Open Speed Limit Highway in NT???

[Full Noise]

There’s a good deal of employment opportunities and possibly of a lot of dollars that could soon be flowing into the NT economy because of this.

Before all this stupidity of the 130 came in, car makers from all over the world would send test mules to the NT to test in the harsh conditions at speeds that they would normally encounter in their own countries, with the exception of the extreme heat.

Hopefully we will see a return of this.

And to the do-gooders who disagree with this, g** *****d in advance.

[xxx000]

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/l...201-31trz.html

Northern Territory police have hit out at drivers who exceeded 200km/h during the first hours of an open speed limits trial.

The Territory has removed speed limits on a 200 kilometre stretch of the Stuart Highway north of Alice Springs as part of a 12 month study. The road was not subject to speed limits until 2007, when 130km/h maximums were introduced.

Dozens of motorists hit the road in the first hours of the trial on Saturday, including Aston Martin owners Peter and Chris Jackson.

“It was beautiful,” Mr Jackson says.

“The car was built for it so I pushed it over 250km/h.

“I'll have to go home and wash the bugs off it now.”

Fairfax Media spotted several high-performance machines on the stretch of road at the start of the trial, including a classic Ferrari F355, supercharged Chrysler coupe and 1000cc Yamaha superbike.

Northern Territory transport minister Peter Styles told journalists on Saturday he “had not seen any irresponsible drivers” on the highway, but was disappointed when told people had driven at more than 250 km/h on public roads.

“This is a long section of road with very low traffic volumes,” he says.

“This road is not an autobahn. If people want to do those speeds then I suggest they go to Germany, where you can do those sorts of speeds on roads that are specifically set up to do very high speed.”

Mr Styles says the road was selected for a trial without speed limits because it “has not had speed-related deaths on it for a 10-year period”.

Assistant Commissioner Jamie Chalker of Northern Territory police says increased patrols will operate in the trial zone.

“We will be encouraging people to drive safely, to drive to the conditions,” he says.

“Don't try to push the boundaries... we will not accept stupidity on our road.

“Please do not come here to treat this as a race track. Don't treat this as a place to drive recklessly.”

Alice Springs residents have been split by the decision to trial open speed limits.

Gary Partridge used to work in roadhouses in the bush, and says it was “about bloody time” for the government to reinstate open limits.

“No one really speeds on that road anyway, most people do 130 or 140km/h.”

Other residents said they appreciated being given the opportunity to decide what was responsible on the road.

But many do not support the trial, including Rob Manning, a travelling salesman who spends many hours on outback roads.

“I used to drive on that road when it was on an open speed limit... many times over 200km/h,” he says.

“But I don't agree with it, 130km/h is enough.”

Richard Giltrap drives 50-metre-long triple road trains out of Alice Springs, often having to avoid “idiots on the road”.

“They overtake when it is unsafe all the time,” he says.

“[The trial] shouldn't happen, shouldn't be allowed.

“There will be one accident and that will be the end of the it.”

[NTF6]

Originally Posted by Full Noise

There’s a good deal of employment opportunities and possibly of a lot of dollars that could soon be flowing into the NT economy because of this.

Before all this stupidity of the 130 came in, car makers from all over the world would send test mules to the NT to test in the harsh conditions at speeds that they would normally encounter in their own countries, with the exception of the extreme heat.

Hopefully we will see a return of this.

I agree Full Noise, I have seen many many car manufacturers doing extensive testing here in the Alice, the team testing the Porsche Cayenne had about 8 cars out testing everyday for at least 4 months plus Ford, VW, Holden, Saab and others They even tested the Boeing Dreamliner here recently, it adds heaps to the local economy.

I'm not sure if open speed limits are safe but it's been proven that fatigue on long distances is a killer and there is a big difference in spending 10 hours on the road as opposed to 15 hours, I used to drive from Alice to Darwin or Adelaide in one hit all the time, now I drive for 6 or 7 hours to a nice roadhouse, have a couple of beers and an awesome feed with a good nights sleep and head off for the remainder of the trip the next day.

I reckon 140 will get you there with time to spare and in one piece. Fast is good until someone over corrects, crosses the middle line or just looses concentration, do that at 200kph and someone will pay...dearly.!

