Highway speed limits

[Diesel]

Of course I can only generalise here as it may be safe to do 150km/h on the Newcastle Expressway but only 100km/h around Kempsey etc... so assume the 130km/h in the poll is the new MAXIMUM state limit with other areas sign posted lower commensurate with road conditions.

But the general gist is - are the speed limits set a little low for such a large country with next to no traffic (compared to Europe / Asia / USA)?

Or will the increase in speed also increase the number of fatalities?

There has been a lot of debate about this in the media both for and against with statistics that support either argument.

Personally - I think 130km/h on a lot of roads is safe at certain times of day and in good conditions, but I wouldn't like to see instances of 'wankers in Commodores' sitting right up the clacker of an older couple, pushing them along and getting frustrated, when the older couple are only comfortable doing 100-110 - you see?

Also - 130km/h is a lot safer in a newer car with ABS and other driver aids (Falcon XR-6, SS Commodore), than it is in the clapped out old Datto 120Y.

What do you reckon?

EDIT: I remember seeing in Tassie, speed signs that read something like:   Speed Limit: 90km/h in daylight, 60km/h at night.    <------- to do with the abundance of nocturnal wildlife.

[alans1100]

I don't think any speed limit is inherently unsafe. Just some people just don't know what to do if they get into trouble or they'll drive at maximum limit regardless of road conditions.

If I'm on my own and the risk is minimal of getting caught I'll open it up to to around 130-140kph. But on tour towing the trailer I'm quite happy on about 90 -100kph (100kph is the max limit towing a trailer in WA). Sometimes I think it's quite funny, I can sit all day on 90kph and have the same people pass me two or three times.

NT has a 130kph but I wouldn't want to sit on it at night. When I was in WA there was talk of raising the limit to 130kph on some roads but I don't think anything come of it.

[Dan]

Big country, little traffic = raise the limits IMHO. 

IMHO speed isn't the real problem, crap drivers are.  Make the driving test tougher, and limit the cars that young/new drivers can drive.  Teenagers + 4.0 V6 = trouble regardless of the speed limit.

[saaz]

I am for raising, but with more emphasis on getting rid of those drivers who are unsafe even at 100kph.  Any road with a hint of a curve or no double lane and many can't even sit on 100kph or 110kph.

[Whizz]

I find it fascinating that every public holiday the road carnage figures are released, and the pundits all tells us that 'Speed Kills" (what a crock!), but regularly the one state (territory?) with zero deaths is the Northern Territory.

Clarkson and his mob on Top Gear have regularly reported on the number of speed cameras in UK and how installing them in new areas, or increasing the numbers in other areas, actually increases the death toll. Probably because drivers spend far more time gazing at their speedometers than at the actual road in front of them.

Lastly, why are the Warrego  and Cunningham Highways 100Kph limits when they are simple two lane roads, (and in some places just normal roads) when the new Ipswich Motorway which is 3 or 4 lanes in each direction in places, and is new, smooth tarmac, limited to 80 or 90? (and I don't mean the bits still under construction, I mean the finished bits).  There really doesn't seem to be much sense in our road rules, does there?

By the way, I vote to increase the limit to 130 in places where this is safe but limit the maximum speed that young drivers can travel at by the mandatory installation of speed limiters. Max speed to be increased over time as experience increases. I sometime think that the engine management units in some of the newer cars have a higher IQ than some of the boof-heads behind the wheel!

My 5 cents worth

Whizz

[STeveo]

If 'SPEED KILLS' then to be safe we must remain stationary at all times! Better education is the real problem that goverments wont tackle because of the cost. How much a life? We now have better roads, safer cars and we are going slower? How many times have you seen drivers slow for school zones (40km/h) and start looking for CDs or doing thier hair because they have slowed so much, and half of them in NSW are only a sign on a post, no lights, and usally behind an advertisement or tree. I suspect that if we had some sense in National road rules the income to state goverments would drop so much that taxes would go up to compensate.

[Tipsy]

  py

Open road speed limit,  DOH...... Oh and I just like to drive to the conditions which are about at the time I am on the road,
Built up areas are much different. especially around the idiot times of the day (8.30 to 9.30 am and 2.30 to 3.30 pm)
This when I stay at home or if out and about, go for coffee./ head for the hills
Large 4WD/Kids/certain type of driver.......

Tipsy

[sac468]

Ah the age old question lower or raise the speed limt, I for one agree that some roads need to be raised some lowered. my other gripe is living in the ACT, learners are retricted only by the speed limit of the road, how ever in NSW learners are restricted to 80kph which may be fine in town, but once out on the highway this causes a problem with traffic building up behind the driver/rider. and this is a problem when impatient drivers force learners out of the way. I have seen this first hand as I am teaching my son to drive & my wife to ride.

being learners neither have the confidence to stand their ground which is not only frustrating it is also dangerous.

