Proposed NEW Anti-Hoon Laws

[MACCA350]

I am off to chat to a couple of Pollies, armed with this site/thread.

While your at it you can let them know that we see through their excuse for the change from 10% to 3km tolerance for speed traps. If they truly wanted to lower the speed of drivers to save lives they would have simply drop the limits(ie from 110km to 100km). Instead what they did was to lower the tolerance to a level that is below the accuracy of most vehicles odometer tolerance, not to mention within the usual variations in cruise control fluctuations over undulating roads. The effect of this is that more time is spent looking at the odometer and hence less time watching the road.

If they had have simply dropped the speed limit and kept the tolerance level at 10% the net effect would be a real reduction in speed with a realistic tolerance level with people spending more time(than currently) watching the road...........but to their detriment there would be no real increase in revenue due to ridiculously low tolerance levels.

I'm not saying I'd like to see a further reduction in speed limits, I believe such a move would not have the effect of lowering the number of deaths and serious injury on the roads.

Simply put the change does not stop those who constantly exceed the speed limit by 20,30,40+km who endanger others and cause the most serious injury and loss of life..........all it does is increase revenue at the expense of those who who may be over by between 3km and 10%, which virtually every good driver does due to undulating roads, accelerator control fluctuations and even while using cruise control.

We're not idiots, we see straight through their decision. They had two options to reduce marginal speeding, they chose the option that would net them higher revenue.

cheers

 

[Aussiejeff]

More V. interesting up-to-date stuff from the boffins....

http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/

I particularly noted this VERY enlightening graph.... just look at the ENORMOUS leap in crashes from the moment young'uns are released from the responsible care of a mentor/instructor onto the open road with their "P" plates. Doesn't that speak volumes that something is seriously wrong with the licencing system? The graph is from the Monash research article titled "Vehicle safety and young drivers Stages 2 and 3: Analysis of young driver crash types and vehicle choice optimisation".

 

[Mr J]

Well, I would argue that to have a "lack of awareness and caution" when driving IS a state of mind issue!

You're right, place someone on a motorbike and chances are they will become far more aware of their surroundings . And yes, a biker knows it's a battlefield - any ride survived is a victory.

onestly, why can't a more holistic approach to driver licencing be trialled

$$$$$, as well as admitting problems that people may not want out in the open. Who wants to be told they're an unsafe driver? Most people are.

If we really want to improve road skill, make everyone ride a motorbike or scooter for a couple of years. Of course the road toll will rise, so despite the significant increase in skill it would be labelled a disaster .

just look at the ENORMOUS leap in crashes from the moment young'uns are released from the responsible care of a mentor/instructor onto the open road with their "P" plates. Doesn't that speak volumes that something is seriously wrong with the licencing system?

No. All it suggests is that new drivers, when unsupervised, are more likely to crash, and that should be expected. I don't see any problem with the licencing system, just the training. Most here got their licences under more favourable conditions than those under the current system.

 

[Aussiejeff]

Just popped this in to remind us of how "bad" things really are compared to the past....

The rate of reduction of fatalities has diminished over the past few years, which I think is why the authorities are getting a bit more vocal in the media. I wonder how many "horse & cart" fatalities were recorded in that horrendous 1926 Per 10,000 Registered Vehicles figure (approx. 24 compared to today less than 2)?

 

[Mr J]

Might be because everyone is watching their speedo instead of the road :.

 

[jbocker]

Daughter is coming off her Ls in about a week. There has been on 25 hours supervised driving requirement which is now required in WA after passing the road test. I think it has been a good thing. She now has to some computer test (apologies for lack of detail) and then she is free to drive.

But I will show her that graph Aussiejeff and talk about her with her other siblings who did have bingles in their first years (thankfully minor). I did take those bingles as blessings in disguise because it scared the crappola out of both of them.

Agree with you Macca (and others making the same comment) that nit picking the 1-5 km over the limit in general road conditions only makes us cynical of the purpose, agree with it in 40km school zones though.

