Subscribe to RSSSpeed Limit Lower Every Long Weekend
Police will be lowering the speed tolerance to4km/h for all holiday periods starting this weekend.
“We believe that lowering the tolerance has made a real difference to the number of deaths on the roads over the holiday periods”, said Superintendent Paula Rose, National Manager Road Policing today.
The lowered tolerance was introduced last Queen’s Birthday after Easter when 12 people died on the roads. That Queen’s Birthday weekend saw a huge turnaround with only two deaths and a more than 30 percent reduction in crashes.
Police insist that since that weekend, during each holiday period Police have introduced the lowered tolerance and have seen a consistently lowered holiday road toll.
Stats on holiday road tolls since 1980 are here
7 Comments
Lower the tolerance to that level - but do it 24/7. Ringfence the money from speeding fines for safety road works, and then clamp down HARD.
Ingolfson: Yes.
Agreed, make the tolerance lower permanently, not this wishy-washy sometimes this and sometimes that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_by_country
Interesting the various speed limits around the world.
As with the CBT tunnel reports, careful selection of stats by the Police.
Look a bit closer, and we see a completely different picture.
Queens Birthday weekend fatalities 2001-2010 :
5,3,4,4,3,3,5,3,10,2 - median 3, average 4
Easter weekend fatalities 2002-2011 :
4,3,3,4,9,5,6,9,7,12,5 - median 7, average 6
Christmas/New Year fatalities 2001/2-2010/11
21,17,13,11,22,9,18,25,13,12 - median 13, avg 16
What the stats show is the huge variations from year to year, and that the most recent figures are only 1 lower than the 10 year median or average.
Which proves that the tighter tolerance has made no statistically significant difference.
Another long weekend cash grab. Never mind, it seems that fining people for being over the speed limit by 5 kph ( 3 mph) even only briefly will do us a power of good. Bryan, thanks for putting the stats under the spot light.
I just goit a ticket for 56 km/h in a 50 zone, what the hell?! and it wasn’t a long weekend either?