why are highway limits so low?

[Trevor 57]

There are a number of things contributing to the downward spiral of the road toll over the last 40 years, these are:
* vehicle design including seat belts, air bags, crumple zones, ESC, ABS, etc
* licensing
* better roads
* enforcement

They all work in conjunction with other and compliment each other

But the thing that has gone backwards has been 'attitude' and as parents of the current generation of young drivers that responsibility sits squarely with us, my youngest are now 29, so hopefully over the worst of it

[xxx000]

Originally Posted by mechanic

It's identical to the Gun Control argument, guns don't kill anybody without a human's finger on the trigger.

As with motor vehicles, quite safe until a human gets behind the wheel.

Knives don't kill anyone either unless used by someone but like cars they are necessary in society and have a useful and reasonable purpose in our everyday lives.

Guns on the other hand are hardly useful or necessary in 99.9% of modern society.

The 'guns don't kill people....' statement is a simplistic and absurd one ignoring common sense

[xxx000]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

There are a number of things contributing to the downward spiral of the road toll over the last 40 years, these are:
* vehicle design including seat belts, air bags, crumple zones, ESC, ABS, etc
* licensing
* better roads
* enforcement

They all work in conjunction with other and compliment each other

But the thing that has gone backwards has been 'attitude' and as parents of the current generation of young drivers that responsibility sits squarely with us, my youngest are now 29, so hopefully over the worst of it

I don't think the attitude has changed , it's just that we're now parents and wrongly think things are worse than they were

less young people are taking up driving and more are using public transport, not a bad thing imho

[joolz]

Originally Posted by FlivverFord

Limits are low 'cause they're made by people with degree's who wear glasses & know better than the rest of us.
We, the general public apparently can't be trusted to decide things for ourselves.

Better still dont even hold a drivers licence. My wife knew an engineer in Vicroads that has never driven a car. I guess he would be the expert on roads!

[TRAU BLAU]

I've just copped 2 speed fines($146ea) in 6 weeks for doing a few k's over.Overzealous cops pointing the speed gun on a Fri arvo.They should be doing it at midnight to catch the real hoons doing double the limit & running slower drivers off the road!Revenue raising to pay for roadworks.

[steve.zissou]

copied from my other post (the reason they are low as there is now an industry based around speed enforcement with too many fingers in that pie - from RTA, police, politicians, govt bureaucrats that process fines, equipment manufacturers (like Macquarie bank) and now the companies that do the policing (camera operators). its almost too big to stop now.

heres a legit study from the US that shows most drivers drive at a safe speed irrispective of the speed limit (either too high or low doesnt matter)
http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/sl-irrel.html

it also include the following conclusions:
Accidents at the 58 experimental sites where speed limits were lowered increased by 5.4 percent.
Accidents at the 41 experimental sites where speed limits were raised decreased by 6.7 percent.
Lowering speed limits more than 5 mi/h (8 km/h) below the 85th percentile speed of traffic did not reduce accidents.

this is based on hard evidence and test sites where they changed the speed limits and observed the results

one of a stack of studies - people should stop basing their opinions on tv advertisements and actually look up some research.

[JamesR]

Originally Posted by Troy23

Or because the country roads are crapola!

but in Victoria the freeways in the country have 110km/h limits, but closer to the city its only 100-80km/h...
so i dont know about that argument.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

If you think that the road safety measures in Australia don't work, have a read:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/road...ings_2009.html

I also notice in that list that some countries with higher speed limits have less or similar amount of deaths than us.
And look at some of the countries towards the top of the list. I don't think speed limits is their major problem for many of them..

What I think is stupid about the Australian system is ill be doing 101km/h at 3am on a deserted multilane highway and I'm considered a maniac with a death wish.
But I do 99km/h on the same road in peak hour in pouring rain and Im just an average driver.
I also seam to see less cops on these road during peak hour.
But hey that's just my personal experience.

[xxx000]

Originally Posted by Denny

I've just copped 2 speed fines($146ea) in 6 weeks for doing a few k's over.Overzealous cops pointing the speed gun on a Fri arvo.They should be doing it at midnight to catch the real hoons doing double the limit & running slower drivers off the road!Revenue raising to pay for roadworks.

Those driving at midnight were actually surveyed and pointed the finger at Friday afternoon drivers speeding.

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by Ben73

I also notice in that list that some countries with higher speed limits have less or similar amount of deaths than us.
And look at some of the countries towards the top of the list. I don't think speed limits is their major problem for many of them..

What I think is stupid about the Australian system is ill be doing 101km/h at 3am on a deserted multilane highway and I'm considered a maniac with a death wish.
But I do 99km/h on the same road in peak hour in pouring rain and Im just an average driver.
I also seam to see less cops on these road during peak hour.
But hey that's just my personal experience.

Also far less Police on the roads during rain.

I would guess that more accidents happen in inclement weather, and yet there is much less police presence in those times.

[TRAU BLAU]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

From Jalopnik
This guy makes some good points in his rage against speed limits. His arguments are well thought out and is quite funny too. recommended viewing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=2BKdbxX1pDw

source:
http://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-best...you-1302382244

Just watched the vid which soothed my nerves after just getting another speed-fine that leaves me broke!Yeah cops hiding in a shady fire-break with drivers going down-hill in good weather conditions.It's not very nice someone pointing a gun at you[ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL ME]!Cops have done me harm but what have bikies done?Nothing.See EASY RIDER[the movie]ending;'We'll be lucky to get out alive.'

[TRAU BLAU]

Originally Posted by xxx000

Those driving at midnight were actually surveyed and pointed the finger at Friday afternoon drivers speeding.

Those driving at midnight would be more likely to have alcohol or drugs in their system & therefore be a more dangerous motorist.Night-time driving obviously needs more care & attention because of poor visibility{especially in rural areas].So they should be travelling at a lower speed.