1000kms at 130KM/HR and still Alive..

[csv8]

Driving at higher speeds can be done safely, as I learnt this month in northern Australia.

I recently drove and passengered for almost 1000km at speeds of up to 130km/h during Drive's 17,000km around Australia road test.

It was done in the Northern Territory, where many of the main highways are limited to 130km/h, a speed that would earn me a serious fine and potentially lead to a loss of my licence in some states.
Certain roads in the Northern territory have a speed limit of 130km/h.

Certain roads in the Northern territory have a speed limit of 130km/h.

Opponents and some 'experts' will point to the different roads in the Northern Territory.


They're wrong. Some roads in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia are the same, with the similar hazards, road surfaces and traffic flow.

And the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne is in many parts a safer stretch of road, albeit with more traffic.

Despite being out of step with other states, the Territory's law makers acknowledge the wide open spaces and sometimes long straight stretches that can comfortably be travelled at higher speeds. Prior to 2007 the Territory had some highways with derestricted speed limits; when the 130km/h limits were introduced the road toll actually increased.

Given the vast distances, travelling at higher speeds is a great way to get places - and, contrary to the message we're fed, higher speeds doesn't automatically equate with more funerals.

But even with that limit there are times where you'll need to travel well below the sign-posted speed. At night, for example, the wildlife that chance their lives on the road make it prudent to slow down.

And some sections of road - especially the Victoria Highway in the west of the Territory - have some windy and bumpy sections, meaning 100 or 110km/h is more suitable.

With almost no warning signs on corners on the main freeways it means driving in the Northern Territory relies on that fast diminishing skill of judging the conditions.

It's a skill on the wane in most parts of Australia with many jurisdictions effectively encouraging to drive to a road sign.

It's not helped by the grossly inadequate driver training in Australia.

Teaching young drivers how to park and manoeuvre in tight city streets is not preparing them for the very real dangers of freeway driving and avoiding a crash.

That's a separate discussion altogether.
http://brisbanetimes.drive.com.au/mo...620-2ok2x.html

[b0son]

Yep... that's one thing that's never considered. The higher speed reduces your travelling time (exposure time as the road safety pundits call it). Not to mention that on long interstate trips, you want to complete your trip before dusk to avoid poor visibility, wildlife etc.

[WPR1]

Totally agree with all national highways being increased to 130km/h.

Current cars (any over the last ten years) will do this easy and the additional concentration required at this speed could actually reduce crashes! (It did in Italy)

Let's see if any Politician has the guts to do it.

[badoc]

Surely the major highways need to be in a little better condition for this to be universal?

Sydney to Melbourne via Hume - 130 is fine.

Sydney to Canberra via Hume/Federal - 130 is fine.

Sydney to Brisbane? Please... Most of it should be 80.

[sprint347dave]

Originally Posted by badoc

Surely the major highways need to be in a little better condition for this to be universal?

Sydney to Melbourne via Hume - 130 is fine.

Sydney to Canberra via Hume/Federal - 130 is fine.

Sydney to Brisbane? Please... Most of it should be 80.

when was the last time you drove sydney to brisbane ?,,,

[calmeister]

Totally agree with the idea of 130kph limits on some roads, I've driven most in Aus, but the law would need to start to show an interest in the Keep Left Unless Overtaking rule.

[Vesper Martini]

csV8 are you able to advise what car and what your average fuel consumption was?
apart from curiousity the reason I ask is that I think if the speed limit was increase to 130kph on the Hume (which is a fantastic stretch of road) I believe only a few would actually drive at that speed. just for increased fuel consumption alone.

Whilst I agree that good roads can cope with higher limits, the problem is the variance of speeds cars will be travelling at.
Now we all hate it when sombody does 95kph on the freeway, are you going to get ****ed at sombody because they are only doing 110
Before sombody pipes up and says penalise people for going too slow, just think about some of the other drivers abilities and the cars they might be driving..

[csv8]

Bevasta007..it wasn't me, it was DRIVE on them driving a new VF around Australia in 23 days.
Day 23: 16,500km road test around Australia

Date
June 21, 2013



The Drive team arrives back in Sydney, completing a full circumnavigation of Australia.



