Comments on: 2008 Road toll figures lowest in 59 years

By: Army Driver

Army Driver — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:33:24 +0000

Answer to FoFlmaTic, the speed limit in 1950′s was 35 mph in city an suburbs, 60 mph in country- country was designated as no poles with lights,if you saw a white rectangle with a black stripe running diagnal,then it was unrestricted speed, do what you like, some 30 yrs ago, the RTA designated a blanket speed of 100 kph for outside city limits across NSW, but unfortunately,they didn’t take down all the unrestricted signs, so on a legal technicality if you were pulled up for speeding, you just told the copper where the unrestricted sign was, later, that would be removed too.
I believe education and training are key elements in driving. As an army driving instructor, rarely if ever will you hear about army drivers coming to grief, we teach them how to drive in all situations, wet an dry, night an day, our courses run from 2 weeks-6 days aweek( sunday off )12 hour days and nights to 8 weeks intense training, you will learn every aspect of driving,repairs,servicing,winching,tar, gravel,bush roads, no-roads,blow-outs, braking on oil,vision,dimensions,black-out lights driving, 4 WD, 6 WD,night driving.

We weed out the cowboys, every sunday night is elimination night, we train the dumbest to be the best.
Eh179driver is right, when there is a dry spell on roads, oils and grease accumulate, so at the first light shower there are lots of rear-ended crashes and slides, hint, after a dry spell then a light shower, stay off the road for at least 20 minutes, allow for the oils to wash off roads, motor-bike riders-stay out of middle of lane-too much slip, go back after rain as the middle dries quicker than on sides of lane.
The Government should reward those who have not been booked for 20 yrs or 10, a little reward for being careful
and those who are booked should pay more for their privledge,those who kill ppl while drink-driving should never ever be allowed back on roads, they had a chance why give them a second go at murdering some-one else.

By: trackdaze

trackdaze — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:06:11 +0000

Reduction can be attributed to Stability Control and to a lesser degree safer passenger cells.

Maybe the government should offer reductions in registration fees to 5star cars? it could even be funded by the health budget seeing that they wont need to be treating the thousands saved from significant injury and saving on energy in the morgue too not having to keep 100′s on ice.

I might imagine such a move would make a few manufacturers fit Stability control to the “Rhinestone” utes that are overrepresented in crash statistics. A win for everyone.

By: eh179driver

eh179driver — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:31:49 +0000

Alborz, one area that is worth considering with the road toll is the long dry spell we have had, certainly in the southern states. I was talking about this with a Policeman mate over Christmas and he says that it is well recognised here in Victoria that the road toll is lower (in winter) when we have these long periods with much rain. He was saying that the Police (and I guess the government) is worried that when we have “normal” or above normal rainfall again in winter, the road toll will inctease considerably.
Are you able to get some figures on Germany where they have open Autobahn speeds? It would be intersting to look at the death/injury rates per head of poulation or number of registered vehicles and compare it to Australia where we have very low speed limits.

By: eh179driver

eh179driver — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:26:38 +0000

Alborz, great article with a lot of valid points. The only problem I see is the re-testing of drivers every 5 years. Mate, there is not enough government testing offices in Victoria to handle the load! In the area I live (South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne) you have an office in Dandenong, Clayton and Warragul for the entire area. As it is, you have to book up to 4 months in advance to sit the test. Imagine if we then addded in all currently licensed drivers re-sitting the test. What could be looked at is re-testing people over 70 every 3 to 5 years and also re-testing drivers once they come off their P plates or after 5 years. It seems that those two groups are over represented in accidents/deaths. It would also be good if the law we have in Vic regarding P platers not being able to drive V8′s turbo and supercharged cars actualy being enforced. We have a young P plater in our street driving a turbo’d Skyline. He got his license in November 08 and Mummy bought it for him as a first car!
The comment from George about old cars being forced off the road is just plain stupid. George my son’s HR was worth $500 when he bought it. It now has new brakes, new engine, tyres, rebuilt front end and steering. It probably worth less than $2000. In your scenario, say by by HR! Just because a car is worth a small amount, does not make it dangerous. I can show you some VT to VZ Commodores that are in a lot worse condition than my sons HR but sell for upwards of $10’000. God am I glad your not a politician able to influence decisions like that!!!!!!!!

By: Horse

Horse — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:07:16 +0000

George

“older vehicles should be banned from our roads”
I don’t see how this can be taken any other way, Any way I do see where you are coming from.
In NSW cars have to be inspected every year to pass rego which i understand does not happen in any other state? (I coule be wrong here)
I would feel more confortable that my kids had experience driving in cars with no abs/esp even if they don’t own one.

By: B-Man

B-Man — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:51:00 +0000

Crouchy
That used to be the case here in Vic as well, until a few years ago when those little pocket bikes were selling like hot cakes on the net. Cops didn’t seem to like a bunch of kids riding their 50cc harley replicas to the shops so they put a stop to that.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:10:50 +0000

Crouchy,

I agree. 100%

All riders should have approved training, a licence and be required to wear the proper safety gear. Anything less is madness!

By: crouchy

crouchy — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:40:08 +0000

Jimbo – I beleive in South Australia (my home) that riders of motorcycles 50cc and under can ride using a drivers license.. Seems ridiculous to me….

By: Glen

Glen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:24:53 +0000

The NSW government says that speed is involved in 40% of fatal crashes. This includes crashes involving alcohol and speed, crashes involving fatigue and speed and crashes where a vehicle is going too fast on a corner but not exceeding the speed limit. How many fatal crashes are caused by a car EXCEEDING the speed limit where the driver is not drunk or tired?

By: Frontman

Frontman — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:22:22 +0000

(Alborz) Good comment:

If it was that the speed deterent devices such as Camera’s and such were working, then why is it that the road toll is in decline yet the revenue raised and the number of infringement notices issued have increased????
The other major change over the last five years to help reduce road tolls has been the drop in interstate airfares. The days of it being cheaper to drive from Brissie to Sydney for the weekend are long gone.