Australian RTA speeding "truths"...

megakid

megakid

megakid

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Don't want to start another speeding war but check out these "statistics" on the RTA website:

Crash risk

Speeding increases the risk of a crash and the severity of the crash outcome.

The risk of causing death or injury in an urban 60km/h speed zone increases rapidly even with relatively small increases in speed. The accident risk at 65km/h is about twice the risk at 60km/h. At 70km/h, the accident risk is more than four times the risk at 60km/h.

The risk of a crash when driving at 68km/h in a 60km/h zone is the same as driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08. The risk of a crash when driving at 72km/h in a 60km/h zone is the same as driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.12.
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Sauce

That, to me, is ridiculous! Driving at 42mph versus 37mph is the same a driving almost double over the alcohol limit vs sober ? They cannot be serious...

The reason I was looking at these is because they're just setting up digital combined red light/speed cameras which will catch a lot of people who speed up to get through amber lights.
 
A 5km/h speed increase doubles the chance of a crash, what? What the fudge are they on about? I can't see how they can quantify these claims. I'm glad I don't live in Australia, they really do sound As though they have some draconian speed laws and enforcement.
 
Ugh, i have been driving around NSW for a few months now and recently took a road trip about 600k south for christmas, i figured righty, so 600/8 x5 = 375 miles, easily done in 4.5-5 hours. no it took me nearly 8 hours due to the stupidly slow god damn speed limits.

plus australians are pretty bad drivers in the rain, it rained over christmas and i saw countless people just locking up and skidding in the rain.
 
theDude said:
Ugh, i have been driving around NSW for a few months now and recently took a road trip about 600k south for christmas, i figured righty, so 600/8 x5 = 375 miles, easily done in 4.5-5 hours. no it took me nearly 8 hours due to the stupidly slow god damn speed limits.

plus australians are pretty bad drivers in the rain, it rained over christmas and i saw countless people just locking up and skidding in the rain.
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I don't condone speeding but the anti-speed freaks here are exactly what the UK needs to avoid in my opinion. The NSW cricket team (has a massive following here) is * sponsored* by the RTA (Road Traffic Authority) and they've called them the "NSW RTA SpeedBlitz Blues". Doesn't take a genius to work out where the sponsorship cash comes from!
 
theDude said:
Ugh, i have been driving around NSW for a few months now and recently took a road trip about 600k south for christmas, i figured righty, so 600/8 x5 = 375 miles, easily done in 4.5-5 hours. no it took me nearly 8 hours due to the stupidly slow god damn speed limits.

plus australians are pretty bad drivers in the rain, it rained over christmas and i saw countless people just locking up and skidding in the rain.
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120kph you were planning then?

I got a $300 fine and 3 points for doing that in the 100 zone:(
 
Zip said:
120kph you were planning then?

I got a $300 fine and 3 points for doing that in the 100 zone:(
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I drove from Bondi Beach to Adelaide CBD (1380km) in 12 hours inc. stops a month ago. Thankfully I didn't see any police, they're mean in Australia!

I still think those statistics are stupid, if you reverse them, they almost promote drink-driving! ;-)
 
got up to 150kph on a few stretches which in my mind isnt too fast considering the m25 i average 85mph on, but it felt like i was a child murderer because most people religously stick to the limits.

luckily i canny get points and i will just not pay the finds as i am not here for too long muhahah
 
Australian police are speeding bonkers. Which is a shame because some of the roads are huge, wide, open, empty and in great condition.

Which is why I got pulled for doing a whole 77mph in the middle of nowhere on my way from Adelaide to Sydney :(
 
77 !? You're such a baby killer!

I suppose Australia does make Old Blighty seem a little bit less crap though. Grass isn't always greener... :)
 
The fact they all seem to ignore the 'Keep Left' signs on the motorways is also a source of frustration, some tool doing 70 in the outside lane whilst everyone else is tootling past at 110 on the middle, the best lane to drive in Aus is pretty much the inside lane, it's nearly always empty!
 
megakid said:
That, to me, is ridiculous! Driving at 42mph versus 37mph is the same a driving almost double over the alcohol limit vs sober ? They cannot be serious...
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What's the statistic based on? If you have 100 RTAs, where in 80 of them the drivers were travelling at 70mph, and in the other 20 they were driving at 60mph, then based on your sample, you are indeed four times more likely to crash driving at 70 than you are at 60. It's an accurate conclusion based on the statistics, but is it a fair one?

