What a preposterous thing to say....franfran wrote:Sounds good, as who would need to do more than 10 km/h above the highest permissible speed limit, but there is one problem. The 110 km/h speed limit (the maximum allowable in NSW) is not just for motorways and high quality rural divided roads; it also can apply to some undivided rural roads with low traffic volume. So what happens if you are driving along one of the latter classes of roads, pull out to pass a vehicle doing say, 90 km/h and another vehicle comes out of a side road or farm entrance? While you are overtaking, you are probably doing over 110 km/h, as the less time you spend on the wrong side of the road the better, so you need a bit of extra speed for about 30 seconds to avoid a head on accident at high speed and..............eddy wrote:After listening to ABC talkback on police pursuits last night the thought came to me that if all new cars were fitted with a 120kph speed limiter or perhaps a GPS that cuts out the motor over 120kph then nobody would try to do a runner because the police would catch them in two blocks?
Why don't people understand that a speed limit is just that, a limit. If you cannot SAFELY[/i] overtake a vehicle without going over the limit, then you shouldn't be overtaking them in the first place.
<rant>
One of the big things people seem to miss in debates about speeding is that you don't really gain much - even in the example above.
Consider:
Let's assume it is possible to average 110km/h between Canberra and Adelaide (realistically, it would be near impossible, given there are towns and you need to stop for fuel etc etc etc). Let us further assume, that Adelaide is slightly nearer to Canberra than it actually is (to make the Math work), and that the journey is 1100km. This means that you would complete the journey in 10 hours. Let us now assume that for the whole journey (incredibly unlikely) you are stuck behind someone averaging 100km/h. Your journey now takes 11hours. In a journey like Adelaide-Canberra, you are unlikely to be stuck behind a vehicle for longer than 300km where neither of you is pulling off the road for a rest or petrol. In this situation, meaning you lose a little less than 20 minutes. Further, if you do overtake the car, what are the chances that they will drive past the next time you pull off the road - rendering your maneuver useless?
Realistically, on a journey of this length (assuming you are trying to do it in 1 day) you will most likely take 13-15 hours depending on rest breaks etc. Is there really a significant difference in arriving 2 hours later? If darkness bothers you (especially through skippy territory), then plan to do such a drive over 2 days.
One thing that police in NSW (and SA by the sounds) have started doing, is taking a 'no excuse' approach, especially on country roads. If you can't safely overtake without exceeding the speed limit, wait for an overtaking lane. If the driver is an asshole and speeds up when you get to an overtaking lane, pull off at the next rest stop, take 10 minutes, and the other car will be far enough up the road not to be in your way.
There is no excuse for speeding. Whatsoever! I'm sick of people trying to justify speeding, while still acknowledging that the police should so something about it. The only way road tolls in this country will ever be reduced, is if people realise that impatient driving offers very little benefit to the impatient driver, while often causing signifcant cost for patient drivers (look at the LH turn lane Anzac Highway into Morphett St in peak hour for an example on how a few drivers gaining 5 seconds loses a lot of drivers several minutes).
It is perhaps a little ironic, that times stationary have a bigger impact on trip times than times moving. In metropolitan areas, traffic lights dictate average trip times, while in the country fuel and rest breaks will have a bigger impact on trip time than 10 or 20km/h on the speedo.
</rant>
On the High Speed chase issue:
We recently had a major accident as a result of a high speed chase (resulting in 4 deaths), and people were very quick to blame the police. Ironically, police claim to have called off the chase less than a minute before the impact. Had they continued the chase, the sound of their sirens may have alerted the innocent driver killed that trouble was coming. As someone else said, calling off a chase is rarely an option once it has started. NSW & ACT Police have called on the government to allow them use speed spikes and the 'PIT' maneuver to avoid chases, however looks (at the moment) as if the govt will be reluctant to allow it. It is time (not just with high speed chases) that police and the justice system got tough on people who have a flagrant disregard for the law. (eg: how will extending someone's suspension when they drive on a suspended licence stop them doing it again? Let's crush people's cars, or lock them up. It may be expensive to lock people up in the short term, but it should act as a disincentive for others - meaning valuable police resources aren't wasted, saving money in the longer term.
2c - Kent Brockman.
<edit>Thought I was in the SA forum...obviously most here would know about the recent tragedy here...</edit>