The ultimate road test for the Commodore

The Drive team has just completed an epic 17,500 kilometre trek around the country to determine if the locally-made and designed VF Commodore is still up to the task.







Trip computer

Distance travelled to date: 17,515km

Litres used: 1715.53 or $2788.40 worth

Average fuel consumption: 9.8L/100km



The final day of Drive’s loop of Australia was not the most stimulating, but it was certainly the most satisfying.

After 17,515km, Stephen Ottley and I rolled into Sydney shortly after 4pm. Our arrival at Milsons Point in North Sydney capped a whirlwind excursion of Australia covering every state, territory and capital city - and all in 23 days.
http://brisbanetimes.drive.com.au/mo...621-2omhu.html

[b0son]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

Now we all hate it when sombody does 95kph on the freeway, are you going to get ****ed at sombody because they are only doing 110

This is where police patrolling the highways, enforcing correct lane discipline, comes in (rather than hiding in the bushes pinging people for 5-10 over).

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

csV8 are you able to advise what car and what your average fuel consumption was?
apart from curiousity the reason I ask is that I think if the speed limit was increase to 130kph on the Hume (which is a fantastic stretch of road) I believe only a few would actually drive at that speed. just for increased fuel consumption alone.

Whilst I agree that good roads can cope with higher limits, the problem is the variance of speeds cars will be travelling at.
Now we all hate it when sombody does 95kph on the freeway, are you going to get ****ed at sombody because they are only doing 110
Before sombody pipes up and says penalise people for going too slow, just think about some of the other drivers abilities and the cars they might be driving..

To some, their time is worth more than saving $5 in fuel.

As far as the speed differences, in other parts of the world slower vehicles stick to the far outside lane in multi lane highways and will pull over to let traffic past should they notice it building up behind them on single lane roads.

It is called common courtesy.

There is not a problem with driving slowly.

There IS a problem with being a rude self centered worm who is on a crucade to save the world by deliberatly blocking and slowing down all the traffic to what they consider is the "appropriate" speed.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by csv8

Bevasta007..it wasn't me, it was DRIVE on them driving a new VF around Australia in 23 days.

sorry, my bad

Originally Posted by csv8

Average fuel consumption: 9.8L/100km

Thats not bad at all, kind of flaws my point, but I guess its new and its a large engine car. anything old, or small is going to be affected more.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by flappist

To some, their time is worth more than saving $5 in fuel.

As far as the speed differences, in other parts of the world slower vehicles stick to the far outside lane in multi lane highways and will pull over to let traffic past should they notice it building up behind them on single lane roads.

It is called common courtesy.

There is not a problem with driving slowly.

There IS a problem with being a rude self centered worm who is on a crucade to save the world by deliberatly blocking and slowing down all the traffic to what they consider is the "appropriate" speed.

Totally agree, I for one would spend the extra $5 to get thier quicker, not a lot different to paying a freeway toll.

but whether its sombody who wants to save fuel, is uncomfortable doing 130kph or is a self centered worm. there will be that speed variance.
and because of that I recon it will never take off.

[Billydean]

Originally Posted by badoc

Sydney to Brisbane? Please... Most of it should be 80.

Absolutely right, when I lived in NSW I regularly drove between Macksville and Woolgoolga, 130ks would kill people every day of the week. ALL single lane roads should be no more than 80ks.

Originally Posted by sprint347dave

when was the last time you drove sydney to brisbane ?,,,

What does that mean? I did it a lot, the last time a few months ago.

[mik]

most cars could do 130 kph on a nice bit of freeway without too much trouble as long as they are in reasonable nick, stinking hot weather might be testing for some at that speed, also some of the older under powered ones without overdrive would be quite noisy and painful at that speed , but that is ok, that is what the left lane is for.

[mik]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

Totally agree, I for one would spend the extra $5 to get thier quicker, not a lot different to paying a freeway toll.

but whether its sombody who wants to save fuel, is uncomfortable doing 130kph or is a self centered worm. there will be that speed variance.
and because of that I recon it will never take off.

