"Expert" claims dropping speed limits by 10kmph will save lives...

[Jesterarts]

Woke up in the new year to this load of rubbish:

Reduce speed limit to cut toll: road trauma expert

He's saying across the board. So that's 30kmph in what are currently 40kmph zones and 100kmph roads will become 90kmph.

WHAT.A.####ING.MUPPET!

I'm sure his research makes sense on the same basis that reducing the speed limit on all roads to 5kmph will redeuce the road toll by 95%.

People have to stop using speeding and speed limits as the scape goat being seeing to be doing something about the road toll.

If they want to do something, something that myself and many others on here have said should be done. Tougher testing, striker penalties and a change of mentality from "Everyone deserves to drive" to "Driving is a privilage". Some people literally cannot drive. The same as I literally cannot be a heart surgeon.

/Rant.

[torana355]

People in Australia or our "experts" really have NFI on how to actually reduce the road toll. How about starting with advanced driving courses as part of the licensing schedule. If someone can not control a car at its limits they should not be on the road in the first place. You see so many people that are too afraid to even go over 90kph, these people should not be on the road either. How about upgrading some of the busy interstate highways to support a higher speedlimit, im pretty sure the Germans have proven in studies that higher speedlimits on well built roads actually reduces roadtolls due to less fatigue from being on the road for less time.

[scvs6]

I don't think they realise that cars are much safer today then they were 20 years ago. People doing the speed limit are less likely to be involved in a car accident, its the people who speed, so reducing the speed limit is going to do nothing imo.

[minux]

People doing the speed limit are less likely to be involved in a car accident, its the people who speed

What a load of crap. We were only talking about this yesterday with a group of friends who are police and almost all of them agreed that while speed may be a factor in an accident it is rarely the cause.

Raise the limits for god sake, they are too low already. Low speeds with bored drivers is a receipe for disaster.

[CV60VE]

whether they change the speed limit or not people still ignore it on most occasions and will still speed I dont get it haha. Its not the speed limit most of the time its just the reckless people behind the wheel.

[scvs6]

What a load of crap. We were only talking about this yesterday with a group of friends who are police and almost all of them agreed that while speed may be a factor in an accident it is rarely the cause.

Raise the limits for god sake, they are too low already. Low speeds with bored drivers is a receipe for disaster.

You think I don't know that? I was talking about in town. But I myself, driving home from work (which is a 120km drive), have almost fallen asleep driving down the western highway because it is it only straight in some places, I wake up all the sudden an i'm over the white line on the left or in the right lane and I also see B-Doubles all over the road, sometimes I don't even overtake them because they might hit the car as I overtake them. If they raise the speed limit on roads like that then people would be more alert and it shouldn't happen.

[scvs6]

Double Post

[RiCeY]

The only thing this clown is an expert at is being retarded.

We've had the same speed limits for decades while cars utilize technology making them handle better, stop faster and are much safer when accidents do occur.

This coupled with the fact that the road toll has been declining over the years, not increasing, is clear proof that these morons wanting to lower speed limits should be mowing lawns for a living.

Spend money on educating drivers, making it a shitload harder to get your licence (ie teach people to drive, not to pass the test), and make penalties for drink driving, no seatbelts etc so crippling that nobody would dare do it. Repeat offend you go to jail no ifs buts or sob stories.

This country really is run by a pack of intellectually challenged morons.

[stockyvrcalais]

whats the point of even owning a car anymore........

[vn_v6]

soon were going to be doing 50 on the freeway, and 10 on small streets, getting overtaken by elderlys on their scooters and people are going to be winging about bird toll or some shit, a guy from germany came to australia and did some studys a while ago, he said we have roads such as most of our freeways that can handle cars doing 130+ but we have drivers that cant handle 80, we have the facilities but we dont have the regulations for licenses to follow it up! why spend so much on roads then not fully use them?

its plain stupid

and to top it off! seeing our tests are piss easy, people with licenses over seas can drive here!, look at the test in india

Driving tests in India - the easiest test in the world! - Motorworld - YouTube

tell me how that test is sufficient? how can idiots come from that test and drive on our roads?

