http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/latest/article/-/14418808/frustrating-speed-limits/
I have to say this is the reason why I do not watch commercical TV because you can not trust them to report things completely accurately. This lovely piece of work was aired on that "Bastian of truth and fair reporting" last night Today Tonight. It is regarding the concept of reducing the default speed limit in residential streets to 30kmph. I have to say as usual the reporting was mostly one sided and sensationalised. Instead of wasting my time stating the obvious lets just look at the people they spoke to, all this information I had to search for there was no links on the website so I could better inform myself! I wonder why?
John Cadogan the so called motoring expert
"He has a degree in engineering" but in what discipline. For all I know he could have a degree in hydraulic engineering, but what has that got to do with traffic speeds! Unless this engineering degree is quantified to me it means nothing. According to his own website (see link below) he has "20 years as a freelance automotive journalist in print, TV and radio". To me this means this guy has a vested interest in making sure motorised traffic can move is fast as possible because lets face it he may loss some of his readers and roles if he started saying that all motorisd vehicles should travel slower. This guys had the most air time of the three blokes they spoke to. The best quote from this guys is where complains about how public transport is having trouble at the moment handling current loadings. I hate to state the obvious but so is the road network you fool! He also left out the fact that the Public Transport systems have suffered from decades of under investment because of so called motoring experts have been demanding extra funding for roads that just fill up within years acheiving nothing in the long term!
http://www.cadoges.com/about/
David Jones from the RACV
This guy I could not find his official webpage. That said again a vested interest has he is representing a motoring body that is all about allowing motorists to get from A-B as fast as possible. This guy is an "Strategic traffic and transport engineer and planner" which means he does have knowledge in the area but because of his employer it has to be taken in context. The best quote for this bloke is "higher variablitly in vehicle speeds, higher risk of vehicle crashes & involving pedestrians and cyclists" now this may of been taken out of context as we do not hear what the reporter asked but isn't the idea of lowering speed limits about reducing the variablity of different travel modes?
http://au.linkedin.com/in/jonesdr
Dr Bruce Corben - from Monash University Accident Research Centre
Now this poor bloke go a mear 8 seconds of clear air time and is proablby the most repectable in my mind. In that short time he says that at 40kmph you are twice as likely to die as if stuck compared with 30kmph but ofcourse that is all we hear. Hummm I wonder why?
http://www.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=701&pid=5764
Ofcourse as one that rides a bike I know all to well why slower speed limits are required and it is clearly stated in on satitic they bring up. 12% of servayed motorist by the TAC admited to speeding to all or most of the time. A motorist slightly speeding above 30kmph is far less likely to kill someone complared with a motorist slightly speedng over 50kmph.
Ofcourse this kind of story is very old news to me. Back in the late 90s a similar story was aired when residential speeds were dropped from 60kmph to 50kmph. They had the same kind of skewed reporting back then as well. Just like back then they did a speed test and just like back then it came back with a similar result, reduced speed limit does not result in vastly increased travel time in urban traffic environment. Over 8kms this test came in at around 30 minutes for traveling at both 50kmph & 40kmph however at 30kmph it came in at 32minutes. Ofcourse anyone riding a bike could tell them this because in an urban environment most of your time is spent sitting at traffic lights and interestions.
All I can say is bring on the 30kmph speed limit. It will make local residential streets safer and far more pleasent places to live instead of rat runs for impatiant indivuals that choose not to use the main roads and arterials.
PS spell check is currently not working
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