Different Sort of Speed

**terbang** · 9th January 2006, 18:51

Driving along the road between Waiuku and Drury in my cage, well hardly a cage its really a "looser Cruiser" 8 seater, (Yeah I know). Anyway its a 100K speed limit with few passing lanes on a nice sunny day and some fucken moron has decided that 75-80 KPH is the order of the day and he also believes that moving over towards the shoulder is out of the question. Very shortly me an looser Cruiser are in the middle of a conger line behind Mr "the rest of the world doesnt exist" afore mentioned moron.. I am musing over this guys attitude and realise Im there for the duration (looser cruiser is a diesel) when in the mirror, overtaking into on coming traffiic, is Mr "I need to extend my penis with this HSV" followed by Mr "My patience has run out and I'm gonna take risks with everyone elses lives as well" and not too far behind is Miss "I think I'll just tag along" in my boyfriends skyline. They are overtaking in areas that I wouldnt do on beloved Bandit. The remainder of my journey is spent thinking about me, coming the other way, facing one of these dicks on a motorcycle or even worse my family coming the other way in the looser cruiser. So who are the biggest villains here?
I am sure the Rozzers will pick up on the dangerous passing but do they have the lateral thought (doesn't take much) to see that the guy holding up the traffic, whilst far from speeding, is travelling at an inappropriate speed.

**ducatilover** · 9th January 2006, 19:32

scary shit aint it.... i hate people that over estimate their cages ability

**froggyfrenchman** · 9th January 2006, 19:39

or the ones that underestimate their cage's size and aceleration

**cowboyz** · 9th January 2006, 19:40

I get extremely frustrated when in a line of traffic in the car travelling less than 90k/hr. Yesterday I had to do a trip to Taranaki and back in the car and it just seemed like someone had lowered the speed limit to 80k for some unknown reason. I have already had one headon in my lifetime and one is more than enough for anyone so I was patient but their ears would have been burning and I just about made enough money in the swear jar to buy my new ZX10.

The other thing that buggers the crap outta me ( now you got me reved up) is when you get into a decent line of traffic doing 110k and everyone is all happy and the world is good and a cop comes the other way and everyone slams on the brakes.

The ammount of times I wished I took the bike yesterday was staggering.

**nadroj** · 9th January 2006, 19:43

Good roads up here huh?

**cowboyz** · 9th January 2006, 19:57

dunno. the only time i got off the main road was going from egmont villiage over to waitara down egmont road. That would be a fun road on the bike. In 2 or 3 weeks I am back up there but this time I don't have to take large shipgo (because of course, when you transprt something by ship is is a cargo so when you transport something by car it has to be.....) Where the hell was I???

Oh yeah, In a couple of 3 weeks I will fine the longest possible way to New Plymouth from PN. Looking forward to it.

**ducatilover** · 9th January 2006, 20:01

Originally Posted by froggyfrenchman

or the ones that underestimate their cage's size and aceleration

ahh yes them too:spudwhat:

**Jackrat** · 9th January 2006, 20:38

Originally Posted by terbang

Driving along the road between Waiuku and Drury in my cage, well hardly a cage its really a "looser Cruiser" 8 seater........

Well one of those fools made the big an last mistake he's ever going to today.
Coming home from work this avo' I got turned around by the law at the kingseat cross roads.Had to to go back via Patty,glenbrook railway to Waiuku to avoid all the bits of car an body spread all over the road.100 meters visable in all direction an the buggers still kill them selfs with stunning regularity,shit

**Lou Girardin** · 10th January 2006, 07:25

Don't you guys understand?
Mr 75km/h is doing nothing wrong, he is well under the speed limit. All is right with the world.

**Krayy** · 10th January 2006, 07:57

Originally Posted by terbang

Driving along the road between Waiuku and Drury in my cage, well hardly a cage its really a "looser Cruiser" 8 seater, (Yeah I know). Anyway its a 100K speed limit with few passing lanes on a nice sunny day and some fucken moron has decided that 75-80 KPH is the order of the day and he also believes that moving over towards the shoulder is out of the question. ...

Almost every time I drive or ride that road I get some numb-nuts doing the same thing. A bit of a pain with no passing lanes and I don't think Franklin Council will be pushing for any along that stretch, even if it does cause people to do drastic overtaking manouvers due to frustration. My strategy is to wait until we come up to Kingseat/Patumahoe x-roads then go whichever way they don't.

