4 September 2013

Traffic Control for September

| johnboy
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ACT Policing will focus on Traffic Control offences during the month of September as part of its multi-agency road safety strategy.

At different periods during the year, the strategy targets specific issues and behaviours which contribute to death and serious injuries on Canberra’s roads, with Traffic Controls among those concerns.

Acting Superintendent Rod Anderson said ACT Policing’s focus on Traffic Controls during the month of September was aimed at keeping our roads safer.

“We know from the statistics provided by Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS) that a large number of vehicle collisions in the ACT occur at intersections including traffic lights and turn arrows, roundabouts and at intersections controlled by signs (i.e. give way and stop),” Acting Superintendent Anderson said.

“As a result ACT Policing will pay particular attention during the month of September on drivers disobeying red and yellow lights/arrows, not stopping or giving way at intersections whether controlled by signs or not and drivers not using a roundabout correctly including indicating off roundabouts.”

“It’s important that motorists heed and obey traffic rules to ensure the safety of all those traveling on our roads.”

TAMS statistics show that about 55 per cent of collisions on ACT Roads occurred at intersections in 2012. There were 8312 collisions recorded on ACT roads last year with 4593 occurring at intersections.

Fines for different Traffic Control offences range from a minimum of $167 and the loss of two demerit points to $291 and the loss of three demerit points for each offence.

[Courtesy ACT Policing]

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goody658 said :

How about booking all the idiots who drive around with their foglights on?

I don’t understand this, Why do people hate on fog lights. I have them and never use them, there not really that bright are they?

Aren’t the HID/Xeon blue light ones worse?

Hear, hear.

I’ve never been dazzled by foglights but I’m constantly dazzled by idiots with badly-adjusted lights and/or lights on high beam. And there should be a special place in hell for the idiots who think that as long as you’re driving on a divided road you don’t have to dip your lights when you see oncoming traffic.

And yes, those blue bulbs are a menace – they always seen to be fitted to cars with permanent high beam. I don’t think xenon headlights are the problem.

tim_c said :

57 Stopping for a yellow traffic light or arrow

So if the light is amber I can ignore it then?

A_Cog said :

tim_c said :

A_Cog said :

Remember: ….and Yellow means ‘hurry the fu#k up’.

No it doesn’t – it means you must stop unless it is not safe to do so.

Yes, it does.

From the ACT Traffic Handbook (p18):

Yellow circle light warns that the red signal is about to come on. You must stop at the stop line and not enter the intersection or junction. You may enter the intersection if you are so close to the stop line that a sudden stop might cause an accident.

http://www.rego.act.gov.au/assets/PDFs/ACT_Road_Rules_Handbook.pdf

A_Cog said :

tim_c said :

A_Cog said :

Remember: ….and Yellow means ‘hurry the fu#k up’.

No it doesn’t – it means you must stop unless it is not safe to do so.

Yes, it does.

From the Australian Road Rules (Feb 2012)

57 Stopping for a yellow traffic light or arrow
(1) A driver approaching or at traffic lights showing a yellow
traffic light must stop:

(a) if there is a stop line at or near the traffic lights and the
driver can stop safely before reaching the stop line —
as near as practicable to, but before reaching, the stop
line; or
(b) if there is no stop line at or near the traffic lights and
the driver can stop safely before reaching the traffic
lights — as near as practicable to, but before reaching,
the nearest or only traffic lights; or
(c) if the traffic lights are at an intersection and the driver
cannot stop safely in accordance with paragraph (a) or
(b), but can stop safely before entering the intersection
— before entering the intersection;
and must not proceed past the stop line or nearest or only
traffic lights, or into the intersection (as the case may be),
until the traffic lights show a green or flashing yellow traffic
light or no traffic light.
Offence provision.

http://www.ntc.gov.au/filemedia/Reports/ARRFeb12.pdf

The problem with HID’s and the like… and well anyone replacing the glob be it normal or not is they don’t think about aiming them, that’s where my main issue with that.

learn how to do that and a lot more people be happy that they aren’t getting blinded by your lights that are aimed up….

A_Cog said :

tim_c said :

A_Cog said :

Remember: ….and Yellow means ‘hurry the fu#k up’.

No it doesn’t – it means you must stop unless it is not safe to do so.

Yes, it does.

Someone told me they didn’t have yellow lights in some US states until the late 1970s. Just a red light and a green light. I vaguely remember the video for a Doobie Brothers song in the 1970s showed traffic lights which were just green and red.

Robertson said :

How about booking all the idiots who drive around with their foglights on?

