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SAFE VEHICLE FEARED

Melbourne City councillors are terrified that a planned promotional event will see a Formula One car roll down Lygon Street at a sedate 100 km/h (60 mph):

Cr Peter Clarke said councillors were briefed on the event yesterday afternoon, after the media had been informed. They had been told that the organisers were given a permit for 100 km/h ... he said he had “grave concerns” for the safety of people at the event ...

The council’s planning spokeswoman, Catherine Ng, also said she was surprised by the speed limit.

“We need to make sure that the event is going to be safe,” she said. “We just learned this afternoon that cars may be going at over 100 km/h.”

A Formula One car can decelerate from 100 km/h to a standstill in just 17 metres. By contrast, according to the Victorian government’s Transport Accident Commission, a normal passenger car travelling at Lygon Street’s 50 km/h limit requires 35 metres to achieve stillness.

Posted by Tim B. on 02/07/2007 at 11:12 AM
  1. Hey, if you really want some ‘grave concerns’ why don’t they invite W. to fire up the bulldozer?

    Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2007 02 07 at 11:21 AM • permalink

  2. You could use those $11,000 carbon fiber brake rotors as a coffee table.  They’re readily available too, since the rotors only last one race.

    The real question is, why doesn’t Victoria require ALL cars to have those kinds of brakes?  Why won’t they think of the children?!

    Posted by Matt in Denver on 2007 02 07 at 11:57 AM • permalink

  3. Even worse, some of the spectators at this event might show up sporting… gasp... Australian flags!

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 02 07 at 12:26 PM • permalink

  4. And just as bad as the flags, RebeccaH, some of the spectators might actually have fun, and we can’t have that says Nanny State.

    Posted by Retread on 2007 02 07 at 12:41 PM • permalink

  5. A Formula One car can decelerate from 100 km/h to a standstill in just 17 metres

    Unless Phil Adams is strapped to the hood, in which case it’s 27 metres, with a drag chute.

    Posted by paco on 2007 02 07 at 12:42 PM • permalink

  6. If he’s not strapped on, the car would be stopped after 17 meters, but he would still be traveling at full speed. He would then stop naturally and organically, without the use of Gaea-hostile tires or brakes.

    Posted by ErnieG on 2007 02 07 at 01:17 PM • permalink

  7. christ, when i lived in San Francisco, i used to do 60 going down 19th Avenue.  in a Datsun 210.

    Posted by dub kitty on 2007 02 07 at 01:18 PM • permalink

  8. Splat.

    Posted by ErnieG on 2007 02 07 at 01:19 PM • permalink

  9. If the Melbourne City councillors are concerned about this event, they should act as human shields.  Hey, do it for the children, people!

    Also, more community involvement is needed for this event.  Traceeeeeeeeeee, Mulhearn, and Bryla can be hired as consultants, and the local lefties can make suitable paper mache’ puppets.  Miranda Divide can mediate a forum on blogging. 

    Fun can be had as all!

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 02 07 at 01:27 PM • permalink

  10. He would then stop naturally and organically, without the use of Gaea-hostile tires or brakes.

    Very true, Ernie. But traveling at speeds of 100 km/h (or “tonnes”, as they’re called in the UK), an unstrapped Adams would pose a tremendous airborne threat. Maybe we’d better insist that he just hang out by the hot dog stand.

    Posted by paco on 2007 02 07 at 01:28 PM • permalink

  11. “Fun can be had by all!” is what I meant to say.  So much for blogging during a boring phone conference!!!

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 02 07 at 01:29 PM • permalink

  12. I get 212 mph.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2007 02 07 at 01:40 PM • permalink

  13. Never occurred to them maybe they should stay off the goddam street when the car when by, did it?
    Sissies.

    Posted by GaryS on 2007 02 07 at 01:47 PM • permalink

  14. That’s “went by.”
    That is all.

    Posted by GaryS on 2007 02 07 at 01:48 PM • permalink

  15. Why not play “Ultimate Frisby” instead?

    Posted by Rob Read on 2007 02 07 at 02:05 PM • permalink

  16. “... an unstrapped Adams would pose a tremendous airborne threat.”
    Airborne?????

    More probable: he slides a considerable distance, being self-lubricating.

    Cheers

    Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 02 07 at 03:35 PM • permalink

  17. #16 Mon Capitaine:  Well, to use the analogy of, say, a piano in a moving truck that isn’t secured. If the truck were traveling very fast and then hit the brakes, the piano might go “flying” through the cab. I don’t mean to suggest “airborne” in the sense of soaring like an eagle.

    Posted by paco on 2007 02 07 at 03:40 PM • permalink

  18. By contrast, according to the Victorian government’s Transport Accident Commission, a normal passenger car travelling at Lygon Street’s 50 km/h limit requires 35 metres to achieve stillness.

    Or one lamp-post.

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 02 07 at 04:36 PM • permalink

  19. Oh no!

    First Daytona on 2/18 and then F1 starting on 3/18!

    How oh how can I live through another racing season?

    Oh yes!

    Prayer answered.  We now return you to your regular programming.

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 02 07 at 05:16 PM • permalink

  20. #17

    Well he has been known to scream, but never near Kentucky!

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 02 07 at 05:18 PM • permalink

  21. When will people realise that it’s more complicated than ‘speed kills’?

    Posted by Ian Deans on 2007 02 07 at 05:31 PM • permalink

  22. While we’re on speed talk, can I recommend this article from the Times, especially this excerpt:

    In Montana the abolition of speed limits led to a 30 per cent drop in accidents and a 7mph fall in average speeds.

    On a related note, I also liked this:

    In Drachten 24 sets of lights were removed. The result? Typical journey times have been halved; and, accidents and congestion have all but disappeared

    Posted by Ian Deans on 2007 02 07 at 05:38 PM • permalink

  23. All they need to do is restrict the F1 racer to 100km/hr in 1st gear.

    I’d guess the fast approaching scream of a Formula 1 engine near redline, would clear any non-believers from the street!

    Posted by rinardman on 2007 02 07 at 06:12 PM • permalink

  24. 35m to stop when going 50kmph?  I don’t think so unless Lygon St has a permanent coating of olive oil.

    Posted by Blink on 2007 02 07 at 06:19 PM • permalink

  25. #9,

    Also, more community involvement is needed for this event.  Traceeeeeee, Mulhearn, and Bryla can be hired as consultants, and the local lefties can make suitable paper mache puppets.  Miranda Divide can mediate a forum on blogging.

    You left out Graeme Whozits.  He could light up a bong, tap into whatever dimension it is he lives in, and celebrate having one more excuse to be stoned out of what is left of his tiny little bizzaro mind.

    Posted by saltydog on 2007 02 07 at 07:25 PM • permalink

  26. #6
    He would then stop naturally and organically, without the use of Gaea-hostile tires or brakes.
    It’s better than that.
    I ran the numbers through my Perfectly Accurate Calculating Omniocilator (the deluxe version with shark skin grips and ivory inlaid humidor) and Phil would produce enough kinetic energy to shift the planet far enough from the sun to lower global temperatures by 3.4 degrees over the next 50 years.

    Posted by lotocoti on 2007 02 07 at 07:42 PM • permalink

  27. When Mark Webber took his Williams for a run across the Sydney Harbour Bridge he was supposed not to exceed 90kph,a whole 20 kph more than the posted speed limit.Anyone who witnessed his run or even saw it on TV would suspect that Webber merely treated the 90kph as nothing more than a puerile suggestion.

    Posted by Lew on 2007 02 07 at 07:52 PM • permalink

  28. It seems that terminal fuckwittery is a mandatory requirement for pre-selection for election to local government nationwide. Are these drooling fucktards being cloned? Where do they keep springing from? Why are there so many of the buggers? They’re a bigger urban blight than pigeons, and twice a diseased.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 02 07 at 08:30 PM • permalink

  29. F1 cars in Lygon Street? It’ll make a nice change from Rex’s and SS Commodore’s. It may also be the most exciting moment in F1 for 2 decades now that overtaking seems to be illegal.

    Apart from wine cooler fueled slappers getting their norks out and the awesome sound the cars make, F1 has become a snooze fest. The last time a driver was overtaken in an Oz GP was when Nigel Mansell’s rear tyre blew.

    These councillor’s are symptomatic of the bubble wrap society we are been forced to live in. No wonder young boys are all developing bitch tits. We’ve been emasculated.

    /rant off. Hurry up caffeine.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 02 07 at 08:34 PM • permalink

  30. It wouldn’t be any different from what goes on every night anyway. The place is crawling with boy racers. One of them ran down and killed a chef knocking off from work a few weeks ago.

    At least the Ferraris would be driven by drivers who can drive.

    In fact, they should move the whole race to the Lygon Street precinct. Little Italy embraced the Grand Prix from day one, while Albert Park protesters did their best to eject it. Grand Prix patrons returned the favour and spent all their dollars in Lygon Street, leaving South Melbourne traders empty-handed.

    It’s called a relationship.

    So fuck off, interfering councillors.

    Posted by ilibcc on 2007 02 07 at 09:11 PM • permalink

  31. Besides, by far the deadliest thing in Lygon Street, bar the spaghetti spruiks is the Calabrian Business Association.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 02 07 at 09:20 PM • permalink

  32. When will monster trucks be extended the same privileges? Now that would be a sight on Lygon Street.

    Posted by Penguin on 2007 02 07 at 09:41 PM • permalink

  33. Shouldn’t there be a bloke walking ahead with a lantern?

    Oh, and braking hard with Phatty in the car is defined as a LOAD SHIFT.

    Posted by Henry boy on 2007 02 07 at 10:27 PM • permalink

  34. Ironic that Philip Adams used to drive a Ferrari.

    Posted by ilibcc on 2007 02 07 at 11:40 PM • permalink

  35. Red, of course.

    Posted by ilibcc on 2007 02 07 at 11:40 PM • permalink

  36. 100 km/h?  That’s the great thing about your cute little metric system.  It makes the most pedestrian activities appear risky and daring.  It’s akin to when I first was in Italy, and changed some money, and ended up with notes with lots and lots of zeros on them.  Wheeee!  I gots me twenty thousand lire!

