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TRAFFIC EXPERT CONCERNED
Road management in Turkey is of concern to Australia’s revenue-crazed southern traffic bandit:
Victorian Premier Steve Bracks today said controversial roadworks near Anzac Cove on Turkey’s Gallipoli peninsula had been mismanaged.
Maybe the Turks should install speed cameras at 20-metre intervals. That’s management!
(Via Alan R.M. Jones)
What the hell does Brackish’s opinion on Turkish infrastructure management matter to anybody...?
This is like the Governor of Vermont trying to dictate foreign policy to… oh. Never mind.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 04 25 at 10:52 AM • permalinkI don’t know too much about Gallipoli, but my great grandfather is buried at Courcelette Cemetery at Pozieres, and the cemetery is surrounded by farmland under cultivation. I know that some remains of an AIF soldier were recently ploughed up and they were then laid to rest in the cemetery. Are we going to tell the frogs to stop farming in the Somme? Am I missing something??
It is very easy to avois speeding fines.
Don’t go over the limit.
If you do don’t whinge about it.Posted by Homer Paxton on 2005 04 25 at 07:53 PM • permalinkIt would be nice if the design rules for Australian cars ensured that speedos were as accurate as radar cameras.
Posted by pog-ma-thon on 2005 04 25 at 08:07 PM • permalinkSlightly OT, but Thievin’ Steve’s latest move is to put a swingeing tax on city parking spots (which will of course be passed on to parkers), all in the interests of ‘relieving gridlock’ and ‘encouraging public transport use’. How do we get us one of them ‘recall elections’, like the Californians had?
cuckoo — You can’t. They got your guns.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 04 25 at 10:08 PM • permalinkI really want to vomit on the Taxinator, it would be the most colourful and acurate physical display of my feelings for him and his nanny-state government.
Also, and this is purely for my own entertainment, I really, really want to kick him in the nuts.
Back OT, I would love to see his Turkich counterpart retort with “Steve Bracks? Who the fuck is that? Tell the bitch to make me a coffee”
Actually Homer Paxton obeying the speed limit in Victoria has been proven to be no guarantee of not receiving a speeding fine as in Brackistan the cameras have been known to hand them out whenever they feel like it regardless of speed.
Posted by Astonished on 2005 04 26 at 02:52 AM • permalinkWhat a cheek complaining about Gallopoli when he’s desecrating the country side with hundred of whirling steel bog-brushes.
But this Bracks’ dream is now discredited. In today’s press it’s reported that “A key Labor Party committee has questioned the continued expansion of wind power in Victoria. The powerful economics, innovation and industrial development committee has called into question the cost-effectiveness and variability of wind power…Wind energy is currently 62 per cent more expensive than brown coal-generated electricity it says. And critics also objected to wind turbines on aesthetic grounds.”
Hundreds of years worth of brown coal waiting to be mined and he has to go for loss-making wind turbines (for base load, no less!).
Sadly, on this issue, the Opposition is not any better.
Posted by walterplinge on 2005 04 26 at 04:19 AM • permalinkSpeeding seems to be the theme here ... sounds like everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere except Homer ... well I’ll join Homer, I’m in no hurry to get anywhere by road. That’s a conscious choice by me from wanting to be on time or late, rather than being on time or early or never. I’ve decided to slow down in life, and that’s including driving on the road. Why is everyone in a hurry? I’m interested in your arguments why, I can tell you my reasons why not ... this is something I disagree with Tim and most of you ... Stevo
Stevo: Because it’s fun, it gets you there quicker, and because we are also likely the sort of people who have more driving ability. I’d suggest that many of the people on here who enjoy speeding are those whose brains get bored with driving too slow for their ability. An inattentive driver is a dangerous driver.
It’s also likely to be related to testosterone levels. I suggest that perhaps your decision to slow down is partly motivated by dropping testosterone levels as you age. If you took some testosterone patches, perhaps you would regain some of your desire for speed. (I saw a documentary a while back where that exact phenomenon happened.)
There is surely some inherent difference in driving ability (not to mention the abilities of different vehicles). The people who know they are better than the average get frustrated that the speed limits are designed with the left half of the bell curve in mind. (Well, to a point. The written driving test is also going to be correlated with IQ to a certain extent, which will naturally weed a few of these people out.) They think “If I’m not doing anything wrong, why should I be penalized for the stupidity of others?”
These are the same sorts of people who think that just because some other numb nuts blows off his hand with a firecracker, why should I have to suffer for his idiocy? If I want to experiment with x, and I am forewarned about the side effects, know my risks, and am likely not taking any, who am I hurting?
They have a valid point, but to enforce some sort of differing licensing standard based on car and proven driver ability would infuriate the left. Can you imagine how apopletic some 3rd generation dole bludger would get after being pulled up by the cops as I blew past him in my sports car? Despite the situation being utterly fair and meritocratic, I don’t think he would see it that way.
There are also the people who love to speed and are incapable of handling it (young, dumb , high T males). However, I doubt any of them are reading Tim’s weblog. Chances are that most of them are doing things like cruising Chapel street in a hotted up Torana.
