Hacker News Reader

Comment by kweks | Hacker News Reader

Taking into account the distances in Australia, I've never understood why the speed limit is so low.

Australia has an average "top speed" of 100km/h (110km/h in certain states) - whereas many other countries, with varying degrees of better or worse infrastructure, have average "top speed" of 130km/h - and yet have similar traffic fatalities.

Turkey: 130km/h (and fairly poor infrastructure compared to europe): 6.7 fatalities per 100k France: 130km/h (most people drive at ~145 on highways - only 1 point if you hit a radar) - 5 fatalities per 100k Australia: 100km/h - 4.5 fatalities per 100k

It can't just be speed, otherwise other 'similar' countries would be orders of magnitude above Australia.

View on HN

> It can't just be speed, otherwise other 'similar' countries would be orders of magnitude above Australia.

It's not just speed.

The standards of driving in Australia is terrible. There's an aggressive attitude, tail gating, no lane discipline, if someone is going way under the speed limit, you come to an overtaking lane, go to over take they'll speed up as "you are not passing me" etc. If you watch "Dash Cam Owners Australia" on YouTube half the incidents are avoidable but because "It's my right of way" or "I'm in the right" the driver will drive straight in to the incident rather than give way and avoid ignoring being “dead right” is still dead.

I've driven/ridden in countries with terrible roads, no real rules, and to the average person looks like chaos but it seems to just work. The difference is non of these countries are aggressive drivers.

When I moved to Australia I used to think the low national speed limits were silly. Now I think it'd be carnage if they are increased given the Australian driving standards.

I just spent a few weeks in the US. I assure you that Australia is fine.

There is some kind of trope that goes “my $location has the shittiest drivers in the world”. The actual reality is all drivers suck everywhere in the world. Except me and you of course. We are obviously above average. (And there is some urban lore floating around that says “most” people surveyed report they are “above average” drivers)

I also think the same formula holds for shipping companies, cellphone carriers, and airlines. All airlines suck, all cellphone providers suck and all shipping companies suck too. Oh and banks too.

> The actual reality is all drivers suck everywhere in the world.

Some countries require much more training, have higher standards of vehicle maintenance, and have other cultural differences.

Did you know [1] that Germany, land of unlimited-speed-limit autobahns, has 3.7 road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants and 4.2 deaths per billion vehicle-km?

While the USA has 12.9 road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants and 6.9 deaths per billion vehicle-km?

Australia, with 4.5 road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants and 4.9 deaths per billion vehicle-km is in between.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...

Except I’ve driven extensively around the world and I’m not an Australian only being in Australia for the past few years.

I’ve driven the world most dangerous roads that’s my thing. Often you wouldn’t even call them roads.

I felt more safe on a goat track with a coach coming the other way and sheer drop at the side of the road or highway with cows in the middle of the road and chaos traffic than Australia. Even 150mph down the Autobahn felt safer than 110kmh on an Australian highway.

Every car journey in Australia I play a game, spot the potential accident ahead as someone nearly crashes or does something stupid.

Watch dash cam owners Australia, half of it’s avoidable but the driver drives straight in to it rather than defensively avoid putting themselves in a dangerous situation

It’s absolutely an attitude/cultural issue. They have a lengthy process to get a license however I notice there’s a preference of parents teaching their bad habits vs professional driver training.

12 per 100K in the US.

I wouldn't say Australia is fine but it is almost in a different ballpark. The frustrating thing here, in the US, is the ambivalence.

> The standards of driving in Australia is terrible.

I think this is common in many places where a significant portion of the population lives in low density areas (eg: American, Australian and Canadian suburbs.) Outside of major city centers it is very difficult to live without a car, so states and provinces choose to set a very low bar for acquiring and keeping a driver's license.

Out in the bush, where the distances are truly stupid (like 200km to the next anything) the care for and policing of the speeding limit is much less, if present at all. The speed limit there probably won't affect traffic fatalities that much, as the density of vehicles is very low. So surely the speed limit may as well be higher.

Out in the bush the risk is hitting animals, and the roads are narrow.

The speed limit is already 130km/h in Northern Territory anyway.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com