this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
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National to spend at least $30m to reverse speed limit changes if elected (www.1news.co.nz)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Alternative headline: National to spend $30m to sacrifice some of your lives so our trip is slightly faster.

The changes have been endorsed by transport researchers and street safety advocates as effective measures to help reduce the number of Kiwis killed and injured on the roads.

That's all there is to it.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes think we're on the same page. I have absolutely no need for speed anymore (I did when I was younger, I admit), I just don't think it makes sense to limit speed on certain roads at 100km / hour like the Kapiti Expressway. It should be 120km/h IMO. Police is checking for speed there very often as it's an easy cash grab, but I hardly see them in 50km/h areas where it's much less safe to go over the limit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I think we are on the same page, nobody argues harder than two people who agree with eachother.

When I was a testosterone charged teen/20yo speed was all important. I grew out of it, many do not.

And yes, modern divided highways/motorways can and should be higher limited. Most are not modern nor divided. The Waikato expressway is 110km/h. It's great.

Also, if I hit a pole at 120km/h then the impact speed is 120km/h. If I have a head-on at 80km/h then the impact speed is 160km/h. So physically segregating traffic is the most effective infrastructure change to make, it is slow and expensive and impractical in most places.

Lowering limits on old crappy roads is the cheapest and therefore most efficient option.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Also, if I hit a pole at 120km/h then the impact speed is 120km/h. If I have a head-on at 80km/h then the impact speed is 160km/h. So physically segregating traffic is the most effective infrastructure change to make, it is slow and expensive and impractical in most places.

I also initially thought that was the case, but it's not! http://warp.povusers.org/grrr/collisionmath.html There's no difference between 80km/h against a pole or wall vs 80km/h head on.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Fascinating! TYVM for that.

Though, I'll argue that even in my flawed examples having double the number of vehicles in the collision is still worse: double the casualties. It's just technically the same as two vehicles having independent collisions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Oh, also: it improves the effectiveness of lowering the speed limit versus infrastructure upgrades.

Neat.