Is the Government handling this the right way

[Luke Plaizier]

Oh dear, I voted NO, the government is not handling this the right way.

WTF? Contrasting Headline and Poll topics? That'll stuff the whole thing...


Lukeyson

[blownv8au]

i believe the government is not handeling it the right way. they introduced sex ed in schools because of parents worried about unwanted pregnancys, drug ed to save young lives from death and antisocialism(criminal behaviour) yet they won't introduce driver education which could educate the young and invincible before they step into a 1500kg potential killing machine. showing a 13 year old and up kid what a car travelling at 80kph hitting a stationary object and other consequences of poor driving or unsafe conditions might hit home a bit before they get out on the roads and maybe have abit more respect for what can happen in the blink of an eye. learning how to property control a vehicle in different conditions and emergencies should part of the licensing system ie defensive driving courses befoe they even get to mix with others on the roads. i think better education is a start.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by imugli

Speed camera's raise revenue.

only if you speed!

if you don't agree with the speed zones, it doesn't mean you go out and speed out of protest. there are other ways to voice your protests.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by pjm58

i believe the government is not handeling it the right way. they introduced sex ed in schools because of parents worried about unwanted pregnancys, drug ed to save young lives from death and antisocialism(criminal behaviour) yet they won't introduce driver education which could educate the young and invincible before they step into a 1500kg potential killing machine. showing a 13 year old and up kid what a car travelling at 80kph hitting a stationary object and other consequences of poor driving or unsafe conditions might hit home a bit before they get out on the roads and maybe have abit more respect for what can happen in the blink of an eye. learning how to property control a vehicle in different conditions and emergencies should part of the licensing system ie defensive driving courses befoe they even get to mix with others on the roads. i think better education is a start.

i think a lot of those issues you mention can be put straight back on the shoulders of the parents. i will never rely on the school curriculum to teach my kids valuable life lessons. neither should any parent. as a parent you have many responsibilities, one of which is the raising of your kids to follow certain rules and stay away/resist other things.

[Dave R]

The solution to this problem is don't speed and you will not be nabbed. If the government decides that it is neccessary to decrease speed limits, it may not be ideal but we all have the privilege of sharing the road and I'm sure most will agree that driving at 50km/h it better than walking at 5km/h. Like most, I hate speed cameras too (particularly their revenue raising agenda) but I have never been caught by one - because I don't speed in residential and high traffic areas where you are more likely to find cameras. However I do feel sorry for the states that have hidden cameras, atleast NSW warns you that a camera is there (and hey, everyone slows down for 200m or so!). As far as hoons go, let them die, this is basic darwinism and I'd prefer to see a car full of teens explode into a tree rather than run down young children or crash into other motorists and kill them too.

[GT290]

I think the government puts too much attention to speed and not enough on Driving culture or habbits. Not enough attention to the majority of us really. The real speedsters will continue to kill them slves and will never be stopped unless they spend more time and effort when they are first going for the licence with intensive education. I belive most of these driving school operators are a load of rubbish and serv no real purpose other than to take peoples money. They are needed but I think they need a razzle up.
Honestly I do not know what it is here in this country but the mentallity of some young people is first and foremost irrisponsible and carries total disrespect for others effected by them.
Fact of life is you will never have a perfect socioty as there is always a few but why should the majoroty pay.
Some of the majority are paying with there lives and its not from speeding, its fatigue on long hauls by others to carless to have any regard for anybody.

A message needs to be sent to government that things need to change. The way this is being managed is crap and the results are far from acceptible.

Cameras can only be part of the solution. there is a much bigger picture to this solution that needs to be discussed and resolved.

The public should have more to say ongoing, not put up take whats dish out by those you voted in period, NO WAY!!

[GT290]

Originally Posted by Luke Plaizier

Oh dear, I voted NO, the government is not handling this the right way.

WTF? Contrasting Headline and Poll topics? That'll stuff the whole thing...


Lukeyson

Oh dear is right, that is a bit of a stuff up isn't it

[wulos]

Polling closed due to the ambiguous nature of the question.

[paule11]

You could start a petition http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/vie....aspx?LIndex=1

[cosmo20btt]

Originally Posted by GT290

I think the government puts too much attention to speed and not enough on Driving culture or habbits. Not enough attention to the majority of us really. The real speedsters will continue to kill them slves and will never be stopped unless they spend more time and effort when they are first going for the licence with intensive education. I belive most of these driving school operators are a load of rubbish and serv no real purpose other than to take peoples money. They are needed but I think they need a razzle up.
Honestly I do not know what it is here in this country but the mentallity of some young people is first and foremost irrisponsible and carries total disrespect for others effected by them.
Fact of life is you will never have a perfect socioty as there is always a few but why should the majoroty pay.
Some of the majority are paying with there lives and its not from speeding, its fatigue on long hauls by others to carless to have any regard for anybody.

