It’s the mantra all drivers learn from the time they first slap on L-plates: the faster you go, the greater your chance of a serious crash.
The reasoning is simple. The greater your speed, the less time you have to react to a problem, the greater the braking distance required and the greater the forces involved in any collision.
This indeed has been something which the authorities have been attempting to smash into our psyches with absolute brute force. And for a large part, they seem to have succeeded.
Like many pro-speed campaigners, he points to Germany’s often speed-limit-free autobahns as a shining example, saying they have recently recorded an all-time-low death toll due to their “emphasis on flow management rather than speed limits”.
“The autobahns are a successful model, which have become a political embarrassment for every other EU country,” says Dornsife, a 63-year-old who drives tens of thousands of kilometres annually in his job.
Before we get in to this any deeper, it must be said that we really have nothing like the german autobahns here.
Fatigue is the major factor among casualties on the Newell Highway, with around 26 per cent of casualties in 2007 involving fatigue,” she said, citing the RTA’s own research. “This figure is higher than other country highways [15 per cent in 2007]
And we all know that fatigue is exacerbated by increased time behind the wheel. Its also true, that as the brain slows down one becomes tired. Give a person an intent task to focus on, and their body will produce chemicals to combat fatigue.
Sensible higher limits will rid our roads of much intimidating and aggressive driving,” says the association’s vice president, Gavin Goeldner. “The biggest killer on the roads is not speed but inattention
I’ve been saying this for years. As we sit in an orderly procession of cars doing 95km/h, our attention begins to wander. We start to look at the scenery, drift off into our minds. Its a bit like sitting on a train, really.
A prime example of this is that if i’m a bit tired heading home (Wellington – Kapiti) Then i’ll make a detour over the paekakariki hill road. This always has the net effect of waking me up. If ichoose to go the normal, traffic clogged route (centennial highway) then i will become groggy and will have delayed response times.
And I’m not alone in this.
Personally, i think that we as motorists need to be treated less like sheep and have more stringent driving tests, and better education programmes.
So for now, i’ll continue to break the law when and when i see fiit. I might get too many demerits form time to time, but really, thats no dis-incentive.
