Camo Cops

[bravo 34]

Personally I couldnt give a rats ar$e where the police and cameras are. If you speed and you get caught then I have no sympathy for you whatsoever.

I work with the LTSA and the number of people caught speeding in 50kph zones in the last couple of years has doubled hence the shift from drink driving advertising to speed.

Before you say its only because there are more cameras and its only revenue gathering think about how many tickets and how much money they would make if everyone kept to the limit. Thats right sweet fcuk all.

No speeding = no cameras.....simple.

Having said all that I dont think they help themselves too much by using more, shall we say, covert tactics.

But as *sic said previously, its as much an advertising thing than anything else. Seeing police out stopping people will increase your awareness that they are watching and hopefully make you a more repsonsible driver.

Wake up and smell the petrol fumes.

I am quite happy to abide by the speed limit as a general rule, however, it is extremely easy for your speed to creed up especially on wide and flat roads in a 50 zone, and even more so on downhill slopes, and transisitions to slower zones.

My local testing officer informs me that I should be checking my rear vision mirror on average every 16 seconds - I do. I am however, checking my speedometer every 6 seconds in order to avoid fines from hidden cameras etc. Every time I check my speed, my eyes are off the road. Less safe I would say than travelling 11km over the limit from time to time.

Get real

[shadowninja 0]

Heh a "killwer" highway... is that like a killer wherl?

I know the road well Carl, I reckon people get distracted by the stunning views from Pukerua Bay to Paekakariki. That barrier they are talking about would be a waste of time & money.

The people who are killing themselves on the roads are the ones driving too fast for the conditions. Not the soccer-mum doing 65km in a 50 zone or cruising at 115km on a long clear & straight open road.

[shadowninja 0]

Toppled... heh.

[Carl 3]

Heh a "killwer" highway... is that like a killer wherl?

I know the road well Carl, I reckon people get distracted by the stunning views from Pukerua Bay to Paekakariki. That barrier they are talking about would be a waste of time & money.

The people who are killing themselves on the roads are the ones driving too fast for the conditions. Not the soccer-mum doing 65km in a 50 zone or cruising at 115km on a long clear & straight open road.

I disagree, it's not the people driving too fast for the conditions that kill themselves because then how does that explain the people topping themselves along centennial highway where the conditions are perfect???????

I'm sorry if this offends but the people offing themselves are the ones that make stupid mistakes or are the result of someone making a stupid mistake. I would attribute most mistakes to being distracted somehow, be it scenery, stereo, or their g/f giving them head as the case was for a poor couple that drove 30m off the highway into the rocks.

[*sic 1]

or their g/f giving them head

ahh good times, good times

[martyyn 2]

Sorry chaps, havent worked out how to do the QUOTE thing yet so bear with me !

Bravo said....

I am quite happy to abide by the speed limit as a general rule, however, it is extremely easy for your speed to creed up especially on wide and flat roads in a 50 zone, and even more so on downhill slopes, and transisitions to slower zones.

----

If your aware that your speed increases whilst in these situations you dont need to keep checking your speedo....you put your foot on the brake in the first place !

What are your priorities ? Seeing whos behind you or making sure you are under the speed limit ?

and goes on to say....

I am however, checking my speedometer every 6 seconds in order to avoid fines from hidden cameras etc

----

Who on earth checks their speedo every 6 seconds ? Does your speed alter that much in such a short space of time that you have to keep adjusting it (your speed that it) ?

and moving on....

Interesting reading those graphs, just goes to show that there are statistics, damn statistics and lies (or something like that).

Ive also seen figures that show that in 75% of deaths, where excessive speed is the prime factor, the speed itself was actually under the speed limit for that stretch of road and I think someone has just mentioned something similar. In other words the driver was going too fast for the conditions.

I do agree with the others who have said that its more to do with people not paying attention. Ive driven the centennial highway hundreds of times over the last 16 years and even before the limit was reduced I cant remember the last time I drove through there at 100. There is always someone doing 60kph checking out the view, and Ive seen several occasions where drivers have crossed the center line whilst looking out at the ocean !

The hardest thing I have found though is that even though Ive been away for 6 years the people who can do something about it are still arguing about the same old issues and I know they were arguing about them for years before that. So how long will it be before something is done ?

New Zealand governments have for far too long ignored the condition of the roads and people are paying the ultimate price for it.

Would it be that hard to have all the money from speed cameras put back into the roads....maybe that already happens does anyone know where it goes ?