Perhaps that could be a new revenue stream for the states, instead of police fining drivers for stupid small speed encroachments, they have the highway patrol pinging dudes sitting in the fast lane unnecessarily causing angst to other drivers and impeding traffic flow.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by mik

Perhaps that could be a new revenue stream for the states, instead of police fining drivers for stupid small speed encroachments, they have the highway patrol pinging dudes sitting in the fast lane unnecessarily causing angst to other drivers and impeding traffic flow.

I said the same thing a number of years ago and got flamed for it.
Its not just right lane issues, driving standards in general are dropping by the day, indicators, tailgating, mobile phones, makeup, driving is a second thought to many motorists.
I believe there should be a dedicated branch who do nothing but cruise around and ping people on the spot for traffic infringements, but that would fall under the 'rights erosion' banner and I will wait to get flamed again.

The truth is, all we really want is laws to suit ourselves, and police to book who ever is getting in our way.

[csv8]

Bevsta007..Thats not bad at all, kind of flaws my point, but I guess its new and its a large engine car. anything old, or small is going to be affected more.
__________________Thats with 4 journo's and all their gear...

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by b0son

Yep... that's one thing that's never considered. The higher speed reduces your travelling time (exposure time as the road safety pundits call it).

I've come from 6 months last year on a regular "milk run" driving between Plzen and Nuremburg, 200 km in about 1 hour 50 mins - back to Australia, driving another "milk run" between Nowra and Sydney, 150 km in 2 hours (if I'm lucky, and that's pushing the speed on the GPS to as near as 100 as much as possible).

The run in Europe: high concentration, relaxing, over quickly, no threat of dozing, no fatigue, higher productivity due to more time at destination.

The run in NSW: concentration slipping due to mind-numbing effect of driving for longer on road clearly capable of (and designed for) 130 at 100, stress of continually watching speed and looking out for lurking HPs, fatigue, boredom (microsleeps twice over the years), less productivity.

Originally Posted by calmeister

Totally agree with the idea of 130kph limits on some roads, I've driven most in Aus, but the law would need to start to show an interest in the Keep Left Unless Overtaking rule.

You might find that once the speed goes up to 130 the right lane hoggers might give up because they don't want to drive at that speed whereas they are comfortable at 100 (95 actually). Having cars closing up on them rapidly will get to them (if they're actually watching their mirror which I admit is questionable).

[comagutsa]

we did 1500km in the NT before the speed limit was reduced and we sat on 180km/h and total time for trip was 9.5hours and we lived (did trip 3 or 4 times that year)
we found you were more alert at those speeds than sitting at 110km/h like here in WA

not saying that you could do those speeds here in WA on most roads but 130km/h would be great

[mik]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I said the same thing a number of years ago and got flamed for it.
Its not just right lane issues, driving standards in general are dropping by the day, indicators, tailgating, mobile phones, makeup, driving is a second thought to many motorists.
I believe there should be a dedicated branch who do nothing but cruise around and ping people on the spot for traffic infringements, but that would fall under the 'rights erosion' banner and I will wait to get flamed again.

The truth is, all we really want is laws to suit ourselves, and police to book who ever is getting in our way.

Well this is it mate, they need to focus on driver behavior more and lose some of the speed camera will fix everything mentality.
I recall being pulled up as a young buck, the officer asked if I knew why I was being pulled up, he educated me in a polite manner manner and let me off with a warning, he actually changed my behavior a bit for the better , its a pity we don't see more of this out on the road instead of a pure punishment and revenue system.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by mik

Well this is it mate, they need to focus on driver behavior more and lose some of the speed camera will fix everything mentality.
I recall being pulled up as a young buck, the officer asked if I knew why I was being pulled up, he educated me in a polite manner manner and let me off with a warning, he actually changed my behavior a bit for the better , its a pity we don't see more of this out on the road instead of a pure punishment and revenue system.

Where are all these extra patrolling officers coming from.
As it is we have been bringing in police from overseas to fill the current void.
No one wants to be a cop these days as no one respects them.

