Ray! Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 MOTORING and transport groups have called for the owners of cars and trucks that break down on freeways during peak hour to be penalised. This follows a spate of incidents in which single vehicles have delayed thousands of frustrated motorists by conking out on CityLink or the Monash Freeway. http://www.heraldsun...2-1226354236410 Breakdowns will happen, but nothing pissed me off more in the 30 years of travelling into the city each day than the rubberneckers who had to slow down every time they saw anything different on the freeway. If there was a way to fine rubberneckers, breakdowns wouldn't be an issue. Cheers Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gottheshits Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Yeh that's a great call. Now as well as paying to have your car towed and fixed you'd also cop a fine. Infrastructure!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glort Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Hmmm, Can't see the whole story but to me this reeks of a typical media beat up. I'd like to know exactly what motoring and transport groups " Have Called" for this and how it came about. Sounds more to me like some hair brained Journo rang them up and said " Do you support the calls for people that break down on motorways to be fined?" and and came up with the idea all on their own out of thin air like they often do. Even if some " Motoring Group" did propose the Idea, I'd be more inclined to bet that what they said was taken out of context and twisted. Something like " Owwners of neglected vehicles that break down" Or " vehicles that break down due to running out of fuel" would be more likley to my thinking and there may be fleeting mention of that in the story right at the end after the reader has been sucked in on a totally different premise. The job of journos and the media has long been to sell advertising space and gain market share over any notion of reporting the facts or sticking to the truth. 9 times out of 10 these sensational " that can't be right" type stories arent and are just a lod of twisted BS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray! Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 (edited) Copy the heading in the article and paste it into Google and then click of the link that appears, the one you've already visited, and you'll see the entire article. Cheers Ray Edited May 13, 2012 by Ray! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glort Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Good trick. Must remember that in Future. Still don't see anything very concrete in the article though to suggest it isn't as I suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray! Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 (edited) Most of these articles are just a bit of kite flying to see what sort of public response is received; politicians do it it all the time to test the waters with potential legislation. My point was more to do with the failure to understand the real problem for delays and that's all to do with rubbernecking. A car pulled over on the side of the road will not cause traffic delays if idiots don't slow down to rubberneck, which then causes a concertina effects for miles and hours. I've often sat in a long line of stop start traffic thinking there's an accident ahead, only to find that it's nothing more than a guy standing off the road with a broken down car and bugger all traffic past where he's stopped, once the rubberneckers have had their fill. Cheers Ray Edited May 13, 2012 by Ray! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glort Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 I agree with your sentiment entirely. In Sydney not only do the rubber neckers cause lengthy holdups gawking at a car stopped to let their kid have a pee by the side of the road, but the traffic on the OTHER side of the road banks up as well! Put a vehicle with a flashing light on the scene and the whole expressway turns into a parking lot. It's getting out of control here as well. I have often said the cops should be out with their radar's at these breakdowns and anyone doing 20K or more UNDER the limit with a clear bit of road in front of them should be booked. Ironically I have seen large cardboard boxes in the MIDDLE of the motorway and cars just go round them at full tilt even though the obstruction could be seen a long ways up the road. What also dosen't add up is that I live on a main road and nothing short of a naked supermodel would slow the traffic down one bit. There was a Druggie passed out on the side of the road against a telegraph pole with her legs hanging out on the road a few years back and the traffic was still flying past and not one car stopped to help me drag her fully onto the foot path or called the ambo's. Dunno how long she had been there before I spotted her or would have stayed there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Its human nature to want to look - As much as its a PITA, I cant say that booking people is going to help.. Your going to get longer delays from people looking at the police booking the people for slowing down and looking at the original accident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray! Posted May 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 There is no way that you can really penalise rubbernecking but if, for example, there were perhaps more ads pushing the point that it's the numpty motorists that are causing the delays and not something unmoving on the side of the road, maybe, just maybe, the message might get through. Cheers Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutta Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 In qld i thought they were going to bring in these safety cars with big rubber bullbars to push the broken down cars off the bloody road, but ive never seen it yet. And if a coppers fining someone in a 100 zone you can be guaranteed all the fuckwits!!! will slow to 75 just to make sure they are well under a 100!! And it shits me! Im afraid we're all going to have to put up with it, theres no cure, my rant over! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dronus4x4 Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Isn't there a law that says you are supposed to slow down to a certain speed when going past emergency vehicles that have their lights on? Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray! Posted May 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Isn't there a law that says you are supposed to slow down to a certain speed when going past emergency vehicles that have their lights on? I'm not sure about that; however, I once overtook a fire engine in Sale because it was going so slow. And that was in a NA 3.3lt MQ diesel. Cheers Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dronus4x4 Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Appears to be 40kmph in SA when going past an emergency services vehicle that has flashing red and blue lights. http://www.dpti.sa.gov.au/roadsafety/safer_speeds/speed_limits So, in theory (if this law was put in place about fining rubberneckers) a police car could stop on the side of the road with its lights on and fine people for going under or over the speed limit. Not that they would, I'm sure they have better things to do.. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glort Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 So, in theory (if this law was put in place about fining rubberneckers) a police car could stop on the side of the road with its lights on and fine people for going under or over the speed limit. Not that they would, I'm sure they have better things to do.. I disagree. I think revenue raising it the TOP priority for cops everywhere these days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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