It always amuses me when you see those hippies driving their Toyota Pious cars around with the foglights on. These hippies have probably replaced every incandescent globe in their house with compact fluoros and religiously turn off lights in their home when not needed, and then they get in their car and switch on a pair of superfluous 50W incandescent globes!

(Then again, if you really wanted to help the environment and were actually smart enough to think ‘big picture’, you wouldn’t buy a Prius)

tim_c said :

A_Cog said :

Remember: ….and Yellow means ‘hurry the fu#k up’.

No it doesn’t – it means you must stop unless it is not safe to do so.

Yes, it does.

Deckard said :

goody658 said :

How about booking all the idiots who drive around with their foglights on?

I don’t understand this, Why do people hate on fog lights. I have them and never use them, there not really that bright are they?

Aren’t the HID/Xeon blue light ones worse?

I’ve often wondered this as well as I find a lot of normal headlights, like your HID/Xeon lights, a lot worse than fog lights.

I think it comes down to people thinking they’d like to see them booked because they think they’re a w@nker rather than any real safety issue. They just use the safety angle to beat it up a bit more.

I’m also glad the ACT police tend to target red light runners rather than wasting resources chasing down those ‘dangerous’ foggies.

Actually, I think it comes down to the point that it’s illegal. If it’s really not an issue, change the law. If it is an issue, the law should be enforced. Retaining a law that is never enforced simply encourages disrespect for the law generally – you might not go and rob a bank (an example mentioned earlier) just because you got away with using your foglights illegally, but there never seems to be a shortage of photos for the Monday Parking threads, again demonstrating a lot of people have a disregard for road rules.

I note that Commodore foglights point straight into your eyes – they might as well have their high beams on. As are after market foglights fitted to a lot of bullbars. So to answer your question, in some cases, it would be a safety issue even if not for most cars. But what are you going to do – have a law that says it’s illegal to use foglights only if you’re driving a Commodore or a car fitted with aftermarket foglights that came with the bullbar?

A_Cog said :

Remember: ….and Yellow means ‘hurry the fu#k up’.

No it doesn’t – it means you must stop unless it is not safe to do so.

Plenty of hilux heroes out there to bring to book get to it plods!

marcothepolopony said :

How about policing the speeding on the GDE, nothbound? It seems no cars travel at the designated 90km, at least when I travel it every morning at 8:20.

Sorry, but on that road I’m going to support 99% who do 100. That road was designed to be 110, the government has stated that. The reason it was 80 and now only 90, is to reduce road noise to nearby residents. That’s not a road safety issue and Police should not be taken away from enforcing actual road safety issue, keeping nearby resident’s precious ear happy.

My foglights get the most use because I accidentally bumped them on or breathed on the button. I turn them off when I notice. Sorry everyone.

Second most common use is on Mugga Way late at night. For those of you unfamiliar, the vast lawns are great for roos so you have to go very slowly. If some moron comes screaming up behind me with his high beams on I return the favour by activating the rear foglights. Not the best choice but it protects me and my passengers as they do indeed back right off.

Interesting interview on Win local news tonight about this campaign. The copper said they’ll book people at red light camera intersections who slam on their brakes for a red light. So basically we’ll get booked for running a red. Booked for speeding up to get through an orange. Booked for hitting the brakes to avoid a ticket on the orange. How about they go all in and book us waiting patiently for a green too.

So unless you’re driving through a green light free and clear yo should expect a ticket .

Give me a break morons. Every month we have a campaign and the success is measured by how many miscreants are caught. Trouble is the behaviour never changes. Another big fail for the AFP.

goody658 said :

How about booking all the idiots who drive around with their foglights on?

I don’t understand this, Why do people hate on fog lights. I have them and never use them, there not really that bright are they?

Aren’t the HID/Xeon blue light ones worse?

I’ve often wondered this as well as I find a lot of normal headlights, like your HID/Xeon lights, a lot worse than fog lights.

I think it comes down to people thinking they’d like to see them booked because they think they’re a w@nker rather than any real safety issue. They just use the safety angle to beat it up a bit more.

I’m also glad the ACT police tend to target red light runners rather than wasting resources chasing down those ‘dangerous’ foggies.

I don’t find fog lights to be a major problem with vehicles going in the opposite direction; it’s more those in the same lane. Front fog lights in your rear-view mirror are a distraction, as is a bright rear light ahead of you.

shirty_bear said :

It’s my expectation that the bigwigs who come up with these PR-friendly law enforcement drives fall squarely into the self-important fog lights blazing group, so the crackdown will never happen.

Ah – a conspiracy – so probably the same people who pinned the Winchester hit on convenient local nutter, David Eastman.

How many people have died in Canberra from being blinded by fog lights versus people driving through red lights, stop signs or give way signs?

