Speeding
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@aucklandwarlord Interesting to read that.
I sort of understand NZ's approach to it given the higher road toll and lack of other available options in many places, but I've never been able to reconcile complete separation in reality from what's dangerous vs what's illegal.
If you are driving up the Hauraki plains at 9pm on a Tuesday night at 107 km/hr you will face a larger fine than if you go past a school at 24 km/hr (assuming it's a 20k zone) at 3:05 pm. It just makes no sense to me.
One is a situation where you've likely not noticed due to the tedious ness of the drive that your speed has crept up slightly. The other is where you are doing something really fucking stupid and putting other peoples, namely children, life at risk with your complete recklessness.
Fast driving does not necessarily mean unsafe driving & slow driving does not necessarily mean safe driving. It drives me up the wall. I think the balance they have here in the UK is much better.
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@majorrage One of the things I've noticed in the UK over the last few years is how silly speeding (in 30mph areas for example) has become as socially-unacceptable as drink-driving.
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@victor-meldrew said in Grumpy Old Man:
On more than a handful of occasions during my time in the job, we went to speak to seemingly normal members of the public who opened our dialogue with a rant about a time they were unfairly ticketed by the Police. We even had people refuse to speak to us because they were that anti-police as a direct result of interactions they'd had with highway patrol or traffic cops.
Down to the attitude of the clowns who used to do traffic enforcement for the Transport Ministry still being part of the current culture? Plenty of serious Police scandals in the UK in the last few years and it's probably pretty much down to the sensible attitude of the average copper that they still get so much support from the public.
Yes and no. The "ernies" (named so because their QIDs given all started with an E, so easily identified post-merger) started to retired in the mid 2000's. I would put it down to the general demographic of traffic cops either being (1) people sent there because they were unsuitable for whatever reason for frontline, (2) people rotated there who didn't want to be there, (3) burnt out or lazy cops who went there because they wanted a cushy gig, with very little shift work and the ability to collect their quota within a few hours and then just cruise.
Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of great cops who ended up on traffic during their rotation period (I managed to avoid it thankfully), and the job would be shit in terms of having argumentative members of the public day in and day out, but there's certainly always been a groundswell within the ranks that the MOT and Police should be two different entities.
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@victor-meldrew said in Grumpy Old Man:
@majorrage One of the things I've noticed in the UK over the last few years is how silly speeding (in 30mph areas for example) has become as socially-unacceptable as drink-driving.
I’d go further than that. I’d say speeding through residential areas is viewed worse than drink driving.
I also think rules should be defined more at the car level (I would say that). An M3 doing 85 mph is a lot safer than a Transit.
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@majorrage said in Grumpy Old Man:
@aucklandwarlord Interesting to read that.
I sort of understand NZ's approach to it given the higher road toll and lack of other available options in many places, but I've never been able to reconcile complete separation in reality from what's dangerous vs what's illegal.
If you are driving up the Hauraki plains at 9pm on a Tuesday night at 107 km/hr you will face a larger fine than if you go past a school at 24 km/hr (assuming it's a 20k zone) at 3:05 pm. It just makes no sense to me.
One is a situation where you've likely not noticed due to the tedious ness of the drive that your speed has crept up slightly. The other is where you are doing something really fucking stupid and putting other peoples, namely children, life at risk with your complete recklessness.
Fast driving does not necessarily mean unsafe driving & slow driving does not necessarily mean safe driving. It drives me up the wall. I think the balance they have here in the UK is much better.
Hard to disagree with that. There are so many strange contradictions in traffic enforcement - I question why "unaccompanied driver on a learner licence" isn't dealt with the same way as "driving while disqualified" or drink driving. Effectively it's a fine and demerit offence, despite the fact the person has passed no formal practical test to say that they're competent to operate a vehicle which could potentially kill someone. At least someone driving while disqualified normally actually has the skills to drive, they're just not allowed to.
I've always thought that driving should be something they could bring external people in to teach at high school, so kids can get a licence without have the opportunity to get one before going into the workforce. That way, there is a standardised minimum amount of training given to every student, and there is very little excuse for not having at least a restricted licence. Surely for most kids, it's more useful than learning Shakespeare.
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@aucklandwarlord said in Grumpy Old Man:
there's certainly always been a groundswell within the ranks that the MOT and Police should be two different entities.
As long as the Traffic cops are competent, does it matter?
When I started riding in the UK, the difference between the UK and NZ traffic police was startling. The UK motorbike cops in particular were serious motorcyclists who understood and had an affinity with other riders - unlike their NZ counterparts. And don't get me started on the Lower Hutt traffic police...
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@majorrage said in Grumpy Old Man:
I also think rules should be defined more at the car level (I would say that). An M3 doing 85 mph is a lot safer than a Transit.
It's a great point, but hard to legislate for, I guess.
White Van Man causes me more angst that any other fuckwit on the road. Yeah, I can easily outpace them when they sit on my arse , but why should I need to on wet roads?