A message needs to be sent to government that things need to change. The way this is being managed is crap and the results are far from acceptible.

Cameras can only be part of the solution. there is a much bigger picture to this solution that needs to be discussed and resolved.

The public should have more to say ongoing, not put up take whats dish out by those you voted in period, NO WAY!!

It would be good to get the stats on road toll for speeding, falling asleep at the wheel, dui & so on. Then people might be surprised by the outcome.

[Keepleft]

Originally Posted by paule11

You could start a petition http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/vie....aspx?LIndex=1

Which would achieve 'nothing' meaningful except mountains of paper waste; and its only QLD, just one of Australia's States.

[imugli]

Originally Posted by prydey

only if you speed!

if you don't agree with the speed zones, it doesn't mean you go out and speed out of protest. there are other ways to voice your protests.

I completely agree. If you know there's a speed limit, regardless of what it is, and you go above that and get caught, more fool you.

I also think that if the government came out and said 'Hey, they (cameras) are there for revenue but you have the choice and the money goes towards maintaining the roads and this and that and the rest' most reasonable people would say fair enough.

[cosmo20btt]

Originally Posted by imugli

I completely agree. If you know there's a speed limit, regardless of what it is, and you go above that and get caught, more fool you.

I also think that if the government came out and said 'Hey, they (cameras) are there for revenue but you have the choice and the money goes towards maintaining the roads and this and that and the rest' most reasonable people would say fair enough.

The problem I see is the bringing in of zero tolerance, before there was allowance of 10% for speedo error (all speedos are out by a small margin of plus or minus a small percent) now 1 k over & you pay the fine so in reality you should drive at about 5 k's under the limit. In fact to be safe all QLD drivers should now accept a 95kph limit if they don't want to be booked. No I stand by what I say, this is a money grab & nothing else.

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by cosmo20btt

The problem I see is the bringing in of zero tolerance, before there was allowance of 10% for speedo error (all speedos are out by a small margin of plus or minus a small percent) now 1 k over & you pay the fine so in reality you should drive at about 5 k's under the limit. In fact to be safe all QLD drivers should now accept a 95kph limit if they don't want to be booked. No I stand by what I say, this is a money grab & nothing else.

i believe that speedos can only read higher, not lower than the actual speed
therefore as the car gets used more and the tyres wear down, the speedo reads higher and higher and in theory, the speedo being out should not affect your ability to avoid a ticket - it should only help


of course it is a money grab, but there seems to be many people who are helping them grab the money in a way they despise. it doesn't make sense

[cosmo20btt]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

i believe that speedos can only read higher, not lower than the actual speed
therefore as the car gets used more and the tyres wear down, the speedo reads higher and higher and in theory, the speedo being out should not affect your ability to avoid a ticket - it should only help

Good point how ever it is not so much about gearing but more so about calibration, in my experience especially working for holden and having had cars go to the RACQ as used car sales, as every car that got the full inspection, always came back with a speedometer calibration test & some were woefully inaccurate, and I don't mean to holden bash here but most that I saw that were way out were Commodes. That was my experience.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by imugli

The population (in general) seem to think that a licence is a right. I don't think so. When there are other people's lives at stake, you having a licence is a privilege.

.

I disagree with you there. I know the "privilege" cliche has been around for several generations, but we do have a right to hold a licence if we meet the criteria. We are not a plebeian society, we are democracy that serves all members. How we behave within the rules is another thing all together. What we do have is a responsibility to act sensibly and if we don't the big stick comes out and we get caned until eventually we toe the line. The problem most of us have is the strictness of the rules because of the stupidity of the few, but that is the price of a democratic society.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by cosmo20btt

It would be good to get the stats on road toll for speeding, falling asleep at the wheel, dui & so on. Then people might be surprised by the outcome.

The road toll peaked in 1970 with just over 3,700 deaths.
By the early 1980s ADR upgrades had it down to about 3200.
when RBT came in it dropped below 2000.

All the time vehicle road numbers were increasing.

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by Wally

I disagree with you there. I know the "privilege" cliche has been around for several generations, but we do have a right to hold a licence if we meet the criteria. We are not a plebeian society, we are democracy that serves all members. How we behave within the rules is another thing all together. What we do have is a responsibility to act sensibly and if we don't the big stick comes out and we get caned until eventually we toe the line. The problem most of us have is the strictness of the rules because of the stupidity of the few, but that is the price of a democratic society.

Wally, i think you're both saying the same thing but from a different perspective....

[Mr Brooksy]

Why not introduce mandatory 5 year license testing? It will do a number of things that the Gov will like, and possibly weed out poor/irresponsible drivers.

