rikyuu Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) Warning - this is a rant, please don't read it if your after something nice! :biggrin: Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how appalling and dangerous Aussie drivers are? I'm an experienced driver with 20 years driving in the UK with no accidents or speeding fines, within 12 months of coming to Aus, I've been hit once and had 2 speeding fines (for going 4mph over the limit on empty straight roads). I'm not timid and like to make progress. I used to think there were some bad drivers in the UK, but mainly they were bad on purpose ie. trying to annoy you or trying to get ahead, but here the drivers are bad because they are absolutely clueless. They seem to have no idea what is safe and what is dangerous and crashing (according to my younger colleagues who have had several crashes in just a few years) is normal. There are crashes and traffic jams everywhere all the time due to bad driving. It's like the wild west of driving and it's probably my biggest concern, both for me and my wife an kids. The speed limits here are stupidly low, like 100kph (60mph) max, but mostly 30-50mph and stictly enforced, no 10% allowed here. I was comfortable doing 70mph+ in the UK all day long. Yet even at these low speeds here, I fear for my life, the driving is diabolical. There's lots of comment on the car forums about the UK getting a 80mph limit and why can we have it here etc. Well it's because of the appalling driving, which means you will crash a lot, which means it's best to have low limits to reduce the number of dead people. Here are some examples that I see most days; There's no lane discipline, people sit in the outside lane holding up traffic. I regularly see people join a freeway, go straight to the outside lane and sit there below the speed limit even when the other lanes are empty. Due to the above, there's lots of over taking on the left and swerving around other traffic with dangerous lane changes. There is no courtesy, people will not let you change lane, merge, enter a freeway or pull out of a junction. People change lane frequently for no reason and dangerously into gaps that don't exist. During my typical journey to work I will have to avoid hitting around 5 cars randomly changing lane for no reason. Typically I'll see someone in a fairly empty right lane, they'll suddenly swerve into your lane forcing you to brake hard, you'll think they must be turning at the next junction, but no, it was just the irresistable urge to change lane. A few weeks ago, I couldn't avoid one lane changer and she hit the front left of my bumper with the right rear of her car. Fortunately it was my company's car, but no word of an apology and a week later a letter came from her insurance company claiming it was my fault. It said she was turning right and I hit the rear of her (it was a freeway with no right turns and the damage was on the side), so my company is fighting against this or course. Because of this (and the general bad driving) I've fitted both our cars with front and rear cameras which record continuously. People drive an inch off your bumber everywhere, through the housing estates, single lane roads and freeways. Then wonder why there are crashes, traffic jams and why no-one can join a freeway - no gaps to merge. As an example, within 1km of setting off this morning, I had 3 cars driving an inch off my bumper. My housing estate is quiet, not many cars that time in the morning, it's 50kph with some ramps, I do just under that. 1st car appears after 2mins on my bumper all the way then turns off. 30s later 2nd cars appears on my bumper, turns off again. I turn onto a faster 70kph single lane road and sit at 70. 30s later, another car on my bumper, weaving left to right, looking to overtake (it's only 200m to the freeway junction). People overtake when you are joining the freeway. Unbelievably, when your booting it on the slip road to join the freeway the car behind you often tries to overtake, either blocking you from joining, or serving into the outside lane to avoid you and cutting up someone else. This happens regularly, I see it most days. Even more unbelievably, people use the on ramp (slip road) for freeways to overtake, especially the ones that continue for a few hundred metres. They see an empty on ramp, swerve across the solid white lines to the on ramp and try to get ahead of the 1 or 2 cars in front of them before forcing their way back in, making everyone else brake and cause a traffic jam. I see this all the time. In fact everyone ignores solid white lines and cross hatching completed. If you're wanting to take the left lane to turn off and you're waiting for the solid white line to break up with your left indicator on, it's too late as everyone behind you will have already crossed over it and will be overtaking you on the left. From all this you'd think that everyone is in so much of a rush that they'd all be speeding everywhere. But this isn't the case. The authorities have invested so much in reducing speeding with so many cameras, awareness ads and such low speed limits, that most of this happens below the speed limit or at relatively low speeds. It's almost as if it's all ok, because it's below or around the speed limit. It fact, the annoying thing is, if you move over for a tailgater on a multilane road, they won't actually go past, they'lll just sit next to you on the speed limit. I've done this several times and then been stuck in the left lane as the tailgater won't exceed the speed limit and just sits next to me. Road works have stupidly low speed limits. For example, a 100kph section of freeway near me had some work being done to the edge. There were concrete barriers errected, tied together with steel cables (that would stop a tank) and