NSW - how do drivers cope?

[Jader1973]

I had the pleasure of going to Port Kembla for a meeting today. I've been to Sydney before but only for a weekend and didn't drive.

I arrived at Sydney Airport at 8:45, and finally exited the car park in my hire car at 9:35

A huge thank you to AVIS for that delay.

I went down the M5 and across the B88, and came back up the M1. I saw 5 Highway Patrol cars, one mobile speed camera, I don't know how many fixed speed cameras, and every set of light seemed to have a red light camera.

Makes Vic look unpoliced! Granted our mobile cameras aren't signed, but they are pretty easy to spot (brand new SUV/wagon sitting in an OH&S compliant spot at the side of the road) but I hardly ever see a Police car and if I do it is usually speeding

I honestly don't know how those of you that live up there cope. Brain off, cruise on?

[NSNO]

It's more the state of the roads in the Sydney area that concern me over the cameras, which have a lot of potholes and are poorly maintained.

Personally I don't think that we have that many of them here and you soon learn where they are located if you live here. The ones in the tunnel are a bit sneaky located on the roof but they do warn you before you enter.

Certainly compared to the UK and London especially then their is no were near as many cameras, speed cushions etc.

Also the red light cameras don't bother me as you shouldn't really be doing that anyway.(not that I'm implying I'm a saint by the way, far from it) It only flashes if it is actually red not amber so you'd have to be pretty late going through to get flashed, meaning that you could have stopped safely instead of proceeding through.

[Colonial]

I was just driving in Vic. How many speed cameras are on the Mornington Freeway

[200bhp]

Red light cameras here in WA double-up as speed cameras.

[ukdennis]

If you mean the new Peninsula Link, then the answer is "lots". Must be one on just about every damn bridge. I got two speeding tickets in quick succession not long after it opened, even though I usually travel freeways with cruise control "on". Got nabbed both times when accelerating briefly to overtake

[custardtart]

Agree NSW is stter than a big pile of st, especially anywhere within 100k of the CBD. My first year I got 12 points and over a $1k in fines having spent 30 years without any points in the UK.

Now I drive like a friggin saint and given I'm no saint this means Im bloody frustrated.

I need to get on a trackday soon so if anyone in Sydney knows how to book a day Eastern Creek please let me know asap?

[Bibbs]

Are points transferable between states?

I've not seen mine from SA last year.

[Jader1973]

Bibbs said:

Are points transferable between states?

I've not seen mine from SA last year.

It is SA though. They tend to lag behind a bit

I love going there with work: clocks back 30 minutes; mentality back 30 years

[Bibbs]

Jader1973 said:

It is SA though. They tend to lag behind a bit

I love going there with work: clocks back 30 minutes; mentality back 30 years

Yeah. I read that the point should be transferable. It's been almost a year now.

[Google [bot]]

You might be lucky and it's been lost in their systems, have you done a demerit check online to confirm they've not been added?

I got 'caught' in Tassie a few years back and didn't dispute on the grounds that points didn't transfer. Turned out they did, so I then disputed.

[Bibbs]

Google [bot] said:

You might be lucky and it's been lost in their systems, have you done a demerit check online to confirm they've not been added?

I got 'caught' in Tassie a few years back and didn't dispute on the grounds that points didn't transfer. Turned out they did, so I then disputed.

I checked before I typed it. Still not there.

Fingers crossed.

[robm3]

Here's my gripe about it:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

But I'm getting into classics next so it'll be slow slow slow....

[Colonial]

Knock wood. Clean licence since 2008. But that was 139 in a 110 zone.

[smack]

NSNO said:

It's more the state of the roads in the Sydney area that concern me over the cameras, which have a lot of potholes and are poorly maintained.

Road conditions were a joke in Sydney 20 years ago, so nothing much changes!

I spent a month in Victoria just before the start of summer, and I found the level of Policing on the roads was massively less than in the 90's and early 00's. I spent a load of time driving outside Melbourne, up and down the Hume, and I saw 1 cop in 5 trips which was a Divvy Van at Seymour parked with lights on facing the wrong way to traffic so stood out the moment you came around the corner. Speed camera cars parked up on Freeways/Highways in the middle of nowhere.
The rural Highway Patrol used to always be out fishing with their mobile radars, used to see them all the time, didn't see any. Only actually saw 1 Highway Patrol car hiding in a speed trap the whole time, on the 2nd last day I was there - I do know all their hiding spots, so check speed and eyeball them when I go past to be sure!

[randomwalk]

These days it is quite rare to see a car speed past you so the police seem to have moved onto to concentrating on using their technology to catch unregistered cars/drivers. If you drive the Hume you will see them just sitting in the median strip with their cameras watching the numberplates as they go by