Police getting tougher on speed tolerance

[Scuba_Steve]

In the words of John Lambert a man with over half a century in road safety incl heading up Vic Roads for a while -
"There is no reputable study that I am aware of anywhere in the world that shows speed traps saves lives, not one"

[veldthui]

On my way back from Tauranga on thursday and just south of Te Kuiti I was following a car who was following a police car. All doing a nice 104kph (including the police car) no issues. The police car was a little distance from the car but not too far. We come around a sweeping bend only to find the police car with his lights on doing a U-turn across the road to go and chase a car going the other way. This idiot then forced the car that was behind him and myself to have to brake reasonably hard to avoid smashing into him.

When are these idiots going to learn not to do U-Turns in the middle of corners. It is far worse than speeding on a dead straight bit of road.

[Big Dog]

Red light running isn't as common as speeding, and I bet red light running causes more crashes every year than speeding. So not the same. Drunk driving again different, chances of crashing when drunk is pretty high.

Have you been to Auckland?
I only go through 3 traffic lights on my way to work. There is always at least on "trailers" through on red while tailgating someone on orange.

Some locations like the entrances to Sylvia park I have missed whole green waiting for mobs of zombies to stop entering the right turn on a red arrow. I might have a green but I do ride / drive defensively.


Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

[awayatc]

Below is a copy and paste quote from nz police academy ,regarding qualification and acceptance criteria:

Candidates need to be able to utter "do you know how fast you were going sir/ madam ?" Multiple times each day ,while writing a ticket, regardless of answer, at same time creating impression of being sincerely concerned about victims wellbeing.

Accent and stutters are acceptable, but laughing out loud or masturbating while on duty will require further evaluation and resit of exams.
Failing to meet qouta however is an instant fail resulting in dismissal.

[haydes55]

Why is the accident rate and the rate of fatalities per capita smaller in Finland and Germany? Countries where speed limits are relaxed and sometimes completely free of limits? In Germany, if you make rude hand gestures or drive in an aggressive manner you would get fined.... In NZ that's acceptable and fine. In Germany if you go over 150km/h, then you agree to being at least half of the fault in An accident, so insurance won't pay out. So people speeding know to drive defensively.

[rastuscat]

I have had more intelligent conversations with 2 year olds......

Saddest part is that the likes of you actually believe your own drivel....
The inmates run the asylum....

Nice way to reply to a post. Nothing quite like having a civil discussion.

Next time I wonder why I'm getting cynical about the job I'll refer back to your post. Thanks.

[rastuscat]

Why is the accident rate and the rate of fatalities per capita smaller in Finland and Germany? Countries where speed limits are relaxed and sometimes completely free of limits? In Germany, if you make rude hand gestures or drive in an aggressive manner you would get fined.... In NZ that's acceptable and fine. In Germany if you go over 150km/h, then you agree to being at least half of the fault in An accident, so insurance won't pay out. So people speeding know to drive defensively.

Couple of observations.

If we had roads of the standard that other countries have, it'd be a lot safer on our roads. And going faster wouldn't be so risky. But we don't have enough people paying tax to support that level of roading infrastructure.

I'd also suggest that driver training is a bigger thing in a lot of countries.

So in summary. If we had better trained drivers with a more safety conscious attitude driving on better roads, I'd support an increase in our speed limits.

[FJRider]

Why is the accident rate and the rate of fatalities per capita smaller in Finland and Germany? Countries where speed limits are relaxed and sometimes completely free of limits?

Speed limits are not based on population count. Therefore ... comparison of speed limits should not be compared to countries of similar population numbers.

In Germany, if you make rude hand gestures or drive in an aggressive manner you would get fined.... In NZ that's acceptable and fine.

Actually WRONG. You can be ... but if no accident/incident occurs ... Police (usually) use their discretion ... and ignore it. (Less paperwork) For little reward/gain in the public interest should charges be laid.

In Germany ...

WHEN were you last there ... ???

Insurance payout depends on individual policies held by vehicle owners by their respective insurers. Pay more ... GET more.

[FJRider]

Couple of observations.

