Skaife calls for Speed limit increases on Victorian Freeways...

[4Vman]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/mar...-1225878944536

Some good common sense ideas....

[Kowalski]

Yep, some good ideas amongst that lot.
Not a new cent in it for the government though.........
I'd guess Skaifey will be the new public enemy No1 with the PC crowd once this sinks in!

[Jason[98.EL]]

very good artical as you said some good points and common sense

One thing i am not sure on is the geelong to melbourne freeway I dont think it could handle 140 the bloody thing is absolutly shocking between lara and little river ie being rough as guts in some places 110or maybe 120 but thats it on that streatch

Jason

[Fireblade]

How many will it take for the government will actually stand up and listen that speed is not the only killer, but on the other hand speed and DUI is the only one they can blanket monitor to raise funds for the gov coffers.

Skaife has some good ideas.

[DJM83]

This is going to air in Ch7 tonight at 6:30

[GK]

Finally something that man says makes some sense!

They won't listen to him though. The ideology behind the current strategy constantly screams that speed is the problem. It's too big a jump for them to make, even if it's probably correct!

Reminds me of here in Victoria, screaming out for water for our growing capital, yet they are fundamentally committed to not building any new dams.

Water officials secretly believe the strategy is wrong, but cannot say on the record, for fear of losing their position. After they retire, they admit the strategy is flawed.

I hope Skaife has his driver's suit on. I reckon he'll be getting pretty flamed for his comments! LOL!

GK

[4Vman]

"If" his proposal was ever to come to fruition there MUST be a far greater emphasis on "Keep left".... Its already a massive issue when on many of our 100k roads you have to merge left on a regular basis just to maintain the posted limits to pass slower moving traffic in the right lane..... Its a HUGE issue, especially on Eastlink, the Monash, Westgate/Geelong and Ring road...

[jpd80]

It will fall on deaf ears I'm afraid, you'll probably find that the road system
has been designed for a maximum speed of 110 kph and that road engineers
will not be keen to upgrade the conservative limits that are already in place.

[Bad Bird]

You are implying that engineers are getting a lot of say in the setting of speed limits. In many cases it is pure politics.

[Coyote mk3]

Can't say I like the guy a great deal but there are some very good points in that.
However I don't think anyone will take notice - he will just be seen as a racing car driver who wants the ability to drive faster on the road.

"...police should focus more on dodgy drivers rather than speeding."

[fordv8!]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

"If" his proposal was ever to come to fruition there MUST be a far greater emphasis on "Keep left".... Its already a massive issue when on many of our 100k roads you have to merge left on a regular basis just to maintain the posted limits to pass slower moving traffic in the right lane..... Its a HUGE issue, especially on Eastlink, the Monash, Westgate/Geelong and Ring road...

this is a huge problem in qld as well its not that hard to consider others when you drive is it?

[Fireblade]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

"If" his proposal was ever to come to fruition there MUST be a far greater emphasis on "Keep left".... Its already a massive issue when on many of our 100k roads you have to merge left on a regular basis just to maintain the posted limits to pass slower moving traffic in the right lane..... Its a HUGE issue, especially on Eastlink, the Monash, Westgate/Geelong and Ring road...

You think it is an issue in Vic, I have driven there from SA many times in recent years and can't believe how courteous the Vic drivers are compared to here. If its a huge issue in Vic, it is then the most stand out issue here in SA as no one is courteous. No wonder tailgating is through the roof here.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

"If" his proposal was ever to come to fruition there MUST be a far greater emphasis on "Keep left"....

There should be highway patrols at some of the main stretches that are prone to congestion.

These patrols should be able to also pull over cars who clearly don't understand what 'keep left' means.

Driver education here is terrible. Getting a license is too easy and too cheap.

When you drive down the Eastern and there's a P-Plater doing 85 in the right hand lane, holding everybody up, then clearly they haven't learned enough.

Question: Should driving instructors be placed under more stringent testing?

How does Mr/Mrs/Ms Wang/Wong/Hu/etc. get to own a driving school when he allows his pupil to park crooked, drive in two lanes, indicate while changing lanes/turning etc.?
These pupils then pick up their shortcomings and we have many below-standard drivers out there.

I refuse to swallow that speed is the main factor in deaths here.

In Europe where licenses aren't cheap and are harder to acquire, why is the Autobahn a safe road despite its high speeds?

It isn't as close-ended as we're told...

/end_pointless_rambling

[Keepleft]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

"If" his proposal was ever to come to fruition there MUST be a far greater emphasis on "Keep left"....

Yeah, ta sport thanks.

Move ^ = years off, infrastructure updates underway - median barrier, U-Turn gatelock.

Vehicle gear - etc and so on.

Patience needed.

** I note a Swiss campaign to raise their 120km/h autobahn limit, proposal is for 140km/h.

Strange place the world.

