As at 25/6/07 19 people have died on the open road compared to 15 people the same time last year!
Mercedes Benz proved that one third of all accidents were due to fatigue not speed after spending millions of $ on research. Click here fact sheet
Click here for latest road toll update comparison
Message from Senator the Hon Nigel Scullion Country Liberal Party Senator for the Territory Have the new laws - particularly the one pertaining to the open speed limit - made the Stuart Highway potentially more dangerous? Absolutely. Fatigue must become a factor in more crashes, plus by necessity there will be more people driving dangerous stretches at night. Try driving between Ti Tree and Alice Springs at night at 130 and see how far you go before you hit a mob of roos. But because the limit is now 130, how many people who aren't used to driving at that speed, in unfamiliar conditions especially, try to do exactly that?. Click here
Fatigue crashes will increase – people will still try to do ‘big kilometres’ per day (Darwin – Alice or reverse) – and may need to cover these distances. There will be many more crashes at night – as more will have to drive into the night to reach destinations. Driving at night is a lot more dangerous than during the day. Driving at night requires much more concentration as there is reduced visibility and the possibility of large animals being on the road. A driver who is fatigued is more susceptible to having an accident with another vehicle or an animal. This means that fatigued drivers present a danger to other drivers and themselves.
Set a limit and people will drive to it – no matter what the conditions. If the limit is 130, people will try to do 130. With no limit, people will read the conditions and the capability of their vehicle, and drive to those conditions. Therefore, speed limits should not be set unless the upper limit is OK for the whole stretch – If the limit is 110km/h, people do try to sit on 110 without thinking – no matter what the conditions. Where the limit is open, people will drive to what they can do – safely.
Increase difficulty in overtaking road trains
. Road trains are lengthy, at times up to 53m long, so they are difficult to overtake within speed limited zones without risking speeding fines. It is dangerous to sit behind road trains because stones and dust can cause windscreen breakage and accidents due to poor visibility not to mention the cosmetic damage to vehicles. The public are now forced to travel on the wrong side of the road longer (most cases approximately double the time!) in order to pass!
Increased traffic congestion behind road trains and trucks as vehicles will bank up, increasing frustration, fatigue and the likelihood and severity of accidents. This also results in longer traveling times caused by delays and congestion when stuck behind trucks.
Road rage will no doubt increase due to fatigue, frustration and longer traveling times caused by passing trucks and other slower moving vehicles.