Alistair Sloane: Saving lives comes at a cost

Photo / Herald on Sunday

A road crash investigator in Australia last year called for the abolition of 100km/h limits on undivided roads.

Peter Bellion, the collision reconstruction team leader for the Victorian state police, said cars travelling at 100km/h in opposite directions with less than a car's width between them were a recipe for disaster.

He said advances in vehicle design meant the chances of surviving an 80km/h impact had improved greatly, but the forces of an impact at faster speeds meant survival was unlikely because of "complete structural disintegration".

"Even with the most sophisticated car, we can't survive that [above 80km/h], and yet we still have undivided roads with 100km/h limits and a white line separating you from the oncoming traffic."

Bellion said there should be more margin for error. He said multiple fatalities on such roads were far too common and suggested that reducing the speed limit to 80km/h, or building more divided roads, would give drivers a far better chance of survival.

On this side of the Tasman, police, the Government, motoring bodies and commentators have praised the zero road toll over Queen's Birthday weekend. Road deaths are down around 35 per cent on the same time last year.

Publicity about the new 4km/h speeding tolerance on all public holidays was cited as one reason for the safer long weekend. The high price of fuel was another.

Police can take some credit for the lower road toll. They can also take criticism for using it to disguise revenue gathering.

Just after the long weekend a motorist was stopped in Auckland. "I clocked you at 80km/h," the officer said. "No you didn't - you don't have a radar in your car," said the motorist.

The policeman changed the subject, mumbled about speeding in general and wrote out a ticket for doing 80km/h in a 50km/h zone. The driver says he was probably doing 60km/h. The cop issued the ticket on an assumption. That's revenue gathering.