This in from NSW Police:
Police will prepare a report for the Coroner after the death of a man following a single-vehicle crash near Canberra this morning.
About 3.50am a car was travelling on the Barton Highway at Jeir, 40kms south-east of Canberra, when it left the roadway and went into a ditch.
The driver, an 18-year-old man from Canberra, suffered serious injuries and was taken to Canberra Hospital but later died.
His 17-year-old male passenger suffered minor injuries and was also taken to Canberra Hospital.
The road has since reopened.
Our condolences to family and friends.
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buzz819 said :
Yes, but you’re talking about what caused an accident, I’m talking about how severe the consequences of an accident need to be.
Me no fry said :
It’s funny, I’ve driven that road on hundreds of different occasions in a lot of different cars, never died one… After that kind of research I find that the thing that caused the accident would have been;
1) Lack of experience;
2) Too much speed; and,
3) A confusion of one’s ambitions and capabilities.
Tens of thousand’s of people drive that road weekly, it is a major road, when someone isn’t driving sensibly, they are going to die…
vg said :
None, in an official capacity, not that I’m sure just how the question is relevant. I have been present when people have died, though, very unpleasant. The human body just isn’t designed to cope with sudden impacts at anything much above running speed.
My opening sentence in comment #29 sounds a bit combative, when I re-read it. It wasn’t meant to be. My point is, how safe can any road really be when people die on it regularly? Certainly the Barton Highway would be a bit safer if that bloody big tree the guy ran into – for whatever reason – had been chopped down years ago. That’s all I’m saying – the road isn’t just the black tarmaccy thing you drive on, it’s the whole box and dice, it’s run-off areas that allow you to wash off speed without coming to a sudden stop against a tree, it’s a lack of blind corners, it’s a lot of things.
The road can be as good or as bad as you like. People will still find a way to crash on it. Autobahns etc all throughout Europe are about as good as a road can get – a lot of them are racetrack quality. People still crash and kill themselves.
Maybe we should let all the roads go to crap then people will have to slow down and pay attention to drive them. Probably will have more crashes then – but at lower speeds will be less fatalities.
Me no fry said :
Like the exit from the Monaro Hwy at Canberra Ave? Was that the road’s fault?
Me no fry said :
I agree with your comment, but my point was that driver error is the cause of prangs, rather than the road, which would be just one factor out of many when determining the cause.
“Most of you just don’t get it.”
How many fatal accidents have you been to?
Most of you just don’t get it. If somebody dies on a road, then the safety of the road could probably be improved.
Look at the approach the Swedes have taken on road safety. They have this plan called Vision Zero (must have stolen the idea from Stanhope…..) which involved accepting that people will probably always find a way to crash their cars (stupidity, inexperience, momentary distraction, whatever), so you just have to mitigate the effects of that crash by trying to control the amount of kinetic energy carries into a crash. They do things like clearing trees and large rocks from the roadside, changing all 2 lane roads into 3 lane roads (presumably with the 3rd lane switching sides occasionaly so that each side of traffic knows an overtaking lane isn’t too far away) and putting up crash barriers between opposing traffic lanes.
Oh, and if you get caught drink-driving in Sweden you apparently stand a good chance of being sent to jail. No pissy little 3 month driving ban, $600 fine and a restricted licence to drive to work – jail.
“What about registered black spots then?”
Are they registered because the road has accidents?
Your life is a hell of a price to pay for inexperience.
It’s a pity it takes years to develop driving experience… I’m all for getting kids to get some driving experience off the roads, well before they a legally allowed on them.
Condolences to the families and friends… whatever the reason was.
Yes, a better engineered road with a centre divider and three lanes each way will probably result in fewer crashes, but there is too much blaming of roads for crashes, in my opinion. It irks me when I hear the media say things like “the (insert name here) Highway has claimed another life”.
