Agree with Russell about idiot hoon drivers, but I wonder whether speed limits affect their behaviour amd whether whether their behaviour might be slightly better, or at least with a higher skill level, were they better educated
One cant get a licence in Finland without spending 6 hours sideways on a skidpan. Here if one drives sideways they take the car away and call you a hoon. Learning that there are things one can’t control can tend to have a moderating influence.
We kill about the same number of people (in proportion ) to the Germans, actually slightly more
The guy who has been doing 250k on the autobahn will happily obey the 30 or 50k limit in town
We routinely drive at 80k around town ( try doing a successful phenomenal avoidance if somebody steps out in front at that speed ) but then try to drive to Brisbane at 100kph and wonder why we either get tired and have to stop or get tired and drive into a tree.
Our limits are ridiculously low for modern cars and roads, remember that the 504s and 404s we drive happily at 130-140(or more in some cases ) have none of the safety features of modern rubbish, but we still survive, mostly because we pay attention and take the task seriously, which is partly why I made my comments about Australian driver training ( woeful )
We drive much too fast in the city and rather too slowly in the country. Enforcement is directed at obeying the rules and not at bad driving. In Europe Mr Plod is usually not terribly interested if one is driving at anywhere up to about 160 ( more in Germany ) but will come down like a ton of bricks if driving badly ( tailgating, ‘undertaking’, lane swapping etc )
They generally don’t have speed cameras on the Autobahn ( unless a restricted stretch) WHat they have lots of is ‘distance’ cameras - on bridges, like our speed cameras. Camera measures the speed of each car, photographs the number plate , then does the same for the following car. Then calculates distance between cars, looks at the speed and decides whether one is too close for the speed, if so :k’ching and one is many Euros poorer.
Priorities seem rather more sensible
Best Wishes
Andrew
Andrew
One cant get a licence in Finland without spending 6 hours sideways on a skidpan. Here if one drives sideways they take the car away and call you a hoon. Learning that there are things one can’t control can tend to have a moderating influence.
We kill about the same number of people (in proportion ) to the Germans, actually slightly more
The guy who has been doing 250k on the autobahn will happily obey the 30 or 50k limit in town
We routinely drive at 80k around town ( try doing a successful phenomenal avoidance if somebody steps out in front at that speed ) but then try to drive to Brisbane at 100kph and wonder why we either get tired and have to stop or get tired and drive into a tree.
Our limits are ridiculously low for modern cars and roads, remember that the 504s and 404s we drive happily at 130-140(or more in some cases ) have none of the safety features of modern rubbish, but we still survive, mostly because we pay attention and take the task seriously, which is partly why I made my comments about Australian driver training ( woeful )
We drive much too fast in the city and rather too slowly in the country. Enforcement is directed at obeying the rules and not at bad driving. In Europe Mr Plod is usually not terribly interested if one is driving at anywhere up to about 160 ( more in Germany ) but will come down like a ton of bricks if driving badly ( tailgating, ‘undertaking’, lane swapping etc )
They generally don’t have speed cameras on the Autobahn ( unless a restricted stretch) WHat they have lots of is ‘distance’ cameras - on bridges, like our speed cameras. Camera measures the speed of each car, photographs the number plate , then does the same for the following car. Then calculates distance between cars, looks at the speed and decides whether one is too close for the speed, if so :k’ching and one is many Euros poorer.
Priorities seem rather more sensible
Best Wishes
Andrew
Andrew