Mmn, not quite the Christmas present I'd been asking for...

[Beemer]

This was in the news this morning - just in time to cheer us all up for Christmas! What annoys me is that if speed is a "contributing factor" (not the ONLY factor) in about 30% of fatal crashes, what on earth are they doing to target the 70% of fatal accidents that are caused by other factors?

Demerits double-up for holiday speedsters
20 November 2005
By HELEN BAIN

New police minister Annette King wants police to consider doubling driving demerit points during holiday periods to reduce speeding.


Police may also reduce the 10km/h "tolerance" above the speed limit allowed before drivers are given speeding tickets.

King says she has asked police to consider the demerit points plan as an innovative way to improve road safety.

And she may also introduce a second emergency phone number to reduce the number of unwanted calls to the 111 system.

Lower tolerance limits and higher demerits during holiday periods - when crash rates are usually higher than usual - have been used in some Australian states. The speeding tolerance can be as low as 3km/h over the speed limit.

If a driver in New Zealand gets more than 100 demerit points within two years, his or her licence is suspended for three months.

Drivers exceeding the speed limit by up to 10km/h receive 10 demerit points, for 11-20km/h over the limit 20 demerits, 21-30km/h 35 demerits, 31-35km/h 40 demerits, and 36km/h or more 50 demerits.

King said she had had several meetings with senior police to discuss how speeding and road deaths could be reduced, and she had asked them to come up with ideas to achieve that goal.

"I want some ideas, innovation and I suppose you would say common sense about how we achieve the goals we want, while also having wide public buy-in to what we are doing."

This year, 344 people have died on the roads - compared to 370 at the same time last year - and it appears unlikely that the goal of bringing the road toll below 300 by 2010 will be achieved.

Speed is identified as a contributing factor in about 30% of fatal crashes.

In its briefing to the incoming government, the Land Transport Safety Authority commented that it was seeing "diminishing returns from current interventions addressing speeding enforcement, road deaths and serious injuries".

Automobile Association motoring affairs manager Mike Noon said that if demerits were doubled during holiday periods, the move would have to be accompanied by widespread publicity to ensure it was an effective deterrent to speedsters.

NZ Autocar magazine editor Paul Owen did not think double demerits during holidays would make a significant difference to accident rates.

"The problem at holidays is more related to the fact that the roads are too crowded than it is to speed," he said

Ministry of Transport figures show that road deaths during the Christmas, Easter, Queen's Birthday and Labour weekends have declined over the past 10 years.

[Zed]

Let's hope the police consider it a wrong and unfair temporary solution to a problem that will probably never dramatically improve. She should be fired in other words.

[Sketchy_Racer]

in the holidays it hardly ever is speed!! its to farking busy to get up to speed!! when will the stupid 'police' sort thier shit out and realize that "oh gosh the other 70% of contributing factors may need looking at to" like road SURFACE!! it is a huge contributing factor,

how can you expect you vehicle to keep traction while on the brakes when there is 60 miniature sized speed bumps in the road while it is trying to stop.
and the shit suspension that come out in cars standard is there to make it a smoother ride not stop any sooner. mabey they need to spend all the money the bastards taxed off of us for doing 111kph and spend it doing some thing better rather than paying helen clarks big fat paycheck!!!!!

i hate all of this

Glenn

[Coyote]

"oh gosh the other 70% of contributing factors may need looking at to" like road SURFACE!! it is a huge contributing factor,

There's no possible taxation involved with road surfaces as there isn't anything that you could say the public is doing illegal to it/on it (except maybe people smashing the tarmac as it's vandalism but how many people do that?)

[sAsLEX]

King says she has asked police to consider the demerit points plan as an innovative way to improve road safety.

Innovative, hold on I must of been on the p when I learnt what that word represented, it sure didn't mean copy someone elses idea!

[Beemer]

As far as I can see, this is a clear case of revenue collecting. Get a ticket for (possibly) being 3kms over the limit? Ridiculous. The thing is, there is no way in hell they can target or change the behaviour of those aggressive motorists who cannot sit in a line of traffic without passing everything in front of them. Despite the fact they rarely gain more than a few seconds, they just cannot help themselves and will pass on yellow lines, blind corners, when there is no room to pull in ahead, etc. Yes, speed IS a factor in SOME crashes, but to give out double demerit points at Christmas is just plain nasty! For many people, this is the only time they can take their holidays (many companies close over the holidays so you have no choice) and to penalise them when they pull out and finally overtake George and Mildred who have been doing 80kph through the windy parts and then speed up to 110 when they get to the passing lane is just pathetic.