Drivers are safe or unsafe – that is the main factor. Yes, a better road will give a driver more room for error, but inexperience, lack of observation and anticipation etc are all bigger factors than the quality of road.
How can the road be the cause (or a major contributor) of the crash if thousands of other motorists use it every day with no incidents?
Possibly a ‘roo could of jumped out in front of the car. 3.50am is pretty early to be out and about, maybe the driver fell asleep momentarily (Dr Karl microsleep) and then reawakened to see themselves heading off the road but were too late to stop the car.
He wasnt a ‘man’ at all, he was just a boy, my good friend.
Postalgeek said :
Spot on. The media especially love blaming roads, rainy weather etc for prangs.
During this time of year, and the transition through winter, this part of track can get pretty hairy. Even some of the most experienced drivers I know who do the daily commute, have got themselves into trouble with people either not slowing down, or plain not paying enough attention (oh look at the new baby goats!!). After making the daily commute up and down this stretch of highway for a few years, there are times when it can be absolutely terrifying.
The huge trucks heading back down to Albury, the idiots who like to use it as their own personal speed way, the kangaroos who like to mull around, or just the plain ol’ weather. I think fixing the situation comes under a number of different solutions, the matter is getting to that suitable point.
Condolences to the family.
Very sad, but the road is not at fault here.
I can’t believe he’s gone.
was pretty foggy on the highway at 420 this morning….condolences to family and friends.
Holden,
I really simplified my comment as it could have gone on forever.
One of the biggest things I see on our roads is lack of judgement. Judgement comes with experience behind the wheel with good teaching.
It comes in all forms from people waiting to overtake at the last minute, taking corners too fast, driving while tired ect.
I grew up on the Sapphire coast so I had the benifit of having a driving career that started at the age of 11 or 12 (I cant really remember). I did all the things country kids do, paddock bashing, screaming through the bush on dirt bikes & generally being a hoon.
When I got my licence this didnt stop (I was bullet proof at 17). We had 2km of dirt road from the main road to my house & I used to use it as my rally track (among other roads).I should be dead with the risks I took, we regularly saw the top side of 200km/h.
The reason I survived was A) Sheer luck & B) I had learned car control prior to being let out on the roads.
Now, I am definately not condoning this behavoir at all (wisdom of hindsight & all that) but if the learner driving requirements included say 10-20 driving hours of specific training on a closed circuit to teach car craft say at Sutton then a vast majority of accidents will/could be avoided.
Another thing, people should be made to drive a vehicle that weighs 4.49t and at least a scooter for experience.
I have a motorcycle licence, have driven vehicles up to 7 tonnes. It is a skill that is not nurtured enough before a person is let loose on the roads. Most people learn as they go along, most people survive but people like the bloke this morning dont.
These are just my thoughts but I think they would go a long way to helping a problem.
Now, those people who are going to slag me for my past actions, think about it, I may just be the one on the road that wont run over you in the future.
I drive the Barton often and in August every day for two weeks outbound in light traffic near midday and returning on dusk against heavy traffic often in rain. I can not see that bad road conditions can be nailed as the cause of many accidents but drivers will not slow for the conditions. I am not a slow driver – I do 100k whenever safe to do so – my pet hate is slow drivers on say 85K who always speedup to 100-105K when they get to the dual lanes specially installed for overtaking. Nothing seems to be done about these idiots – anyway – they are obviously not just on the Barton. On the other hand – if I am going through overtaking lanes keeping left at 100K – I just hear woosh-woosh-woosh as the speeders rocket past as tho I am an obstruction. The worst danger that worried me we was southbound on that strait near the ACT where the northbound traffic has a right turn from the middle of the road into Spring Range Rd (I think it is) Phew – my hackles would rise approaching at 100K hoping nobody would turn right stupidly or a foot would slip on a clutch pedal and lurch into the southbound lane. To me that is v bad road engineering – an accident waiting to happen – right turners should pull off to left and turn when clear.