The Real Road Toll

Snippets from the latest NRMA mag...

Speed limits are the lowest they've been for decades yet the road toll is up
25% on last year.

Even with the reducing death toll over the last decade, costs of accidents
have doubled as serious injury rates go up.

More people have died on the roads than in both World Wars (no mention of
the frame of reference here).

On average, 5 people die and 539 people are seriously injured every day.

Over the holiday periods the average death rate is usually the same or lower
than normal.(this is was also true before the absolutley non-productive
double demerit system).

Fatigue is a factor in 20% of accidents. 80% of these being on country
roads.

Alcohol is a factor in 25% of accidents.

No figure is given for speeding.

Over 2/3rds of fatalities are in rural areas. More than 83% of these were
country residents.

17-25year olds make up 25% of fatalities despite only making up 16% of the
population.

Over half of all serious injury admissions in NSW hospitals are due to road
accidents.

Vehicle handling skills don't make better drivers. Awareness, attitude, and
motivation do.

Better roads save lives.

In the decade 94-03, 14300 poeple were killed on the Pacific, Hume and
Princes Hwys.

Most truck crashes are not the fault of the truck driver.

Motorcyclists are 30 times more likely to be killed on the road than car
occupants.

The national Road Safety Strategy predicts that the biggest reductions in
deaths will be from better roads (47%). Next is safer vehicles (25%), driver
behaviour (23%), and lastly new technology (5%).

 

Here in South Australia, a cop will do you for not wiping off five,
yet let cars with only one working headlight (which is a bigger killer
in my opinion) go.

In the NT (at least, when I was living there 3 years ago), the cops
would pick off a car like that instantly. You would get a canary
and would have to fix the fault within 14 days (I think from
memory).

Here, that sort of thing is hand balled off to the traffic inspectors.
So you have a "it's not my job" mentiality between departments.

To me it makes the wipe-off-5 message a joke... which we
all know is a load of bollocks anyway.

 

Speed limits are the lowest they've been for decades yet the road toll is

people dont follow the speed limits

cost of living, and dying has gone up!

more ppl die world wide every year than in a war. it will increase with
population obviously

same amount of young male suicides per day.

yes that is weird but is something i yell at the tv every holiday peroid
when the 'media' count the toll.

i dont drive at night on country roads as i had a scare, if you drive in the
country you are likely driving 1 hour+

speeding isnt the problem, braking and turning corners are the problem. so
if you speed do it on 'safe' straight roads and slow for corners lol

a lot of ppl live in the country, the are the residents!

it is known the brain doesnt fully mature until 30, immature brains dont
think of consequences

there are a lot of ppl who drive cars daily, not many ppl get cancer many
times a day.

mmmmmm maybe.dual carrigeway on every road-yes, kangaroo fences around every
road-yes, will it happen-NO!

a lot of ppl go on these roads witch are not up to scratch.

trucks are very big and shouldnt be there, but apparently that means they
are not a fault? how can that be?

our roads arent designed for bikes, bike riders ride like dicks!

i predict there will never be better roads, never be safer vehicles and
technology always fails. so that only leaves driver behaviour- and that will
never change either.

most of those statistics are silly.

 

Nice post.

Did you know the RTA code a crash as being caused by speed where the
driver was judged to be speeding, regardless of whether the crash was
caused by speeding or not? Then they analyse the stats and conclude
that X% of crashes were caused by speeding.

Try that on for circular logic.

 

I dispute this as I've never been killed on the bike but I often hear
about road deaths involving cars.

Al

 

It's always someone else who cops it anyway, so why worry? <g>

--



Frederick Zenozzograte
++++++++++++++++++++++
Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
(H.L. Mencken)

 

Are you sure your not dead or do you just smell funny?



Daryl

 

They say one in every 5 people are Chinese, and there are 5 people in my
family. It's not my Mum or Dad and it's not me. So it must be one of my
brothers - Colin or Wan Ho Li. But I think it's Colin.

Al

 

You can therefore expect even more vigorous policing of speed limits
along with increased fines and demerit points.

The direct result on the rural roads I travel is an increased number
of cars moving in 100kph convoys with two car lengths separating them.

Shouldn't be too much longer before single vehicle crashes start
becoming five vehicle crashes!

 

wrote in @i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

All that tells me is that the NT Govt is better at financial
management than the SA one is. SA obviously needs the revenue
more.

GB

 

An oldie, but a goodie

David

 

Uhm, dude, not everyone's a Gixxer Boy you know!


GB

 

It sounds perfectly reasonable to me. If you need to justify
an income stream that relies on people doing something 'wrong',
then you repeatedly highlight the 'fact' that lots of people
doing that 'wrong' thing have crashes and need to be 'punished',
then you've got yourself a justification right there, haven't
you!

GB, I've been baaaad, I need to be punished!

 

..au:

Any relation to that woman in China that gives birth every
four seconds? She makes those catholics look like bloody
amateurs!


GB

 

On that matter - noticed a new gam in town.
It's called "Lets try for a shunt somewhere behind us"

How it works:
Step 1. Allow a gap to develop ahead in one lane of a two lane (or
more) busy traffic stream.
Step 2. Wait for that gap to be taken advantage of a few times.
Step 3. At the precise moment vehicles ahead get on the brakes,
accelerate vigourously towards the car ahead.
Step 4. Jump on the brakes - hard, just avoiding a shunt of the car
the player is following, which by now may or may not be that of an
earlier advantage taker... it doesn't matter.

Now, if the player is in luck, the dawks behind him believe the
traffic has mysteriously 'freed up', and follow suit and the prang
should happen about 5 cars back.

Naturally, there are variations in the game.
But the rule set is the same wherever this game in played.
And the Rules?
Rule 1. Only use this ploy during busy times, with variable speeds
being used on a given length or roadway. That is, just prior to real
stop-start conditions. This ploy actually produces start-stop
conditions some distance behind it, where other Games and rules are
better applied.
Rule 2. Under no circumstances employ this tactic in front of a
vehicle the player can out-brake by a major margin. (Laden trucks
aren't a factor, since the sucker acceleration required and better
view negates the effects)
Rule 3. This play is NOT a variation on the 'The last second wet
weather lane change play' and has no common elements save bastardry.
Rule 4. The player MUST express wide-eyed astonishment and amazed head
shaking to those nearby at the chaos the player has created.
Rule 5. Never, repeat Never reveal details of this game to any sort
of driving instructor or their students. Protection form education in
these matter is the secret to their ultimate success.
Rule 6. NO Bruces.


There ya go.
Try it somewhere near you, sometime.
Not you John, it's cost you a fortune to find the correct conditions -
eg the Gateway, M1, F2, 3, SE, Tulla (a very good one, that is) or
similar, at peak - you could profitably try the wet weather last
minute trick in your area, I guess, because it seems to work quite
well in low traffic volume situations eg Just south of Gympie.

 

Don't some of those roads go outside NSW?

 

Shut the fuckin' gate you dopey fuckin' ****!

You can't possibly be that much of a retard you still don't get it!?

 

Mum? Is that you?

Well one of us isn't.

 

"Uncle Bully" wrote

I would guess since 1885 when the first Benz hit the road. The Yanks
lost more people in Vietnam from road accidents than from enemy
action. God knows how many from friendly fire.

Theo

 

"Alan Pennykid" wrote

I like it! I hear there's a woman in China gives birth every two
minutes. Someone needs to stop her.

Theo