50 most dangerous level crossings, labor promises and infrastructure needs

[ufo_investigations]

Labor promised the 50 most dangerous level crossings will be removed. I wonder if this is really going to happen, and the 'Back to Work Act' will be enacted to help Victorians get jobs and improve the economy. I've seen this before, all politicians make big promises but leave a lot to be desired.

Labor said they will make the contract null and void for the east-west freeway link which is supposed to connect the eastern freeway to the western ring road I believe. This is a worry, this project should go ahead it will create jobs, stimulate the economy, create better traffic flow and lessen the burden on local roads.

Victoria needs a continuous freeway with entry/exit points that covers the whole metro Melbourne area. For example in Flemington on the City Link Freeway you can't connect to the Eastern Freeway unless you drive through Carlton and Alexandra Parade. This is stupid, they need to fix it.

If you drive east on the Western Ring Rd you get a Dead End at Greenborough. How ridiculous is this? That spot needs a tunnel like the Ringwood one, so it connects to the Eastern Freeway. This is the real infrastructure we need right now, we have 5 million people living here and is the fastest growing state in Australia. The government needs to spend big to fix all of this.

We also need a train line from Flinders Street to Melbourne Airport, right now we only have taxis, VHA hire car and buses doing it. This needs fixing.

The Geelong Road Freeway should be extended to the SA border and connect with theirs via Warrnambool and Portland. Western Victoria has been neglected by every government, this needs fixing.

We need a freeway from Melbourne to Mildura with speed limits of 150km/h plus. It is a long drive, not sure how many hours away it is but I think it is about 8. North Western Victoria is another part of our state which has been totally neglected. Mildura is a beautiful place with potential for growth. It is a great location.

Our freeways to Philip Island, the Hume Highway to NSW have permissable speed limits of 100km/h and 110km/h. Well, all our freeways have a speed limit of 100km/h except for some with 110km/h. This is too slow. In Europe 150km/h plus is the norm. Our modern cars equipped with all the latest technology are quite capable of travelling at faster speeds. 150km is pretty reasonable on a freeway.

Politicians win power, sit on the backside and DO NOTHING to improve what really needs improving but they still get a lifetime pension with benefits. Once they are sworn in they should get moving fast and fix everything.

I wonder how much is going to get done under this new government.

[village_person]

There is a lot of work to do to fix level crossings. Who remembers:

The Kerang train accident occurred on 5 June 2007 at about 1:40 pm AEST in the Australian state of Victoria, approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north of the town of Kerangin the state's northwest, and 257 kilometres (160 mi) north-northwest of the city of Melbourne.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerang_train_accident

It happened on Smiling Steve Bracks watch. I wonder if safety would be enhanced if funds wasted on o'seas fact-finding-missions were instead ploughed into fixing level crossings. What is more important, a trip to Vienna, Rome, London, New York, Brussels, and Paris or fixing level crossings. Mmmmmmmmm, that's a tough one.

By the way, if one of our jetsetting pollies is looking to fill in some spare time while in that wretched city Paris, he or she might like to take into account the 2014/2015 Opera National de Paris season. Do we pay them enough?

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/calendrier

[debra9275]

Actually, we've already had it done here & I was furious with the Bracks govt at the time, because it was an experimental 24/7 works program and it was absolutely horrific for residents.

Though we live about a kilometer away from the rail crossing, no-one got any sleep for 6 weeks.

I have to say now that it is successful and it's amazing how it has freed up the traffic

[alexander*beetle]

Was just thinking about this yesterday on my travels. Went from 80 to 60 then 50 then 40. The road toll hasn't lowered and the pedestrian injury rate hasn't lowered but the coffers are earning millions in fines. If you miss just one sign, then wham, a fine. I does seem to be about revenues and not safety. 

I hate the western ring road and all its changes and try and avoid it if possible. Besides, a lot of the time the traffic is so heavy you can't get up past 50 anyway. 

[ufo_investigations]

The economy and our speed limit is linked, if you lower speed you lower the economy. Drivers in Australia are badly trained, this is not their fault, the law doesn't allow youngsters to learn driving at 14. This is the problem!  We are waiting too long to give young people a learners permit.

Europe and other parts of the world are far better than us when it comes to driver education. I reckon at 14 kids should be allowed to sit their learner permit test. This means they have a chance of learning to drive with an adult until they reach 18 years of age, when they can THEN attempt their driver licence test. This gives them a 4 year apprenticeship on how to drive, real practical driving.

In Australia we are teaching kids to be dumb and uninformed, they have to wait until they are 16 before being allowed to get a learners permit. I think teaching them young is a good thing. A 14 year-old-kid is pretty smart, they can operate computers, hack into mainframes, play complex computer games. We should encourage them not oppress them.

