Is Speed Enforcement in Australia Absurd?

Lspeedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 17:39
Last edited 21/03/2023 - 17:53 by 1 other user

Just recently got back from a trip to California, USA and one thing I noticed is that despite the speed limit being technically 65 mph on the freeways, most drivers did around 80-85 mph, even straight past cops and they didn't care one bit. Whereas in Australia, doing such speeds would usually result in a heavy fine and licence suspension in some states.

Every year more and more hidden speed cameras are being used in Australia, yet the road toll is around the same. Other countries, for instance the UK, has a road toll substantially lower than ours, despite it being common (haven't driven there but from friends who have driven there) it's also common to do 80-85 mph in the 70 mph motorways. Australian governments and police are hell bent on speed being the biggest killer in road accidents, when we only need to look at our European counterparts to see it's not the case.

Automotive

Comments

          • prinsenhof on 21/03/2023 - 21:16

            @I like freestuff: If they were restricting the speed to 100km/hr, then they should not have spent so much money building a state of art road. They should have just run a grater over the dirt and slapped down some tar. Then it would be no different to every other 100km/hr road. Everytime I drive that section I simply cant understand why so much money was spent for 100km/hr rated road.

  • CodeXD on 21/03/2023 - 19:54
    +2

    Sounds like you should move overseas.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 20:00
      +1

      if only they offer jobs without so much hassle XD

  • rumblytangara on 21/03/2023 - 19:56
    +8

    Just the opening of the OP makes the rest impossible to take seriously.

    You are looking at the US as an example of admirable law enforcement or public behavioural practices- really?

    I've driven, and lived, in the US. Have relatives across the entire country. It is not a place to admire for driving.

    I've also lived in the UK. People are not speed demons. I and my circle of friends used to speed, but we were young and dumb.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 19:58
      -1

      usa might have a terrible road fatality rate, but uk is significantlly lower than ours, and they speed alot on the motorways
      your point?

      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 21/03/2023 - 20:22
        +3

        but uk is significantlly lower than ours, and they speed alot on the motorways

        Evidence. My actual experience tends to disagree with you.

        • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 20:50
          +1

          how fast do they drive in the 70 mph freeways in the uk then?

          • DashCam AKA Rolts on 21/03/2023 - 21:05

            @speedingftw: From my experience, admittedly away from London, cars appeared to stick to the 70mph, light commercial 60 mph and heavy vehicles were sticking hard left lane and to their 50mph. Due to this separation traffic flowed very smoothly.
            Reasonable police presence, and average speed monitoring cameras may have been a strong influence.

      • smartazz104 on 22/03/2023 - 07:24
        +1

        UK drivers spend most of their time sitting in traffic due to roadworks /s

        • frumper on 23/03/2023 - 17:23

          this

  • TEER3X on 21/03/2023 - 20:03

    This is specifically the highways in LA. Everywhere else, you speed and a motorcycle cop lasers you, you're getting a ticket 100% of the time.

    There's also usually speed traps set up on the highways in and out of LA.

    Iirc the city of LA had speed or red light cameras at some intersections but not sure if they still exist.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 20:05
      +2

      speed cameras are illegal in california actually
      and even if you speed in california, you don't get demerit points until 10 mph above the limit
      the fines for speeding are super cheap too
      and america doesn't have ANPR like Australia, so it's super easy to drive without a licence there

      • gromit on 23/03/2023 - 08:31

        Funny you keep mentioning California, they are proposing bills to introduce speed cameras.

  • TEER3X on 21/03/2023 - 20:05

    I've driven, and lived, in the US. Have relatives across the entire country. It is not a place to admire for driving.

