The totally off-topic thread

[Flying mermaid]

Hoping all goes well for you.

and for you John. I gather you are having a bad run.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Everything crossed for you RodgerK.

I too dread what each blood test reveals. A surprising one for me last week and most likely on blood thinners for life. I had reassured myself thinking it was just going to be for 6 months but the autoantibodies in the blood towards my blood (sort of) put paid to that. Lucky there is xarelto - no monitoring required. Oh well, no more squeezing into economy for long trips anymore - except Jetstar in a few weeks. Must move around - a lot. Clearly my immune system thinks I am an invader.

Miss FM has auto immune problems as well, although hers attack nerves and muscles. It is why I am always paying for J fares for her, as I am convinced tiredness and stress exacerbate things.

 

[Pushka]

Miss FM has auto immune problems as well, although hers attack nerves and muscles. It is why I am always paying for J fares for her, as I am convinced tiredness and stress exacerbate things.

Absolutely they do. I am at my worst when tired (eg sleepless nights or jet lag) and stressed - all these issues that I have had as separate 'entities' for years collided just 6 weeks after mum died.

Which gets back to symptoms that seem disparate and unrelated and even unimportant but take the time to complete a puzzle and a whole new diagnosis comes into play. Eg I get lacy patterns on my limbs sometimes. Never would go bother a Doctor about that - they dont hurt. But it can be a significant symptom of a blood clotting autoimmune disease. So I found out today. Fingers that turn white. Funny observation only. Nothing significant and not the stuff to ask the Dr. Mmm. Another symptom.

I am having a lot of light bulb moments currently.

Do I sound like JohnK

But it is with a huge sense of relief that I am getting answers. Even though the latest one I dont like.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Absolutely they do. I am at my worst when tired (eg sleepless nights or jet lag) and stressed - all these issues that I have had as separate 'entities' for years collided just 6 weeks after mum died.

Which gets back to symptoms that seem disparate and unrelated and even unimportant but take the time to complete a puzzle and a whole new diagnosis comes into play. Eg I get lacy patterns on my limbs sometimes. Never would go bother a Doctor about that - they dont hurt. But it can be a significant symptom of a blood clotting autoimmune disease. So I found out today. Fingers that turn white. Funny observation only. Nothing significant and not the stuff to ask the Dr. Mmm. Another symptom.

I am having a lot of light bulb moments currently.

Do I sound like JohnK

But it is with a huge sense of relief that I am getting answers. Even though the latest one I dont like.

yes - It is a bit of a journey . Unfortunately there is a long way to go with auto immune problems. They can treat the symptoms, but root causes seem another thing. We started off with white fingers, which of course can be benign and is common in cold climates (Reynaud's). I noticed Miss FM's when she was 15 and took her to the GP - he did some blood tests just in case there were any nasties and unfortunately they came back with heaps.

It has never progressed to Lupus or Scleroderma (her most likely ones), but weird things keep happening like nerves dying or muscles. She has had a massive number of tests, but they keep being non conclusive, so at the moment they are just watching her. It is why I get a bit hysterical when Qantas do things to her flights .

I hope all goes well for you - the stress leading up to your Mum, must have been quite extreme.

 

[Pushka]

That pattern of watching and waiting seems to be the norm until 'something' flicks over. Or it never does! Lupus is an elusive creature.

 

[Pushka]

That pattern of watching and waiting seems to be the norm until 'something' flicks over. Or it never does! Lupus is an elusive creature.

This is my favourite!


House is wrong sometimes.

 

[JohnK]

and for you John. I gather you are having a bad run.

Thanks. Everything is ok. There are others worse off.

 

[juddles]

.....Sadly illegal in most other states....... They also mostly use laser speed detectors these days. A member of the AFP has said they are really hard to aim, and if you see one the best action is to change lanes - if possible.......... The beam has to be aligned to be parallel to the road surface. If they are at the bottom of a hill shooting at cars coming down the hill then the beam will be getting reflection from the road surface...."

medhead, sorry to disagree, but I simply must on a couple of issues.

Speeding fines are source of much angst by members of the public. Essentially they hate getting caught doing the wrong thing, they feel embarrassed, and they try to justify anything to get out of that.

Road speed limits are set for the single concept of reducing the incidence or severity of accidents. They are not set to raise revenue. That is just codswallop invented by people to try to not feel they are naughty. Not a single person involved in setting those limits gets any benefit from fines from those who are careless and exceed the limit.

