🚀 go-pugleaf

>>>>> Mark Ansell wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Well put, Doug.  I agree 100% with you.  I don't wonder why the 
>>Queensland road toll is so high this year, seeing some of the disgraceful 
>>driving around
>>>
>>>>I suspect that the Qld road toll is higher this year because it has been
>>>>wetter than the last 4 to 5 years.  We have people out there on the road
>>>>who have 3 to 4 years experience in driving in almost perfect whether
>>>>conditions.  Also people tend to forget how much better a newish tyre is
>>>>in wet whether vs a bald tyre.
>>>
>>>>I think it all comes back to a large portion of our drivers not having
>>>>much experinece with driving in wet whether and with no having
>>>>experience with the level of necessary car maintenance for driving in
>>>>wet whether.  I have no stats to prove this but would be interested to
>>>>see some stats if anybody had any  :)
>>>
>>>No need for any other stats than this :
>>>
>>>Listen to the traffic reports on radio 4pm-6pm on dry days and you get
>>>around 0-2 accidents of fairly mild occurance as the norm.
>>>
>>>Listen to the same traffic reports on a wet afternoon 4pm-6pm and the
>>>number goes up to between 4 and 20, with at least 1 serious accident
>>>included.
>>>
>>>C.L.Burke
>>>
>>Gawd only knows what sort of carnage there would be if it started
>>snowing!! :-)
>>Chris.

>Yeah! 
> 
>You still can't blame the weather though. All the hot heads have to do
>is slow down a bit when it rains. I mean, this IS death we're talking
>about here, right?

Actually there's a simple reason why the Queensland Christmas road
toll was the nation's highest this year. (I assume that's the topic of
discussion).

Prior to Christmas each state agreed to a single road toll period
during which road deaths would be counted as part of the road toll. I
think the start date was around 20.12, although I can check it if
anyone wants. 

Queensland however chose to begin its Christmas road toll period
earlier, around the 16th or 18th for some unknown reason. As most news
organisations get their road toll figures from the Australian
Associated Press (AAP) wire service, which used the official road toll
dates in each state, so the Queensland figure came out higher.

Some news organisations, such as the ABC, kept their own tallies, but
it gets hard after a while, and causes confusion.

If the toll had been started on the same date in all states, the NSW
figure would have been highest I assume.

Maybe next year Queensland can come to the party.

cheers,

Dave.