Holiday road toll

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framtech, Jan 1, 6:18pm
quess what, the police boss issued a statement to highway patrol back went tarrant shot up the mosque in Chch, to not stop motorists for minor traffic like headlights etc , because he didn't want to annoy the general public while they pushed through draconian gun laws against law abiding citizens.

carstauranga001, Jan 2, 2:43am
And yet at the same time the Matamata Police where instructed to issue tickets from 105km/hr up as there ticketing numbers were too low. (not just long weekends) Yep, I got one at 108 on my one year old bike with ABS and traction control on a straight, dry road in full daylight from a somewhat apologetic Policeman. Hardly an unsafe speed on such a bike.
Na we don't have a quota he said. I said but you have a performance expectation to which he hung his head and issued the ticket. Waste of tax payers money and Police time issuing and processing a ticket for $30.

So if everyone slows down and drives legally they won't make their performance expectations. what then?

lookoutas, Jan 2, 10:09am
They lower the speed even more

socram, Jan 2, 3:37pm
I have often wondered that.

I got a ticket on the motorway (sic) at 6:20am on a December Sunday, approaching the Harbour Bridge for doing 86kmh from a camera presumably. I was too busy concentrating on shifting from lane 1 entering the motorway, to get across to lane 4 which was the correct lane for heading south, and obviously missed seeing the camera van!

Definition of a motorway is supposed to be a safe, high speed road, devoid of traffic lights, agricultural vehicles, cyclists etc. Except in NZ.

alowishes, Jan 3, 2:08am
Very true - but some on here won’t like to admit it, they seem to think “I overtook on a blind bend because I was frustrated” is valid excuse for such a manoeuvre.

bill-robinson, Jan 3, 4:38am
so you have spoken to survivors then?

tygertung, Jan 3, 6:42am
Just overtake safely, or be prudent and a safety margin in your trip time so you are not constantly rushing.

morrisjvan, Oct 28, 1:46pm
Why do the authorities bang on about the ''holiday'' road toll ?
We don't have a holiday domestic violence toll , a holiday suicide toll or a holiday shooting toll , so why a holiday road toll ?

framtech, Oct 28, 3:08pm
Propaganda methods 101
To justify income from speeding cameras and highway patrol focus just on speed for income

To give bureaucrats justification to lower speed limits add hock instead of investing in better roads

To provide an income for the likes of greg murphy and others instead of investing in drug testing drivers, better roads instead of cheap cheese cutter rails and police focusing on driving instead of speed.

alowishes, Oct 28, 3:35pm
To show us all how really crap KIWI drivers actually are?

socram, Oct 28, 3:47pm
Statistically, it doesn't mean a thing. Accidents are accidents.

It could be one idiot falling off the road or hitting a tree, or heaven forbid, a coach of 40 falling down a ravine.

Pity they don't slap a $1,000 fine and licence points for not wearing a seat belt, given that 30% of all fatal's, no seat belts were being worn.

tygertung, Oct 29, 12:29am
It would be safer to go a bit slower as there is less inertia. Also you save money on fuel, so can go down to the pub.

The holiday road toll is probably relevant, as there tends to be more traffic on the road.

New Zealand drivers tend to be really aggressive too. Although when I was up in the Far North a couple of years ago, people were a lot more chilled out there. In Canterbury, people are really aggressive.

nice_lady, Oct 29, 3:23am
Yes it's probably safer to driver slowly when you've been to the pub.

poppy62, Oct 29, 3:37am
Holiday traffic is usually at a crawl and rarely gets to the open road limits. You save money on fuel by getting into top gear and cruising, as opposed to stop start driving. The road toll is a result of mistakes caused by Stupidity.

tamarillo, Oct 29, 4:08am
Not outside the big cities. Problem we have is idiots who are to scared to go over 90 and frustrated drivers pass badly.

martin11, Oct 29, 4:23am
Had a friend that used to complain about following Camper Vans who only drove at 90 kph . It was pointed out to him that that was their legal speed limit if they were ones over 3.5 tons .
Some people who pass foolishly do not actually gain anything in saving time ,they just seem to have to be in the front of everybody . Attitude problem ?

franc123, Oct 29, 4:35am
Basically what #2 said plus because there is absolutely nothing else to talk about at the moment that's why. Not wishing to trivialize the impact on those that lost loved ones over the weekend, but from a purely hard nosed statistical point of view, this Labour weekend was nothing special. There have been more people killed in some standard weekends than over the last one. The Police need to accept the fact that no matter what they do or say people will die on the roads, there will never be a zero road toll. .

gazzat22, Oct 29, 4:49am
Booze and or Drugs seem to feature in a lot of road traffic crashes.I can only imagine what will happen if the use of cannabis is semi legalised.!

tygertung, Oct 29, 5:37am
Speed never killed anyone, only sudden stops. The faster you go, the more violent the sudden stop, it is just physics.

Also the faster you go, the more fuel you use, it makes quite a big difference between 90 and 100. You can't get around it.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Characteristics-of-rolling-resistance-and-aerodynamic-drag-of-a-vehicle_fig1_313248133

Also the faster you go, the more you have to slow down all the time. the average speed doesn't really improve.

I can think of much more interesting things to spend money on than petrol, so what's the rush?

gazzat22, Oct 29, 6:26am
For a person affected with grass or P or similar the last thing If anything on their mind ( or whats left of it) is fuel Economy.!

alowishes, Oct 29, 7:43am
Except in the case where a non belt wearer launched through the windshield and injured a person in the other car ( this person survived, the unbelted flying driver did not).
OK, a rare event - but it did happen.

headcat, Oct 29, 11:42am
Random events happen at random. Last year it happened once this year six times, next year is anyone's guess.

tygertung, Oct 29, 12:44pm
Correlation doesn't equal causation. Just because someone was driving at 200 kph and crashed, doesn't mean that driving at double the speed limit caused it.

kittylittle, Oct 29, 12:57pm
I think your wife, kids and parents may disagree with you.

socram, Oct 29, 1:03pm
Agree with the sentiment, but when it constitutes such a high percentage of fatalities, far more than speed, then maybe they should publish the figures more widely, and aim the TV adverts at the non-wearers rather than only on speeding.

A few more roadside blitzes might help.

When to comes to speed/economy, many modern cars are at their most economical cruising at just above 100.