Speed and tolerance

[george formby]

I think this rips every-ones nightie. I've come to the conclusion that they don't actually realise that they are doing it. Their brain registers a wider path ahead and the foot goes down on the pedal until that path closes and they have very little room to drive their Yarris without hitting on coming traffic or road side markers. After much thought its the only reason I can think of.

I agree. I get the impression that most of the dumbness on the road is due to thoughtlessness & habitual driving/riding. The lazy habits don't register.
Overall I think there are very few true dickheads but plenty of empty heads.

[R650R]

Orange light runner, 100 demerits in one go, ouchiessss....... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bcd_1...756&comments=1

[Erelyes]

Orange light runner, 100 demerits in one go, ouchiessss....... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bcd_1...756&comments=1

Riding a bike at 84 clicks in a 50, through an orange, without a plate on.... on your learners/restricted... that dude was setting himself up to fail, family member injuries or no.

Interesting how in the vid text he says he was enroute to hospital yet I heard no mention of this to the ossifer.

[rastuscat]

Rastus, observing two lanes of traffic travelling in the same direction, would you pull over
A) A car doing 90 in the 'fast' lane when the 'slow' lane is free
B) A car that, after travelling behind the above vehicle for a short while, passes at 110 in the 'slow' lane
C) Meh?

The guy doing 90 in the fast lane probably has a speedo telling him he is doing 96.

Wouldn't stop any of them. Really. Sometimes it's better to let people sort their own shit out. It's called be grown up.

[rastuscat]

Orange light runner, 100 demerits in one go, ouchiessss....... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bcd_1...756&comments=1

Interesting take on a totally incorrect assumption.

NZTA doesn't register all demerits from each stop. They register the highest number, and call it a day at that. You only get one lot of demerits from an individual stop.

Still, never let the facts stand in the way of a good story.

[haydes55]

My pet hate is people who don't stop at ComStops....if you targeted Shands Rd between Marshs and Selwyn you could fund the National Dept. I did a number of 'surveys' there just for personal reasons over a number of days and over 95% of people do not stop at the ComStop if they have a look and nothing is coming

Well why should people stop? If I can see 200m either direction is clear, why would I have to stop. Give way to casper? Or legislate so even simple fred can drive?

[SMOKEU]

I have an idea. Set up HD video cameras at certain intersections, maybe on a power pole or traffic light pole. Pay a non sworn officer minimum wage to sit there and watch the footage all day. For each offence that results in a conviction, pay them a commission. For each offence that results in an infringement notice, pay them a smaller commission. For an offence that is minor, but not bad enough to give an infringement notice, send the registered owner a warning letter outlining what they've done wrong and not to do it again.

By paying someone a commission to watch the footage, you can be assured that they will want to catch the offenders since there's something in it for them. Since there will be camera footage, a sworn officer can watch the footage before deciding if or what to charge the offender with. Video camera footage doesn't lie either, so the offender can't really argue in court that they did nothing wrong if the camera footage shows otherwise.

Yes I know it won't be cheap to set up, but the amount of money that the government could get in infringement notices could offset the cost of the cameras, equipment and wages. Also, how much is a human life worth, or each serious crash? Not just in monetary terms either.

The technology for this is getting cheaper and better by the day, so it doesn't have to cost an exorbitant sum to implement.

[R650R]

Interesting take on a totally incorrect assumption.

NZTA doesn't register all demerits from each stop. They register the highest number, and call it a day at that. You only get one lot of demerits from an individual stop.

Still, never let the facts stand in the way of a good story.

OMG so its cumulative just like the justice systems method of sentencing ie where a burglar assaults an owner during process he gets sentenced for the nasty home invasion charge but effective gets the burglary charge for free, no wonder no one obeys the law.
So lets say I came rear wheel drifting over a blind rise at 139km/h while failing to indicate as I complete an overtake on slower traffic (yes complete bs fantasy I know) then there wouldn't be a huge rack of demerits upon stopping, just 50 for the biggest which I assume would be the speed ticket....

[R650R]

I have an idea. Set up HD video cameras at certain intersections, maybe on a power pole or traffic light pole. Pay a non sworn officer minimum wage to sit there and watch the footage all day. For each offence that results in a conviction, pay them a commission. For each offence that results in an infringement notice, pay them a smaller commission. For an offence that is minor, but not bad enough to give an infringement notice, send the registered owner a warning letter outlining what they've done wrong and not to do it again.

By paying someone a commission to watch the footage, you can be assured that they will want to catch the offenders since there's something in it for them. Since there will be camera footage, a sworn officer can watch the footage before deciding if or what to charge the offender with. Video camera footage doesn't lie either, so the offender can't really argue in court that they did nothing wrong if the camera footage shows otherwise.

