AS an old bloke, I learnt to drive in the late 50s. We used to legally cruise our gravel roads, between towns, in our late 30s, & 40s cars at mid 70 MPH speeds.

You know, no lightening bolts struck us, & I know it's hard for some of you to believe, we did not have prangs.

Move on to the 60, & with improving roads, & more modern cars, [often only 10 years old] we would average 70 MPH, [115Km/H] on overnight trips from Sydney to Melbourne, or Brisbane. We still didn't have prangs.

Today, with modern highways, with all the corners straightened out, & cars that could sit on 150Km/H, we have these rediculously low speed limits, designed for revenue raising.

Today the hardest thing about an interstate trip is staying awake, through the boredom, particularly if you have cruise control. However, with a modern very quiet car, the concentartion required to avoid exceeding the limit, is very wearing, if you don't have cruise. At least with my old 70s sports car, there is just enough engine, & road noise to make conscious speed control unnecessary

<< …what do you consider more of a risk to other road users, DUI or minior speeding infringments? >>

Rehctub, this is impossible to answer because there is a huge range in both DUI and speeding from no risk greater than normal driving to a very seriously increased risk.

I don’t have a problem with the DUI law. Everyone knows exactly where they stand with it. There is a hard and fast cut-off at 0.05% blood alcohol limit.

But this simply isn’t the case with speeding. The enforceable limit is fuzzy and you are very strongly pressured to drive close to the limit just about all the time.

There is a real problem here. You either roll with the flow, which is a few Ks over the legal limit most of the time or you get subjected to an increased risk of offensive behaviour and mishap…and you become the hazard… if you actually drive under the speed limit.

If you want to roll with the flow, you have to sit right up close to bookable limit and be very careful about not letting your speed slip into it.

You can easily get booked for exceeding the speed limit while essentially driving properly. You can very easily be booked for doing more than 13kmh over the limit while just rolling with the flow and letting your speed just slip slightly higher than it should be. That’s three demerit points gone.

If you observe the principle of the law by giving way at a stop sign but not the letter of the law by coming to a total stop – that’s another 3 points. Similarly with various other very minor things.

We can only lose 12 points before we lose our licence, and points hang around for three years.

So it is pretty damn easy to lose your licence while essentially driving safely.

Sure, most people who accrue demerit points to the extent of licence suspension do presumably drive in a ratty manner. But not all of them are particularly poor drivers.

Hasbeen, you make a very good point, in that older cars require much more concerntration to keep on the road, hence, you are less likely to become distracted.

As for my employee, I should have mentioned that he was on a P plate and only had 4 points.

As for my mate 'The Blue Cross', it becomes quite obvious when I prove someone wrong when they turn to silly little games like changing my name. Ticks and stones.
Better luch next time.

Rectum.... 'when I prove someone wrong'... actually chum, you've 'proved' nothing at all, and were simply speaking out of your backside, hence the renaming to suit.

The camera's exist, the altered state when these things are in place exists, the speed is otherwise very high on UK motorways, well above the limit, and you would not have a clue what speed I drove at.

I'm not sure what you were trying to 'prove' at all.

Please explain.

Rehctub:

Re employee on P plates.

Bugger. Reckon he'd be up the creek either way in that case. Still worth asking a lawyer if he has a family to support etc.

Rusty

Any person who drives breaks the law during their driving history.

From the elderly lady straddling lanes to the mother or father with kids collecting them after school speeding [and never seem to get caught] through the 40k school zones, to the people sitting on the speed limit and almost knocking down kids as they alight from school buses over viaducts where they walk.

Speeding and drink driving may be the point of discussion here; yet let us not forget that we are all breaking the law in vehicles at some point during our driving history. Therefore, be understanding of a young fellow's mistakes, punishment and learning he is now undertaking.

Anyone who declares or boasts "I've never had a speeding fine or parking ticket" are the first people I view suspiciously. These same people have been spotted speeding and/or breaking the law at times. Yes, speeding kills and injures. Yes, drink driving kills.

So, too, do people undertaking illegal U-Turns, breaking suddenly or pulling over at the last minute in bumper traffic to answer a mobile, or make a phone call, people pulling out not giving way, people not stopping at "stop signs" or racing to be the first onto a roundabout causing accidents; to name just but a few.

Rechtub my opinion is that both are on par. I dont drink drive; however am guilty of having sped on occasions; generally in emergency situations with a son injured on a dirt motorbike and being rushed to hospital [the speed camera did not capture me that day] and when my daughter suffered from an asthma attack before Christmas [the speed camera at another location missed me that day too]. No thanks to two people sitting on the highway neck to neck bailing me up in a 100kmh zone doing 80ks at the time [for a good 15 minutes of the journey]: the vehicle in the right hand lane sitting under the 100kmhs should have moved over to the left unless overtaking. Another law breaking antic.