[Romulus]

There's bugger all difference doing 80km/h or 180km/h if you collide with an oncoming vehicle doing 130km/h....the result is likely to be catastrophic and end in fatalities. Furthermore, it will remain statistically impossible to have a zero road toll whilst people are allowed to drive. This notion that lowering the speed limit reduces fatalities is a myth, perpetuated by Police and motoring bodies like the RAC, RACQ, NRMA etc.

http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/sl-irrel.html

Not everyone is going to choose to do 150-300km/h just because the speed limit is open. Those that are capable of driving at speed will likely avail themselves to the capability of the vehicle they drive.

[smoo]

Originally Posted by F6 Concorde

Not everyone is going to choose to do 150-300km/h just because the speed limit is open. Those that are capable of driving at speed will likely avail themselves to the capability of the vehicle they drive.

To add to that, apart from the muppets in the article above (who will most likely ruin it for everyone else if the shtf), those that are capable of doing those speeds, wont be traveling to the NT to do it. My Ducati sees at least 220k every ride, time and place permitting. If I wanted to do it legally I wouldn't be riding 1000+ km in 40 degree heat, I'd go to a track day.
Regular travelers and those with common sense will settle to a reasonable speed suited to what they drive and how often they want to fuel up, at a guess an XR6/SV6 would be its best at 140-150 for fuel economy and distance covered in good time? Either way one of them at that speed is still safer than a 70 series doing legal 130kmh.

[Outbackjack]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-0...panded/5376402

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by abc news report

Road safety experts condemned the trial when it began and its success so far has not convinced them.

Ian Faulks, a researcher with the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety at the Queensland University of Technology, says Territory roads are not suitable for very high speeds.

One would wonder if Mr Faulks has actually driven the Stuart between The Alice and Barrow Creek !

[93EB_SXR6]

200km/h in a modern, well maintained car feels much safer than 100km/h in a clapped out, unroadworthy car. This is where their priorities should lie.

[NAK302]

i like this bit
“No one really speeds on that road anyway, most people do 130 or 140km/h.”
do that here in revenue raising QLD and you'll be treated worse than a pedo.

on another note, why do folks have to push the envelope first up when this road is going to be "watched"? wouldn't it be better to let the dust settle for a little while, then take your super whatever up there and crank it up, when media, law enforcers and fun police professors have moved on.

[simon varley]

"Any decision to actually introduce further stretches of Northern Territory highway to a no-speed-limit policy are really based on anecdotal information," he said.

"That's not good enough; we really should be trying as much as possible to base it on really good data and really good evidence."

what sort of crap is this? How can you possibly have good data and evidence if you don't run the trial? All we can say at the moment is that 'some' stretches of road are 'safe' at 'some' speed. There cannot possibly be any existing evidence to say that they will be either safer or more dangerous if you increase the speed limit, until you've done it.

[Burnout]

I saw the afters of a Suzie Katana in the old days after he hit a bull north of Elliot, NT. He would have been equally dead at 80kmph as the 280kmph the coppers reckon he was doing. I still drove that stretch at pace afterwards too.
I've pulled in excess of 140mph on the Black soil road from Allroy Downs to Gallipoli Outstation stretch too.
Saw a heap of prangs up there in those days too, never a head on though. Mostly single vehicle roll overs, due to poor skills or grog.

[xxx000]

Originally Posted by Burnout

I saw the afters of a Suzie Katana in the old days after he hit a bull north of Elliot, NT. He would have been equally dead at 80kmph as the 280kmph the coppers reckon he was doing. I still drove that stretch at pace afterwards too.
I've pulled in excess of 140mph on the Black soil road from Allroy Downs to Gallipoli Outstation stretch too.
Saw a heap of prangs up there in those days too, never a head on though. Mostly single vehicle roll overs, due to poor skills or grog.

You forget to mention that he might have avoided the bull at 80 but probably never saw it at 200 kmh plus

[dragons90]

probably would of fell asleep and crashed hours earlier doing 80Km/h.

[Outbackjack]

There has been no issues with the open limit so far. So the do gooder east coast press try to manufacture a problem...

http://www.news.com.au/national/nort...-1226987431500

[Fordxelisty]

Front page news too. Atleast we got a break from the daily crocodile on the front page to keep the tourist happy.

Pretty silly using a mobile recoding while driving yourself regardless if on the open limit sections or not .
Set up a DVr or camera and do it right and to the conditions, capabilities of the driver and car. I have plenty of footage in my hsv gts 300 on my old camcorder tapes and on youtube of open limit driving but never recoded holding the camera myself. That is nuts.

