New traffic laws effective 1st September 2018

[Bigfella237]

I only saw this advertised on TV once, so thought I'd mention it here. I'm in NSW but I think the law applies nationwide, you may have to check with other states.

From 1 September 2018 motorists are required to slow down to 40km/h when passing stationary emergency vehicles displaying red or blue flashing lights.

The rule applies to vehicles travelling in both directions, unless the road is divided by a median strip.

Motorists who ignore the new speed limit will face stiff penalties, including a $448 fine and the loss of three demerit points.

Source: https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/ne...low-down-for-flashing-lights-from-1-september

Andrew

 

[vc commodore]

Used to be 40KPH in S.A but a few years ago they dropped it to 25KPH

 

[Bigfella237]

Wow, and I thought getting down to 40km/h was a heavy brake application!

Say 110km/h on a freeway down to 25km/h is HUGE, you could almost argue that it would be dangerous? If some guy behind doesn't see the flashing lights because he's overtaking a truck or whatever, that'll be a big impact.

Seems like they're thinking about emergency worker's safety but they've forgotten about the other motorists, that's just gonna create more accidents.

Andrew

 

[Calaber]

Slowing down at accidents, fires, rescues or road works makes sense. Slowing down from freeway speeds to 40kmh, just because a HWP car has pulled someone over, does not, particularly on multi lane freeways. This is a stupid law that needs revision. I'm waiting for the first serious accident caused by someone over-reacting, hitting the brakes hard and being slotted by the car behind.

 

[commodore665]

Slowing down at accidents, fires, rescues or road works makes sense. Slowing down from freeway speeds to 40kmh, just because a HWP car has pulled someone over, does not, particularly on multi lane freeways. This is a stupid law that needs revision. I'm waiting for the first serious accident caused by someone over-reacting, hitting the brakes hard and being slotted by the car behind.

It has been known to happen

 

[vc commodore]

There is a stretch of road I head to work on that's 90KPH....2 lanes both directions, dividing fence between both directions...Emergency service vehicle opposite side of the road, on the grass verge, yet the traffic slows down to 25KPH, that is no where near the emergency vehicle.....Creates a traffic jam

Been a few hairy moments, getting punted from behind, but cross fingers hasn't happened yet.

From my driving round, generally emergency vehicles are seen for a reasonable distance to allow for a safe slow down out on the highways to prevent rear enders......ie, a hwy patrol car will pull someone over on a straight stretch of road, so they are clearly visible to all traffic.....The only way an accident could happen is if someone is day dreaming whilst driving

 

[Bigfella237]

I've worked my share of roadside accidents over the years and I've done the odd oversize load pilot, and some of the things you see people do would amaze you!

I reckon probably a quarter of drivers under-react, and about another quarter over-react. I'm not sure which is worse but if you create a situation where you have a combination of both types approaching the same scene, that's a recipe for disaster.

My question though is, how are police going to enforce this, will they have an officer on traffic control leave the scene to chase down and book offenders, or will they have extra police sitting at accident scenes to do this, or setup some kind of temporary speed camera?

Andrew

 

[greenacc]

As usual there is a little bit of common sense in this but they've gone overboard in applying it.
There will be plenty of rear enders that's for sure. How do you tell a stationery flashing light from a moving vehicle when you first notice the flashing lights from a distance?
Who's going to book you if you can't or don't slow down to 40 in time? Will they send extra cop cars to every incident, 2 to deal with the scene and extras to book the passing cars..

 

[vc commodore]

They don't have extra police at the scene to chase down speeders....How they can police it, is beyond me, as I don't see extra police at the scene of an emergency/ traffic stop just for this situation.. However like most laws, they have to apply some sort of penality threat to try and get across common sense

As for flashing lights....Personally, as soon as I see flashing lights, I tend to back off the throttle, just to judge where it is located. Generally, I see people slowing down, when they come across flashing lights, as they like to gawk at the scene, rather than concentrate at what is going on around them.

 

[Dayvo]

How far before the flashing lights do you have to slow down and how far after can you resume normal speed ?