Much is being said about road safety following the tragic road toll over the recent holiday period.

One thing that isn't mentioned is the annoyance and consequent distraction caused to drivers by following vehicles having their headlights on during days of bright sunlight and clear visibility.
The headlights, often on high beam or with one lamp brighter than the other, shine in the rear vision mirrors and into the drivers' peripheral vision. Not good.

Another is the number of blind curves and crests which have a broken centre line going around or over them thus luring the unwary into possible head on collisions.

In some places there are sweeping curves that one can initially see around and the broken line seems appropriate, then the roadside scrub grows up or the local farmer plants a crop of corn but it seems that no one is responsible for correcting the resulting dangerous conditions.

Audi LED lights would have to be among the most annoying, especially with the trick of turning the headlight off for the direction blinkers to operate.

Some drivers do not understand how distracting their blue and super white LED and HID lights can be, and dazzling from the front at odd angles. -Even from across opposite, separated, multiple carriageways.

Criticism is due too where aftermarket LED, HID and other higher rated bulb are retrofitted by owners.

Guys, I don't think we can just cherry pick on a topic such as this. All roads lead to, not Rome, but, people. People are the biggest problem by far.

If anyone has watched the video's of Russian drivers and subsequent accidents/incidents, you will not only come away shaking your head, but also with decision never to go to Russia.

The basis of road safety is 'people', that's it pure and simple. Not headlights and road markings and bushes. Because you have identified them they are no longer a problem.

Now if we turn our attention to what I like to call the 'maggots', these little maggot's have NO idea about driving. They believe when you move off from a standing start you must push the throttle 'through' the floor.

Same when it comes to stopping. Stand on the brakes with both feet when you are about two metres from the car in front, oh and when you're driving along make sure you are at least one metre from the car in front and move from side to side expecting the car in front to let you pass because he is doing the speed limit and your in a hurry to get to some moronic event.

Whenever I see a young guy driving he is in control of that car, clearly.

Whenever I see a maggot behind the wheel, the car is clearly in control. She is merely a passenger.

ALTRAV,

Road centre lines have legal standing, that's why you can be booked for crossing a double line, even inadvertently.

In some places it is perfectly safe to cross the double line but it is still a punishable offence to do so.

Locally there are crests that are absolutely blind but the centre line is broken thus inviting an accident.

How often do we see flowers and wreaths adorning a tree where someone has run off the road and been killed, yet the tree(s) is left to claim other victims.

Actually Is Mise, I find exactly the opposite. We get continuing increases in nanny type road restrictions, making roads less safe with many frustrated drivers caused by this.

For 10 years I drove through Canungra to Nerang daily. This road runs through an army training area, with no side streets or property entrances, & quite a few straight stretches, making it one of the safest country roads around.

Over these years all 10 overtaking stretches had double lines replace the dotted lines. There has been no changes in the road or road side conditions to cause any of this, just a mind set in planners to restrict us to the lowest common demonolater of road users.

I recently came round a slow curve onto a straight stretch on another local road, where I have been overtaking our tree change very slow drivers for 25 years. I pulled out to pass a granny I'd been following for about 10 kilometres at 25 Km under the speed limit.

Yep you've guessed it, the straight stretch, although totally unchanged had suddenly sprouted double lines replacing the dotted centre line. That meant the particular road now has no legal overtaking places in 17 kilometres, down from about 9 places 20 years ago.

I am wondering just when they will reintroduce the requirement for the man with a red to walk in front of our cars.

Road Safety relies on one main drawback, the driver.
We are asked to drive to conditions but how many do? Drivers are also asked to allow extra room for cyclists, are you?
I have seen perfectly good roadworks condemned because of the number of vehicle incidents on that area of road - it is not the road but the drivers of the cars on it. I would suggest a death count on that spot but that could also distract the driver from their primary task.
Road rules are there for all of us. I feel for the police officers who need to attend the relatives to inform them of their loss.
I find the recording of deaths gives a false impression. It is not just the personal loss, it can also mean a change of home if they are the sole bread winner etc. The injured don't even get a mention, why not? And so on.....

Sandic49, don't feel sorry for cops. Many years ago we respected the police. As young men if we erred we might even get a clip around the ear, but then sent on our way with a smile and a word of encouragement.

The country cops were the best. We got to know them on a first name basis and we felt we were upsetting a relative or someone close to us if we did something wrong.

