All Roads Lead To Rome...but most of them are closed

I'm normally quite a patient driver; you won't normally find me cutting lanes and speeding through amber lights (not unless there's a sale on at JB Hi-Fi), and apart from inconsiderate drivers I'm normally quite tolerant of most other road users. However recently a couple of things have contributed to a rise in the overall level of road angst I'm experiencing when I hop into my car.

The first is the amount of road work going on. It seems that almost everywhere I look they're tearing the road up. Now I don't have a problem with this per se - believe me, I've been to New South Wales and I'm thankful for the job that VicRoads has done thus far. However there are some places that just seem to be under perpetual rennovation, and no matter how many times I drive past there (at 40km/h under the watchful eye of the burly man in the hard hat with the 'SLOW' sign in hand) it seems that the project is not progressing. I understand that roads are in need of constant maintenance, but can't the job be done faster or at a more convenient hour? I'm not sure either the drivers nor the workers enjoy the congestion and the stress associated with it. Can't the work be done later at night or early morning?

The second are the speed limits. I have to confess, I'm a cautious driver - I don't break the speed limits unless I have to. If someone's in a rush, let him overtake me. However there comes a point where the speed limits just become ridiculous. In my opinion suburban streets should be 60km/h, main roads (two lanes in each direction) should be 70km/h, and school zones should be abolished. I think that the focus the government is placing on speed limits belies a myopic view of the road toll problem; a more effective method is to try and change driving culture and driving standards. Anyone who's had to drive through a school zone at 9:30am, when ALL of the kids are in class but drivers outside are still expected to crawl along at 40km/h, will be able to sympathise. The increased presence of cops waiting around these 40km/h zones is not increasing driver awareness; it is increasing driver anxiety. How about we spend more time looking ahead of us instead of down at the speedometer, hmm?

I guess the straw that really broke the camel's back for me was exiting the freeway today and immediately transitioning into a school zone. That means that in the time you get off the exit ramp you need to have decelerated from 100km/h to 40km/h. This is just ridiculous. Who builds a freeway next to a school without considering these things, anyway? What's more, the school was not readily visible from the exit, meaning that those drivers expecting to enter the road at 70km/h were in for a nasty surprise.

So my message to VicRoads is: shape up or ship out. You're frustrating good drivers and failing to have any impact on the hoons that cause the majority of the smash-ups.