Boxing Day Special - Average Speed Cameras coming our way!

[miSTa]

She said speed was the biggest killer on the roads.


"The faster you go the bigger the mess. Speed or going too fast for the conditions is a factor in 30 per cent of all fatal crashes.

What? So 70% of fatal crashes isn't speed? But speed is the biggest killer? Maybe it's the alcohol riddled mind playing tricks.

[Swoop]

What? So 70% of fatal crashes isn't speed? But speed is the biggest killer?

It is the sober kiwi drivers and their "driving skills" that should concern Ms Rose.
Unfortunately she believes her own propaganda that "speed kills". There is nothing surer than the fact that this is another revenue grab.

[NZsarge]

Yeah, but according to KB Honda riders, Kawasaki riders, cage drivers, people from Dannevegas, a large percentage of bike riders, cyclists, and probably just about everyone else you care to mention are muppets so I guess they very accurately represent all NZers.

Yeah.... I don't see what that's got to do with the subject matter at hand, distance based radar and how it won't work.

[Berries]

...and on the Nottingham ring road

They are still in use in Nottingham, and not just on the ring road.

[scumdog]

There is nothing surer than the fact that this is another revenue grab.

Hmm...well SOMEBODY must be paying this 'revenue' 'cos I ain't.



(Not since 1987 that is)

[fliplid]

(Not since 1987 that is)

Last ticket?

[AllanB]

Pretty sure that is how they worked out your speed with helicopters years back - two lines painted on the road and a cop with a stopwatch in the wirly-bird.


The same way they work out your speed at Bonneville - two lines and time covered between them gives the average speed.

[John_H]

Maybe it is a revenue grab, maybe resources could be spent elsewhere but at the end of the day all it is is enforcement of the law. I'm no angel, I don't ride at the speed limit but I can't hold it against the government for enforcing what I know and everyone else knows to be the speed limit. Maybe I'm being naive, it's just my opinion (probably unpopular), I don't like getting tickets any more than the next person but I accept that if I choose to break the law I may get caught by people trying to enforce it to the best ability.

[TOTO]

well at least all of our maths is going to get really good from doing all the average speed calculations

[Squiggles]

Harder to get pinged for a momentary slip up with them...

[javawocky]

Reckon there should just be at least one pub to stop at in the zone.
"The Faster You Go, The More you must Drink!"

[breakaway]

What? So 70% of fatal crashes isn't speed? But speed is the biggest killer? Maybe it's the alcohol riddled mind playing tricks.

Personally, I think middle aged balding men with small penis syndrome and/or mid life crisis in their SUVs or late model holdens are the biggest killer on the road. Nearly had a head on with one when he decided to overtake a car just before entering a 50 zone , and I was driving my car. Hate to think how this bloke treats bikes. Also, he had his wife riding shotgun and two children in the back.

And these type of people never get pulled over, because they don't stick out like dog balls like a boy racer would.

[scumdog]

Personally, I think middle aged balding men with small penis syndrome and/or mid life crisis in their SUVs or late model holdens are the biggest killer on the road. Nearly had a head on with one when he decided to overtake a car just before entering a 50 zone , and I was driving my car. Hate to think how this bloke treats bikes. Also, he had his wife riding shotgun and two children in the back.

And these type of people never get pulled over, because they don't stick out like dog balls like a boy racer would.

Driving as you have described would get anybody pulled over.


If at the time they get seen by a cop..

[2wheeled Gasman]

Looks like Cops are finally getting their dream come true!

"Police roading national manager Superintendent Paula Rose confirmed police were investigating setting up point-to-point cameras, which record the time a car takes to travel between two points on the open road."

I can't wait to see how many lives they save!

Didn't they try this system back in the 1980's, along with the eye in the sky'?

[swbarnett]

... I accept that if I choose to break the law I may get caught by people trying to enforce it to the best ability.

Agree 100%.

We have a catch 22 situation with our speed limit laws (among other laws). The problem is that speed limits exists "to improve public safety". Even if you accept that TPTB actually believe this and it's not a revenue grab, the law is based on "lies, damn lies and statistics" backed up by emotion. It is demonstrably evident that our speed limit laws do nothing to improve public safety. This leaves us in a situation whereby exceeding the speed limit where conditions allow in order to increase the "fun" factor of driving can leave you out of pocket and possibly without a license.

We then have two choices - 1. exercise our inalienable human right to enjoy life as we see fit while doing no harm to anyone* and accept the concequences when we get caught or 2. Stay within the law while we fight to have the laws changed.

Option 2 is a hard road indeed. It is almost impossible to affect change when you are fighting moralisers who run on nothing but emotion and won't even listen to a reasoned argument. It is, in effect, the same as trying to convince a deeply religous person that God does not exist. Even if you have irrefutable proof they will not accept the facts as presented.

This is why most, if not all, of those that disagree with the need for speed limits (or at least where they have been set) choose option 1. The chances of getting caught on any given ride are almost negligable and you don't suffer from the soul destroying stress of political activism.


* I'm talking about driving above the speed limit but still within the limits of the conditions, not hooning at 300k round a blind corner on the wrong side of the road past a primary school ejecting copious numbers of unpredictable infants.