Wheels Magazine Petition - Raise the speed limit and lower the toll

[kamold]

Wheels have pulled off a stunt to demonstrate the difference a 130km/h limit could have on travel times:

Police slam speed stunt: Melbourne to Sydney in 6.5 hours | Information, Gadgets, Mobile Phones News & Reviews | News.com.au

Last time I drove from Melbourne to Sydney I didn't have any license plates on the car. Had the letter from Vicroads approving transfer of the vehicle to Sydney, but did not see a cop the whole way. I wasn't speeding but perhaps I should have, might have beaten a massive storm I copped coming through the Southern Highlands...

[VWindahouse]

Wheels Magazine Petition - Raise the speed limit and lower the toll

Link to the article

Petition: Raise the limit and lower the toll!

Link to the petition

http://www.change.org/en-AU/petition...lower-the-toll

Cheers.

[AdamD]

Wheels have pulled off a stunt to demonstrate the difference a 130km/h limit could have on travel times

I've not read the article in Wheels, but based on the usual arguments that are floated, I'm all in favour of an increased national limit. On some of our freeways and highways, 110km/h is laughable.

Of course endorsing and implementing mandatory advanced driver training requires more effort of politicians and police than simply repeating the same old "speed kills" line whilst booking everyone for 5km/h over. They're almost certainly too short-sighted to consider the likely net-positive effect it'd have on state budgets in the long term too (as more educated and safer drivers reduces the number of accidents, which reduces the cost of road trauma services, and lowers the need for "speed kills" advertising, and...).

/rant

[Stanton]

Speed doesn't kill!
The idiot behind the wheel does.
Because we have so many idiots on the road the speed limit needs to be reduced .
There's the problem.

[99_FGT]

Speed doesn't kill!
The idiot behind the wheel does.
Because we have so many idiots on the road the speed limit needs to be reduced .
There's the problem.

Concept often referred to as Lowest Common Denominator, Be it vehicle or driver (or in many cases all of the above)

[dylan8]

There is a road near us that was lowered from 110 to 100, not because of the road conditions. purely to make the train a quicker option over that section of road
I'm all for raising the limit if the road width/conditions allow for it. Also if people are trained to drive at those sorts of speeds

[h100vw]

Speed doesn't kill!
The idiot behind the wheel does.
Because we have so many idiots on the road the speed limit needs to be reduced .
There's the problem.

People die in plane crashes, so lets stop flying in planes then

Gavin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKdbxX1pDw&feature=youtu.be

[Ryan_R]

110 doesn't feel dangerous at all if everyone is doing it. When cars do varying speeds things get a little more dangerous. Having incorrect speedo's doesn't help, as you could have a little old lady doing an indicated 95kph on the freeway just to be safe, and actually be doing something like 88kph, whereas one of us lot could be compensating for our speedo's and going 12kph faster.


If speeds were to be adjusted higher, they could make them adjustable according to the conditions. i.e. 100kph during peak hour, or at night time, bad weather, etc, and then faster on the weekend.


The other potential problem is that if one freeway was made an autobahn overnight, every hoon within a 500km radius would make a trip to try it out, and there are plenty of cars out there who's abilities/performance are greater than that of their owners. So who knows how that would turn out.


Am I correct in understanding the the Hume now has Average Speed cameras in operation?

[sVWatt]

On some of our freeways and highways, 110km/h is laughable.
/rant

Agree - absolutely laughable. 110mph (miles per hour) is average in UK.

What is not laughable is the average punters driving skills. No concept of smart lane changing, left lane manners, driving well in the rain, use of headlights.

We need to raise driving skills before speed limits

[pologti18t]

Agree - absolutely laughable. 110mph (miles per hour) is average in UK.

110mph average on UK motorways? Pull the other one.

[Ryan_R]

He didn't say it was the speed limit - just the average speed they do. JC on TopGear has made similar references before (not quite that fast though).

The average speed on the M1 (Citylink, beyond the tunnel) leaving Melbourne in the afternoon pre-peak is 90kph despite the limit being 80.

[FSI 220]

My in-laws live on a farm, a five an a half hour drive at 120/130 would be massively safer than seven hours at the posted 100/110... Leaving on a Friday evening after a hard days work would mean getting there at 12:30 rather than 2am.

What I find annoying is that fifty plus tonnes of B-Double undoubtedly on re-grooves doing 100 through the sweepers on the Monaro Hwy at night at Kangaroo/Wombat hours in the pouring rain is legal... yet a modern ABS/Trac/VDC car doing the cruise control ovverun thing at 110 during the day/ no one on the road on a public holiday is half a license.

(and no.... it was not me)

[Blitzen]

Agree - absolutely laughable. 110mph (miles per hour) is average in UK.

What is not laughable is the average punters driving skills. No concept of smart lane changing, left lane manners, driving well in the rain, use of headlights.

We need to raise driving skills before speed limits

That, and Canberra drivers... I love Canberra, but they have the worst drivers in Australia (I have lived in or driven in most states of Australia, bar WA). The GDE/Parkway here in Canberra is one such road that should be 100-130 all the way along (divided dual carriageway the entire length), but is 80, 90, then 100 then 80 along it... No sence at all...

[sVWatt]

110mph average on UK motorways? Pull the other one.

Your right. I refer to the London Orbital. The M25. If you havent actually lived in the UK, you are forgiven for not knowing.
Its 117 miles long or round since it is a circle around London, and no speed tickets have been issued there
M25: not a single motorist caught by speed cameras in a year - Telegraph
With variable 'limits' people can and do navigate the full circumference in under an hour.

Wiki states the average speed to be 117 miles-per-hour

[Eaglehawk]

How did they do the Victorian leg of their test without getting a ticket for the average speed cameras? Unless they don't really work...