24 October 2006

Lady Denman intersection upgrade

| Xanthomyza
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A while back we briefly discussed accidents at the Lady Denman Dve – Parkway intersection.

Two weeks ago I witnessed an accident there. Poor bugger on a motorcycle got nailed. Someone turned in front of him. He was ok, except for a broken leg and broken toes.

During the last couple of weeks there have been some roadworks at the intersection. It looks like sensor pads have been laid in prepraration for the installation of traffic lights.

Ironically, to divert traffic around the accident we used the nearby orange witches hat/guide post thingys used by the roadworkers during the day.

Will the accident rate drop or will the same people just run the red lights instead of shooting through the give way sign?

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“The laws I was referring to are the basics – not speeding or drink-driving, indicating, giving way and generally not driving like a knob (read: body-kitted Excel or V8 ute driver). “

Agreed. I guess the thing that shits me is that if we saw proper compliance applied to the later items on that list, the roads would be a nicer place.

Absent Diane of the Imminent Present11:31 am 26 Oct 06

the problem is that if you allow a lot of people to use their brain it will end up in disaster. the law is there to stop the poor drivers and unfortunately the better drivers of the world have to obey the laws as well.

Its like I used to say to a sibling of mine who would regularly speed, its not that I don’t trust you going at the speed its that I don’t trust what others are going to do.

Okay – I’ll concede the safe passing thing, but will going 95 rather than 100 make much difference over a 250-ish km trip?

The speed limit is just that – a limit. You can drive under the limit – nothing wrong with that. People seem to forget that.

Giving way unecesarily? I’m guessing you’re referring to Canberra drivers’ total inability to merge and compulsive panic when someone puts on their indicator in traffic. There’s no law regarding this (I think – correct me if I’m wrong). But I agree – it can be dangerous.

The laws I was referring to are the basics – not speeding or drink-driving, indicating, giving way and generally not driving like a knob (read: body-kitted Excel or V8 ute driver).

Can’t agree Mr-Shab – there are circumstances where obeying the letter of the law are downright dangerous.
Some brief examples: Overtaking on B-grade road (passing a vehicle doing 95km/h – at 100km/h it takes 1 to 2 km to get past, at 120km/h it takes only a few hundred metres); driving at the speed limit in heavy rain (speed limits are set for good conditions, but do you see that on the ad of the guy in the Falcon ute hitting the magna?); giving way unnecessarily (an automatic fail in the NSW drivers license test back when I did mine). And there are others.

My point is that relying on the letter of the law instead of using your brain and taking some responsibility is a very dangerous thing to do. And it’s what we are being told to do, which shits me. Personally I would rather see compliance efforts directed towards dangerous, irresponsible and/or careless behaviours (which will include speeding), rather than on blatant revenue raising.

i was pulled over in 1988 for doing 90kmh above the speed limit.

the copper was apoplectic i hadnt pulled over immediately he put his blue light on.

in my defence, the blue light was waaaaay in the distance and it wasnt until i reached a town with a 60 limit some 10km later i slowed down and he caught up.

i had to walk everywhere for 6 months a few weeks later…

since then ive used appropriate measures to ensure i dont get caught. a pole mounted camera got me in civic. and once on an urban st at like 5kmh over. i can wear these.

Obeying the rules to the letter of the law is an awfully good start in driving responsibly, VY.

James-T-Kirk3:34 pm 25 Oct 06

I do drive responsibly. I just do it by safely overtaking people. (The bus lane thing was, admitedly a troll…) My point is that the system is actually *very* bad at speooing people who are failing to comply.

Bring back the big, burly police officer who stopped you then and there.

I like the idea that if you are obeying the rules to the letter if the law that you MUST be driving responsibly. Makes me laugh, really.

James T, have you ever considered actually driving responsibly and not getting ticketed at all?

James-T-Kirk1:25 pm 25 Oct 06

Vy, Thats what the taxi lane along Adelaide Ave is for, overtaking the dipshits who are responding to their SMS’s.

I’ve never been pinged in the V8, usually because I spot them before they can check me. Occasionally I drive at or below the speed limit (usually there’s someone in front of me when that happens).