a fence errected to prevent flying debris. The speed limit at that point was 40kph. Even with fairly low traffic, it was utter chaos with some cars slowing to 40kph, other continuing at 100kph for a bit and others somehwere in between, lots of lane swappnig, swerving and heavy braking. In addition to this, a lot of road works don't indicate where the speed limit has returned to normal. Hence again you get lots of speed differences, some still doing 40kph in the outside lane, others swerving to accelrate up to 100kph on the inside lane. All these safety measures, usually end up with carnage, or a lengthy traffic jam at best. Then we get onto traffic lights. Almost every junction has traffic lights as people can't be trusted to enter or leave a junction themselves without lights controlling it. Not ony that, the lights control every lane of the traffic and there's a filter light for every direction. In the UK, normally you can judge whether it's safe to turn left or right at a junction with out a filter light, but not here, it's all controlled. That means that the red light is on for an inordinate amount of time, whilst all the cars in the other directions are filtered through, left, right, straight on, u-turn, all in turn before it gets back to you. Not only does this cause huge congestion at almost every junction, but it means many, many people run a red light. I'ved stopped at red lights and had people behind me swerve around to go through it. I've pulled out of junctions on a green light and someones come through the red in the other direction after I've gone through and I've seen it many times and seen many crashes like this. So I try to wait before setting off, but as the lights change directly from red to green (no amber), if you don't set off instantly (which means keeping the car in gear), the cars behind immediately beep you. There is no forward planning for junctions, turns, freeways etc. I see many cars driving in the lane opposite to the turn they will be making or in the outside lane of the freeway when they turning off the next junction - often under the speed limit holding up traffic, then swerve across 3-4 lanes at the last minute to make the turn or exit the freeway. When joining the freeway, no-one matches the speed of the traffic, then merges into the most convenient gap in the traffic. Everyone goes right to the end of the on ramp and forces their way in. I've often left gaps for people to merge, but they don't want to, instead going right to the end to get 1 or 2 cars ahead, then forcing their way in. That's why the traffic builds up, because everyone else has to brake to avoid them. Trucks roll all the time, it's like a common event. These things are twice the length of UK trucks, can you imagine how dangerous one of these things are? They also drive an inch off your bumper, with bull bars on the front, as high as a house. I've recently learnt to drive a truck and I know air brakes take a second to respond. Add to this your reaction times and the cars in front are toast. Add into this mix that the cheapest car for 17 year olds to buy when the pass their tests is either a 4 litre falcon or 3.8 litre V6 commodore, both with rear wheel drive and no traction control, it's easy to see why nearly every day it's on the news about another (commdore or falcon) crashing through a house or wrapping itself around a tree or pole killing the occupants. There are driving schools around, but not many. Most kids are taught by their parents who are already appalling drivers. Judging by how easy it was for me to get me truck licence (1/2 day training) I figure the car license must be easy too. You don't need insurance (mostly the above 17 yo don't have it). Insurance required to drive the car is included in the registration, but it only includes injury insurance. So you have lots of kids driving 250hp cars with no third party insurance. You have to hope when they hit you, they stop and offer to pay for the damage (unlikely). All the time I see cars crashed in the strangest of places, through fences, backwards/up side down in the central reservation. Usually the afore mentioned Falcons and commodores. There's about 1 motor cyclist death a day on the news (in Melbourne alone). Not suprising when you see how they ride. I was a motorcyclist for several years in the UK, but would not consider it at all in Australia due to the poor car drivering. So you would think the motorcyclists here would be a bit more careful, not a chance. I've had them go past on the freeway, any which way, left right, between cars then place themselves a few inches off my front bumper whilst doing 100kph. Amazingly, checking the roadworthyness of a car (like an MOT) is the job of the police! There's no annual check (apart from NSW I think), so there are many cars on the road with bald tyres, smoking exhaust, poor wipers, poor brakes, poor/broken/dangerous headlights (you get dazzled by maladjusted headlights all the time and fitting HIDs is all the rage and they just blind you as they spread light everywhere), all leading to lots of break downs and crashes. I say it's the job of the police, because in the absence of anyone else, they do a vehicle check when they pull you over and many are vehicle experts and check for engine mods and stuff. This is the only time a vehicle gets checked, apart from when it's sold to a new owner. An annual MOT would prevent most of the stupid mods people do and a lot of the break downs. When people break down, they either make no effort to get off the road or can't do because people are not courteous enought to let them move over. Almost every broken down car/truck I see is left in the middle of the road or freeway causing chaos. Many don't have break down cover, so cars are just abandoned until 'a mate' can tow them. 