driving at the speed limit

howdy,

Spending more and more time driving up and down the Bruce Hwy for work (and a bit of play). The lack of overtaking lanes or straight flats to try and pass people is becoming frustrating. Especially when you get nobs that drive at 80km/h in a 100 zone for the last 30km - no chance to pass - then when a passing lane finally turns up they speed up to 110km/h.

WTF!!!

If you're going to drive slow, drive at that speed all the frickin' time!

1040km from Townsville to Bundy on the Bruce Hwy. Took me 14.5 hrs cause of wankas like that. And every trip is the same!

I just wanna sit on the speed limit.....

Last weekend I did Brisbane to Gladstone and back, which is 1050 k's, in 12 hours. That was with a 30 minute meal break.

I saw plenty of these idiots that speed up in the overtaking lane.

I know, it's BS isn't it.

And then there are the ones who don't seem to know what "keep left unless overtaking" means. Then, if you flash your lights at them as a friendly indication to "move to the left lane so I can overtake you since you are breaking the law by not keeping left as you are not overtaking" they take it as some kind of road rage incident and carry on like lunatics.

The same happens to us when we're towing. They have to get past us because "I'm not being stuck behind a caravan!!!" and while I'm trying to do 95-100 in a 100km/h zone they're happy to plod along @ 80-85 - unless I'm ahead of them, in which case 120km/h is just fine until they pass me, then it's back to 80-85.

It's just stupid. I think sidewinders should be legitimate aftermarket additions to our vehicles.

Imagine the frustration for heavy vehicle drivers who are limited to 100kph...I drove Coaches in the Territory for years and even on the Stuart Hwy there are only a few places where there is enough straight road ahead to be able to accelerate past a vehicle doing say 90kph. The alternative is to back off, leave a huge gap, then accelate up to 100kph and time it to come up behind the slower vehicle at the beginning of a straight so you can sail past comfortably if the road is clear. Occasionally the driver of the slower vehicle would see the coach approaching in their mirrors and then take off up the road until they relax and slow down again. I've had up to 40 minutes added to the trip from Alice to Ayers Rock by slow and stupid drivers which is fine until the 50 tourist's sitting behind you realise they a'int got time for lunch before their next tour...
We're told "SPEED KILLS"...the public needs to be aware slow and stupid drivers cause frustrations for other drivers which can also be very dangerous...

Couso said:

Imagine the frustration for heavy vehicle drivers who are limited to 100kph...I drove Coaches in the Territory for years and even on the Stuart Hwy there are only a few places where there is enough straight road ahead to be able to accelerate past a vehicle doing say 90kph. The alternative is to back off, leave a huge gap, then accelate up to 100kph and time it to come up behind the slower vehicle at the beginning of a straight so you can sail past comfortably if the road is clear. Occasionally the driver of the slower vehicle would see the coach approaching in their mirrors and then take off up the road until they relax and slow down again. I've had up to 40 minutes added to the trip from Alice to Ayers Rock by slow and stupid drivers which is fine until the 50 tourist's sitting behind you realise they a'int got time for lunch before their next tour...
We're told "SPEED KILLS"...the public needs to be aware slow and stupid drivers cause frustrations for other drivers which can also be very dangerous...

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While what you are saying may very well be true, it is unfortunately the case that quite a number of heavy vehicles these days seem to be driven in a manner which makes a mockery of the supposed speed limited devices. When on the highway at 110km/h, being overtaken by a B-double doing a solid 130km/h minimum.....makes my blood run cold. And being an ex-cop, I'm a pretty good judge of speed.

This kind of experience is not limited either. It is frequently the case these days that heavy vehicles are running faster and faster speeds.

yeah - a lot of trcuks do go quicker than their speed limiter "allows", but also see some many idiot drivers cutting in and causing trucks to slow and brake becuase of an idiot driver.

Guess my overall point was I'd be pretty happy if everyone was able to keep up with the speed limit, or if not, just allow others (including trucks and caravans if they're moving quicker than you) to pass.

I'm doing the Bundy to Brisvegas loop again this weekend - so we'll see how many people run within my initial rant.

Apparently you only have to pull a fuse and the speed limiter is no longer effective. As has been mentioned it's interesting to see an unloaded tanker barrelling past at 130km/h+

ljacko78 said:

...Guess my overall point was I'd be pretty happy if everyone was able to keep up with the speed limit, or if not, just allow others (including trucks and caravans if they're moving quicker than you) to pass...

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For my part, I agree whole heartedly with that. If you are driving at a speed, drive at that speed. The limit is a limit - not a challenge and that is something to remember too.

For some people, although the limit may be 100km/h they have their reasons for driving at 80km/h in that speed zone. Fair enough. But then speeding up to 100km/h in an overtaking area and making it difficult for others to overtake safely is, in my humble opinion, unsafe, not courteous to others, and....well....why? What does it achieve?

