29

Good

by Whaleoil on December 23, 2011

The cops are going to crack down on slow drivers:

They’re tough on speeding, drunk and cellphone-using motorists – now police are turning their attention to those below the speed limit.

Officers will aim to keep busy holiday roads moving by keeping an eye on slow drivers, and say those caught holding up traffic could face fines.

National road safety adviser Superintendent Paula Rose said people were welcome to drive slowly but they needed to be courteous by allowing other road-users to pass safely.

“We are acutely aware of how slow drivers can cause frustration and impatience with other drivers, and sometimes people make bad choices to overtake in a bad spot because the person in front has a queue of traffic behind them,” she said.

“When you’ve got car after car behind a driver going 60km, 30km or 20km below the speed limit, all we’re saying is when there’s an safe opportunity to pull over to the side of the road, please, please do so.”

In some cases, slow driving could amount to careless driving, which could lead to fines or licence disqualification, Ms Rose said.

If I was dictator for life I would pass road safety laws that prohibit people with boats, caravans and trailers from travelling in the holiday season, public holidays etc at any times other than between 2am and 6am.

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  • RightNow

    There should be a special place reserved in hell for drivers who sit on 80kmh until they reach a passing lane when suddenly they find the accelerator and get up to 110kmh, only to drop back to 80kmh when the passing lane ends.

  • Lcmortensen

    It’s not the towing vehicles (their limit is 90), but the senior citizens who think their personal speed limit is the posted speed limit minus their age!

  • http://www.vanaheim.co.nz/ Gerrit

    I can easily tow my boat trailer fully loaded at 120k.  But the law restricts me to 90K.  Maybe a revist to enable people towing boat, caravan, trailers, etc. to travel at 100k would be advantages.

    Specially if fitted with rated towbars and towed weight under the braking restricted limit of the car and towbar.

    Maybef trailers fitted with brakes could be excempted from the current 90k limit?

    • Paul Rain

      It’s not like a competent driver wouldn’t be able to tow anything but the one-wheel trailers that aren’t even sold over here safely at 100kph. But hey.. why would the government test for actual driving competence when it can just up ACC levies on motorcyclists in response to incompetent drivers hitting them?

    • Sam

      Warrant rules for trailers should mean that any trailer not capable of being towed at 100kph is not allowed on the road, there are some trailers around that shouldn’t tow at even 50kph.

      In addition the tow vehicle needs to be able to tow said trailer at 100kph as well.

      Having differing speed limits is just dumb.

  • jabba

    about bloody time .. these pricks give me the shits and are so self rightious .. you see, they are entitled to drive at slow speeds

  • GP

    This is one form of revenue collection i support. The cops could wipe off the nations debt and balance the budget if they targeted all of the tourists in camper vans and old folks that drive at 70-80kms on the highway around south Canterbury/ Mackenzie where I live.

  • Anonymous

    About bloody time. Only about 40 years overdue! 

  • Iandavies39

    Add trucks to your 2am to 6am list and we would not need any new roads for a while.

  • Todd

    this is just fucken crazy.first off all they scare the old into thinking that they will die if they go faster than 103km,now because the policy worked and half the bloody country is traveling at 70-80kms they want them to drive faster.whats the new policy?.that you must drive between 90-103kms hour?.If you take a look at the AAA in the USA you will find that 60% of all accidents take place 10% under the posted limit.I notice that now when im traveling at 103kms that I am almost aways the fastest car on the road and constantly come up against card doing 70-80,being the prick that i am i obey the 2 second rule,this is when i notice the car in front (whos doing 80)starts looking in his rear view mirror every 2 seconds because im right up his arse,then pulls over to let me pass.works every time.

    • Dion

      Gee, you’re dicing with death there.  Do 104k during the holidays and they’ll hit you with a $30 ticket – saves lives, apparently.

  • johnbt

    I have studied these arseholes for many years. You will find that the drivers will often be hatwearers, drive green vehicles, or own second-rate cars (Ford, Mitsi or Subaru). Don’t forget those in their shiny SUVs that never go offroad and are so often blond.

    Drivers under 25 get a hard time but those over 70 seem to get away with their incompetence.

  • Dion

    Add those white campervans to the list as well.

  • Jaffa

    So, is the maximum speed limit also the minimum speed limit??
    Do road conditions matter?
    Are you allowed to slow down if it’s wet? slippery?
    If you are traveling at the speed limit,and holding up faster traffic?

  • excuse me

    Can they please start enforcing the “keep left” rule as well, especially on motorways.

