Good point Ludwig. You are right, I’m a drongo.

This is one very significant consequence of inadequate training – drivers not knowing the bloody rules of the road!

It also raises another very interesting point – many police officers don’t know them either!! I have struck this a number of times when asking police for advice on various road-safety matters. Many don’t seem to know the law any better than the average driver – and that is to just a terribly inadequate extent.

So it is not only drivers who need better training.

Upon asking a police officer what one should do when being chronically tailgated by a large truck on the highway while sitting on or just above the speed limit (a regular occurrence on the Bruce Hwy), I was told emphatically that it is ok to speed up until you feel that you have alleviated the risk factor by leaving the truck behind at a safe distance. This was emphatically supported by a second officer. Subsequent inquiries proved this to be a total crock of poo. I was later told that there is no way that you would get off if you were caught speeding under such circumstances.

There is another whole dismal scenario here – if the police don’t know the road rules particularly well, then what is the point of sticking to the law with respect to laws that don’t get policed? The whole business just gets worse and worse, the deeper you dig into it.

Ludwig, just between you, me and the gatepost, I absolutely detest the way speed is policed. Who gave the cops (in Queensland at least) the right to police the speed limit at 10kmh over the stated limit? I would really like to know who has this discretionary power, in relation to something that is written in absolutely black and white terms in law, and is absolutely black and white to every driver by way of speed limit signs, 50kmh urban zones where unsigned and 100kmh open road zones where unsigned. The error margin in speed-measuring equipment is much less than 10 kmh, so that can’t be used as an excuse.

It is patently obvious on the Bruce Hwy that this 10kmh extra speed applies. The cruising speed for the vast majority of vehicles is close to 110 in the 100k zones, and police cars cruise that road constantly, allowing them to do so. In effect, the police have trained the public to abuse the law by 10kmh.

But of course, the police will never admit to this publicly, although it has been admitted to me privately. If this 10kmh buffer is going to apply, for whatever reason, then why on earth can’t the police announce it publicly? How can they justify not telling the public exactly where we stand with this business? Again last week, for about the tenth time, I heard the direct question asked of a police officer on ABC radio. He would not say by how much we can exceed the limit and get away with it. He simply said that there is some leeway. Well, that is just not good enough. The public have every right to know exactly what the go is.

Continued next post

From previous post

A 10kmh leniency obviously also applies in 50 and 60k zones in ‘wahooland’ (the name of my home town, which will remain undivulged). But you can bet your bottom dollar that 40kmh school zones are policed a lot more tightly (when they are policed at all). So some poor mother having just dropped off her child, who has come to understand that it is totally acceptable to do 60 in a 50k zone, does 44 in a 40k school zone and gets busted for it.

I understand that any police officer can charge a driver for doing 101kmh in a 100k zone if they so choose. And for that matter they can turn a blind eye to someone doing 130. So this opens up another can of worms; the police have enormous discretionary powers, which can be and certainly are at times abused. I have experienced this from both the positive and negative side. This discretionary business leaves the way open for people to be victimised, for locals to be let off whereas out-of-towners cop it, for young males to be harangued while females get off, etc.

There is another horrible aspect to the way speed is policed. But stuff it, I’ve had enough whingeing for one night. I’m going to bed.

Ludig, it's great that you are concerned with the carnage on our roads. Too few are, especially those stupid Magistrates and Judges who say what a terrible thing the offnder has done, and then give him/her a slap on the wrist and turn them loose again to possibly kill and main again and ruin more lives.

I hope some of those legal eagles are reading these comments, they might just get some wisdom! We need better driver education [defensive driving courses] video's of accident victims shown to offenders. and more notice taken of dobbing in idiots. And Magistrates and Judges who will act to PROTECT THE PUBLIC instead of fall over themselves to be fair to drunks and idiots who think they can drive like Craig Lowndes.

Hello Big Al. It is nice to know that someone out there is reading my rantings. Yes, too few people are concerned about road safety, which I find mind-boggling, given the consequences of bad driving, and given the heartache felt by so many people as the result of death or injury. It just completely doesn’t make sense to me.

So many aspects of it could be improved relatively easily. Why are we as a society apparently resigned to such a high risk level on our roads??

Totally agree with your comments. Cheers

Ludwig, I’m dying with anticipation to know what the other “horrible aspect to the way speed is policed” is. Pleeease tell us!