The light finally dawns - speeding isn't the major cause of most crashes

[blocka]

I added a 3rd reason to your list.

"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty"

 

[87RB30VL]

From what I understand you can however I've never actually been pulled over from a radar to know (isn't that tempting fate :s). I have seen cameras booked at 6 over (alleged 4) over - clearly it could never have been me

Every time I have been pulled over from a radar gun they've shown me the radar reading first thing.

 

[Immortality]

If by having a 4kp/h over tolerance can help keep the road toll down in addition to having more Police on roads over long weekends and holidays ( probably in my view more of a deterent than a speeding ticket ) , then all good ,personally I feel the 4km/h tolerance needs to be changed as I think its a bit over the top , and a lot cars , even newer ones speedo's possibly are not that accurate , I would possibly be inclined to let someone say doing 105/6 to go on their way but however if they were doing 115-120 then you would probably expect to get ticketed it's down to the officer at the time , as has been said and my view is that its comes down to not concentrating on the job of driving a 1.5 + ton piece if steel and glass ,and basic stupidity , on the other side , would it really be worth the cost of a lawyer to test the theory ? , maybe if someone really wanted to test it out they would , it has been interesting to read through the posts , getting peoples thoughts on the subject though .

I have some thoughts on the above but I have a splitting headache after a long painful day at work so I'll reply and share later.

Every time I have been pulled over from a radar gun they've shown me the radar reading first thing.

Sounds like your very experienced LOL, not the kind of experience we generally need.

 

[c2105026]

Regarding the speed limit; there are two types of people who get picked up; genuinely safe drivers who have human lapses of concentration and get done for doing 66 an a 60; and aggressive drivers who don't give a **** about the speed limit, and get done for 75+ in the same area. It is a sad thing the law does not make allowance for intention. The legal principle of 'Mens Rea' (i.e. your knowledge of you doing the actual act that was a crime) would be an interesting thing to try out for lower level offences.....

 

[blocka]

You don't have to be an aggressive driver to intentionally break speed limits when they've got perfectly safe win unsung country roads at 100km then dual lane roads straight as with all the barriers set at 80 or 90 it's just rediculous.
If anyone knows Caloundra road when it was upgraded and set at 80km and 9 out of 10 people travelled above the speed limit because it was so low. They've now increased it to 100 and there are far less people exceeding the limit.

 

[Immortality]

If by having a 4kp/h over tolerance can help keep the road toll down in addition to having more Police on roads over long weekends and holidays ( probably in my view more of a deterent than a speeding ticket ) , then all good ,personally I feel the 4km/h tolerance needs to be changed as I think its a bit over the top , and a lot cars , even newer ones speedo's possibly are not that accurate , I would possibly be inclined to let someone say doing 105/6 to go on their way but however if they were doing 115-120 then you would probably expect to get ticketed it's down to the officer at the time , as has been said and my view is that its comes down to not concentrating on the job of driving a 1.5 + ton piece if steel and glass ,and basic stupidity , on the other side , would it really be worth the cost of a lawyer to test the theory ? , maybe if someone really wanted to test it out they would , it has been interesting to read through the posts , getting peoples thoughts on the subject though .

What gets me is that any death on the road is tragic but why is it more tragic on a public holiday weekend than any other time of the year? Plenty of folks die on the road during the week but it really gets more than a cursory mention on the news.

TBH I don't think the 4km/h reduced speed tolerance can claim to be the sole reason (if at all) for no road deaths over the long weekend/queens birthday, it was really crap weather, most of the south island was either snowed in or otherwise very cold and miserable, north island not much better. Couple that with lots of folks on the road and there isn't really a lot of opportunity to actually speed.

There were still a few serious accidents with some rather serious injuries, just no deaths. I remember last year, another public holiday weekend, again I think no deaths, again very poor weather over the majority of the country but the Police commissioner was on the telly claiming responsibility for the 0 deaths due to the greater enforcement and 4km/h reduced speed tolerance.

 

[commodore665]

What gets me is that any death on the road is tragic but why is it more tragic on a public holiday weekend than any other time of the year? Plenty of folks die on the road during the week but it really gets more than a cursory mention on the news.
TBH I don't think the 4km/h reduced speed tolerance can claim to be the sole reason (if at all) for no road deaths over the long weekend/queens birthday, it was really crap weather, most of the south island was either snowed in or otherwise very cold and miserable, north island not much better. Couple that with lots of folks on the road and there isn't really a lot of opportunity to actually speed .
There were still a few serious accidents with some rather serious injuries, just no deaths. I remember last year, another public holiday weekend, again I think no deaths, again very poor weather over the majority of the country but the Police commissioner was on the telly claiming responsibility for the 0 deaths due to the greater enforcement and 4km/h reduced speed tolerance.

Absolutely , any death on the road is a tragedy , my only guess as to why it gets more mention over a long weekend , is down to the media (don't get me started on them):shooting:
The weather was not the best that is true , so people are at least driving to the conditions , which can't be a bad thing .
There were indeed some serious crashes , and serious injuries as well , which is not a good thing either, and while I may not always agree with what Peter Marshall says ( I don't on this subject because if it were the case there would have 0 crashes and 0 injuries ) , to be honest, I would hate to have his job , wouldn't mind his salary though .