Yes I know it won't be cheap to set up, but the amount of money that the government could get in infringement notices could offset the cost of the cameras, equipment and wages. Also, how much is a human life worth, or each serious crash? Not just in monetary terms either.

The technology for this is getting cheaper and better by the day, so it doesn't have to cost an exorbitant sum to implement.

Just one we problem with that, kinda upsets the old boys network. And also such a system would catch too many crooks also and instantly overload the prisons.

[haydes55]

Just one we problem with that, kinda upsets the old boys network. And also such a system would catch too many crooks also and instantly overload the prisons.

Not to mention, that would mean charging people for basically cutting people off, when they pulled on to empty roads.

If there's no one to cut off, where's the risk of a crash? The only time I stop is when I see a cop.

[R650R]

Not to mention, that would mean charging people for basically cutting people off, when they pulled on to empty roads.

If there's no one to cut off, where's the risk of a crash? The only time I stop is when I see a cop.

For the record I always stop now, our ones down here are quite well policed and are in spots where you do need a good look. And also the cellphone nark factor, cause you know there going to add on extreme acceleration or noisy(to them) motorbike to the rap sheet and the cops will come running. Mate of mine talked himself out of a Stop sign ticket recently, cop must have been in a hurry to donut shop and not checked his previous record of licence losses, had kids in car too... But what gets me like all the road safety stuff is there is so much randomness to which places are stop and which are give way.
Near where I live there is a busy T junction that is give way only, vision is quite badly obscured by high fences either side. Waiting for the night when someone rolls through and gets t-boned by a cop car at 160k on emergency call...

[haydes55]

Another perve about stop signs, my work van is slow, I sometimes turn up to stop signs in second gear, slow enough that when I get to the line I can stop if I see any traffic, but fast enough that I can pull out and not hold up traffic. There are intersections where once my van is stopped, I can't see far enough down the road so when I decide to go, if a vehicle comes in to view as I've started accelerating, they have to brake and wait for about 15 seconds while I redline my van to get up to speed. But if I get to the intersection in second, see there's no traffic and go, then a car comes around the corner, I'm already going 30-40km/h faster than if I stopped.

I don't need to be forced to stop by some bureaucratic bullshit to see a vehicle. I'm capable of not driving blindly in to a pushbike. If I ever get a ticket for it I'd see it through to court. If you are so stupid you can't determine for yourself whether you need to stop and check for traffic or not, then you're too stupid to drive at all.

[Scubbo]

quick question, is it legal to be standing up on pegs on a road which has speed bumps all down it? --- the speed limit is 50, is it still fine to do 50 with those bumps there? (the road is wide and nothing about during the times I move down it apart from the odd car at one of the intersections) I feel it's not dangerous, I've gone down it in the car and its uncomfortable at speed so have to slow with it, but on the bike...

I ask really--- as I was going down it, a black car pulled up to an intersection just past the speed bump, I was standing on the pegs to get over it at ~50KPH and the woman blew her horn after I had past her ---- there was nothing around so it was aimed at me (I think she may feel she had right of way because no-one could get over the speedbump at any more than a crawl?) she was definitely on the giveway ---- don't like to piss people off, especially if i'm in the wrong, but was I?

I guess this could fall into the category of try not to piss off other road users/people around the road --- but its a really wide road that they have to squeeze up for the speed bumps and even then the speed bumps are still dual width (not those crazy move to the other side of the road to get through, Z style junctions)

(actually is it legal to ride your bike on the roads standing on pegs at all? :P I see adventure riders do it often or using highway pegs, legal?)

[Scuba_Steve]

quick question, is it legal to be standing up on pegs on a road which has speed bumps all down it? --- the speed limit is 50, is it still fine to do 50 with those bumps there? (the road is wide and nothing about during the times I move down it apart from the odd car at one of the intersections) I feel it's not dangerous, I've gone down it in the car and its uncomfortable at speed so have to slow with it, but on the bike...

I ask really--- as I was going down it, a black car pulled up to an intersection just past the speed bump, I was standing on the pegs to get over it at ~50KPH and the woman blew her horn after I had past her ---- there was nothing around so it was aimed at me (I think she may feel she had right of way because no-one could get over the speedbump at any more than a crawl?) she was definitely on the giveway ---- don't like to piss people off, especially if i'm in the wrong, but was I?

I guess this could fall into the category of try not to piss off other road users/people around the road --- but its a really wide road that they have to squeeze up for the speed bumps and even then the speed bumps are still dual width (not those crazy move to the other side of the road to get through, Z style junctions)

(actually is it legal to ride your bike on the roads standing on pegs at all? :P I see adventure riders do it often or using highway pegs, legal?)

On all accounts you were fine, the road code & 1 of the questions in the learner test even says stand on pegs [when on unstable surface for greater control]

If it's yellow it's recommended, if it's red outlined it's rule