If speed kills, is this premeditated murder?

[martybabe]

rather black and yellow checked Highway Patrol thingies... did they privatise it or somefink?

Yes they did but the yellow and blacks are primarily for rapid response to incidents that hold up the traffic flow, breakdowns RTAs Spilled cargo etc. They are civvies and do not have any legal powers. They do have a hot line to the police for back up though.

80 mph is a good move I think for UK motorways, even at that speed heading towards Londinium on the M40 or M4, you'd be Mr slowpoke. The reality, in England of course is that every one will just be rushing faster towards the next traffic jam.

[Whynot]

makes sense ... even if it just brings them into line with the rest of europe, which has typically 120-130k limit on motorways.

[Banditbandit]

Murder by definition is premeditated. (pretty much). So your question is "if excessive speed kills, is that murder?" Answer: not likely to be, but in some circumstances it could be (for example, that guy who tried to commit suicide by driving into oncoming traffic: tragically killing the mother and daughter).

the key for murder pretty much is intention. (if you dont intend to kill, or arent so reckless as to not care whether you kill or not, then you have committed mans laughter, not murder.) Of course the penalty for murder is mandatory life imprisonment , and the maximum for mans laughter is the same penalty.

So, you know..... its complicated.

Who rattled your serious chain then ?

[MSTRS:Me]

... 80kph limit...trundling along...kind of nodded off...came to when the bike crossed into the grass verge...

If I had been doing 180kph then obviously that wouldn't have happened...

You would have been dead by the time you woke up?

[Smifffy]

Only a very small percentage of New Zealand's roads would come close to the motorway system that the UK have.

To compare our roads to theirs is an exercise in the ridiculous.

So how about just a few then, like say, brand new motorway extensions, or toll roads?

Supposedly these are built to the best safety standards achievable?

[Swoop]

I wonder what our curent crop of dickhead rulers (MPs) might think of that?

They would have to go to Victoria and be told what their opinion is.

[PeeJay]

What amazes me is "only" 132 deaths on their motorways for 2009.

[oneofsix]

What amazes me is "only" 132 deaths on their motorways for 2009.

Better roads

[Whynot]

What amazes me is "only" 132 deaths on their motorways for 2009.

Thats not a lot when you consider how many motorways they have and the amount of traffic on each one ...

[Juzz976]

I think if you take too much speed and it kills you its suicide or accidental suicide.

On a serious note though raising the speed limit in a congested area only increases fuel consumption and less time between queuing at intersections & on/off ramps.

For example: traveling from papamoa to mount maunganui on the SH, you can do 100kph untill either 1 of 2 things.

- Get stuck behind domeone doing 85-90 untill the roundabout
- Get to the que faster.

now if you travel at 80-85 by the time you get to the roundabout you just roll on through, less braking and less wasted fuel.

The other side is slow drivers will not increase their speed and anyone in a hurry has better opportunity of passing within the speed limit... less road rage?

[HenryDorsetCase]

Who rattled your serious chain then ?

Um, yeah. sorry about that. occupational hazard.

[Swoop]

What amazes me is "only" 132 deaths on their motorways for 2009.

For a country with a population of 50 million I think they are doing very well indeed.
Perhaps they train their drivers better and don't give away "scratch and win" licences?


edit: Interesting info here.
UK: 3.59/100,000people.
NZ: 8.6/100,000people.

[p.dath]

What amazes me is "only" 132 deaths on their motorways for 2009.

Perhaps it is hard to "die" of an accident when the traffic is stop/start?

[SPman]

I see no harm in raising the limit at least to that of the similar roads in Australia.

What? 80kph?
The new "freeway" to Bunbury has great stretches of 80K limits. The excuse - the on-ramps aren't long enough for vehicles to accelerate to 110kph and merge safely with the traffic flow! I don't know what they used as an example - a 1936 Austin 7???? The ticket take was about 380 an hour just after they opened it and it's still heavily policed......

[schrodingers cat]

The way things are on Southern Roads with all the trucks (Cheers Fonterra), lack of passing opportunities on our roads, and the unwillingness of people to pass, the speed limit might as well be 80kph.

Did I mention all the camper vans??? Grrrrrrrrrr