But because people get caught out, and try to save face, they often contest tickets in the forlorn hope of redeeming themselves, even if undeservedly. And our legal system works heavily in their favour as we have a system making it almost bulletproof against failure. Any doubt and a ticket gets thrown. But they almost NEVER do. Both the equipment and the procedures in using them have been developed to an extremely high standard.

The laser speed detection equipment you refer to (LIDAR) is amazing. I know it very very well. You say someone said it is hard to aim??? What??? No it is not. And the suggestion to change lanes?? Do you mean if you are breaking the law you are advising methods to try to escape punishment? Do you want speeding people who think they see a radar to suddenly veer across the road?????? Very low moral ground.

People carp on with all sorts of nonsense and urban myths. Reflections from the road surface? A simple but important concept with LIDAR is that it does not measure speed. It measures distance. It measures this multiple times in a very brief period and using the differences in distance it CALCULATES the speed. If you do not get the importance of this you cannot grasp why they are so accurate. And they have imbedded a zillion fail-safe internal tests so that if anything at all is not coherent in the data they ditch the lot and give you the benefit of the doubt. The accuracy of the equipment is phenomenal - the same equipment as used by Qld Police is used in the space effort - they use it for space docking procedures.

As for being hard to aim, yes, it is nice to support the equipment against a pole or similar, much like using a rifle. But it is not hard. But the area of targetting is small and so accurate. I always used to take the speed from the front of the helmet of motorcyclists. Or the rego plate on a car.

As for the downhill thing, what on earth makes you think it is ok to speed downhill? Yes, I know that we all gain a little speed going downhill, but we need to be conscious of this and correct it. It takes longer to brake going downhill. Very basic physics.

And finally, you find it sad that it is illegal in most places to have gear that helps people to avoid being caught speeding? Again, very shaky morally. What next, a police detector so thieves can avoid them?

Australia is very tough on road safety. Yes, we have all got tickets and feel bad about them, because we all "know" we are good drivers and not dangerous.

Most fatal crashes are caused by average, "good" drivers, who in that moment made a small mistake. And so the law trys to hammer everyone in to being very conscious. Causes many fines to otherwise good people, but it also saves massive amounts of lives and injury.

But always we will have people who think that their "minor" transgressions are just that - insignificant. But they are not.

Go to a few fresh crashes and see and feel and smell the result.

Sorry, talking as an ex crash investigator who literally had to pick up the pieces

 

[Pushka]

Juddles, this is just for SA.

I used to work in the Police Force also and did a major review of Radar locations. Placement was based on accident location.

Zoom ahead 35 years and I do not agree in SA anyway, that this practice is adhered to for the placement of SOME radar. The location where medhead was caught speeding a few years ago is purely revenue.

There also used to be at least a 4km margin of error allowed. No longer.

Joe Blow public knows bad intersections. When we are advised of revenue at each location we know that it is not always a function of safety.

The freeway into Adelaide is notorious for accidents. But not of the low speed variety but trucks and semis who lose control. Used to be only those vehicles had a reduced speed limit. Not any longer and cars are required to travel at no more than 90. People are relying heavily on brakes to do that.

 

[juddles]

Pushka,

I completely agree that speed detection used improperly is wrong. Even in Colombia I have suffered the indignity of a speed camera doing me for 82 in an 80 zone - not ten kilometres from an area in civil war where police cant even help you if you are violated!! I agree that felt bad. But in the general topic of speeding, people use those transgressions of good management to justify their speeding in any circumstance. How on earth can people justify radar-detectors?

 

[Pushka]

I dont speed anymore. Hate giving the scummy government coffers more money for them to waste!

Unfortunately in SA, the placement of radar in non accident locations along with general confusion in SA about speed zones, plus the failure of road workers to remove their signs when the day is done, makes SA motorists simply angry. Last Sunday week along Hackney Road, no road work being done at the time but on a two lane road, 25 k signs out. And hidden away, a radar. Out and out robbery.

Great story about Sth America.

 

[juddles]

This is my 82 in an 80 zone photo.

Pushka, it may not be fair or valid, by I get frustrated. I got frustrated with medhead, because despite me often disagreeing with him in many things, I respect him, he is obviously a very smart person. And if an intelligent person believes what I see as wrong, I bite.

But in saying that, I acknowledge that all my views are merely the result/product of my own experience.

As an ex-police officer you would understand the intense angst of delivering a "death message". You would know the real actual pain that accidents cause, things that in a moment of carelessness shatter lives forever. I suffered all that.

And then I get out an work in a country where on the highways the b_astards abuse revenue raising through speeding, while a few km away there is a war on. One I have been a victim of.