I'm just glad we have the opportunity to take our holidays after Christmas when the roads are not so busy and the government is not so greedy! I thought that George Hawkins was useless, but Annette King is not inspiring any confidence with this kind of shit.

Oh, and if Ministry of Transport figures show that road deaths during the Christmas, Easter, Queen's Birthday and Labour weekends have declined over the past 10 years, then this is a great way to encourage people to continue doing what they've been doing. "You've been REALLY good over the past 10 years, so this year, as an incentive to continue driving safely, if you DARE go over the speed limit, we'll generously give you double demerit points so you won't do it again!"

[Ixion]

Speed and alcohol are the only two things the police will ever bother with, because they are the only two that can be measured. Doesn't matter how bad someone's driving is , if they're not speeding or drunk, there's nothing to measure, and the police will usually ignore it.(Apart from yes/no things like no wof, no rego, not wearing seat belt - once again, no judgement required)

Even if alcohol and speeding only accounted for 1% of the road toll, they are the only factors that politicians and police management will ever look at , because anything else requires a cop to use discretion. And that is a dirty word at police HQ.

[zadok]

They do it over here. They don't double the fine, just the demerits. So revenue collecting isn't the issue.
Beemer, did the article say they were doubling the fine as well? (my altzeimers has just kicked in)

[avgas]

i propose then that we pay half the tax over the holiday period, as most government officials do not work these times of the year - making the overheads less.....therefore requireing less income to support them.

[SPman]

What else do you expect from an intellectually and innovatively bankrupt beauracracy whose only ideas are second hand knee jerk reactions from overseas, that dont work particularly well in their countries of origin.
Just more of the same old easy quick fixes that, as Ixion said, can be easily quantified and measured by the beauracratic leaders with the single digit IQ's!

So - clean license - 86 k in a 50 k area (easy in lots of country and rural areas) - no license for 3 months?!
How to win the hearts and minds of the populace! Yeah, right!

[zadok]

As far as I can see, this is a clear case of revenue collecting. Get a ticket for (possibly) being 3kms over the limit? Ridiculous.

Just read the article again. It's only the demerits that are being doubled, not the fines. You may have a point if they reduce the tolerance, admittedly.

[Beemer]

Yes, it does appear it is just the demerits being doubled, but if they lower the tolerance from 11kms over to 3kms over, then a shitload of motorists will be ticketed - IF they have the resources to do so, that is.

That's basically like saying "we know the legal drinking limit is 400mcg (or whatever it is) but for the holidays we are going to lower this to 100mcg, so think twice before you have that second fruit mince pie..."

No doubt they will have cops positioned at all the dangerous spots as per usual, like the end of passing lanes, just over the brow of hills, hidden in bushes alongside straights, etc.

[Motu]

The speed tolerance thing is fairly recent,previously you would get done for 1 kph over - you wanna go back to the good old days,but not really eh? Most of our speedos read over,so if we stick to our own instruments it should be ok - 'cept for a couple of mine that have oversize wheels and tyres,with them 100kph really is.I think they will need better speed sign posting - all my speeding fines the last 10 yrs have been in change over areas,like coming into and leaving rural towns,this is where the cop hang out,easy pickings.

[crashe]

I recieved this email this morning, maybe this is why they are thinking of the changes... Yep this is only based on Auckland City... but what is it like around the rest of the country.

Alert 04:00 20-11-2005 Auckland City

Location of incident: Auckland City District & Motorways

Incident Type: Operation Early Bird - Drink Drive

A total of 108 drivers were processed for driving with excess breath alcohol and 30 elected blood tests. At this time of the morning drivers are a high risk due to fatigue. 9,082 vehicles were stopped. Fifteen who tested positive for excess breath alcohol were teenagers aged under 20. Several of the drivers caught during this operation returned a breath reading of over 1000. The permitted level is 400.
27 people were arrested including:

3 Stolen Vehicles
2 x possession of Drugs
3 x Disqualified drivers
6x Warrants to arrest
2x Offensive Weapons
1x Willful Damage
5 cars were impounded.

Police are very disappointed as these results show that the message is not getting through. There are options readily available so people don`t have to drink and drive. The price of a taxi, dial-a-driver, or having a sober driver are all a lot cheaper than being prosecuted for drink driving, and a lot easier to live with than killing or injuring someone.

Issued by: Inspector Barry Smalley

[Unit:Me]

I still maintain bikes should have a different speed limit, they are a totally different vehicle and primarily are piloted by people with far more skills that those that are let loose in tintops.