21 January 2006

More Speed Camera Sites

| paperboy
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Watch your speed. Canberra now has another 22 speed camera sites.

Effective from last Tuesday (what an odd starting date) new locations have been added to the 62 already in use, including most of William Hovell Drive and Southern Cross Drive, and sections or new parts of Canberra Avenue, Gundaroo Drive, Commonwealth Avenue, Federal Highway, Clift Crescent, Cotter Road, Majura Road, Sulwood Drive, Yamba Drive and a couple of others.

The full list of 84 sites is
here.

I recall when the speed camera vans were first introduced to ACT roads, the idea was to position them in notorious ‘accident’ blackspots.

More than a few of these latest sites could more correctly be described as notorious ‘speeding’ blackspots. But then, is that really a surprise?

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i could never figure out why the poms had a liking for such tiny cars until i went there.

the stanley steamer would get wedged in between some of those stone fenced roads.

part of proper driver training is about respecting your abilities and your cars.

only a complete and utter imbecile expects thatthere will ever be a zero road toll.

idiots everywhere will continue to remove themselves from toe gene pool. be it by car, misadventure or using a belt around their neck while they pleasure themselves.

Driving in France for example. 130kmhr limits on the toll ways and open freeways going down to 110kmhr in the wet. There is no reason why this example cant be used on the dual lane freeways in Aussie.

While driving on these roads in France the general flow of traffic seems to be 130 to 160kmhr and in that range no hassles from the Cops.

The drivers stay out of the fast lane unless overtaking and Ive never had a problem. One time I was flat out in 5th in a silly little fiat punto doing 150kmhr and was over taken by a car load of cops laughing at me for fanging the shit out of a hire car.

Amother time I was driving a large Ford Galaxy van from Lyon to Paris flat out at up to 180kmhr but usually up around 150, 160. Late for a flight and most of the way in the slow lanes and over taken by numerous faster vehicles.

Its such a load off the mind to be able to travel quickly and safely with out having to worry about constantly watching out for speed cameras and cops. And way less mind numbing and boring then sitting at 110kmhr for hour after hour.

Funny thing once in Ireland I was living in Cork with an ex gf and she didnt have a car licence so didnt know much about the road rules. Anyway she convinced me that Ireland didnt have any speed limits on the open roads. So for 6 months I was racing around in hire cars thinking it was like NT and subsequently found out there are speed cameras everywhere haha. Anyway its not a wize thing to do in Ireland due to the fact a lot of the roads are lined with rock walls and you can not see around the corners.

For the record Samuel, I value your opinion. Its just as valid as anyones. And I personally agree with it.

Could one of our policie type contributors step in an perhaps describe what it is like to attend a fatal accident caused by speeding? No, probably not, because most of us couldn’t stomach it.

Sounds ace bonfire. People need safer roads, safer cars, and better training on how to use the road.

And those sitting-down bastards can fuck right the hell off.

But you can’t remove people’s urge to drive like tossers. Are you suggesting that better trained people can drive as fast as they like and never crash? I see Formula 1 drivers crash with monotonous regularity.

Keep the speed limits down. I might drive as well as Michael Schumacher, but if a kid steps out in front of me on a suburban street, at least I have a fighting chance of stopping at 50. If I’m ripping it up, I guess I’ll have that kid on my concience, and another mum will be missing another child.

Speed limits are part of a greater part of making the roads safer. They’re not the answer, but getting rid of them is DEFINITELY not the answer.

And I say sucked in to anyone caught by a speed camera. SLOW DOWN. You’ll get there in the end.

frankly i think speed is just a stalking horse for revenue raising. motorists are the most overtaxed, zealously punished sector of society.

all dressed up with the moralistic ‘lives are in peril’ argument.

please.

i think recent stats indicate that the continued onus placed on drivers for improved safety needs revisiting. fines can continue to be raised, ever more draconian limits imposed (like in vic), but people will still die.

its basic physics, anyone in a metal container of over a ton will suffer trauma in an impact.

so what do we do ?

engineer roads to minimise chances of impact – divided carriageways, triple lanes, remove power poles from the roadside, better intersection design.

enhance vehicle engineering and insist on better safety features as standard.

train our young to respect the road. train them to drive a car, not pass a test. stick them in a car that is out of control under controlled conditins – dont let that first time under stress be when they have three of their mates in a car on the way home from a B&S.

then remove recumbent cyclists from the road and fuck speed limits right off.