Of course its easy for me to say just build three lane motorways everywhere but sooner or later its going to have to happen because the population is getting bigger every day.

Its certainly an interesting discussion anyway.....speed cameras always raise the blood pressure no matter where in the world :-)

The Dutch have been known to blow them up you know.... :rambo:

[Homy.D.Clown 0]

..im liking the dutch alot more after hearing that..lol

ok heres my gripe...people who are so scared or just plain incompetent of traveling at

a- a constant speed (example.overtaking lanes.you can be stuck behind a car doing 80ks and go to overtake and oh my your doing 120 and not getting past..end of passing lane back to 80k behind same said car

NZer are just generally absolute wankers on the road.speed should take a back seat to arrogant and useless drivers.

which brings up

b- so many people i get stuck behind nearly every day coming home from work cant seem to manage the speed limit, braking on every little corner(im sure just out of habbit than nessesity)

are they bad drivers..yes they cant seem to control their cars at 80ks but be dammed if they will let YOU past...

now this isnt a very hard bit of road to drive on..not hard to cruise at 100k anyway.

its not just this road its everywhere..are they just so scared to get near the 110 and get a ticket...im not convinced...i really think they are just so ignorant of anyone else on the road they fail to notice the 10 cars stacked up behind them.and if they do notice...dont dare be curtious and pull over a bit to help cars get past.

and time and again i see other drivers get so fustrated they take stupid risks to get past these snail drivers

No im sure its our horid attitude to driving as a whole that makes the roads so dangerous to drive on(this covers both the speeder and the snail..)

never heard of a car getting a ticket for going to slow and holding up traffic...hmm must not be worth the revinue gatherers time.

my .2c

..i own a valentine but of course i dont speed mr police man :finger:

[Guest Andrew]

I'd still like to see a better drivers licensing system.. the GDLS doesn't not adequately provide people with the skills they need to be on the road. You can have a full New Zealand license by the time your 16 and a half. At that age its more of a maturity level than anything (the bad driving) but you don't learn any car control skills etc etc. Sure you do a written defensive driver course and you attempt to learn some road rules.. it is useless. I'm not sure how to improve the system - but there must be a way.

Talking to people who have been to Germany and asking them about the driving its always "Not so much better drivers - they just look what they are doing and all alround them all the time". Not enough people do that on the road - and thats why they can't manage 100 kph.

I don't trust any of those dodgy stats - that accident plot seems to be missing number of vehicles on the road which is probably the reason for the upward trend.

[bravo 34]

I don't trust any of those dodgy stats - that accident plot seems to be missing number of vehicles on the road which is probably the reason for the upward trend.

No, neither do I entirely, but there were a similar set of graphs on Top Gear on Sunday, so obviously the brits are having the same issues as us.

Secondly, the upward trend may not be caused by lower speed, but lower speed is obviously not contributing to lower deaths (although by altering the scale for the speed line I can make that look almost flat too!)

However, if you look into how the LTSA's figures on speed related accidents are logged, they include every accident where one of the vehicles was speeding whether it was the speed that caused the accident or not. Same goes with drink driving. If a car runs a red light and crashes into another vehicle being operated "safely" and legally, but the "safe" driver had been drinking, the crash is alcohol related even though they were not at fault!

Finally, on the subject of statictics - 30% of accidents are caused by drunk drivers, ergo 70% are caused by sober drivers so lets all get pissed and save lives?!

[Ghost 0]

Firstly - How many of you who have posted here have driven in other countries? Driving in NZ is great- FACT get over it.

There are better.. but there are far worse too-

This may be hard for you to believe but NZ, on the whole are polite and considerate - you do not realise this until you drive elsewhere.

I agree- I watch my speedo far too much- the campaigns have made me paranoid.

Speed is completly related to reaction time- how many times do you see driviers not paying attention... I really hate being a passenger with a non-attentive driver- makes me nervous.

Speeding = tickets, thats fine, we all know the rules

The over 10kph over the limit is a fantastic rule- its so clear cut, allows for speedo error and speed creap when you descending hills etc (In Victoria, Australia is 3kmph over- crazy).

[Grant 4]

Firstly - How many of you who have posted here have driven in other countries? Driving in NZ is great- FACT get over it.

There are better.. but there are far worse too-

This may be hard for you to believe but NZ, on the whole are polite and considerate - you do not realise this until you drive elsewhere.

I agree- I watch my speedo far too much- the campaigns have made me paranoid.

Speed is completly related to reaction time- how many times do you see driviers not paying attention... I really hate being a passenger with a non-attentive driver- makes me nervous.