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@aucklandwarlord said in Grumpy Old Man:
I've always thought that driving should be something they could bring external people in to teach at high school, so kids can get a licence without have the opportunity to get one before going into the workforce. That way, there is a standardised minimum amount of training given to every student, and there is very little excuse for not having at least a restricted licence. Surely for most kids, it's more useful than learning Shakespeare.
We used to have that back in my day. There was a driving programme that operated through high schools, can't remember the name, but the idea was to provide cheap but competent licence training. I believe it was govt subsidised too.
Another one of these things that was 'privitised' and as predicted many lower socio-economic groups now just don't bother with training and are happy to take fines that get paid off at a $ a week from their benefit. False economies. -
@majorrage said in Grumpy Old Man:
@victor-meldrew said in Grumpy Old Man:
@majorrage One of the things I've noticed in the UK over the last few years is how silly speeding (in 30mph areas for example) has become as socially-unacceptable as drink-driving.
I’d go further than that. I’d say speeding through residential areas is viewed worse than drink driving.
I also think rules should be defined more at the car level (I would say that). An M3 doing 85 mph is a lot safer than a Transit.
The pragmatism part should be 'safe driving'.
As an example the Brighton Rd last few miles before reaching the M25 is a four lane wide straight rd with no houses for much of the distance yet 24 hours a day is monitored by average speed cameras for it's length with a limit at 40mph. At 5am driving down to Gatwick with no other cars on the road you can't tell me that is dangerous to drive at 50mph.
NB: mind you those average speed things are a bit of a sham I think. -
Tanzanite Blue II
Is that the new dark metallic blue that looks black sometimes and really blue at others? That's fucking rad.
Given the house prices in NZ, my wife and I are coming around to the fact that we'll be in Japan for a bit longer (possibly forever in Okinawa or somewhere) and the only bright side is that I can then get the new PHEV X3.
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It's always amused me that the penalty for winding out my bike on this road is the same as doing 130 on a 80 stretch in suburbia:
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Tanzanite Blue II
Is that the new dark metallic blue that looks black sometimes and really blue at others? That's fucking rad.
Given the house prices in NZ, my wife and I are coming around to the fact that we'll be in Japan for a bit longer (possibly forever in Okinawa or somewhere) and the only bright side is that I can then get the new PHEV X3.
Yeah, that's the colour.
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Tanzanite Blue II
Is that the new dark metallic blue that looks black sometimes and really blue at others? That's fucking rad.
Given the house prices in NZ, my wife and I are coming around to the fact that we'll be in Japan for a bit longer (possibly forever in Okinawa or somewhere) and the only bright side is that I can then get the new PHEV X3.
Yeah, that's the colour.
That's a nice motor! My brother just got one and had it 1 day when someone ran a red light and T-boned him with his Kids in the car. Despite the initial shock, the three of them were uninjured. He was certain that if he was in his previous car, he would have had a severely injured or dead kid.
BMW got him a replacement quickly and he couldn't be happier.
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@hooroo It’s now just ticked over 2000km, and I’ve only used 1/3 of a tank of gas. We put a stack of panels on the roof and got a couple of powerwalls so I’m basically running the car for free. Except for, you know, the cost of the solar setup, but we don’t mention that because it spoils a perfectly good story.
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@hooroo It’s now just ticked over 2000km, and I’ve only used 1/3 of a tank of gas. We put a stack of panels on the roof and got a couple of powerwalls so I’m basically running the car for free. Except for, you know, the cost of the solar setup, but we don’t mention that because it spoils a perfectly good story.
HA! That's incredible.
You can drive from Cape Reinga to Bluff AND BACK have a third of a tank of gas left
That is good MPG -
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@jc Thanks that's what I expected. My partner wants an SUV for some fucking reason and was thinking electric but has range concerns so I suggested PHEV. 70 clicks would be heaps I'd have thought.
One more question if I can presume on your charity. How much of a hassle / cost was it getting the charging infrastructure for your home. Her other concern is she's thinking she might sell her house and doesn't want to put in all the charging stuff and then move if it's a major.
I told her she'll get free travel on the buses after 9:30 in a few years but that wasn't well received
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@dogmeat There's no mandatory charging stuff with the PHEV, they supplied a charger that plugs into a standard socket. There is an optional wall box that you can get but I haven't got round to that yet. They are about $1200 plus fitting, which means 3 phase to the box. Since I have a pet sparky (by brother) I got the 3 phase work done but as I say, haven't sourced the box.
The whole solar cell / battery thing is a whole other dimension. Realistically I'll never make my money back but it's kinda cool and we pulled the trigger after having a couple of power cuts over winter. I like not having to rely on the grid. Unless I live a a very long time I'll be dead before the payback.
But self sufficiency is a good feeling. Even with the car I can usually run the house off the powerwalls. I'm thinking about putting in a bore for water too. My bro is convinced there is probably one on the property already as the house has been here for over 110 years. That would be great, then everyone can get the fuck off my lawn.