[Biggles]

Well, I'm a bleeding expert after today. 

The newly widened (4 lanes) defacto Brisbane western ring road (Beckett Road, Bridgeman Downs) is 70 kph for its whole length until it crosses Beams Road where the name changes to Bridgeman Road although it continues on exactly the same alignment and in even better condition, having fewer driveways.  However, after Beams Road the speed limit becomes 60 kph. 

So Biggles goes sailing along today to be waved over by Plod and issued with a Performance Award of $200 for 15 over the limit.  I told him it was bs, of course, and he told me he doesn't make the laws, of course.  He spoke funny so I asked if he was Irish (hoping to claim kin) but he's Polish, so that didn't work.

Makes me spew, because the speed limit through Aspley main street here (Gympie Road) is 70 kph with pedestrians, shops etc only a couple of metres from the traffic, which is 100 times heavier than Bridgeman Road.  What kind of muppets make up these speed limits?   

[Poppy Dave]

If they De-Restricted a certain amount of isolated roads in each area and then publicised it, all the idiots would go there, write themselves off whilst the rest of us would stay well away from there. 

Result being we would be safer and the gene-pool would be saved from the genetically irresponsible. 

Does this sound like a typical copper's response? 

Dave                                                                                             

[Tipsy]

Well, I'm a bleeding expert after today. 

The newly widened (4 lanes) defacto Brisbane western ring road (Beckett Road, Bridgeman Downs) is 70 kph for its whole length until it crosses Beams Road where the name changes to Bridgeman Road although it continues on exactly the same alignment and in even better condition, having fewer driveways.  However, after Beams Road the speed limit becomes 60 kph. 

So Biggles goes sailing along today to be waved over by Plod and issued with a Performance Award of $200 for 15 over the limit.  I told him it was bs, of course, and he told me he doesn't make the laws, of course.  He spoke funny so I asked if he was Irish (hoping to claim kin) but he's Polish, so that didn't work.

Makes me spew, because the speed limit through Aspley main street here (Gympie Road) is 70 kph with pedestrians, shops etc only a couple of metres from the traffic, which is 100 times heavier than Bridgeman Road.  What kind of muppets make up these speed limits?   

I guess that is the NEW revenue raiser for the Area

Tipsy

[Biggles]

If they De-Restricted a certain amount of isolated roads in each area and then publicised it, all the idiots would go there, write themselves off whilst the rest of us would stay well away from there. 

Result being we would be safer and the gene-pool would be saved from the genetically irresponsible. 

Does this sound like a typical copper's response? 

Dave                                                                                             

I like your thinking, but it can't happen because it's all public roads and the doof-doof boys would take out other people instead of just a roadside tree.

[Down Under]

There are far too many incompetent drivers that have difficulties remaining safe at the current speed limits.  I certainly don't want to be sharing the road with them in 130 km/h speed zones!!!

Regardless, It'll be a long time coming before we see a road network, especially in regional NSW that would be capable of supporting higher speeds safely in any case.

[terrydj]

You know i don't give a S**T about the safety of other road users, so I don't care how fast they travel on the roads as long as their actions don't effect me.
But I do know this Years ago before Motorcycles became trendy???? Me and a mate in the middle of SA somewhere on the bikes, pulled into a servo for petrol and a coppa was their filling up his bike. So we have a chat and it turns out he's just come in from way out west and he's waiting for his mate. Just then his mate rocks in, in a cop car. Turns out whenn they took off the coppa on the bike went flat out and the coppa in the car stayed at the posted speed limits?
Now they took off 200 kays away and the coppa in the car came into the servo 5 minutes after the cop on the bike.
So we trys this out on the way back to Victoria and no mattter how fast you go you only get to the spot maybe 5 minutes faster than the other guy staying on the limit, and I was the one going fast, maybe over 200 at times??. Seems if theirs towns, traffic a few bends ect you cant stay on the same speed and it really knocks your adverage around.
So I dont care what the speed limit is, 100, 110 130 don't care.
In fact, got s heap of photos from the cops that prove I don't care I'm trying to care but sometimes the care factor just seems to slacken off

[OzRider]

I say stay the way they are......oh yer im already set at 130k 

I think the 130 works up here for obvious reasons large open spaces and not many corners  but there are plenty of the obvious obstacles roo's, cows, emus, pigs road trains, backpackers, serial killers etc.

I have heard they set the limit at 130 because it was a proven speed limit in Europe where the speed v's fatigue levels crossed. So what they are saying is that your awareness at 130 is still in line with safe driving and covering big distances is shortened by the extra extra distance covered at speed.

It works here and possibly across the block on the Nullabour, the Pacific and Hume Highway is a different story tho as we know the speed limit is only an indicator when it is at 110 everyone does 120 =/- up here 130 they do *^#$%k/hr yesterday I was travelling along at 145 and a guy in a ute passed me like I was stopped for a coffee