Speeding = tickets, thats fine, we all know the rules

The over 10kph over the limit is a fantastic rule- its so clear cut, allows for speedo error and speed creap when you descending hills etc (In Victoria, Australia is 3kmph over- crazy).

I tend to agree. Drivers in New Zealand are getting better I think, and are becoming more polite and courteous.

However there are a small percentage of idiots...but I guess that anywhere has these.

Within the last year I have driven in the States and Aussie, and NZ drivers have a long way to go to be as polite as drivers in these countries.

I also tend to be watching my speedo far too much as well, but as a rule don't tend to drive any faster than the speed limit (but it is easy to creep up over from time to time).

However, compared to most other first world countries, our roads are rubbish and are sub standard, I'm sure that this contributes to accidents somewhat.

Last month I did a bit of driving in the Sierra Navada mountains, the mountain roads in California are amazing, every single corner has a great camber, and this makes taking the corners much easier (especially since we were in a 1979 Saab, with one hell of a lot of body roll). Roads and corners in NZ in similar circumstances (say on the Coromandel Peninsula) are terrible in comparison).

There needs to be more driver education in New Zealand, and in my opinion we need a driver licencing system similar to what they have in somewhere like Germany (I think that this has been mentioned previously in this thread) whereby licences are much harder to obtain.

Anyway, my quick thoughts.

Cheers

[martyyn 2]

Ghost said....

Firstly - How many of you who have posted here have driven in other countries? Driving in NZ is great- FACT get over it.

There are better.. but there are far worse too-

This may be hard for you to believe but NZ, on the whole are polite and considerate - you do not realise this until you drive elsewhere.

----

Without wanting to sound like a w4nker Ive driven in England, Wales, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, the States....oh and NZ and I can say hand on my heart that NZ's are by far the most arrogant, aggressive, inconsiderate and inattentive drivers Ive ever seen.

Its been mentioned already that NZ needs to change its licencing system and I couldnt agree more. To think you are capable of driving a car (and thats any car - including suped up imports) at the tender age of 16 (give or take a year sorry I cant remember the exact age right this minute) is ludicrous.

I got my licence after 6 informal driving lessons with a mate of my dads and in less than 4 weeks after first taking to the wheel ! I had spent the previous few years racing go-karts in the UK so I had a little advantage.

Yet Ive got friends in the UK who have failed there test more than 6 times ! My dad was failed 8 times in total and he was a qualified motorbike instructor !

For a minute there I thought it was 1 April :-)

Now can someone please explain to me how I cut and paste someone elses message in

Cheers

Martyn

[Guest Andrew]

Martyn click the quote button on the persons post you want to quote.

[Guest Spargo]

the website of the dutch speed camera vandals was www.tuftufclub.com, but it's been taken down.

Grant, take that back about coromandel roads! The road from Thames to coromandel might be shite, but its one of the best driving roads in the country!

I'll start listening when the money taken from camera / fines etc etc actually goes back into roading and such. Until then... :finger:

[Grant 4]

Grant, take that back about coromandel roads! The road from Thames to coromandel might be shite, but its one of the best driving roads in the country!

Agreed, the Coromandel roads are some of the best driving roads in the country, but the quality and make up of them is rubbish when compared to similar roads over seas.

[Ghost 0]

Without wanting to sound like a w4nker Ive driven in England, Wales, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, the States....oh and NZ and I can say hand on my heart that NZ's are by far the most arrogant, aggressive, inconsiderate and inattentive drivers Ive ever seen

Each to there own- I have drivin in Italty (madness), Switzerland (madness)- infact most europeon drivers never pull over or give way- its just too busy and frantic- I've been passed by 1. nothing litre sowing machines around blind corners in the Swiss Alps. There are too many people on the road to be curteous- you'd never get anywhere.

Plus, mexico, japan (Fantastic), australia (worse than NZ)

Without actually have driven in whales, germany, holland i would have assumed those countries to be ok.

It all comes down to experience i guess and everone experiences different situations.

With more road km per capita than any other country (AFAIK- or maybe canada, or states?), we do ok...

I'm not trying say driving in NZ is fanatastic- I get pissed off as much as everyone else at the stupidity I see on the roads- but comparatively- it isn;t that bad at all.

Rant rant

[martyyn 2]

....infact most europeon drivers never pull over or give way- its just too busy and frantic

Your right about personal experience.

