NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay is my new hero

After becoming cynical from the normal spin and lobby group driven  policy from Governments, I was very happy to see two very commonsense announcements from NSW Government minister Duncan Gay today.

1. A trial for improvements to the NSW Conditional Registration scheme (Club Rego)
2. A study to investigate higher speed limits on sections of the Hume and Pacific Highways

The trial for improvements to NSW Conditional Registration will last for two years and allow for 60 days of personal use provided that a log book is kept.    This brings the NSW system in line with the Victorian system which is excellent.    I also think 60 days is more realistic than 90 as it is less open to abuse, but gives you plenty of time to actually use your car.

I would encourage anyone who lives in NSW to write to the Minister and register your support for this trial.     This is the best thing that has happened to the classic car hobby in NSW for many years and it is important that the Government see how popular this will be.

From statistics released by the CMC, there were only about 5,000 cars on the current club system, out of almost 30,000 cars known to be owned by club members.   Given there are many many clubs not affiliated with the CMC, and many cars are owned by not logged with the club, this really showed how useless most people found the existing system.

The speed limit study is also common sense.   Driver fatigue is a big factor in long distance driving and on the roads that support it, higher speeds will mean lower fatigue and not increase fatalities, since those are nearly all registered on roads that have not been upgraded.   Despite the study, I do not think the Government will act on this any time soon, but starting the conversation is an important part of changing outdated and silly policies.