I think the AFP’s focus on traffic controls is more important for the whole community.

marcothepolopony said :

It seems no cars travel at the designated 90km, at least when I travel it every morning at 8:20.

Perhaps “Seems” is the key word here. A number of car speedos read 90 when the car is really doing a little over 80. Compared it to a GPS lately?

I must say that I don’t care for the rule of indicating left as you leave a roundabout. In some small roundabouts that’s about 5m from the previous exit, and you can be travelling at over 10m/s (36kmh) which means 0.5s worth of indicating. Kindof pointless. If you indicated correctly coming in, the indicating going out is redundant in the typical intersection (4 way, 90 degree turns, U-turns aside.)

It would be nice to imagine the police might be handing out fines to the dangerous jerks turning right at roundabouts who don’t indicate right until they’re on the roundabout. Same for those – less dangerous, more annoying knobs – indicating right as they approach roundabouts when they intend to go straight ahead.

goody658 said :

How about booking all the idiots who drive around with their foglights on?

I don’t understand this, Why do people hate on fog lights. I have them and never use them, there not really that bright are they?

Aren’t the HID/Xeon blue light ones worse?

Having them and never using them puts you in a clear minority. Clear weather fog light users are a pet peeve of mine. Oddly enough, I reckon you see less fog lights in use when it’s actually foggy :-\

Not all fog lights are problematic, but most are. (And yes, some of the new style headlights are, well, just as bad). Fog lights are focused differently to headlights, and often compromise oncoming drivers’ vision (the term used in the road rules is “dazzle”).

On one hand, people using them all the time seem to be saying “I’m so important … I’m above the law”. And yet, I firmly believe that many people with them on aren’t aware that they’re on.
Either way, it’s an inexcusable vehicle-operating failure, and deserves to be punished.

It’s my expectation that the bigwigs who come up with these PR-friendly law enforcement drives fall squarely into the self-important fog lights blazing group, so the crackdown will never happen.

How about booking all the idiots who drive around with their foglights on?

I don’t understand this, Why do people hate on fog lights. I have them and never use them, there not really that bright are they?

Aren’t the HID/Xeon blue light ones worse?

Rollersk8r said :

Broken Windows is very interesting and almost certainly true for broken down cars that get torched, and vandalism in general. However, I don’t think anyone drives around thinking “Well, my fog lights are on, may as well speed, may as well rob a bank while I’m at it”

I haven’t driven with fog lights on, and subsequently haven’t robbed a bank.

La_Tour_Maubourg1:38 pm 04 Sep 13

thebrownstreak69 said :

marcothepolopony said :

How about policing the speeding on the GDE, nothbound? It seems no cars travel at the designated 90km, at least when I travel it every morning at 8:20.

Why? Are there constant accidents?

+1

Robertson said :

How about booking all the idiots who drive around with their foglights on?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

” maintaining and monitoring urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime.”

They drive around with foglights on, nothing happens. So they speed, ignore stop signs, fail to indicate, and it’s all downhill from there.

Instead of having to stake out traffic lights to catch them after their lawless behaviour has escalated, they could just setup on Adelaide Ave (for example) and with just an hour’s work, could book many hundreds of lawless drivers with very little effort or danger.

Broken Windows is very interesting and almost certainly true for broken down cars that get torched, and vandalism in general. However, I don’t think anyone drives around thinking “Well, my fog lights are on, may as well speed, may as well rob a bank while I’m at it”

goggles13 said :

about time, the number of red light runners in this city is ridiculous

Only because so many people drive 50 in 60 zones and 70 in 80 zones, and these same people dawdle in the right lane and won’t move over to the left lane.

Remember: Green means ‘go’, Red means ‘stop’ and Yellow means ‘hurry the fu#k up’.

about time, the number of red light runners in this city is ridiculous

thebrownstreak691:07 pm 04 Sep 13

marcothepolopony said :

How about policing the speeding on the GDE, nothbound? It seems no cars travel at the designated 90km, at least when I travel it every morning at 8:20.

Why? Are there constant accidents?

marcothepolopony1:01 pm 04 Sep 13

How about policing the speeding on the GDE, nothbound? It seems no cars travel at the designated 90km, at least when I travel it every morning at 8:20.

How about booking all the idiots who drive around with their foglights on?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

” maintaining and monitoring urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime.”

They drive around with foglights on, nothing happens. So they speed, ignore stop signs, fail to indicate, and it’s all downhill from there.

Instead of having to stake out traffic lights to catch them after their lawless behaviour has escalated, they could just setup on Adelaide Ave (for example) and with just an hour’s work, could book many hundreds of lawless drivers with very little effort or danger.

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