what don't you like about Aus?

[Johnno]

Maybe Andrea has a point. Too many cashed-up youngsters in Perth??

dunno Bron, stats and news reports reckon it's pretty prolific in Qld

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/new-antihooning-laws-sees-40-cars-a-day-taken-off-queensland-roads/story-fnihsrf2-1226788095026

POLICE are taking up to 40 cars a day off the road under the State's tough new anti-hooning laws.

New figures show police have handed out more than 1300 charges a week since the legislation came into force on November 1 and have impounded or confiscated the plates of at least 1763 cars.

[Bronwyn&Co]

I don't really care if they hoon as long as they don't hit one of my kids driving on the road. If they smash themselves up I'm kinda ho-hum, to be honest. No-one's coming through my lounge wall because I live in a cul-de-sac behind a nice big SA-style wall with lots of bars, just the way I like it.

Edited to add: I can hear a car driving too fast outside on the main rd near us right now. In Pretoria was constant police sirens where we lived. ?

Edited June 6, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[Johnno]

If I remember correctly, there was usually a story on the news every couple of weeks in Perth of a car that had run off the road and into a hous or even the swimming pool.........................there could be a number of reasons, badly built roads with houses very close to the road, higher proporption of cashed up young people with powerful cars................who knows, can't say I see too much of that particular thing on the news over here in Queensland, but we seem to have had a lot of murders, where the husband has murdered the wife................OK, maybe I mean about a dozen in the last year or so.

We seem to have a lot of tourists getting into road accidents.

AndreaL, yes I agree there used to be a story every couple of weeks but now it's weekly, if not a few a week, hence me mentioning it under the thread "what you don't like about Aus?"

Hooning is not a sport, nor is it a right of passage! It's a total lack of respect for the law, the people who enforce the law and fellow law-abiding citizens.

I don't really care if they hoon as long as they don't hit one of my kids driving on the road. If they smash themselves up I'm kinda ho-hum, to be honest. No-one's coming through my lounge wall because I live in a cul-de-sac behind a nice big SA-style wall with lots of bars, just the way I like it.

Edited to add: I can hear a car driving too fast outside on the main rd near us right now. In Pretoria was constant police sirens where we lived.

That's the problem. You and your family (like me and my family) will be out on the roads and these idiots use those same public roads to carry out their selfish, reckless and dangerous antics. I'm also pretty lucky, we live in a cul-de-sac, no really road frontage, kinda out of the way, nice and private. In fact my kids grew up playing in the cul-de-sac but just because it;s not happening in my road does not mean that it does not happen and that we should tolerate it.

[Bronwyn&Co]

AndreaL, yes I agree there used to be a story every couple of weeks but now it's weekly, if not a few a week, hence me mentioning it under the thread "what you don't like about Aus?"

Hooning is not a sport, nor is it a right of passage! It's a total lack of respect for the law, the people who enforce the law and fellow law-abiding citizens.

That's the problem. You and your family (like me and my family) will be out on the roads and these idiots use those same public roads to carry out their selfish, reckless and dangerous antics. I'm also pretty lucky, we live in a cul-de-sac, no really road frontage, kinda out of the way, nice and private. In fact my kids grew up playing in the cul-de-sac but just because it;s not happening in my road does not mean that it does not happen and that we should tolerate it.

I don't know how they get away with it. My 16 year old learner driver got a $146 fine in the post today for driving 57 in a 50 zone. The whole area is marked as 60 and I specifically looked for a 50 sign and noticed it today for the first time. We've thought that area was all 60 for the past couple of years. Dunno if the sign could be new...? ? it's also downhill. Damn!

[Johnno]

Not all get away with it but you'll be GOBSMACKED if you knew just how many people drive with suspended drivers licenses. A few weeks ago we had to get every person in our company who has a company car or who makes use of a company car to sign and addendum to their terms and conditions of appointment. We have now got them to sign an agreement acknowledging that it is their responsibility to immediately stop driving and inform their manager should they have their drivers license suspended.

My 17yr old P- Plater picked up a fine a few weeks ago. Many WA schools were closed because of the teachers strike so he cruised at 50km/h through a school zone where he was pinged by a multi-nova. $150 and 2 of his 6 demerit points down the gurgler!

[Bronwyn&Co]

Do P-platers get 6 points?? My daughter on her green P's got a $146 fine on exactly the same day as my son but in a completely different area at almost midnight. Weird. 68 in a 60 zone, 1 demerit. First time fine for both of them.

I could kick her butt, she snuck out to pick up her BF and two of his mates from a party almost an hour away.

Unfortunately both cars are in my husband's name and he's in SA for 2 weeks (with the naughty P-plater) but we have some stat decs to complete. Life. No wonder I have to go colour my hair so often

Edited June 6, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[Johnno]

Do P-platers get 6 points?? My daughter on her green P's got a $146 fine on exactly the same day as my son but in a completely different area at almost midnight. Weird. 68 in a 60 zone, 1 demerit. First time fine for both of them.

