Speeding - Dangerous?

[CQ]

Agree Eunos, they put it down to weather conditions and the condition of the road. The cops would have known what speed she was going, going by where the debris went. That crash was just a sad tragedy, esp for the one girl left. I also feel sorry for the emergency service workers who went, as it would have been a hard job for them.
If a V8 is all your family has then its not like you've really got another choice as to what to drive when you're learning to drive. It would be better to learn in that than nothing at all.

[Hugor]

When I was an L plater I wasn't allowed to drive a car with an engine capacity of over 2.5 L and not over 70 kms per hour regardless of the road. She may have been driving within the speed limit but was she driving within safe limits imposed by the conditions?
I'm sure experience is a big factor too. We've all been scared of oncoming trucks and veered to the left hand side of the lane at the last minute when we were beginning. She clipped the gravel or a puddle, the steering pulls left, and she pulls right.
Its a tragedy.
I think she was out of her depth.

[CQ]

Yes of course inexperience came into it, who says she clipped the gravel, the cops would know if she did cos there would be marks.

engine size doesnt really come into it though, whether she hit the gravel or not.

got anything to say about my other post? fluffy dice man ha ha.

[Hugor]

No Tarko man, I've made my point and you havn't raised any new ones.

You might recall the original debate was that some guys think they can speed cause they think they are better drivers in better cars and the police are morons for booking them to try and deter the behaviour.

This attitude is plain ignorant and irresponsible, though I've been there myself and hope to deter others from persisting with it, as they may not be as lucky (which is not skillful) as I was.

I'm glad you think lowering the limit in an area where you live might prevent accidents and I hope you drive slower anyway regardless of what the sign says. I also hope you've written letters to your local council expressing your concerns and those of your neighbours.

I also hope Collingwood will win the grand final this year!

You can only hope!

[bokka]

You have to accept that tragedies like this are going to happen every so often as long as you are allowed to drive over about 70 k anywhere. As I said before, if the moralists are serious about reducing the road toll they should call for a global 70 kph or even lower speed limit no matter how inconvenient it is.

Your decision should be based on facts, not on the arbitrary speed limits imposed by the governement. To say it's not OK to drive over the speed limit due to it being unsafe, but say it's fine to drive at the speed limit of 100 or 120 k even though that speed is also potentially deadly, is hypocritical and just mindlessly bowing down to authority.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be speed limits even though it is a very inexact way to control the road toll. But the penalties for speeding where there's no suggestion of loss of control, like loss of license are much too severe and based on artificial morality drummed up by media campaigns.
Also unmanned speeding cameras are a serious breach of our ancient legal system that says inocent until proven guilty.

Cars are statistically relatively safe, so your odds are very good IF YOU DRIVE CAREFULLY AND INTELLIGENTLY and know your limitations - EVEN IF YOU SPEED! But by their nature cars are inherently dangerous. If you can't stomach it, then you should be calling for the global limit I just mentioned, or like Dr Alf call for their total ban.

[stik35]

I can't believe that a learner with reportedly little experience would be driving a high powered car full of people - putting them all at risk.

One of the passengers wasn't even part of the family.

I taught my oldest son to drive (in his own car, suited to a learner) and even when I felt confident in his ability myself, I still wouldn't let him take passengers until he'd been driving for about a year, including city traffic (going to the football) and country driving, it's not worth the risk until you know they can handle the car in all conditions.

I am now teaching my younger son, once again in his own car - it's not an expensive car and if you can afford to drive an HSV V8 don't tell me you can't afford a cheap car for your kids to drive - if you can't then maybe you should be driving a cheaper car yourself.

I don't agree with CQ about letting them drive any car, I wouldn't let them drive my twin turbo supra and my other car is an automatic so I wouldn't teach them in that either.

I know a lot of people who don't agree with me.
One family I know let their kids drive the whole family up to their holiday house 1 1/2 hours away as soon as they got their learners.
Anyone can drive at 100ks but would they be able to handle the car if anything happened?

My son had a kangaroo jump out and hit his car but because I had always told him not to swerve suddenly and to grip the wheel tightly if this happened and because he was experienced and capable of handling his car, only the front panel of the car was hurt.
If something unexpected happened to an inexperienced learner, who knows what they would do? Which is why I don't think they should take passengers - or at least not a car load.
Who knows what distractions that could cause?

It is such a shocking thing to happen but I feel it should never have been allowed to.

[Eunos]

[CQ]

[Eunos]

[CQ]

Typical country road with pretty much no shoulder, those holes are dangerous, cos you kinda get 'stuck' in them, like when you're riding a bike on the footpath and it goes off the edge and the footpath is higher than the grass, so if you don't go further off, just try and get straight back on you fall off, most of us have done it i assume.

If it was a skinny road the truck would probably have been quite close to the line in the middle, if not over, its not uncommon, then you have to move over and if theres a hole right there, like there was then it would be difficult to keep control, for anyone, not just an L plater.