    I found the drivers in the US were far more courteous than the drivers here (in Melbourne at least). I've seen some pretty poor driving in both countries though.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 20:06
      +1

      driving standard in usa is pretty average as well, but once you doing 80-85 mph, people take driving pretty damn seriously

  • Keplaffintech on 21/03/2023 - 20:10
    +1

    speed being the biggest killer in road accidents

    The issue I have with this is speed is labelled as a factor in fatalities even if it wasn't a cause. E.g. someone is going 10k over, but then a truck crosses the median and slams into them = speeding fatality.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 20:13
      +3

      if a car is moving, then speed will be a factor
      pretty simple really
      but is speed the leading factor in freeway accidents? in most cases it's not

    • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 20:16
      -1

      Rubbish, only if the truck was speeding. If a truck is on the wrong side of the road, there's the primary cause.If the car was actually at a dangerously high speed,maybe

      • Keplaffintech on 21/03/2023 - 20:21
        +1

        not rubbish, if either car is speeding it is counted as a factor, not just the one at fault.

        the stats on speeding never state that speeding was 'the primary cause', just that it was a factor in those incidents. Someone could be looking at their phone, drunk, sleepy, have bald tires in the rain, but if they were also speeding (or the person they hit was), it gets added to the speeding fatalities statistic.

        The reason is because there is not considered a 'safe level of speeding' so therefore any level of speeding is considered to contribute to the accident.

        • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 20:30

          In the data the most it would reflect on speeding as a contributing factor, would be an estimate causal %.
          Don't think if there was a court case afterwards the truckies defence would argue the dead guy was 10KM over?

      • CurlCurl on 21/03/2023 - 20:27
        +1

        Rubbish, only if the truck was speeding. If a truck is on the wrong side of the road, there's the primary cause.If the car was actually at a dangerously high speed,maybe

        I guess if the car hadn't been speeding it wouldn't have been there when the truck crossed the medium strip.

        • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 20:33

          Good luck with that in court.

          Your honour if I'd slept in I never would have been there.
          Yep hear that all the time. (not)
          This is the real world, not Judge Judy

          But if you ARE right, see what speeding does?

  • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 20:14
    -1

    Leave earlier

    You're welcome

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 20:15
      +2

      why comment if you have nothing useful to say?

      • USER DC on 21/03/2023 - 21:31
        +1

        Member Since
        3 hours 59 min ago

        you'll get used to it, its fairly common

  • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 20:19

    ?
    Plenty have users have made the same observation about the premise of the thread.
    Justify cart blanche speeding? You haven't. You won't. You can't
    Now I know you're trolling.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 20:26

      uk is 2.9
      aus is 4.5
      so at the end of the day who wins? strict speed enforcement (aus) or common sense speed enforment (uk) ?

      • smartazz104 on 22/03/2023 - 07:26

        You think the rate would decrease if speeds were increased here? We need better driver education here first, people seem to think driving is a right.

      • Gat0r88 on 22/03/2023 - 21:22

        I wonder if UK's low rate has more to do with everyone in cities and suburbs and even a lot of rural areas living less than 1km from a pub

      • gromit on 23/03/2023 - 08:35

        well strict enforcement of course as UK has much stricter enforcement than Australia.

    • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 20:35

      Imagine what the gun death map looks like.(Glowing red?)
      Maybe that's why they speed. getting away from shooter. And cops parked up cos, "I aint getttin' involved'.

  • branners on 21/03/2023 - 20:53
    +3

    Complicated topic.
    One of the interesting TVCs I have seen on road safety recently here in Victoria is the one in which old mate speeds up when he notices that the rozzers either can't see him or are busy with something else. Then when his missus distracts him with a map, he takes his eyes off the road, the Falcon runs into a ditch and rolls. The theme is, 'The lucky ones gets caught', presumably for speeding.
    Seems to me that the shunt has actually been caused by the driver dropping his guard. Would the outcome of inattentive driving be that much different at 78kmh rather than 82?
    But our state governments have demonised speed as a policy for decades, so that narrative would not be a good fit. I might also mention that in other countries, the happy family might have been making the trip to see Nonna and Pops by train or other means of public transport. If you have to go to regional Australia, that is a bit more of a challenge.

