Not Speeding...Driving...CRASHING

**petesmeats** · 27th April 2006, 23:50

I just drove from Porirua to Paraparaumu in my dear old mothers car (Well actually i bounced my way home (She drives a Citroen Xantia (Turbo Diesel) with adjustable hydraulic suspension - dont ask me why)) and being a driver that drives around 9-10k over the speed limit and all legal etc etc, I found myself regularly heading over the allowable speed limit cause i wasnt used to her car. This made me slightly nervous because I, being a poor uni student, cannot afford to 'donate' any of my hard earned **cough cough**... i mean hard loaned money back to the government.

***I am quite proud of the use of brackets in the first sentence***

What i found myself doing was this:
Looking at (in sequence)... Speedo - road - mirrors - speedo - road - speedo - mirrors - speedo - speedo - road (Swerve to avoid oncoming traffic) - speedo - speedo - speedo - Car in front of me that had slowed and that i was about to hit... And so on.

I reckon that because of how anal all the police officers have become and how many revenue collecting devices there are out there placed strategically so that when you hit the bottom of the hill/passing lane at 11-12ks over the speed limit they hear their registers go... It has made me concentrate more on not going that 11-12k over the speed limit and not on my driving.

I know that some of you would say that I should have good control over my speed and should be able to tell when i am at the speed limit or not, and that a simple glance at the speedo and then up should suffice... but this was a CAR that i was unfamiliar with, and not the bike that i ride every day to uni.

Dont get me wrong... I think that it is great that the police have lowered the general speed in the country but i think that they should show some common sense and not fine every person they catch going 11-12k over the limit while passing.

Oh and to top it all off i may have been caught by a camera as i was overtaking someone...

Is it just me or is anal policeing (sp?) making a road where everyone is so concerned with speed that they dont worry about driving and rather would stay at the 'safe' speeds? Personally i think that people driving cages should concentrate on not knocking me off my bike.

RANT OVER>>>

As an aside, driving through all the mess that is McKays crossing i saw a bike coming the other way with its headlight rigged so that it flickered about once a second... It was really noticeable and made it so that i was very aware of where and what he was. I may try and rig a similar system to my bike >> How do i do that?

**Stevo** · 28th April 2006, 00:00

Drive at 105 then you have more leeway!
I know what you mean about the turbo diesel. I was driving my olds turbo diesel ages ago when picking the old man up from the airport, and the speed climbs without you noticing. My conclusion was that the engine noise or exhaust note doesn't change eff all esp compared to the bike (where esp wind noise increases). Every time I looked at the speedo it was reading 115, so I drop back to 100, then find the damn thing climbing again. Crazy

**petesmeats** · 28th April 2006, 00:03

Thats all well and good to go at 105 but then you get people in their holden commy's who can afford tickets sitting up your jacksy... Not something i like.

**Motu** · 28th April 2006, 07:38

In Europe and Britain vehicle cruising speeds are higher and cars are made to opperate in those zones,you find most Euro cars are ''happy'' at 80mph.How many have been passed by a Transit van? Drive one and you wonder how the hell they could go that fast,but when you get on the open road they just settle down at 120kph real sweet....that puts them in the slow lane over there.

**sels1** · 28th April 2006, 07:50

Yeah, I live in that area....bought a car with cruise control - saved me a few tickets

**marty** · 28th April 2006, 07:54

personally, i think that you saying how hard it is for you to stay within the posted limit is ridiculous, and shows how poor a driver you are. most late model 1600-2000cc cars are capable of twice the speed limit - as the open road limit is therefore 1/2 their capable top speed, are they correspondingly difficult to drive AT the speed limit? i don't think so.

and you didn't see a camera? your choice to overtake, bad luck. actually, luck doesn't come into it. just poor decision making.

funny, but when i choose to, i don't seem to have any problem keeping my scooter at or near to whatever speed limit i happen to be in at the time. maybe it's just me.

**Colapop** · 28th April 2006, 07:57

It's not that hard to drive at a legal speed? There are plenty of people that do it. If you were that concerned about 'speeding' then why didn't drive at 95-100? There are some pretty anal police out but for the most part if you're being employed to enforce some gummint rules then it would stand to reason that to keep your job you'd do exactly that?
It's not the fact that the road speed limits are wrong or should be different for different vehicles (which they are) the fact is that you got caught - suck it up.