We're off to Tassie in a couple of weeks for a permanent relocation. Previous to this, we often drove the Hume 3 or 4 times a year for visits to the family in Tas. Took the boat across. Anyway, the Benz is very good on cruise - sticks to the set speed whether that be up hill or down. What interested me was the number of people that, when coming alongside them (overtaking them) on a dual carriageway seemingly didn't like the idea of being overtaken and would accelerate. Thankfully dual carriageways allows simply pulling back into the left lane as they pull away in front... But again, in my opinion, ignorant behaviour because guaranteed a few km's up the road we'd catch up to them again and do it all over again...

ants_oz said:

But then speeding up to 100km/h in an overtaking area and making it difficult for others to overtake safely is, in my humble opinion, unsafe, not courteous to others, and....well....why? What does it achieve?

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No idea but the dragon-in-law does it. 'Nuff said.

I find it really amusing when I catch up to someone while on cruise, go past them, and then suddenly they're all over my tail and flashing their lights because I'm in their way.

Sorry moron, go back to what you were doing with your left hand and I'll be out of sight in a minute.

Same sort of thing happens a lot on the freeway. You catch someone and instead of letting you pass and pull back into the left lane, they speed up and match your speed. You pull in behind them and they slow back down.

I'm still leaning towards sidewinders.

Dion said:

Apparently you only have to pull a fuse and the speed limiter is no longer effective. As has been mentioned it's interesting to see an unloaded tanker barrelling past at 130km/h+

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The problem isn't so much that a fuse can be removed and disable the system because with many systems there is easier ways to get around it that are less detectable the problem is that these things are not constantly inspected.

Any vehicle over 12 tonne must be fitted with a limiting device (in Vic atleast) and any medium rigid under 12 tonne caught more than 15ks over the limit more than 3 times can be forced to have them fitted by law. Yet not once in 15 years of driving trucks and going through RBT's, Scalies, weighbridges, log book checks or general "lets pull over the truck because we are bored" instances has a member of the roads corporation or the police every checked my speed limiters. While some stops weren't for anything more than those above I've lost count of the times myself or work mates were pulled over and inspected yet speed limiters were not checked. But look out if last years rego sticker is on the window and this years is in the glove box because the boss never told you it was sitting there after he paid it 3 weeks late.

I don't condone speeding and don't for a minute think that just because the roads corp or police don't check limiters it's ok to disable them but for something that is so easy to disable it should be the first thing checked at every road side pull over then some of these rogues that drive with the limiters constantly turned off would start getting stung for it.

The problem we all face is that until everyone starts adhering to all laws and starts getting some consideration for fellow motorists we are all doomed to be pissed off or frustrated with someone at some stage, and there is probably very few of us who haven't at one time or another been the one pissing someone else off. But we were obviously all the in right and they were stupid for getting annoyed at us.

most people that sit in the right lane driving under the speed limit i believe are not consintrating then causing people around them to drive stupidly so they can get in front that person who is driving slow which makes things wors, i try and sit on the speed limit to best of my ability at all times and it shits me when i'm stuck behind some moron not paying attention to the speed limit..... what else are thay not paying attention too??

So if I'm in front of you sitting at 85ks in a 100 zone yet paying 100% attention to the road and what is going on around me and you still can't get past after 50ks of sitting there does that not annoy you because my attention is focused in the right place?

I questioned Vic Roads when I got my licence (it wasn't in a horse and cart but it was long enough ago that the rules may have changed) and their "experts" told me that unless there is a road sign saying Keep Left Unless Overtaking the rule is not applicable and it's a courtesy thing only. At the time the only roads that had such signs were Freeways. Highways and multi lane roads were not part of the law. As I said that was a while ago and while the law might be broader now I believe for the law to be enforceable there must be the KLUO signs on that road.

i said "most" people not all people, and that's just my opinon on what i see on the road each day as i drive around 100km a day, also in QLD i believe that it is the law to keep left unless overtaking, and if you are in the right lane not doing the speed limit then why not go into the left lane to allow traffic flow?

KraftyPg said:

I questioned Vic Roads when I got my licence (it wasn't in a horse and cart but it was long enough ago that the rules may have changed) and their "experts" told me that unless there is a road sign saying Keep Left Unless Overtaking the rule is not applicable and it's a courtesy thing only. At the time the only roads that had such signs were Freeways. Highways and multi lane roads were not part of the law. As I said that was a while ago and while the law might be broader now I believe for the law to be enforceable there must be the KLUO signs on that road.

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Nowadays it's on any multilane road with a speed limit greater than 60km/h, keep left at all times unless overtaking.

Dion said:

Nowadays it's on any multilane road with a speed limit greater than 60km/h, keep left at all times unless overtaking.