The key thing for a strong economy is road infrastructure, public transport and fast access to regional areas via 150km plus an hour freeways. Keeping it slow will keep our economy slow. We need to rethink how things are done. Look at Germany they are world leaders in autobahns "freeways". They have the best roads. We need ours to be like that.

[aps1080]

Ufo

That because we are a nanny state because of all the soft c ock lefties that want kids wrapped up in cotton wool.

Kids in the past spent time outside, playing, bikes, go karts, later on cars.

[go-tazz]

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The Geelong Road Freeway should be extended to the SA border and connect with theirs via Warrnambool and Portland. Western Victoria has been neglected by every government, this needs fixing.

Never likely to happen as it was in Naphthine's electorate and he couldn't get much done.

The road between Portland and Hamilton will have some major accidents as the road is falling to bits and it's

used quite a bit by B doubles,(the roads aren't designed for them).

Country areas are totally ignored by Government and states as that's not where the bulk of the people live.

We need a freeway from Melbourne to Mildura with speed limits of 150km/h plus. It is a long drive, not sure how many hours away it is but I think it is about 8. North Western Victoria is another part of our state which has been totally neglected. Mildura is a beautiful place with potential for growth. It is a great location.

Up here in the mid north it is shocking in places as well and it can take months just to get a pothole fixed,

(the current main one appeared 3 weeks ago and it gets hit by everyone that doesn't know that it's there),

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[gleee58]

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@aps1080 wrote:
Ufo

That because we are a nanny state because of all the soft c ock lefties that want kids wrapped up in cotton wool.

Kids in the past spent time outside, playing, bikes, go karts, later on cars.

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Grow up and drop you stupid "blame the so called lefties for all your issues.. Most kids these days still do all those things.  If you wrapped your in cotton wool you can only blame yourself, not the so called lefties you blame for every you perceive to be wrong with the world.

[aps1080]

Glee

I dont have kids but my cousins could and did, do a lot of contact ports, hunt, fish, shoot guns, ride motorbikes, drive cars and a heap of other things before they were 14. kids nowadays dont get nearly the exposure to all outside pursuits that they used to.

You can even go yabbying like you used to, ban this, ban that.

As for the lefties, they bring in h&s rules , you cant do this, you cant do that, you must be careful,, you cant say that, someone might be offended, oh thats dangerous, we dont have winners and losers, everybody must win.

End result, kids nowadays dont know the parameters of when to stop or when it goes from risky to outright dangerous.

[***super_nova***]

I certainly would not want 14 years old on the road.  When my daughter was getting to the age to be able to drive she was so impatient to get her license.  She was always the very youngest in any class because she was born in June and few days later she would have had to wait till next year.  So some of her friends were already driving a year before she could .  However, all of them had accidents within short time, some written off their cars, fortunately none were seriously injured or injured another person.  To get into a car and drive is something anybody can do, but to deal with traffic, and various road conditions, that is not so easy and some maturity is needed, especially in cities.  I see it every day, people driving and  listening to load music totally unaware of what  is happening around them, or talking on mobile or worse texting, or putting on make-up.  I am always amazed  to see how many people, when stopping in traffic, stop several car lengths from the vehicle in front of them; I can only guess that they have no idea of perimeter of their vehicle.

I think the problem is that kids are being taught by their parent who are lousy drivers themselves.  And some of the instructors are not much better.  I was very lucky that I got the 1st few lessons by an instructor ho was also flying instructor, and he really knew how to teach.  He taught me that I have to be aware of everything around me, that I need to concentrate, watch for signs, other road users and pedestrians, and anticipate.  He got me to say aloud what I am doing.  It felt really stupid but after a while it became so automatic.  Unfortunately, circumstances intervened and I was not able to finish the course with him and when I wanted to continue few months later, I was not able to get him.  The new instructor was absolutely useless.  Basically we got in a car, on very busy country road, with cars zipping past at 80km/h and she said DRIVE.  As it was some time after the first few lessons, I felt really insecure and told them I never learned before.  She did not explain how to start the car, how to use clutch, or did not give any safety talk.  I just got out of the car, slammed the door, call that company and asked for somebody else.  He was a nice guy, and actually taught me how to operate car, but again any sort of instruction on how to relate to other road users was almost none existent.  The instructor who in the end taught my daughter was pretty useless too. 

[aps1080]

Kids nowadays are both learning to drive the Car AND deal with traffic and all the other things you mentioned.

Those who know a bit about cars or have driven a bit before at least know starting, brake, accelerator etc etc.

And most drive automatics nowadays, in the past they had to contend with manual gears, revs, not stalling etc etc.