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

"If" his proposal was ever to come to fruition there MUST be a far greater emphasis on "Keep left".... Its already a massive issue when on many of our 100k roads you have to merge left on a regular basis just to maintain the posted limits to pass slower moving traffic in the right lane..... Its a HUGE issue, especially on Eastlink, the Monash, Westgate/Geelong and Ring road...

I agree wholeheartedly. Having driven in Holland and Germany many times over the last 10 years I struggle to get back into the 'swing' of things when returning here.

This issue will take a generation to change. What is plainly obvious is the lack of direction from our current policies in reducing the road toll.

I watched the article. My respect for Skaify has increased 100 fold.

[Kryton]

For this to happen, it would mean that the Government and Police would have to admit they were wrong about the whole approach they take now............

Now that is funny.

[Full Noise]

Skaife was also on 3AW the other day being interviewed by Denis Walter discussing many of these issues, although, increasing the speed limit wasn’t mentioned.

One of the main points he was making was the appalling lane discipline of people in this country. I’ve been doing a job for the last four weeks that sees me doing two trips a day from Melbourne to the far end of the Geelong bypass and I can’t wait for it to end on Wednesday.

The right lane in an enormous problem on the Geelong road with mongs who think that it’s their God given right to travel in the right lane at whatever speed they choose, under the limit. There’s also a big problem with the middle lane as well. If these mongs would simply keep left and obey the bloody road rules, there wouldn’t be a problem, but for some reason, they just can’t do it.

Soon the “no trucks” in the right lane signs will be uncovered on the Geelong freeway and this will cause a few problem simply because of mongs who will not keep left. So the middle lane will effectively become the “right” lane for trucks.

And before all of you anti truck parrots get on you high horse about trucks sitting in the right lane, if mongs in cars actually moved to the left instead of arrogantly sitting in the middle or right lane just to prove a point because their speedo says 100, when in fact it’s more like 96, we wouldn’t have this problem.

The truck I drive does 101 kph FLAT, yet on the Geelong freeway I’ll be bagging cars up all the way there.

Edit:

Here’s an article I found a little while back about the Newel.

http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/news/...u/1851770.aspx

[g220ba]

From where i sit all this no trucks in the right lane legislation will do is move a non existant problem from the right lane into a now existant problem in the other 2 lanes. It will cause Heavy vehicles to be caught up behind the slower moving cars not allowing them to safely pass in the right lane. As Full noise mentioned it's not always a case of th trucks speeding but a case of most cars speedos not showing accurate speeds.

Justs seems with an election coming up the government decided to be seen to be doing something for road safety when essentially as usual they've done nothing but deflect one problem into another. Should be a good money spinner for them though.

[russellw]

Sadly, a gay, black, Muslim; holding a burning American flag at a KKK rally has more chance of making it than this proposal.

1. Victoria and NSW both expect to raise around $500 million each from speed cameras; WA about $120 million and SA/QLD around $100 million each. Let's call it $1.5 billion nationally. That's a lot of money and that is only from cameras.

2. After more than 40 years of chanting the "speed kills" mantra (even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary) it is unlikely that any government is going to do an about face.

3. Both Victoria and NSW are already considering further reductions to speed limits in the suburban arterials.

Cheers
Russ

[Full Noise]

Originally Posted by russellw

Sadly, a gay, black, Muslim; holding a burning American flag at a KKK rally has more chance of making it than this proposal.

You’re not wrong there.

Originally Posted by russellw

3. Both Victoria and NSW are already considering further reductions to speed limits in the suburban arterials.

Not only in suburban areas but other major highways as well. Here’s an article from the local Dubbo paper regarding the speed limit on the Mitchell highway.

http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/news/...a/1724717.aspx

““The RTA says the last silver bullet to lowering road fatalities is reducing speed,” the director said.

“Every road and traffic authority in the world says the best way to combat fatalities is better roads.”

[silicon]

Originally Posted by Full Noise

Here’s an article I found a little while back about the Newel.

http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/news...ou/1851770.aspx

You’re not wrong there.
Not only in suburban areas but other major highways as well. Here’s an article from the local Dubbo paper regarding the speed limit on the Mitchell highway.

http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/news/...a/1724717.aspx

What has happened here is Dr Soames Job (a psychologist, not an engineer) has decided that slowing the vehicles down will reduce the road toll. The RTA acts as a dictatorship and unfortunately actually has the power to play with road speed limits. In the case of the Newell Hwy it was basically already a 'done deal' to drop it to 100km/h without any consultation with the stakeholders at all. It was buried deeply in a report on the Newell Hwy. The report finally made public headlines; so the RTA started its public consultation bandwagon. So all of the local governments, NRMA and other stakeholders had their say but it was just a process to say that consultation had been conducted. They announced it was being dropped regardless and it happened on that date.

Now the Newell has just become a moving car park. The trucks are now frustrated and passing everything as the cars with the incorrectly from factory calibrated speedometers are driving along at 90-95 km/h. Driving this road is now worse than ever and very frustrating.

