More police on the roads
By Kim McFarland, Bayswater
Iain Cameron is now touting
for 30kmh residential speed zones and 90kmh limits in the country,
citing the laws of physics back his argument that a crash at a lower
speed reduces the likelihood of serious injury.
Mr Cameron, I concur with this impressive
observation. However, before you rush too blindly into championing
this cause, and considering your interest in the laws of physics,
I thought I’d present a few other scientific observations.
A speed camera placed on a straight section
of freeway cannot detect speeding motorists at a traffic black spot
10km away, even if it makes more money on the freeway; every increase
by 5kmh does not double the chance of an accident; motorists with
their eyes constantly on the speedo due to a police commissioner suggesting
we fine motorists for doing 1kmh over the limit cannot observe their
surroundings effectively; the many motorists I see driving home in
the dark with their lights off cannot be detected by police officers
who are not on the road; motorists I see regularly doing 60-70kmh
in existing 50kmh zones are significant risk to community safety,
yet also cannot be detected by police officers behind their desks.
My point is that the big-stick approach
our State seems to favour is possibly less effective than effectively
policing the laws that already exist. While we have speed-camera committees
that don’t actually discuss speed-camera placement and a police
forced more interested in saving fringe benefits tax by preventing
officers from taking vehicles to and from work (just to name two examples)
you would have to be a fool to draw a conclusion on how effective
our current road laws are.
Let’s debate and shake
up the whole dysfunctional self-serving approach of the various government
bodies before further restricting law-abiding citizens.
It won't work
By Peter Woodward, Subiaco
Again we are advised that the Road Safety
Committee is advocating the lowering of speed limits in urban and
rural areas.
As a retired road and traffic engineer
with many years experience in WA, I cannot accept that this proposal,
with a 90kmh limit in rural areas, would lower accident rates.
Try driving at 30kmh next time you go
out – you will not get out of second gear. How would it be enforced?
Multanovas on every corner? Perhaps a good revenue raiser but not
a good idea.
The proposal for 90kmh in rural areas
is even more ridiculous. WA is a huge State with more than 100,000
kilometres of local government roads in rural areas in addition to
more than 20,000 kilometres of State highways and major roads. Many
rural roads have little traffic and do not warrant policing. Major
roads would require extensive enforcement and travel times would be
increased by about 20 per cent.
The introduction of speed limits
which are totally unenforceable will not improve road safety.
Get serious
By P. Szalay, Duncraig
Iain Cameron’s “vision” for 30kmh
residential speed limit needs to be put into perspective. The existing
50kmh residential speed limit is not policed effectively because as
much as it might be denided, speed cameras appear to be placed in
high-traffic, low-people areas (main roads) where more revenue can
be earned. Like many suburban streets (complete with children), mine
has not had a speed trap in years.
Following a series of crashes some years ago, the
residents petitioned the local council for a speed hump. The final
response was “not justified because only 20 per cent of the
vehicles using the road were exceeding the speed limit by 20 per cent
or more”. So in a then 60kmh zone, 20 per cent of the vehicles
were travelling at 72kmh plus. Now we have a 50kmh limit and nothing
ahs changed – the majority of drivers just ignore it.
How is Mr Cameron going to police
a 30kmh limit? His “vision” doesn’t seem to address
this. Does he think it will just happen because he says so- or the
road signs say so? Seems a bit like King Canute and the incoming tide.
Get serious about existing speed limits on residential roads first.
Ridiculous
By Marta Cormio, Landsdale
Horse and carriage here we come. The idea of reducing
the speed limit to 30kmh in residential areas is just ridiculous.
I am a mother and obviously I care for the safety of my child, but
no matter how low we put the speed limit there will always be those
people (especially the P-platers) who ignore speed limits.
I often see young drivers in their V8 vehicles speeding
on the roads because they like the power of their car and like to
show off their driving skills to their mates.
A wiser choice would be to ban
young drivers from owning such powerful caras until they reach a level
of maturity. If the speed-limit reduction goes ahead we might as well
start riding in a horse and carriage.
Expert opinion
By Frank Rundel, Mindarie
A 30kmh speed limit in residential areas –
what a wonderful ideas. Why not drop it to a 2kmh and save even more
lives – or take it to its logical conclusion and ban cars altogether
and save all the lives.
What these “experts” fail to realise is
that imposing ridiculous restrictions will lead only to still more
hooning as an expression of frustration by the small portion of irresponsible
motorists who cause the majority of accidents.
If I suggest we ban all swimming
to prevent drownings and shark attacks, can I also please qualify
as an “expert”?
Red flags
By Peter Daniel, Butler
Grant Dorrington and his team will certainly cut
down accidents. If each year they bring speed limits down by 10 or
20 per cent, we eventually will be able to have a person walking in
front of all vehicles carrying a red flag. We should then save people
from dying and also save our police force from having to get the hoons
off the road.
More expensive
By Brian Alderdice, Melville
The latest call to reduce the speed limit to 30kmh
has made no mention of the cost to the driver. The modern car is not
designed to travel at 30kmh because at that speed it would be able
to do so only in a low gear. This would result in a considerable increase
in the amount of fuel used at a time when petrol prices have never
been higher. Will travelling at this slower speed also increase the
cost of maintenance?
