Australia has killed my desire for fast cars
Discussion
TAS1981 said:
RBTs are a good thing. Drink driving here is a real problem.
On the rest though I went on a run down through the national park towards Woolongong on the Grand Pacific Drive. Holy cow why haven't I done that before! Great road, no cops, awesome scenery, just south of Sydney, nice national park and plenty of places to stop or continue down the coast!
I saw several processions of classics, a smattering of exotica and lots of bikes. an early morning run would be perfect down here. Very happy I have found it ...finally!
Next time you go down there, check out the creek running back from Audley Weir. If you are fit you can rent a boat & row up it, or the old road runs back alongside it for some distance.On the rest though I went on a run down through the national park towards Woolongong on the Grand Pacific Drive. Holy cow why haven't I done that before! Great road, no cops, awesome scenery, just south of Sydney, nice national park and plenty of places to stop or continue down the coast!
I saw several processions of classics, a smattering of exotica and lots of bikes. an early morning run would be perfect down here. Very happy I have found it ...finally!
Then check out Wattamolla Beach & Lagoon, just a few kilometers south of Audley. It offers a really safe sandy fresh water lagoon for little kids, just a few yards from the beach. A truly beautiful spot.
In my day, the road was all derestricted, & great drive in my Morgan +4 in the 60s, & you could dive [or jump] off the cliff into the lagoon at Wattamolla. Of course that is now fenced off, in case you young ones should hurt yourselves.
You do have my sympathy, my generation had the best of Oz land.
papahet said:
The cameras can get you from the rear now.
There are cameras which get you from the rear, but at least you have time to see them and slow down. The forward facing ones, often in the back of X-Trails only record front plates as far as I know. The whole thing makes me very angry, it's just revenue raising, I never see them parked somewhere where the road is actually dangerous, it's always where the 60 limit is ridiculous anyway, on a 6 lane highway with no junctions or footpaths for example.TAS1981 said:
RBTs are a good thing. Drink driving here is a real problem.
On the rest though I went on a run down through the national park towards Woolongong on the Grand Pacific Drive. Holy cow why haven't I done that before! Great road, no cops, awesome scenery, just south of Sydney, nice national park and plenty of places to stop or continue down the coast!
I saw several processions of classics, a smattering of exotica and lots of bikes. an early morning run would be perfect down here. Very happy I have found it ...finally!
It is a nice drive, we only drive it between Waterfall and Bald Hill. North of Waterfall up to the Garie turnoff has some nice bends but the rest of the road north is just a transport stage and as rough as guts.On the rest though I went on a run down through the national park towards Woolongong on the Grand Pacific Drive. Holy cow why haven't I done that before! Great road, no cops, awesome scenery, just south of Sydney, nice national park and plenty of places to stop or continue down the coast!
I saw several processions of classics, a smattering of exotica and lots of bikes. an early morning run would be perfect down here. Very happy I have found it ...finally!
Mind you I am driving a clubbie that is close to being setup too hard for the road.
The radar does get in there often because the motorbikes like the road and do get along a bit, best behave yourself on the straight bits and have fun in the bends.
Crosswise said:
papahet said:
The cameras can get you from the rear now.
There are cameras which get you from the rear, but at least you have time to see them and slow down. The forward facing ones, often in the back of X-Trails only record front plates as far as I know. The whole thing makes me very angry, it's just revenue raising, I never see them parked somewhere where the road is actually dangerous, it's always where the 60 limit is ridiculous anyway, on a 6 lane highway with no junctions or footpaths for example.I got pinged by a camera in the back of a white van a few weeks back. Prick was parked on the verge outside of a commercial vehicle hire place that had a yard full of white vans.
suthol said:
TAS1981 said:
RBTs are a good thing. Drink driving here is a real problem.
On the rest though I went on a run down through the national park towards Woolongong on the Grand Pacific Drive. Holy cow why haven't I done that before! Great road, no cops, awesome scenery, just south of Sydney, nice national park and plenty of places to stop or continue down the coast!
I saw several processions of classics, a smattering of exotica and lots of bikes. an early morning run would be perfect down here. Very happy I have found it ...finally!
It is a nice drive, we only drive it between Waterfall and Bald Hill. North of Waterfall up to the Garie turnoff has some nice bends but the rest of the road north is just a transport stage and as rough as guts.On the rest though I went on a run down through the national park towards Woolongong on the Grand Pacific Drive. Holy cow why haven't I done that before! Great road, no cops, awesome scenery, just south of Sydney, nice national park and plenty of places to stop or continue down the coast!
I saw several processions of classics, a smattering of exotica and lots of bikes. an early morning run would be perfect down here. Very happy I have found it ...finally!
Mind you I am driving a clubbie that is close to being setup too hard for the road.
