Nice thread, belly. I worked on roads around the country for about 20 years, including a large part of the Hume Highway in several projects between Tarcutta and Goulburn. Those roads are wonders of construction: 500mm of select roadbase under nearly the same amount of concrete in two different grades, designed to last 40 years in Europe/America and expected to last 80 years here, where climate is kinder to roads (except when it floods).

However, those wonderful roads have a couple of flaws: firstly, they make the wheels emit a low-frequency hum which is very monotonous. They do that because they are "raked" to produce a slightly grooved surface in order to maintain grip in wet conditions. Second, they are white surfaces that reflect a huge amount of glare. Third, they are long straight runs, with few turns.

All of these things encourage fatigue. The tyre drone is like a white-noise generator, the glare makes one's eyes want to close and the long straight sections mean there's little concentration being applied to the task of driving in the first place.

As a result, there have been lots of single-vehicle rollovers on that highway when drivers have simply passed out and driven off the road.

A lot of it has since been resurfaced with asphaltic concrete, which was always part of the long-term plan, since the concrete settles in service and needs to be reprofiled to create a smooth road. That has improved the situation, at least in terms of the glare and the noise.

My point is that even the best roads (the Hume is designed to carry 1000+ 90t trucks per night) can have hidden faults that cause driver fatigue.

Anti yes you put your evidence of understanding right up front.
Concrete for its faults still looks best to me.
You would know parts of the Pacific are, still far less than 500 mm it total floating clay and rock on mud.
I monitor radios and right now three two car events are under way on the road.
No deaths it seems but we know cripples are found after such.
Worth noting two things holiday traffic, bit surprising to me going not coming is heavy.
All smashes on divided roads one three lanes each direction.
Still hurts , the memory's, the broken victims and dead.
And too police and others who broke after too many awful sights.
Two in a truck, my nephew loaded them with sugar, at Harwood.
6 hours later I and 40 others began removing their body's , well waited to,while it burnt.
Close to one hundred such memory's, roads now gone brand new ones that as Anti says talk as you drive over them, and roar if you live on it, night after night as trucks roar past nose to tail.

Hasbeen:

…Interestingly, on the subject of tyre faults, I was surprised to learn that “half worn” tyres show improved performance in dry conditions, specifically, dry handling speed, dry cornering and dry braking; varying performance gains up to 15% over a “new tyre” performance, under the same conditions. But the opposite is the case in wet conditions; the performance of half worn tyres in the wet, is diminished by the same factors up to 15%. To me, that would indicate, as tyres wear, a combination of the two factors apply, a 30% reduction in normal expectation of handling between wet and dry conditions, sneaks up on the driver with half worn tyres on their vehicle.

...I had a similar experience with old tyres to the experience you indicated in your post. The tyres in question were fitted to an old clunker, which was itself in beautiful order, including so I thought, all four tyres. What I didn’t realise at the time was, the car was rarely driven, over the past few years, a condition which would leave all tyres with the appearance of a perfect condition.

...I often experienced alarming hydroplaning, under speeds which would normally be considered safe. Another hint to a problem was the inability of the vehicle to accelerate from stopped, without spinning the back wheels. Four new tyres later, and all faults disappeared.

...Cheers…Dan.

I see in the news that some of the federal money set aside for the upgrade of the Pacific Hwy was diverted to projects in Rob Oakeshott's electorate.

It shows where Juliar's priorities are.

Where do you get your news from, The Tony abbott gazet. When it hits the big time we can make judgement.

579 mate a truth, you take the bait too easily.
NOT ONE WORD OF TRUTH in SMs post.
NO DIVERSION OF FUNDS.
A continuation of on going planned upgrade of the Killer Oxley highway.
The word politics in the title is because truth gets buried IN any debate about this as dead people become reason to defame, both sides of politics have been victims and abusers.
*True story, two dead fatal, 15 years ago newly upgraded road, in good condition no potholes*.
Sydney toilet news paper, front page, interviewed by two young reporters a local, told of the potholed highway.
He thought he was talking about a bad place 56 klm away from the death scene.
No potholes at that semi straight road.
HEADLINES! pot holed highway of death kills again mum and child die.
It became clear at coroners court mum had baby on back seat.
Bub cried mum turned around,at 100 plus, to put bottle in Baby's mouth.
Killer highway.
Twice large amounts of drugs and cash found in fatal smash events, both drivers dead tests showed high concentration of drugs.
How many head ons are suicide?
Killer highway diverted funds .
How much to fix our roads, in say 3 decades? fuel tax would all need to go in to it and be raised in my opinion to $10 a ltre.