Quote:
Originally Posted by rat156
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Next time you look at the news and someone has died in a single vehicle crash, have a look at what they've hit. Lightpole, tree, roadsign stanchion etc, they all have the same profile.
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So in order to reduce the roadtoll, we need to either slow everyone down to about 40kmh, that's about the only speed you can hit one of these things side on and hope to not be injured.
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Cheers
Stuart
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Interesting about trees, I have done a couple of advanced driving courses at Calder and they make an interesting observation/statement about trees. When a car is out of control, the mind notices a tree and as the car spins or moves out of control, the mind of the driver is thinking "where is that tree?" and they unconsciously steer toward it, eventually hitting it. They suggest in this circumstance you should try to think "were is that gap?" and you will be more likely to steer through it! A number of years ago I worked with a guy who said the same thing, he had lost control of his car one night and his car was heading for two trees. He can remember thinking "head for the gap" and he drove between the two of them, coming to a rest on the side of the road. He came back next day and measured the spacing to find there was only a few inches on each side. Admitedly, some of it may be sheer luck, but if you find yourself in this circumstance, even having the thought in the back of your mind may be enough to save you....so remember it! If you remove all the trees from the sides of roads, maybe they will slam into other cars or houses. I would rather someone slam into a tree than come through to my side of the freeway and slam into me!
As for reducing the speed limits, I think they are missing the point. If you can imagine a graph of the likelihood of having an accident versus speed, the likelihood increases as you increase speed and decreases with decreasing speed. The logical conclusion is, of course, that slowing cars down will reduce the likelihood of having a accident...duh! Finally, no one will have an accident when everyone travels at 0kph.... So after they reduce the speeds to 40 and people still have accidents (less severe) will they they decrease it to 35? If people are having accidents by travelling at 60 in a 60 zone, you need to do something about it. If people are having accidents by travelling at 130 in a 100 zone, there is no logical reason to expect that changing the speed limit would have any effect. I remember the Frankston Freeway used to be 110 for many years. Then some kids wrapped themselves around a tree and the limit was reduced to 80 for several years before it was eventually put back to 100.