4 January 2012

Fatal free Christmas on the roads

| johnboy
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The ACT has remained the only jurisdiction in Australia to record zero road deaths over the Christmas-New Year period.

Acting Superintendent of Traffic Operations Jeff Knight said this is a pleasing result for police and the community as a whole, following on from recording the lowest road toll in more than 50 years in the ACT in 2011.

“As part of Operation Crossroads which took place between Friday December 23 and Tuesday January 3, we had a strong focus on the fatal five – drink/drug driving, speeding, non use of seatbelts, fatigue and driver distraction,” he said.

“In this time police conducted 4357 random and targeted breath tests on motorists in the ACT, with 56 drivers recording positive readings. Last year 41 drivers returned positive readings. Removing drink and drug affected drivers off our road reduces the risk of serious collisions and fatalities occurring,” said Acting Superintendent Knight.

The highest result recorded for drink driving was by a 39-year-old man on Erindale Drive, Oxley in the afternoon of Saturday December 24, with a reading of 0.202.

A 57-year-old man with 11 previous convictions and subject to a 0.00 licence was caught on Friday December 23 at around 2.20pm on Florey Drive in Latham, with an alcohol reading of 0.086. He will face court on March 14 charged with driving while disqualified and drink driving.

The highest reading recorded for a 0.00 licence was 0.174.

Thirteen people were detected between Saturday December 24 and Monday December 26 for drink driving with 26 people over the New Years weekend (Friday December 30 to Sunday January 1 inclusive).

During the 11-day period from December 23 to January 2 in which double demerit penalties applied, 377 drivers were issued Traffic Infringement Notices for a number of offences. This compares to 352 issued last year from December 24, 2010 to January 3, 2011.

[Courtesy ACT Policing]

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Removing drink and drug affected drivers off our road reduces the risk of serious collisions and fatalities occurring,” said Acting Superintendent Knight.

I commend this but not so lucky for the other states. Especially the death of the 11y.o. boy in Urunda.

we had a strong focus on the fatal five – drink/drug driving, speeding, non use of seatbelts, fatigue and driver distraction

I still believe the most dangerous out of these is driver fatigue. Simply because it’s hard to detect hence hard (impossible?) to police, and that the driver feels the exaggerated reassurance that s/he hasn’t committed the other offences such that they will continue driving in their fatigue state.

But when that micro-sleep comes, they will be travelling at 110Km/Hr into a ditch, a tree, or an oncoming car.

It’s a silent killer. (pun unintended)

Deref said :

“Fatal” is an adjective.

“Fatality” is a noun.

You’re welcome. 🙂

In Police parlance you are wrong. A fatal refers to a particular kind of accident, one where someone dies. How many fatals have you attended?

Tooks said :

Who cares? They can have quadruple demerits for all I care. Most drivers in this city shouldn’t have a licence anyway. Not being a s*** driver, I don’t have to worry.

I agree.
Licences should be issued only after extensive simulator testing. The current system is a joke – people just aren’t tested on their response to things like a thick fog or heavy rainstorm; their response to emergency vehicles; their response to somebody else making a mistake or encountering wildlife on the road; their reponse to mechanical failure; or their ability to simply be a considerate road user.

buzz819 said :

Deref said :

“Fatal” is an adjective.

“Fatality” is a noun.

You’re welcome. 🙂

It was just describing that there was no murders or fatalities…

I was referring to the thread title. 😉

bd84 said :

Wow a fatality free christmas holidays in Canberra. Wonders will never cease.

The only place Canberrans travel over the period is the road out of the place and the amount of traffic on the roads plunges to almost none. But yet they continue to roll out the fallacy of double demerits to decrease the road toll, most likely only because NSW does it.

Who cares? They can have quadruple demerits for all I care. Most drivers in this city shouldn’t have a licence anyway. Not being a s*** driver, I don’t have to worry.

bd84 said :

Wow a fatality free christmas holidays in Canberra. Wonders will never cease.

The only place Canberrans travel over the period is the road out of the place and the amount of traffic on the roads plunges to almost none. But yet they continue to roll out the fallacy of double demerits to decrease the road toll, most likely only because NSW does it.

bd84 said :

Wow a fatality free christmas holidays in Canberra. Wonders will never cease.

The only place Canberrans travel over the period is the road out of the place and the amount of traffic on the roads plunges to almost none. But yet they continue to roll out the fallacy of double demerits to decrease the road toll, most likely only because NSW does it.

Stats also show that holiday periods have no increased risk over any other normal weekend. Just another easy seen to be doing something response, which I think is a hangover from when they originally doubled the fines over holiday periods.

Deref said :

“Fatal” is an adjective.

“Fatality” is a noun.

You’re welcome. 🙂

It was just describing that there was no murders or fatalities…

“Fatal” is an adjective.

“Fatality” is a noun.

You’re welcome. 🙂

Wow a fatality free christmas holidays in Canberra. Wonders will never cease.

The only place Canberrans travel over the period is the road out of the place and the amount of traffic on the roads plunges to almost none. But yet they continue to roll out the fallacy of double demerits to decrease the road toll, most likely only because NSW does it.

Yay, we all went down the coast for Christmas. Well done us.

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