Opposition to NT's new speed limits, continues and for the long term:-

[Keepleft]

Per header, cited in forum as an update.

http://keepntlimitfree.org/

Keep it safe people.

[Mr_Slim]

What do people think of the speed restrictions in NT?

I think 130km/h is actually a pretty fair limit. i've been along that road before, and while we were doing 140km/h +, Dad (who was driving) has been driving for 30+ years and was driving a new Falcon (hire car).

My point is that an inexperienced driver in a not so good car could potentially see the No Limits as a challenge to go as fast as humanly possible in an un-safe situation.

While i would be comfortable to sit on 150km/h - 170km/h in some places on the Sturt Hwy in my Calais, there would be people who would try the same thing in cars without upgraded suspension, or in cars that are generally in sh1t condition and would find themselves in a lot of trouble very very quickly. I think 130km/h is a happy medium (although i am disappointed that there is nowhere in Australia left that you can legally test out a car now)

Thoughts?

[Mr Squishi]

What do people think of the speed restrictions in NT?

I think 130km/h is actually a pretty fair limit. i've been along that road before, and while we were doing 140km/h +, Dad (who was driving) has been driving for 30+ years and was driving a new Falcon (hire car).

My point is that an inexperienced driver in a not so good car could potentially see the No Limits as a challenge to go as fast as humanly possible in an un-safe situation.

While i would be comfortable to sit on 150km/h - 170km/h in some places on the Sturt Hwy in my Calais, there would be people who would try the same thing in cars without upgraded suspension, or in cars that are generally in sh1t condition and would find themselves in a lot of trouble very very quickly.

Thoughts?

I think people stupid enough to see no speed limits as a challenge are too stupid to be allowed to drive anyway. I've never been to NT but I think it'd be better with no limit, as long as no-one goes stupid.

[qwertsta]

Well that suck's i alway's thought it would have been cool to go as fast as the car will go without getting into trouble...

[Mr_Slim]

I think people stupid enough to see no speed limits as a challenge are too stupid to be allowed to drive anyway. I've never been to NT but I think it'd be better with no limit, as long as no-one goes stupid.

agreed. but if no-one goes stupid, then we'd barely ever have any accidents anywhere. but people do go stupid - all the time unfortunately.

[vt1538]

Personally I think it sucks that the speed limit has been introduced. The cynic in me tells me that the whole reason it was introduced is to get people onto that big white elephant called the ghan railway.
It would be very interesting to see how many accidents have actually been caused from excessive speed in the derestricted area. I doubt that there would be many.
Judging by our road toll so far this year the limit has had a negative result. We have had four deaths so far when last year at this time it was zero.

[maxholden]

130km/h sounds ok, but who cares anyway, I am not from NT, but isn't NT like a desert anyway, so what Police will catch you there?

..

[vt1538]

The cops here have 2 new VE highway pursuit cars with the latest radar. They can catch you before you can even see them.
Btw what do you mean by dessert? I havent driven through an apple pie yet.

[maxholden]

I think I just had my apple pie, I fixed the typo ..

..

[vt1538]

BTW welcome to the forum.

[Keepleft]

You NT folk, don't be shy - be at the opening of the new parliamentary session (13 Feb?) to voice your opposition on the matter. See and read carefully the link.

My view is most NT folk will vote on this and other issues at the next NT election which is due 2009, regadless of demonstration or numbers.

[DavidPartay]

I'm not from NT, but I read the road tolls.

NT has ALWAYS had fewer accidents than every other state per month and usually has none. The fact that road toll has gone up since the limits have gone in suggests that every other state is getting everything wrong, which I've always believed to be true.

This is just a money-grab by a greedy government who wants nothing more than to abuse its people. Typical. People have been running at high speeds on unlimited roads for YEARS in Australia - and in cars that didn't have nearly as good suspension as today's cars do.

[vt1538]

As of last night the toll has risen to 6 with last year at this time zero. Again not caused by speed but from someone stupid enough to pull out in front of a road train in an 80k zone.
Removing unroadworthy cars & stopping these unregistered unlicensed car owners from driving will fix the issue.

[GSX-R600]

We Territorians are being subjected to a NEW TAX, there is no evidence what so ever that driving faster then 130k will increase your chances of crashing!

FACT: NT has the highest incidence of unlicensed drivers in the world.

Road Crash Death Rate over four years goes like this;

FACT: NT road crash death rate over the four years is 39 deaths per 100,000 Indigenous persons and 12 deaths per 100,000 non-Indigenous.

PROPAGANDA: "One person is killed and nine seriously killed on Territory roads every week"

The Indigenous are killed from single vehicle roll overs in the middle of the scrub, sleeping on roadways, driving unlicensed & overloaded with passengers.

Some tourists also are a problem with their driving on the wrong side of the road, in cars they arnt familiar with, but thats only a very few.

Sure we needed a "traffic branch", it has been a joke around Darwin that you will NEVER get pulled over, except for the very occasional RBT, & when the speed camera fines were cheap, they were cheap enough to risk, my first fine only cost me $60

Clair Martin has not addressed the Indigenous issue at all & has directed the blame onto non-Indigenous territorians, making us feel guilty enough to accept a NEW TAX!

The nt.gov.au is blaming all these unfortunate deaths to our "deadly straight" & well maintained highways, but the truth is that ALL ROADS WERE UNLIMITED UNLESS OTHERWISE SIGNED, that includes even the most dangerous dirt tracks through the scrub were open slather!

Now the rural default is 60kph, thats right 60kph ,that must be the lowest in the country where as previously they were "unrestricted", so deaths on those tracks now wont be counted towards the toll, making the open road speed limit look more effective.

