New South Wales and Victoria police have hit back at claims by Mazda Australia boss Martin Benders that the focus on speeding has created a nation of distracted drivers.

Speaking at a press event in Japan this week Benders said he believes Australian drivers have become too focused on not speeding at the detriment of driving standards.

Benders, who spent six years working in Mazda’s operations in Japan and Europe, believes that the Australian law enforcement’s decision to focus so heavily on low-level speeding has contributed to a significant drop in driving standards.

“I have to say, having been away six years, I’m amazed how bad the driving has gotten in Australia in terms of a focus on not going 1km/h over - it’s just shocking,” Benders said at a press conference in Japan. “And yet we’ve got the police standing up saying ‘we can’t have distracted drivers’ - we’ve got nothing but distracted drivers. They are so focused on whether they are 1km/h out on the speed limit or not, it’s shocking. It is a real problem in Australia.”

Masashi Otskua, project leader on the CX-5 and CX-9 SUVs, said he was surprised by the strict nature of Australian police about speeding during his fact-finding visits here.

“Before I went to Australia I thought Australians would be very tolerant,” Otsuka said. “That was not the case.”

But police in both NSW and Victoria are adamant that their focus on speeding is necessary to cut the road toll.

“Speed is a major killer on our roads,” Victorian Roads Policing Superintendent Neville Taylor told Fairfax Media.

“Research shows that you are more likely to collide with another car, hit a pedestrian or run off the road if you exceed the speed limit.

“This is why maximum speed limits exist and police will be enforcing them. If you are travelling above the posted speed limit, you can expect to be stopped by police.

“You may not think that a few kilometres extra will make a big difference but research shows that it does. We are trying to change the culture and make all speeding socially unacceptable, the way we did with drink driving and not wearing seatbelts.”

New South Wales police directed Fairfax to recent road safety data from Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics that showed a 25 per cent drop in road deaths between 2004 and 2013.

source: smh.com.au

yep, the same mindless dribble response from the police yet again on this issue.

1 or 2 km/h makes a minimal difference over the speed limit. Driver hitting the anchors and near causing a multi car pile up cause they were doing 2 km over and saw a cop car will make a difference all for $150 in revenue raising.. Beyond a joke!! But in saying that there are a lot of police that will tell u to slow it down a little bit with a simple gesture of the hand and not a stupid ticket

Yes, and that rubbish about road deaths dropping..

I notice they didn't say "less accidents" just less deaths from accidents..

That could just as easily be attributable to side airbags becoming more common or generally safer 5 star safety cars.. in fact is likely to be those rather than being 3 km slower.

If they were not trying to hoodwink the public.. they'd use crash statistics, rather than death statistics.

Because of massive over regulation in Australia, loads of new drivers have not a clue how much space they need to stop at a given speed, or how much space they need to cross a lane of traffic.. or how slow or fast they can go around a corner.. and that lack of feeling for driving causes way more accidents then making sure that you're not a km over the posted speed.

statistics will show that if nobody every goes over 10kph, deaths in cars (expect for those caused by boredom, old age or frustration) will be pretty much 0... perhaps that is where we are headed with these idiots.

Its s**t!

I got done for doing under 10km/h in a 50 zone Saturday night.

My reasoning was that I was going down a pretty steep hill but the officer just laughed and said "what do you think you have brakes for?"

I simply responded saying you were tailgating me the whole time, didn't pull me over straight away (followed me for a good 1 or 2km after the hill) meaning you would have been speeding too am I correct officer? Not to mention the fact that you didn't leave a safe gap between my car and your own car, what if I decided to brake suddenly, you would've hit me?
He just says wait here.

Meanwhile his passenger is checking the car out (tyres, exhaust, headlights etc) but I turned the car off when I saw him get out of the car.

Walks back with a ticket for "exceed speed under 10km/h" (reckons I was doing 70km/h which I call s**t) but anyway his response was simply "I've cut you a lot of slack, its double demerits remember, slow down".

I simply took the ticket and drove off without making a comment.

While yes I know they're just doing their job, and yes I know I was minutely speeding, I believe that being booked for under 10km/h going down a reasonably steep hill was a bit harsh.

Anyway apparently they're introducing 54 new "Safety Cameras" in NSW

I dunno how they make make intersections "safer" if people are slamming their brakes (because they can't speed up) when the light goes yellow and old mate behind them doesn't have a chance to stop in time.

http://www.themotorreport.com.au/59089/ ... 016-report

/End rant.

wait till ya get point ta point

Sounds like you got shafted lukey. Double demerits on top was the icing on the cake.

We got point to point in NSW but only for heavy vehicles at the moment.
All it takes is a few key strokes to enable it for all vehicles. They know it, we know it and now it's just a waiting game.

And if I knew it was like that, I would have knocked at least an hour off between Dubbo and Wagga the other week. Signs just say average speed cameras, not what vehicles they are for.

If they really wanted to save lives. They would have fitted GPS units in every car and every car would be speed limited to the speed the road is set at. They will never do this because they will lose way too much money. They all want us to speed!

Well that and to make it a requirement would cost millions of dollars..ie more budget cuts

It wouldn't cost anymore than the amount they are spending on putting speed camera's in and running them. It cost $50 million a year to run them and $75,000 for each camera to be put in.

Vs research and development of gps controlled throttles for every registered car in Australia. Plus either funding the installation or rebating a min of prob $1k per car. Id say there would be more then 50,000 cars in Australia.. It's a top idea but not really a reality.. They did something similar with a Toyota prototype a few years ago where your licence was inserted into a car and kW output was adjusted accordingly. Food for thought though

They don't need to spend any dev money on it.. they could just make it manditory for new cars in australia.. link the GPS speedo to the traction control and if you go over the limit your engine power cuts down.

That would not make them any money though so I can't see it happening.

LOL similar thing happened to me on the way down to Melbourne last year, but people kept flying past me at 120-130km/h so I got the Mrs to google it found out that way that it was only for trucks.
The signs scare you because they don't specify they're only for trucks