Russell,

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 00:50:43 +1300, Russell McMahon wrote:

> > But that's because in New Zealand it's rare to see two vehicles at=20
> > once!  :-)))
>=20
> This is clearly a man who has never driven in Auckland 2 hours either=20
> side of morning and evening rush hour. (It's approximately impossible=20
> to do this)

Indeed - my experince of Auckland amounts to an afternoon wandering aroun=
d the waterfront, killing 4 hours=20
until a connecting flight.
=20
> >(I couldn't believe how empty
> > the roads are on the South Island when I was there).
>=20
> That's because of how fast the cars that are there drive ! :-)
> Especially across the Canterbury Plaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiins.

Well they can't drive *that* fast because the police have always-running =
radar sets mounted in the car, firing=20
through the windscreen.  How do I know this?  :-(  I got my second-ever s=
peeding ticket there!  It was on the=20
West Coast on a dead straight, empty road, but which had up-and-down hump=
s.  I was the only car I could see,=20
and was batting along at what felt like a reasonable speed, when a mounti=
ng holding a set of lights rose above=20
the hump ahead.  I lifted off, but it was too late - those pretty coloure=
d lights came on and the car below=20
them and I stopped for a chat.  129km/h in the (country-wide) 100k limit =
=3D NZ$240 fine (about UK=A380, US$120 at=20
the time).  I was impressed by the fact that the fine is prescribed - he =
looked it up on a speed/fine table=20
and I would have had another $60 to pay if I'd been another 1km faster (p=
robably lifting off did that much :-) =20
I was also impressed that the speeding ticket has a paying-in slip attach=
ed to the bottom - just stroll into=20
any bank and hand it over with the cash and the fine's paid - neat!  And =
of course being a grockle I didn't=20
get my licence endorsed...  After that I set the GPS's speed warning to 1=
00k and it's amazing how often it=20
triggered when I didn't realise I was letting the speed creep up.  I'm ju=
st not used to empty, fast-capable=20
roads and it's really easy to go faster than you realise in that situatio=
n.

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England



--=20
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