Road Page

Letter in the press

* Heres what I noticed into the city between 6:00am and 6:25am on Thursday
A Cyclist in front of me reaching up to speeds of up to 80km/h on Old Belair Road
As we began our descent he sped away as I drove at the legal limit of 60km/h
Two cyclists going thru a red light on Greenhill Road at the corner of Unley Road
A cyclist going thru a red light on Carrington Street at the corner of Pultney Street
A cyclist going thru a red light on Pirie Street turning into Gawler Place
Any wonder motorists have a low tolerance of these two wheeled mavericks.*

2016
State Government wants to reduce the speed limit from 110km to 100km on rural roads
The SA Police and Motor Accident commission endorse the proposal

1994
Road fatalities on the increase
Alcohol was a reason
More brethos the plan

1987
SA police were directed to account for a dramatic drop in the number of on the spot fines in 1986
It co$t the government about $300k in revenues

DRINK DRIVER WHAT THE ?

Drunken driving charges against a New York woman have been dismissed based on an unusual defence
Her body is a brewery
A lawyer representing the U.S woman says her blood alcohol level has been recorded at 4 times the legal limit when she HAS NOT HAD A DRINK
She didnt discover her rare condition until after her arrest
Attorney submitted medical evidence of his clients condition known as * auto brewery syndrome* to a suburban judge, who dismissed the driving while intoxicated charges
The condition is believed to be caused by high levels of yeast in the gut

The yeast of our worries !

TAILGATE FINES
2014-2015

SA : 3084 fines
VIC :3024 fines


Just under one  third of all accidents with $3,000+ damage, or those that caused injury, are a result of rear end crashes in South Australia
About half of those accidents occurred at Intersections

if you don't break the road rules it won't matter how much the cost is

MOBILE PHONES + DRIVING

1000 Is about the South Australian average of motorists caught using mobile phones whilst driving
1332 were caught in November 2015

A spokesman for the SA Police Traffic Support Branch said that using your mobile phone whilst driving equates to about a 4 time greater risk of being involved in a car accident

Scrappy wrote:MOBILE PHONES + DRIVING

1000 Is about the South Australian average of motorists caught using mobile phones whilst driving
1332 were caught in November 2015

A spokesman for the SA Police Traffic Support Branch said that using your mobile phone whilst driving equates to about a 4 time greater risk of being involved in a car accident

i agree with the law regarding mobile phones however why isn't other ''taking the eyes off the road'' problems pinged as well ? I think we've all seen people doing all types of possible dangerous things, for instance most mornings i've seen ladies putting on the lipstik, makeup, blokes using battery operated razors, eating, drinking & changing discs & so forth

LIBERAL BILL
There will be a submission put in to Parliament this week

This is the press release
* Road work crews who leave 25km/h speed restrictions in place on weekends and after hours when no work is being done , would face a $5000 fine.*

Avoid South Road/Port Road/Grange Road AT ALL COSTS over the weekends for the next 3 years. Absolute chaos.

Heading city bound on Port Road, 3 lanes just before South Road turns to one lane. Took me 14 minutes to get from Godfreys/Rivers/Officeworks to the city side of South Road at 10am Saturday.

Yuck.

Booney wrote:Avoid South Road/Port Road/Grange Road AT ALL COSTS over the weekends for the next 3 years. Absolute chaos.

Heading city bound on Port Road, 3 lanes just before South Road turns to one lane. Took me 14 minutes to get from Godfreys/Rivers/Officeworks to the city side of South Road at 10am Saturday.

Yuck.

yep it is a miss it if you can area.........Mr Booney when the footy is on i suggest you take the train, although you probably already do

Scrappy wrote:LIBERAL BILL
There will be a submission put in to Parliament this week

This is the press release
* Road work crews who leave 25km/h speed restrictions in place on weekends and after hours when no work is being done , would face a $5000 fine.*

about bloody time & i'll add when they do set up, they shouldn't be allowed to have the speed limit changing back to 50/60 kph 100-150 metres past the actual work site

Im walking in a side street in Prospect
I enter the Prospect road corner
The intention is to cross Prospect Road
Take about 2 steps onto the Prospect road footpath
2 cyclists whiz past me on the Prospect road footpath
They narrowly miss me by about 2 feet
Had I got to that intersection by about a second earlier I might have been hit by the cyclists
Phewwwwwwwwwwwww

Its most probably happened
Cyclists riding on footpaths with some or remote velocity colliding with pedestrians

SURVEY
400 Motor drivers
Conducted by the RAA
In South Australia

ROAD RAGE
Almost 90% of drivers surveyed have had to deal with forms of road rage
59% have abused other drivers

That 90% proportion is quite alarming
It is probably  been getting progressively worse for some time
More cars on the road, more traffic , more mistakes , more frustration amongst drivers


FLASHERS
46% of drivers flash their headlights to warn other motorists of speed  cameras

Is this morally correct ?
Warning other motorists who should not be speeding in any case
Or is it a vigilant action in protest of revenue raising ?

