Speeding - Dangerous?

[stik35]

My point is there is no relevance to (your) dear old dad speeding on a country road.

[foreigner]

Thank your lucky stars that you lived to tell the tale.

[Morrigu]

Speeding's OK if you keep clear of all the other cars - bet that's exactly what all the brain damaged car accident victims on ventilators I have nursed must have been thinking - or would have been IF they could still think!!

[CQ]

its not about being a 'goody goody' and brain washed. im certainly not brain washed and i think their BS 50 zones are crap. funny how we could all stop at 60 before that!
going 40/50ks over is just ridiculous.

as for keeping away from other cars, well if you're on a country road you never know wats gunna happen, take a bend too fast, someone coming the other way hogging over into your lane, kangaroos, the list goes on!

[Hanskies]

Speeding fullstop is stupid and dangerous, especially at that speed. Limits are set for a reason. whether it be a city road, hiway or country road.

Country roads are very dangerous as CQ mentioned! Living in the country I cannt tell you how many horrific accidents happen on the local roads because of speeding and people thinking its safe becuase no one else is around. The roads generally arent as of good quality, there are tight bends, and you never know when the conditions are going to change!

So if you think speeding on a country road is safe
WAKE UP TO YOURSELF! The TAC do advitise wipe off 5 for a reason!

[bokka]

The problem with all those arguments ("i cannot tell you how many have died due to speeding" etc - of course you can't since you don't know the details of the accidents ie what other factors were involved) is that the speeding limit drawn is more or less arbitrary - there's no definitive way of deciding what is a "safe" limit since if you lower the limit more it will always presumably be "safer". The argument is basically that due to the sanctity of human life, you can't argue against speed limits - but this means that you can't argue against *any* speed limit at least down to about 50k - so that means the government by that same argument could impose a 50k limit on ALL roads and freeways, and if Cameron Cloke was to drive at say, the horrendously reckless speed of 90k/hr on the freeway- once again 40k above the new limit and undeniably much more *potentially* dangerous than 50k - and to argue against the 50k limit and for raising it to the unspeakably dangerous limit of say, 95k/hr would be extremely irresponsible and deserve a good talking to by indignant goody goodys such as those lecturing me here.
-who by the way can be counted on to fall obediently in line with any new speed limit or in fact any other arbitrary new safety regulation put in place for the benevolent protection of us grateful sheep - without, needless to say, any consultation with us the sheep - after all it's not as if this is a democracy (translation: governement by *all* the people) - and even if it was do you really think sheep should be allowed to make decisions, what sort of mess would the country be in then???

wake up comp nerds, there's a world out there that is dangerous, life is dangerous and fragile, crossing the road, flying in a plane can and do kill - should we make them illegal?

Anyway this is philosophy - which will no doubt fall for the most part on deaf ears, I don't know why I bother - usually I don't.

[CQ]

[spoljar]

I am going to throw a couple statistics to anyone that does not think speed kills. You can find these stats on www.atsb.gov.au/road/stats.
1. Characteristics of fatal crashes: Fatal crashes by speed limit.
May 2002 - Apr 2004: Up to 60, 31% / 65-95, 22.3% / 100+, 46.7%
2. Fatality Rates per 100,000 population, 1975 - 2002
1975 - 26.59
1990 - 13.66
1996 - 10.76
2002 - 8.72
What do these stats tell you? You have a much better chance of getting killed with speed and the speed limit has reduced the road toll from 25 years ago. Basically every stat backs up the fact that the road toll is dropping through these measures of slowing people down.

[Culprit]

Interesting statistics. Sure you don’t work for the Government or the Police.

They seem to come across with the same rhetoric.

In 1975, most cars had Front disc brakes, rear drum brakes and no air bags.
Full steal chassis, which the impact on the driver in an accident is much worse than 2002 onwards.

In 2002 onwards, most cars have 4-wheel discs standard as well as ABS (Anti Lock Brakes) Dual air bags and in some cases traction control. Also 2002 onwards models the car is designed to absorb the impact of any crash to have less impact on drivers/passengers.

A 2002 onwards model car has better; handling can stop on a dime compared to 1975 model.

You were more likely to die in a 1975 model car due to it not having the safety features of a 2002 onwards model car.

We have been in a drought for the past 6 years therefore many less accidents occur. As soon as it rains we have a spike in car accidents.


Also you can add that the amount of registered vehicles in 2002 far exceeds that of 1975. So we therefore must be safer drivers.


What should be said is Cameron was doing 144KMH; he showed some control, as his XR6 is capable of doing way past 200kmh.

It's not the speed that kills it's the sudden stop.

[droche 2004]

[CQ]

Yeh I was thinking that too culprit, bout the safety cars have today. True, but if you wrap around something on one of the doors, frontal airbags wont help (obviously) and not many cars have side airbags.
Nothing will really help you in a rollover though.

Safety has come along way, but if you're speeding fast enough it won't help. It wouldn't be a lot of help in a prang at 144ks. Youve got a frontal airbag and crumple zones but the engine will come through the firewall easily. Providing you hit front on that is!
I think holden (it could be someone else) are designing an engine that goes downwards and under the car in a head on, not sure what stage its up to though.

[spoljar]

I understand that the stats dont give the whole story. If you want detail, go to the website. All I wanted to do was highlight that there are more people alive today as a result of a dropping road toll.
2954 people were killed in Australia on our roads in 1980 compared to 1525 today. That is 1429 more Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Friends etc etc alive today. The tragic part is that there are 1525 Mothers, Fathers etc that are not.
Slow down, dont drink and drive and take it easy out there.
It is better to get somewhere 5 minutes later than not there at all!!!

[foreigner]

Well, if you can save one life through speed limits and adhering to it, I would take it.

I'm sure most of you who say that speed limits doesn't save lives, would not say it, if the person killed was one of your own. It's all ok as long as it's someone else.

And if someone says that going at 144 km/h is safer than 100 km/h ... please don't waste our time - take your argument to the insanity forum.

[CQ]

So true foreigner, as long as you're not affected by it, its ok eh!

[bokka]