Safe Speed Forums

Hello all, its been a while since I've been on here and lots have happened since. I've left the Emerald Isle for hotter patches in the land down under, I began working as an engineer just a few weeks ago and and just 2 weeks ago I bought my first car, a 3ltr v5 Mitsubishi Magna. So life is going great!

Driving in Australia is very different to Ireland. The speed cameras are more of a shock than I thought they would be but I'm adjusting. My car has possibly the greatest device for beating the cameras in it that I have ever seen, I set an alarm at a specific value and if my speed goes over that value I get a loud beep. Very effective and I now rarely look at the speedo. This is very useful on the one freeway I use when going to work. Interestingly the rest of the roads are 60kph but if they were at home they would be 50kph (trams, high level of cars, tight when lots of parking, shopping areas and high ped levels) but the few glances of the speedo I do I find myself driving at around 50kph, driving using instincts rather than looking at the speedo. It was a surprise to me as I would always have considered myself a 'quick' (but not a fast) driver. In the freeways you have to be careful as the cameras have a threshold of just 2kph (see Mark Webbers view on it, which I agree with, even if it has been taken completely out of context, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/f1news/7535003/Australias-Mark-Webber-irresponsible-in-his-comments-on-Lewis-Hamiltons-police-run-in.html). Even more surprising is that a 21 year old male in a 3ltr hasn't killed anyone yet! Excessive speed is a problem here, especially since people don't slow down very much in heavy rain. The little boy racers are too common also.

The lack of courtesy here surprised me too as the Aussies are normally very easy going. No wave for letting someone out, and people don't let me out too often, I was a country driver before hand so it could just be the city rather than Australia.

I'm having the time of me life down here and though I should check in and see how everyone is getting on and to put in my 2c on driving in Australia