I am an evil endangered minority

[yachtie10]

A very well written rant Hitcher
The whole 0 road deaths strategy is laughable, but cry-able cos the are actually trying to do it : there will never be a 0 road toll.

I agree with most of all the above. I have thought for a while now that the real cause of the idotic way we try to reduce the road toll is mainly political. It has very little to do with road safety.
What I think has been happening is we have figures like NZ is in the botton 5 of OECD countries on its road toll. This causes polititions to give people a job to reduce it (and most importantly makes a reduction in the road toll a performance measure in there employment contract). These people usually dont have the power to change things that are the real cause. But they can do things like this weekends crackdown.

My 2 cents

[sinfull]

No wait!!! I know what the problem is ! Cops are looking to give us tickets is all it is ! Some cunt fucks up and dies or kills some other cunt on the road and it's a cops fault, surely ?

[Woodman]

If the police state that the low road toll is because of the weekends policy, does that mean they are responsible for the deaths when this policy has not been enforced ??

Can of worms.

[merv]

I drove to Napier and back in the weekend going up on Saturday and back on Monday. First comment I'd make is there were a large number of trucks on the road on Saturday - don't those guys have homes to go to? Second comment is I have the GPS going and know my speed accurately, clearly others have little idea how inaccurate their speedos are so drive rather slowly. The Police panicked them into thinking that it was so evil to go over 100 that they kept probably just below 100 on the clock and on my GPS stuck behind them my reading was typically around 93. Third comment was the usual cop factor - instead of happily driving past a parked cop car at up to 104 most zubes hit their brakes and whoopee the whole line panick brakes and next thing I'm reading about 66 on the GPS on flippin SH2.

All in all I'd say most drivers totally over-reacted to the threat of fines which caused different and potentially dangerous problems. Also I'd agree with Hitch it is a bit rich the cops already claiming success when the statistics around crashes at long weekends shows an average over the years plus or minus about 200-300% so to say a 20% reduction in crash numbers was directly attributable to their campaign may well be stretching the truth.

[Max Preload]

Funny how 'everybody' says they can ride/drive safely in excess of the Gov't mandated speed limit.

But you never hear anybody banging on about how they are safe with a breath-alcohol level higher than the G'ovt mandated limit....

The difference being you can adjust your speed for the conditions you encounter. You can't adjust your level of impairment following the consumption of alcohol - it adjusts itself provided you don't consume more.

[puddytat]

Ive seen a report on the Telly where somewhere in Europe they have been trialing just the approach you mention Hitcher.With the results being very syrprising & entirely in line with your prediction. I'd Google it ,but with dial up.....
The bit I saw was mainly in the inner city somewhere & they had removed all signage including zebra crossings,.....with the result that both drivers & pedestrians had to think for themselves & actually observe thier surroundings rather than being reliant on signage or prompts.
Damn sure I wouldnt be fanging down some road if I didnt rely on a sign suggesting a safe speed for a corner, so add on my third or so to it e.g 60 + 20 =80 & Im usually quite happy. Double it & Im in the zone....
So I'd slow down a fair bit I'd say if I was flying blind so to speak.

[Gremlin]

you write good. I'd also say they need to stop straightening the fucken roads. I can do 600km of demanding SI roads no worries, but struggle to remain 100% focussed during 200km from Wellington to Taihape.

[MSTRS:Me]

... we have figures like NZ is in the botton 5 of OECD countries on its road toll. ...

Are we? I don't know. But there was a link in another thread in the last few days that said the US has some 48,000 road deaths pa. Per capita, that's about 2.5x the death rate here.

[Swoop]

The "powers that be" have been stating that the last "bad" weekend road toll of ten deaths, was an "abberation"...

The truth is that this weekend was the "abberation" due to multiple factors, but mainly the crappy weather throughout the entire country.


Also we need to consider the population of this Banana Republic has increased to 4 million. The target of 300 deaths was dreampt up when we had closer to 3 million.
Population up, road toll target down = a shit load of money needs to be spent. NZ does not spend money where needed, so we end up with a cheap and nasty approach. Target speeding is quick and simple, and provides ample time to munch on donuts'...

Unfortunately the idiots at the top do not see the same picture as the worker bees at the workface.

[Paul in NZ]

Most 'accidents' aren't.

They are really crashes caused by inattention/distraction/fuckwittery.

And as soon as I have invented a detector for the above I'll be making millions.

I made one of those once but I think its faulty. It seems to go off whenever I go anywhere near it... Must be broken I reckon....

[Pixie]

I believe that what the New Zealand electorate needs to determine is an acceptable level of road-related deaths and injuries. Given that zero is a farcical impossibility, despite the best intentions of the zealots, then why can't such a level be set? Why can't that level be set at a point that doesn't require facile measures to be implemented, such as 70kmh open road speed limits, no overtaking anywhere ever, nobody younger than 25 allowed to be in control of a motor vehicle, and travel by permit only at weekends and during national holidays.

You forgot the ersatz banning of motorcycles through making it too expensive to do it legally

[Bald Eagle]

I made one of those once but I think its faulty. It seems to go off whenever I go anywhere near it... Must be broken I reckon....

You must have it calibrated wrong, needs to be set for 'hairy arsed biker'

[Pixie]

How do you train people to be more attentive (to address the largest chunk of accidents)? My initial reflections on it make me think a large portion of being attentive is simply experience. Time on the road makes it easier to spot potential dangers coming up, so that you act accoordingly, so that it is no longer a danger (or at least the danger is reduced).
Sure you can give someone a test asking them to identify dangers and the situation around them, but my pondering makes me think that experience is what really makes it count.

You can engineer to increase driver attention,cheaply and easily.

A six inch steel spike positioned in front of the drivers forehead in each car,is all it takes.
Making cars safer has the opposite effect.
Why are most motorcyclists more careful and attentive than car drivers?

[Pixie]

Nothing wrong with the speed limit, 100 is fine. It's the UNITS that are messed up. That stupid k has sneaked in when it should be m Bring back 100 mph

Me preference be knots me hearty,aarrrr

[Pixie]

Ive seen a report on the Telly where somewhere in Europe they have been trialing just the approach you mention Hitcher.With the results being very syrprising & entirely in line with your prediction. I'd Google it ,but with dial up.....
The bit I saw was mainly in the inner city somewhere & they had removed all signage including zebra crossings,.....with the result that both drivers & pedestrians had to think for themselves & actually observe thier surroundings rather than being reliant on signage or prompts.
Damn sure I wouldnt be fanging down some road if I didnt rely on a sign suggesting a safe speed for a corner, so add on my third or so to it e.g 60 + 20 =80 & Im usually quite happy. Double it & Im in the zone....
So I'd slow down a fair bit I'd say if I was flying blind so to speak.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...448747,00.html