NZ Police: Safety or $$$ (A little fuel to the fire)

[MikeL]

have a snack or coffee, talk on the cell/txt and possibly have a wank or blowy......

Well, I've seen a couple of those behaviours regularly. As for the others, well I find it hard to believe.
I mean, what with the danger of spilling hot coffee all over yourself...

Anyway, having had one car written off by a txting idiot, what I really find hard to believe is that use of cellphones has been put into the too-hard basket. This really confirms the suspicion that real solutions and creative thinking are not part of the agenda.

[Rhino]

The amount of sub speed-limit "accidents waiting to happen" drivers is shocking.
As most of you guys will have witnessed while riding bikes, paying attention seems to be the largest problem!
Its far easier to blame something as easy as SPEED!
Most cage drivers think they are perfectly safe at or just under the speed limit, and they've been taught to think that from all the advertising that insists speeding will kill them.
Once they are at this speed they can then forget to pay attention, have a snack or coffee, talk on the cell/txt and possibly have a wank or blowy......
Seems ridiculous, but if you don't speed and haven't had a drink then the mass population thinks nothing else matters and they will reach their destination safely!

A very good obsevation. I travel Auckland - Tauranga and return quite often and the number of "brain in neutral" drivers I see travelling at around 85 kph thinking that they are "perfectly safe" is astounding.

They don't seem to realise that wandering all over the road like a lovesick cow is likely to get them (or some other innocent body) maimed/killed. I don't even want to start about the number of drivers that find it impossible to take a right hand bend without hvaing two wheels over the centre line

[jimbo600]

I tell ya another thing too. I cycle to work each day. Thats 30km each way. Yeah yeah I know how some folk feel about cyclists, but anyway its not the guy speeding at 120kmh that I need to worry about, its always the dumb arse fucker who can't drive for shit and isn't paying attention. The amount of times I've nearly been collected, or have witnessed a near miss from these twats is unbelievable.

[Brian d marge]

Search for the 80 / 20 rule , see what happened in Canada,

100 km//h is too fast in some situations and 50 k also , When I returned for a holiday ( you see things from a different point of view )

I found that 100 km/h was way to fast , but in some situations it was stupidly slow ( thinking of a long straight road in the N I )

Though there is a lot of road structures in NZ such as trees and telegraph poles , and hitting them hurts and the faster u go the more it hurts ( and costs)

So insert the 80 /20 , not going to explain it here , but set the speed limit to the conditions ...say 110 on that straight road , with a 10kph fudge factor

In the city, the big wide roads 50 km is bizzare .... on Some of the suburbian roads I drove on ,,, I would be virtually impossible to have an accident ( assuming one was paying attention !)

But passing a school bus Go wide and slow right down ! 30 km/h its only for a few Meters 1


No it comes right down to The Responsability of the road User. The average English speaking Serf , ( cause the same atitude is in other countrys ) Has big problems accepting this. ( watch, say a fast bikes video, and the Hardly cross the center line even when doing stunts , Now watch the average Kiwi ,,,,,,,)

The average serf needs to change his/her attitude to driving, The government needs to come out of the dark ages with regard to traffic management .

Sorry, but one last thing ,,, But I have to also point the finger at Auto manufacturers

I like Hp and speed as much as the next person . But the speed limit ( Max speed one may travel at ) is 100km/h


So why are 150 Hp vehicles sold ? There are places where the speed limit isnt enforced . such as the Autoban ( but How many Autobans are there ? not a lot )

How many people Honestly went into the dealership and bought a bike based on top speed or Hp ( unless you had track days in mind as well)

There are other things such as Torque, sound and looks

and if one did need a mega bike, why isnt there a speed switch fitted ? flick the switch and the bike is limited to 60 km/h? So you can concentrate on the road not the speedo !

So to summarize ,, the Driver needs to pull his/her head in regarding their road skills, and the government could be a bit more proactive and come out of the dark ages regarding its roading policies ( hell we have ABS brakes now ,,,,)


Stephen


Ps the 80 /20 seemed to apply 80 % of the drivers I saw were fine ,,and driving well .......

[The Tazman]

Search for the 80 / 20 rule , see what happened in Canada,

On the subject of Canada. A few years ago the government that got in, got in because they recognised that people were getting pissed off with revenue gathering speed cameras and told everyone if they got in they'd get rid of them. Surprise surprise they got in and camera's went!!!!

Top Gear also disproved the so called Black spot theory in the uk with the four most dangerous roads in the uk totalling something like 200 miles and how many cameras were in this total mileage????? 4!!!! out of thousands in the country.

Also if they really wanted you to slow down why don't they put themselves in view rather than finding hiding places! ! ! ! ! !

[Ewan Oozarmy]

Top Gear also disproved the so called Black spot theory in the uk with the four most dangerous roads in the uk totalling something like 200 miles and how many cameras were in this total mileage????? 4!!!! out of thousands in the country.

Also if they really wanted you to slow down why don't they put themselves in view rather than finding hiding places! ! ! ! ! !

I used to like the "black spot" theory because it meant I could legally use a GPS device in my car/bike which warned me where all the cameras where....saved my license on many on occasion.

Also, the good thing about the cameras in England was you hardly ever saw a traffic cop.....

