Australian Car Advice | News Blog

The New South Wales Road and Traffic Authority’s (RTA) ‘if you drive a performance car than you have a small penis ‘ advertising campaign has finally driven a motorist mad.

Back in August, a female driver made the “small penis” hand gesture to Simon Jardak who was so enraged that he throw a bottle at the woman’s car!

It seems the RTA are not even trying to be subtle with their latest ad campaign.

I realise how ridiculous this sounds, but this is a completely RTA endorsed advertisement and can be found here on their website.

With the apparent success of their initial pinky-wiggling campaign, the RTA have thrown caution to the wind and blatantly connected speeding (better described as hooning) with poor endowment.

Even more strange it seems, is that the RTA is apparently a Capricorn - and single, ladies. That is according to their MySpace profile. No, you read it correctly, in order to connect with our youth the RTA have aimed this campaign directly at young male driver’s through MySpace.

Since Hollywood has made us all but immune to blood and gore, traditional RTA scare campaigns no longer have an effect, so it seems they have had no choice but to resort to shocking the audience with these controversial ad campaigns.

Perhaps it is time they moved on from blatantly targeting male drivers (one of the tags associated with the MySpace video is simply ‘male’) and came up with new, more appropriate campaign slogans such as, “Yes honey, you look fine…” which deals with the dangers of applying make-up while driving. Followed by “You know, like - whatever” condemning teenage girls using mobile phones whilst driving.

So far Myspace users have ridiculed the ad and the RTA’s advertising methods. Mypace user Alex said “The RTA are oblivious” while a more comical response came from Brian who said:

“Driving slower wont increase the size of your *****, but speeding will decrease the size of it (if I read the advertisement correctly). So for guys with 20″ ******* that scare chicks away, speed more and your **** will become 8 inches!!!”

What the RTA fails to realise is that no matter what, young males will always be just that, young males, who are inherent high risk takers.

So I still retain that encouraging the use of public race tracks rather then continuously condemning speeding would better suit both parties. Since it seems advanced driving courses are out of the question, how about subsidising public race tracks and allowing driver’s to teach themselves by taking their cars to the limit in a controlled and safe environment?

George Skentzos

P-platers state wide in NSW (editors note: QLD drivers are also affected by a new set of laws previously discussed here) will now have to abide by new laws which came into effect as of today. These new laws have been highly debated due to their illogical and strict nature.

1. Licence suspension for any speeding offence for P1 drivers and provisional riders.

There are no longer second chances for P1 (Red) license holders. For their first year of driving, any speeding offense will hold a 4 demerit point penalty and result in the suspension of their driver’s license for a minimum of 3 months. Many say this is a harsh but fair rule, however many P-platers already think they are invincible and this law may create a ‘nothing to lose’ mentality among young driver’s.

2. A ban on all mobile phone use for learner, P1 drivers and provisional riders.

To clarify, this new law prohibits any form of mobile phone use for driver’s, carrying a penalty of 3 points and a fine. Hands-free mobile use does not differ from a conversation with a passenger or singing along with the radio, however for a year, it is understandable to ask of P1 driver’s to pull over to have a conversation.

3. Peer passenger restrictions for P1 drivers.

This is where it begins to become ridiculous, P1 driver’s under the age of 25 may no longer carry more than one passenger under the age of 25 between 11pm and 5am. This completely conflicts with previous campaign’s to arrange for a designated driver or car pool. The only outcome of the enforcement of this law will be more P-plater’s on the road between these most vulnerable hours. Worse still, if caught breaking this new law, the driver will not only be fined but the excess occupants will be required to get out where ever they may happen to be - remember these are people deemed incapable of being a passenger in a vehicle, and now they are expected to find their own way home between the early hours of the morning. Hopefully police will have the common sense not to enforce this law where it would otherwise prove dangerous for the excess occupants.

4. Changes to the display of L and P plates on vehicles.

This is where I get frustrated. P-plate driver’s are now required to display their plates on the outside of the vehicle next to the number plate. What many people don’t understand is how difficult it is to ensure there is always a plate on display. From my own experience even cable-ties fail to prevent these plates from being stolen, and now with these new laws, it is just more of an incentive for the ex-girlfriend to rip of your plates and cross her fingers. The fact that the enforcement of this law can be effected by a guilty third party automatically denies its application in my opinion. It is just too easy for somebody to walk by and help themselves to a plate leaving you with two demerit points and a fine.

5. Increased licence term and supervised driving hours for learner drivers.

The definition of a band-aid solution. The fact is many parents do not want to go through 120 hours of supervised driving, worse still is that when it comes to road rules most parents are just as clueless as their children. Since an adolescent can acquire their license whilst they are still at school, then they should be taught how to drive through school. It seems like the most logical solution.

On a side-note, maximum speed limits for provisional driver’s should be lifted. Forcing a driver to go 90 in a 100 zone is in no way safe for other driver’s on the road or the driver themselves. It only serves to force cars and trucks to overtake which at those speeds is far more dangerous than allowing the provisional driver to travel the posted speed limit.

