Christchurch crash facts

[Kickaha]

It would make sense ... if there was a quota. But there isn't ... he told me that himself.

He wouldn't lie to me ... would he ... ???

Well he said so here

I come home via that route most days.

I consider that most drivers wouldn't cut the road markings if the Waimak engineers had engineered the intersection for drivers.

Yeah, I could fill the quota there, .

Maybe he meant his quota of donuts

[Jantar]

Like FJR said, this has been a national roading policy for some time now. The idea is to slow down vehicles entering the main road and to make them look.

In fine weather and in daylight that is great, but often at night and with those sodium lamps that now appear at every intersection, the actual layout of the road is hidden, and the number of crashes increases. Just have a look at most of those roads and you'll find skid marks imediately before the kink and/or tyre marks going off road and following the old layout. Yes, there may be fewer collisions at the intersection, but more crashes overall.

[swbarnett]

Really? You can't ride and enjoy it without exceeding the speed limit plus tolerance?

I most certainly can. However, I still don't see why we have to have one limit for all when clearly we don't all have the same riding/driving ability, awareness etc. It just doesn't make sense.

You'll have to excuse me but I don't do anything just because some supposed authority tells me to. Especially when it's my own body that's at risk.

Okay, allow me to rephrase.

No speed in excess of the speed limit, no speeding ticket for exceeding the speed limit.

Better, at least this is factually correct.

[swbarnett]

The intersection is inanimate it doesn't lead people to do anything, their shitty driving habits do

Actually, the way an inanimate object is designed can have a profound affect on human behaviour. Sounds like that intersection has very poor affordance.

[scumdog]

I most certainly can. However, I still don't see why we have to have one limit for all when clearly we don't all have the same riding/driving ability, awareness etc. It just doesn't make sense.

You'll have to excuse me but I don't do anything just because some supposed authority tells me to. Especially when it's my own body that's at risk.


Better, at least this is factually correct.

That's troll.....riiigghht???

It had better be......

[FJRider]

However, I still don't see why we have to have one limit for all when clearly we don't all have the same riding/driving ability, awareness etc. It just doesn't make sense.

You'll have to excuse me but I don't do anything just because some supposed authority tells me to. Especially when it's my own body that's at risk.

It's that difference in ability's that make the speed limit's safer for all road users ...

If it's only your body that's on the road ... maybe. But the thing is ... you wont know for certain it is. Those other bodys then rely on your abilitys ... not to put them at risk.

Do/will you trust them .. and can/will they trust you ... ???

[swbarnett]

That's troll.....riiigghht???

It had better be......

Not at all. Remember that the removal of speed limits does not necessarily lead to a rise in the road toll. Or, for that matter, the risk of being on the road.

The only reason we have a speed limit at all is that some politician wanted to get votes from those misguided souls that believe speed is the ultimate evil. That and the fact that it's easy to police.

Do/will you trust them

I don't now and never will, speed limit or no. I don't care what speed anyone rides/drives at. I accept that I'm not alone on the road and ride accordingly.

.. and can/will they trust you ... ???

I hope not. Anybody that trusts other road users needs to start taking responsibility for themselves and stop expecting others to look after them.

[rastuscat]

Mr Rastuscat,
I haz a questions.

Seriously.
In my current job I travel around 1000k per week driving a light vehicle (not a truck)
Having a GPS to guide me has been most educational.
What I have discovered is that driving over the speed limit doesn't really shorten my travel time enough to be be worth the drama and risk
However, what quickly lengthens my journey time is encountering many many road users travelling at 80 - 85kph

I know the speed limit isn't a target and if the conditions change adjust your speed and all of that. I also realise that reduced speed achieves more time to correct a mistake and less energy to dissapate in the event something goes wrong.

Those road users are obviously travelling at a speed that they feel safe and comfortable with so I applaud that.
What I wish was reinforced was the message that if another road user catches up to you they are obviously comfortable with a little more pace. Our roads are narrow and often without great vision so if the slower driver were to make a bit of effort the other driver could be past and on their way.

For me, if someone catches me I let them through and wish them well. I wouldn't call myself a great driver but I do try to be aware of what around me and drive accordingly

What is the police position on this? For sure at peak holiday periods there is a half hearted message along these lines. Its pretty poor driving but largely tolerated otherwise.

Thats a bigger question than you may have imagined.

The Police position, officially, is that it's offence to hold up traffic by driving too slowly. People should pull to the left, and let following traffic go past.

