Ludwig
IMO the problem with discussions like this is that they're trying to solve a situation without addressing the root cause and impediments.

My posts tend to try and address issue at that level.

Good luck with your travels remember I want good wildlife pickies for my jigsaws on my computer. please I have to do some thing between saving the world and pontificating ;-)

I tailgate, but wish that I saw no need to. Many drivers just go too slow. Police should start booking these drivers and handing out large fines to anyone towing a large caravan with anything less than a V8. Governments should raise speed limits, as it would allow the Desmonds of this world to drive at the same speed as the rest of us and would be the best way to reduce the number of speeding drivers. There should be advertising campains on the need to catch the car in front of you (to be considerate to people on side streets). If all this happened, then I could put my hand on my heart and promise not to tailgate again. Off you go Ludwig.

Tailgating cameras? What a clever way to raise more tax revenue. Doubtless other 'essential' (and profitable) purposes can be found for the new cameras when installed.

Heard about the risk of cyclists speeding on bike paths? Let's introduce speed cameras and tailgating cameras for them too. After all, if just one life is saved and so on - not to mention the prospect of raising a few extra dollars for government.

The pressure is on to come up with new little earners for government to help claw back the stimulus billions. Of course we could save a lot of money by getting rid of state governments, but hell will freeze over before any pollies' jobs are lost.

Yes, the most dangerous thing about our roads today is our ridiculously low speed limits, coupled with excessive use of double, no overtaking, centre lines. Add in a few Desmonds, who want to stop anyone driving faster than 95Km/hour, & you have all the ingredients for road rage.

About the hardest thing to do, on a long drive in the country, in Oz, today, is to stay awake. You can drive for hours, without really steering your car, moving your foot on the throttle, or changing gear, if you ever have to do that.

Perhaps we should be glad we have a Desmond or two, as mobile chicanes, to wake us up.

In the 60s, on 60s roads, in 50s, & 60s cars large numbers of us drove regularly at 80 to 90 MPH, legally. Whats more, we must have done it safely, as the road toll was lower.

BUT. Most of us could drive. We had cars, with drum brakes, which would fade very qiuckly, so we learned to use them sparingly. That meant we had to drive much further ahead, & slow down naturally, & gently.

We often drove on gravel roads, & had to be able to handle mud, or loose gravel, hell, even corners.

We ever had curves, in main roads, which required us to adjust our speed to be able to get around them.

Then there were the trucks. Remember them. 15 MPH up the hills, & 85 MPH down the other side, or on those long straights in Victoria. An interstate drive was an interesting adventure, even for those who did it regularly.

I had better stop now, I'm starting to daydream, of the good old days, of 9 hour overnight trips, from Sydney to Melbourne, when all good Desmonds stayed home at night.

Examinator, yes we need to look at the root causes.

BTW, upon reflection, I retract my comment about you being wholly negative. The sort of ideas that I am putting forward need to be critically examined, which means that any possible downsides need to be brought to light.

Keep up the healthy critique.

I'll certainly try to get some good photos. Managed to get some reasonable shots of a Pacific baza yesterday.

Cheers

"If the speed limit is 100 shouldn't your cruising speed be 95"

Yes indeed it should Desmond. So if the speed limit was 110 in a 100kmh zone, the cruising speed should be about 105, WHICH IS WHAT IS IT IS NOW IN A 100KMH ZONE!!

My idea of speed zones, where the speed limit is 10kmh higher than the signs say, would in fact just be formalising the current situation. It would be bringing the law into line with accepted behaviour, rather than the other way around.

"You have to be dead sure your speedo is not telling lies"

YES!!

For good drivers, there is such a narrow speed range that you can travel in, in any given speed zone. You ideally want to roll with the flow but to not do a speed that will get you booked. That's a pretty tight little margin. So you really do need to know the accuracy of your speedo.

This is very easy to do with a GPS. A GPS reads your speed pretty dam accurately, if you just sit on a constant speed for a short distance.
For some years now I've been using my GPS to determine that accuracy of speedometers in the various different vehicle that I have driven. You need to recalibrate every so often as your tyres wears, and especially after getting new tyres, as the error margin in your speedo changes as the circumference of your tyres change.

It has become obvious to me that a lot of the time people who are just trying to be law-abiding drivers are sitting on a speed 5 or 10kmh below the limit when they think they are sitting right on just over the speed limit, because they are reading their speedo without realising that it is giving them a reading considerably higher than their true speed.

This is one thing that should be strongly promoted by the police and all other relevant authorities - the regular calibration of speedometers.

But nooooo....I've never even heard a mention of it from the cops, pollies, Dept of Transport, etc.