You see I dont see them as being too busy at all. I LOVE driving in the center of London and would regularly detour into it just to get that buzz ! Ask me again after Ive spent 2 hours on the M25 stuck in first gear :-(

The way I see it is that in Europe especially, if there is half a gap then its up to you to take it. They wont wait for you but once you make your intention known then its yours. You wont get the fingers, you wont get someone tailgaiting you, you wont get someone pulling along side to give you a mouthfull.

Whereas in NZ the driver will actually drive faster just to stop you from pulling into that half gap, will flash their lights and will certainly give you a piece of their mind.

NZ drivers have certainly improved over the years and lets hope they get better.

PS. Cheers Andrew.

[Guest Spargo]

I LOVE driving in the center of London and would regularly detour into it just to get that buzz ! Ask me again after Ive spent 2 hours on the M25 stuck in first gear

I was going to query this, until i saw that you were a gunners fan.

Are the the stereotype laid out in Nick Hornby's book Fever Pitch?

[martyyn 2]

I was going to query this, until i saw that you were a gunners fan.

Are the the stereotype laid out in Nick Hornby's book Fever Pitch?

That book was a fair reflection of my life yes.

I dont think Im that obsessed but Im sure why wife will disagree !

[bumpstop325 0]

I also hate the way the LTSA records it accident types.

eg. if a car CRASHES into a truck it's a truck accident

eg. if a car CRASHES into a motorbike it's a motorbike accident

esp. for the bike riders i think this is unfair. As the rego cost for them has sky rocketed because they reckon that bike riders have more accidents, which could be true, but if it's the car's at fault (90% of the time). The pockets of the bike riders are hurt instead.

Also i think seen as bike rider doesnt spend as much on gas as a car. It gives the LTSA an excuse to tax them another way.

Another thing as the LTSA makes claims/statements that arent based on anything rock hard. I fully support the views of www.fastandsafe.org

also the number of tickets issued is depending on what the cops are up to. If they want to spend more time catching speeders instead of fighting crime, then of course the number of tickets are issued is going to increase. If they stop pulling over people for speeding then the number of tickets issued will decrease.

If this happens you could report no body speeds any more.

Any body seen the porno 'Hunny Bunz'?

[Carl 3]

I also hate the way the LTSA records it accident types.

eg. if a car CRASHES into a truck it's a truck accident

eg. if a car CRASHES into a motorbike it's a motorbike accident

esp. for the bike riders i think this is unfair. As the rego cost for them has sky rocketed because they reckon that bike riders have more accidents, which could be true, but if it's the car's at fault (90% of the time). The pockets of the bike riders are hurt instead.

Also i think seen as bike rider doesnt spend as much on gas as a car. It gives the LTSA an excuse to tax them another way.

Another thing as the LTSA makes claims/statements that arent based on anything rock hard. I fully support the views of www.fastandsafe.org

also the number of tickets issued is depending on what the cops are up to. If they want to spend more time catching speeders instead of fighting crime, then of course the number of tickets are issued is going to increase. If they stop pulling over people for speeding then the number of tickets issued will decrease.

If this happens you could report no body speeds any more.

Any body seen the porno 'Hunny Bunz'?

Haha, you been into my porno selection again haven't you, what happened to your missus...she give you the boot or something???

[bumpstop325 0]

Haha, you been into my porno selection again haven't you, what happened to your missus...she give you the boot or something???

my hand has more comfort than my misses at the moment.

Yeah, my relationship is on the rocks at the moment. I will see what happens when she gets back on the 19th. Also i have been kicked out of my flat and have resorted to moving in with my little brother.

Things could be worse like running out of money to spent on my car, or the master cylinder has gone.

Edited October 28, 2004 by bumpstop325

[aliluya 0]

Ok, just the other day i saw a cop parked up on an overpass of the motorway with a laser gun and nabbed the dude that was driving behind me, and then last night when i was driving on the motorway to take my GF home there was a cop parked in the picth dark without any park lights on.

And no in neither incidence were i speeding ..

[Napier_E36 0]

Ok, just the other day i saw a cop parked up on an overpass of the motorway with a laser gun and nabbed the dude that was driving behind me, and then last night when i was driving on the motorway to take my GF home there was a cop parked in the picth dark without any park lights on.

And no in neither incidence were i speeding ..

you should have pulled up beside them and said:

"I say, old chap, might I have a brief word with you..." and then go on to tell him that he should be doing his job properly - ie not hiding...

Has this rule come in yet or is it still being put thru parliment?

[Grant 4]

And no in neither incidence were i speeding ..

Then you had nothing to worry about did you

Cheers