It seemed the initial reaction from many people when the news broke yesterday was to either blame the poor bloke driving his car and caravan and then to launch into the state of the roads. The Bruce Highway is not my favourite road. It is narrow in parts and single lanes and not designed for the times when one encounters an idiot. It has had over 13 billion spent on it since 2013 with a further 5 billion to be spent in the next two years so funding is not the issue. I don't accept that pot holes or roads in disrepair are the main culprit. The main culprit are the drivers who don't drive to the conditions and drive as if they were on a six lane motor way.

Where once the caravan brigade were made up of mostly retired people plugging along up the road there is now, especially since the covid lockdowns, a new demographic. I have lost count of the times when I have had some galah with an offroad camper or van attached to his four wheel drive, bikes, boats and boards all attached to the roof, go blasting past me well over the actual sped limit with the car full of feral kids and a dopey looking partner. It seems their idea of a relaxing trip is arriving there before everyone else with the tyres smoking.

I remember seeing a study some years back where research was done on drivers charged with serious traffic offences and various road rage incidents. There was a high propensity of those charged also having lengthy records for violence and other anti social crimes. The people doing the research suggested that although defensive driving courses and films about vehicle carnage were helpful, they really just enforced views in people that already held those views. The real culprits were the people who wouldn't or couldn't be bothered with those courses or having and thought to other road users and their safety. It was their suggestion that a psychological assessment should be made of people who had records of violence or anti social behaviour to see if they were in fact fit to be trusted with a licence. I thought there was a lot of merit in that proposal.

It seems this fellow yesterday did an outstanding bit of driving to avoid his tug being collected head on and he more than likely saved the lives of himself and his passengers.

Hitting the road wrote:

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It is where the "drive to conditions" is more important than ever. The Bruce Highway isn't the best, traveling at 100kmh can see a vehicle move up to a metre side to side without moving the steering wheel.
Without introducing a new topic or getting political, what is extremely frustrating is the massive amount of tax payer dollars being spent on windmills and solar panels, while people die unnecessarily every day on our lousy third world roads!

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 The Federal Government spends approximately 25 billion dollars annually in subsidies for renewable energy. Our GDP or income is 1.6 trillion dollars per year that is 1.6 thousand billion dollars per year.

The roads, especially the Bruce Highway, are well funded. That road alone had 13 billion allocated in 2013 over ten years with a further 5 billion allocated over two years in 2022.

Perhaps we could close schools, hospitals, defund defence and pensions so some cretin can drive at speeds far greater than their skill level.

Dougwe wrote:

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I know I will shoot myself in the foot here or someone will hunt me down and well, who knows?

But,

I have been for a very long time and still am of the belief that SPEED KILLS. Therefore, drop the speed limits. 110kmh is way too fast for a start. Heavy vehicles and people towing 'anything' should have a max speed 90kmh on Motorways and major highways but even lower on minor roads etc. It's not rocket science. 

 

 

Keep Safe on the roads and out there.  

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No argument  from me on that point Doug. 100 % agree.

Craig1 wrote:

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 "The roads, especially the Bruce Highway, are well funded. That road alone had 13 billion allocated in 2013 over ten years with a further 5 billion allocated over two years in 2022. "

A partial quote from D Maxer.

This to me shows how inefficiently these funds are allocated and supervised then. They almost start repairs before the white lines are finished being painted. Construction methods are horrible annd not suited to conditions and costs are crazy.

-- Edited by Craig1 on Thursday 4th of July 2024 05:24:48 PM

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 As a punter who drives the Bruce many times a year, bulk of the expenditure would have been spent between Brisbane and Gympie, whilst a 2 year expenditure around Marybrough and Burrum River was made post Mary River Floods. It took almost 4 years to construct the Mackay Bypass, alas the Rocky bypass is an on and off again project,  but SEQ these works consume most of the budget leaving post wet season consigned to pothole patching in the north.

Gundog wrote:

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Craig1 wrote:

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 "The roads, especially the Bruce Highway, are well funded. That road alone had 13 billion allocated in 2013 over ten years with a further 5 billion allocated over two years in 2022. "

A partial quote from D Maxer.

This to me shows how inefficiently these funds are allocated and supervised then. They almost start repairs before the white lines are finished being painted. Construction methods are horrible annd not suited to conditions and costs are crazy.

-- Edited by Craig1 on Thursday 4th of July 2024 05:24:48 PM

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 As a punter who drives the Bruce many times a year, bulk of the expenditure would have been spent between Brisbane and Gympie, whilst a 2 year expenditure around Marybrough and Burrum River was made post Mary River Floods. It took almost 4 years to construct the Mackay Bypass, alas the Rocky bypass is an on and off again project,  but SEQ these works consume most of the budget leaving post wet season consigned to pothole patching in the north.

 

 

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 I agree with Doug,   as I am not in a hurry to go anywhere. With the van, I drive around 80 kph and at times it creeps up to 90 kph. Think about towing a van the distance between 2 destinations of say 80 klm will see you get there in 1 hour, and I mean to get there.

Jay&Dee