Could the emphasis on not speeding be causing more crashes?

[PranK]

Could the emphasis on not speeding be causing more crashes?

From the article;

"Against the backdrop of a 7.6 per cent increase in the national road toll so far this year, new research published last month indicates that Australia’s strict speed enforcement may actually be increasing – rather than reducing – the risk of car crashes."

Very interesting. What do you think?

http://www.motoring.com.au/is-over-emphasis-on-speeding-killing-us-104763/

 

[PranK]

This is another good quote;

The never-repeated 20-year-old study assessed 148 crashes in suburban Adelaide in 1996 and concluded that: “In a 60km/h speed limit area, the risk of involvement in a casualty crash doubles with each 5km/h increase in free travelling speed above 60km/h”.

[niZmO_Man]

Only two effective solutions:

1. Train the drivers more, i.e. more stricter tests and licensing (e.g. renew license with test every 5 years).

2. Fully autonomous cars/vehicles, (mostly) remove the human element.

 

Blaming speed is the cheap and easy way out. You spend almost nothing on training drivers, and drop a heap of speed cameras everywhere to generate revenue.

[r32-25t]

I think the speed cameras are a major part of the issue with accidents, cause everyone drives along nicely at the speed limit and then as soon as they get to the camera, they slam the brakes on and reduce their speed by 10km/h

[PranK]

  On 01/12/2016 at 11:55 PM, r32-25t said:

I think the speed cameras are a major part of the issue with accidents, cause everyone drives along nicely at the speed limit and then as soon as they get to the camera, they slam the brakes on and reduce their speed by 10km/h

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This is also the case when drivers see a police car. They flip out.

[PranK]

  On 01/12/2016 at 11:50 PM, niZmO_Man said:

Only two effective solutions:

1. Train the drivers more, i.e. more stricter tests and licensing (e.g. renew license with test every 5 years).

2. Fully autonomous cars/vehicles, (mostly) remove the human element.

 

Blaming speed is the cheap and easy way out. You spend almost nothing on training drivers, and drop a heap of speed cameras everywhere to generate revenue.

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I've always pushed for better training. Drivers do not get sufficient experience or knowledge when learning.

[GTofuS-T]

  On 01/12/2016 at 11:50 PM, niZmO_Man said:

Train the drivers more

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I really think there needs to be mandatory Drivers-Ed classes in school.

 

[zebra]

With People spending more time with their eyes glued to the Speedometer rather than the road, It isn't at all surprising.

[r32-25t]

  On 01/12/2016 at 11:57 PM, PranK said:

I've always pushed for better training. Drivers do not get sufficient experience or knowledge when learning.

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People get taught how to pass a driving test not how to actually drive a car

[GTofuS-T]

  On 01/12/2016 at 11:55 PM, r32-25t said:

I think the speed cameras are a major part of the issue with accidents, cause everyone drives along nicely at the speed limit and then as soon as they get to the camera, they slam the brakes on and reduce their speed by 10km/h

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  On 01/12/2016 at 11:56 PM, PranK said:

This is also the case when drivers see a police car. They flip out.

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This shit's me to tears.

However, I have also noticed an increasing ammount of people, whether it be in slow stop/start situation in the city (Sydney) or while cruising on the motorway, eyes glued to their crotch... so there's either a mastubatory problem or a mobile phone problem...

Even when maintaining a decent gap, it doesn't take much of a split second with eyes of the road to find yourself rear ending the person in front of you because free flowing traffic has come to a stand still (this links back to training because people don't know how to merge).

[GTofuS-T]

  On 02/12/2016 at 12:02 AM, r32-25t said:

People get taught how to pass a driving test not how to actually drive a car

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and they get predominately taught by their parents who may or may not be good drivers or have bad habits, etc.

[niZmO_Man]

From my observations driving around Sydney (thank the gods that's over, I train it to work now), the worst drivers were the 30-50 years old range. Combination of bad driving habits (including slow reactions), distractions, and generally oblivious to their surroundings. Second were international drivers/taxi drivers haha.

But I think that's because of the sheer number of drivers on the road at that time.

[OwNeD162]

I’m a firm believer of this theory. I feel so much more comfortable driving in America just keeping up with traffic around you, as you’re not constantly looking down to make sure you’re not going to lose stupid amounts of money & points for going 2km/hr over the speed limit.

I also think some of our roads are so inefficient with their low speed limits, where the road and the infrastructure around it could easily handle 10, 20, 30km/hr more, and then the opposite where some ‘residential’ roads are like 80km/hr when you’ve got houses and kids running around either side.

We do a horrible job of road management in Australia. Our road rules are horrible, or our car laws are horrible (archaic and overbearing) where a modified car whose sole purpose is to be better at handling / speed is penalised, but some shitty old camary whose breaks haven’t been changed since it was brought, running on bald tyres, with a 90yo behind the wheel can drive around without a fear in the world.

Anyways, rant over :P!

[GTofuS-T]

A large majority of people don't even indicate on the Gold Coast :| it's been incredibly frustrating adjusting. 

The other group of worst offenders would have to be Soccer Mum's in their skyscraping SUV's 

[zebra]

I work on a motorway in sydney.....so the shit I see on a daily basis is cringe worthy.

But most of it has nothing to do with speeding.

One that comes to mind is a women who decided to stop in the left lane to breast feed her distraught baby in peak hour.

Dont know the full details...but no ambulance was required.....

[zebra]

 

 

[zebra]

 

[dyl33]

It's not speed, it's people....asshats everywhere. Spotted 49 in my morning travels.

[zebra]

 

[Anfanee]

I don't know if training is the issue. I dunno it's hard. It has never been harder to get your license in NSW, remember that. Older generations had it MUCH easier back in the day. 

At the moment Learner drivers are required (in NSW) to drive 120 hours logged. Now imagine if you had twins. That is pretty much impossible to complete those hours driving, and no wonder people fake the hours.  

I think it isn't the time needed, but the way it is taught. You can do 120 hours and never drive on a freeway. People have their license having never driven 110km/h. They spend all their hours doing the same trip to school each day. So maybe slightly less time (because as i said, 120 hours for parents to teach the kids is hard enough as it is) driving time, and slightly more focused training.

Personally i think it should be:

80 hours logged driving on the road (with proof of different speed zone driving)

20 hours completed in a compulsory defensive driving program, including wet weather driving and brake lockup tests. This will teach people what to do when they lose traction, and when they do have to slam the brakes on. They will know how the car will behave. The amount of accidents i have seen caused because people forget/don't know you pretty much lose all steering when you are on the brakes that could have been avoided. 

I mean at the end of the day when you have people in 2+ ton cars traveling at 100+km/h people will always die, it's going to happen unfortunately. But i don't think focusing on speeding is the right thing to do. 

And at the same time, it doesn't matter how much training someone has, if they are going to do dumb shit in a car you will make a mistake at some point. So what do you do for all the people that deliberately speed/drift bro? It doesn't matter what the speed limit is those people will do it anyway. So it is a very though decision. 

How many deaths on our roads are caused by "accidents" and how many are caused by negligence (being a f**kwit, not just speeding either)? I would like to see that statistic. I know they have it for motorbikes... Something like 70% of fatal bike accidents are caused because the rider was being a dickhead, rather than a car pulling out on them as an example.