Dear Ludwig,

North of Melbourne, a stretch of highway, - some ten to
twenty kilometers which in the past had been 100K speed limit
today due to increased local traffic conditions crossing
or entering the highway has been reduced to 80k. And
admittedly every time we drive on the highway it is frustrating.
Some twenty years ago, my husband on the same stretch of
road was forced off by a truck and totalled the car.
And possibly that's wht today that stretch is now 80k.

We have driven on your particular stretch of road in the past,
and the conditions appeared to be the same as in Melbourne.
Shortening the speed limit may have been deliberately left
there for safety reasons. Just a thought.

You can tell by certain attitudes there are people that can not cope with road rules. Serial offenders are a menace on the roads.
Why not just go about your business and obey road rules, 5 over is criminal, .05 is too much the figure is to be .049 to be within the law.
It is easy and the art of driving is to stay within the speed limit.

....It is easy and the art of driving is to stay within the speed limit.

Pretty much sums it up 579, because all you think about is the speed limit. There's a lot more to defensive driving than speed limits.

....Why not ask why the signs are there for, and let us know the answer.

Because some num nuts over paid drop kick forgot to remove them.

Either that, or the cops encourage the practice so they can increase their revenue. Perhaps a combination of both.

BTW, I have been driving for 36+ years, had my share of speeding fines (comes with driving 911's), nothing way over the limit, and never had an accident or caused one.

MOST IMPORTANTLY I have never driven over the limit as it is my view that this is far more dangerous than a few K's over the limit.

If you want proof of revenue raising, why don't you see radars in buys crowded main streets?, because doing 60 in a 50 zone is far more dangerous than 110 in a 100 zone.

You see the odd radar in 50 zones, yet you see ome almost every day on an open highway.

Go figure!

<< Yes Ludwig, and they (the signs) are even being used as revenue raisers. >>

You’ve got to wonder just how true that is, rehctub. Not so long ago I would have, said: don’t be silly, our esteemed police and their political masters wouldn’t stoop to that sort of thing. But… it is well and truly apparent that yes they do.

An amazing example is the recent lowering of the leeway on speed limits in Queensland, which netted the police and government a cool 8 or 9 million$ in extra revenue via fines. This basically meant that people who were driving to the real-world speed limit of a few ks over the stated speed limit were suddenly being busted for it.

The police had trained the public to do a few ks over. Rolling with the flow at 108 on the Bruce Hwy in the 100 zone has always been acceptable. You pass highway patrol cars coming in the opposite direction at that speed with no problems. And then suddenly the police change the rules. No publicity campaign to tell people that the leeway will be 5kmh from a certain date or anything like, just a fully despicable change of policy without any warning.

If the police can do that, and their political masters can condone it, then they certainly do deserve to be utterly despised.

We all need to know EXACTLY what the law is. And I mean the real-world law, where it is different from the strict letter of the law, as it often is, not least with speed limits and other road rules.

continued

This fuzzy concept of a few ks over the limit being acceptable, or of there being a leeway on speed limits but which not the police nor any other authority will ever tell us just what the leeway is, is fundamentally despicable.

We need to know this! The cruising speed out there on our highways is the maximum speed that you can get away! It is the same as the speed limit. The real-world speed limit of a bit over the official speed limit, that is. So it is of absolute fundamental importance that we know what the real-world speed limit (official speed limit plus acceptable leeway) is!!

I think our authorities are very devious, and very conscious indeed of maintaining a high revenue stream from fines. Road safety seems to be a secondary goal, or perhaps and entirely incidental thing.

Afterall, there are many aspects of road safety which could so easily be improved. But dare I say it: because they are not high revenue earners, they get nothing more than token attention from our wonderful police.

Oooooooooh Waaaaaaaahhh--- it's a "conspiracy". Oh woe is me.

Ludwig, you are obviously emotionally traumatised by this non issue. Trust me, your distress will pass and life will get better for you. Try taking a long walk every day to get rid of the stress.