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Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

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Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#171

Post by hug »

dahart wrote: post #168
hug wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are 268 million vehicles in the United States. If we assume that each vehicle makes two trips per day on average, and than the number of minutes of inconvenience taken up by pulling over to operate a phone is 5, that’d be 2.68 billion minutes of inconvenience per day alone! We can be generous and put the intrinsic value of a human life at the average lifespan in the US of 78 years, or 41 million minutes. That m…

That was funny. Looks like it cost a few karma points, but I appreciated the humor at this point in thread.

Although I'm hardly losing sleep over my loss of karma, I'm glad someone appreciated it.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#172

Post by paranoidrobot »

batiudrami wrote: post #141
wiredone wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People in Australia don't take driving seriously. Honestly, as an Australian living in the US, i'm not sure you have enough context. After living in both Asia and the US, we're a nanny state on this stuff. In the US, people barely ever get breathe tested and often drive drunk, speed everywhere (70-80mph is a lot faster than 110-120kmh). I've also seen Facetime in use multiple times while on the freeway.

Yeah in general Australian driving is pretty good I've found. Japan is the only country I've been to where the driving is clearly better. Driving in other countries - the Americas, Asia, Europe, even the supposed peak of Western organisation and efficiency Germany had significantly poorer driving than I see in Australia. But use of phones is an issue and I'm glad to see this being put in place.

> in general Australian driving is pretty good I've found

I think driving habits and behaviours are regional.

Comparing the drivers of Newcastle, NSW and Sydney, NSW - just 160KM apart and there's a lot of weird differences.

- When merging/changing lanes - Newcastle drivers tend to speed up/close any gap if you put your indicator on, to prevent you from merging ahead of them. Sydney tends to be more permissive.

- When passing a parked car on a suburban street (single lane each direction), drivers in Sydney will continue on without deviating speed or course significantly. Newcastle drivers will slow down and cross almost entirely into the opposing lane/side of the road. Even on hills and around corners where there's a huge amount of space in their lane.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#173

Post by dahart »

quotemstr wrote: post #53
jjulius wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drive 2+ hours round-trip for work every weekday, and my work often has me visiting client sites during the week. I find nothing difficult about setting my destination via GPS before I begin my drive, and I find that my attention to what's going on around me is significantly diminished should I attempt to modify my route while driving. An inconvenience of, say, 5-10 minutes to find a place to pull over and input ne…

> absolutely worth it Can you demonstrate, using numbers, that the tradeoff is positive? > I cannot believe people are arguing for "efficiency" over traffic safety. People prioritize efficiency over safety all the time. It's a good thing. So do you, if you support non-zero speed limits. The current animus against cell phone use while driving is the result of a moral panic, not a rational cost-benefit tradeoff. > If I…

Here are some stats on rates of crashes while driving with phones in the U.S. https://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/c...

> The act of pulling is itself a complex maneuver that practically invites accidents

Well, 100% of car trips involve at least 1 pull-over. Of the major causes of crashes, injuries and fatalities, attempting to pull over safely isn’t even listed as a major cause of accidents in any stats I can find anywhere for any country. Can you demonstrate with numbers that pulling over is dangerous?

> Most accidents occur at low speed

Your link is talking mostly about commercial vehicles bumping into walls at 3mph. Most injuries and fatalities do not occur at low speed. The number one cause of vehicle fatalities in the US is speeding, second is alcohol. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/8124...

Same is true in Australia https://www.qbe.com/au/news/the-most-common-causes-of-car-ac...

Same is true worldwide https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/189242/9789...

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#174

Post by why-oh-why »

tiew9Vii wrote: post #114
Sendotsh wrote: post #89

Good. People in Australia don't take driving seriously. I spend a lot of time on the road, and have lived all over Australia, and the one defining thing I've found in common all over the country is that people are WAY too casual about driving. Sydney and Melbourne being the worst by far, with it being so bad it has become entertainment[0] On any given commute you'll see dozens of people playing with their phone while…

Completely agree. I can’t figure it out though, they have some strict standards getting a license, red p’s for 12-24 months + 120 logbook hours, then green p’s where they are restricted to dangerous below highway speeds so have drivers aggressively overtaking them. Despite this, standards seem far lower than Europe. The horn thing is really annoying, often the person being beeped can’t move forward anyway due to traf…

It’s funny you mention Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnamese traffic seems lawless but I’ve come to the realization that people there follow different rules, that’s all.