If we had roads of the standard that other countries have, it'd be a lot safer on our roads. And going faster wouldn't be so risky. But we don't have enough people paying tax to support that level of roading infrastructure.

Why don't we increase the fines for existing Traffic offenses to help improve/fund existing roading infrastructure ...

I'd also suggest that driver training is a bigger thing in a lot of countries.

My dad taught me to drive ... so I had expert training ...

So in summary. If we had better trained drivers with a more safety conscious attitude driving on better roads, I'd support an increase in our speed limits.

My dad is dead at the moment .... so is unavailable to TRAIN anybody ...

Perhaps ... we need safer vehicles on our roads .. ??? And the vehicle types that crash more often by percentage of accidents be removed from the system ... ???

[awayatc]

Nice way to reply to a post. Nothing quite like having a civil discussion.

Next time I wonder why I'm getting cynical about the job I'll refer back to your post. Thanks.

Civil discussion....?

When you dress like a wanker,
act like a wanker,
talk like a wanker,,
its safe to say you probably jerk off......
so dont blame being called a wanker on the observer

[Kickaha]

Civil discussion....?

When you dress like a wanker,
act like a wanker,
talk like a wanker,,
its safe to say you probably jerk off......
so dont blame being called a wanker on the observer

You sound like you're quite the wanker as well

[kiwi cowboy]

Couple of observations.

If we had roads of the standard that other countries have, it'd be a lot safer on our roads. And going faster wouldn't be so risky. But we don't have enough people paying tax to support that level of roading infrastructure.

I'd also suggest that driver training is a bigger thing in a lot of countries.

So in summary. If we had better trained drivers with a more safety conscious attitude driving on better roads, I'd support an increase in our speed limits.

Went for my first ride today and sat on 100 all I could but caught cars that seemed to be traveling 80-95-80-95 repeatedly until I got sick of them and passed. Were they trying to not speed and constantly watching the speedo?.Oh and one of them wasn't staying in his lane much on corners either but he wasn't speeding so he was safe right????.

[Swoop]

I'm with you!

A 200kph speed limit sounds about right...

I see no reason not to allow that limit.
It would never happen of course (someone reaching that speed on the road), since there would be some mouth-breathing spastic dawdling along in the fast lane doing 90kmh.

[R650R]

Why is the accident rate and the rate of fatalities per capita smaller in Finland and Germany?

Well they don't have fluoridated water supplies for a start...
Even if we did have better roads we'd still have major problems. We have a road rage culture due to our obsession with contact sports and an overly competitive streak.
For some reason NZ'ers tend to think their geniuses at everything, I suppose it stem form the pioneers fashioning stuff out of number eight wire. But when you go overseas there's way more innovation and talent happening than in NZ.
Thing is your ability to improvise with number eight wire of 4x2 timber doesn't translate into correcting a car back into control...

[rastuscat]

I was giving an educational presentation at a workplace last week. It's one of a series of presentations for groups of tradies, and I was asked to come and give them 5 to 10 min on the new drink drive levels.

I had a chat to the health and safety folk at each site, and we came to much the same conclusion.

People here generally think that those bad things won't happen to them. For that reason, they see no reason to change their behaviour.

The big issue is that generally, they are right. Like, an electrician will probably go through his career with a few small shocks, but he'll avoid the one that could kill him. It won't happen to him, so he's as careful as he thinks he needs to be.

Unfortunately, some sparky somewhere will be killed by electricity due to some gap in their work practise. Some forestry worker will die, but if you had asked him 10 minutes earlier, he'd likely have told you that it won't happen to him.

Similarly, if I attend a crash, and say to any of the parties involved "Were you expecting that to happen?" they will always say no. Always. That same person, if I had spoken to them ten minutes before the crash, wouldn't have expected the crash, so where is their incentive to change the way they drive?

It's the It Wont Happen To Me syndrome. I don't know if it's an international thing, but it's sure alive and well in NZ.

It's why a lot of people don't connect with those road safety messages that get broadcast. It won't happen to them, so why would they have the change their driving.

Just putting it out there.