    • Anonymous

      The pricks driving in the centre and outside lanes when not over taking and blocking the traffic coming through are a far bigger hazard on the road than those cruising down 120 on a straight motorway. High time they enforced that rule alright… hey they might even want to look at the indicate before changing lanes rule too

  • Paul Rain

    The really serious problem is high speed differentials, which is a greater problem overseas- the US and
    Europe don’t have Jap cars, so they can drive safely at a better pace,
    and they also have considerably better roads, for the same effect. However, almost all of the US and much of Europe also have bloody stupid speed limits like ours. So you end up with a fairly sizeable segment of the population driving (too slowly) at the speed limit, a smaller segment that honestly believes that speed rules are a ‘limit, not a target’ (rather than a bare minimum) and drives around too slowly while also not paying attention, and the remainder, who drive at a sensible speed under the conditions. Naturally, this causes problems when a stupid blind idiot pulls out into the passing lane to pass a stupider blinder idiot in a worse car without looking.

    If everyone was driving at 120 on the open road, in a modern car like an 80′s BMW or an EA Falcon, and actually paying attention, there would be no ‘road toll’.

  • Todd

    Always be aware of cars driving with their lights on,as the operandi is slow driving,crossing the centre line and refusing to pull over,however to them the law says if they drive under the limit all well be great.These people are shit scared that they are going to die any minute(my mother is one).Mind you they do get scared shitless when I pull up behind!.

  • Johnboy

    “in a modern car like an 80′s BMW or an EA Falcon ” !

    Sheet!!
     

  • Peter Wilson

     
    This is such a joke.

    The answer to one of the problems on NZ roads which is EXCESSIVE speed is apparently to target SLOW drivers. Hello.

    I wonder what the road toll would be if the speed limit was 90km.

    Of course people that complain about slow drivers claim THEY can handle excessive speed. Again, hello.

    Reminds me in the old days we all thought we could handle drinking and driving.

    I can easily tow my boat trailer fully loaded at 120k

    This another example of government having no answer to a problem (the road toll) so they focus on a easy target.

    Of course someone travelling at 30km below the limit is a bit different.

    • Paul Rain

      What ‘EXCESSIVE’ speed? Are you being passed at 50kph differentials by hoons in Morris Minors? Learn to drive properly, or get on a bus.

  • Anonymous

    I knew a family who towed a caravan and a boat (road train style) from south Auckland to Port Charles (right up the Coromandal) each Christmas. This was before the old Kopu bridge had traffic lights, the tar seal ended just beyond Thames and the road over the Bombay Hills was two lane with no passing bays. Those were the days! Then the mean authorities banned double towing.

  • Periwinkle

     
     
    Todd

    Driving so close is intimidating Todd – if you are driving up someone’s arse you are breaking the law – I cannot believe that there are drivers like you that are so arrogant they are prepared to put their name in print.

    Not only that, driving so close is the tactic of a mindless bully whose only thought is for himself and can create a situation where the driver in front could be so stressed by your actions that they may well make a mistake. But you hadn’t thought of that, had you – all you seem to think of is how it is so important that you set the pace and rule the road

    Unless you are an AE doctor rushing to save a patient, you would be better off not driving at all and leaving the road to people who are courteous and patient or better still, buy a helicopter!

    Males who think they are brilliant drivers are usually exacly the opposite.

  • Chris

    Are you saying that drivers who have accidents because of their “frustration” at slow drivers are to blame?  This seems at odds with your belief in people being responsible for their actions.  Perhaps we could introduce a new defence for reckless or dangerous driving?  We could call it the “being frustrated at low drivers” defence:  “It’s not my fault, I was frustrated by this really slow driver in front of me, Your Honour”.

  • Chris

    Freudian slip:  should read “Are you saying that drivers who have accidents because of their “frustration” at slow drivers aren’t to blame? 

  • frosty

    Sounds like a whole lot of people in charge of motor vehicles just need to calm the fuck down.  Leave early, take good music, take the route less traveled.  We have some dumbass road users in this country – whether they are too fast, too slow, too reckless, drunk, and generally just shit.  The worst are the impatient ones.  General rules for driving – don’t be a wanker, share the road, and if you can’t do that, let someone else drive. 

  • Todd

    Perriwinkle.
    yeah I know but I dont give a toss,if these buggers want do hold me up they get the message.I know I could get a ticket,but its fun and it works brillantly,sure its not very responsible but again i must be a very bad person.

  • Todd

    Ps. I never travel during the holiday season,because I am out numbered by these buggers

  • NoLongerAJafa

    Speed on our roads isn’t the issue, its incompetence

    Most of our roads are perfectly safe for a competent driver doing 120. Sadly, there are a large amount of people whose god-given right is to do 80 on single lanes, speed up to 110 on passing lanes then slow back down, change lanes without indication, text while driving, fail to use mirrors, overtake with no indication or mirror check, drink-drive, drug-drive, believe that they are indestructible (or their mates are) and just “have fun” on the roads, etc etc etc

    I was over in the states recently and driving between cities on 70MPH (with the 10MPH grace)roads was heaven. The courtesy and competence levels were much higher as well.

    Interestingly when they dropped teh limit to 55 (55 and survive) the road toll balooned. Raised back to 70, it dropped