James-T-Kirk1:21 pm 25 Oct 06

By the way, VY, The last time I was pinged for speeding, it was down a road that linked Canberra avenue and Hindmarsh drive at 2am. Doing *way over 100K, and I saw a blue light on the horizon, pulled over and waited for the cop. He turned up and the discussion went something like…
“What speed were you doing, Son?”
“About 80km/h Officer”
“What is the speedlimit here?”
Me looks around – “Probably about 80, there are no houses or driveways..”
“Well, the limit here is 60km/h and I turned the light on when I was at 100km/h, and you were still going faster than me. Can you explain that?”
“No officer, I am confident that I was doing 80. This sure looks like an 80 zone. Sorry.”

Well, I got ticketed for the 20km over the limit (and the fine was a paultry $60 or so… Who cares.)

The moral to this story is that my driving hasn’t changed. What has changed is my observation of the road, and the way that the silly little vans have a BIG BRIGHT REFLECTIVE sign above them, means that they are piss easy to spot.

So I don’t get ticketed.

And if I do, then you simply amortise the cost of the fine over the time you have not been fined for. $600 for doing *way way* over the limit – divided by 10 years of not being pinged… $60 / year – Who cares.

By the way, what are points?

James-T-Kirk1:13 pm 25 Oct 06

Lights? Are there lights there?

I’ve seen quite a few *really cool* dingles, involving lots of crap flying everywhere, simply because the lowast common denominator (The average canberra driver) – who should have caught the bloody bus, but discovered that their ticket had been eaten by the family dog, so they were re-discovering theie long-lost driving skill.

Kind of sad, in that they won’t have the active re-enforcement of ‘Gosh… I probably should have looked… Now, what page of the driving book was I up to… Ohh, I’ve got a SMS… Damm, the kids are complaining…’

Get over it, learn to drive. That means driving both offensively, as well as defensively.

Watch out for the speed camera on the secoond set of lights coming off the parkway heading south. From there your clear, as long as there’s no white van or sneaky cop hiding in the bushes. If you stick mostly to the left or centre lanes there’s plenty of visibility, and there’s generally time to vary your speed enough that they don’t get a proper reading.

Absent Diane11:21 am 25 Oct 06

driving from belconnen to the deep south can take anywhere from circa 25 minutes to 50 minutes (non-peak hour – travelling the speed limit ) because of the lights you refer to VY.. it’s pretty attrocious

Perhaps some thought given to properly designing a road that actually leads to smooth traffic flow would be a good idea.

When living in Tuggeranong a few years ago it was well known that to get a continuous string of green lights on Drakeford Dr, one needed to travel at about 95km/h from the Hyperdome to the Parkway. This is an 80km/h limited road. Why, then, are the lights not synchronised so that a car traveling at 80km/h gets the string of greens? Just doesn’t make sense.

Speed compliance is touted by govco as being basically the sole solution, but there’s SO much more to it than that.

Shits me, it does.

haroldbeagle10:36 am 25 Oct 06

Arrgggghhh! More traffic lights! Say it isn’t so.

A roundabout here would be a much better solution. It also appears that traffic lights are going in where Lady Denman/Clunies Ross pass under Parkes Way. So 2 new sets of lights along this road.

I seriously dislike traffic lights – To me, putting in traffic lights are an indication that the road planners have admitted defeat. I think they should only be used where absolutely necessary (ie there are 2 or 3 sets I would remove from Northbourne Ave if I were King). Unfortunately that does not seem to be the view of however has been doing road planning in the ACT of late, as they seem to be popping up like mushrooms. I am beginning to wonder if somebody in the ACT govt/PS is getting a percentage!

swissbignose5:37 pm 24 Oct 06

And it’s actually a stop sign that drivers are shooting through to begin with. The north-bound lane is a give-way sign.

I too have been watching this development and guessing that traffic lights would be the outcome

yes accidents will probably decrease as people are forced to stop at the lights rather than not looking both ways like any sane driver

I’m guessing it will also cause merry havoc when traffic gets backed up and the on/off ramps to the Tuggers Parkway start getting blocked off by waiting traffic

will wait and see

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