I’ve written up another article re the GDE speed limit, with a table comparing road characteristics of the GDE, with others around the territory. Read on if interested:
I have not heard much on the GDE speed limit front. Last time I drove the road, the speed limit continued to be 80 km/h. Travelling at 80 km/h without cruise control is difficult without slipping over every now and then, after all, the brand new road was designed to cater for a speed limit of 90 km/h, thus the road encourages high speed.
Point to Point speed cameras are still on the way too. The situation is arguably absurd, the majority of people I speak to about the issue seem to agree.
To highlight the inconsistency of the 80 km/h speed limit of the GDE compared to other roads in the A.C.T, I have put together a table for you.
Have a look, and decide for yourself if this particular combination of near freeway quality road, an 80 km/h speed limit, and impending point to point cameras, is about safety or revenue?
Image: The Gungahlin Drive Extensions speed limit of 80 km/h is incredibly inconsistent when compared to other roads in the A.C.T, and yet the road has had point to point speed cameras planned even prior to it opening. Click the table to enlarge it.
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What’s Your opinion?
No news on GDE speed limit front
thatsnotme said :
thatsnotme throwing down the gauntlet!
Growling Ferret said :
Oh the van has been sitting regularly on the downhill section of the road since it opened.
But I suppose its worth it because I’m yet to see an accident on this stretch which obviously means the continued speed enforcement is working. Right?
Wouldn’t a duel carriageway be a single lane with “One Way” signs pointing in both directions?
HenryBG said :
You Sir, are a clown. The speed limit is just that: a limit. Not a minimum, not an average, but an upper limit above which you’re (probably and arguably) driving in an unsafe manner. I pay attention to the speed limits, generally flicking the cruise control on 2-5km/h under the limit. As such I get abused, flipped off, tailgated, et al. I then arrive at my destination 2min after said lunatics. I have a job with enough inherent risk and danger that I can justify. What I couldn’t justify is injuring myself or someone else on the way home to my wife through arrogant stupidity.
HenryBG said :
And anyone who does so should be fined appropriately.
Chop71 said :
Nah, it’s a lot more than 500m that’s not duel – truly duel, anyway. From the roundabout at Drake Brockman, down to the overtaking lane near Coppins Crossing, the citybound lane is single lane.
And to be honest, it’d probably be better if that section of overtaking lane was switched around so it wasn’t even there for citybound traffic, it causes holdups through idiots deciding to overtake and then failing at merging once it ends, I’m sure it’d be faster if the other lane was given back to the Belco bound lane, so it was actually duel lane all the way.
Sgt.Bungers said :
I’m all for obeying the law. I’m also for the law being sensible and reasonable. I see no adequate reason why the GDE speed limit is 80km/h. Point to point speed cameras on a brand new stretch of road with an unnecessarily and unreasonably low speed limit are clearly about money making, and nothing to do with safety.
Growling Ferret said :
Yeh I saw the F#ckers, parked behind the trees on the downhill bit obscured by the slight bend in the road.
F#cking, F#ckers, the road safety arguement is in tatters.
Stupid F#ckers
Growling Ferret said :
Were the cameras fixed to the vans?
I think it is pretty clear to all that the cameras are there to punish people who cannot stick to a arbitrarily assigned (as the good sarge shows) numerical rounded number (why are speed limits not more exact? 37km/h on some roads, 86km on others).
Personally, I haven’t been caught in a couple of years* so count myself pretty lucky. (* – never by a camera though….).
Roads wrongly-signposted like this are the precise reason why most Canberrans treat the posted limits with the contempt they deserve.
Virtually nobody pays any attention to speed limits these days and drives at 5-15Km/h above the limit.
The idiots who really bug me are the ones who insist on travelling at 70Km/h in these 80Km/h zones, thinking they are sticking to the speed limit.
pajs said :
I’ll bite…
Totally reasonable!
Design a near freeway quality road with a 90 km/h speed limit in mind. Open that road with an 80 km/h speed limit, one of the lowest in the developed world for such a road (despite identical and even higher speed limits on lower quality roads in the same jurisdiction).
Enforce said speed limit with as many speed cameras as possible.
Quash questions from protesters with labels of “hoons” and arguments of “if you cant obey speed limit don’t drive”.
Profit.
William Hovell is dual for all but 500m (buggered if they could be bothered digging into the hill 2m for the last little bit.) Typical lazy Canberra road construction.
It’s really not that hard to do 80km/hr on the GDE. Just ignore everyone who thinks the speedlimit should be 90 or 100. Bring on the enforcement, I reckon.
shock horror, the law is being enforced…
The f**kers in the fixed speed vans were parked halfway down the hill after the Aranda turn off today.
No, I’ve never been booked by them, but its a pathetic revenue raising effort without any hint of road safety thrown in.
F**kers.