[Kable72]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Where are all these extra patrolling officers coming from.
As it is we have been bringing in police from overseas to fill the current void.
No one wants to be a cop these days as no one respects them.

Which is of no fault of their own and the goverments, of course? Giving traffic police all of this extra power and a lot of them without the training to back it up has done nothing but alienate them from the public. For example, my XR6 has a very loud power steering pump. So much so that it can be heard in the cabin, over the exhaust and over low volume music. I can only imagine what it would be like outside the car when I'm giving it a bit. Back OT, I had a traffic cop pull me over. I thought to myself, damn my exhaust attracted his attention. Nope, he thought my whiny power steering pump was a supercharger . He had me on the side of the road for 45 minutes trying to find this supercharger after I let him know to look at the drive belt. His reply, "Why? It can be hidden elsewhere in the vehicle".

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Kable72

Which is of no fault of their own and the goverments, of course? Giving traffic police all of this extra power and a lot of them without the training to back it up has done nothing but alienate them from the public. For example, my XR6 has a very loud power steering pump. So much so that it can be heard in the cabin, over the exhaust and over low volume music. I can only imagine what it would be like outside the car when I'm giving it a bit. Back OT, I had a traffic cop pull me over. I thought to myself, damn my exhaust attracted his attention. Nope, he thought my whiny power steering pump was a supercharger . He had me on the side of the road for 45 minutes trying to find this supercharger after I let him know to look at the drive belt. His reply, "Why? It can be hidden elsewhere in the vehicle".

So your saying the lack of people joining the police force is because of a lack of training and public perception.
We must be a weak bunch, them pommy coppers have no problem with 'public perception' or the social issues of modern Australia.

[Kable72]

I was addressing the lack of respect, not the lack of police officers. We have no respect for them because they, alot of the time, have 0 idea as they're not getting training but they're getting power. As for the lack of police officers, I wouldn't know. Could be a number of reasons, low pay, low allowances, high work load little pay off etc.

If we're not such a weak bunch, why aren't you a police officer?

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Kable72

If we're not such a weak bunch, why aren't you a police officer?

I investigated it but found the physical requirements were beyond my abilities, I have had a heart condition from birth and have been taking medication for it and cholesterol for 13yrs, im 37.
I also have a dodgy right knee from a bungled operation.

[joolz]

Originally Posted by b0son

This is where police patrolling the highways, enforcing correct lane discipline, comes in (rather than hiding in the bushes pinging people for 5-10 over).

Ive never seen anyone in Victoria being pulled over for keeping in the right lane since the law was introduced over 10 years ago. However my copper brother in Darwin WILL book you for it.

[Sprint]

But without revenue there would be no donuts.

[bungarra]

Regularly used to sit on 130Km/H in country WA without any problems. regularl went out to Wiluna from Kalgoorlie or out to Mt Magnet then out to Newman and Tom Price. The only time I got pulled over was sitting on 115Km/h heading rom Leinster to Leonora at 9am in the morning. The cop recognised my car and thought that I must have been recovering form the pub the night before! Was so used to me and other regulars sitting on 120-130Km/H out there.

[MDS69]

Originally Posted by b0son

Yep... that's one thing that's never considered. The higher speed reduces your travelling time (exposure time as the road safety pundits call it). Not to mention that on long interstate trips, you want to complete your trip before dusk to avoid poor visibility, wildlife etc.

Whilst I am all for increased speed limits in the appropriate places 8 hours driving is still 8 hours driving regardless if your doing 110 or 130.

As a side note if you watch the video in the link to the round Australia VF Commodore story further up this page and what generated the discussion in this thread that is a friend of mine walking down the assembly line in Elizabeth. He was one of the four in the car trip.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by MDS69

Whilst I am all for increased speed limits in the appropriate places 8 hours driving is still 8 hours driving regardless if your doing 110 or 130.

8 hours of total travel time with ample breaks and higher speeds, is much more relaxing than 8 hours in the car behind the wheel tottering along at 100-110 kph with semitrailers bearing down on your behind.