Today's pigs' I would not even stop to assist if I saw one getting his priorities re-arranged.

Since they have become tax collectors and decided to enforce these 'nanny' laws, they have alienated themselves from the community and unless they change their arrogant and distant attitude they will become targets. I believe it has already begun.

Just to prove my point the stupid law makers and their stupid laws come up with;

Keep at least one metre away from cyclists.

What fools came up with that one? OK if that's the case when I am parked on the side of the road and open my door and send one of these morons flying under the wheels of a passing car, and he dies. Don't say it was my fault.

Why are law makers so stupid. A bicycle at best travels at speeds well below any motorised vehicle, so they should have been directed to back streets where there is no traffic. Or on appropriate cycle-ways along side most main roads.

It's not bad enough that we have rubbish trucks, road sweepers, buses and a myriad of other obstructions on our roads already, to put more and ones as vulnerable as cyclists is beyond stupid.

I for one will not be changing my driving style to accommodate another idiot foolish enough to tangle with fast moving structures weighing many times more than them and thinking they are invincible in some way. And I'm not alone. So think before you get on that bike, if you mix it with me I know I'll be going home that day, can you say the same for yourself?

Some authorities are really stupid.
There is a local road with double lines and all day parking but it is
not possible to clear the parked cars and not put your right wheels
over the double lines.
Some parked cars have their mirrors turned in but not all.
My mirrors have kissed the parked cars mirrors on occasion.
I always flash my headlights as I pass because there is always a lot
of traffic going in the opposite direction.
Now who is to blame there ?
If I was booked I would stop my car and block traffic saying I cannot
legally proceed. I would then be booked for blocking traffic !

Bazz, it is worth knowing that under the road traffic act, and because you pay a registration fee, it allows your car to travel, unrestricted, along a govt gazetted road.

Depending on the state, there are minimum width or clearance stipulated by law. Generally it is 3 metres because commercial vehicles (trucks) are 2.5 metres wide.

So if a licensed truck cannot travel along a govt gazetted road, then in your example the shire is guilty of denying you and other road users the right to clear and unencumbered travel on that road. They are in contravention of the act.

I have exactly the same problem here in my street. We live near a school and at pick up time our street turns into a car park. I have notified the shire more than once explaining the problem.

The morons simply replied with, 'according to their road engineers, it is possible to park in the street without restricting traffic or blocking flow'.

I have explained the the road is 6 metres wide, if we take two trucks at 2.5 metres wide each, parking on opposite sides of the road it leaves us with 1 metre access. A motorcycle would have trouble getting through.

The response was, no one would park in such a manner so my argument was not valid.

What they ignorantly refuse to understand is that it's not my argument but the road traffic act. I have yet to roll the act up into a nice tight little scroll and revisit this matter in person, in due course.

This fact then also brings into question the stupid ill-conceived law on bicycles. On many roads with double white centre lines, if we have parked cars AND a cyclist, legally your stuck behind this sh!p head for as long as. And I mean you and twenty other cars.

These are the things that piss me off about this country and then I hear some twat go on about what a great country this is to live in.
Where does he live? Under a rock?

actually for the benefit lights add to awareness during the day, I would suggest the rare amount of times they shine in rear view mirrors is a very small price to pay.

rehctub,

Headlights shining in rear view mirrors are not rare, but a continuous fact of life on any of our highways,
Many people put their interior mirror onto night view thus restricting their view and causing a further hazard.

As far as lights on in the daytime goes to increasing awareness, the idea comes from Europe where cars traveling at high speed put their lights on during the day, circumstances that do not pertain to Australia.

Back in the 1970s there was an appeal, one long weekend, for drivers to put their headlights on as a safety measure, as a consequence the road toll went up.

Is mis, we will agree to disagree I think.

If speed cameras were effective the govt would budget for less and less money each year.

If speed cameras were effective the road toll would drecrease over time, so why then is the road toll graph for the last 10 years damn near horizontal?

The most effective speed camera/device, is the one often used at road works whereby it tells you your speed, but does not take your pic. Few don't react to these signs. If authorities where truly serious about road safety they would install similar signs in several areas. Of cause this will never happen as it will deplete revenues. However, if by some miracle we do manage to reduce road trauma all we would have to do then is find replacement jobs for the thousands out of work, or at least, underemployed because like it or not, road accidents employ thousands.