The radar does get in there often because the motorbikes like the road and do get along a bit, best behave yourself on the straight bits and have fun in the bends.
Last year when I was out for the 2013 Grand prix I hired a commodore v6 (SIDI or somefink), switched the TC off and hooned it around melbourne and the surrounding area - smoking burnouts at the lights, pooooowwwwweeeeeerrrrrrr slides around the block where it was quiet and smoked it down the highways.
Didnt get stopped, fined, ticketed or anything ????
When my aussie chums came over to the UK they couldn't believe that you can drive at 90-95 (x1.6 for aussie numbers) leptons with no fear of losing your licence.
They described the t
ttery of the NSW, Vic and WA police plus the residents who sometimes man the speed traps. I thought at the time how that would never work in the UK- firstly no M/way police only wombles really, and residents dishing out fines erm lynching springs to mind.
They were blown away with that the week before in Germany I had to limit the car at 190km/h because we were on winter tyres and yet I was still being overtaken!
This years GP in Melbourne I had a driver and I have to say that whilst the speed limits were adhered to the standard of driving was atrocious and I saw at least one easily avoidable.
Didnt get stopped, fined, ticketed or anything ????
When my aussie chums came over to the UK they couldn't believe that you can drive at 90-95 (x1.6 for aussie numbers) leptons with no fear of losing your licence.
They described the t
ttery of the NSW, Vic and WA police plus the residents who sometimes man the speed traps. I thought at the time how that would never work in the UK- firstly no M/way police only wombles really, and residents dishing out fines erm lynching springs to mind.They were blown away with that the week before in Germany I had to limit the car at 190km/h because we were on winter tyres and yet I was still being overtaken!
This years GP in Melbourne I had a driver and I have to say that whilst the speed limits were adhered to the standard of driving was atrocious and I saw at least one easily avoidable.
Yep - The small tripod cameras are definitely being placed further from the road now - Theres a regular spot on Marmion Avenue north of Perth where they're placed on the far side of the verge, must be 5 metres from the roadside. Then there's those places where the reverse the X-Trail into the bushes or park it in the neighbouring street and run the cables through bushes to place the camera in an almost invisible position.
The policemen I've seen doing it with hand-held lasers recently have at least all been dressed in high vis so easy to spot.
I regularly see a motorcycle cop on the Mitchell freeway per 6AM looking for people on their phones which is a good thing IMHO.
As for RBT's - There should be more of them in place of cameras. Drink driving is a massive problem here and seems almost socially acceptable to most people who happily have a couple before leaving work then another in the car. The problem is never going to go away whilst there are drive-through bottle shops though. CLose the drive-throughs and the problem would halve overnight.
The policemen I've seen doing it with hand-held lasers recently have at least all been dressed in high vis so easy to spot.
I regularly see a motorcycle cop on the Mitchell freeway per 6AM looking for people on their phones which is a good thing IMHO.
As for RBT's - There should be more of them in place of cameras. Drink driving is a massive problem here and seems almost socially acceptable to most people who happily have a couple before leaving work then another in the car. The problem is never going to go away whilst there are drive-through bottle shops though. CLose the drive-throughs and the problem would halve overnight.
200bhp said:
Yep - The small tripod cameras are definitely being placed further from the road now - Theres a regular spot on Marmion Avenue north of Perth where they're placed on the far side of the verge, must be 5 metres from the roadside. Then there's those places where the reverse the X-Trail into the bushes or park it in the neighbouring street and run the cables through bushes to place the camera in an almost invisible position.
The policemen I've seen doing it with hand-held lasers recently have at least all been dressed in high vis so easy to spot.
I regularly see a motorcycle cop on the Mitchell freeway per 6AM looking for people on their phones which is a good thing IMHO.
As for RBT's - There should be more of them in place of cameras. Drink driving is a massive problem here and seems almost socially acceptable to most people who happily have a couple before leaving work then another in the car. The problem is never going to go away whilst there are drive-through bottle shops though. CLose the drive-throughs and the problem would halve overnight.
I disagree on drive through bottleshops. The policemen I've seen doing it with hand-held lasers recently have at least all been dressed in high vis so easy to spot.
I regularly see a motorcycle cop on the Mitchell freeway per 6AM looking for people on their phones which is a good thing IMHO.
As for RBT's - There should be more of them in place of cameras. Drink driving is a massive problem here and seems almost socially acceptable to most people who happily have a couple before leaving work then another in the car. The problem is never going to go away whilst there are drive-through bottle shops though. CLose the drive-throughs and the problem would halve overnight.
Plenty of countries in the world have petrol stations that serve alcohol. I don't see how that is any different.
