All Things Australia-ish

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Axver

Oh yeah, and ...



You know what I hate? Twats who hit a cat, then just drive off. Would you drive off if you hit a person? Fuck no you wouldn't. At least have the decency to stop, check if the cat is still alive (I know of too many sad stories of cats surviving hits and could've been saved if only the person had checked on them), move it off the road, and if possible, try to find the owner. We were all really appreciative when the guy who hit my Nan's cat stopped and door-knocked to find out whose cat it was; it didn't make his death any less sad, but at least it didn't sting so much. Poor guy was pretty shaken up too; my Nan's cat was chased onto the road just over the crest of a hill by the neighbourhood bully cat; the guy drove over the crest at the wrong time and never even had the chance to hit his brakes.

Hitting a cat is worse than hitting a child. At least cats are cute.

Our neighbour came across just a few days ago because a P plater had hit a cat out the front of our house. The kid was really shaken up. It really does scare you when you have a close call and makes you realise the reasons for speed limits.....still hard not to.. I keep my cats inside at all times so I never have that knock on the door, it would be awful for us but also the driver.


and Ax you can't lock kids in the laundry when you're just sick of the sight of them, cats on the other hand

[KhanadaRhodes]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Well when you get picked up by cameras the ticket/fine they send you has your detected speed, and then they cut 3kms off for margin of error.

ahh, right. i still can't get used to speed cameras since they weren't used at all in memphis. though i know where the one i do pass whenever i drive is so i make sure i'm going no faster than 60 the whole stretch. though given how long it takes the car to even get up to 60, it's pretty impossible to speed anyway.

and i'm so glad i've never hit a cat i honestly don't know if i'd be able to drive again after that. and it would sure suck since i finally got around to getting a nz licence. (didn't even have to take a written or driving test, i was just lazy!)

[Axver]

Originally Posted by Cin

and Ax you can't lock kids in the laundry when you're just sick of the sight of them, cats on the other hand

We totally need to come and visit your cats again soon. They must be all grown up now!

(Oh, and visit you, too!)

Originally Posted by KhanadaRhodes

ahh, right. i still can't get used to speed cameras since they weren't used at all in memphis.

I'm kind of confused by how speed cameras are actually part of serious political debate in the US. Here it's not taken any more seriously than any other trashy A Current Affair/Today Tonight beat-up.

I especially love the people who bleat on about roving speed cameras hidden around corners or whatever. Basically, it all boils down to "wah wah I got caught doing something against the law but I don't want to pay the fine WAH WAH WAH". Hey, nobody likes it when they cop a fine, but if you were breaking the road rules, suck it up. It's hardly an infringement of liberties, and "revenue raising" is just the most pathetic catch-cry I've ever heard. Especially because it usually comes from the same right wing people who normally want to suck money out of healthcare or education and give it to the cops because of fear campaigns about crime! So the police should totally get heaps of money, as long as it's not yours because you drive too fast?

[KhanadaRhodes]

Originally Posted by Axver

I'm kind of confused by how speed cameras are actually part of serious political debate in the US. Here it's not taken any more seriously than any other trashy A Current Affair/Today Tonight beat-up.

I especially love the people who bleat on about roving speed cameras hidden around corners or whatever. Basically, it all boils down to "wah wah I got caught doing something against the law but I don't want to pay the fine WAH WAH WAH". Hey, nobody likes it when they cop a fine, but if you were breaking the road rules, suck it up. It's hardly an infringement of liberties, and "revenue raising" is just the most pathetic catch-cry I've ever heard. Especially because it usually comes from the same right wing people who normally want to suck money out of healthcare or education and give it to the cops because of fear campaigns about crime! So the police should totally get heaps of money, as long as it's not yours because you drive too fast?

exactly. sure, i don't really like them because it means if i speed along a road where one is i know i'll get done for. that sucks. but it'd be my fucking fault, and ultimately the roads should potentially be safer if people aren't zooming down the street going 75 in a 60 zone. though last time i drove past the camera i looked like one of those maniacs. i passed everyone easily, looked down...i was going 58 and leaving everyone in my dust. uh, okay people!

but yeah, it doesn't infringe upon anyone's liberties or anything. it's a revenue raiser. as long as red light and speed cameras aren't purposely tinkered with to entrap people into breaking the law (best example i can think of is in memphis - independent studies showed intersections with the red light cameras had shorter yellow/amber/orange/polka dot phases than ones without cameras. lame!) then i'm all for it. got a ticket for running the red light? then next time try stopping when it's red! and it is a great revenue raiser. i think memphis as a whole started out with something like 3-5 intersections with cameras. but their presence made those intersections safer, they made money, and they got added to even more intersections. now the area by my parents' house is peppered with them, it's wonderful. the closest main intersection to their house used to be a joke. about four cars per phase would run the red light. i'm not talking four cars spread over three lanes, i'm talking one turn lane and 3-4 cars would go when it was red the entire time. ridiculous. now it's the occasional one car will do it. surely that reduces the number of accidents there and it certainly reduces the amount of grief of drivers when they miss their light because someone ran theirs.

tl;dr: getting tickets sucks but it does keep the roads safer. plus if you know where the cameras are you can just be on your best behaviour then, and go back to driving however once you know the coast is clear.

[Cin]

^ completely agree with both of you. I've been busted for speeding and red light cameras and every time I feel like a complete idiot.



and Ax kittens are getting their "lady parts" attended to on Monday so will be a little under the weather, but at least they'll stop presenting to every inanimate object but soon fo sho.

[cobl04]

i got a $73 fine for parking in a permit zone last night. Might try and contest it. Also could have a fine for running a red.

[Axver]

The conversation in here was perhaps a bit ironic huh!

[KhanadaRhodes]

aww danny, i'm sorry i hope you can contest it!

 

ps quit your servo job

__________________

[cobl04]

I can't find the ticket

[KhanadaRhodes]

grungy geese.

[Alisaura]

I think I've only seen a handful of people running red lights in my life (and I've only done one myself (accidentally!), although I've had a couple of close calls when my judgement of the yellow/amber/middle light hasn't been as good as I'd thought).

Speeding, on the other hand, seems to be a way of life for practically everyone on the road. There's a stretch of road I travel on the way to work which is a 70kph zone, but NOBODY (with one or two exceptions) sticks to 70. I do if I'm feeling perverse and superior, but more often than not I go with the traffic that's doing closer to 80. I used to stick to the limit religiously, and I still do pretty much everywhere else (especially the 40kph school zones, and doesn't that piss off everyone behind me, hah), but yeah, the longer I've been driving the more complacent I've become about that, which is bad. One good scare and I'd be back to driving 5km under... *L*

[The Sad Punk]

~<3 This weather <3~

[Alisaura]

It's been gorgeous here for the last week, although the temperature has dropped a bit today. I'm heading for 30C+ in Atlanta next week!

[cobl04]

Say hi to Andre 3000 for me please!

[Alisaura]

... Does he live there? Unless he's going to Dragon Con, I doubt I'll see him. *L*

[Axver]

Hey, you fools have both seen me recently!

[Alisaura]

Lolz.

[cobl04]

I can't figure out what the new Underbelly is about... seems to me to be just clips of people getting their faces/achilles cut interspersed with rooting, set in the 1920s.

[mysterious_jen]

Originally Posted by cobl04

I can't figure out what the new Underbelly is about... seems to me to be just clips of people getting their faces/achilles cut interspersed with rooting, set in the 1920s.

That's pretty much it. Also some bad accents . I think the first one was still the best.

[mysterious_jen]

Edit. Wrong thread