Driving & Traffic

Speaking of cars, looks like the next Holden Commodore will be made in France after General Motors sold its European operations including Opel to PSA Group (owner of Peugeot and Citroen) for more than A$3 billion: http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/eurosourced-holdens-continue-following-french-takeover-20170306-gurz92.html
GM Europe had not made a profit since 1999.

I don’t think they should have kept the Commodore name.

To me, rear wheel drive and V8 availability is what makes a Commodore a Commodore. Not turbo 4 cylinder power and front wheel drive. Nor that it will be a five door liftback, and no ute option either.

The CityLink-Tulla Widening project (both on the Tulla/CityLink proper and West Gate Fwy) & Western Distributor (Monash Fwy section) upgrade don’t seem to be anywhere near complete yet :persevere:

Just making the traffic so much worse 24/7.

Usually sections (once complete) open in stages.

I believe the West Gate part will be done by late this year.

If you’d asked a week ago then I’d have said a Maserati Levante for sure but a high-spec Range Rover Velar would probably tempt me over now.

Never thought I’d be one to go for an SUV type car but some of these new models coming out are just so much more interesting and unique compared with their regular sedan/hatch equivalents.

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Confusing sign at a school in the ACT.

https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/17545531_10208726785791552_1874614424394685767_o.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoiYiJ9&oh=dd4b336a74a4319463f76df405ef0f3b&oe=599A27D0

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So it’s 2 hour parking school days between 8am and 5pm, except between 8:30 and 9:30am and 2:30 and 3:30pm where it’s only 15 minutes. Could be worse (this one from Melbourne, for example)

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A horse drawn bus gets more time.

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I think there will be traffic chaos on Melbourne’s West Gate Freeway tomorrow morning with changes to the Montague Street exit. A barrier has been built splitting the four eastbound lanes into pairs of two, from the Bolte Bridge to Montague Street. Traffic from the Bolte Bridge will have exclusive use of the Lorimer Street exit, while traffic on the West Gate will have to take the Kings Way exit, and stay in the right lane. The Montague Street exit will be on the right. After leaving the freeway, turn left twice to reach Lorimer Street.
More information can be found here

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Yes.

This is part of the CityLink Tulla Widening project.

Widening & making the West Gate more efficient.

The first ever freeway-to-freeway Ramp Signals have been installed at the end of the Bolte Bridge fly-over onto the freeway too, meaning in the future there’ll be big queues during busy periods.

More freeway-to-freeway ramp signals are being installed on the Monash Fwy at the EastLink interchange, which is part of the Western Distributor (Monash) upgrade.

There are no other such systems in Australia, where traffic coming off one freeway (at 80km/h -100km/h) must stop & be metered (during busy periods) onto another.

It’ll be interesting to see how drivers / traffic responds.

There are some in the US & UK I believe.

They’re building some on the M7 to M4 interchange in Sydney in the not too distant future as part of the M4 Smart Motorway project.

Not that it’s going to help a great deal, I’d imagine that they will mostly be ignored unless they install cameras or get police to enforce them properly. We’ve had ramp meters in the past on the Anzac Bridge and M5 East, but they were turned off after everyone ignored them.

The way that concrete barrier is placed on the West Gate Fwy in the animation seems to be a massive hazard. I would hope they put a solid line well in advance, and perhaps place a small painted island there so cars don’t skewer themselves on it.

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It’ll help ease traffic & incidents (i.e.) last minute weaving.

But yes, will cause initial confusion.

Especially for interstate drivers.

It carries over 210,000 vehicles a day, the busiest road in Australia apparently.

The City of Sydney has their own anti-Westconnex campaign going on this website.

There’s a fine line between exaggeration and outright lies, and they have certainly crossed the line on this one.

Their website is alleging that the government is building a “seven lane freeway” all the way through the inner city, which is the biggest load of HORSE SHIT that I have heard in many, many years. It is a complete lie, a total fabrication. No one on this planet would consider the road to resemble anything close to a freeway.

For perspective, this “freeway” has no central divider, has footpaths on each side of the road, and traffic light controlled intersections very couple of hundred metres. Most of it will only be four lanes (they get the ‘seven lanes’ figure by including turning lanes at major intersections).

It is one of the most dishonest pieces of propaganda that I have ever seen a form of government produce. Have a look for yourself at the project plans. Does it look like a ‘freeway’ to you?

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Picture by @TV.Cynic of today’s AFL.

The AFL, MCG and the Victorian government still allow this in 2017 - put a chair in the back of a ute, it’s not anchored, no seat belt, and a guy holds two children.


Why not use a convertible car with the top down?

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Probably because I imagine they have to use Toyota as major sponsor and I don’t think they have a convertible in their model line up.

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Probably true, and no doubt it was going very slow, not on the road, etc.; but since we’re all about promoting safety in car ads & if Toyota is a sponsor then it was a car ad, so @littlegezzybear is absolutely right; the AFL should have to use a convertible.
Toyota not making one is Toyota’s problem.

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They were driving outside yesterday too. Is that on a plaza area or a road?

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Nobody going anywhere on Punt Rd / Hoddle St (which is located in, yep, you guessed it… Richmond!)

One of Melbourne’s notoriously gridlocked arterials at the best of times in the inner-east, made 100 times worse by wild drunken and excited Tigers fans (one was half naked riding on top of a limo) :smile:

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