7 out of 10 or my commuting journeys each week have long queues caused by crashes or break downs. According to the RACV, 50% of breakdowns are due to running out of fuel. You can't believe the traffic chaos these breakdowns cause, a 30 minutes journey becomes 3 hours with the resulting crashes caused by the queue. I can't believe so many people run out of fuel, but my colleagues seem to think it's fun seeing how low the guauge can get. To top it off, a lot of freeways provide free fuel to anyone who runs out and causes this chaos. There are police everywhere, I mean everywhere and mostly in unmarked cars. But their only priority is catching anyone doing 1kph over the spead limit or modified cars, so the poor driving goes unoticed. In fact I've seen very poor driving by police cars and that's just the marked ones. So that's all I can think of, congratulations if you made it to the end! LOL. Edited July 3, 2012 by rikyuu title changed by popular demand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Wow that is a long rant, have to agree with most of it. I hate it how no one ever lets you out and if they do you know it's usually a fellow migrant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freebo Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Think you've covered it all, and all true IMHO, its the same here in QLD and I saw some amazing things in NSW too. Where did you get the front/rear camera - been thinking of getting one myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike@Bonbeach Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I agree with pretty well most of what you say, but be prepared for people on here to totally disagree with you. It'll become a UK is just as bad or worse argument if previous posts are anything to go by. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GeorgeD Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Think you've covered it all, and all true IMHO, its the same here in QLD and I saw some amazing things in NSW too. Where did you get the front/rear camera - been thinking of getting one myself. Yup, totally agree with the OP. And the same goes for QLD. Where did you get the cameras...I'm interested...last week i was stopped on a hill at a set of lights turning right...and just as the light turned to green, the driver got out of his car, undid his trousers, and did a pee into the oncoming traffic in the middle of the road (no central reservation!) So then all the other cars start swerving around him etc, it could've been carnage. He was either a nutter or steaming drunk. It was across the road from a school. I would've gone to the police if I ahd any proof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Shoes Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Yes a very long rant ........... but glad to read that me & my OH are not the only one´s moaning about the terrible roads out here and the even worse driving. Not all the drivers are bad, but a lot are, I love the one´s with the very loud exhaust pipes, and somewhere to go in a hurry. I was watching one idiot last week weaving in and out at break neck speed only to end up stopped at the traffic lights, the same traffic lights that I had safely driven up to seconds later. The roads are awful considering (well they are here in the suburbs of QLD) we don´t even have a decent road into Brisbane and many of them are death traps. I often wonder what they do with the road tax and fines they collect. Maybe the same as they do in the UK :dull: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Shoes Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Warning - this is a rant, please don't read it if your after something nice! :biggrin: Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how appalling and dangerous Aussie drivers are? I'm an experienced driver with 20 years driving in the UK with no accidents or speeding fines, within 12 months of coming to Aus, I've been hit once and had 2 speeding fines (for going 4mph over the limit on empty straight roads). I'm not timid and like to make progress. I used to think there were some bad drivers in the UK, but mainly they were bad on purpose ie. trying to annoy you or trying to get ahead, but here the drivers are bad because they are absolutely clueless. They seem to have no idea what is safe and what is dangerous and crashing (according to my younger colleagues who have had several crashes in just a few years) is normal. There are crashes and traffic jams everywhere all the time due to bad driving. It's like the wild west of driving and it's probably my biggest concern, both for me and my wife an kids. The speed limits here are stupidly low, like 100kph (60mph) max, but mostly 30-50mph and stictly enforced, no 10% allowed here. I was comfortable doing 70mph+ in the UK all day long. Yet even at these low speeds here, I fear for my life, the driving is diabolical. There's lots of comment on the car forums about the UK getting a 80mph limit and why can we have it here etc. Well it's because of the appalling driving, which means you will crash a lot, which means it's best to have low limits to reduce the number of dead people. Here are some examples that I see most days; There's no lane discipline, people sit in the outside lane holding up traffic. I regularly see people join a freeway, go straight to the outside lane and sit there below the speed limit even when the other lanes are empty. Due to the above, there's lots of over taking on the left and swerving around other traffic with dangerous lane changes. There is no courtesy, people will not let you change lane, merge, enter a freeway or pull out of a junction. People change lane frequently for no reason and dangerously into gaps that don't exist. During my typical journey to work I will have to avoid hitting