Clair Martin & Harold Scrubby obviously have never driven on a corrugated road before, because 60kph will probably cause your vehicle to vibrate vital components from your car, causing your vehicle to veer into a table drain, crash & then you become a statistic in a 60k area, instead of a 130k zone, therefore increasing a statistical need for more speed cameras in built up areas. !AARRGGHH! Clair Martin wouldn't know this, she doesn't drive that far, she spends our tax $$$ on flights when ever she goes out to claim credit for another mine being started here.

Governments are spending millions of our tax dollars blaming us with "worst toll ever" campaigns, when in fact the road toll has been declining since 1970. How about advertising "never drive at night", "know your vehicle" & "know your personal limit" campaigns. Empower the public, don't oppress our intelligence.

Territory highways were built for speed, Now the highways are built for fatigue! straight as an arrow for hundreds of kilometers with an almost perfect surface, so good you can tell the difference near the boarder, but now its not // open anymore the road works crews have been pulled out since before Christmas a shop keeper in bees creek told me. This looks like a recipie for disaster.

FFS, we didn't even have a traffic branch until now, so to me, that goes to show how well the general public can do without "supervision". without contradiction, Darwin has some cowboy drivers out there who wont indicate, or belt up & who run red lights. Now i see the new traffic branch booking drivers everyday that otherwise would have got away scott-free.

The most dangerous place to drive in the NT is between Darwin & Palmerston, its can be like driving in the V8 Supercars at 7:45am & im sure those speed cameras must crank out plenty of revenue, especially when those fines were so cheap, they were cheap enough to risk! 15k only cost me $60

Australia having its own "Autobahn" like other forward thinking countries was pretty cool, an Aussie icon, Stuart Highway, how Aussie is that? i'm sure Stuart would be proud as heck to know that from his incredible effort we Australians could travel at comfortable speeds & explore this beautiful territory. Im bet Stuart would have been able to tell a story or two about fatigue.

all the truth is exposed at>> keepntlimitfree.org

(//) - DIVORCES TRAFFIC

(130) - MARRIES IT.

[J_D]

FFS, we didn't even have a traffic branch until now, so to me, that goes to show how well the general public can do without "supervision". without contradiction, Darwin has some cowboy drivers out there who wont indicate, or belt up & who run red lights. Now i see the new traffic branch booking drivers everyday that otherwise would have got away scott-free.

We all know how this one is going to work dont we. The traffic branch will crack down on all the factors that were causing the crashes and providing a police presence to keep the wanker factor in check, and they will hail the lowered speed limits as the sole factor in reducing the road toll when it will be actual policing that will be responsible for most of the reduction.

[klaw81]

PROPAGANDA: "One person is killed and nine seriously killed on Territory roads every week"

Sorry, had to laugh at that one....I assume you meant seriously injured.

I heard on the radio the other day that something like 1 person in 5 involved in a crash in NT had a BA level over 0.05...does that mean you should stop driving fast, or stop drinking? I didn't hear about a big shake-up on random breath testing...I wonder if that could be because speeding is easier to detect and doesn't cost so much to enforce?

[Tasmaniak]

I'm for keeping the derestricted zones but I do see another issue which I have heard of being a slight issue.

Because people winding their cars out and holding them their, I've heard tales of these people running out of petrol miles from a pump. 130km/h sort of stops a lot of that.

[vt1538]

I'm for keeping the derestricted zones but I do see another issue which I have heard of being a slight issue.

Because people winding their cars out and holding them their, I've heard tales of these people running out of petrol miles from a pump. 130km/h sort of stops a lot of that.

The petrol usage between 130k and 180k in my V8 is negligable on a drive to Darwin. It may add another fuel stop just for a top up but thats it.
The people that tend to be running out of fuel on the roads tend to be the ones that shouldnt be on it. You would be surprised how many "locals" throw $10 worth of fuel in an unregisterable car & expect to get 200ks on it.
That was a good post GSX-R600. While I dont get to Darwin enough these days I agree with the mentality of a lot of the drivers up there. I used to try to get to work early from Palmerston to Winnellie to miss the road race.

[calais_304]

I used to try to get to work early from Palmerston to Winnellie to miss the road race.

i used to live in palmerston, try crossing that road every morning trying to get to school mind you though i'd rather risk that then go down to the palmerston shops and then cross over to the video shop (where the natives hang out around the water tower)

[vt1538]

Yeah Palmerston is a lovely place. If you dont mind having to keep your pets inside so they dont get violated.

[Keepleft]

I'm for keeping the derestricted zones but I do see another issue which I have heard of being a slight issue.

Because people winding their cars out and holding them their, I've heard tales of these people running out of petrol miles from a pump. 130km/h sort of stops a lot of that.

IN some places like Germany it is an offence to run out of petrol, a fine is issued. Reason? Puts other traffic, yourself and passengers, vehicle, road service crews etc at additional danger.

Folk must drive to prevailing conditions, including how much fuel they have. The answer is to back well off as fuel drops low. Such is life.

To date, 1 March 2007, NT toll is 8 compared to 3 for the same period last year under (//).

The most recent death was a young chap in a Landcruiser on a dirt highway subject to the 110km/h limit, he was thrown from the vehicle as it rolled, not wearing a seatbelt. REM, 'limits' are what folk become 'conditioned to drive at' over time and can instill in some, 'low driver requirement' that is then reflected in on-road behaviour.

Derestriction removes that indoctrination causing you to be fully responsible for your speed, attitude and behaviour.