The speed laws in Australia are so antiquated. I've recently driven in Germany on the autobahns with people doing well in excess of 200 km/hr and all with relative safety. In France they have 2 different speeds, 140km/hr (for example) on highways, this drops to 110 when it's raining. Our speed limits were introduced decades ago when abs, vds, airbags, decent brakes etc etc didn't exist. I think it's time they were overhauled. Australia does have terrible stats for road fatalities, but the reason for this is not excessive speed, more a case of inappropriate speed. The amount of times I've read in Perth of some drunk p-plater in an old Commodore wrapping himself round a tree with his 4 mates whilst doing 170. Now the police and media jump on the fact that he was doing 170. Whereas the real problem lies in his intoxication, his old powerful car and his inexperience. They need to overhaul the speed limits, increasing them on freeways and open roads and reducing them for certain black-spots. For P-platers/inexperienced drivers there needs to be tighter control over what they can drive, time of day they can drive, how many people can drive etc. I personally would like to see a minimum age of 19 set for getting your license. And a driving test that is a lot more comprehensive.

Woah...

Big rant there.

You can't compare the speed limits in Germany / France to those in Australia. The roads and road design of the Autobahns are far superior to the shit spec we get here.

The problem is we have so many accidents at the current speed limits on our roads, so raising the speed limit will only fall on deaf ears. What needs to be done (if anyone was serious about road toll) is better design of our roads with suitable speed limits to suit. The way the Mitchell / Kwinana freeway is designed, I'm suprised its not 80kmh. Lanes merging everywhere (I think on last check only 1 lane runs the entire length - all 3 should run the entire length to stop all these bottle necks), poor exits/entries, bad signage etc etc.

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[COLOR="Gray"]550Nm off a 2L... Just wish it was in the dak dak...[/COLOR]

Yes and no. We should be able to drive at 140 on the Mitchell Freeway without any problems. The outer lane is the fast lane, but is primarily an over-taking lane. So many people crawl along at 90 refusing to pull over. Admittedly there are roads in WA that are poor quality, but some are fine. I think the overal driving standard in Perth is pretty poor. I only came to that conclusion after doing a lot of travel and coming back to Perth.

I think we should face the fact that whilst most of us here are competant drivers capable of 140km/h, perth is infested with retards on the road....and these retards may one day crash into me!

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MY04 WRX CLUBSPEC 7

it'll never happen.

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Long live the WRC

I agree with a part of your statement mate. I do agree that it is too easy to pass a driving test in Australia full stop. As some of you may know i come from a little country called Poland and let me tell you, 80% of teenagers going for their Ps would not pass the test. It does not consist of a 5 minute drive around the block and "you're all right mate, go back". It takes a whole week including classes and practical exams each day. If you fail something...see you later.

Firstly if we increase the expirience of drivers on our roads, improve their quality and then get rid off the whole "teenage racer dickhead attitude"...then and only then we can talk about the speed increase.

To be honest if they had roads such as our freeways in Poland and people doing only 100km\h every grandpa in his little Fiat would be laughing at you as he's overtaking you.

i rekon thats half the problem, curb crawlers and rubber neckers, people who dont do the speed limit and people who slow down to gawk at whats happening on the side of the road are just as guilty of causing accidents!

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Evolution 8 MR

Forester GT

I think thats a pretty clueless rant. the top speed on European highways is 130, in France they have signs saying 110 in bad weather. German autobahns are not completely speed limit free, only certain sections. They are also generally 4 lanes wide and filled with cars of a much high caliber than you would find on a Perth freeway. Perths 2 lanes if you're lucky freeways filled with aging datsuns, corollas and RS libertys' could not support those sorts of speeds. You also need to take into account the quality of our roads. European roads are in a constant state of repair, you'd know if you ever drove more than 20km on one. When was the last time you saw the state govt repair more than a 3m stretch of the freeway? European highways are smooth with gradual curves, our freeways are bumpy with sharper corners, not to mention roads like great eastern, northern, sou west highways with their single lanes and trees 1m from the roadside. West Australian roads could not support the sorts of speeds you are talking about. Not that West Australian drivers could either.

I must admit i agree with the rest of your post. If P Plate commodore drivers are so keen to wrap themselves around a tree, I'm keen to let them. It's what I call a life lesson, fair chance he won't do it again =)

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MY93 Impreza GX 1.8L, 0hp, 0nm

God don't get me started on that, a while back I was stuck in really bad traffic on the Mitchell Freeway, eventually got to the point where it started moving, I was expecting to see some 30 car pile up, body parts strewn all over the shop... what was it... some one had broken down on the opposite side of the road and there was an AA van. But TBH, it was a cool van, had these cool orange flashing lights, wicked, I got a picture too.

You are right about the autobahns, but the roads and speed limits vary vastly throughout Europe. They are all different countries, Europe is not a country. The roads in Bulgaria are far different to those in Germany.