I could kick her butt, she snuck out to pick up her BF and two of his mates from a party almost an hour away.

Unfortunately both cars are in my husband's name and he's in SA for 2 weeks (with the naughty P-plater) but we have some stat decs to complete. Life. No wonder I have to go colour my hair so often

I'm not sure if the points system is the same in every state. Here in WA we get 12 points for a full license but P platers get less, I believe from my son it is 6 points. I'm not sure if there's a diffs in points between red and green P plates, my son is on his green P's.

If your hubby is away and he has his full set of points, just pay the fine....he nor the cops will know

[Bronwyn&Co]

I'm not sure if the points system is the same in every state. Here in WA we get 12 points for a full license but P platers get less, I believe from my son it is 6 points. I'm not sure if there's a diffs in points between red and green P plates, my son is on his green P's.

If your hubby is away and he has his full set of points, just pay the fine....he nor the cops will know

I would normally, but

1) P plater's BF has said he will pay fine since it's all his fault. They saw the camera go off...so I'm keen to see if he intends to follow up with action ?

2) Learner's fine is actually $733 because car is in hubby's business name. He must sign stat dec. I'd have to do a bit of creative signing...after you tell them who was driving, they divide fine by 5. I love living in a nanny state where they treat business owners as a species apart. Guilty until proven innocent. Or something.

Imagine my shock when I decided to open hubby's mail today & saw a $733 fine for driving 57kph. I actually had to sit down for a while

[funtobeaussiechick]

Hey funtobeaussiechick, I lived in SA for 35yrs and never got robbed, murdered or hijacked I must have had a good neighbourhood or does that not mean it does not happen.

Read the article that I posted with open eyes!! Over 200 cases of cars a smashing into houses over last 2 years in WA alone!! That's just accidents of out of control cars hitting houses, no to mention the other accidents and near accidents caused by hooning. Are you denying that hooning is a an issue of huge concern to the Australian authorities or you simply don't believe it because it does not happen in your road? I'd be keen to hear your thoughts?

LOL Eva, now that's a fine way of looking at it.......I did not see it happen so it does not happen, maybe! hahahaha!!. YesWell you certainly were very lucky in SA Johnno and extremely unlucky in Aus, tongue in cheek. Yes I do walk around with eyes wide open, even here and yes I am well aware of hooning and its existence, not denying it at all. I do recall a few houses in SA where trucks, youngsters, taxis, etc went through the same wall many times. I guess it boils down to where you live and if there are hoons about hey? I have lived in a few different places in Aus and always quite selectively just as I would have in Joburg. Check the police stats, hooning stats etc before I move anywhere.So touch wood, so far Aus has been really good to us but I know what you mean about hoons. Just as I would not live in Eldorado Park I check out where the community houses are and stay away

[Johnno]

funtobeaussiechick, I agree with you it really does depend on where you live, especially in South Africa. I like to think I live in a pretty decent area and thankfully no hooning in my immediate neighbourhood but I do see the skid marks laid down in car parks, intersections etc and read about the horrific smashes that make the news. The article that I posted about hooning in Qld where on average 40 cars are confiscated A DAY! The authorities have had to introduce serious measures to curb this out of control problem. If it was not a serious problem the Aus authorities would not be taking it so seriously and making such a big scene about it. For me the act it's self is criminal but it's the attitude of utter arrogance and total disrespect for the law that I do not like.

On Thurs on my daily commute to the office I was driving behind a car when I noticed the driver flick his cigarette butt out of the window. This is like raising a red flag to a bull for me! Luckily it's not mid summer here in Perth but I was amazed at how a so-called educated first world society person can be so brainless. I pulled up next to him at the traffic lights, rolled down my passenger window and said "mate, that's just not on". Well.......my whole family tree going back at least 3 generations was called every name under the sun. I heard swear words I did not know even existed. Luckily the traffic lights turned green so shook my head, gave him the finger and drove off. Luckily I have his rego and description which I have reported to Keep Australia Beautiful - WA. There's a nifty iPhone app for this: http://www.kabc.wa.gov.au/litter-reporting.html

[chzaau]

We have terrible accidents here in rsa. Just this week a truck flattened a car http://citizen.co.za/189348/man-dies-horror-bedfordview-truck-crash/

There was another involving a truck, bus, taxi. 10 bodies lying around burning at the scene.http://blog.er24.co.za/2014/06/ten-killed-forty-injured-in-bus-collision/

This goes on weekly here. Driving here is dangerous. In joburg we have at least 40 accidents a day on our roads and its very common to drive past an accident.

