GDay Big Al.

Absolutely right.

This is exactly why we need a vastly improved standard of regulation of road rules. This doesn’t mean vastly more police…it means empowering the community to play their part in law-enforcement by way of making evidence-backed complaints or reports to the police about incidents of significant law-infringement.

It should be taken for granted that the public can do this. But instead, complaints about reckless driving behaviour are not only not encouraged, they are effectively strongly discouraged.

The public feel powerless to deal with rank drivers, which is one major cause of road-rage – leading to people taking matters into their own hands.

I find that being subjected to stupid dangerous sh!t on the roads on a frequent basis and not being able to do a f!cking thing about it is more maddening than any other aspect of my life. I wonder how many people feel like this?

I find it fascinating that the police will treat minor complaints of public nuisance or the like in a very serious manner if someone bothers to report them, even if there is no evidence to go with it, but won’t be interested in reports of highly risky driving behaviour such as chronic tailgating, dangerous overtaking, gross speeding, etc….unless an accident has occurred.

That’s bloody atrocious and totally pathetic as far as I’m concerned

It is particularly bloody depressing Luddie when the road toll in my part of the world – north Queensland, is more than double what it was at the same time last year…… and no one seems in the slightest bit interested in tackling the issue in any manner other than the same old tried and proven INEFFECTIVE ways.

New road rules come in to force in Queensland on 1 July.

They include;

Doubling the minimum learner period from six to twelve months.

Learner licences to be issued at the age of 16.

Learners to be required to record 100 hours of supervised on-road driving experience in a log book.

High-powered vehicle restrictions to apply for young drivers.

Tougher powers for police to confiscate cars from repeat drink-drivers and disqualified drivers.

P plates to be reintroduced, with stronger restrictions on first year probationary drivers (P1) as follows;

P1 drivers can only carry one passenger aged under 21 between 11pm and 5am.

All mobile phone use, including loudspeaker, is banned.

Hands-free mobile use is banned for supervisors and passengers.

These things are more or less in line with RACQ (Royal Automobile Club of Queensland) recommendations, as I outlined on this thread on 19 March 2006 on this thread; http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=2877#36139.

I welcome them. But for goodness sake, why did it take so long??

And where’s the publicity?

We’ve heard only the tiniest bit of information about this in the media. A tiny article appears in today’s Townsville Bulletin (my local paper) on page 9. There is no mention of it in the Courier Mail (Queensland’s main paper), judging by the website.

And quite bizarrely, there is no mention of it on the Queensland Government website under Queensland Road Rules!

Any introduction of new laws has surely got to be accompanied by maximised publicity in the media.

As I said, I welcome these initiatives, but really; they are nothing more than piddling little adjustments around the periphery of the problem of road safety.

What is needed is a full-on frontal attack, implemented nationwide.

Oh what the hell. The public and politicians alike are not really interested. I mean, how obvious is it? – such pissy new restrictions, such minimal interest in the issue shown by newspapers and the media in general and such apparent lack of concern from government about getting the message out there.

Yep. Let’s just continue to live with the road fatality rate and continue to kid ourselves that the current police effort is anywhere near good enough.

Let’s just continue to live with the ‘collateral damage’ of a hopelessly inadequate law enforcement system on our roads, and a hopeless level of hypocrisy in the general community, police force and government about what is illegal and what is acceptable or commonplace behaviour.

Well, I am pretty profoundly disgusted. I started a new road safety thread….and not one of the hundreds of OLO readers saw fit to post a comment!

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=782

It seems that there really is stuff-all concern about this issue in the general community, or even amongst the good thinking people of this forum!