Nice Christmas present! NOT

[Fulvio]

The biggest problem with this fixation on revenue raising by demonising speed is that it ignores REAL road safety issues. As any skydiver will tell you, it isn't speed that kills you. Its the sudden stop at the end.

If the goal is to reduce fatalities and injuries, then it must be about reducing collisions. Two vehicles travelling in opposite directions at 40 km/h will do much more damage if they collide than if they were going in the same direction at 200 km/h. And yet we seem to have a road network deliberately designed to increase collision risk, and an enforcement regime fixated on the velocity of traffic streams with little or no variation between the vehicles in those streams.

The reason is of course simple. One costs large amounts of money to get right, the other rakes in a fortune from people with no lobbying power, who are demonised to ensure they can't fight back.

My solution: I bought an eBike, which has replaced my car for 90% of my journeys.

[JeffH]

Duncan Gay promises to tackle rising NSW road toll
Well not really. Same old, same old -he is promising to tinker with the existing system that is apparently not working.
He seems to have a fixation on penalties, advertising and the demon speed. For example......
"Mr Gay said the NSW government would consider reviewing fines and penalties as well as promoting safer driving through awareness campaigns."
' "It may well involve changes to fines and penalties. It may well be part of an advertising campaign. We need to be stronger in some of our advertising. We need to move more money into that area to change people's opinions." '
"Speeding was the leading cause of road carnage in NSW"

Surely it is not that simple? Surely more measures need to be investigated and evaluated; even if they cost money* instead of raising money.

Road traffic deaths are not accidents, expert tells major safety conference

*Of course road injuries and fatalities also cost a lot (and not just money). Has to be an offset there.

[Fulvio]

"Speeding was the leading cause of road carnage in NSW"

You're talking about politicians. Not very bright. Fixated on money.

Oh, and suffering an odd misconception that its actually possible to make anything 100% safe.

[trout]

Speed DOES Kill But Morons, Drunks, badly trained drivers and bad maintenance  are probably responsible for the majority of fatalities and injuries.
Why is it that when you first get a motorcycle licence  you are limited to 250cc and yet a 17 year old kid can drive a high powered sports car the day he/she gets a licence ??
Why not apply the same idea to new car drivers??

[Robster]

Learners can now ride a range of motorcycles based on horsepower rather than capacity!

[Ozcoins]

Why is it that when you first get a motorcycle licence  you are limited to 250cc and yet a 17 year old kid can drive a high powered sports car the day he/she gets a licence ??
Why not apply the same idea to new car drivers??

Not sure how the rules apply in Wait Awhile, but there ARE restrictions on what cars you can drive on  P plates.

Looking up a 270kw Ford Falcon G6E turbo on carsales show the following in the specs.
--
Probationary Plate Status

Victoria

Indicates whether the vehicle may or may not be suitable for probabtionary licence holders

BannedQueensland

Indicates whether the vehicle may or may not be suitable for probabtionary licence holders

BannedSouth Australia

Indicates whether the vehicle may or may not be suitable for probabtionary licence holders

BannedNew South Wales

Indicates whether the vehicle may or may not be suitable for probabtionary licence holders

BannedAustralian Capital Territory

Indicates whether the vehicle may or may not be suitable for probabtionary licence holders

ApprovedWestern Australia

Indicates whether the vehicle may or may not be suitable for probabtionary licence holders

ApprovedNorthern Territory

Indicates whether the vehicle may or may not be suitable for probabtionary licence holders

ApprovedTasmania

Indicates whether the vehicle may or may not be suitable for probabtionary licence holders

Approved

[Fulvio]

Speed DOES Kill

a 17 year old kid can drive a high powered sports car the day he/she gets a licence ??

I'll refute both those arguments with one example:

Jack LeBrocq

Jack's 24 now, and has been racing almost all of his life. Two decades and counting. By the time he was 17, he had more experience behind the wheel, and regularly drove higher-powered machinery than any of us, including us old farts.

And you're proposing that he should have had limits imposed, based solely on his age?? Seriously?

Nor is Jack the only one like this. There are thousands. I picked him as an example, because I know him, and have had lengthy discussions with his parents. Geoff told me "I used to take Jack to the track whenever it started to rain, and the wetter it got, the faster he'd go." We were discussing the upcoming 2014 Bathurst Dunlop Cup race, and Geoff reckoned he'd win it if it rained.

My point is that handling any machine is ALL about skill. Speed is irrelevant, and so is age.

But we refuse to invest the time, money and effort to train people properly. To take them to a track in the rain and make them practice going round corners sideways with zero grip, over and over till they have it down pat.

Instead we impose arbitrary, lowest-common-denominator 'standards' that clearly do not work, that almost everyone ignores, but which do raise a crapload of money for government coffers. And worse, we brainwash everyone so that even the very people who habitually break the laws defend them, in some addled view that its about 'road safety'.

Bollocks. Never has been, never will be. And if you don't believe me, watch what happens when we have automated vehicles without drivers. As the revenues dry up, they WILL invent new ways to get their buckets of cash out of us.