After doing an advanced driving course with Ian Luff at eastern creek i came to the conclusion that everybody needs to do some sort of training program similar to that. Even if you think you are a great driver you can still learn some thing from people like that.

What has amazed me for years is how we trust total strangers with our live’s basically. My truck weighed anywhere from 40 tonnes to 62 tonnes and people would cut me off pull out in front of me and trusted me to stop.

On the other extreme on a 2 lane highway we head towards each other at 100k and never bat an eye. Yet you would not trust some one to stop you falling over, not trust some stranger to look after your house ??????????

Everybody needs training everybody.

I believe speed cameras biggest danger is they make everyone a law breaker and everyone knows it just revenue and therefore takes road saftey with the contempt that the govnment does, if you give people responsabilty then to act resposabily, you treat them with contempt, then they act that way. (I suspect the reverse is true, we treat our govenment with contempt and the act the way we expect them to)

The answer I am unsure, I have not done the driving test here so cannot comment, but better training would be great, but what we are doing now is not working, except for govenment coffers.

If they spent 50% of the massive taxes they take from motorists on road saftey I am sure it would save many lives and truma, but they choose to spend it elsewhere, so its very hard to take the road saftey message seriously.

Most trips for me end up being in the left lane the majority of the time. That notorious big 3 lane uphill from Sydney to Goulburn just through the pine forests (where the cops camp at the crossroads at the bottom) is almost always best taken at 110km/h in the far left lane. It’s the only sane and quick way to do it! Maybe the Southern Highlands Geriatric Corolla Club likes the flora that grow in the middle lane or something… a Corolla after all is part of a flower…

Just thought I’d clarify. No offence meant, though…

Try do 110km/h in any of the other lanes for a period longer than 1 minute and it only ends in frustration.

‘Keep Left Unless Overtaking’ signs may help (notice their complete absence on a road that so desperately needs it?), but I would make my own version saying ‘Keep ALL THE WAY Left Unless Overtaking’ – yes, that’s right, the third lane does NOT constitute KEEPING LEFT!!!

Phew… count to 10, relax, relax…

If a driver with a big (but legal) speedo error of say 10% is doing an indicated 110km/h on his/her speedo, in reality he/she is doing only 99 or 100km/h. If I then pull up at an indicated 120km/h to compensate for that speedo error so that I’m actually doing 110km/h in reality, then there’s a 10km/h difference. (I’m rounding the 10% to 10km/h here for argument’s sake!!)

When the aforementioned Driver A sits in the right lane, he thinks he’s fine doing 110km/h and nothing suggest otherwise. Small problem is that the guy behind is technically doing 110km/h correctly and is being held up by the driver not doing the official limit due to his speedo’s innaccuracy.

Very few people seem to mention this point as a possible cause of a lot of the frustration, it’s amazing how over a 15-20 distance, you can follow a car or realise that you’re possibly both on cruise control at 110km/h but one moves slightly faster or slower.

either way, people should learn their speedo’s correct speed and drive to compensate. First thing I do in any car is plug in the GPS to ensure firstly it’s not inaccurate in the government’s favour, then I work out what my true speed is to minimise my journey time and ensure I’m not the one hogging the right lane not technically doing the speed limit.

While we have drivers who struggle to see through the fabled gap beteen the top of their dash and the top rim of their steering wheel like so many drivers these days, I reckon we’re hard pushed to expect many of them to even know what speedo error is, let alone do the correct speed in the first place.

I haven’t even begun to mention if Driver A decided to do an indicated 105km/h just ot be safe…. then there’s a 15km/h difference!!

Use your eyes, read other drivers and learn to predict their behaviours form their movements and lane-drifting, know your car, check your tyre pressure and ensure you are comfortably seated at a safe distance form the wheel. Do that, and you have half a chance of staying alive on the higway and anywhere else!

Here it is just all aggression and attempting to save seconds on journeys. I do 45,000kms+ a year and see some many idiots on the road racing to achieve SFA in the end.

I just wish people would just accept being in a line of traffic, be calm and appreciate that they will get home safely instead of increasing their chance of being a statistic by stupid behavior…

Take the opportunity to listen to one of the many great free podcasts you can get these days. I think listening to some of the crap radio and quickly paced music actually increases the aggression level !

On Thursday I was breathalysed 4 times between Sydney and the NSW border, not counting the 1 other RBT I was waved past – all on the M7, M5 and Hume Highway on my way down to Melbourne.

Hit Victoria, all I saw was speed cameras and radars. I guess Victorian police are still too busy attending level crossings where Victorians seem to be DETERMINED to wipe themselves and others out unfortunately. Still beats me why people don’t look. It’s a fairly large price to pay for not taking 10-15 seconds to come to a complete stop and double check.

But bravo to NSW police for being friendly, polite and maintaining a very visible presence in NSW. I’d be happy to get stopped for a RBT’s every couple of days if it lessened the chance of some idiot coming screaming head on drunk onto my car while I go about my business innocently. Hope all the guys working on the highway had a great Easter and hopefully even had time off with their families in return for helping me get to mine safely.

Thanks for the info. Just wasn\’t sure on weather conditions at the crash site.

Cheers,

DBP

There’s been talk for a few weeks now of reducing every speed limit in WA by 10km/h.

It’s not going to make any difference.

Red-light running has become a state sport. Combine that with our traditional inattention, chatting on mobiles, not wearing seat belts and all the rest of it and we’re looking to increase our road toll significantly yet again.

Anyways I have no problems with red light cameras, you shouldnt be going through red lights period, if it was accidental then you should of been paying more attention to the road.

Driving back from my hometown to Newcastle yesterday there was a horse trailer holding up a line of cars about 20-30 deep. The road is single lane to whole way. I overtook 3 cars at one point because we were doing 40 in a 9 zone but as soon as the broken lines came up everyone sped up to 80-90. Everytime. Good thing i had my XR6 Turbo so could easily out accelerate most of them. Then these 2 4wd towing trailers wouldnt even let me try to overtake them. At one point doing 110 in a 90 then slowing back down to 80 when the double lines came again.

That story is just an example to show our biggest problem when driving is not speeding but arrogance and our attitude to the way we drive. But as you know the government doesn’t make any money out of this behaivour.

It rained in Melbourne last night at 10pm approx, and that was the first rain we’d had for a month.

The level crossing location would have been bone dry.

What amazed me was watching MANY motorists pull out into the opposite lane and start overtaking with NO space ahead. Basically, they would force their way into a spot (create a spot). Multiply this by 3 on some occasions – I was amazed I didnt witness a crash.

It amazes me by the chances people take on the road..

From what I see on my many road trips, its not so much speed, or lack of handling ability – its the decisions people make when driving – back judgement etc which contributes largely to the road tolls.. From what I saw yesterday, double demerrit points are pointless (no pun intended) when its not speed at the core…

I am glad Easter is over, and all the maniacs are back commuting again…

Now I’m not certain if it was raining at the time (this was not mentioned in the news article) but let’s throw that in as a possibility as it was certainly bucketing down in Melbourne last night.

So let’s throw this out there, has anyone tried to stop their car (non-sports car!) on undulating or corrugated road surfaces? If you haven’t I’ll let you know, this MULTIPLIES your stopping distance, yet here we have a state government that’s installing corrugation at level crossings as a “safety” initiative!

In this instance I believe we have a few factors to put to blame:
- Driver not knowing how to prevent car entering a skid, or stop car after it starts skidding;
- State government installing so called “safety” devices that actually increase stopping distance; and
- Possibility (can someone confirm this) of slippery road conditions compounding the situation.