Bonfire – precisely; we live in Canberra. It takes 30mins to get anywhere (okay, that’s hyperbole, but not by much). We don’t need to change the speed limits. It won’t help – it will just make accidents more costly and deadly. Once again, for a lousy 30 seconds.

And before you give me any more guff about your boundless knowledge of speed and road trauma, bonfire; I know I’d rather hit the tarmac at 50 than 140.

Though your implicit advocacy of efficient mass public transport I heartily agree with.

“by having no speed limit, traffic will flow to accommodate the volume efficiently”

Cars aren’t water. The laws of fluid dynamics don’t apply here. You’re assuming that drivers will stay in the same lane, drive considerately, that no-one behind will be forced to slow down because of lane changing, and that all road users behave in a rational fashion. That’s a pretty big assumption. I applaud your optomistic view of humankind’s boundless capacity for cooperation. I fear I don’t share your optimism.

Sydney traffic is slow because it’s geographically large and congested as hell because of poorly planned and haphazardly constructed road infrastructure. And because there’s no reliable mass transit to the outlying suburbs.

Making the speed limit higher will lead to congesting currently uncongested roads through people driving at different speeds in light traffic and changing lanes all the time. Keeping everyone at roughly the same speed means less lane changing/cutting other drivers off etc; which is what slows down traffic. A recent German study (no, I can’t provide a reference, sorry. It was on Catalyst) showed that pretty well, I recall.

High speeds on the Autobahn (and the Australian highways) work because there’s plenty of room for faster drivers to get around the slower drivers without disrupting the flow of traffic. Do you think the same rules will apply at peak hour on Paramatta Road? Once again, that’s a bit assumption.

Once again – speed limits aren’t perfect, but they’re vastly preferable to self regulation. I don’t trust Timmy the boy racer in his WRX with speed limits, let alone without.

I’d be keen to see a blanket 50 in the suburbs to slow down traffic in the neighbourhood, 70 on major trunk roads on the perimeter and connecting of suburbs, say 90 down Adelaide Ave and 110 on the Parkes Way (the last two of course if conditions are optimal).

Lost revenue of course.

Big props for a 120.

artificial speed limits impede natural traffic flow. while canberra has no efficient high capacity public transport it has to rely on roads. roads can only ever take a maximum number of cars no matter how many you funnel into them.

by having no speed limit, traffic will flow to accommodate the volume efficiently.

go to sydney and spend 2 hours getting to work by car and then post the ‘whats the rush’ line again.

Why is everyone so desperate to change the speed limits? Are they so wrong that changes are needed every five years/every time someone has a prang? Not a bad suggestion Maelinar – but this is Canberra. Why add another layer of bureaucracy?

If the limits are too slow in an area, surely there are already mechanisms to have them changed.

I say again people…what’s the big freakin’ rush? As johnboy said at the start of the thread – why bother for 30 seconds difference.

LG, remember I know some of your acquaintances from our shared history 😛

(the shame)

Anyway, I don’t hit girls, cause they can’t reasonably be obliged to stand up in a one on one fight with me. I tend to check if they can catch.

On topic, I have always thought they should introduce a floating speed limit, where local governments can impose their own restrictions, however in areas where there are no accidents, the speed limit is increased by 10kmph every 5 years till it gets to open road (no limit) speed levels.

That way the roads will self-monitor themselves.

If there is a road fatality, the limit is reduced in that area by 10kmph until it’s 5 years is up, then it can increase again.

Obviously areas such as around schools will have sensible roadspeed caps, however there’s differences in all schools, and it’s not always necessary to slow down to 40 around every school, but since there’s a blanket limit, you have to.

That way, bonfire can cycle up the road on his recumbent bicycle, secure in the knowledge that when somebody takes him out in their volvo because they failed to see the wavy little orange flag, the roadspeed will be reduced in that area for the next half decade in pennance.

Everybody happy, self-regulating roadspeeds in action…

While we are talking speed limits and the like, anyone else notice that 5km bit of the Federal Highway going south that has been converted to 90kmh limit?