Now for the complicated bit. Your GPS is truly a big issue. Most cars have speedos that read optimistically by, at 100km/h indicated, maybe 6-10 kmh. So, someone who is driving at what they think is 100, is actually probably doing 94-ish. So you come up behind them on your GPS equipped vehicle, knowing how fast you are actually doing, expecting them to move left and let you past. They, on the other hand, think they are doing 100, so bugger the hoon behind them who wants past.

Add the Police tolerance in, and it gets really interesting. The GPS equipped dude (or dudette), knowing that the Police tolerance means they can do 110 on the open road and not get snapped, has a 16 km/h differential pissing them right off. The apparently snails pace driver, still convinced that the GPS loony should be doing no more than 100, slows down to 95, in case their speed creeps on a slight downhill, and they get their photo taken at 101, something they perceive incorrectly.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

In terms of the practicality of enforcing the rule, I posted a few months back about a case I witnessed. I saw a bloke tottering along at 70 in a 100 area, with about 11 cars strung our behind him. I was on Highways at the time, and driving a Popo car. I was going in the opposite direction. I wasn't able to u-turn after him until the 11 unhappy drivers went past. Then I had to drive fairly aggressively with lights and siren on to get past the 11 drivers, none of whom had felt it safe to overtake the 70kmh loony, and yet expecting me to overtake them to get to him. Anyway, I did, pulled the chap over, and therafter suffered a lecture about quotas, revenue collecting, blah blah blah. I wrote the ticket. Immediately I had stopped the miscreant, the 11 drivers drove past, some clapping for me having done what I did, some shaking their fist at what the miscreat had done.

See, it's bloody dangerous to enforce that law. I had to drive in a manner I was pretty uncomfortable with, in order to get the job done. Its the job, but it doesn't mean it's fun, at times. I want to go home to my family at night too.

Lots more I could say on this one, as the slow pokes on the road piss me off too. Spatial awareness at the start of passing lanes deserves a chapter on its own, care for a sermon on that?

Hey, great to see the hearty discussion on this.

[Gremlin]

They, on the other hand, think they are doing 100, so bugger the hoon behind them who wants past.

I feel this attitude is typical of NZ drivers, but question why? If someone wants to go faster, then over to them, hell if I want them riding on my back bumper! Neither am I the police so if they want to, and it's no risk to me, then leave them to it.

I've slowed at the top of passing lanes (when in left lane) because I saw a vehicle coming up behind travelling more quickly and knew at my present speed they wouldn't get past. Instead, I slow down a bit to give them more space and they can carry on at their pace.

[rastuscat]

I feel this attitude is typical of NZ drivers, but question why? If someone wants to go faster, then over to them, hell if I want them riding on my back bumper!

Yeah, cant understand the aggravation.

The other day I was riding in heavy traffic on Johns Road, Churchur. I overtook a small white truck, got well past, and pulled into the gap between him and the semi trailer ahead of him. Next thing he pulls up left of me and bellows at me that I had taken his space.

Wot? Like me getting ahead had somehow adversely affected him. Plonker. When it pisses down with rain, he can put his wipers on, I can't. Thats the advantage of having a cage. When I use a bike to it's advantage by overtaking where I can, why does he get pissy at me?

Knobs are out there.

Donuts are too, luckily.

[Drew]

Um ...

On the corner mentioned (and pictured) ... they don't. (hence the grumbles about that corner) And on many corners other than that one as well.

I missed the picture. Where is it exactly?

[Kickaha]

Next thing he pulls up left of me and bellows at me that I had taken his space.

You should have dragged him out his side window and bashed him

[oneofsix]

You should have dragged him out his side window and bashed him

Nah he should have just posted him a ticket for dangerous or careless driving

[rastuscat]

However, I still don't see why we have to have one limit for all when clearly we don't all have the same riding/driving ability, awareness etc. It just doesn't make sense.

Actually, in the real world, it does.

How does an enforcement officer know the ability level of a driver, and so what tolerance to apply to them?

Shit hot riders like yourself will, of course, have a far greater tolerance than all those other inferior drivers/riders.

The reason a limit is applied across the board it that it is easy to understand for the majority of people, it's unambiguous.

Sorry, venting.

[rastuscat]

Nah he should have just posted him a ticket for dangerous or careless driving

I was riding my own bike at the time, and if I'd done work on my own bike, I would have had to claim overtime.

Cant have that.