  • GodsSon23 on 21/03/2023 - 20:58
    +2

    There is a middle ground that should exist. The amount of 30 and 40km/h zones are a joke here. We'll be doing 10km/h soon the way these Councils are running things.

  • johndoe789 on 21/03/2023 - 21:01
    +2

    Is Speed Enforcement in Australia Absurd? No

    Is Speed Limit too low in (most of) Australia? Yes

    Having proper law enforcement is a GOOD thing. We don't want end up in a situation where our police is so underfunded like America that they could not enforce all laws.

    • ben5000 on 21/03/2023 - 21:22
      +1

      Police are not underfunded in America. They are overfunded. The difference is, they attend actual crimes. America has way more serious and violent crimes occurring and that's where their efforts are focused. Not on ridiculous trivial traffic offences like going 5km over the speed limit or looking at your phone whilst stopped at a stop light. The police in Australia are revenue raising clowns, they aren't real police and they don't do any real work.

      • speedingftw on 22/03/2023 - 09:02
        +2

        Spot on
        Aussie cops need to look themselves in the mirror and admit to the general public that they're nothing but revenue raising tossers

      • OzBarAnon on 23/03/2023 - 17:34

        Homicide clearance rate in the US has dropped over the years, so clearly something isn't up to scratch there.

  • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 21:12

    I'm tired eyed from all the googling, but none of the dead people (victims of speeding ) or any credible data either justify the benefits of speeding, or condemn complying with the speed limit.
    I googled deaths by speeding in both the USA and here.(UK is not relevant to this pub test) Had the op done similar ground work or formulated any other reason than "America does it", or "I'm not happy, I'd hang around."
    American plod need to lift their game. (multiple fronts)
    The USA is not a role model. Period

  • ben5000 on 21/03/2023 - 21:18

    Well, that's easy. It has zero to do with safety and one hundred percent to do with generating income for the grossly mismanaged government who spends recklessly on needless and inefficient public services. This country is obsessed with safety on the surface, to the point where it's nauseating. Though, if you look deeper there's always some sinister reason for these so called 'safety' measures, just like we saw during covid when this place turned into a authoritarian nightmare and people were being beaten half to death by police in the streets just for being outside their home.

    If you want freedom, civil rights, and a life with low government presence - stay well away from this place. It's like living in a highly supervised children's daycare centre. People who haven't travelled all over the world have no perspective on this topic, and don't understand because they are indoctrinated with this safety obsessed culture since birth.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 21:21
      +1

      bingo
      I really wanna move overseas, but it's really hard to get a work visa haha
      So looks like i'm stuck here in Aus

      • ben5000 on 21/03/2023 - 21:24
        +1

        Good luck mate. I wont be here forever.

  • USER DC on 21/03/2023 - 21:26
    +1

    Yes, maybe (and I think penalties are little excessive, compared to other regions around world too). but I'd rather be in a region where people want to obey law more than people disrespect law.

    And yes that's why we have discussions like this
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/763263

    In NSW, government earns so many $$ from overspeeding/running red light tickets. They almost run them as a cashgrab than to actually slow drivers to the speed limit.

  • Max P on 21/03/2023 - 21:29

    Basically revenue raising from scummy governments

  • endolphin on 21/03/2023 - 21:30

    The place where I experienced the most speed cameras was Italy. That shit was extreme. There would be five speed cameras across a 2km stretch in every town that you drove through.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 21:34
      +1

      isn't the speed limt in italy 130?
      atleast they have sensible speed limits
      And also, i'm pretty sure you don't get demerit points for low level speeding in Europe, and fines are alot cheaper
      Hell, in germany you don't get demerit points for speeding unless you're 20+km/h over the limit

  • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 21:31

    Keep turning right and you'll always land in Cookerborough

  • Aureus on 21/03/2023 - 21:32

    Just drive the speed limit, if you find that difficult you shouldn't have a license.

