Poor roads cost 100 lives a year - RACV report

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7984642%5E1702,00.html

"THE underfunding of Victoria's rural roads killed around 100 people a year, the state's motoring body said today."

Guess those "road safety cameras" must be doing a fantastic job then!

Damien
GPX250 (stolen) -> CBR600

 

You watch the Gov ignore it or shit on the report as its "LIES or NON
FACTUAL" and doesnt take into consideration the seasonally ajusted
figures..

 

I don't quite see their logic. I accept that improved roads would mean
less road deaths, but I don't see that the inverse applies - that bad
roads are actually responsible.

If I drive on a dirt road in the same way I drive on a sealed,
dual-carriage road and kill myself accordingly, is it the roads fault
for not being sealed? Is it the governments fault for not sealing the
road? If the road was sealed I would not have crashed - so according to
the RACV, it is the fault of the road, as my crash could have been
prevented if it was sealed.

Surely the drivers are responsble for not driving according to the
quality of the road?

Taking that logic to the extreme, you could argue that the roads are
responsible for *every* death on them, and that government is to blame
for not spending enough to provide alternative transportation that does
not involve roads. The expense is no issue - "what is a life worth?".

A reasonable argument for our taxes being spent where they are
collected, and therefore giving a huge increase in road spending *is* a
reasonable approach, but blaming the roads seems a stretch. Everyone
hates shit roads, but most of us manage to slow down.

Feeling-argumentative ly,

Mark.

 

[...]

[...]

Having a new car with black paint is great in those situations:

Come to a dirt road.
180.
Find other path to destination.

Guess it might just "Save My Life"T too.

j

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 27 Nov 2003 10:33:59 +1100

"road" doesn't always mean "road surface".

It can mean bad sightlines, poorly designed intersections, bad signage
and so on. Roads that are mostly OK if you know them, but confusing
and dangerous if you don't. Roads that have recently got a lot of heavy
truck traffic that aren't designed for it, maybe too narrow meaning tight
corners are very dangerous, maybe not enough vision so trucks don't have
enough time to break for turning cars, maybe turnlanes not set up for
the speed and volume of traffic or not there at all.

There are a lot of areas that have had huge increases in traffic from
new residential estates and hobby farms and industry in semi rural areas
that have roads that were fine for the odd local ute and cattle truck
but are now coping with 10 times the volume of cars plus much heavier
and larger trucks. Leading to degraded roads, and showing up problems
with poor design.

Also, bad surface doesn't have to mean dirt road, it can mean that the
tar is OK then at a spot with bad drainage there's suddenly a vicious
pothole or dangerously broken surface that can get a car, or especially a
bike, into deep trouble with no warning. Or cheap patching work that's
especially dangerous to bikes - the old "bluemetal it and let the cars
pack it down" method, or the "polyfilla" banding that gets dangerously
slippery in hot weather.

Bad surfaces are particularly difficult for bikes, as with only 2 small
contact patches and much worse consequences if either of them fails, we
get hurt by a surface problem thet might be a minor inconvenience for a
car. If you *know* it's there that's one thing, but a lot of rural
roads are fine until very suddenly they are not, with no signage or
other clues.

Zebee

 

I agree completely. Don't forget the possibility of complete idiots on
the road, a huge semi carrying a house, 300 cows crossing the road, or
any other thing that being on public road could mean.

IMO, it is the *drivers* responsibility to allow for these situations.
The roads should be improved and there is a huge amount that could be
done to make roads safer - but I still don't see that as the "roads"
fault when people fail. Things like incorrect signage and a few other
edge cases not withstanding

Mark.

 

Sure it is, no one would dispute that at all. But even if you are doing the right thing, and being very careful, a
poorly designed/built road can still be a major contributor to accidents. Sometimes the faults are of a nature that no
amount of extra care can eliminate its potential to cause or contribute to accidents. Yes, you could just take the easy
option, blame the drivers, and do nothing about fixing the underlying cause of some of these accidents - or you could do
the responsible thing and fix the roads, in addition to encouraging greater care from drivers. When you have two factors
contributing to accidents, it is stupid irresponsible and foolish to expect that you can just focus on one of them, and
hope the other goes away.

Damien
GPX250 (stolen) -> CBR600

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 27 Nov 2003 11:52:44 +1100

So you *always* drive at 30kmh? Everywhere?

Or do you make assumptions about sightlines, road surface etc?

Sure - some things have to be thought about, hard into blind corners is
silly.

But poor surface in a hidden dip on a road which has been good for the
last 20km is a different thing.

NOt all failures blamed on roads are "people". Some are roads. And
vice versa.

Road design - sightlines, furniture, surface, signage, usage - is
important to riders, because they are implicated in many injuries and
deaths. Not *solely* responsible, nothing is ever that simple in road
safety. But contributed towards.

Zebee

 

Ghod, where was your pre-planned response?

Hammo [waves to cyberspace]

 

Theres only one answer...not enough speed camera's...duh.
Go victoria!!!

Josh - ZX9R

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7984642%5E1702,00.html

"THE underfunding of Victoria's rural roads killed around 100 people a year,
the state's motoring body said today."

Guess those "road safety cameras" must be doing a fantastic job then!

Damien
GPX250 (stolen) -> CBR600

 

Of course they are, you know that no one is at fault for anything nowadays.
--
Deevo

Geraldton
WA, The Nanny State (® Corks)
http://members.westnet.com.au/mckenzie

 

Not all signage is good. On the road from the Cotter dam to Tharwa just out
of Canberra there is/was a crest with signpost indicating a corner on the
other side of the hill... a left corner... so you move towards the centre of
the road, prepare for the left corner, get over the crest, and go round the
left corner... no... hang on... the road goes right, not left... shit... what
am I doing on this side of the lane... :/

Nev..
'03 ZX12R
'02 CBR1100XX

 

I don't have that much faith in Victorian drivers

You have never been to Shitney have you?

 

Can't be any worse than here.
--
Deevo

Geraldton
WA, The Nanny State (® Corks)
http://members.westnet.com.au/mckenzie

 

Well, what our drivers lack in numbers they more than make up for in
stupidity while on the road. And to top that off our Volvo drivers rather
sneakily don't all drive Volvos either, most drive Commodores, Falcons and
Landcruisers.
--
Deevo

Geraldton
WA, The Nanny State (® Corks)
http://members.westnet.com.au/mckenzie

 

Gasp!!

Hammo

 

It pains me to say you're right.
--
Deevo

Geraldton
WA, The Nanny State (® Corks)
http://members.westnet.com.au/mckenzie