I was just about to ask that meself. Theres no reason for it. Sure it’s got more twists, but it’s still a solid peice of road with no houses on it or anything. Pissed me off.

Spot the wog10:21 pm 23 Jan 06

Hook turns are the norm in the Melb CBD we have to contend with trams which can really do some damage but an uplift is the Cab drivers here are reliable and really nice (At least the ones that i get)

midnitecalla9:48 pm 23 Jan 06

“robin Reliant” ? geez bonfire u couldnt find a Lightburn Zeta?

As for melburninans being good drivers its a matter of perspective really .

Its nothing to say that the worst drivers from an ACT point of view is VIC drivers. having been speared by a vic driver doing that infernal rght hook from a left lane out side of the manuka theatre it has spoilt the image forever for my self.

Spot the wog8:40 pm 23 Jan 06

While this tread is on Speeding
Cameras and the like, Can somebody tell me why the behaviour patterns of Canberra drivers has lacked in professionalism and commonsense.

I had learned to drive in Melbourne where driving is constant stop/start and good lane changes, even driving through Sydney the skills of the locals was a high standard. But when i arrive in Canberra i am constantly assuming everyone is gonna do the unexpected and i will end up on the gravel, or worse. This is merely a criticism for those whom i believe deliberately cut me off, force me to slow for them to pass for being a Victorian. I quote from an earlier post many moons ago, “assume everyone is a worse driver as yuo and plan your survival accordingly”

Oops. sorry. Have never roped a steer either. I shall work on that as soon as possible.

Thumper: Only done a few on your list, sorry. But wish I had called Mael a big girl to his face when we met. I shall have to take a raincheck.

I’ve never hitch hiked, but aside from that, I’ve done everything on your list. Yay! I’m not as much of a nerd as I thought. (even including the sexual relationship now that I am finally OFF THE SHELF!)

On the deserted roads of the NT, you’re more than welcome to kill yourself Bonfire. Be my guest. You won’t take me with you.

I’m sure you’re a great driver; but not everyone shares your infallible judgement and cat-like reflexes. Thus, we impose an artificial speed limit on roads to slow everyone down, and give them a touch more time to get the foot on the middle pedal in the event of something going wrong. No, it doesn’t always work. But nothing ever will. Especially “naturalising” the speed limit.

BTW – I’m well aware of how Autobahns work. I’ve spent enough time in Europe to gain more than a passing aquaintence with them. I just couldn’t be bothered explaining them for the purposes of my arguement – especially given that you so kindly did it for me. Regardless of the existence of speed limits, they are often set very high. Germany is also small enough that it is practical to monitor road conditions. That won’t work in Australia without vast expense. Where were you planning on getting that kind of cash?

I agree that better engineered roads will reduce the road toll, but it’s not the panacea you claim it to be. I’d be happier seeing better engineered, built and maintained roads AND judicious policing of speed limits and road rules. However, with reference to my earlier point, where will the money come from? People sticking to the speed limit will do just as much to reduce the road toll as better roads.

Anyway – that’s beside the point. The law as it exists is the law now. If you exceed the speed limit, you are BREAKING THE LAW. If you are caught breaking the law, you will be punished.

What are you in such a bloody rush for anyway?

Growling Ferret1:47 pm 23 Jan 06

While we are talking speed limits and the like, anyone else notice that 5km bit of the Federal Highway going south that has been converted to 90kmh limit?

Can someone explain to me how that piece of dual freeway is more dangerous than the single lane ribbon of highway going to the coast, or to Cooma, or the million km of other highway around Australia?

