Last year the NSW government touted the possibility of increasing the speed limit on parts of the Hume and Pacific highways in New South Wales and commencing research into that prospect for roads that were consistent with European standards. According to an ABC News report of September 2015, there were only two roads in NSW that were close to the grade separation of the European standard: The M1 between Sydney and Newcastle and the F5 between Sydney and Goulburn.
The NSW Minister for Roads Mr Duncan Gay needs to have a good look at what is already happening in particular on the road between Sydney and Newcastle. Having regularly travelled both the both the F5 and the M1, the driving behaviour on both roads is different. In part this is because the M1 is a more of a dash, particularly when people are travelling to and from work, while the Sydney Goulburn and beyond is longer more sedate drive, if it can be described in those terms.
There is no need to increase the speed limit on the M1 because at times despite a police presence along the freeway, on many occasions the speed limit is already being exceeded by drivers of both commercial and private vehicles. It seems that somehow the drivers know where and when the police are about. I now find this particular journey quite harrowing at times, because of the increased vigilance required and even look forward to getting to Pennant Hills Road coming from the Newcastle direction to get my blood pressure down. (At least until I get frustrated by the crawl along this road).
The problems of speed along the M1 are exacerbated by the road sometimes being three lanes and other times two lanes, having to slow down for semi-trailers overtaking each other and other slower traffic which cause the speedsters to overtake on the left or the right and swerve back into whatever lane takes their fancy.
Mr Duncan should take a trip to Europe and see what a straight, separated road looks like. Such European roads do not have much in common with the bendy sometimes narrower road along the M1. There are already quite a number of accidents and delays on the M1 due to accidents and with Winter upon us I fear that sooner or later there will be a major disaster on this road.
It may be that I am just getting older, but this stretch of road does not need an increase in the speed limit. I wonder whether other road users feel the same about this road and roads in other parts of Australia and New Zealand.
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