I suspect if we wanted to do away with these sorts of things by stealth (speed limits catering to the stupid), the right could push for more difficult testing (both written and practical). However, there is still the matter of all the slow people who have been licensed and would need to be retested. (Which would get more people using public transport. Bracks would ostensibly approve although not in actual fact, as it would inconvenience the Bracks voting demographic).
High speed crashes you tend to become a hazard to other motorists.
I think it’s more that the speed cameras are pointed at airplanes for testing speed and license plates for who to fine. Then all those bloody toll ways with these silly electronic tags (was that Kennett’s fault? I’ve forgotten) that don’t work properly are still there pissing me off.
Posted by Aging Gamer on 2005 04 26 at 09:47 AM • permalink#17 taspundit:
Thanks for the reply ... anyway ...I think we might be talking about different things here. OK, I know how to drive a motor car, I think you know that it aint too hard. I’ve done a couple of advanced driver courses, one was with a truck which included the truck doing an opposite lock emergency corner down a narrow road. Does that make me a better driver ... maybe on the truck I was driving ... but I did learn from that experience and course. Anyway, I still consider myself only an average or below average driver. Maybe because I rate myself against the likes of Peter Brock.
What I do know is all of the road rules. I learnt them at 17 and still know them. Thank god I’ve got a brain to remember them … and apply them … and I know the new rules too. I passed the driving test first go and have been driving since. A few years ago, I did the RTA electronic test as a pastime … got 100% …
About my early driving, I was young and dumb ... I spent 6 months in Europe on the fast roads there. In fact, I found them dangerous, even though I sometimes cruised for 190 KPH for ages. I found the speed differential a challenge and dangerous, between slow trucks and fast Ferraris. There is no comparison to Australian roads, on the whole we have goat tracks. Trying to compare here with Europe is not a good fit.
What I do agree with you is more difficult driving tests. That shouldn’t be too hard, except the will of the state governments to implement proper testing and regular re-testing.
Taspundit … I’m only 44 and I don’t care if I get tested every year …cheers …
Stevo:
Obviously you weren’t that dumb in your youth, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. :) I’ve surely done some dumb things in my time too due to testosterone poisining. :) Luck and quick reflexes certainly played some part in keeping me here.I am by no means suggesting that all roads warrant higher speed limits. However, even 2 lane highways in good condition on long straights can be driven safely at high speed, even in the wet. Roads such as the M1 in Melbourne could be set at least at 140kph without incurring too much hassle. Of course, you would have to lower the speed limits in the corners. (It is here where I have learned through some close calls that it does pay to have a good margin of error in the wet.)
Residential areas and school speed limits can remain where they are as far as I am concerned, especially in cities.
There is another difference between Germany and Australia as far as speed limits go, population average intelligence and the testing thresholds. From what I hear, the testing is stricter in Germany. I could well be wrong on that.
I do know that at least one study has resulted in the Germans testing higher on IQ than other European countries including Australia. If that holds (and not all studies back this up), it may partly explain how they can get away with autobahn speed limits. Even a 3 point difference will show a large effect at either tail of the bell curve. e.g. at IQ 80 there is a 50% difference in numbers of people below that, at IQ 70 there are almost double the numbers of people below that with a 3 point difference in average IQ. That sort of thing could have a large impact on accident statistics.
FWIW, the Lynn data (using multiple studies) says that there is a 5 point difference in IQ between Australia and West Germany. The Buj data (single study with same methodology for different countries) generated what is likely an 11 point difference between Germany and the Australian average (98 according to Lynn).
If such a thing were true (I’m skeptical), it would have a vast impact on accident statistics. Not only that, it would have a profound influence on public opinion. Opinions like those of Tim’s would be mainstream with the obvious implications for legislation.
#20 taspundit:
I’m not to sure about the IQ stuff ... and I’m not too sure about this thread ... after a day or two, it goes to the bottom of Tim’s front page and then gets vanquished to the pit of histrionics ... I mean history.I’d love to drive an AMG55 or equivalent along an autobahn or equivalent here in Australia. Me buying a top model Mercedes won’t happen. And driving on roads like the autobahns here in Australia won’t happen. Not in the next 10 years, probably not in my lifetime. Why ... costs. Europe is a bit more compact than Australia and they can afford, or used to be able to afford, autobahns, or autostradas or whatever they’re called. I believe it would be too uneconomic for Australia to have such highways between citys and within cities. Don’t get me too wrong, I’d love it if I could drive at high speed safely to wherever I was going. But it won’t happen because of cost. Also safety. The cars we mostly drive are too old, average age I think is nearly 10 years. And driver proficiency. That includes how to drive at a higher speed and how to drive safely within road rules. IMHO, that’s too much too ask.
I’m not advocating public transport either. Again, most Australian cities are too spread out for efficent public transport like train and bus. What we have is a spoked wheel with transport going to a central hub. Not much help for me trying to get to another part of Sydney when I have to go 35 KM and one hour by train to get get to Central Station before I go elswhere. I think our transport problems are a bit of a nightmare.
Again, I know what you want, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m being pragmatic, as well as sensible!!! ;-)
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