I’d like to see the extension of bicycle lanes on main arterial routes throughout Launceston. I’m middle-aged and have decided to begin commuting to work later this year. Two reasons – to get fitter (I have a sedentary job) and also with the introduction of well marked bike lanes it will be a lot safer. Also, in the UK there is the “Cycle to Work Scheme” in which tax payers can receive up to 1000 pounds for purchase of bike and ancillary equipment. The basic ideas behind this is to increase fitness / health, reduce pollution / carbon footprint and to extend the life of road infrastructure. These will not provide the total answer but a muli-pronged approach I believe can deliver significant benefit. It would be great to see the local or federal government offer a similar scheme here in Tasmania.

The Study was the first major “instrumented vehicle” project (video cameras and data-transmitters in-car, measuring the normal driving activities); it recorded over 2 million vehicle miles (3.2 million km) and 12-13 months of data collection.

The findings were quite extraordinary. They included:

“Nearly 80 percent of all crashes and 65 percent of all near-crashes involved driver inattention just prior to (i.e., within 3 seconds) the onset of the conflict. (NOTE: prior estimates related to driver inattention as a contributing factor have been in the range of 25 percent of all crashes.)”

It also found that mobile (cell) phones were associated with the highest frequency of “secondary task distraction-related events” for both incidents and near-crashes.

What the Virgina Tech Study implies is that inattention most likely is a bigger problem than current accepted understandings, and needs more examination than we are currently affording it.

It also highlighted the value of studying “non-police-reported” near-incidents or incidents. In the Study, these types of incidents occurred 15 times more than police-reported incidents. The Study argues that only relying on police-reported incidents has limitations: “Drivers often do not remember specific details of a rapidly-occurring event. However, naturalistic studies overcome the obstacle of potentially unreliable eyewitness crash accounts. For example, eyewitness accounts could include a driver or passenger who is in shock or injured or someone who is trying to hide the details of what occurred (due either to embarrassment, fear of prosecution/litigation, or other reasons).”

It really is a fascinating read, the Study.

RACT has called on the Government to carry out more research into inattention in Tasmania – to examine in detail what, exactly, is going on inside a vehicle that actually contributes to it havig a crash – in our State Budget Submission 2010-11 see http://www.ract.com.au/news_and_issues/news_archives/news/19412

This research could utilise the Virginia Tech findings (and other research like MUARC’s report on the effects of text messaging on novice drivers in 2006); and should be carried out at arm’s length from government by one of the road safety institutes in Australia like CARRS-Q or MUARC. In fact, a Tasmanian study could be used as a test-bed or pilot for a national understanding, and could recived Australian Government support8.

RACT has also included this call for inattention research in its upcoming “A Roadmap for the next Tasmanian Government: Priorities for infrastructure and road safety in Tasmania” which will be released to all political parties and media outlets shortly.

cheers,
Vince Taskunas
General Manager, Public Policy and Communications
RACT Ltd

All the best Michael
regards
Greg Schmerl

I’m still not sure that last year wasn’t an anomaly in terms of deaths. I can’t see any particular reason that there was such a dramatic increase in the road toll – any comment on this would be welcome. It’s not as though there was a mass death (bus accident etc) to skew the results.

That aside, the biggest issues are still largely cultural attitudes and insufficient driver training, and there probably aren’t simple ways out of them.

That said – a few easy fixes to reduce annoyances on the road:

1. Punitively fine construction / road clearing companies who leave 40kph signs up along the road when there is no work being done. Nothing does more to put workers at risk than being asked to slow down unnecessarily.

2. Increase the speed limit where appropriate. If you want to put double lanes on the midland highway, increase the speed limit to 140. It might then make economic as well as political sense. Similarly elsewhere where the road conditions and traffic load warrant. Put simply – the higher the speed limit, the better the road can afford to be.

3. Make it legal to speed whilst overtaking. The faster an overtaking maneuver is completed, the safer for everyone involved.

4. Look into variable speed signage that takes road conditions and loading into account. It can be done, and there are places where it would be of significant benefit. Obviously it can realistically only be utilised on high value roads, but some of those roads would see both more efficient use and less carnage as a result.

