140kmhr Safer In Australia

[minux]

140km/h safer in Australia: Safety expert | Speed limits

Now, whats a bet governments ignore advice from an expert.

[Reaper]

I'm not sure you will find many who will take that bet.

Reaper

[jazza15]

They made a good point about the lack of people keeping left when driving slower than other motorists and slowing down the right lane because of it. Having said that, drivers following too close could be partially to blame because of that fact.
I'm for some speed limits to be increased, but not to 140km/hr, maybe 120, 130 at the most. most cars are made to run economically at 100km/hr, not 130, so fuel efficiency would suffer. Also i think that too many drivers can't drive properly at 100km/h and that increasing the speed limit to 140 would not help them.

[immortality]

unless that expert is a politcian, the expert isn't really a expert at all

[torana355]

It will never happen as Australia's government does not care about safety, they care about revenue sadly. Selfish assholes if you ask me. What Australia needs is more emphasis put on advanced driver training from a young age as well as getting young people in newer, safer cars.

[old mate]

They made a good point about the lack of people keeping left when driving slower than other motorists and slowing down the right lane because of it. Having said that, drivers following too close could be partially to blame because of that fact.
I'm for some speed limits to be increased, but not to 140km/hr, maybe 120, 130 at the most. most cars are made to run economically at 100km/hr, not 130, so fuel efficiency would suffer. Also i think that too many drivers can't drive properly at 100km/h and that increasing the speed limit to 140 would not help them.

well the people who dont want to drive at 140 wont, and those who do, will. just like now, the people who cant drive out of a wet paper bag won't go near 100, but those who actually have some kind of skill will get bored at 100.

[soop]

140km/h might be safe for some, certainly not most.
I wouldnt do a sustained 140kmh on most rural roads either. '

Main freeway, hell yeah :P.

Frankly I think speed limits are over rated. Take them away and make people drive to the conditions, some european country did this years ago. Just have speed limits in built up area's, and give the police officers power of discretion everywhere else.

[minux]

They made a good point about the lack of people keeping left when driving slower than other motorists and slowing down the right lane because of it. Having said that, drivers following too close could be partially to blame because of that fact.
I'm for some speed limits to be increased, but not to 140km/hr, maybe 120, 130 at the most. most cars are made to run economically at 100km/hr, not 130, so fuel efficiency would suffer. Also i think that too many drivers can't drive properly at 100km/h and that increasing the speed limit to 140 would not help them.

The speed limit is a limit, it is not a competition to see if you can stick to it everywhere, hence the expert brings up keeping left enforcement. If you cannot drive to the limit, stay out of the way of those who can.

If you are so precious about fuel economy, keep left.

All very simple to do.

[torana355]

140km/h might be safe for some, certainly not most.
I wouldnt do a sustained 140kmh on most rural roads either. '

Main freeway, hell yeah :P.

Frankly I think speed limits are over rated. Take them away and make people drive to the conditions, some european country did this years ago. Just have speed limits in built up area's, and give the police officers power of discretion everywhere else.

I think we are talking about main high quality freeways not rural roads so much, even i would not drive 140kph on some of our shocking roads lol. Also someone said our cars are designed to be fuel efficient at 110kph but alot of decent cars in Australia will run very economically at 140kph and you would find more of the gearboxes with 7 speeds+ would make their way to Aus if the speed limits were changed. Also what would you prefer, to stay alive or use a touch more fuel as fatigue is the biggest killer????

[Grennan]

Yeah I know I rarely ever use 6th gear on my car. It would easily drive around 140 and be efficient.

Roads like the Eastern, Eastlink, Parts of the Monash and parts of the Hume would easily be safe at 140. The Pacific Hwy in NSW after it hits Newcastle is boring as batshit. Its a great road, and its 100 or 110 in parts and its dead straight.

What people need to understand is these guys arent saying "lets slap 140 km signs everywhere" they are saying put them on the good roads, put them on the boring straight roads where driver concentration is at risk.

Hell you could even have licensing in stages. Licenses that permitted you to go 140 on these roads and have these people go through the extra testing etc. People who cant, can sit their ass in the left hand lane where they should be anyway.

[Darren_L]

I don't claim to be a 'safety expert' but problem is if you allow people to drive at 140kph, they will try to drive at that speed irrelavant of whether they and/or their vehicle is capable of doing so.
I'd personally love to be able to legally drive at 140kph, but I see it causing more problems than it is going to solve. Most cars these days cruise at 140kph, so people are still going get bored on long straights. And when they do go to sleep behind the wheel, going off the side of the road or into oncoming traffic is going to end up ten times worse than at 100 or 110kph. So many motorists clearly can't even handle their cars at 100kph let alone 140kph.

This guy from Germany might think he knows our roads, but how long has he actually spent driving on our roads I wonder.... It's one thing making decisions based on general observations and comparisons, but spend a year driving on our roads, amoungst our drivers and he might have a very different opinion...

[soop]

Yeah I agree, some roads might be up to it. Most drivers are not.

They should do a test, give a bunch of random people cars without speedo's and make them drive them around for a few months with a computer loging speeds.

After a set period have alook at what speed they average.
I theorise that most people, without a speedo, will drive slower. Purely because you always feel like you're going faster then what you are without one from my expirience.

[immortality]

i totally agree, if you aussie drivers are half as good as our kiwi drivers, most shouldn't be allowed to drive

[torana355]

I don't claim to be a 'safety expert' but problem is if you allow people to drive at 140kph, they will try to drive at that speed irrelavant of whether they and/or their vehicle is capable of doing so.
I'd personally love to be able to legally drive at 140kph, but I see it causing more problems than it is going to solve. Most cars these days cruise at 140kph, so people are still going get bored on long straights. And when they do go to sleep behind the wheel, going off the side of the road or into oncoming traffic is going to end up with even more mangled bodies...