Sometimes I flash my lights, sometimes I don't. Depends what mood I'm in. Haha.

I don't have a problem with it personally.

I have heard from a cop on radio that you can get done for flashing your lights as it is an offence to dazzle other motorists. Like not dipping your headlights to oncoming traffic at night.

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote:I have a recollection in the 80s/90s that road deaths were in the couple of hundreds.

The record is 382 in 1973

I "flick" me high beams from time to time, even without seeing a radar / speed camera. I figure people will slow down if they see me do it and that can't be a bad thing...

Cheeky bugger!

Booney wrote:I "flick" me high beams from time to time, even without seeing a radar / speed camera. I figure people will slow down if they see me do it and that can't be a bad thing...

Oh, so that is you, is it....might've known...!!! ( )

Gingernuts wrote:Cheeky bugger!

Me?

Booney wrote:I "flick" me high beams from time to time, even without seeing a radar / speed camera. I figure people will slow down if they see me do it and that can't be a bad thing...

oh no !!! i've done the same thing especially around schools & roadworks

Scrappy wrote:Im walking in a side street in Prospect
I enter the Prospect road corner
The intention is to cross Prospect Road
Take about 2 steps onto the Prospect road footpath
2 cyclists whiz past me on the Prospect road footpath
They narrowly miss me by about 2 feet
Had I got to that intersection by about a second earlier I might have been hit by the cyclists
Phewwwwwwwwwwwww

Its most probably happened
Cyclists riding on footpaths with some or remote velocity colliding with pedestrians

HIT AND RIDE
These comments in the press

___________________________________________________________________________________
" I was trying to process what had happened when I was hit
I heard the rider say "oh my god " and " are you OK?" but I couldnt talk because I was in shock.
I staggered towards the TAFE car park and the next thing I looked around and he was gone

It was ridiculous that cyclists could ride among pedestrians at the same speed as the road speed limit which is 50km/h in most areas of the CBD

When the laws were introduced [in October] allowing cyclists to do these speeds around pedestrians, I thought it was stupid

I work with people who have brain injury and know it dosent take much to do serious damage
At the least they should lower the footpath speed limit for cyclists and make some footpaths for pedestrians only."

____________________________________________________________________________________

These comments made by a lady who was hit by a bike
She was one of two people struck by cyclists in the CDB in the last 2 weeks
This in the press after I was almost hit by cyclists recently

THE FUTURE ?
Bike registration plates ?
Speed limits on footpaths ?

Im 100% for bike riding, but also for public safety
Something needs to be done before we have someone seriously injured or killed
Pro-active is  better than re-active

most cyclists like most drivers are respectful, courteous & thankfully concentrating, however there is an element in both that gives both 'sides' a bad name, as for registrations i think there should be a small levy (help the state debt) with some sort of identification on all bikes for two possibly three reasons, (1) in case of a bike getting stolen & (2) for when they are involved in accidents & (3) on the lines of helping the state debt but more importantly the safety of all, non law abiding cyclists could pay fines when running red lights (camera) & other fines motorists cop

TRAFFIC LIGHTS

One was installed November 1936, corner of King William and North Terrace
That was the Green-Yellow-Red Lantern lights system
The first of these G-Y-R traffic lights commenced on this day 13/4/1937
From what I could gather, there was a series of these traffic lights operating on King William Street?

Did read a snippet that there were traffic lights prior to this
In the 1920s there were Green - Red[no amber or yellow] traffic lights in the city ?

There were traffic lights installed on the Henley Beach-South Road intersection in the 1940s
They might have been the first, or earliest ones in the suburbs ?


Imagine driving around these days with no traffic lights
The policemen would be very very very busy co-ordinating traffic everywhere


Footnote
If there are any inaccuracies in what I have posted, feel free to correct my post

I can remember when you had a G-Y-R sequence for both stopping and going at traffic lights. They got rid of the "going" sequence as too many people jumped the gun and collided with motorists running the yellow rather then stopping.