The NSW government has responded to criticism from Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson about the over-emphasis on speed. A university professor is featured in the 60 km/h vs 65 km/h speed ad, which is based on a driver reaction time of 1.2 seconds and a deceleration rate of 0.8g.

 Honda Australia's magazine Summer 2002 edition quotes typical braking distances and driver reaction times. The driver reaction times equate to 0.25 seconds for an expert driver, fully alert; 0.5 seconds for an average driver, fully alert; 0.75 seconds for a driver not entirely concentrating; 1.0 seconds for a driver not concentrating at all.

 People would expect a major car manufacturer to know the facts about cars and drivers. Did Honda get it all wrong or is 1.2 seconds in the government ad an outrageous exaggeration?

 A competent driver of the modern car shown in the ad can readily achieve a deceleration rate of 0.9g. Yet the government ad is based on 0.8g. Further, the statement in the ad is "no matter how good a driver you are...". Clearly, this is wrong.

 Additional perspective is provided by brake tests reported in Wheels magazine June 2003 issue on a Falcon XR6 with midrange performance tyres achieving 0.85g on a wet road. The ad is based on dry road conditions which provide a much higher coefficient of friction.

 What reason would the government have to promote an ad which is not fully accurate? The faster vehicle will always have a longer stopping distance. This is one of the basic laws of physics. Was the truth not sufficiently persuasive?

 The NMAA regards the ad as contrived. It questions the assumptions used. In the ad, 53% of the stopping distance at 60 km/h is taken up with reaction time. If the ad had been intended to highlight driver "inattention" being the direct cause of many accidents, then 1.2 seconds reaction time could be justified. Any driver who takes 1.2 seconds to react to the situation depicted in the ad is spending too much time looking at the scenery instead of at the road. The ad depicts inattention, not speed.

Whilst there is no doubt that braking distances increase with speed, unless you can guarantee that every obstacle that suddenly appears will be at least 37.7 metres in front of you, the advertisement does not prove much. Certainly 60 km/h has no magical property that makes it inherently safe.

 Reworking the professor's calculations, the NMAA has shown that an average driver not entirely concentrating (0.75 seconds reaction time) travelling at 70 km/h in a good car and on a wet road (0.85g deceleration rate) will stop in 37.3 metres without hitting the truck. Does this prove that travelling at 70 km/h is safe? If the professor can guarantee that every obstacle will be at least 37.7 metres away, then it does.

 Using the professor's assumptions of 1.2 seconds reaction time and 0.8g deceleration rate, a similar ad with a truck appearing at 42.5 metres would claim that 65 km/h is safe and 70 km/h is dangerous. The whole concept is contrived.

 A speed limit is an arbitrary number. There is more to safe driving than setting a vehicle at an arbitrary speed. The NMAA argues that other factors such as driver training, alertness and the quality of tyres will have more effect on safety than simply speed alone.

 Too many drivers are "speedo gazing" instead of concentrating on driving safely because of their fear of being fined for exceeding the speed limit by a small margin. Over 80% of NSW's speed revenue comes from drivers exceeding the speed limit by less than 15 km/h.

 ATSB graphs show that there was a sustained long term trend of reduction in NSW’s road fatalities until about 1998. The over-emphasis by state governments on speed and the resulting revenue is linked to the failure to reduce road fatalities since 1998.

 2001 was the only year with fewer NSW road fatalities since 1998. For every other year since 1998, NSW road fatalities were higher than the 1998 level. The 2003 year to date road fatalities are higher also.

 The NMAA expresses its concern about NSW's ineffective road safety strategy. 

 Many would believe that this advertisement is a glossy attempt to justify the government’s speed revenue policy.

Confirmation of John Anderson’s statements:

SMH quotes: Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson has ordered an inquiry into the nation's road deaths "amid concerns that safety experts might be focusing too heavily on speed". Mr Anderson said "[The road toll] has come down very well in the last decade or so, but is has plateaued in recent times". SMH, 7/1/03. "Earlier this month, Mr Anderson criticised the emphasis on speed in road safety campaigns and expressed concern it "may blind us to other causes". SMH, 1/2/03.

Source URL: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/06/1041566362718.html
Source URL: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804519484.html

Confirmation of road fatality statistics:

 The Australian road fatalities graph per 1,000 registered vehicles was published originally in 1998 as Monograph 23 by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 

Source: http://www.atsb.gov.au/road/pdf/mgraph23.pdf

It was updated with more recent data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its Transport Special Article – A history of road fatalities in Australia (Year Book Australia, 2001).

 The plateauing or stagnation of the road fatalities graph over the last five years is provided by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Source: http://www.atsb.gov.au/road/stats/pdf/mrf112002.pdf.  The first graph shows the previous five years for Australia. Page 6 shows the graph for the previous five years in NSW and other states.

 It is preferable to use a ratio such as deaths per 1,000 vehicle registrations for fair comparison over time and between states, however, over a five year period, the raw numbers make the point well enough.

NSW road fatalities from Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) reports:

 Year     Fatalities           Fatal Crashes

1991     663                   585
1992     649                   576
1993     581                   518
1994     646                   552
1995     620                   563
1996     581                   538
1997     576                   525
1998     556                   491
1999     577                   506
2000     603                   543
2001     524                   486
2002     572                   511

 Comparison of NSW annual road fatalities, using 1998 as a base

1999 was a 3.8% increase over '98.
2000 was a 8.4% increase over '98.
2001 was a 5.8 % decrease over '98 - a "miracle year" for NSW - the lowest figure since records had been kept. It was not sustained.
2002 was a 2.9% increase over '98.