There should simply be a super licence that allow people to drive as fast as they can without endangering lives. Likewise, the cars should qualify to be safe in being driven at high speeds, with reliable brakes and tyres as starters. This would certainly come in handy for long highway drives. Drivers get less sleepy without speed limits.

It was so great this feeling of freedom up there!!! I was hopping to come one day and realise what my “car magazine” did : 300 km/h on the Stuwart highway with a 911 Turbo(magazine is called Sport Auto – a french one).

Unfortunately from now on the only place in the world not to have speeding will be Germany….

As a Swiss it’s not so far for me, but much less exciting than Australia.

What a hell is happing? Why do all these politicians in this world have just one thinking : “cutting liberty”?

It’s sad….

For the same period last year the road toll was 16.

Even with a traffic branch the road toll is now higher!

Open limits never were a problem, but obviously now 130k is turning out to be a killer.

The FEDS *must* stay away from state and territory speed limit and derestriction setting, their capability instead limited to ‘AS1742.4 of 1999 – signage and interpretation/placement’.

The jurisdictions must maintain the right to set key restriction/de-restriction allowances without federal monetary pressure.

The adoption to all NT rural roads – not being key highways, ‘a default 110km/h’, is simply a too high speed restriction,- having dear people – regard the poor road quality that the particular limit seeks to serve. We are talking the poorest quality tracks and roads here. 110km/h is afterall a speed-limit that applies to modern freeway categories dotted around the states!

The ‘rural default’ held in ARR’s therefore, really needs to be ‘conservative’, in the order 80km/h, AND remembering, naturally, that certain stretches within it CAN be ’signposted’ with higher allowances as warranted.

The removal of (//) speed derestriction from the key highways can only lead to a greater amount of inattention, fatigue, carelessness and poor ‘on-road’ behaviour. Treat people poorly with ‘low expectation’, and in effect bunching them up, (even in the NT) expect then poor driving in return!

Speed derestriction; applied to the nations safest lengths of highways will not negatively impact overall network safety, and certainly instills in the road user,- a sense of much greater responsibility for their actions. Folk will feel a need to ensure their vehicle is fitted with good equipment and tyres, afterall, its in their best interest to do so under speed derestriction.

A speed-limit on the other hand, removes or reduces any such requirement or ‘interest’ – in bettering oneself and vehicle, and the result will be an increase in certain factoral types of crash.

We will always have fools that go out and drive at high-end triple digit speeds that crash, speed limit or not, it is a realityalready, and really they represent the bottom 2% of all road users. Most folk on the other hand are okay, and respond well to encouragement and allowances.

The Commonwealth needs to give the Australian motorists’ ALL the “TOOL OF THE TRADE” afforded to vehicle owners in other markets, example of these items , mandatory in EU and China are; a “hazard warning triangle” to UN Spec, a “high visibility safety vest/shirt” that *must* be worn at all vehicle breakdown and crash scenes. SOME EU locales insist on a single fire extinguisher and first aid kit.

How serious are we???? I’d argue ‘hardly’.

FURTHER, the Commonwealth really should take steps to mandate for ADR vehicle categories; MA, MB and MC (Cars, vans 4WD’s) “ADR52″, the dreaded ‘rear fog lamp’ used to help other drivers in seeing your vehicle much sooner in heavy fog, rain-storms, snowfalls, dust-storms and in bushfire smoke conditions.

ADR52 dear reader is restricted in Australia as ‘optional fitment’ owing Part 8.5.1 of ADR13, yet – the UN Convention on the matter now attempts to mandate it, we sadly continue opt out, allowaing virtually ‘no protection’ under those lousy visibility conditons.

NEGLIGENT!

I reckon we are worth it. Mandate the aforesaid item and let police enforce the correct use of the lamp, as outlined by ARR217, AND as stated already in ALL the nations respective ‘driver manuals’.

AUSTRALIA CAN, AND NEEDS TO DO MUCH BETTER. Introducing lower and lower speed limits to our highest standard roads is not conducive to road safety and only impacts national productivity in the negative.

Andrew