Speed limit raised to 120 km/h...

Western ring road and the calder freeway now have point to point speed cameras so you can never speed in between cameras... Lot's of revenue now

Living in the bush the only thing that worries me is that our accident blackspots are not the narrow windy roads but the open straight ones. People don't have a feel for how much longer it takes to react and stop when you go faster. One of the more tragic accidents was when a local mother and two toddlers were killed when going through an intersection when the driver was going just a "little" over the 100km speed limit.

Having lived at Uluru in the NT for 4 years and having to drive to Alice Springs (454km one way) at least once a month I agree that the faster you were driving the more concentration, especially when there is nothing to look at in the middle of the desert. When doing 100km/h out there you felt like you were doing about 60km/h and became quite boring and potential for micro-sleeping increased.

I say up the speed limit.............I also drive around 120km/h most of the time now in QLD between Townsville and Cairns, except when the rain/wet season kicks in.

T

tmallie said:

Having lived at Uluru in the NT for 4 years and having to drive to Alice Springs (454km one way) at least once a month I agree that the faster you were driving the more concentration, especially when there is nothing to look at in the middle of the desert. When doing 100km/h out there you felt like you were doing about 60km/h and became quite boring and potential for micro-sleeping increased.

I say up the speed limit.............I also drive around 120km/h most of the time now in QLD between Townsville and Cairns, except when the rain/wet season kicks in.

T

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Just out of curiosity, have you contributed much to the government coffers or are they more intelligent and sensible with camera locations in Queensland ?

Rob

Techbuy said:

Agreed 100% ++++ if you drive any distance in a modern car 100kmh is right in our relaxation band not surprised we have more accidents. You cannot help but daydream and micro sleep where as 120-130 you concentrate... Good one SAM76

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Agreed for most of the country where the roads are reasonably straight and you can see hundreds or metres or even kilometres in front of you.

Pure commonsense that the good, wide, reasonably straight roads ought to be safer at very much higher speeds than the narrow winding roads. And yet we put 100 speed limit on those narrow winding roads (far too high IMO) and much the same speed on the very high standard 6 lane highways where faster speeds ought to be reasonably safe, at least during daylight. A situation that doesn't make much sense to me.

Another study showed that most collisions were caused by something that occurs in the sub-conscience... There is a stretch of road where telephone poles were about 300 meters apart yet the colision rate into these poles were significantly high... It turns out that when the drivers lost control of the vehicle they would focus on these poles in attempt to avoid it but the sub-conscience would cause them to steer into the direction they were focused on... The trick is not to look at what you are going to collide with but look for where the safe spot is... I avoided a serious accident saturday night where some mindless pedestrians walked accross the road facing the other direction... While I focused on those on the pedestrians in disbelief of their ignorance I aligned the car up to hit them but then I searched for a safe place to manouver the car and focused there... Then magically I steered the car there and avoided them... I don't think they even knew I drove passed them... reaching the horn is the last thing on my mind... I don't even get a thanks...

I've also avoided a head on collision with a truck travelling 110 based on the same principle (the truck lost control). And kangaroos as well... A tip with kangaroos is if they are facing the road slam brakes imediately because they only travel in forward directions so when they run away they jump on the road...

Apart from looking at my speedo too much and peering at the poorly illuminated dashboard clock in mid-afternoon, I find sussing out every single vehicle parked on the verge very distracting.

Yes, thank you Capt Obvious, I could avoid the need to do that by never exceeding the speed limit and only change lanes by slowing to a speed that makes it nigh on impossible to do so in traffic, but it isn't safer.

Sometimes you need to speed up a bit to get out of the way of a developing fracas - can't just slow down in every situation. Full attention to the road is safer when you can concentrate on the road and all the other factors directly relevant to the task at hand.