Your views: Dec 2022
Our readers share their thoughts on tailgating, engine idling, speed limits and more.
Highway tailgating
In the last few weeks, while driving on the highway, in rain or fine weather, I have been tailgated by P platers. I always leave a fair amount of space between my car and the car ahead of me. Should I get rear-ended, I have some space to stop before running into another car. I assumed that this was a basic road rule when driving, especially at highway speed. Is tailgating the new rule of thumb for inexperienced drivers?
S. Langerak, Hadspen
More visibility needed
I would like to see traffic police active, visible and articulating road safety, so as to refresh and update the general public on current driving rules.
Lorraine Ball
More driver training
I doubt the accident rate will change until we have a change of attitude towards driving. A driver’s licence is seen as a right of passage and essential for work and play (all true and good). However, what’s lacking is the skill required to pilot a lethal weapon safely through varying and dangerous conditions. A total overhaul of the licensing process is required, including more comprehensive driver training.
Stewart
Perplexed
This sign is not helping road users to reduce their speed on Tasmanian roads. The above sign has been recently erected on the Bass Highway 1.5km east of the Howth roundabout (Northwest Coast) on the eastbound lane. With the maximum speed limit on Tasmanian roads being 110km/h this sign is effectively saying that you can travel up to 115km/h legally but 116km/h is breaking the law. Why encourage a 5km extra tolerance over the maximum legal speed limit of 110km/h if Road Safety Tasmania is serious about encouraging drivers to slow down? Surely the sign should read “111 kmh. Over is Over.”
Ian Pickford, Ulverstone
Turn off your engines
Has anyone suggested a campaign to encourage drivers to turn off their motor vehicles when stationary when they have no reason to run the motor? Every day I see this. Every day I ask myself, as a population, have we totally lost touch with how things work? So we waste our money, pollute our atmosphere, produce noise pollution and expose ourselves unnecessarily to vibration, sitting in the car. How many of our citizens have heard of carbon dioxide, for example, and how it is produced. Or that running the motor uses petrol. Given that switching off the motor would not in any way interfere with our lifestyles, unless you count the inconvenience of turning the key or pressing the start button. I noticed no change when petrol cost $2.20+ per litre. I have tried asking people sitting and using their phones if there is a reason why they can’t switch the motor off. It does not go well.
Joanna
No through roads
There is an issue with street signage in Tasmania. The problem is that if you are towing or driving a heavy vehicle like a motorhome and go down a no through road it can be sometimes impossible to turn around when you get to the end of the road. The solution could be an advisory warning sign attached to the existing street sign saying a turnaround may not be possible for large vehicles.
Keith Didham
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