Example: often you can cut the oncoming traffic off and turn left before them. This has the advantage of not having to wait 2 minutes in the middle of the road hoping that some poor soul will let you go. Instead, you just do it and people will slow down without honking at you (ironically, since they basically use the honk as a “I’m here too” signal)

Which one is better? Having left turns take forever or simply slowing down for 2 seconds when you cross an intersection?

Driving on motorbikes especially is infinitely smoother than in any other countries. I’ll take driving in Ho Chi Minh City over LA any day.

If you cut people off in the US people will honk, get unreasonably mad and chances are a police car will appear out of nowhere.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#175

Post by ddingus »

megaremote wrote: post #122
Franciscouzo wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That just sounds like a band-aid solution, what is needed are walkable cities, and decent public transportation.

That just sounds like a huge change that will take a long time and a lot of money to do.

Well, in the US, that means jobs, and we've got the money. Done right, it makes us worth more and won't even have a meaningful impact on the overall value of currency.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#176

Post by rosege »

WatchDog wrote: post #113
Sendotsh wrote: post #89

Good. People in Australia don't take driving seriously. I spend a lot of time on the road, and have lived all over Australia, and the one defining thing I've found in common all over the country is that people are WAY too casual about driving. Sydney and Melbourne being the worst by far, with it being so bad it has become entertainment[0] On any given commute you'll see dozens of people playing with their phone while…

As an Australian that has driven in multiple countries, I would choose driving among Australians over many if not most other countries. US drivers are much more aggressive, particularly in cities like LA. UK drivers seem roughly equivalent. Drivers in Germany and the Netherlands seem to drive safer. Driving in South Korea, China, and India is terrifying.

Im an Australian who has lived in the Netherlands and I found them pretty aggressive drivers. Generally really nice people outside the car but not so in it.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#177

Post by rosege »

pratyushc wrote: post #115
Sendotsh wrote: post #89

Good. People in Australia don't take driving seriously. I spend a lot of time on the road, and have lived all over Australia, and the one defining thing I've found in common all over the country is that people are WAY too casual about driving. Sydney and Melbourne being the worst by far, with it being so bad it has become entertainment[0] On any given commute you'll see dozens of people playing with their phone while…

Driving around in other countries and then coming back to Australia really opened my eyes to how aggressive (especially towards cyclists) the drivers are here.

yes I really don't understand the hatred of cyclists - yes they might slow you down for 30 secs - is it really that big a deal?

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#178

Post by TheCalicoCat »

jimmux wrote: post #152
drivingeve wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between European and Australian drivers is not that Australians have to do 120 hours of supervised driving, but that the supervisor for the hours of driving in Australia is usually the parents of the learner. So any bad habbits from parents are taught between generations. Compare that to the European system where you are requiredto hire a professional driving instructor to teach you (at great expense I…

I got my license in Canberra, where I had the option to skip the driving test by doing enough hours with a qualified driving instructor. It was a big contrast to my previous struggles to get supervised drives with friends and family. I had picked up a habit of going much too fast around every corner, because the owner of the car I was practicing in insisted that it must be done that way. She did it because that's wha…

I got my license the same way and 100% agree. It's a shame that Canberra is planning to move to the logbook system next year. I only know of one person from NSW who actually did the full 120 hours, and that was only because they took several road trips to other cities.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#179

Post by cm2012 »

why-oh-why wrote: post #174
tiew9Vii wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. I can’t figure it out though, they have some strict standards getting a license, red p’s for 12-24 months + 120 logbook hours, then green p’s where they are restricted to dangerous below highway speeds so have drivers aggressively overtaking them. Despite this, standards seem far lower than Europe. The horn thing is really annoying, often the person being beeped can’t move forward anyway due to traf…

It’s funny you mention Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnamese traffic seems lawless but I’ve come to the realization that people there follow different rules, that’s all. Example: often you can cut the oncoming traffic off and turn left before them. This has the advantage of not having to wait 2 minutes in the middle of the road hoping that some poor soul will let you go. Instead, you just do it and people will slow down witho…

Considering Vietnam has twice the rate of death from motor vehicles as the USA, I know which rules I would choose to live with.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#180

Post by King-Aaron »

rosege wrote: post #177
pratyushc wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving around in other countries and then coming back to Australia really opened my eyes to how aggressive (especially towards cyclists) the drivers are here.

yes I really don't understand the hatred of cyclists - yes they might slow you down for 30 secs - is it really that big a deal?

The hilarious irony of drivers getting angry at cyclists is that by just driving their car they are adding more to congestion and commute times than the cyclists they're so irate at.
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