‘Bloody Idiots’

This is the huge headline on the front page of today’s Courier Mail.

More than 8000 people booked for speeding over the first three days of the Easter break. 340 drivers charged with drink-driving, 320 with not wearing seatbelts, etc, etc.

How obvious is it that the road-safety policing regime is NOT WORKING in Queensland, nor across the country!!

When are we going to develop a holistic approach to this problem, instead of addressing it in the same old ineffective manner?

One of the key problems is that road-rule infringers feel that there is little chance of being caught. Generally they are right, because the police are too few and far between, too conspicuous, and tend to turn a blind eye to many infringements and concentrate on just a small number of offences.

The police need to be put into unmarked cars, of various models, so that they don’t stick out like dogs balls. If this was made a general practice then in the eyes of would-be offenders, every second car on the road could potentially be a police vehicle. Surely this simple step would make a huge difference to law-abidance and overall road safety.

There is a whole bunch of other things that could easily be implemented. Please see http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=2877#26408 and my following 15 posts.

It just completely befuddles me as to why these things don’t get addressed in a serious manner.

Bottom line: instead of spending many millions of dollars on roads, spend the majority of it on improving driver skills and the policing regime.

I worked for 22 years for the NSW RTA first on call for a fatal road event for far more times than you would believe.
Our death strip saw 12 killed in a week and 72 before I stopped counting.
Accidents do not happen acts of stupidity do often.
This long weekend any long time road worker even a past one like me can smell death.
Its mixed with the joy of holidays and bragging about how good the car is.
It is content to overtake the local driver who remembers the road trauma in this spot at great speed.
And it brands the local driver taking his time as a local yokel, while rushing madly toward being a statistic.
No road in any condition ever killed anyone, driving without respect for the conditions has.
Bloody idiots? you flatter some of them.

So Belly, what are your thoughts on my assertion that the police need to be INCONSPICUOUS?

The trouble with them getting around in obvious police vehicles is that they are conspicuously absent most of the time. People very quickly get a feel for the frequency of a police presence, if not the regularity in many instances as well.

If the police were abundant, then being conspicuous would work. But given the extreme thinness of the blue line, I’d say it works very strongly against them, and against law abidance in general.

Didn't there used to be a saying,

Better to be late than DEAD on time.

Policing is not the answer in Vic and NSW you get booked for being a couple of K's over, and there are cops every where.
What we need are positive driver education programs that people can identify with, simple stuff like get out of bed 10 minutes earlier so you don't need to rush, be courteous, don't change lanes,don't be impatient, it doesn't matter if someone else does something stupid.
These negative campaigns and the big stick approach don't and won't work.
Alanpoi

Alanpoi, there is nothing wrong with police booking people for doing a couple of ks over, is there? Just as long as we all know what the law is, ie that the speed limit signs apply at face value or that a consistent well-publicised leeway applies, then we can’t complain, can we?

If the police are only going to book chronic speeders as part of their normal policing duties and then book everyone who is doing 3ks over in a blitz, we have a problem. The policing regime needs to be consistent and the public needs to have confidence that it is.

One of the most unfortunate aspects of the current situation is that in many situations those who drive cautiously and technically within the law are actually presenting a hazard. For example, a speed of about 95kmh on the open highway where the speed limit is 100 should be fair and reasonable. But if you dare to do this, you’ll get tailgated and overtaken impatiently and dangerously. It is much safer to roll with the flow and drive a few ks over the limit. It is safer to drive ILLEGALLY!

What is stated in law MUST be the same as what is policed. We MUST know exactly where we stand with the law. Currently we have what are effectively two speed limits on every road in the country: one for the strict law-abider and one for those who push the envelope and know that they can get away with it.

Leeways should be abolished and the onus for sticking strictly to the speed limit placed fairly and squarely on drivers.
.

Yes we need driver-education programs on a massive scale. But even with the best education system, a strong regulatory regime is still going to be needed.