I could not be stuffed driving to Alice to drive fast. Old days it was easier as 25 min from darwin it was open limits. Not practable these days that close to town but sections of road from Adelaide river to Katherine would be ok and from mataranka south is good road.
Hopefully they increase the trial to more sections of road .

[Franco Cozzo]

It would be cool to spend a week out there and spot exotics and cool cars in these first few weeks when everyone is out there for the sake of it.

[Fordxelisty]

We would have near 0 road toll If you remove

1. Drug drivers
2. drink drivers
3. Fatalities where seatbelt world of saved their life
4. Drunk pedestrians getting run over either walking or sleeping on the road. This was the majority of deaths early this year and all included in the road toll

And number 5 and will get worse ATV riders on public roads dying

There is the rare fatality of events like a person having a fit and crashed or rare tyre blowout. Very rare where just and only speed is enclosed that does not include one of the 4 points above.

[wranger]

Fantastic initiative. Have gone through twice and it's a great change.

Just a shame that there will eventually be a ******** who pushes too hard, kills himself and ruins it for everybody else.

[hedgehobb]

In Germany, 200km/h = normal.
In Australia, 200km/h = hoon, baby killer, Hitler.

Go figure.

[prydey]

even though all the video shows is the speed, the author of the article automatically labels it 'dangerous'!! brainwashed.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Fordxelisty

We would have near 0 road toll If you remove

all vehicles from the road

[Outbackjack]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-2...limits/6563030

As far as I know there has been zero fatalities on the open stretch so far. It will soon stretch from just north of Alice to close to Katherine except for some slower zones past road houses etc. The graph in that article is crap. Just like all stats that compare fatalities with respect to per 100,000 population. it should be fatalities per 100,000klms driven. But look at the spike when limits were introduced in 2007.

[rjk74]

Drove from Vic to Alice and back last year and I reckon the roads were pretty good, the only
worry was cattle and horses wandering across the road otherwise 130-140kph would be a nice cruising speed.

[Cobramad]

Another beat-up from someone who never lives or drives up there. Travelled the Stuart Hwy last year with the open speed sections, sat on 130-140 in our Ranger and was only pass by a V8 Landcruiser doing in the vicinity of 160kmh and a Mr Plod in an FG XR6T going much faster.. Its entirely safe but you still need to drive to conditions..
The distances Territorians cover would be unworkable at 100/110kmh..
What kills you is your fuel consumption as the speed ramps up!!

[Full Noise]

Let’s narrow this down a bit.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-2...limits/6563030

ABC, extreme left wing propaganda unit of the ALP.

DR David Read, director of trauma at some hospital in Darwin. Hmmmm.

http://www.nationaltraumacentre.nt.g.../dr-david-read

Doesn’t take much to figure out that this bloke’s a leftie who doesn’t want to see the funding cut off to remote aboriginal communities where he would most likely be making a lot of money from.

Let’s get something back in the news because I’m a surgeon and I’m really important and everyone should listen to what I say because I’m right and everyone who disagrees with me is wrong because they aren’t surgeons.

My advice to Dr Read.
**** off, keep your opinions to yourself, concentrate on getting the aboriginal people who you care so much about off ice and away from alcohol and leave issues relating to speed limits to the transport minister.

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by Cobramad

What kills you is your fuel consumption as the speed ramps up!!

6 litres per 100 in our Skoda Octavia at 160 km/h in Germany. What's the problem, wrong sort of car?

Originally Posted by Full Noise

Let’s narrow this down a bit.

Usually urbanistas who are nervous about driving a car at all, let alone at speed in the country. Unfortunately these people manage to get jobs in key official positions and are able to impose their own limitations and insecurity on experienced drivers.

[stockNAfairlane]

What is the condition of the road like? Are the open limits roads specifically built to handle 200kmh+ and is there any barriers stopping livestock from walking onto the road?

I'm all for open or at least raised limits on highways as long as the road is built to spec and there is at the very least a lane for people that don't want a car suddenly appearing in the mirror at 200kmh, this would be especially important for people towing caravans or animal transport.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by stockNAfairlane

What is the condition of the road like? Are the open limits roads specifically built to handle 200kmh+ and is there any barriers stopping livestock from walking onto the road?

