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The Forum > General Discussion > Drive responsibly or lose your license

Drive responsibly or lose your license

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Driving at night in the bush, when I come to a passing lane with it's huge
"KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING", highly reflective (read blinding) white sign, I ignore it and drive in the passing lane if there is no other traffic.

I break the law because by so doing I put a full lane between me and any of the lurking Government owned kangaroos, wallabies and the heavy weight walleroos; deer (either wild or strayed, and pigs. Goats are not much of a problem as, in my extensive experience, they are intelligent and don't run in front of motor vehicles (unless in a mob and then herd instinct can take over).
Now if I'm caught flouting this particular law I'll be fined but it would be wildly inappropriate to cancel my licence for driving in such a safe manner.

There is a sure fire way to cut speeding; more highly visible police cars driving along the busier roads, driven at the speed limit, where appropriate, but this has the highly undesirable effect of increasing safety, stopping speeding and thus reducing revenue.

I agree with Hasbeen, many speed limits are ridiculously low.
Posted by Is Mise, Sunday, 5 April 2015 1:35:25 PM
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Nathan, I wasn't aware that speeding was a criminal offence.

I too drive on country roads and usually sit on about a dollar twenty or so. Ive been driving for the best part of forty years, have not had an accident other than cleaning up the odd roo and have had my share of fines (a by product of owning 911's) and unlike yourself, I learned to drive in an era why cars had to be driven, not guided like today. One thing I will not do though is drive over the limit.

As for better spending of our taxes, good luck with that because I recall you being a supporter of the illegal freeloaders who by the way are going to be the hardest issue for your generation to deal with especially if you wanting a lifestyle similar to the one my generation has enjoyed, of cause through sheer hard work.

So un til you can find a solution to our depleting tax revenues, I suggest you shelve your idea.
Posted by rehctub, Sunday, 5 April 2015 2:22:04 PM
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rehctub,

In terms of depleting tax revenue - do you simply want governments to keep spending irresponsibly - yes or no? Or do you just take it as acceptable - as your favourite (say major political party) may do so at some stage?

I have put forward raising the rate of the GST, but When I did this I shot down by many. No seems to be willing to have a proper discussion on the GST.

State governments shouldn't be relying on drivers who are breaking the law. Many state governments now have online payment services (for traffic fines) - disgusting.

Many people (in huge numbers) complain about getting speeding fines, because they get hit with one and simply make an excuse for it.

"Motorists in New South Wales paid $408,000 a day in fines from speed and red light cameras during the past financial year, Government data has revealed." totaling $150 million dollars in 2014.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-12/traffic-cameras-generate-150m-in-revenue-for-nsw/5592126

Queensland Transport highlights that driving 25 km/h faster than the surrounding traffic increases your risk of crashing by 10 times, no matter how good you are as a driver. Of the speed related crashes 70% are single vehicle accidents. Speed is a large cause of driver error, driving too fast for the road, too fast for the conditions, too fast for the car or too fast for the driver.

If people have a strong case for speeding or passing a red light camera - and can justify it, that's one thing. The majority of people in my view cannot. They are simply awful drivers, who see driving as a right.

Finally people may be interested to know, I don't live in a capital city.
Posted by NathanJ, Sunday, 5 April 2015 6:54:40 PM
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NathanJ
The mistake you make is that driving irresponsibly and breaking the road rules are often not the same thing.

I will give some examples from my driving career, the first involved driving on the Hume freeway in heavy fog. It was only possible to see about three car lengths ahead, but yet I was been overtaken by the majority of traffic doing the legal limit of 100 Kph. Totally irresponsible but not actually illegal.

On another occasion many years ago I was driving on the same freeway in moderately heavy rain. The limit of 100 kph was acceptable in the car I was in, but anything much over that was definitely dangerous. The problem I had was that a number of semis overtook me doing at least 120 kph. At that time radar did not work in the rain so the chances of being caught were very low, but those drivers where being totally irresponsible.

Not far from me there is a permanent 40 kph zone due the proximity of various educational facilities. Outside school times there are periods, when you will not see anyone for 15 minutes or more on the road or pavement, yet if I were caught doing 61 kph on this section of road during one of the quite periods I would lose my licence despite the fact it would neither be irresponsible or dangerous.

The solution to the problem of moderating driving behaviour is to require any driver who is observed driving dangerously to fit a car data camera ( records speed location and picture) which would have to be downloaded to the to the authorities at regular intervals. This could be easily scanned for dangerous traffic violations. The time you would have to provide your data to the authorities would depend on the seriousness of the original driving issue, if the data showed any dangerous driving then fines or lost of licence would ensue and the time period for the mandatory use of the data logger would be increased.
Posted by warmair, Monday, 6 April 2015 1:11:49 PM
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.....Totally irresponsible but not actually illegal.

Actually Warmair, while it may not be illegal, when an accident happens, especially resulting in injury or death, a determination is made on all involved to determine their input in the cause, and driving at 100kph in heavy fog would see the perpetrator in stiff even if they were the innocent one.

Nathan, I don't want to see governments co tinue to spend irresponsibly at all, in fact, prior to Kevin 07 we had a very responsible government.

Smoking is another windfall for governments as while they may seem to be trying to encourage people to quit, the reality is they can't survive without the huge amount of taxes tabbacco raises,

As for raising the GST, the GST is a very ineffective tax as the only person who actually pays the tax is the end consumer, because anyone who is registered for GST claims theirs back. A finical transaction, or spending tax would be a much better option but big business won't have it although there is a bit of noise about it at present. We can only hope because I could sure use the extra $300 odd in my pay each week.
Posted by rehctub, Monday, 6 April 2015 7:33:54 PM
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On driving responsibly:
There are many towns in NSW where the local councils have introduced parking in the centre of the road as well as at both kerbs; the speed limit is usually 40 kph but I always drive at 20 in these areas during the day.
I have twice had the experience of a small child running full tilt out from between two cars; in both instances I was able to stop in time.

The first time that it happened I had just started and was only doing about 15 and the second time was after I'd decided to travel in these areas at 20.

However in some places the 40 zone is 24/7 and the "40 High Density Pedestrian Traffic' signs look a bit ridiculous at 1:00 AM when there is not a pedestrian or vehicle in sight.
Posted by Is Mise, Monday, 6 April 2015 10:43:20 PM
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