George Skentzos

Well I’m sure by now we have all seen the pinky-wiggling ad campaign taking a stab at men’s ego’s in what is ironically a message against speeding. Odd perhaps considering the ‘maneuvers’ these guys are performing would place them still well below the speed limit. Realistically it is an ad condemning reckless driving and is aimed literally below the belt in a misguided presumption of why ‘hooning’ occurs.

It seems to me, after viewing the video, a more appropriate ad slogan would have been “keep it on the track”. Considering entire sports have been created based on the events depicted in the ad - sports which are enjoyed by both men and women - more due care should have been made not to associate the reckless activities of these driver’s with a sport which requires a high degree of skill and dedication.

It was a severely misguided campaign manager who presumed that women were the cause of reckless driving. Even more misguided to think the old lady sitting on the bench was not just as likely, if not more, to drive through the pedestrian crossing without giving way. Perhaps a teenage girl on her phone would have made more sense than a young male so totally absorbed with his mid-80s car that he forgets to stop at the crossing - ironic considering it was an attractive woman crossing at the time, by my calculations he should have done a burnout.

Perhaps most dangerous of all is the message they have unknowingly conveyed with the blue VL drifting (term used loosely). The scene ends with a passenger making said pinky gesture. Unfortunately among young adolescent males this does not mean, “Gosh! That was irresponsible!” A more accurate translation would be, “Here, try it again around this corner, but this time give it more throttle”.

I fail to see the factor which deters drivers from this behaviour. Perhaps encouraging the use of open race tracks would help drivers realise there is a much easier and safer way to enjoy their car’s.

Video

George Skentzos

For once, we come to the aid of the NSW Roads Minister Eric Roozendaal, who is under fire for giving one motor enthusiast a chance at a joyride in a 500km/h drag car.

Many in the media have drawn some very irresponsible links & conclusions that drag racing will lead to deaths, pointing out the tragedy which recently occurred in the US after Australian drag racer Troy Warren Critchley skidded out of control during a burnout.

One labor supported paid $4500 for the ride in the drag car and “drinks” with Mr Roozendaal. Unfortunately though, there are always misinformed citizens who can criticize nearly everything which is above 60km/hr. Pedestrian Council president Harold Scuby has labeled the Minister’s actions as “appalling“.

Drag racing has now officially been labeled as hoon behaviour, what is next? Fast cars cause erectile dysfunction? Although we agree on some points with the Pedestrian council (e.g. large 4WDs banned from CBDs), on this occasion, we have, for once, sided with the NSW road minister.

We were glad to hear that Mr Roozendaal’s is apparently a drag racing fan, which although he has shown very little of, might mean he has a place in his heart for car enthusiasts. NSW Opposition Road Safety spokesman Andrew Fraser also jumped on the bandwagon and criticized Mr Roozendaal, calling him irresponsible.

The comments come as a kick in the face for NSW car enthusiasts struggling to convince politicians and the community that driver training and better roads as oppose to harsher penalties and lower speed limits are the keys to reducing the road toll.

The Sydney Morning Herald ran a story recently which gave a glimpse into the congestion problems suffered by Sydney residents. The Lane Cove Tunnel is entirely dependent on government-created congestion to turn a profit.

The herald quotes figures made to a parliamentary inquiry last year that show when the route first opened as a free road for its first two weeks of operation, 75,000 vehicles went through.

Once the charge went to $2.55, usage went down by 34 percent (50,000 cars a day), this is nearly half of the number expected by the owners, Connector Motorways.

Once the tunnel toll was combined with the $1.27 paid for the 190 metres on the Falcon Street ramps (one of the most expensive toll roads in the world per km), the numbers fell once again, the Falcon Street Ramps suffered a 25 percent fall (3,000 a day) which subsequently affected Lane Cove Tunnel numbers.

The original idea was for the NSW government to deliberately create congestion on nearby Epping road (by narrowing lanes) to force motorists onto the tunnel. It was election time when the plan was meant to go ahead and hence someone in power realised this was not going to be popular and currently the plans have been delayed.

The delay has meant the NSW government has had to pay $25 million dollars of tax payer money to the toll road owners for not honouring its contractual obligations (to narrow Epping road).

Of course narrowing Epping road isn’t what the government will call this, the idea is to build dedicated bus and bicycle lanes which would then create the desired level of congestion for Lane Cove Tunnel. The plan will still go ahead in February next year.

In the meantime, the Tunnel has been under massive public scrutiny after the NSW government dropped the speed limit from 80km/hr to 40km/hr overnight, without sufficient warning.

The change in speed limits generated, between March 25 and May 30, 13,500 tickets or around $8 million. The NSW transport officials initially refused to refund all tickets.

However our friends at SpeedingFineConsultants pointed out (John Laws show) that the NSW government had not followed proper procedures and legislation for reducing speed limits and the operation of the speed cameras in the tunnel.

The NSW Government refunded all affected motorists the next day.