This guy from Germany might think he knows our roads, but how long has he actually spent driving on our roads I wonder.... It's one thing making general observations and comparisons, but spend a year driving on our roads, amoungst our drivers and he might have a very different opinion...

I disagree, young idiots aside most people are smart enough to know when they are in control of their car in a straight road of freeway. Im pretty sure it is proven that driving at slightly higher speeds reduces fatigue but don't quote me on that. Like i said more advanced driver training from a young age would need to be incorporated into the whole thing. Its people like you that just automatically assume higher speeds will cause more deaths that set Australia behind the rest of the world in this aspect, mean while other country's have already proved higher speeds does not lead to a higher road toll ans infact can reduce it. One word for you, revenue!!!!

[minux]

I don't claim to be a 'safety expert' but problem is if you allow people to drive at 140kph, they will try to drive at that speed irrelavant of whether they and/or their vehicle is capable of doing so.
I'd personally love to be able to legally drive at 140kph, but I see it causing more problems than it is going to solve. Most cars these days cruise at 140kph, so people are still going get bored on long straights. And when they do go to sleep behind the wheel, going off the side of the road or into oncoming traffic is going to end up ten times worse than at 100 or 110kph. So many motorists clearly can't even handle their cars at 100kph let alone 140kph.

This guy from Germany might think he knows our roads, but how long has he actually spent driving on our roads I wonder.... It's one thing making decisions based on general observations and comparisons, but spend a year driving on our roads, amoungst our drivers and he might have a very different opinion...

lol, why does he need to drive on our roads? Based on maps and being told speed limits any dimwit can say the speeds are far too slow for how open our road system is. Lack of driver training/confidence is irrelevant to what the guy is saying. That is up to the government.

[soop]

I don't know who said driving at high speed reduces fatigue, from what i've expirenced the extra engery used with the attention needed alone is VERY draining.
Let alone hanging on to the car, every slight deviation in the road is amplified.
The only upside to it is you don't have to put up with it for long.

[torana355]

I don't know who said driving at high speed reduces fatigue, from what i've expirenced the extra engery used with the attention needed alone is VERY draining.
Let alone hanging on to the car, every slight deviation in the road is amplified.
The only upside to it is you don't have to put up with it for long.

It has to do with a combination of factors, firstly you are going to complete your trip much quicker, meaning less time in the car on the freeway. Also you will find that most people get "bored or disinterested" when driving at 100kph on a dead straight road (hence the reason alot of people infact travel at 120+ on the freeway, they don't do it because they feel like a race lol), being bored and disinterested in a vehicle traveling anywhere above even 60kph is incredibly dangerous!!!

[minux]

I don't know who said driving at high speed reduces fatigue, from what i've expirenced the extra engery used with the attention needed alone is VERY draining.
Let alone hanging on to the car, every slight deviation in the road is amplified.
The only upside to it is you don't have to put up with it for long.

Of course higher concentration levels fatigue you. The fact you are concentrating means you are less likely to crash. Lack of concentration is where the issue is, mix this with fatigue it is a pretty bad mix.

[CSP]

Correct. You pay more attention the faster you go. You get bored and drift off the slower you go (on highways).

[Cruxis]

Even with a 140k speed limit, the hoons will go over the speed limit. If 140 was the legal speed, then I'd expect a lot of hoons to be doing at least 160, probably trying for the 200. And I can say with relative confidence that most hoons wouldn't have the experience or knowledge to get a car under control at those speeds.

[minux]

Even with a 140k speed limit, the hoons will go over the speed limit. If 140 was the legal speed, then I'd expect a lot of hoons to be doing at least 160, probably trying for the 200. And I can say with relative confidence that most hoons wouldn't have the experience or knowledge to get a car under control at those speeds.

lol, why are they hoons? If they are speeding, surely they are called "Speeders"?

Regardless, I know many epopel who speed who are not hoons and are int he same boat as the "hoons" you mention. Nothing REAL driver training cannot overcome.

[CSP]

You just pointed out why "hoon" laws are so ridiculous. There is already a law for everything you can be done under hoon laws.

[DrZ]

Even with a 140k speed limit, the hoons will go over the speed limit. If 140 was the legal speed, then I'd expect a lot of hoons to be doing at least 160, probably trying for the 200. And I can say with relative confidence that most hoons wouldn't have the experience or knowledge to get a car under control at those speeds.

"Hoons" as you call them are already pushing the 200kmph mark without the new speed limit... Maybe making the speed limit higher pushing ur hoon-mobile ( :P ) that hard to make it to 200kmph wont be such a thrill?

[CSP]

200kph isn't really a thrill. It's just faster than the speed limit. I've done it and it's not unsafe.

[Calaber]

Those who claim that sustained higher speed driving is not mentally and physically exhausting need to consider more than just the driver's ability to drive and his concentration capacity.

It would be interesting to see who could drive at a constant 140kph from Melbourne to Sydney, even with rest breaks, without feeling drained towards the end of the journey, because of the need to constantly monitor other road users behaviour, watching for road hazards such as potholes or debris, dodging ########s who drift over into " your" lane or want to drive at 100 in a " 140" zone.....

The higher the speed, the greater the level of concentration needed and this country is vast. Long distances, high speeds and multiple variations in road conditions, traffic etc, add to the mental drain on the high speed driver. I doubt any of us could drive 1000 km at 140 without frequent rest breaks and refreshment.