Double demerits begin now within NSW/ACT/WA (for 11+ days)
Double demerits begin now within NSW/ACT/WA (for 11+ days)
From Friday, double demerit points will be applied by a number of states around the country. But in many other jurisdictions, it will be business as usual.
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ACT/NSW from Friday, December 20 to Wednesday, January 1, 2025.
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WA from December 20 until Sunday, January 5, 2025.
Interestingly Victoria police say "We have not seen any evidence of proven safety or deterrent benefit from enforcing double demerit points during holiday periods"...
Double Demerits on long weekends are not a deterrent to the demographic of people who do speed when travelling unfamiliar roads.
In Victoria, Potholes are a big enough deterrent for those that do speed, either by encouraging drivers to keep below the speed limit or by disabling the vehicles of people who ignore them.
I have spent a lot of time on Victorian roads, both as a cyclist and as a driver. I'm with the Victorian police: Victorian drivers be crazy.
Best evidence I have to back this up is that my car insurance premiums dropped by $800 when I moved from Victoria to WA. The insurance companies think you are far more likely to claim in Victoria than you are in WA.
Victoria has the TAC which is pretty based from what I can tell.
Drove from Perth to Albany yesterday. No evidence that anyone cares about double demerits.
The usual experience of course. That is people doing 80 around corners / up hills in the 110 zone, that speed up to 120+ in the overtaking lanes. Including several double trucks.
I tend to take my chances and fly past them in the overtaking lane regardless whilst hoping there isn't a police car around.
As someone who grew up in NSW and moved to Vic after driving for a decade, I can say that in my experience a lot of people in NSW consistently drive at 15- 20 over on the freeway (especially Pacific hwy to Newcastle) and consistently 10 over on other roads. During double demerits they drop down in speed a bit.
In Victoria people seem to not drive at the same amount over the speed limit. More like 10 over on freeways and 5-10 over on other roads.
I always thought this was to a difference in policing. In NSW I never heard of anyone being booked for less than 10km over. In Victoria I have heard of people being done for as little as 4km over, and when I first moved here I got done for doing 6km over in an 80 zone (old habits died that day).
An additional observation, post COVID it feels like Victorians are driving faster, not to the same level as NSW but headed towards it.