around 5 cars randomly changing lane for no reason. Typically I'll see someone in a fairly empty right lane, they'll suddenly swerve into your lane forcing you to brake hard, you'll think they must be turning at the next junction, but no, it was just the irresistable urge to change lane. A few weeks ago, I couldn't avoid one lane changer and she hit the front left of my bumper with the right rear of her car. Fortunately it was my company's car, but no word of an apology and a week later a letter came from her insurance company claiming it was my fault. It said she was turning right and I hit the rear of her (it was a freeway with no right turns and the damage was on the side), so my company is fighting against this or course. Because of this (and the general bad driving) I've fitted both our cars with front and rear cameras which record continuously. People drive an inch off your bumber everywhere, through the housing estates, single lane roads and freeways. Then wonder why there are crashes, traffic jams and why no-one can join a freeway - no gaps to merge. As an example, within 1km of setting off this morning, I had 3 cars driving an inch off my bumper. My housing estate is quiet, not many cars that time in the morning, it's 50kph with some ramps, I do just under that. 1st car appears after 2mins on my bumper all the way then turns off. 30s later 2nd cars appears on my bumper, turns off again. I turn onto a faster 70kph single lane road and sit at 70. 30s later, another car on my bumper, weaving left to right, looking to overtake (it's only 200m to the freeway junction). People overtake when you are joining the freeway. Unbelievably, when your booting it on the slip road to join the freeway the car behind you often tries to overtake, either blocking you from joining, or serving into the outside lane to avoid you and cutting up someone else. This happens regularly, I see it most days. Even more unbelievably, people use the on ramp (slip road) for freeways to overtake, especially the ones that continue for a few hundred metres. They see an empty on ramp, swerve across the solid white lines to the on ramp and try to get ahead of the 1 or 2 cars in front of them before forcing their way back in, making everyone else brake and cause a traffic jam. I see this all the time. In fact everyone ignores solid white lines and cross hatching completed. If you're wanting to take the left lane to turn off and you're waiting for the solid white line to break up with your left indicator on, it's too late as everyone behind you will have already crossed over it and will be overtaking you on the left. From all this you'd think that everyone is in so much of a rush that they'd all be speeding everywhere. But this isn't the case. The authorities have invested so much in reducing speeding with so many cameras, awareness ads and such low speed limits, that most of this happens below the speed limit or at relatively low speeds. It's almost as if it's all ok, because it's below or around the speed limit. It fact, the annoying thing is, if you move over for a tailgater on a multilane road, they won't actually go past, they'lll just sit next to you on the speed limit. I've done this several times and then been stuck in the left lane as the tailgater won't exceed the speed limit and just sits next to me. Road works have stupidly low speed limits. For example, a 100kph section of freeway near me had some work being done to the edge. There were concrete barriers errected, tied together with steel cables (that would stop a tank) and a fence errected to prevent flying debris. The speed limit at that point was 40kph. Even with fairly low traffic, it was utter chaos with some cars slowing to 40kph, other continuing at 100kph for a bit and others somehwere in between, lots of lane swappnig, swerving and heavy braking. In addition to this, a lot of road works don't indicate where the speed limit has returned to normal. Hence again you get lots of speed differences, some still doing 40kph in the outside lane, others swerving to accelrate up to 100kph on the inside lane. All these safety measures, usually end up with carnage, or a lengthy traffic jam at best. Then we get onto traffic lights. Almost every junction has traffic lights as people can't be trusted to enter or leave a junction themselves without lights controlling it. Not ony that, the lights control every lane of the traffic and there's a filter light for every direction. In the UK, normally you can judge whether it's safe to turn left or right at a junction with out a filter light, but not here, it's all controlled. That means that the red light is on for an inordinate amount of time, whilst all the cars in the other directions are filtered through, left, right, straight on, u-turn, all in turn before it gets back to you. Not only does this cause huge congestion at almost every junction, but it means many, many people run a red light. I'ved stopped at red lights and had people behind me swerve around to go through it. I've pulled out of junctions on a green light and someones come through the red in the other direction after I've gone through and I've seen it many times and seen many crashes like this. So I try to wait before setting off, but as the lights change directly from red to green (no amber), if you don't set off instantly (which means keeping the car in gear), the cars behind immediately beep you. There is no forward planning for junctions, turns, freeways etc. I see many cars driving in the lane opposite to the turn they will be making or in the outside lane of the freeway when they turning off the next junction - often under the speed limit holding up traffic, then swerve across 3-4 lanes at the last minute to make the turn or exit the freeway. When joining the freeway, no-one matches the speed of the traffic, then merges into the most convenient gap in the traffic. Everyone goes right to the end of the on ramp and forces their way in. I've often left gaps for people to merge, but they don't want to, instead going right to the end to get 1 or 2 cars ahead, then forcing their way in. That's why the traffic builds up, because everyone else has to brake to avoid them. Trucks roll all the time, it's like a common event. These things are twice the length of UK trucks, can you imagine how dangerous one of these things are? They also drive an inch off your bumper, with bull bars on the front, as high as a house. I've recently learnt to drive a truck and I know air brakes take a second to respond. Add to this your reaction times and the cars in front are toast. Add into this mix that the cheapest car for 17 year olds to buy when the pass their tests is either a 4 litre falcon or 3.8 litre V6 commodore, both with rear wheel drive and no traction control, it's easy to see why nearly every day it's on the news about another (commdore or falcon) crashing through a house or wrapping itself around a tree or pole killing the occupants. There are driving schools around, but not many. Most kids are taught by their parents who are already appalling drivers. Judging by how easy it was for me to get me truck licence (1/2 day training) I figure the car license must be easy too. You don't need insurance (mostly the above 17 yo don't have it). Insurance required to drive the car is included in the registration, but it only includes injury insurance. So you have lots of kids driving 250hp cars with no third party insurance. You have to hope when they hit you, they stop and offer to pay for the damage (unlikely). All the time I see cars crashed in the strangest of places, through fences, backwards/up side down in the central reservation. Usually the afore mentioned Falcons and commodores. There's about 1 motor cyclist death a day on the news (in Melbourne alone). Not suprising when you see how they ride. I was a motorcyclist for several years in the UK, but would not consider it at all in Australia due to the poor car drivering. So you would think the motorcyclists here would be a bit more careful, not a chance. I've had them go past on the freeway, any which way, left right, between cars then place themselves a few inches off my front bumper whilst doing 100kph. Amazingly, checking the roadworthyness of a car (like an MOT) is the job of the police! There's no annual check (apart from NSW I think), so there are many cars on the road with bald tyres, smoking exhaust, poor wipers, poor brakes, poor/broken/dangerous headlights (you get dazzled by maladjusted headlights all the time and fitting HIDs is all the rage and they just blind you as they spread light everywhere), all leading to lots of break downs and crashes. I say it's the job of the police, because in the absence of anyone else, they do a vehicle check when they pull you over and many are vehicle experts and check for engine mods and stuff. This is the only time a vehicle gets checked, apart from when it's sold to a new owner. An annual MOT would prevent most of the stupid mods people do and a lot of the break downs. When people break down, they either make no effort to get off the road or can't do because people are not courteous enought to let them move over. Almost every broken down car/truck I see is left in the middle of the road or freeway causing chaos. Many don't have break down cover, so cars are just abandoned until 'a mate' can tow them. 7 out of 10 or my commuting journeys each week have long queues caused by crashes or break downs. According to the RACV, 50% of breakdowns are due to running out of fuel. You can't believe the traffic chaos these breakdowns cause, a 30 minutes journey becomes 3 hours with the resulting crashes caused by the queue. I can't believe so many people run out of fuel, but my colleagues seem to think it's fun seeing how low the guauge can get. To top it off, a lot of freeways provide free fuel to anyone who runs out and causes this chaos. There are police everywhere, I mean everywhere and mostly in unmarked cars. But their only priority is catching anyone doing 1kph over the spead limit or modified cars, so the poor driving goes unoticed. In fact I've seen very poor driving by police cars and that's just the marked ones. So that's all I can think of, congratulations if you made it to the end! LOL. Amazingly, checking the roadworthyness of a car (like an MOT) is the job of the police! There's no annual check (apart from NSW I think), so there are many cars on the road with bald tyres, smoking exhaust, poor wipers, poor brakes, poor/broken/dangerous headlights (you get dazzled by maladjusted headlights all the time and fitting HIDs is all the rage and they just blind you as they spread light everywhere), all leading to lots of break downs and crashes. I say it's the job of the police, because in the absence of anyone else, they do a vehicle check when they pull you over and many are vehicle experts and check for engine mods and stuff. This is the only time a vehicle gets checked, apart from when it's sold to a new owner. An annual MOT would prevent most of the stupid mods people do and a lot of the break downs. I just could not believe this .......... I asked the dealer who I bought my car off when and where did I take it for it´s road worthy test and he said I did not, ............... yes agree with most of what you have said. Forgot did you mention jay walking ........... now that really annoys me .......