    • Leadfoot6 on 23/03/2023 - 22:41
      +1

      Just have the speed limits set based on common sense, rather than trying to trap motorists and the motorist will not feel like a cash cow.

  • mshanann on 21/03/2023 - 21:34

    I recently had the opportunity to drive throughout Tasmania and found it quite refreshing the limited number of road speed signs and road signs in general.

    The onus seemed to be put on the driver to drive to the actual road conditions and actually concentrate, rather than have every little bend and turn signed.

    Yes there were parts outside the major townships where you could travel a little faster, but you did so at your own risk.

    • speedingftw on 21/03/2023 - 21:35

      do people generally drive the speed limit in tasmania?

      • mshanann on 22/03/2023 - 01:42
        +1

        If anything, I found myself driving under the speed limit in the picturesque country areas, as the scenery was so magnificent. I'd pull to the side and let any car coming up pass.

        You had to be careful too once the sun went down, as lots of wildlife was out and about. Nearly ran over a wombat in Bicheno heading to see a Tasmanian devil show.

      • payless69 on 24/03/2023 - 09:28

        Everybody drives faster than them devils.
        Carnage there is still heartbreaking!

  • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 21:39

    If you DO choose to speed, watch out for cows,frogs and horses. They pop up everywhere

    • payless69 on 24/03/2023 - 09:31

      India has a zero speed limit if cattle are present on freeways. Just kiss one and then you are free in speed till you find the next one, then repeat!

  • mauricem on 21/03/2023 - 21:48

    U.S definitely more relaxed about speeds, Japanese although one of the most law abiding people treat the speed limits as suggestions, 10-20k over was about average.

    Picked up a friend from the US at the airport, within the first few ks we saw 2 seperate road rage incidents, nothing serious, a bit of tailgating, horn honking, fist shaking etc she commented no one would dare do that in LA due to the high likelihood the other driver is armed and many would simply shoot first rather than argue the point.

  • CurlCurl on 21/03/2023 - 22:05
    Merged from While we are talking about speeding.

    Son in law received a ticket by mail in Feb. He was pinged by a mobile speed camera vehicle in NSW on Australia Day. Photo was stamped 52kph in a 50 zone.

    • KaTst3R on 21/03/2023 - 22:08
      +13

      Yes.

    • altomic on 21/03/2023 - 22:11
      +5

      that's unaustralian

      • Murkymerv on 21/03/2023 - 23:04

        What's that mean again?

        • altomic on 22/03/2023 - 00:26

          your comment is unaustralian

        • [Deactivated] on 22/03/2023 - 09:04

          good

    • SF3 on 21/03/2023 - 22:21
      +13

      thanks OzDiary.

    • DashCam AKA Rolts on 21/03/2023 - 22:39
      +11

      Given the Australian regs re speedos, & "Photo was stamped 52kph in a 50 zone." would imply his speedo was probably registering approximately 57km/hr whilst in a 50 zone, possibly higher.

      • pegaxs on 21/03/2023 - 22:57
        +6

        100% this…^

        52km/h will be the final reading and the allowance would have been something like -3km/h. Making their “observed speed” at closer to 55km/h, so reading inside the car could easily have been 60km/h.

      • ozbargainsam on 21/03/2023 - 23:16
        +1

        When did they switch away from 0-4km/hr over being the no-penalty zone?

        • pjetson on 22/03/2023 - 10:11

          When was that ever a thing?

          • ozbargainsam on 22/03/2023 - 13:15

            @pjetson: In the past.

            Used to be from memory:

            0-4 was no penalty
            5-9 first penalty tier
            32+ was 'lose your licence on the spot'

            Anyway, it was the reason I generally drive a little over on my digital speedo. I've driven past HWP knowingly at +5. Though they probably wouldn't chase down a minor infraction like that

            • pjetson on 23/03/2023 - 08:36

              @ozbargainsam: I can't seem to find anything online that confirms your memory. Are you sure it was an actual thing? Lots of people seem to think that there used to be a 10% tolerance, but again, there doesn't seem to be anything official to confirm that.

