Letter of the month WINNER!
From Motor Magazine
By Jamie Fitzgerald
February 14, 2006
I returned recently from
a short stay in Europe, where you can travel on a motorway at a comfortable
180km/h and not see one accident. I’ve just completed a road
trip back home and it was the most painful trip ever.
How do interstate truckies do this for
a living? I spent the whole time staring at my speedo and feeling
paranoid that I might have missed a speed limit change. I have never
seen so many speed cameras and mobile radars in all my life. The worst
part of the trip was from Harvey Bay in Queensland to Port Macquarie
in NSW. The road was heavily pot-holed and there was a change in the
posted speed limit every 400m. It was completely ridiculous!
What made matters worse was all the idiots
doing 80km/h in a 400km/h zones, then speeding up to 105km/h when
they get to an overtaking lane. Often right next to a speed camera.
I soon found drivers took to overtaking
in less-than-perfect spots, so they would not get booked. These people
were not speedsters, they just wanted to do the speed limit. The government
has got it all wrong – they are actually encouraging reckless
and dangerous driving.
Not once did I feel stressed in Europe
driving at 180km/h to 200km/h but here you are exhausted from just
trying to do 40km/h to 110km/h.
Cairns, QLD
Our editor’s just
returned from a month’s driving in Europe and knows exactly
what you mean. That said, driving in Europe, especially the cities
of Italy, is not always a walk in the park. Compared to Australia,
Italy is such a small country with a dense population but they’re
generally better open road drivers than us and we’re better
(just) at the city stuff.