I agree, more RBTs, but I don't think drive through bottleshops are the issue. Societal attitudes towards drinking and driving are the issue.
In the UK, you go to the supermarket or a high street shop and buy a case of beer. You walk back to the car and put it in the boot with the rest of your shopping.
In Australia, you drive into a bottleshop where someone gets the beer for you and places it on the passenger seat. Driver looks over and thinks "Hmmm I fancy one of those"
In Australia, you drive into a bottleshop where someone gets the beer for you and places it on the passenger seat. Driver looks over and thinks "Hmmm I fancy one of those"
200bhp said:
In the UK, you go to the supermarket or a high street shop and buy a case of beer. You walk back to the car and put it in the boot with the rest of your shopping.
In Australia, you drive into a bottleshop where someone gets the beer for you and places it on the passenger seat. Driver looks over and thinks "Hmmm I fancy one of those"
Or, in the UK I'd go to the supermarket and put the beer in the passenger seat.In Australia, you drive into a bottleshop where someone gets the beer for you and places it on the passenger seat. Driver looks over and thinks "Hmmm I fancy one of those"
And In Aus, I go to a bottle shop and guy puts it in my boot/tray.
But that's more to do with the cars I drove/drive.
200bhp said:
In the UK, you go to the supermarket or a high street shop and buy a case of beer. You walk back to the car and put it in the boot with the rest of your shopping.
In Australia, you drive into a bottleshop where someone gets the beer for you and places it on the passenger seat. Driver looks over and thinks "Hmmm I fancy one of those"
I say we ban cellar door sales as well, because people might put the wine onto their passenger seat. In Australia, you drive into a bottleshop where someone gets the beer for you and places it on the passenger seat. Driver looks over and thinks "Hmmm I fancy one of those"
And cupholders. People might put a can of JB and coke in the cup holder.
I've been able to legally drive and drink for years. I've never combined the two. Maybe chronic alcoholics will have an issue, but does everything have to be targeted at the lowest common denominator?
I'm a huge fan of RBTs, and detest drink driving. But drive through bottleshops are not the problem. Societal attitudes are.
The thing that bothers me about Victoria is that the speed checks can and do happen anywhere, even down a gravel road in the middle of nowhere. Enforcement is widespread, random and ineffective in terms of safety.
So I sold my fast sportsbike, and bought a fast dirt bike, that is reasonably terrifying at 100km/h cruise on public roads. I drive an E30 318is, specifically because it is slow, but feels nippy. I can't imagine for the life of me how frustrating it must be to own a quick car in Australia.
So I sold my fast sportsbike, and bought a fast dirt bike, that is reasonably terrifying at 100km/h cruise on public roads. I drive an E30 318is, specifically because it is slow, but feels nippy. I can't imagine for the life of me how frustrating it must be to own a quick car in Australia.
WeirdNeville said:
I don't think drive through bottle shops are the problem either. It's not like they open it and put it in your hand. And actually, most people could happily have one bottle and be under the limit (not that I'm suggesting this is in any way sensible).
It's the attitude that needs to change. Last ANZAC day we were up north, and after Lunch a bunch of veterans with their medals on their jackets rolled out of the hotel and into their cars, most of them with pints in hand. You could see them staggering and having trouble getting their keys in the ignition and what not. No cops, no chance of getting caught, and clearly the hotel was happy to serve locals on this 'special' day in the knowledge they'd be driving away later.
I've also seen plenty of tradies having a can as they drive. Very, very rare to see that in the UK nowadays.
Add in the cost of taxi's here, and you can see why people would rather risk it.It's the attitude that needs to change. Last ANZAC day we were up north, and after Lunch a bunch of veterans with their medals on their jackets rolled out of the hotel and into their cars, most of them with pints in hand. You could see them staggering and having trouble getting their keys in the ignition and what not. No cops, no chance of getting caught, and clearly the hotel was happy to serve locals on this 'special' day in the knowledge they'd be driving away later.
I've also seen plenty of tradies having a can as they drive. Very, very rare to see that in the UK nowadays.
One of the reasons I live close to a train station. Getting into/out of Perth after a few beers is a doddle.
I agree, Aus speed limits are ridiculous and is also the cause of "hooning" in the suburbs because the laws are so strict and restrictive on the freeways that people go for a burn up in residential areas. Now, you tell me what would be better, having a bit of speed on freeways where traffic is monitored and controlled or having people smash it though residential area's. Look at Germany with the Autobahn and one of the best road safety records in the world. I like Australia and I like their ways on most things but as far as driving goes they haven't got a clue. Just look at all the tyre marks in housing estates, it says it all. It's no wonder Aus car's are so st, theres no point in having a decent european car there!
t, theres no point in having a decent european car there!Gassing Station | Australia | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff