140km/h SAFER IN AUSTRALIA: SAFETY EXPERT

Barry Park
October 12, 2010 - 3:18PM
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Australian drivers would be safer travelling at higher speeds on freeways, a German safety expert says.

Dr Ulrich Mellinghoff, the head of safety at German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz, believes that Australian authorities could also better manage our road network to create a system that was much safer for all motorists.

Dr Mellinghoff is visiting Australia to showcase safety technology fitted to the car maker's vehicles. He said drivers here should be allowed to travel faster on long stretches of road, mainly to fight fatigue.

He said Australian roads also needed to be better managed to introduce a European-style system where slow-moving traffic - including trucks - was confined to the left lane on freeways, freeing up the right lane for high-speed traffic.

''In Germany, it is not allowed for cars to pass on both sides (of slow-moving traffic),'' he said. ''This divides the traffic more or less, with faster driving on the left side and the slower-driving cars on the right side.

''I think there is no difference here. A system that works in Germany will work in Australia the same way.

''Maybe a top speed of 200km/h is not necessary, but I think if you divided it (the traffic) a little bit on these very long distances you have to drive, it's better to drive at 130 km/h or 140 km/h, although in terms of drowsiness you still have to drive at 100km/h.

''We in Germany have absolutely no problem with higher speeds. We've discussed it often, and very often the discussion was that it was unsafe. But our statistics show this is not the case.''

Dr Mellinghoff, who is on his first visit to Australia, said while the quality of roads here was comparable with those in Germany, the drivers were not.

''In Australia, the people drive very close to each other, and the distance between two cars is much closer than in Germany,'' he said. ''I think the people don't realise how critical, how dangerous this is.''

Dr Mellinghoff said Australia could also improve its road safety record by lowering all suburban speed limits to 60km/h, and imposing a much harsher speed limit on trucks.

''We know that a truck going from 80km/h to zero needs the same length in braking as a passenger car at 120km/h to zero,'' he said.

''It's better that trucks drive at 80km/h or 90km/h. I think this would help to optimise safety in Australia.''

Authorities would also have to do more to separate different road users, such as cars and cyclists, he said.

''I was very surprised to read on the highway that cyclists have to use the parking shoulder,'' he said.

''In Germany, it is absolutely forbidden for the bicycle to go on the highway. We try to divide the different people, the different partners in the traffic, and it makes it much safer.''

Despite having no speed limits on some roads, Dr Mellinghoff said the annual number of deaths per head of population in Germany had remained constant for the past five years, at about 28 fatalities per 100,000 people.

By comparison, he said, Australia's fatality rate sits at about 30 deaths per 100,000 people, almost the same as Germany's.

Of the 4000 people expected to die on German roads this year, only about 150 deaths were likely to be attributed to crashes on high-speed highways, Dr Mellinghoff said.

He said the next goal for car makers was to get the death rate down to one in 100,000 people, or about the same as the annual death toll for the aviation industry.

Volvo is working in conjunction with the Swedish authorities to aim for a zero road toll by 2020 as part of its Vision 2020 program.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/drive/motor-news/140kmh-safer-in-australia-safety-expert-20101011-16fer.html

Howard deserved 'a lot worse' says shoe-thrower

Paul Tatnell
October 26, 2010 - 1:45PM

A man who threw a shoe at John Howard on last night's Q&A program on ABC TV said the former prime minister "deserves a lot worse" than having shoes thrown at him.

Hunter Valley man Peter Gray was unapologetic about his actions this morning, telling Newcastle ABC Radio he was angry about Australia's involvement in the Iraq War and he "found the right type of protest" to get his point across.

"That is for Iraqi dead," Mr Gray shouted as the shoes missed their target.

However, he did express "regret" if his actions caused embarrassment to Q&A and its host, Tony Jones.

"I was certainly very frustrated to him [Mr Howard] not responding to the question I put to him," he said.

He also did not answer questions on whether the shoe throwing was premeditated or appropriate.

"I wish ... I didn't feel the need to do something like that," he said.

"Everyone will make their judgment on whether it was the right thing to do."

Mr Gray said he had a great deal of sympathy for Muntazer al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist who was jailed for throwing his shoes at former US president George Bush.

"The reason I threw shoes ... [is] because it has significance for all the people in the Middle East and it's the people I want to send a message to."

Mr Gray confirmed that ABC staff refused to return his shoes.

"As soon as I get off the phone I will be buying another pair of shoes," he said.

Critics have called Mr Gray an "idiot" for his actions while others have questioned his half-hearted effort in shoe throwing.

The second shoe he lobbed hardly came anywhere near Mr Howard.

Mr Gray explained that it was a very difficult to stand up and conduct such a protest, especially because such action was against his nature.

"I certainly didn't want to hurt the man but I certainly wanted to make my point known," he said.

"Quite a few people said I throw like a girl."

Incident could not have been avoided: ABC

Q&A executive producer Peter McEvoy said the program would review its security but believed last night's "regrettable incident" could not have been avoided.

"I am not quite sure you can ever prevent an incident like the one that happened last night. I guess the security around the US president is as tight as it can get and, of course, famously someone managed to throw a shoe at George W. Bush," he said.

"We had extra security at the program last night ... but I think if someone wants to take off their shoes and throw them or throw a pocket handkerchief or a hat you can't necessarily be stopping all of those incidents from happening."

Mr McEvoy also praised Mr Howard for how he handled the confrontation.

"I think that, fortunately, no one was hurt. Apparently, according to the man who threw the shoe, it was not meant to hurt anyone. It was meant as a type of protest," he said.

"Thankfully, Mr Howard handled it very well and was very generous about it and was very calm."

The audience was asked "to show respect" to Mr Howard before filming, Mr McEvoy said.

"I had spoken to the audience before the program started like I always do and emphasised, but perhaps even more strongly, that Q&A is about having a civil discussion where you treat other people who are participants in the discussion, in particularly the panellists, and I guess particularly someone who has been prime minister of Australia for more than 11 years, with the appropriate respect," he said.

"We don't exclude people who are activists and there were lots of people in the audience who were active members of political parties. For example, there were about half a dozen members of the Liberal Party, half a dozen of the Labor Party [and] Q&A is in fact about encouraging people to be involved in political activity."

As for the now famous pair of shoes, Mr McEvoy said no decision had been made where they will end up.

"We have hung on to those. He did come back into the ABC and ask for his shoes to be returned but, in the circumstances, we didn't think that would be appropriate," he said.

"Perhaps they could be framed, someone mentioned bronzing ... perhaps they should be auctioned on eBay, but we will give it some thought in the coming weeks."

Debate on Twitter

The incident is still causing debate on Twitter today.

NSW Liberal staff member Sam Fairlie-Cuninghame tweeted: "I always suspected the show was a haven for the ignorant and juvenile. Yet another reason to switch off."

Another person said: "I for one am happy someone threw their shoes at Howard. It would have been better if it were pie, but you cant win em all."

Zerogeewhiz wrote: "Am I the only person who can't stand Howard but also thinks chucking shoes at him is unbelievably tedious? What a pathetic stunt."

For Michael Byrnes, last night's program was one to remember.

"In the competition for most controversial guest on #qanda, John Howard is a shoe-in."

Having a pair of shoes thrown at him was "all in a night's work", Mr Howard said this morning.

"Is anyone here taking their shoes off? I'm looking around," Mr Howard joked during a studio interview with Macquarie Radio.

"All in a night's work," he added. "I've been thrown at by experts so why should I worry about that?"

Confronted by David Hicks

On last night's show, Mr Howard was confronted by former terrorist suspect David Hicks, who asked why he had been allowed to languish in Guantanamo Bay for 5½ years without charge.

Mr Hicks, now married and living in Sydney, put his question to Mr Howard via videolink, adding that he had been tortured.

"Do you believe I was treated humanely?" he asked.

Mr Howard said he and his ministers had constantly pressed the Bush administration to expedite proceedings against Mr Hicks but the process was in part stalled by legal challenges to the military commission process.

He said it would not have been right for Mr Hicks to be allowed back to Australia after his capture in December 2001 because there was no law under which to charge him.

Mr Howard said that Mr Hicks had pleaded guilty to a minor terrorism charge and denied that the government recommended he plead guilty in order to get out of the prison camp.

It is not the first time Mr Howard has had to deal with a shoe thrower - an angry Australian man threw a boot at him during a debate at Britain's Cambridge University in 2009.

The boot was caught by another student.

He too failed to get his boot back.

- with AAP and Phillip Coorey

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/howard-deserved-a-lot-worse-says-shoethrower-20101026-171al.html