Unsurprisingly, the Goulburn Hwy Patrol have decided that this is a great place to set up and ping motorists who fail to slow to a crawl to continue up a relatively safe piece of road…

shab thanks for the free chracter assessment, why dont you go and fist yourself.

if you remove artificial speed limits, then monitor everyones natural speed over a period of time you will find a statistical average. this would exclude the boy racer lane change morons and people like sgs who will do 50 in an 80 zone because thats as fast as the duck egg blue robin reliant will go.

the averaged speed woud be a truer reflection of a proper speed for an average car to travel at.

i know that real world counts for nothing to ideologues and zealots but let me add some.

when i lived in the nt you could head out of town and drive at a speed suitable for the conditions. on my way to or from darwin i would sit on 140-160 happily. most people did likewise. when you travel at 140 plus the only thing that overtakes you is motorcycles.

last time i checked, the nt had a very low road toll. examine those figures further and you see that the majority of thse deaths are in urban areas of the nt.

autobahns are not the speed free for alls most peopel imagine, and the germans have other safety devices outside speed cameras and speed signs. most autobahns are three lanes and you stay out of the third lane unless you are overtaking. many areas are speed restricted and clearly posted. they also have adjustable speed signs and displays of road conditions. your radio/cd will be automatically interrrupted with an ‘achtung achtung – something in german about the road up ahead’. it seems to work doesnt it.

hmm invest in road engineering and lower the road toll ? nah, we’ll just social engineer everyone into ‘speed kills’. and raise revenue.

so i’d say that my experience of roads, driving, different systems of road speed management etc would give me a fairly well rounded understanding of the complex issues surrounding road trauma.

Thumper, thanks for the vote of confidence. I’m sure Sam and I would probably talk about the finer points of Linux, however if SGS called me a girl to my face I’m sure I wouldn’t spill my beer, I’d use his.

I think the point being that life skills generally imply that you don’t necessarily go up to people and insult them, nor should you do that online unless you are the type of person that is prepared to back yourself up in the real world.

JB, remember our conversation about the people that you have to keep on deleting wanting a bit of advertising and how it related to SGS ?

That might kill a few birds with a few stones out of yours and Thumpers lists :O

SGS, you’re completely entitled to your opinion bud, I’m sure you’ve been near a road before, and as a pedestrian, bus user, passenger etc, you’ve had your own experience of road usage that has come from everything that has happened around you, including the media you’ve been fed, be it news reports, newspapers, documentaries, heck even summernats exposure.

Whether or not anybody places any creedence in your opinions is over to them, but as is the unsaid rule when using this site: ‘be prepared to be flamed for everything you type, if that’s too hard for your fragile ego, don’t press the submit button’.

Whether or not you take any creedence from the opinions on your opinions, well that’s just going one step too far isn’t it ?

“we would all be better off if no impose speed limits existed. traffic would then flow at a natural pace.”

Bravo Bonfire. What brand of crack are you smoking?

My natural pace of driving might be 50 in a 50 zone, but the boy racers who cut me up with monotonous regularity might think 140 is a bit more natural.

I’m guessing you’re thinking of the German Autobahns, where speed limits are set well above what most folk will happily drive at, thus giving a more “natural” flow of traffic. One all-important thing you’re forgetting is that the Germans have a thoroughly established culture of sensible driving withing one’s limits. Aussies (especially ones like you) tend to like driving sideways and bumping off the rev limiter.

Hell – I say we need more speed cameras, without posted sites. Let the operators park wherever they feel is the best spot to slow the traffic down. Then we might see some effect. Especially when the boy racer dipshits and angry suburbanites in V8 Commodores (cause you need one of those to drop the kids at soccer) end up paying so much in fines that they can’t afford to drive anymore.

Then, when I step onto my motorbike every morning, I won’t have quite so much of a thought in the back of my mind wondering what it would be like to be tetraplegic and eating through a tube.

I’m happy to see you speeding dipshits helping the ACT economy.

Okay. I’m done.

riiiight and this ads to the pro-speed camera argument how exactly ?

uniformed officers identifying those who cant drive and putting them off the road is good policing. thats a positive road safety campaign.

its not a revenue raiser dressed up with ‘speed kills’ mantras.

interesting that the act gummint has no problem funding more speed camera vans, but cant pony up the money for extra uniformed police.

we would all be better off if no impose speed limits existed.

traffic would then flow at a natural pace.

i defy anyone to provide evidence that speed cameras prevent road trauma.

i hope that the last year in the act is picked up by some researcher somewhere. speed limits dropped to 50kmh in streets, speed camers everywhere and yet the road toll has increased.

interesting and worth proper research not emotive point scoring from the cardigan wearers and those who would further jackboot over our rights.

if gummint were serious about preventing road trauma they would train peopel to drive properly in the first place. i did an advanced drivers course a few years after getting my license when i thought i was peter brock. it taught me what i didnt know and also not to panic when the unexpected happens.

more speed camers helps the budget, but not the safety of the citizens.

i’d slam sam too, but the poor little mites had enough. i liked john boys summary of how to gain experience.

without realising it he has described a filter of things which weed out people in an evolutionary way. if sam makes it through all that then he gains wisdom. a failing of his rants is a lack of wisdom and perspective.

i’ll say it again – an opinion is not an axiom.

