‘Police roading chief throws weight behind calls to reduce speed limit on rural roads, after a “horror” weekend in which 10 people died in crashes.
The default 100kmh speed limit on most of New Zealand’s rural roading network was too high, Assistant Commissioner Dave Cliff told Radio New Zealand.
..”There are many roads around New Zealand that are simply not designed for 100kmh… if you look at some of those winding country roads where you just can’t safely travel at 100kmh there’s a real potential by getting those speed limits down.”….’
Bullshit. Uninformed, stupid, knee-jerk bullshit.
The problem is with ill-trained and incompetent drivers. Period. Whatever the posted speed limit, a competent driver will drive at that limit or below it where necessary.
Driving in NZ is frustrating enough as it is, with a lot of brainwashed clowns out there who refuse to exceed 95 kmh even when overtaking on an overtaking lane, or who speed up when they get to an overtaking lane even when they’ve been holding up a long line of traffic. But the police never seem to target those lame assholes. Much, much easier to simply blame speed.
A couple of days ago we were coming home from a trip and we were following two trucks and a young woman in a near-new car. She eventually pulled out to overtake the trucks on a passing lane, but then she slowed to almost the same speed as the trucks when she reached the lead vehicle. By then, the sign indicating the end of the passing lane was in sight, and as we pulled out to overtake her, she put her hazard warning lights on!
And she was far from the worst example we saw.
The problem ain’t speed.
The most dangerous part of any vehicle is the nut behind the steering wheel.
So in other words the safe,competent drivers must suffer so the village idiots aren’t inconvenienced? Typical.
KG, I always wished I had a 20mm cannon on a hydraulic lift to appear out a hinged trap door in the roof of my car to eliminate the very ones you mention.
And the police are very ready to take credit for a low road toll, yet they always blame drivers when it’s high. They should do their damn job.
Many times I have driven at way below the 100 km/h limit (like on the Napier Taupo Highway on the twisty bits with the shiny tar, in driving rain, at night. The government has to allow drivers to make their own decisions based on the conditions at land.
Of course, you will get some nasty accidents (mostly caused by inattention, often due to distraction and sleep deprivation).
Remember: half the population is of below-median intelligence.
And half the population are below average drivers.
For Cliff it will be about KPI’s and a bonus. Time we measured sensible stuff and stopped linking salaries to bullshit stats.
Damn right.
All you say is correct. I went to Canberra and back the weekend gone and was appalled by the retards (on the way) there too.
If it weren’t so convenient living where I am I’d update the Falcon to a 5.4 Fairlane, and suffer no fools
Another biggish (7 or 800km return) trip this Fri/Sun and then 1300 return with a stop in Melbourne the one after.
*Note:Melbourne to Phillip Island traffic makes me appreciate 3rd tier country roads with paddock trucks and tractors. Sometimes a horsey
Bob Jones said something to the effect of “If the govt were really interested in getting cars off the road they’d simply shoot every tenth motorist” -Sounds like they’re doing it themselves.
Yup. It doesn’t matter if you’re driving a Lotus with $500 a pop tires on a sunny day or a clapped out Lada with barely legal cheapies in the pouring rain.
Doesn’t matter if you’re 25 with the reflexes of a mongoose or a 95 year old cadaver still going through the motions of life.
Doesn’t matter if you’re well rested or dead tired and on a .04 BAL.
Doesn’t matter if your driving solo or have 3 kids fighting in the back seat while Spongebob Squarepants is playing at a thousand decibels.
Speed is the major determining factor. I know, because the police told me so.
Mr Plod (complete with Big Hat for the TV cameras) has a twelve-year-old’s brain.
And the twelve-year-old wants it back.