But at the end of the day, what I want is for people to be safe, to avoid completely unnecessary calamity. And in the area of driving, that starts with everyone being careful. Don't blame the "camera" or it's position for catching you out. Blame yourself for not being aware. And cautious.

 

[amaroo]

Whatever you do - don't go down the road of [-]Justice[/-] Einfeld

 

[JessicaTam]

<snip>
Go to a few fresh crashes and see and feel and smell the result.

Sorry, talking as an ex crash investigator who literally had to pick up the pieces

Thanks juddles. I too have been to my share of accidents. It is quite simple - speed kills.

Please. Don't. Speed.

 

[Cossie]

Thanks juddles. I too have been to my share of accidents. It is quite simple - speed kills.

Please. Don't. Speed.

But it isn't as simple as that, I don't like giving the government anymore than I have to, but when you have to drive keeping your eye on the speedo and not the road, that isn't good.
I hate driving in Sydney, the limits can seem to change several times within a short period, 60, then 70, then 50, then maybe 80, chuck in a few school zones and it's very difficult to keep up, especially if you are a visitor.

To be honest, I think that speed cameras are placed in Canberra to extract the maximum amount of revenue, not to help with the road toll.

Every time I go to to and from Sydney there are speed traps, you can't tell me that doing doing 120 in a 110 zone is going to save lives, not on one of the few world class motorways that we have in Australia, it seems to me that particularly around Goulburn the local police don't seem to have enough to occupy their time. Hmmm,there is a police college in Goublurn isn't there! Maybe that's why there is so much policing of the limits on that particular stretch of the highway.

I'm sure that there are more issues than 'speed' that contribute to the road toll, mobile phones, texting, young inexperienced drivers with other young people in the car egging them on and so on.
I was recently told that young drivers in Slovakia with the equivalent of a 'P' plate were not allowed to drive without somebody else in the car that held a 'full' license until they became 'full' license holders.

 

[anat0l]

As you read this, let it be clear: I'm not writing this because I have contempt for the use of speed cameras or the contribution that speeding has on the road toll / accident count.

The thing about speeding is... well, everybody speeds.

I got a speeding ticket once - pure ignorance (no excuse), but was caught doing 64 km/h in a 50 km/h zone (I thought it was a 60 km/h zone, but as you can see I still would have been pulled over anyway).

After that, I'm pretty shy when it comes to speeding. I'll nearly always keep one eye on the speedo. If it's a 60 km/h zone, I'll do 57 km/h (basically keep the needle between 55 km/h and 60 km/h).

Sometimes it earns me a horn. Especially on the highway where the speed limit is 100 km/h; if I'm doing 95 km/h or so you often get looked at with disdain.

Some people say that having to keep one eye on your speedo all the time when it should be firmly on the road or your mirrors is dangerous. Then again, so are shoulder checks and turning your head around to reverse your vehicle (rather than using your mirrors) - same argument, eyes should always be on the road ahead or mirrors.

I'm not certain about other major centres in Australia, but Brisbane has lots of hills. Braking down hills too much is going to kill your brakes. You can compensate by taking the foot off the accelerator thereby coasting to the downhill, but that means for a short distance you're likely very much too slow. That could annoy the vehicle behind you, especially since they don't get a cue in the form of your brake lights.

I see speeding everywhere. People doing 70 km/h in a 60 (or 50) km/h zone. On the highway, 105 - 115 km/h in a 100 km/h zone. It's nearly impossible to overtake someone (even on the highway) without exceeding the speed limit, even though every state's driving manual will likely tell you if you want to overtake, you shouldn't break the speed limit. If people see a speed camera, or get indicated as such by other oncoming traffic flashing their lights at them, of course they'll slow down. Same with known locations of fixed speed cameras. But outside of that, they'll happily go off like a shot.

The only way to ensure people don't speed at all is to cover the entire road system with cameras. Or, put tracking devices in vehicles which monitor speed and movement. Or, install another kind of system in cars which can't be tampered with that monitor speed and record violations. All of these are untenable / unrealistic options.

Australian-born comedian Jim Jeffries once joked that everyone should be able to drive as fast as they want on the road. But the reason why we have speed limits is because it's just another one of society's ways of needing to account for the <insert small percentage number here> of <insert expletive describing undesirable character>s who have an accident or mess up the whole system for everyone. Before we go any further, please keep in mind that this was a joke.


On another hand, maybe we should be much, much more discerning about who gets to obtain a licence to drive, and who gets to retain/keep their licence, particularly those who have gone before a court and shown that their ability to continue to be a responsible driver is of considerable question.