[chzaau]

So Saturday morning just getting going, here the 1st kill of the dayhttps://mobile.twitter.com/PigSpotter/status/475155886080790528/photo/1

Here a kill from yesterday https://mobile.twitter.com/help24westrand/status/474863773308944384/photos

I regularly see unrestrained children in cars here an example of kids on backboards of carshttps://mobile.twitter.com/LStierlin/status/474923780918493186/photo/1

I certainly believe you have serious accidents in Oz but at least you have some law enforcement. We have none, vehicles driven down wrong sides of roads on pavements. The number of unroadworthy vehicles is mind boggling.

Checkout this mega kill from Pinetown last yearShocking truck crash footage - Pinetown truck cra: http://youtu.be/aB-9VtMiXqE

Edited June 7, 2014 by chzaau

[AndreaL]

So Saturday morning just getting going, here the 1st kill of the dayhttps://mobile.twitter.com/PigSpotter/status/475155886080790528/photo/1

I regularly see unrestrained children in cars here an example of kids on backboards of carshttps://mobile.twitter.com/LStierlin/status/474923780918493186/photo/1

I think you have more road deaths over the Easter weekend than we have in a year.

That just wouldn't happen here, people take child restraints very seriously and children up until age 7 have to be in a child seat.

[AndreaL]

dunno Bron, stats and news reports reckon it's pretty prolific in Qld

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/new-antihooning-laws-sees-40-cars-a-day-taken-off-queensland-roads/story-fnihsrf2-1226788095026

Our new antihooning laws are a lot tougher than WA, hence more cars have been impounded and crushed, but then again we have 4.6 million people, whilst there are around 2.5 million in WA.

[Johnno]

chzaau, crikey that Pinetown truck accident from last year must be near worn out by now, over 1 million views on Youtube alone!

SA road death toll is staggering, it always has been! Undoubtedly, it's overloaded taxis that accounts for the vast majority of road deaths in SA!

[Maktub]

Just a little perspective that blew my mind when I started my research here in Australia. I work as a sports injury prevention researcher, in the broader field of injury prevention that includes car crashes, burns and fall prevention, drowning prevention, smoking, disease, abuse, and other public health issues.

Coming from South Africa to what I perceived to be the 'nanny state' to train as an injury prevention researcher was daunting, as I had no idea whether or not I would be able to agree with the 'cottonball' nation's ideas! ;-) I mean, accidents happen right? Sometimes your luck just runs out...

Well, I had a big lesson to learn!

In "injury prevention" research and implementation internationally and here in Australia, car crash incidents are no longer referred to as 'accidents' (as this word implies that they are not preventable) - they are now classed as 'unintentional incidents' because there is always a number of factors leading up to the crash - and this makes every crash preventable. Same with sports injuries, burns, any other issue.

In fact, the British Medical Journal banned the word "accident" back in 2001 because it is so inaccurate. The result of this has been that, in Victoria, there is now a 'towards zero' campaign for the road death toll. Incredible that this is even feasible.

Compare this to South Africa, where death is a pervasive fact of life, and where it is impossible to even think that the road death toll could ever be zero.

Life is precious here, and there is a HUGE amount of research and implementation that goes on behind the scenes in Australia to protect every single life, and to enhance quality of life. It is by no mistake that Aus has had such success with reducing smoking rates with plain packaging, that Occ Health and Safety is so paramount, that falls in the elderly are actively prevented, that mass gun violence hysteria does not exist here as it does in the USA (interesting story behind that), etc etc.

Ps: this is now being applied to gun violence:

http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_slutkin_let_s_treat_violence_like_a_contagious_disease?utm_medium=on.ted.com-twitter&utm_content=awesm-publisher&awesm=on.ted.com_e0DfD&utm_campaign=&utm_source=t.co

Yes sometimes we perceive Australia as having many rules and regulations, but I assure you that they each have science behind them. Every one of those rules is made only after they have been proven to have a positive population effect, so they are not taken lightly.

One example of this:

Last year I had a chat with someone from KidSafe WA, who shared with me some of the work that they are now doing - last year 2 children died after flatscreen TVs fell on them because they were not mounted properly. He was absolutely outraged that these absolutely preventable incidents had happened, and has since been organising a campaign to educate parents so that this never happens again. (Same with the recent campaign on button batteries)

Can you imagine such a response in RSA after 'only' 2 children? I think not. RSA, unfortunately, has bigger fish to fry.

This makes me very happy to be in Australia, so no complaints.

[Fish]

Just a little perspective that blew my mind when I started my research here in Australia. I work as a sports injury prevention researcher, in the broader field of injury prevention that includes car crashes, burns and fall prevention, drowning prevention, smoking, disease, abuse, and other public health issues.

....

On this point, wish more would be done on slowing traffic down and making more pedestrian and cycle friendly cities....we are still way behind some European cities in this respect. One mark of a successful first world city in the future will be how well they have catered for these sought of issues imo.