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freebo Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Funny thing is when I moved our 10 month old car from NSW to QLD I had to get a roadworthy cert, yet you see all manner of ancient wrecks on the road, no brake lights, bald tyers etc and so long as they don't get sold they never get checked. As for the driving it really must be down to education and policing, I drive 100km+ on QLD's busiest freeway and don't see a single cop from one month to the next, when you do see them its invariably as a speed trap, as noted above its driving behaviour rather than speed which is truly dangerous round here. Where do you get those camera's again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger2shirts Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Totally true. Beware only 5% use indicators. 95% tailgate 98% get totally confused by roundabouts 95% will not give way They make the Italians look safe! Its a bit of fun to poke fun about this issue but the driving is terrible here which is why the speed restrictions are so low. I really would hate to think how an Aussie would cope with the UK motorways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger2shirts Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Totally agree. Where did you get the cameras? Its a great idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Blimey long rant....thank the heavens your not living in Perth..the rant would of been twice as long! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I feel the same way about driving here. I love Australia and I hate moaning about the driving, but I feel like I am taking my life in to my own hands when I drive. I think that the thing that irritates me the most is the lack of courtesy and forethought. If there is a lane of traffic merging in to the road (such as a slip lane) and you can safely move across to allow traffic in, do so. Don't speed up purposely so that no one can merge in to the traffic in front of you. If you are turning or changing lanes, would it really hurt to indicate? The indicator is right there on the thing you have to hold to steer the car! Could you please put your lights on when the weather is shocking and/or it is getting dark. Headlights and rear lights aren't just there to look pretty and so that you can see where you are going, they are also so that I can see you coming in the dark! Why do you have to sit on my rear bumper? You can't force me to go faster by doing so, because I know that even if I speed up you will still be too close. You don't need to overtake me in a right turn lane when I am going at the speed limit, particularly when there is a rubbish truck pulling out of a side road forcing you to swerve inches from my front end. Why, oh why, do you speed up so that I can't overtake a slow vehicle. I check my mirrors, nothing there. Indicate and check my mirrors again, nothing there. Check my blind spot and oh, there you are all of a sudden. It is almost like driving is viewed as being a competition. I like to think of myself as a careful but confident driver (no accidents, points or fines or anything to date), and I do enjoy driving, but sometimes the things that I see make me very cross! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I think I must be very lucky in north Brisbane as I haven't seen many problems at all. We were rear-ended one week after arriving which wasn't great, but since then it's been fine. I read threads like this and was expecting it to be really awful so have been pleasantly surprised every time I have been let out or given room to change lanes (which I haven't had any issues with). I have noticed that tailgating on the motorway is pretty bad though. To be honest I did notice a lot more bad driving in the UK than I do here but I used to drive more around rush-hour which I think makes a difference due to the volume of traffic. Here I am just driving around within a 20km radius during the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Les Patterson Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Gee I wish I I'd been born English rather than an Australian......I wouldn't then be inferior in so many ways. Many times this site reminds me of an old Mac Davis song : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKEnVOuOOOE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal2 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 cameras is a great idea, I'd love to know how much they are and where you get them fitted thanks Cal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndoe Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 What I'd like to know is how you come to the conclusion that the driver's are Aussies? You've had two speeding tickets, yet I know of aussie drivers who have been driving for 40 yrs who've never had one. I've had 3 shunts in my 17 yrs here...............one the other week which I posted about and was my fault for driving in thongs, the other two were the other drivers' fault and one was an English migrant and the other a Scot, who had only been in Oz 3 days. Bad drivers are bad drivers period and they come in all shapes and sizes....................although I will say, that most of those that I've experienced outer lane crawling/tailgating/not signalling etc often appear to be of phillipino or similar extraction.............we even have competitions when driving behind a crawler/non-signaller as to guessing their nationality......................have to say....................invariably Asian female Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Les Patterson Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) What I'd like to know is how you come to the conclusion that the driver's are Aussies? You've had two speeding tickets, yet I know of aussie drivers who have been driving for 40 yrs who've never had one. I've had 3 shunts in my 17 yrs here...............one the other week which I posted about and was my fault for driving in thongs, the other two