![Slowing down is safer, but across-the-board speed zone reductions in Albury is not a panacea. File picture Slowing down is safer, but across-the-board speed zone reductions in Albury is not a panacea. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/zTpV5j6X6iLmSh5SbcmSaP/b1122c82-6bb2-4ca0-96d7-ac5b3faffd76.jpg/r0_111_669_517_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
When you think of speeding, odds are you also think of some idiot flying along the Hume Freeway at an almighty great rate of knots.
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These kinds of scenarios are all-too common, as demonstrated for one by how often such extreme cases are reported in The Border Mail.
It couldn't be any more obvious as to what will result from crashing a car, or causing another vehicle to do the same, when the driver is hurtling along at 180kmh or even more.
Catastrophic is an apt description, one often used by magistrates when dealing with such cases.
But we cannot adopt the idea that it's only extreme hoons on the open road who pose a risk.
Speeding is indeed part of our everyday life, in that people who do so are everywhere.
They don't think there's an issue when, for example, they nudge the speedometer in their car up a few notches, reckoning there's no harm in doing 55kmh when they should be hitting no more than 50kmh.
The basic laws of physics, and backed by many decades of statistical evidence drawn from crash scenes, make it clear - the faster you go, the longer it will take to brake to a complete stop.
But even going at the speed limit is not necessarily the safest course.
This is the guiding principle no doubt behind an Albury Council staff recommendation regarding lowering speed limits across the city's roads.
Some of it certainly makes sense. Driving down Dean Street, you'd be hard pressed to think you could travel at 50km/h.
It's always busy and angle parking means you constantly have to watch for cars backing out - something so much more difficult when the vehicle next to you blocking your view is one of those US-style monster trucks, with blacked-out windows.
A lower speed limit makes sense. And there are others that do likewise.
But a common sense approach will be to accept that blanket changes simply aren't necessary.
The council's decision therefore to consult residents on what will work best - and where - is welcomed.