A) Raise more funds for Gov, through license testing costing $100 - $200 so they can see the benefits of outlaying the cost to hire more personal.
B) Keep everyone up to date with road rules.
C) It would mean that every few years those who "just scrape through their P's test" get caught out the next time they test.
D) Reduces the amount of bad habits we all are able to fall into.
E) Means that drivers who are indifferent on the roads and that shapes their driving patterns can be identified by the 'testers' and failed.
F) Or those drivers who continually lose points for reckless driving must have 2 yearly tests, or put back on P's or even L's etc.

I do see problems with my thoughts though. As pulling off a 5 year license review for population of Aus (not sure on the number of licenses) is a HUGE nightmare to set up and police. Not to mention a huge cost as well, both to the Government and the driving public. There are always loopholes that people can jump through to get their licenses back eg tradies, truckies, teachers, council workers, corporate giants etc who argue their need transport for work. This wouldn't stop those who don't give a rats anyway either.

Anyway, they're just some thoughts.

We could always try Clarkson's giant magnet stuck to the front and back of each others cars... idea... thing... ok, yeah maybe not!

[durtyharry]

Originally Posted by Mr Brooksy

Why not introduce mandatory 5 year license testing? It will do a number of things that the Gov will like, and possibly weed out poor/irresponsible drivers.

What has this got to do with stopping 19year olds wrapping their car's around trees? how is this going to help the most over represented age group in accident statistics?(18-25).

Perhaps retesting over the age of 60, or for those that incur traffic offences(speeding included), target those that error. Stopping the productivity of the nation by having everyone giving up half a day doing a licence test every five years isnt good use of most people's time and an unneeded expense.

Originally Posted by Mr Brooksy

A) Raise more funds for Gov, through license testing costing $100 - $200 so they can see the benefits of outlaying the cost to hire more personal.

That is simply silly, its about as sensible as paying extra tax so people can be employed digging holes and filling them in.

[Mr Brooksy]

Originally Posted by durtyharry

What has this got to do with stopping 19year olds wrapping their car's around trees? how is this going to help the most over represented age group in accident statistics?(18-25).

Perhaps retesting over the age of 60, or for those that incur traffic offences(speeding included), target those that error. Stopping the productivity of the nation by having everyone giving up half a day doing a licence test every five years isnt good use of most people's time and an unneeded expense.



That is simply silly, its about as sensible as paying extra tax so people can be employed digging holes and filling them in.

1) This has more to do with the general driving population than 18-25's (as this thread is not solely about this age bracket). The 18-25 bracket IMO needs to have a mandatory defensive driving course undertaken, but that's not going to happen is it? But no matter what course of action you take with any age bracket the sad truth is, people will do stupid things and cause an accident or even deaths. The main reason I thought that a more regular license test would be helpful was because if you are required to prove semi regularly that you are able to drive according to the rules of the road than the privilege of driving is extended to you, if not go back to the drawing board and sharpen up ya skills or attitudes.

Clearly you disagree.

2) No Government or Government agency is going to implement any kid of change to improve the driving quality on the road that will cost them anything. If we are really serious about wanting to change the way we are policed etc, clearly we will have to pay something for it.

[cosmo20btt]

Originally Posted by Mr Brooksy

1) This has more to do with the general driving population than 18-25's

Clearly you disagree.

2) No Government or Government agency is going to implement any kid of change to improve the driving quality on the road that will cost them anything. If we are really serious about wanting to change the way we are policed etc, clearly we will have to pay something for it.

Why has every one have to pay for some one else's mistakes, sure I would pay a little extra towards more training, or more policing, why some people say, drop the speed limit down to 50kph, or keep retesting the people just is not the answer. If people are going to speed, then they will and should be booked for it, and not take it out on every other law abiding citizen.

[durtyharry]

Originally Posted by Mr Brooksy

2) No Government or Government agency is going to implement any kid of change to improve the driving quality on the road that will cost them anything. If we are really serious about wanting to change the way we are policed etc, clearly we will have to pay something for it.

If the government decides its a good thing, then they will have us do it. Im not sure if you understand our government, its not a private organisation that tries to get richer and richer. It only gets the money to do things from us, for us.

So far there is only anecdotal evidence to suggest that advanced/defensive driving courses have any effect in reducing accident rates for people who are randomly selected from the general population.

Whereas people, enthusiasts who choose to attend them, people given ultimatums from their employer ; a different data set altogether.

It would be clearly irresponsible for any government to invest in such training when there are no proven benefits.

[Keepleft]

Originally Posted by jpd80

The road toll peaked in 1970 with just over 3,700 deaths.
By the early 1980s ADR upgrades had it down to about 3200.
when RBT came in it dropped below 2000.

All the time vehicle road numbers were increasing.

REM - these observations were equally recognised in the western developed world, ie; 'vehicle safety improvements'.