[wraith]

Government has got to get out of this mentality that training young drivers is going to turn them into super hoons.

[Jonno]

Government drops speed... More people will speed = more fines
which gets the governemt more money... Thats all their about isnt it?

[gopher]

I don't think they realise that cars are much safer today then they were 20 years ago.

i think they do but a lot of drivers don't buy the newer cars
have a look through this forum and how many members have cars that are between 10 and 20 years old
get rid of the older cars off the road and then increase speed limits in the meantime a bit more leniency on speeding and concentrate on other driving offences

[Jonno]

get rid of the older cars off the road

U gonna buy em all newer cars?

[vn_v6]

and not only on drivers licenses, i went to get my gun license a while back and i saw people there that i wouldnt trust with a knife! they asked stupid questions that you only need half a brain to figure out, and yet i might bump into him in a state forest as a bullet flys past my head because he has completely no idea how to handle a gun yet he got a gun license, same thing with driving, some idiot from overseas can t bone me cause hes got no idea how to drive and just ran a red light.

[gopher]

U gonna buy em all newer cars?

nope


it's also a good way of reducing congestion on the roads

[vn_v6]

nope


it's also a good way of reducing congestion on the roads

im sure youd have a different tone if you owned an older car and couldnt afford a newer one. like many people on here, only thing we should do is get death traps that are nowhere near passing roadworthy off our roads.

[acarmody]

Dr Bruce Corben, associate director of research translation at the Monash University Accident Research Centre.

So his qualifications to make this statement are what....?

[Jonno]

im sure youd have a different tone if you owned an older car and couldnt afford a newer one

I can afford a new one.
But i dont need one,
But if someone was to say i cant drive it on the road anymore id make them buy me a new one.

But thats getting abit off topic, lool.

Taking older cars off the road wont solve much.
I feel perfecty safe driving my older car.
People that dont feel safe in older cars shouldbt be driving.

[Full Spectrum]

Slowing the cars down to make the trains feel faster if you can catch one.

[Parabola]

i think they do but a lot of drivers don't buy the newer cars
have a look through this forum and how many members have cars that are between 10 and 20 years old
get rid of the older cars off the road and then increase speed limits in the meantime a bit more leniency on speeding and concentrate on other driving offences

i really dont see what this has to do with what the OP has started the thread about....why does it matter how "old" the car is, have another look through the forum and see how well most of the old cars are looked after (minus a few of course). and RWC's void your argument.

imo the limit needs to be raised, i agree with minux, lower speed limits and it will just make people more angry and more dangerous.

[trevt]

next we'll be walking??

[axemurderer101]

Government drops speed... More people will speed = more fines
which gets the governemt more money... Thats all their about isnt it?

Agreed 100% the government is all about making more money so they lower the speed limit and add more speed cameras and tell everyone it will reduce road deaths which is total BS

[hi_ryder]

People in Australia or our "experts" really have NFI on how to actually reduce the road toll. How about starting with advanced driving courses as part of the licensing schedule. If someone can not control a car at its limits they should not be on the road in the first place. You see so many people that are too afraid to even go over 90kph, these people should not be on the road either. How about upgrading some of the busy interstate highways to support a higher speedlimit, im pretty sure the Germans have proven in studies that higher speedlimits on well built roads actually reduces roadtolls due to less fatigue from being on the road for less time.

The overall road traffic safety of German autobahns is comparable to and in some cases better than that of other European highways. According to the statistics collected by the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group,[9] there were 2.2 road user fatalities per billion vehicle kilometers on German autobahns in 2008. Neighboring countries with available data include Belgium (4.2 in 2007), the Netherlands (2.1 in 2009), Denmark (2.5), Austria (4.2), Switzerland (1.2), and France (1.8). Using the same statistic, 4.5 fatalities have occurred in the United States on motorways. <----off wikipedia

in 2004 with 3.2 deaths per a billion k's and 219 billion k's driven, its just over 700. can that be right? is there anyway to calculate a victorian road toll per billion k's?

[RiCeY]

Autobahn would never work here due to the mentality of the majority of Australian drivers.