I'm all for open or at least raised limits on highways as long as the road is built to spec and there is at the very least a lane for people that don't want a car suddenly appearing in the mirror at 200kmh, this would be especially important for people towing caravans or animal transport.

No one is talking 200kmh, and I'm sure that by the time anyone gets to the NT they are quite aware of wildlife and Triple Road Trains.

(You don't work for the ABC, do you ? )

[asagaai]

Originally Posted by stockNAfairlane

What is the condition of the road like? Are the open limits roads specifically built to handle 200kmh+ and is there any barriers stopping livestock from walking onto the road?

I'm all for open or at least raised limits on highways as long as the road is built to spec and there is at the very least a lane for people that don't want a car suddenly appearing in the mirror at 200kmh, this would be especially important for people towing caravans or animal transport.

I lived in the NT for 3 years, travelled between Katherine and Darwin often for work. Back then- no speed limits. Great for overtaking caravans and retirees causing road blocks....safer this way to.

The roads are generally very good on the Stuart Highway, wide, good tarmac. Generally you have very good visibility to the front and surrounding edges of the roadway, so you can spot brumbies/kangaroos, etc. Brumbies and cows generally like the shade of trees anyway.

The exceptions are in the wet some areas have thick foliage encroaching to the side of the highway. The other exception is sometimes the road will go through an outcrop- and you cannot observe what animal is lurking on the other side of the hill as you go past- ie wild horse being spooked and leaping out.

Anyway- in a crappy TE Cortina that had lousy brakes, I generally cruised at 140 and it was comfortable. At 160 the engine was working too hard, and it was hard work and tiring with the lousy steering/suspension.

Did 195 kph with an M3 on my ****- nothing left, and never did that again as it was too fast for the suspension.

Thing is people generally drive to conditions and the machinery they have.

If I was up there now I would happily sit between 160-180 with the FGX XR8, slowing down as I went through an outcrop in road, or approaching roadsides obscured by foliage.

Really, assuming no outcrop, no side foliage, no other traffic, the only consideration would be the limit of the vehicle under you, and the speed rating and quality of tyres.

I found drivers of fast cars were very good- logical and consistent- remember travelling from Tennant Creek at 160 kph cruising on straight stretch, saw car in rear view (lights) approaching fast, Porsche passed me and he had about 120 on mine- no issue with him going past me other than making me feel like a poor looser. My experience has been drivers of really good cars are enthusiasts who understand driving and speed physics and are logical and consistent with their car control. Far better that than some muppet dribbling along at 70 kph not paying attention/grabbing phones/fagging etc etc.

What was a pain in the but were cretins going along at 70 kph to save fuel, and not bothering to veer left even with wide kerbs on an uphill.

Bout time NT brought back unrestricted.

[Simple6]

Originally Posted by stockNAfairlane

What is the condition of the road like? Are the open limits roads specifically built to handle 200kmh+ and is there any barriers stopping livestock from walking onto the road?

I'm all for open or at least raised limits on highways as long as the road is built to spec and there is at the very least a lane for people that don't want a car suddenly appearing in the mirror at 200kmh, this would be especially important for people towing caravans or animal transport.

As I'm going to gather from your post - you've not been on NT roads at all.

Road condition is nothing amazing, but does the job. The areas off the side of the road are often sparsely covered so visibility it often fine. There are no barriers to stop cattle in some areas, however if stockman are mustering near the side of the road they'll put signs out saying so.

Then when it comes to speed - 95% travel at 130km/h or lower, because that's a comfortable and economical speed to travel at. Occasionally you see someone travelling at a higher speed (I'd guess 160ish is the common). The other thing is that because you're in total control of your driving, you make your own speed risk assessment based on road trains, on-coming traffic, visibility, wildlife, time of day etc. It's quite refreshing to be able to drive this way.

I've driven along there at 180km/h for about 1-2km at a time in the Territory AWD, but it was daylight and not with oncoming traffic. Fuel economy was horrendous at 30+L/100km.

The traffic is not like east coast traffic. There are far, far less cars on the road.

There have been no fatal accidents along that stretch of road that I'm aware of since the unrestriction resumed.

Everyone's entitled their opinion, but it does annoy me slightly when people who don't live here and/or have never driven the roads start declaring their thoughts on the matter. It's all pretty irrelevant if it doesn't apply to you.