inbox. LETTERS
Reviewing speed limits Adhering to speed limits requires respect for those limits in that they are fair and logical. For example: Why is the 100km/h speed limit for the nearby Bass Highway the same as for our narrow and bendy rural road? Either the highway limit is too low or the rural road limit too high. Both cannot be right. How can a loaded truck and trailer be considered safe at 100km/h when it cannot possibly stop in the same distance as a passenger vehicle? Limiting trucks to 90km/h would enhance safety for all road users.
What’s an acceptable speed? As a 69-year-old motorcyclist, my open-road speed of 95–98km/h is apparently just not acceptable these days, judging by the number of tailgaters that I attract. My age, reflexes and common sense dictate that I obey the law. On many occasions I pull over to let the urgent speedsters in their utes and SUVs get out of my mirrors and race away. It would appear that the speed limit on the open road is the generally accepted slowest pace that we should drive at. The only way to stop this is by speed traps and highway patrols. Please make no mistake – the only way speeding will slow down is when it becomes a very heavy financial impost, because until then, people don’t really care, as there generally are no consequences. Steve Willett // Spring Beach
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JOURNEYS // APR / MAY 2022
Mike Buky // Rocky Cape
Midland Highway upgrades Will this upgrade include four lanes with a camber and thicker road surface and with longer entrances and exit lanes, and cycling lanes? If not, send them back to the drawing board. These past upgrades are not up to the requirements for today’s traffic conditions; road thickness needs to be at least 70–80mm which is the thickness on the autobahn. The traffic and trucks are not the problem, it is road construction – and the lack of it. Nor the contractors, it is the tender system and not what is required. Rodney Chilcott (via Facebook)