 

[Happy]

To have more money you not necessarily have to get more, you can more wisely spend what you’ve got and that applies to large spender like our Government.

 

[Aussiejeff]

Coming soon to a Vic Road near you.... (from 1 Jul)

Vic hoon drivers to lose cars for 30 days

AAP

Victorian parents will have to go to court to try to get their cars back if their child is caught hooning in them.

From July, hoon drivers will have their cars impounded for 30 days instead of the current 48 hours.

The penalty increases to three months for a second offence and drivers face the prospect of losing their car altogether if they're caught hooning a third time or can't pay the fines.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-new...-to-lose-cars-for-30-days-20110526-1f5ff.html

Note also ..

The same impoundment provisions will now apply to people who overload cars, following a case where a learner driver was found with nine teenage passengers crammed into his car in Mornington last month.

and most significantly of all,

Under the legislation introduced to parliament on Wednesday night, the impoundment and immobilisation laws have also been broadened to apply to incidents such as repeat offences of unlicensed driving, drink driving and drug driving.

I've gotten sick of hearing about all these repeat drink drive & unlicensed offenders with records as long as their arms. They almost never lost their vehicles long term. Things might change at last.....

One thing I'm curious about - where are they gonna store the thousands of cars that will pile up through all this? LOL.

 

[sptrawler]

With the rate of change at the moment, both enviromentally and financially, I think this will become self resolving.
I love cars and bikes and before my reflexes slowed, it was the faster the better.
I would not be buying a high performance petrol guzzling car, be it a phase3 xy or a hk327, the push is on to remove ourselves from middle east oil dependence.
As America disengages itself from oil reliance, they will be working frantically on how to charge users for filling their electric vehicle.
One would think they will use a weird voltage for recharging, that only government certified distributers can use.LOL.
But no matter what happens electric vehicles will stop hooning, it will probably download overnight to the police department if you have done anything wrong.

 

[Glen48]

Damn I thought this was going to be a post about elected Government, Government officers and free loaders.

GG no doubt you had a stubbie after the drive or maybe before, a Darwin stubbie does quench a thirst.
I knew a fellow who had b8 palcon mit poor on de ploor and his name was Electric Motor a fine driver in NT with a packet of rotmans pilters he got about 1 plagon to 100 k's.

The feds will increase traffic fines to raise income and innocent driver's will be trapped.

 

[Glen48]

http://lewrockwell.com/spl3/black-boxes-for-cars.html

Bet not many knew they were paying for this on their new car.

 

[Tightwad]

We have a similar law here... big press release to show the first crushed car... it was something like an old magna, probably only worth the scrap value.

I have some cyclist friends who don't hesitate to report hoons who throw missiles etc. The cops turn up and they are dealt with.. I've heard of a couple of cases where they've taken an interest in their horticultural pursuits.

 

[Glen48]

You can take a horticultural but you can't make her think.

 

[Ruby]

The feds will increase traffic fines to raise income and innocent driver's will be trapped.

Glen, if drivers are fined, it is because they have broken a traffic law, therefore they are not innocent.

 

[Ruby]

But no matter what happens electric vehicles will stop hooning, it will probably download overnight to the police department if you have done anything wrong.

What a wonderful prospect!

 

[inq]

Car cc's under 1200 for P platers, however this is just delaying a problem. Oh and ban rotary's for P Platers naturally. Can't go that hard in a 1.1L Mini!

 

[Greg]

I think the new laws are well overdue. Crushing the car after 3 "errors of judgement" might get a few of these idiots off the roads. Having 48 hours without a car has been no deterrent as far as I can see. Increasing the fines is unlikely to deter them, I doubt they pay the fines anyway. My guess is that most of the hoons that lose their licence are probably continuing to drive without a licence anyway.

In most cases, the hoons we hear about, or see on TV have no respect for the law, the road rules or other road users. Taking their cars off them is a start, but keeping them off the roads is another issue.

How about the loser in the news a couple of weeks ago; doing donuts in a police station car park. Gee, I bet his parents are really proud of him. Doorstop.