**jonbuoy** · 28th April 2006, 08:09

Originally Posted by marty

personally, i think that you saying how hard it is for you to stay within the posted limit is ridiculous, and shows how poor a driver you are. most late model 1600-2000cc cars are capable of twice the speed limit - as the open road limit is therefore 1/2 their capable top speed, are they correspondingly difficult to drive AT the speed limit? i don't think so.

and you didn't see a camera? your choice to overtake, bad luck. actually, luck doesn't come into it. just poor decision making.

funny, but when i choose to, i don't seem to have any problem keeping my scooter at or near to whatever speed limit i happen to be in at the time. maybe it's just me.

Sorry thats not true - if youre used to riding a bike and you jump in a car or on an unfamiliar bike it is easy to speed without realising how fast your'e going. Especially if its a lot more powerfull than the vehicle your used to traveling in. Drive a Van round the country for a week then jump back on your bike or normal car. Keeping a scooter at the speed limits not hard - breaking the speed limit on a scooter is.

Ditto on Motus comments - French cars are really not set up for cruising at 100Km/H. Most people on the French Autoroutes sit at 80-90 MPH, if you drive any slower you get flashed or tailgated by trucks.

**beyond** · 28th April 2006, 08:21

I agree with the original post.

I have noticed an increasing amount of drivers on the road who appear to be concentrating so much on what speed they are doing that they miss the obvious dangers around them. Motorcyclists are going to have to be more on guard than ever before.

It's a pain following people in a 50kmh semi built up area, when they are working so hard not to go over 50kmh. Many are now sitting on 40 and 45kmh and the same goes for the open road where they are doing 90-95kmh in bright sunny, dry conditions on long straights.

It's getting ridiculous. I believe more people are going to have accidents as they are spending more time looking at their speedos than looking at the road.

Sure, there are nutters out there but there's more people running around raping, pillaging and commiting crime that need sorting out, more so than motorists paranoid about speeding who get caught at 111kmh because they decided to overtake some old granny pootling along at way under the speed limit. Phew.

**scumdog** · 28th April 2006, 08:24

Harden up the lot of you, I jump from a Harley to a hot-rod to a Laser to a diesel Skyline to a 'work' car and more,(and sometimes all on the same day) yet have no trouble not speeding.
Can none of you multi-task?????

**Drunken Monkey** · 28th April 2006, 08:27

Originally Posted by jonbuoy

... French Autoroutes sit at 80-90 MPH, ...

They are French, therefore they do 130 Kilometres per hour!
All that aside, cars do seem to sit more easily in top gear in the rev range they're tuned for, and I would agree with the above observations from Euros I've driven, they seem to be happier to cruise at higher speeds than Jappers, and have a tendency to let you creep until you get used to them (note 'let you creep - the car doesn't creep on its own).

You should try a CVT. You get so used to judging your speed changes by ear, the CVT motor pitch doesn't change when you're cruising and you can find yourself all over the place!

**idb** · 28th April 2006, 08:29

Are you one of those Anal Policemen that he mentioned SD?

Is that a special squad to crack down on arseholes?

**scumdog** · 28th April 2006, 08:33

Originally Posted by idb

Are you one of those Anal Policemen that he mentioned SD?

Is that a special squad to crack down on arseholes?

Yep, SD the AD!!!

(arsehole detector)

**Squeak the Rat** · 28th April 2006, 08:38

Originally Posted by scumdog

Harden up the lot of you, I jump from a Harley to a hot-rod to a Laser to a diesel Skyline to a 'work' car and more,(and sometimes all on the same day) yet have no trouble not speeding.
Can none of you multi-task?????

no longer...

I have no trouble moving between vehicles either, but I'm guessing we both have a little more experience doing this, and driving in general than a Uni student does......?
[Edit:] Can the laser and the HD get to the speed limit?

**jonbuoy** · 28th April 2006, 08:38

Originally Posted by Drunken Monkey

They are French, therefore they do 130 Kilometres per hour!
All that aside, cars do seem to sit more easily in top gear in the rev range they're tuned for, and I would agree with the above observations from Euros I've driven, they seem to be happier to cruise at higher speeds than Jappers, and have a tendency to let you creep until you get used to them (note 'let you creep - the car doesn't creep on its own).

You should try a CVT. You get so used to judging your speed changes by ear, the CVT motor pitch doesn't change when you're cruising and you can find yourself all over the place!

I was driving a british car so I was driving at 80-90MPH.