12

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There speed limit can't be changed or simplified, it's just too complicated. The better way to do it is to change the way speeds are enforced. If a cop sees someone going 150 on the freeway with no one else around then let them go, but if someone is going 45 through a school zone with kids everywhere pull them over.

j_davo24 said:
That 85th percentile stuff is great in theory. But it doesn't (AFAIK) take into consideration that if the limits are increased these people will just go even faster, nor does it take into account that the people with lower driving skill sets will attempt to these speeds and more than likely take out other drivers/pedestrians. Even the good drivers, which could very well be you.
I don't remember where I read it so I can't give you a link but there was a study done on a particular road and by raising the speed limit by 10km/h the average speed traveled decreased because drivers actually stuck to the more reasonable speed limit.

For good drivers the speed limit is mostly irrelevant. They are going to go the speed they consider to be best.
 

j_davo24

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iamsickofyear12 said:
There speed limit can't be changed or simplified, it's just too complicated. The better way to do it is to change the way speeds are enforced. If a cop sees someone going 150 on the freeway with no one else around then let them go, but if someone is going 45 through a school zone with kids everywhere pull them over.
Unfortunately that would never work. It gives too much power to the police. For example if a person is doing 150 on the freeway with nobody in sight, then all the police have to say is there was someone and you just didn't see them. Then it ends up being you word against theirs. Might not happen very often but still hard to enforce.

I think in theory the idea is great though. I do disagree that i can't be simplified. Can I ask why we need speed zones for 50,60,70,80,90,100 and 110km/h? Why not get rid of 70 and 90 altogether? And increasing the freeway limit to 120 seems reasonable (not 30-40km/h over what it already is). There has been debate about doing this for some time and politicians have just ignored it.

Finally what does everyone think of the idea of new speed camera trap vans like they have in Victoria? IMO it proves that speed cameras are simply placed for strategic revenue raising rather than to slow people down for safety reasons. I also notice this plan wasn't announced before the election earlier this year...
 

lala2

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Hmmm, I was walking past a car with empty P plate brackets and realised that this just might be my perfect solution to hanging up my L and P plates. Do you know where I can buy these?
 

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who cares about the rule that u have to have ur p plates on the outside of the car as if the cops give a shit. half the time i dont even have the plates on my car at all
 

lala2

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I think it'll be worth it though. Assuming I don't fail my Ps test this July, I will still have 3 years to get caught out. Besides, I live in a safe area where hardly anyone is likely to steal your plates.
 

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