If I'm on the bike, no probs, just pass when I've got ~200m clear in front.

**Kjell** · 10th January 2006, 07:57

What gets me is the plod along at 80~90k, but come a passing lane they find a faster gear or heavy foot suddenly they are going 120k+.

My last trip up north I saw this regularily, and on the hills and corners I caught up and usually had a chance to leapfrog, pissing off a few V8Supercar wannabes.

Managed to pass a few when the cops were stationed on the Waipu straights, and all the penil extender lads braked when their radar detectors went off.

Only car that actually seemed to respect and helped me play leapfrog until Waiwera was a Maserati BG.

**Damon** · 10th January 2006, 09:12

I hate people that think they can travel at 20kms under the limit and it'll be ok, it has to be the biggest cause of road rage and it winds me up really quick, but as usual the authorities are not concerned with the cause of the problem only the result because thats where the fines are.

I was disturbed to find out on the weekend that the speed limit on the Thames/Coromandel coast road, Kopu/Hikuai road and Paeroa/Waihi roads are all to dropped to 80km zones, I dont usually keep to the limit on the bike anyway but if i have to drive those roads in the cage i'll be homicidal because some twat will see fit to do them at 60 or 70

**MikeL** · 10th January 2006, 09:31

It seems to me that not only have average speeds decreased over the last couple of years, but that there are a lot more drivers going unreasonably slowly on the open road. Doing 80 km/hr on a road with no passing lanes and holding up a line of traffic no doubt contributes to reducing average speeds but whether the nett result is an improvement in safety is debateable.

Little incident last weekend: I was on a Ulysses ride, a group of about 15 bikes, on SH 16. We were north of Kaukapakapa, spread out, and I was a bit more than half way back in the group. Suddenly I see in the mirror a cop car, lights flashing. With that sinking feeling I pulled to the left but to my surprise (and relief) he shot past me, and past the bike in front, and disappeared into the distance. About 2 km further on, on a straight stretch of the road, I see the front group of riders stopped, with the cop car, and the cop was flagging everyone in the group down. When we had all stopped he proceeded to inform us that he had had a complaint about dangerous overtaking. Turns out this guy towing a trailer had got upset because some bikers weren't happy about plodding along at 80 km/hr and had passed him in what he thought were inappropriate places or at inappropriate speeds. Of course it hadn't occurred to him that the reasonable and courteous thing to do was to pull over and let us pass.
After a lecture and a warning the cop sent us on our way without further ado, but it made me further realize how dangerous this idea of "dobbing in" is. Not long ago I received a letter from the police with allegations of dangerous driving resulting from a complaint by another motorist. Turns out that the incident happened when my wife was driving the car - she's never had a ticket in her life and is one of the most cautious and safest drivers you could hope to find. Her version of the incident (which I believe) is so completely different from the complainant's that if a prosecution had ensued there is no question but that it would have been laughed out of court. But of course she has no opportunity to defend herself. No doubt the police attitude would be that since there was no prosecution there is nothing to get upset about, yet the episode has left her with a lingering resentment and sense of injustice: she was proud of her driving record and feels it has been tarnished.
Regardless of the possible advantages of this "dob in" initiative (and I can see that in some special cases it could help prevent a tragedy), it is another nail in the coffin of human dignity, self-respect and justice. When I was a kid the accusation of "snitching" on someone was about the worst you could make.
Are the police so desperate that they are willing to turn us into a nation of informers?

**MSTRS:Me** · 10th January 2006, 09:57

MikeL - I'd have to say "Yep" to about all of that.
And the 'driving slow - speed up at passing lanes' has always been a problem. Shit, people used to complain about it in the '70s

**Squiggles** · 10th January 2006, 10:12

if they couldnt see 100m clear infront after passing then all of the above

gotta love the drivers of merc's and beamers with the 80k's till someone tries to pass me attitude. Me and my dad rode up to waipu and back yesterday, on the way up there we catch up to a merc travelling about 80.... dad was infront of me and goes to pass when we reach a clear bit of road.... merc sees him passing and all of a sudden he's going 95 and trying to prevent dad from pulling back onto left hand side of road.......dad did get infront of him but had to give the throttle a good twist, and now this guy is tailgating him at 105....... bloody prick of a driver

bet he wasnt too happy when i shot past him just after