 

[c2105026]

What gets me is that any death on the road is tragic but why is it more tragic on a public holiday weekend than any other time of the year? Plenty of folks die on the road during the week but it really gets more than a cursory mention on the news.

TBH I don't think the 4km/h reduced speed tolerance can claim to be the sole reason (if at all) for no road deaths over the long weekend/queens birthday, it was really crap weather, most of the south island was either snowed in or otherwise very cold and miserable, north island not much better. Couple that with lots of folks on the road and there isn't really a lot of opportunity to actually speed.

There were still a few serious accidents with some rather serious injuries, just no deaths. I remember last year, another public holiday weekend, again I think no deaths, again very poor weather over the majority of the country but the Police commissioner was on the telly claiming responsibility for the 0 deaths due to the greater enforcement and 4km/h reduced speed tolerance.

I find it amazing when the road toll is low or going down, the authorities give themselves a pat on the back. When the toll is high, the motorist is blamed.

In a relevant local story, council has the shits because it now has to spend $200k to make a certain nearby intersection safe via traffic lights (yep, a set of lights on what is in essence a local road). Technically yes if users obeyed the rules there would not be an issue, but Orange Council has had a woeful record of late when it comes to planning/engineering the local road system. The intersection is that badly designed that it is almost impossible to navigate through the intersection safely at peak times.

 

[Immortality]

Absolutely , any death on the road is a tragedy , my only guess as to why it gets more mention over a long weekend , is down to the media (don't get me started on them):shooting:
The weather was not the best that is true , so people are at least driving to the conditions , which can't be a bad thing .
There were indeed some serious crashes , and serious injuries as well , which is not a good thing either, and while I may not always agree with what Peter Marshall says ( I don't on this subject because if it were the case there would have 0 crashes and 0 injuries ) , to be honest, I would hate to have his job , wouldn't mind his salary though .

Yes, the media, I take everything I hear with a grain of salt. BTW I see no reason for the Police to have to defend there actions in the shooting case, if someone shoots at you (the police) than you certainly have the right to defend yourself and return fire. I feel the same about police chases, if you don't run, then there is no chance of a major accident, those that run should face the stiffest of penalties and if they end up killing someone than in my book that is a mandatory murder charge (they elected to run, there for anything that comes from a consequence of that action is deliberate as they created that situation).

I find it amazing when the road toll is low or going down, the authorities give themselves a pat on the back. When the toll is high, the motorist is blamed.

In a relevant local story, council has the shits because it now has to spend $200k to make a certain nearby intersection safe via traffic lights (yep, a set of lights on what is in essence a local road). Technically yes if users obeyed the rules there would not be an issue, but Orange Council has had a woeful record of late when it comes to planning/engineering the local road system. The intersection is that badly designed that it is almost impossible to navigate through the intersection safely at peak times.

Yes, there are a lot of poor design when it comes to roads/intersections. It's interesting to hear the politicians blabber on about how much road accidents/deaths cost the country each year, yet they won't put that funding to fixing a lot of things that could save many lives.

A lot of NZ has gone down the route of installing lights at every intersection, unfortunately a by product is a lot of red light running as folks tend to think they will get somewhere a little quicker if one extra car gets through, however that is a totally false though because the next queue of cars that gets the green light can't go until the intersection is clear and they are certain it is safe so in fact red light runners are actually holding every other person up.

 

[Drawnnite]

... and a lot cars , even newer ones speedo's possibly are not that accurate ...

just on that you're very true.
ive passed many a car on the freeway to work and their speedos (digital) are lit up like a Christmas tree and were showing 100kph, when they were really only doing about 90-92
even though its within specs according to the ADR's or whatever its still a joke, how a brand new car can be so far out when a much older car from years ago can be almost dead on accurate. (I know mines out by 3kph and the old mans car is 0-1kph out)

also on that note.
pre 1999 (very certain its that year) speedo could be out by + or - 10%
now it can only read faster then what you're really doing.

still don't understand how cars can be soo far out now especially with brand new tech being around.

You don't have to be an aggressive driver to intentionally break speed limits when they've got perfectly safe win unsung country roads at 100km then dual lane roads straight as with all the barriers set at 80 or 90 it's just rediculous.
If anyone knows Caloundra road when it was upgraded and set at 80km and 9 out of 10 people travelled above the speed limit because it was so low. They've now increased it to 100 and there are far less people exceeding the limit.

Calder Freeway - was dropped to 80kph for roadworks. they never put it back up. every day atleast 50% of the users (from whenever im on it sticking to the limit) are easily speeding anywhere up to the old 100kph. the parts that have no emergency lane are 80kph for specific reason. but youde wonder why it wasn't sped back up. the 80 signs used to have a little tab under it saying "roadworks" and they just took that away. absolute joke.

also the main road into my town used to be 100kph, real country spec road. 1 lane each way with dashed lines down the middle.
did some massive roadworks, made it into 2 lanes each way with a median strip. Armco railing in bad parts, the whole works.
dropped it down to 80kph.
I mean whats the point of making it soo good to then restrict it.

I could quite easily go on with that list aswell