were the other drivers' fault and one was an English migrant and the other a Scot, who had only been in Oz 3 days. Bad drivers are bad drivers period and they come in all shapes and sizes....................although I will say, that most of those that I've experienced outer lane crawling/tailgating/not signalling etc often appear to be of phillipino or similar extraction.............we even have competitions when driving behind a crawler/non-signaller as to guessing their nationality......................have to say....................invariably Asian female 47 years for me and never had a traffic offence and I've driven some seriously quick machinery over that period.......I may have been lucky some of the time but normally if you obey the road rules you don't get pinged. The only shunts I've had were in my motor sport days, a couple were my fault, one wasn't. Edited June 5, 2012 by Sir Les Patterson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Gee I wish I I'd been born English rather than an Australian......I wouldn't then be inferior in so many ways. Many times this site reminds me of an old Mac Davis song : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKEnVOuOOOE well, dude, you don't have to join in.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 What I'd like to know is how you come to the conclusion that the driver's are Aussies? You've had two speeding tickets, yet I know of aussie drivers who have been driving for 40 yrs who've never had one. I've had 3 shunts in my 17 yrs here...............one the other week which I posted about and was my fault for driving in thongs, the other two were the other drivers' fault and one was an English migrant and the other a Scot, who had only been in Oz 3 days. Bad drivers are bad drivers period and they come in all shapes and sizes....................although I will say, that most of those that I've experienced outer lane crawling/tailgating/not signalling etc often appear to be of phillipino or similar extraction.............we even have competitions when driving behind a crawler/non-signaller as to guessing their nationality......................have to say....................invariably Asian female seems a bit much. how do you know they're not Aussies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Les Patterson Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) well, dude, you don't have to join in.... Don't call me "dude" seems a bit much. how do you know they're not Aussies? How do you know they are? Edited June 5, 2012 by Sir Les Patterson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Don't call me "dude" How do you know they are? I don't, but assuming a person's nationality based on their ethnicity is fraught with problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 So true but you get used to it. We all think we are the best drivers in the world but we are not we are all guilty in someone's eyes of doing something wrong. I do like the way Aussies change lanes though, they wink and they are coming, no wondering as they keep winking and waiting and I keep wondering when like in UK. They cannot increase the speed limit here because our roads are just not good enough, only the freeways are suitable for high speed. Local highways edges and conditions are very dangerous. A young lass was killed Sat before last on a road near me, why evidently pot hole, rain etc. driver lost control head on. Speed limit on that road is 90kmh As for the law if any part of a car is in front of us and we hit it, we are in the wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freebo Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 As for the law if any part of a car is in front of us and we hit it, we are in the wrong. Sorry? So if someone goes to overtake, gets their front bumper a few cm ahead of you then turns in and hits you, you're to blame? How about someone who pulls in front of you from a side road? BTW cameras are on Ebay for about $50 or more expensive/better? from here (who where on ACA) http://www.autoblackbox.com.au/index.php?route=common/home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rikyuu Posted June 5, 2012 Author Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) wow, so many replies in a short time and it's a work day too! I didn't know what to expect, but just wanted to air my views. have a search for "car recorder" on ebay and there are lots to choose from. Most plug into the cig lighter and start recording when the car is started. "how do I know their Aussies", well they could all be foreigners, more than likely lots of drivers weren't born here, but I was referring more to the Aussie way of driving. And once driving here for a while, one does start to creep over to that style of driving. Anyway, it's nothing to do with race or whatever, if you've never driven anywhere else and can't see the driving is poor and dangerous then that's part of the problem. As an outsider, I and others, can see this and can see how dangerous it is a lot of the time. It's nothing to do with race, superiority, or not wanting to be here, it's just an observation and opinion from people who have seen an alternative way, which is hard for some to listen to. There's a serious side to this; whilst the authorities continue to focus only on speed (a great money spinner) and whilst everyone else burries their heads in the sand knowing no different and not tackling the issue, the lives of our families and children will continue to be deleted. Edited June 5, 2012 by rikyuu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Shoes Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Just wondering are these camera´s legal :wink: just wondering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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