Last week the RTA were driving the Great Western and other major highways conducting road surveys ( in a bus of all things ) in order to basically start on reducing the other NSW major highway speed limits. The talk is the Great Western (Mitchell Hwy) will be dropped to 100 and sections to 90km/h around Bathurst/Orange etc. The speed drop will happen in due course and a lip sync public consultation service will be held either before or after (but it won't matter as they won't be listening to any stakeholders).

Also there is talk of dropping the rural default roads to 90 km/h. This means basically any road except a highway.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by russellw

Sadly, a gay, black, Muslim; holding a burning American flag at a KKK rally has more chance of making it than this proposal.

1. Victoria and NSW both expect to raise around $500 million each from speed cameras; WA about $120 million and SA/QLD around $100 million each. Let's call it $1.5 billion nationally. That's a lot of money and that is only from cameras.

2. After more than 40 years of chanting the "speed kills" mantra (even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary) it is unlikely that any government is going to do an about face.

3. Both Victoria and NSW are already considering further reductions to speed limits in the suburban arterials.

Cheers
Russ

i have to diagree russ.
cant speak for vic!!
but no such info and or facts support nsw, for reduction in speed and/or profits from speed cams.

the only profit that govco is making and a killing at, i might ad that is failure to keep left.
$250.00 per offence and last month i read 100,000+ booked, looking for link.

[Chilliman]

Finally Mark Skaife puts his massive snoz to good use and sticks his nose into the road safety debate with what are actually good ideas.

The government are so short sighted - they just want more revenue right now, ignoring how much road trauma costs the tax payer through the health system.

But if you put in more stringent licencing requirements that results in better drivers they would recoup more money at the front end with higher licencing fees and then save money at the back end with the drop in road trauma. Then they could use the savings to provide more public transport - some people should not be on the roads full stop; a more demanding licencing system would see to that!

[GK]

Originally Posted by russellw

Sadly, a gay, black, Muslim; holding a burning American flag at a KKK rally has more chance of making it than this proposal.
Cheers
Russ

Gold, but most certainly true!

GK

[XRtowcar]

Speed kills for the appalling way licence testing is conducted.
They train people to get a licence, its not the same as teaching them how to drive.
Driver training should mandatorily include defensive driving and accident avoidance.
Then we may have a hope with better drivers on the road.

[fordman302]

what the..... I actually agree with skaifey who would have thought, i think his proposal is a great idea however i think that if this was ever to even come close to happening we would need to change our policies in victoria to conduct road worthiness checks annually, there are many cars i see around day to day that i would not like to be sitting next to on a freeway at 140 kph

[mik]

more common sence speedlimits on our qaulity highways freeways much reduced speeding fines bugger all revenue AHAHAHAHAHAHA like thats ever gonna happen:( :( :(

[rodderz]

The most annoying thing is, you read the comments from the news article on the website and most people haven't even read past the headline. They see "Skaifey wants speed limit's 140" and they turn on rant from there.

Hopefully the story tonight clearly demonstrates just what he is talking about, where in Germany most drivers have a broad knowledge of not just road rules, but correct driving skills and behaviour and how to drive on the road while respecting others.

[g220ba]

Road safety in this country is an evergreen topic. We are bombarded with a daily road toll figure or a story on the news about another blitz the police are undertaking. As result the politicians will continually place band-aid solutions in place to be seen to be doing something. There will always be a road toll to some degree, especially while the government overlooks the real issues and continues to place all their attention on the money spinning solutions.

For once Skaife has actually made some sense on a subject and he's not the first to point out the flaws in the government policy on road safety. The problem is the solutions offered while they the way the government should be focusing their attention is it'll cost more money to implement than they will gain. It's not so much about saving lives or preventing major incident's as it is about the next budget. Unfortunetly with Ken Lay, John Brumby and whoever else sticks their opinion in the public eye about how speed kills these genuine solutions and the people who put them forward will be ridiculed.

Sad world we live in when money comes before life.

[mik]

Originally Posted by 84ltd

Road safety in this country is an evergreen topic. We are bombarded with a daily road toll figure or a story on the news about another blitz the police are undertaking. As result the politicians will continually place band-aid solutions in place to be seen to be doing something. There will always be a road toll to some degree, especially while the government overlooks the real issues and continues to place all their attention on the money spinning solutions.

For once Skaife has actually made some sense on a subject and he's not the first to point out the flaws in the government policy on road safety. The problem is the solutions offered while they the way the government should be focusing their attention is it'll cost more money to implement than they will gain. It's not so much about saving lives or preventing major incident's as it is about the next budget. Unfortunetly with Ken Lay, John Brumby and whoever else sticks their opinion in the public eye about how speed kills these genuine solutions and the people who put them forward will be ridiculed.

Sad world we live in when money comes before life.

good post 84ltd