My flat in london is actually in the movie Trainspotting. (ok, the exterior in one scene, and the bar fight rowards the end was in the pub around the corner which i didn’t like, as opposed to the pub around the other corner which I did)

the weirdest thing was the day I was up early in the morning to catch the advance screening of the movie, i discovered my street was closed while the IRA bombmaker who lived above us was having his flat stormed.

We were glad to see the back of the bastard as he was prone to skipping his round in the pub and the garbage dumping in the building ceased immediately following his forced departure.

those were the days.

For all the whining they do seem to show some tolerance – I’ve been dead set caught doing around 8K over the limit and spent the next 5 kms cursing the ‘system’ while driving along – but no envelope ever arrived in the post and that’s happened twice.

Growling Ferret8:09 pm 22 Jan 06

Out and about today, they were on the main st of Yarralumla getting people coming down the hill from the roundabout near Adelaide Ave, and then on Gundaroo Drive this afternoon.

Neither are road safety places, but would have lots of people creeping 5km over the limit. Its beyond cynical placement…

Next all speed limits will be lowered without anyone being told – and the first you know about it is when the letter from the revenue office lands in your letterbox.

Sorry….cold beer, some ales are best left tepid

“Having said that, the money has to come from somewhere and speeding is a voluntary activity, so why not them and the pokies players subsidise the rest of us who passed high school maths?”

JB, for all our spats we may be far more in agreement than disagreement. We may have to share a cold ale one day

Sam – don’t bother responding pal, you’re seriously getting sucked in….’choose life’ and watch Trainspotting would be the only comment I’d add here, that will give you all the info on life you’ll ever need.

poor sam, the little bugger really did get told

Samuel Gordon-Stewart3:44 pm 22 Jan 06

Alright Johnboy, thankyou, that makes things clearer.

“Serious nights on the piss”

Um arriving in Amsterdam on a Friday afternoon and finding out it’s Queen Beatrice’s birthday and the biggest weekend of the year. After 3 days of partying and total debauchery you realize why some people never leave.

Arriving (or rather lost and hungover) in Killorglin, Ireland and finding out it’s the Puck Fair festival where they crown a Goat to be the King of Killorglin and proceed to get on the piss for 3 days straight with the rest of the entire town.
Haha we need a piss up thread

I’ve decided to address your questions sam because you’ve foolishly used the shock-jock tactic of the mistaken comparison.

Foolish because the shock boys can only make it work through their dishonest control of the microphone.

As we can reply here let’s deconstruct the bullshit.

“Let me get this straight…I don’t drive, therefore I can’t have an opinion on traffic matters?”

You can have an opinion, but it’s worth much less than the opinion of people who are licensed to drive, especially as you choose to remain unlicensed.

“A week or two ago I didn’t know the entire history of the british royal family, therefore I couldn’t make a lighthearted comment stating that I found a decision amusing?”

Mocking an intelligent decision because you were ignorant of the precedent simply makes a dickhead of yourself. You are of course free to make a dickhead of yourself, something you’ve made a bit of an art form of.

I’m not dead so I can’t have an opinion on graveyards?

False comparison, if you’ve never been to a graveyard and have not suffered a loss in your young life then your opinion has little value. Nice overblowing of the issue to suggest your critics are excluding the rest of your audience from the debate (by not being dead), when in fact it is just you.

I didn’t vote for (party x) so I can’t comment on their policies???

Really heaping the bullshit on now aren’t you? Again trying to suggest that it’s not just your own drivel that’s been impugned. A better comparison would be to suggest that a person who was old enough to vote, but not registered, has an opinion of lesser value.

What makes an opinion invalid is when it is based on incorrect information, not whether or not a person has experience in a topic.