Speed doesn't cause accidents. It can be a factor, but not independently. Accidents are caused by one or more of the drivers involved being reckless, careless, or simply operating a vehicle outside of their ability to do so properly.

So in other words, I would speculate that: (1) poor drivers are (much?) more likely to crash; and (2) poor drivers tend to drive fast. Without taking that into account, you end up with conclusions like "at 70km/h, the accident risk is more than four times the risk at 60km/h." Not technically inaccurate, but meaningless when you consider other, equally or more important, factors as well.
 
AJK said:
What's the statistic based on? ...
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I suspect that it is generally nigh on impossible to determine the speed of a vehicle (or vehicles) prior to a crash and that this is why RTAs are usually ascribed to a vague, unquantifiable factor such as "Excessive speed for the conditions". This will almost invariably be the case or the accident would not have happened - i.e. the driver would have stopped before hitting anything.

I suspect that this is the reasoning behind speed limits in general - i.e. increase the likelihood that any driver, whether competent or not, WILL be able to stop before hitting anything or hitting anything so fast that it causes death or serious injury.
 
AJK said:
What's the statistic based on? If you have 100 RTAs, where in 80 of them the drivers were travelling at 70mph, and in the other 20 they were driving at 60mph, then based on your sample, you are indeed four times more likely to crash driving at 70 than you are at 60. It's an accurate conclusion based on the statistics, but is it a fair one?
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Exactly, correlation does not imply causality. Something that the anti-speed Nazis conveniently ignore in virtually every statistic they publish.

If the majority of drivers exceed a (stupidly low) limit on a given road then obviously most accidents on that road will involve a driver speeding, but without a lot more information you can't possibly conclude that speeding caused the accidents.
 
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If I moved to Australia I'd be constantly getting fined for "Hooning".

I think Zip can confirm this is a genuine offence!
 
I love how they have a burnout offence and aggravated burnout offence

WTH is an aggravated burnout :confused: Or is it the courts way of giving you extra kudos for an awesome one :D
 
Of all places, I wouldn't have imagined Australia to be strict on speeding! They have so many big, long, open roads that I would have thought everyone would speed to some extent as in dry weather on a big clear road with not many people on it, there's not really much risk in hurting anyone else if you somehow lose control.
 
[TW]Fox;15731463 said:
Australian police are speeding bonkers. Which is a shame because some of the roads are huge, wide, open, empty and in great condition.

Which is why I got pulled for doing a whole 77mph in the middle of nowhere on my way from Adelaide to Sydney :(
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While you think they would be safe to drive over the speed limit by a lot in the middle of know where you also have the suicidal kangaroos that long to jump out and the occasional wombats and koalas.:p

Those animals hurt, especially at speed

Although so far ive only ever had to hit slam the brakes on and send every thing in the car flying into the passenger foot well:p

I did hit a cow though:p


kefkef said:
The fact they all seem to ignore the 'Keep Left' signs on the motorways is also a source of frustration, some tool doing 70 in the outside lane whilst everyone else is tootling past at 110 on the middle, the best lane to drive in Aus is pretty much the inside lane, it's nearly always empty!
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People avoid the Inside lane because you can quite often get stuck behind a truck as most of them stick to that lane.
But if used right its a great over taking lane:D

Lopéz said:
If I moved to Australia I'd be constantly getting fined for "Hooning".

I think Zip can confirm this is a genuine offence!
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Certainly is, You get your car impounded for doing it:p(And in some states your car crushed after repeat offenses, well that was the talk awhile back)

Here we go lopez
Crash testing by the RTA

Current laws already provide that the cars of repeat offenders may be forfeited to the Crown. Usually, those vehicles are sold and the money used to recover storage and collection costs. The new laws will allow certain forfeited vehicles to be released to the RTA for crash testing.

The RTA will use the unique tests to investigate the potential effects of certain modifications on overall crashworthiness and the wrecks of these vehicles will be displayed at education days for young drivers, or at other RTA presentations.
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theDude said:
got up to 150kph on a few stretches which in my mind isnt too fast considering the m25 i average 85mph on, but it felt like i was a child murderer because most people religously stick to the limits.

luckily i canny get points and i will just not pay the finds as i am not here for too long muhahah
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What a fantastic tourist you are
 
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