thats all due to lack of enforcement. once you put proper police patrolling, all that disappears really fast. all that dangerous driving is done deliberately and once cops are in view they stop doing it.
thats why when they dropped the speed limit here they had a huge policing campaign. unfortunately police are woefully underfunded and have better things to do than road policing.
differentthings,
Apr 27, 12:42am
same problem here in tauranga. Dropping the speed limit everywhere. Has made little difference because of the idiot drivers still drive like idiots.
poppy62,
Apr 27, 5:33am
There is a silver lining to the lower speed limits. We all use less gas.
differentthings,
Apr 27, 5:58am
Remember about 1980ish they increased the open speed limit from 80kph to 100 because they said it was to slow. We didn't have air bags, abs, traction control etc and we were fine. Now there are all these safety features in the cars now days, the roads are safer but they want to lower the speed limits
cjohnw,
Apr 27, 6:26am
The 1980’s were 40 odd years ago. You do not think there has been a slight increase in traffic over those years?
tweake,
Apr 27, 6:27am
yet the 90's was some of the most carnage on the roads ever.
i'll argue the roads are not all safer. many have improved. but most really many have not changed in 30-40 years. is it not sensible to drop the speed limit on those roads with poor safety records? the other issue is road condition which will probably get worse before it gets better, especially if we have years of belt tightening ahead of us.
blogzy,
Apr 27, 6:32am
Bottom line, NZ can not afford to build/maintain our roads to what most of us consider to be an acceptable standard. Much like our hospital system, It does not perform to the level most of us expect it to. ie, people die waiting for life saving care. Personally I have resigned to the fact that if i want to continue to live here, which I do, I accept what I can not change.
bitsnpieces2020,
Apr 27, 7:18am
Theres multiple problems with this logic. our MP's have often cited other OECD countries as examples for NZ to use as their road toll (per capita) hovers around half ours. Trouble is none of them have lower speed limits than NZ, they all have better roads, with higher limits. Also NZ's safest roads (no fatalities) are the 110Km/h expressways in waikato & tauranga. Adding around 15 minutes to each trip to each vehicle on the highway is wasting tens of thousands of man hours every year.
nice_lady,
Apr 27, 8:21am
Absolute rubbish. Most roads in Nz are and have been made to a reasonable standard, (the exceptions are the occasionally encountered gravel roads I guess but not many townies would drive on those). It's the idiot drivers who keep having crashes. Stupid people doing stupid things.
And yeah Hubby and I drive that Waikato 110Kmh expressway very often and . wait for it. we ALWAYS get passed by drivers whose feet are so heavy the accelerator must be stuck to the floor. Great road yeah - dumbass drivers - YEAH !
andrewcg53,
Apr 27, 8:27am
No it is not you still risk the same injury's you can still die crashing a 30km/hr A 20km reduction is not going to make a road safer far from it they made a number of roads around here 80km reduced from 100km there has been no change in the number of crashes or deaths but I have noticed more people overtaking and taking more risks in overtaking because you get idiots doing 60km/hr
andrewcg53,
Apr 27, 8:34am
Go to the UK or Europe then you will find out what aggressive drivers are NZ does not come close and the UK in 1 of the worst in the world
framtech,
Apr 27, 9:24am
The single biggest fix for road deaths in motor vehicles is divided carrage ways, with no opposing traffic, there are very few fatal crashes.
When I drive my truck over highway five , it adds 30 to 45 minutes to the trip at 90 klm, so now they are saying they with reduce to 80kph that will mean even longer for a truck, In the car its also a slow trip if any other cars are on the road and a lot just can't drive, its a cheap fix to protect a few that shouldn't be driving highway five anyway.
So the 10 thousand they will spend on signage and adds, would be better spent on real police officers enforcing all driving = not just revenue gathering speeding tickets.
gunna-1,
Apr 27, 5:12pm
Get all these whoopdedooo highway programs of the air, we dont have a road toll problem, we have an ego one with a macho truckie on tv swearing at one "muppet" who isnt in his lane, defund this crap and we have safe roads, there will allways be a handfull of deaths each year.
gunna-1,
Apr 27, 5:16pm
What the police could do, is stop pulling up every tom dick and harry for there paycheck "quota filling" and only stop for offenses, ie someone actually broke a road rule, and save tax money putting half of them out of work allso.
bill-robinson,
Apr 27, 5:38pm
is that due to you being a tourist in the uk? driving in sight seeing mode, not sure of where to go, or where you are?
blogzy,
Apr 27, 6:01pm
Obviously you are not familiar with state highway 2.
absolute_detail,
Apr 27, 6:06pm
If I can drive that rd in an old land rover with solid axles and mud tyres in the raind and not fall off the rd at 100k then there is absolutley no need to lower the limit
blogzy,
Apr 27, 6:09pm
Its a goat track by world standards.
nice_lady,
Apr 27, 6:11pm
Crystal ball in operation?
absolute_detail,
Apr 27, 6:14pm
There is nothing wrong with it, ive been driving it for 15years in all sorts of conditions, snow, ice, rain and have never come close to crashing.
Theres one corner just before te pohue (heading sth) that seems to claim a few lives, theres nothing wrong it, just dumbass drivers that shouldnt be drviving in the first place
tygertung,
Apr 27, 6:15pm
I have, and they were much more relaxed there.
Perhaps you are one of the aggressive drivers, so see it as normal?
blogzy,
Apr 27, 6:34pm
Unfortunately we are stuck with dumb ass drivers. Bad roads like SH2 magnify their ability.
bumfacingdown,
Apr 27, 6:35pm
" it adds 30 to 45 minutes to the trip at 90 klm" Really, compared to what speed you would otherwise do?
"not just revenue gathering speeding tickets" Ha ha ha ha, time to turn the page
cjohnw,
Apr 27, 6:53pm
Isn’t it interesting how many think everyone else is a bad driver, but of course never themselves? Will openly state that 95% of drivers on the roads are idiots, but would never concede they have done stupid things themselves. Sadly, no one is perfect, but how many of us think we are?
absolute_detail,
Apr 27, 7:04pm
Like the weekend just gone, driving south on sh5 and catch a honda odyssey just after the summit, as soon as there was on coming traffic and they had to dip their lights they stood on the brakes and almost came to a complete stop. These people need to have their license taken off them but because they dont speed they will never be stopped
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