If your knee jerk opinions were backed up with information Sam then they could be assessed on the basis of that information. But you follow your red-neck radio idols in dressing prejudice as self-evident truth. In which case you need credibility in the subject to back it up.

Johnboy, last time I checked you weren’t a builder, so you better not complain about buildings…

If your worthless little opinions on anything troubled me at all sam then your inappropriate use of the imperative might cut some mustard.

As it is I can comment on the outcomes of buildings that I have experienced. A builder might well find my views on construction techniques to be worthless.

In this case the vast majority of the adult readers of this site are “builders” and as a “non-builder” you need to tread carefully on such isssues.

I don’t have an “anti-samuel” view. I despise the rhetorical style of commercial talkback radio. It is inherenetly dishonest and as long as you use it I’m going to have problems with it.

Alan Jones and John Laws audiences choose to defer to those old monster’s life experience.

It’s bad from them and it’s far, far worse from you.

You’re not the youngest person who comment’s here. But you are the one who tries to speak with the voice of god, which is just offensive to pretty much everyone else.

Some basic life experiences you might want to explore before your opinions will be taken seriously:

* Spend time in other countries
* Live out of your parents home
* Play a competitive sport by choice (school sport doesn’t count).
* Have a sexual relationship.
* Get a driver’s licence
* Read widely (books, not internet)
* Learn to cook a variety of cuisines
* Hitch Hike
* Fight a fire
* Rope a steer
* Drive a locomotive
* Follow a team
* Get in a fight

I’m sure others could add to this list.

None of these things are ends to themselves, but in doing them you would learn a hell of a lot about people and the world.

And get your own licence before commenting on my driving.

Certainly revenue raising, and in terms of public safety no match whatsoever to the shock and embarrassment of being pulled over in public and issued a fine on the side of the road.

Having said that, the money has to come from somewhere and speeding is a voluntary activity, so why not them and the pokies players subsidise the rest of us who passed high school maths?

Sam, you’re a particularly sheltered child.

But you are old enough to drive.

For what it’s worth I was 24 before I got my licence.

But my opinions on motoring issues prior to that were worthless.

And yes, if you want your opinions to have any value it would help if they were based on some knowledge or experience, or analysis of known data.

You ape the style of the scum of the earth, don’t expect to be admired for it.

“When you get your licence, people might start to value your opinions in these areas Sam.”

Are you serious?

Anyway, I think it’s more likely that people will merely adjust the way they pay him out to include driving like a grandma, or something to that effect.

(then cry)

unfortantly i have been caught twice, at the same place, all i could do was laugh

i didnt realise they had set locations for where they put the vans. I just thought they put them wherever they felt like it

Samuel Gordon-Stewart2:47 pm 21 Jan 06

I don’t want to start a flamewar, but I can’t phrase this in a way which isn’t likely to do so.

Let me get this straight…I don’t drive, therefore I can’t have an opinion on traffic matters?

A week or two ago I didn’t know the entire history of the british royal family, therefore I couldn’t make a lighthearted comment stating that I found a decision amusing?

Where does this end? I’m not dead so I can’t have an opinion on graveyards? I didn’t vote for (party x) so I can’t comment on their policies???

This is pure nonsense, I am just as entitled as anyone else to have an opinion on any matter I want. I’m not expecting everyone to agree with them, and in quite a few cases I would admit to being in the minority…doesn’t make the opinion any less valid.

What makes an opinion invalid is when it is based on incorrect information, not whether or not a person has experience in a topic.

Johnboy, last time I checked you weren’t a builder, so you better not complain about buildings…

The pattern I have seen lately is that you have had this somewhat blanket “Anti Samuel” view on everything…I’m not sure when this started or why, but I would be interested to know what I did that has turned you against me.

When you get your licence, people might start to value your opinions in these areas Sam.

Samuel Gordon-Stewart12:01 pm 21 Jan 06

Well said Johnboy! If only more people would follow your example.

Maybe it’s just getting old, but I just can’t be arsed speeding in the car anymore.

All that jumping through lanes and heart attacks everytime I see a broken down van (mistaken speed camera) or taxi (mistaken police car).

All for getting where I’m going 30 seconds quicker?

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