From the article:

Young men felt the most superior.

Middle-aged men rated themselves as better than similarly aged drivers, and far superior to younger and older motorists.

Older drivers – aged 65 plus – felt most superior when they compared themselves to motorists of the same age.

Noone here, including me, is pretending to have all the answers but we do all bring ideas, perspective and experience to it…. this is good.

I’m going to carefully read and re-read the contributions and provide recommendations to my colleagues on the nuggets.

Important question: How can we encourage normal, thinking, everyday people to challenge their own belief that ‘I can just get away with this quick phone call, text message, leaning over to pick up something’. It’s the old feeling that it won’t happen to me… I still see this as a real issue for us to consider.

thanks again! Michael Ferguson.

I agree with most but not all of your thoughts regarding speeding. There is “speeding and speeding”. It is a pity that there is only one word for speeding as no differentiation between the motorist trying to do the right thing and the one hooning. Your comment about the reduced limit in the NT is noted but when I last drove there in 1992 there was no open road limit and as far as I know the limit is now 130 kmph as it is in many countries in Europe, except Germany where there is no limit.

You may have read my article in “The Examiner” about a week ago which I have appended below. I have also attached a letter that was published in the RACT mag last year.

There should be a margin allowed of, say 10% over the limit which would allow drivers to concentrate on what they should be doing, watching the road.

I agree with the Midland Highway being upgraded to four lanes. Even though it would not qualify on the mainland with the present traffic numbers our topography in Tas is hillier thus meaning less chance of overtaking.

A popular election issue would be the upgrading on the West Tamar Highway as is a disgrace at present. This affects all Bass as we all have to travel it when go go down the river.

The policing of limits will never be 100% efficient as it all gets down to driver responsibility which means Will’s idea of passing an attitude test is a good idea. Unfortunately there is no way when policing to take into account all relevant factors such as driver competency, conditions on the day and type of car etc. many feel the WT Highway is only safe to 80/90 km which is true when I am driving our little Mazda 323 but when driving our newer 740 BMW 100 km is fine.

Sorry for long message but road safety is something that we all must take seriously.

From The Examiner:

“Ewan Crawford was spot on in the Examiner (Sat 16th) when he wrote about the over emphasis on policing speed limits. Like Ewan, I am not talking about the motorist who travels at 124 kmph in a 60 limit. They should feel the full force of the law.
I am talking about the motorist a few km over the limit. The mathematics are simple. A car travelling at 60kmph travels 1km (1,000 metres) in a minute, ie a rate per second of 16.666 metres, a distance in which a modern car can stop.
Take the example of a child rushing onto the road 16.6m in front of a car the split second after a motorist looks down at their speedo. Presuming the driver can refocus from distance to close-up and then close up to distance in one second, they look up just as the car hits the child. Had they been concentrating on the road they would stop before making contact.

Really it is a “no brainer” unless the purpose is to gain revenue.

The only point I don’t agree with Ewan is the quote “greatly improved roads” He obviously hasn’t driven on the West Tamar Highway lately.

Graeme Barwick, Riverside

I believe most accidents for young or older comes down to the very sad LACK of RESPECT, that is as follows:-

No respect for those at home expecting you home – family or friends.

No respect for passengers carried – family or friends

No respect for other road users – could be family or friends.

No respect for vehicle capabilities.

No respect for road condition.

No respect at all for Ambo’s and Firie’s that have the task of dragging the blood and guts out of wreckage. And copping abuse.

No respect for the Doctors and Nurses putting things together, and copping abuse.

No respect whatsoever for the local Police, who’s task now is to go to a house at all hours, remove their hat and advise the occupant(s) that someone will not be coming home, then listening to the screaming and wailing and in some cases vile abuse.

And finally what about the local council employee, back at the scene a day or two later to straighten some things up only to end up picking up some more body parts or cleaning away the blood.

Can you imagine the local copper going to a door and saying, “well that’s another dickhead off the road”.

And a lot of this problem can go to parents now in their 50’s, Respect, Responsibility & Discipline are absent from upbringing. Its always someone else’s fault.

That’s the longest and most I have ever written and now its out.