              • ozbargainsam on 23/03/2023 - 09:20

                @pjetson: Huh. I can't either. It's something I would've picked up on just after I started driving so it's been a while - can't say where I got it from. I could try dig up a fine or two from 15 years ago somehow to see what it says.

                I have a memory of a table of speeds and fines, so it seemed official. Not the allowances thing depending on the type of camera.

    • elgrande on 21/03/2023 - 22:43
      +19

      Should never have let him marry her.

      • Bafranz on 21/03/2023 - 22:58
        +1

        But he so fine

        • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 23:39
          -4

          or…..He's got frequent flyers at Pornhub?
          or A boat?
          A hot Mum?
          A hot Dad?
          Guns!
          A Tesla?
          A Tesla with a gun in the glove box?
          A life?

    • pegaxs on 21/03/2023 - 22:54
      +10

      Thanks for letting us know.

      Keep us updated on whether this fine curbs his speeding or not.

    • Bafranz on 21/03/2023 - 22:57
      +2

      But for those 10 seconds or less, i'm free

    • Jake17 on 21/03/2023 - 23:02
      +5

      Very interesting point and quite informative…

    • Godric on 21/03/2023 - 23:09

      Was he racing to KFC? Understandable

      • bdl on 22/03/2023 - 08:58
        -1

        I don't care. I love it.

    • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 23:36
      +1

      My wife saw a cop car the other day. Weird
      Is that a cloud?
      Wonder how many lizards there are in Botswana?

      • franco cozzo on 22/03/2023 - 08:07

        yes…
        at least 14…

      • Mechz on 22/03/2023 - 09:49

        I saw one this morning, one of their headlights was blown.

        I was almost going to stop and tell them.

    • xuqi on 21/03/2023 - 23:39
      +1

      Probably the best speeding post by anyone thus far this month on OZB.

      Feel free to forgo the MS Paint diagram, also a first for OZB.

    • Protractor on 21/03/2023 - 23:41
      +3

      Wait. That does not stack up.
      If he only JUST received a ticket in February 2023, and it came via Australia Post, it's well past the statute of limitations by now.
      Check if the cops have a photo. I bet it's black & white

      • Mechz on 22/03/2023 - 09:50
        +1

        What does this statute declare?

    • spackbace on 22/03/2023 - 00:25

      Well sucks to live in NSW then!

    • hashtagbargain on 22/03/2023 - 00:29
      +1

      Someone inform the president!

      • franco cozzo on 22/03/2023 - 08:06
        -2

        no point! ……joe biden would just forget 3 seconds later anyway!

    • FocusRider on 22/03/2023 - 06:38

      So many imposter hellopams.

      There will only ever be one hellopam!

    • Euphemistic on 22/03/2023 - 06:45

      So he passed a signed speed camera and didn’t slow down?

    • Gunnar on 22/03/2023 - 07:07

      Yes…. ‘Son in law’. I suppose it’s more believable than your ‘friend’ doing it

    • EightImmortals on 22/03/2023 - 07:46

      Challenge it.

    • poboy on 22/03/2023 - 07:49

      This needs to be stickied.

    • Porker on 22/03/2023 - 07:49

      Your son may have been driving faster than 52km/h amd the fined speed was reduced.

      Eg. Detected speed of 55km/h but infringed speed of 52km/h.

      Not sure if it applies in NSW but in VIC a small amput of speed is removed, possibly to account for errors(?).

      In the past, VIC have also had 'zero tolerance' days for speeding, so even a little over is enough to be fined. Your son was fined on a major holiday.

      • Mechz on 22/03/2023 - 09:51

        This is why I set my car to 53 on cruise then gaze out the window while women and children scatter.

    • franco cozzo on 22/03/2023 - 08:05

      bugger.

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