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.