[marty]

here's a thought/comparison.

i have the potential to earn $109000 a year tax free. if i want to earn any more, i have to pay tax on the whole amount.

i'll take the $109k thanks. any other payments will be under the table, and done out of the glare of the tax dept........

and if i DO happen to do any cashies, i won't be coming on here to brag about it

[The Tazman]

I used to like the "black spot" theory because it meant I could legally use a GPS device in my car/bike which warned me where all the cameras where....saved my license on many on occasion.

Also, the good thing about the cameras in England was you hardly ever saw a traffic cop.....

Granted that was a good thing about them along with the more front facing ones for us bikers But still I think the uk has more cameras per mile of road than any other place in the world!! Make for a shitty drive.

I did also read that if everyone decided to contest their tickets and asked to go to court over it then the whole system would crash as they wouldn't be able to process it all!!!!! That could make for a rage against the machine!!!!

[Ewan Oozarmy]

But still I think the uk has more cameras per mile of road than any other place in the world!! Make for a shitty drive.

Definitely! There were some stretches of road where you be like 80mph....40....70...40....85...40.....with my GPS device screaming at me every couple of hundred metres.

At least they had the decency to paint the cameras bright yellow

[SPman]

I can remember when it was 80kmh, be careful what you ask for

Yeah, but we were all driving Morris Minors then and a fast bike could only do 120!... er 200k

[Cr1MiNaL]

yup, I'm presuming that the police have quotas to meet. But my mate got ticketed for doing 85 in an 80 comming in from a 100 zone... so that with all due respect to the authorities is not fair... I believe there is some allowance (100m) before they are allowed to zap you or something... I couldn't find it on the LTSA web site when I checked last.

[bomma]

hey isaac, nice stats mate and all the other posts here have a great point

firstly i am not angry or was angry at actually getting a ticket....i broke the law (having recently received a speeding ticket and probably one of the persons that macstar meant about some of his KB mates who have been complaining)

but i think that on any OPEN road where you have amazing visibility (of the road ahead) and the weather is permitting for faster speeds, the road should be similar to the Autobahn (as long as you do not put anybody else at risk through stupid overtaking or risky manouvers). And i say OPEN roads because the likelyhood of a kid running across the road or a dumass in a cage pulling out in front of you are very VERY slim on the OPEN roads while in city it is an ever-present threat.

i know what i said has many flaws as it would be hard to enforce as once again it would be upto the discretion of each person as to:
1) what is a "risky" manouver
2) how much visibility do you need
3) what conditions are "weather permitting for faster speeds"

but i think it is stupid to expect the average joe to sit on a completely empty road at a constant 100-110kph. It is ludacris that we get pinged on such roads where speeding would cause bugger-all problems for anybody.

Police discretion is also bs!! In a beauracratic organisation such as the Police Force, how is it that the same action can have various results?? For some (including myself), although this is beneficial i think it should come down to the circumstances surrounding each case. If i speed in the Auckland CBD or around a school and i get pinged then hell yea i deserve a ticket. If im doing 140 on a road that is drier than a desert, on a passing lane while passing cages and get pinged, whats the difference?? Its probably better that i go faster as ill get past the car and wont sit in its blindspot waiting to get hit.

Quotas arent all that matter but their conduct really shows their character.

[DougieNZ]

Hi All,

IMHO

You can quote all the stats or figures you like.
You can argue about whether or not there is a quota.
You can talk about whether cops should be doing other things.
You can blame the government.
You can blame cage drivers.
You may or may not agree with the tolerance.

You can say it's a tax..

I saw the top road cop on TV not so long ago. The question of the tax was put to him. he said something that I reckon is dead right:

If it is a tax, it is the easiest to evade in the country. Don't speed!!

I have paid quite a few tickets over the years. Do I blame the cops for any of them? NO!

The law is the law. We all know it. if we break it, then we pay the consequences. Isn't it that simple???

Its hard to demand discretion when some dickhead YouTubes it being given and a nationawide manhunt is on for the cop responsible!

[bomma]

think some people are missing the point of this thread.....

it is not simply to bitch and complain how we got speeding tickets....

we have just identified a problem, a problem which we have all endured. Obviously if 6-7/10 road users are getting speeding tickets then the bar is obviously set really really low!!

I agree with all those posts that say that it is not speed that is the problem but the driver. I mean theres 1000's of drivers out there who drive as though they got their licence from a cereal box!!! The number of times that morons going up mt eden road (opposite mt eden mcycles) cross the centre line and have their car half in the bus lane almost taking out cyclists and bikers is amazing...all because they want a shorter line or a steeper turning curve?!?!

Instead of concentrating just on speed management, why dont we introduce new testing methods. The fact that i can drive at 50kph, make a few lefts and rights and keep an eye out for signs while sitting my drivers test doesnt make me a good driver....

P.S. While on this topic, does anybody else feel that licence testing in nz is biased against young males??

[DougieNZ]

think some people are missing the point of this thread.....

it is not simply to bitch and complain how we got speeding tickets....

Hmmmm

A bit of this though

I am a "safe speeder" officer, you should ticket the unsafe ones!

I am a fantastic driver, what about all those other morons out there?

When I speed, it is perfectly safe - what about all those other people?

I should be able to travel at whatever speed I like - what about all those other offences that you should be working on.....?

Or the best: "I'm a motorcyclist, then only one who will be hurt is me....!"

Hmmm...