Barton Highway is the most dangerous road in Australia

The link is to the wrong map. You need to look at the that scales the accident rate to account for the number of cars using the road. Barton Highway safe doesn’t quite have the same ring does it?

Turns out that the Federal Highway north of Lake George is more dangerous than the Barton Highway.

I find when travelling back from Sydney to Canberra I am almost falling asleep on the Hume Freeway but as soon as I turn off onto the Federal Hwy where I have to concentrate a bit harder I am instantly awake and alert.

Same if I travel to Nowra through the Southern Highlands. I am falling asleep on the Hume Freeway but as soon as I turn off onto the Illawarra Hwy I am awak and alert again.

I think sometimes the roads are too good and too safe. Or…the speed limits are too low. I am much more alert when I’m driving at 130km/h than 100 or 110km/h, on roads such as the Hume.

Gaining a license a looooong time ago, it was always an unwritten rule that if another car caught up to you, it was travelling faster, and you always let it pass, as a matter of courtesy. You could always race it after it was in front!

Dosn’t seem to apply today. And the road race has died under the weight of enforcement. Bugger.

I see that the Federal Highway between Canberra and Goulburn also scores poorly. I wonder if this is because of that most remarkable and very poorly marked bit where the nourthbound Fed merges into the Hume. I drive it every week and it still amazes at how just how badly it is lit or marked for a convergence of two major roadways. Not to mention that traffic coming of the Fed ends up in the right hand lane of the Hume. Ever seen the look of surprise on a driver overtaking a truck when all of a sudden you appear out of nowhere on the road from the national capital? How is it allowed to be left so poorly engineered?

Although I am talking more so about the more suburban parts of the Barton here where you are probably considering more so the open highway situation there is really no need to be in the right lane except and only when overtaking. Most people seem to be pretty good at that tho I’ve found.

VYBerlinaV8, I absolutely agree that there are far too many inconsiderate people in the right lane and it drives me nuts too…

It’s quite amusing to watch them all pile over and execute some stressful dangerous driving instead of overtaking properly (as if they think they are always going to be faster than the left lane and therefore belong in the right lane for as long as possible). All that happens is that the left and right cars keep overtaking each other at various stages, no matter what speed they’re doing.

The swervers are the silliest. They never seem to learn that you can’t really predict the fastest lane in this situation. That’s like trying to predict the shortest cue at the supermarket.

I actually ponder what would happen if everyone was mainly in the left lane, maybe that would make things a bit clogged up too. I think there has to be a bit more common sense tho, how about – if there’s a safe gap in the left and you’re in the right lane – use it! So often I merge back into the left and get to cruise past all the cars stubbornly sitting in the right when that really wasn’t my care or intention…

Unfort my car is tiny and has no guts either so it’s a dangerous and lengthy pain when someone sitting 10k under speeds right up when you overtake!

Felix

The 6 people killed last weekend in the NT were in a car that had sped off when confronted by an RBT, and rolled multiple times. The passengers were not wearing seatbelts (it seems only the driver who survived was wearing one) and were flung from the vehicle. That accident was nothing to do with speed limits.

The Barton Highway is dangerous – the number of lunatics you see who have been on dual carriageway for a while then get back to the single lane each way and try desperate overtaking manoevers. From the end of teh Yass bypass to Murrumbateman, there is only a single overtaking lane and EVERYONE speeds up to 120 on it.

The road in itself is not dangerous, but the actions of drivers are. As it is also the ‘final leg’ before drivers get home, it seems a fair few switch off mentally and that’s when accidents occur.

Hume from Goulburn to Sydney is again the ‘last leg’ theory for people who are driving from the ski-fields and Victoria/Melbourne back to Sydney. Fatigue and the added congestion approaching Sydney means accidents are more prevalent.

Mmm – Lets blame the safety of the road – not the training of the drivers!

When I were a lad, we did our license test, and were handed our full paper license – No differential speed limits, no speed cameras, no passenger limit, no curfew.

The standard of driver training must have dropped to damn near zero – we have to limit the drivers responsibilities, muck around with the speed limits, fit air bags to the cars, and generally muck around.

Bring back quality driver training – not the bloody stupid ‘log book’ system. Bring back quality examination. But, start before that at the morals and values of the trainee drivers.

Even my mates with the V8 panel vans, lived. Today, most kids have no chance.

Oh – by the way – the correct speed to achieve to overtake somebody doing 70 is 120. That way, before they figure out that you might be overtaking them, and they speed up, the deed is done. Just like pulling off a bandaid!

“I know most people speed to overtake but if you think back to when we got our licenses it is actually ILLEGAL to speed, even when overtaking. ie. there should be no need to overtake if the car you are trying to get around is already doing the speed limit…”

That’s right. Which is why I have to wonder why people choose to use the right hand lane of a dual lane highway when not actually passing another vehicle.

As for overtaking in single lane situations, I am a firm believer that the less time spent on the wrong side of the road the better. That doesn’t mean getting to 180 every time you overtake, but if you’re passing someone doing 90, I see no problem with momentarily getting up to 130 to safely get past, then back on the cruise control when finished.

Monaro and Kings highways were not mentioned because the report only covered “National” highways. I would have thought that the Princes Highway would have been even worse than the Pacific, were they considering lower grade highways.

Most interesting was the Hume Highway being considered High Risk all the way from Goulburn to Sydney – the entire length of which is dual carriageway.

The Sturt Highway across the Hay Plain is understandably low risk. Few bends, none tight, visibility 10km+, with a good road surface. The only reason for an accident out there would be fatigue or hitting a roo.