 

[froggerADL]

medhead, sorry to disagree, but I simply must on a couple of issues.

Speeding fines are source of much angst by members of the public. Essentially they hate getting caught doing the wrong thing, they feel embarrassed, and they try to justify anything to get out of that.

Road speed limits are set for the single concept of reducing the incidence or severity of accidents. They are not set to raise revenue. That is just codswallop invented by people to try to not feel they are naughty. Not a single person involved in setting those limits gets any benefit from fines from those who are careless and exceed the limit.

But because people get caught out, and try to save face, they often contest tickets in the forlorn hope of redeeming themselves, even if undeservedly. And our legal system works heavily in their favour as we have a system making it almost bulletproof against failure. Any doubt and a ticket gets thrown. But they almost NEVER do. Both the equipment and the procedures in using them have been developed to an extremely high standard.

The laser speed detection equipment you refer to (LIDAR) is amazing. I know it very very well. You say someone said it is hard to aim??? What??? No it is not. And the suggestion to change lanes?? Do you mean if you are breaking the law you are advising methods to try to escape punishment? Do you want speeding people who think they see a radar to suddenly veer across the road?????? Very low moral ground.

People carp on with all sorts of nonsense and urban myths. Reflections from the road surface? A simple but important concept with LIDAR is that it does not measure speed. It measures distance. It measures this multiple times in a very brief period and using the differences in distance it CALCULATES the speed. If you do not get the importance of this you cannot grasp why they are so accurate. And they have imbedded a zillion fail-safe internal tests so that if anything at all is not coherent in the data they ditch the lot and give you the benefit of the doubt. The accuracy of the equipment is phenomenal - the same equipment as used by Qld Police is used in the space effort - they use it for space docking procedures.

As for being hard to aim, yes, it is nice to support the equipment against a pole or similar, much like using a rifle. But it is not hard. But the area of targetting is small and so accurate. I always used to take the speed from the front of the helmet of motorcyclists. Or the rego plate on a car.

As for the downhill thing, what on earth makes you think it is ok to speed downhill? Yes, I know that we all gain a little speed going downhill, but we need to be conscious of this and correct it. It takes longer to brake going downhill. Very basic physics.

And finally, you find it sad that it is illegal in most places to have gear that helps people to avoid being caught speeding? Again, very shaky morally. What next, a police detector so thieves can avoid them?

Australia is very tough on road safety. Yes, we have all got tickets and feel bad about them, because we all "know" we are good drivers and not dangerous.

Most fatal crashes are caused by average, "good" drivers, who in that moment made a small mistake. And so the law trys to hammer everyone in to being very conscious. Causes many fines to otherwise good people, but it also saves massive amounts of lives and injury.

But always we will have people who think that their "minor" transgressions are just that - insignificant. But they are not.

Go to a few fresh crashes and see and feel and smell the result.

Sorry, talking as an ex crash investigator who literally had to pick up the pieces

One of the best pieces of logic I've read in a long time. I got done by a red light camera 18 years ago and it cost me over $400. I was a student at the time.

I have not been fined since because I haven't breached the law.

Since then I've taught my son to drive. After 7 years driving he has never been fined.

 

[whatmeworry]

Speed/Red light cameras are the lazy way of policing.

On the road, the amount of poor driving and total lack or ability to follow rules is astonishing.

Regularly I see cars pulling over/turning without blinkers. If your going to pull over to the side, please use your left blinker or at least turn your lights off. I don't know if you re coming or going.

One guy today pulled over in a clearway zone and put his hazards on, so he could catch a pokemon.

In just 20 minutes of driving tonight I saw at least 3 drivers with lights that were too strong. 2 xenon and 1 halogen, however it's mainly the xenon that causes the most problems, with it either either being poorly designed, installed or headlight wattage. I even saw one car with 1 xenon and 1 halogen.

More then two lights or fogs lights in the city? Really?

What is it with bike riders using lights so strong they give you sunburn? I ride sometimes at night and don't need much light to see or to be visible.

 

[JohnK]

I miss speeding. These days I stay around the speed limit. A few kms/h over or under the speed limit depending on the mood and the location. Haven't had a speeding fine since 1998 and don't want one.

 

[Major]

I use cruise control wherever I can.

It's the best vehicle innovation in a long time and I am amazed at the number of highway drivers who do not/will not use it.

Sure there are still cars out there that do not have cruise control fitted but it is obvious there are still a lot of cars not using it. Imagine if everyone set their cruise control on 100/110. Not much need to change lanes or overtake.

I even use it in some 60 zones.

Once set you can concentrate on the road with less need to glance at the speedo