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My understanding is that the national code of practice is such.....for local laws to be introduced....

However like most things, whether the local authorities get around to introducing the relevant legislation, well that is another story entirely.

Case in point - tyre sizes. NCOP for light vehicle modification says up to 50mm increase in diameter for off road vehicles - most of us are aware of that, yeah? But we also all know of the dissimilarity in local laws... ACT says "we apply the law as per the NCOP letter for letter". Other states are different.

Heavy vehicles are different though - the rules for them are (according to my understanding) determined at a federal level, just ENFORCED at a state/territory level. However why doesn't every local plod check the operation of speed limiters? It is probably vastly outside his or her skillset to understand how these things can and are implemented by vehicle manufacturers. The cops are expected to be fonts of all wisdom on everything else though, so I guess what is one more thing....the operation and implementation methods of all speed limiting devices of all trucks... Not sure HOW they would check that though, without actually going for a ride in the rig at the speed limit.

silvernavara said:

.... and if you are in the right lane not doing the speed limit then why not go into the left lane to allow traffic flow?

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That's an easy one...because I'm not going to piss you off if I'm in the left lane doing 85ks

Apart from impatient drivers, which is directly related to inconsiderate drivers, which cover most people on the road I still think one of the biggest problems on the road is that there are too many laws/rules that aren't clear cut and are open to different interpretations.

There is heavy vehicle laws which only apply to vehicles over 12 tonne, yet many drivers don't know the difference between a 12 tonne truck and an 8 tonne truck so they assume all trucks are the same.

There is the rule I mentioned above which used to (and may or may not still) state that keeping left was only applicable on freeways.

There is the rule that states a vehicle can be driven at any safe speed up to the speed limit. But it doesn't exactly say what safe is because we all have different meaning of the word.

There's rules stating any vehicle (including a car with a trailer) measuring over 7 meters can use as much as the road to turn as needed and all traffic must give way. Yet many drivers don't allow such vehicles the space or get narky when the driver takes it anyway.

There is the rule that a driver must give way to a pedestrian yet it doesn't always happen.

Then there is always the general life rule of get along with one another which many motorists seem to forget.

Political Correctness has caused people to dot every i and cross every t in so many different aspects of life yet when it comes to road rules it seems like many states have adopted the near enough is good enough attitude. Add that to the fact that there are so many rules and laws which change state by state and it's no wonder (all other) road users are idiots.

ants_oz said:

Heavy vehicles are different though - the rules for them are (according to my understanding) determined at a federal level, just ENFORCED at a state/territory level. However why doesn't every local plod check the operation of speed limiters? It is probably vastly outside his or her skillset to understand how these things can and are implemented by vehicle manufacturers. The cops are expected to be fonts of all wisdom on everything else though, so I guess what is one more thing....the operation and implementation methods of all speed limiting devices of all trucks... Not sure HOW they would check that though, without actually going for a ride in the rig at the speed limit.

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There aren't that many different systems fitted to trucks these days that it would take a years training to understand how they can be turned off or avoided. However my point of making these one of the check points wasn't so much pointed at cops as much as the roads corps at designated check points.

As a driver of a heavy vehicle over 12 tonnes I have to pull into any open weighbridge or mobile scales for the vehicle to be checked, now checking can be anything from log books to tyres, to load to weight to anything else they want to do at the time (although I believe strip searches aren't allowed by Vic Roads) so why shouldn't these same experts who know so much about every different truck on the road be able to (or made to) check speed limiters as a part of their road side checks.

Some speed limiters are a little harder to check than others but most aren't that hard and don't require a road test because they are either enabled which means the thing is working or disabled which means it's not, there is no in between. Firstly check for a fuse, but this is kind of obvious especially if the driver is caught by suprise because it's not easy to get a fuse back in when your trying to pull up 40 tonne of truck from 100ks, this also makes the cut off completely or back hand disable method more common because it's easier to hide but knowing the different systems that are used is something these guys should be aware of and look for because it's not like television sets where there are 15 million different models and makes yet I've never seen it happen.

There is huge fines for disabling speed limiters and given the amount of trucks that seem to be running without them it could be a gold mine of revenue for any department will to take it on but it's just one of those areas which is continually overlooked and in this state it's over looked because there are too many other easy fines the road scum can put on trucks.

And similarly Krafty, it would be all too easy to wire in an override switch would it not? Plain sight on the dashboard, looking just like any other switch, labelled something nice and innocent....

Not all truck drivers are innocent, and not all gov't agencies are "scum" trying to hammer the innocent truckie with easy fines... However there are bad apples in every batch and we put our trust in the relevant gov't agencies to do their best to catch those who do the wrong thing - who else can we (the tax paying public) expect to do this job? Santa?