    Of course, now I’d put my pinky to the corner of my mouth, and say “One million lire…”

    Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2007 02 07 at 11:53 PM • permalink

  37. Hey, it works in this case, too!

    “... traveling at speeds up to one hundred kilometers per hour...”

    </dr evil>

    Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2007 02 07 at 11:54 PM • permalink

  38. #24 Blink - spot on. 35 m?! That’s probably allowing for an L plater with slow driver reactions, a skinful of booze, on wet roads, swerving to avoid baby ducks, hitting an oil slick, and having bald brakes. Worst case scenario imposed on the rest of us, in other words.

    As Ian Deans pointed out @ #21 and #22, these fraudulent “statistics” are constantly trotted out as justification for slapping us with fines and taking away our ability to drive.

    And what do we do? In WA, when a study reveals every second driver breaks the limit the Road “Safety” Council shrieks for higher penalties despite the fact the State government recently increased most fines by 50% and some by much more. Sadly the Liberal opposition spokesmans knees immediately jerked in the same direction.

    And I’ll bet the majority of people, if asked, would support the RSC even though they don’t practice what they preach because, well, higher penalties are the right thing to do (or so we’re constantly told).

    Meanwhile in the UK they seem to have an organisation called Motorists Against Detection which sounds as though they do to speed cameras what Animal Liberation does to laboratories.

    When did Australia lose that fighting spirit? Let’s form a Motorists Against Detection (Australian Division). Who’s with me?!

    Posted by RexW on 2007 02 08 at 12:22 AM • permalink

  39. In Victoria, you must let the ‘betters’ look after us, and stay within the collective. In some media outlets, we are repeatedly told that we are bad bad drivers, with the obligatory interview with a traffic policeman. Mind you, it probably, in their minds, justifies the revenue raising speed cameras. Yet someone from a third world country can get a taxi licence within a few months of being here. But the cruncher for me was the worry of Melbourne City Councillors over a 100km F1, driven by a professional, the same council that paid private dicks to ‘bonk’ away on ratepayers money so they could entrap illegal brothels. Still, winter will be here soon, so it will be of to some sunny climes to visit a ‘Sister City’ I suppose.

    Posted by BJM on 2007 02 08 at 04:01 AM • permalink

  40. Wow, the image is shattered. I always pictured Australia as portrayed in Mad Max or the Road Warrior movies. Everyone driving like Koreans at 220kph. But this makes things seem rather wimpy and sad. Perhaps a 3-year old pedaling a tricycle with a governor might be more acceptable?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 02 08 at 04:44 AM • permalink

  41. The Ms Ng link?
    Asif her demographic don’t go down Lygon St c. 100 km/h in Skyline turbos ... Ferraris? ... becoming lil’ Asia nowadays.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 08 at 06:43 AM • permalink

  42. We don’t drive like Koreans, TB. We just drive Korean cars.

    My wife has one. A Hyundai. It’s great. You can tell exactly where she’s been because of the trail of accessories/body parts falling off it.

    Posted by JonathanH on 2007 02 08 at 06:44 AM • permalink

  43. #5
    Phat Phil would pass anything, except a McDonald’s drivethru ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 08 at 06:47 AM • permalink

  44. All Green here?

    Cr Fraser Brindley, of the Greens, said “...  the green light is given to say ‘go for your life ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 08 at 07:11 AM • permalink

  45. #27
    Heard the same rumour.
    He gets the F1 into at least 3rd gear in this clip.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 08 at 07:27 AM • permalink

  46. #40 - With respect, those are just the laws. They’ve got nothing to do with speeds we may actually be doing. Especially on open roads when you haven’t seen another vehicle (let alone a cop) for four hours.

    Posted by Ian Deans on 2007 02 08 at 08:25 AM • permalink

  47. #46 Thank you Ian, the image is somewhat restored. The Humongous RULES the wasteland!

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 02 08 at 10:38 AM • permalink

  48. What do you call a F1 ride at 100 km/h?

    Idle.

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 02 08 at 12:55 PM • permalink

  49. #40
    Our ABC (Pravda) quotes stats such as new small car sales increasing (proportionately?) but a large passenger car model, GMH Commodore, is quoting 25% of sales as the new GenIV 6.0L V8 (per Tim’s post), to which 100km/h is just above idle.
    Presumably, their purchasers have found their fuel consumption rate much lower than SUVs and their performance inversely proportional!

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 08 at 08:30 PM • permalink

  50. “Cr Peter Clarke said councillors were briefed on the event yesterday afternoon, after the media had been informed. They had been told that the organisers were given a permit for 100 km/h ... he said he had “grave concerns” for the safety of people at the event ...”

    Somebody ought to tattoo “wimp” on this candyass’s forehead.

    Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 02 09 at 01:34 AM • permalink

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