What is Going ON ??

[Gumby]

This road toll stuff is out of control at the moment.

Just heard that there's a 2 car collision near Donald (country vic) and 5 dead !

[Gra]

What can we do, there was an accident last weekend with 6 people in a 300ZX, at best these cars were a 2+2 how the @#$% did they fit six people in that thing. You cant legislate against stupidity.

What I recomend is that the government do something to comemorate Brocky's death. That would be tale his advise and make advanced driving courses maditory. make them regular (Every time you renew your license). This will improve the quality of all drivers and maybe sort out some of the @#$% out there.

[Wongo]

It really worries me. We hear about the national road toll all the time but people just don’t get it. For goodness’ sake people, just slow down and drive sensibly.

The problem is if you do 80 in a 80K zone then people think that you are crazy. Still it is better to get them annoyed then killed.

[Buzzer]

Tragic to hear about the continuing road toll.

We are told about the deaths, but not the circumstances leading to the event. ie. weather drugs,alcohol, inexperience, weather/road conditions, driver error/stupidity were involved.

Just a few words in news headlines.

If it were a plane crash, it seems to make a major news story.

[Iain]

What bothers me most is that it is usually the innocent party that are killed, recent case in question with a Mother being killed while a 14 year old witness rescued the baby fromn the wreck.
It appeared she was hit head on by an out of control speeding motorist.
Sit on the speed limit and often you are tailgated, beeped at, headlights flshed, passed dangerously and then cut off to show their displeasure in your selfish attitude towards obeying the road laws.
I rarely knowingly exceed the limit and am appalled at the arrogance of young female P platers who want to 'show me how it's done'.
Usually in a little tin box versus my 2.25 tonne Landcruiser, not really a sensible move.

[craigb]

appalled at the arrogance of young female P platers who want to 'show me how it's done'.
Usually in a little tin box ....

You get that in Vic too huh?

What is that all about. How come they get so agressive as soon as they get their 'P's and a Ford Fiesta?

[Guy]

I moved to this country 18 years ago and was shocked( and still am) at how bad the driving here is, we have road laws here but it seem PC Plod isnt interested in enforcing those only every now and then when they have a blitz.
Take keep to the left unless overtaking, i travel approx 1500KM a week around town and country and regulary see strings of cars in the right hand lane and just me in the left hand with the centre lane free, whilst PC plod is at the side of road with his speed gun.
If he were to pu;; over all those cars he would get more in revenue that a single car every now and then.
Travelled to Horsham last week and didnt see a single copper on the road from Malvern to there and back, where are they?
Trucks over 4.5tonne should be banned from using the right hand lane on any road greater than 2 lanes as it the way done in Europe where they have plenty more trucks on the road than here.
Towing trailers, they should be forced to drive at a max of 80kmh on freeways and major highways.
Until Beurocrats get off there big fat bums and look at redoing road rules and legislation nothing will happen.

I live on Dandenong road right on the corner of a busy intersection and have witnessed so much death and stupidity. 9 killed in past 6 years of living there between the Rosstown Hotel and Waverley road intersection. These days i dont even bother to go out when there is a loud bang.
Myself and the other residents in the area have petitioned the police, state gov, local council for the installation of fixed speed/ red;light cameras to get the red light runners and speedsters to no avail, its like a bloody drag track on a fri, sat and sunday night.
Each group just says speak to them out hands are tied, the minister of ( stupidity,carnage) transport says there is no budget even though i worked it out it would take 3 month to pay for its self, where does the $426 Million raised in fines go other than general revenue.

Country and city roads are disgraceful, instead of placing traffic lights add more round abouts these slow traffic down and makes them travell more smoothly if they are used correctly.

Make it compulsary for all new drivers to learn on a manual and drive one for at least 4 years, and have an engine capacity of 2 litres or less and nothing souped up either.

Rant over

[Wood Butcher]

One thing that amazes me is peoples lack of knowledge in regards to particularly roundabouts. And it gets even worse when they make a 2 lane version.:eek:

I think that every few years it should be compulsory to sit a refresher theory exam at least. The road rules do change and there is nothing ensuring that peoples knowledge is kept up to date.

But, having said that, most of the accidents around here have involved younger people with insufficient knowledge thinking they know everything, driving like idiots!

[ozwinner]

I rarely knowingly exceed the limit and am appalled at the arrogance of young female P platers who want to 'show me how it's done'.
.

Same here, young females seem more aggresive then young blokes. :confused:

Maybe they think they have something to prove to us older drivers?

Al :confused:

[Stuart]

One thing that amazes me is peoples lack of knowledge in regards to particularly roundabouts. And it gets even worse when they make a 2 lane version.:eek:

Perhaps they should go to Swindon in England and learn roundabouts there....



To decypher what you are seeing - there are 5 roads, each with between 1 and 4 lanes all meeting at a colossal roundabout. (A total of about 14 lanes meeting!!) There are 5 mini roundabouts at each road entrance surrounding the central one. Cars navigate the small roundabouts in the normal direction, and go backwards around the centre one!!! :eek:

[keith53]

This road toll stuff is out of control at the moment.

Just heard that there's a 2 car collision near Donald (country vic) and 5 dead !

Ten news here just claimed up to 7. Absolute tragedy

[Bleedin Thumb]

Why is that all about. How come they get so agressive as soon as they get their 'P's and a Ford Fiesta?

Me too what the hell is with these young girls? I can uderstand boys = excess testostrone - no brains.
Anyhow it could be worse we could live in a lot of other countries.
Road fatalities in 2003
Australia 1,716
Indonesia 30,464
Malaysia 6,282
Philippines 9,000
Thailand 13,116
Thats one hell of a lot of misery.

[Groggy]

What kind of answer is there to this? We have maximum speed limits of 110 kph and cars that can do more than twice that, and get there with neck snapping accelleration.

Add some attrocious attitudes to those vehicles, a lack of controls coupled with weak penalties and fatalities are unavoidable.

[martrix]

China

Officially, the Chinese government says 300 people die every day in vehicle crashes on the country's roads and byways. But the World Health Organization says that the real number is 680 traffic deaths a day. That compares with about 115 per day in the United States, where there are about eight times as many vehicles as in China, according to figures from the Chinese government and R.L. Polk & Co.

Based on the WHO real numbers, that is 239,360 people dead in 1 year, just from Car accidents............

[Stuart]

Australia: 1,716, population 19,564,792, percent 0.009%
Indonesia: 30,464, population 231,328,092, percent 0.013%
Malaysia: 6,282, population 22,662,365, percent 0.028%
Philippines 9,000, population 84,525,639, percent 0.011%
Thailand 13,116, population 62,354,402, percent 0.021%

Of course, these stats change massively when you rebalance the population by the number of vehicles per capita.

For example, if you took the Phillipines where there are only 31 vehicles per 1000 people (cf Australia with 619 / 1000)

then it becomes 0.343% Phillipines cf 0.014% Australia.

So yeah, Australia isn't bad compared to those Asian countries listed.


To factor China in
China 248,200, population 1,284,303,705, percent 0.019%

If you take into account the number of vehicles in China (10 per 1000), it becomes 1.933%