Safe Speed Forums

Just read this about road deaths increasing in Oz after cameras were introduced.

http://www.topgear.com/blogs/planettopg ... fic-rules/

Haven't seen it elsewhere on the site, thought I'd share it.

No mention of speeding as an issue,


that makes sense if there was no speed limit before. how can speeding exist without a limit?
either i have taken this comment out of context or the comment was a slip up

_________________
Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

Good point. But I think what he meant was that there was no mention of excessive speed as an issue either.

Toby Hagon, "When Clare Martin, the governor of the Territory, announced this move, she claimed that people from the NT were poor drivers because they ran red lights, drove drunk, drove unlicenced and overloaded their cars. "

4 things there, and none of them related to speed.

This article too seems to indicate that the speeds drivers travelled at weren't the source of the poor driving, but says that speed is a factor - without giving any details. I'll see if I can find the report

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 90,00.html

Another article says:

A road safety taskforce has found the NT has the worst road safety record in the Western world. Territory drivers are three to five times more likely to be killed than anywhere else in Australia.

In a single 24-hour period, at 11 intersections in Darwin 2,600 cars ran a red light, and a recent survey found one in 17 drivers was over the blood alcohol limit.

The Chief Minister Clare Martin says it's a shocking record.

CLARE MARTIN: We as Territorians drink and drive. We travel too far without rest. We travel, drive too fast. We run red lights and we don't wear seatbelts.

ANNE BARKER: Yet for all the statistics, the Northern Territory is decades behind the rest of Australia in tackling the road toll. There's not a single red light camera operating in the Northern Territory.

Speeding fines are the lowest in Australia. Young drivers can get their L-plates for as little as one single day before getting their licence.

There's no demerit system for bad driving, even though every other jurisdiction introduced demerit points nearly 40 years ago. And outside the Territory's main towns, there is no speed limit on the open road.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1772698.htm

To me this suggests that there's more to it than speed - driver education, and seat belts jump out at me.

I can't find the 21 recomendations or reasons for them.

Well the article states that some residents have to drive 350 miles to get to the shops.

I'm hardly surprised you have unlicenced drivers in a place like that, sounds like there is literally nothing to do locally. Plus imagine the taxi fare to and from the pub!


What this sounds like is a more extreme form of how some UK politicians think the rest of the country is like London