Driving in SE Queensland

Much is written - negatively - by Poms about driving in Australia, much of which is over-blown in my view. Having been here over a year I offer my own (balanced?) perspective comparing SE Qld to SE England which may be of interest to aspiring migrants.

In both cases there are two different driving experiences...peak and off-peak. In both places driving in peak hours is noticeably worse in terms of driving standards.

Australians only flash headlights as a warning that there is a police speed trap ahead. If you flash your headlights as a courtesy to allow someone to exit or change lanes they will not understand your intention. If you wish to allow someone out of a side road eye-contact is essential. As a result courtesy here is much rarer.

Horn sounding is rare here too. More people seem to adjust for others poor judgement without resorting to this.

Traffic lights go straight from red to green. Reactions to the change are generally slow but nobody seems to mind too much. Lights stay amber for a long time before turning red. Nobody stops on amber. If you do you risk being tail-ended.

Overtaking on the left lane is common. Drivers stay on the right if they intend to turn right eventually.

More people adhere strictly to speed limits here. Near schools the speed limit is 40kph between 7-9am and 2-4pm. Everyone abides by this.

Most poor driving is done by 'P' platers. This usefully identifies most of the reckless drivers. Most others helpfully identify themselves by the make/model of vehicle they drive.

Tail-gating happens a fair bit here but I have not found it more common than it was back in SE England. Over-taking on single-lane roads is a lot less common here.

Cars stop at zebra crossings if a pedestrian even looks like they might use it. As a result pedestrians just stroll out often without looking they are that confident of not being mowed down. They would surely die within a few weeks for that in SE England. Conversely they will almost never give way to a pedestrian if there is no zebra.

Most junctions allow a left turn on red if it is clear. Very sensible.

Roads are generally much wider as are parking spaces - and these are normally free.

It is illegal to park on the road facing oncoming traffic. Diagonal parking bays on the road are reverse entry only and you cannot access them if on the opposite side.

Beware of wildlife on the road especially at dawn and dusk. Where I am it is mainly wallabies, so far a few near-misses but no hits thankfully.

Many junctions permit U-turns and clearly marked as such.

To sum up, driving here overall is much easier than the UK in my view.

In my opinion the standard of driving drops around Logan and the Gold coast. Ute drivers often awful too.

Longer drives far less stressful here than Uk. Think you basically summed it up.

Yes I agree, driving here much easier...n I think more enjoyable too

I never did get the whinges on here about Aussie driving. I always thought it was much better here and my last trip to the UK confirmed it. I lost a wing mirror with an oncoming car coming round a bend on the wrong side of the road and he didn't even stop..............well he did.............to look at his car, but as soon as I got out of mine, he was off! Ambleside police were marvelous though as they said they'd check repairs at local garages. Sent me a letter later saying that nothing had turned up so the car was likely not local.

Much is written - negatively - by Poms about driving in Australia, much of which is over-blown in my view. Having been here over a year I offer my own (balanced?) perspective comparing SE Qld to SE England which may be of interest to aspiring migrants.

 

In both cases there are two different driving experiences...peak and off-peak. In both places driving in peak hours is noticeably worse in terms of driving standards.

 

Australians only flash headlights as a warning that there is a police speed trap ahead. If you flash your headlights as a courtesy to allow someone to exit or change lanes they will not understand your intention. If you wish to allow someone out of a side road eye-contact is essential. As a result courtesy here is much rarer.

 

Horn sounding is rare here too. More people seem to adjust for others poor judgement without resorting to this.

 

Traffic lights go straight from red to green. Reactions to the change are generally slow but nobody seems to mind too much. Lights stay amber for a long time before turning red. Nobody stops on amber. If you do you risk being tail-ended.

 

Overtaking on the left lane is common. Drivers stay on the right if they intend to turn right eventually.

 

More people adhere strictly to speed limits here. Near schools the speed limit is 40kph between 7-9am and 2-4pm. Everyone abides by this.

 

Most poor driving is done by 'P' platers. This usefully identifies most of the reckless drivers. Most others helpfully identify themselves by the make/model of vehicle they drive.

 

Tail-gating happens a fair bit here but I have not found it more common than it was back in SE England. Over-taking on single-lane roads is a lot less common here.

 

Cars stop at zebra crossings if a pedestrian even looks like they might use it. As a result pedestrians just stroll out often without looking they are that confident of not being mowed down. They would surely die within a few weeks for that in SE England. Conversely they will almost never give way to a pedestrian if there is no zebra.

 

Most junctions allow a left turn on red if it is clear. Very sensible.

 

Roads are generally much wider as are parking spaces - and these are normally free.

 

It is illegal to park on the road facing oncoming traffic. Diagonal parking bays on the road are reverse entry only and you cannot access them if on the opposite side.

 

Beware of wildlife on the road especially at dawn and dusk. Where I am it is mainly wallabies, so far a few near-misses but no hits thankfully.

 

Many junctions permit U-turns and clearly marked as such.

 

To sum up, driving here overall is much easier than the UK in my view.

my husband suggested i should take a few driving lessons in oz even though i had a licence just to learn about local driving customs & about the road rules that were different in oz to uk. i found it very helpful & one of the things i learned is to look to see the way is clear when the lights change to green just in case someone is still coming through. thats probably why traffic is just that bit slower to take off when the light goes green.

I never did get the whinges on here about Aussie driving. I always thought it was much better here and my last trip to the UK confirmed it. I lost a wing mirror with an oncoming car coming round a bend on the wrong side of the road and he didn't even stop..............well he did.............to look at his car, but as soon as I got out of mine, he was off! Ambleside police were marvelous though as they said they'd check repairs at local garages. Sent me a letter later saying that nothing had turned up so the car was likely not local.

there are some on here who seem to feel a bit inferior to ozzies so take every opportunity to criticise everything they can :laugh:

there are some on here who seem to feel a bit inferior to ozzies so take every opportunity to criticise everything they can :laugh:

You think we will hear how good the driving is in herefordshire?

And soooo much cheaper

My experience comparing Brisbane to Plymouth and Dublin is different. I was spat at by a ute driver within 6 weeks of arriving, and I've been deliberately hit by a car on my bike. In both cases I was doing absolutely nothing wrong, although I did shout at the ute driver when he nearly hit me, which is why he spat at me. I used to ride motorbikes but these experiences put me off.

On the plus side, there is pretty good infrastructure for (push)bikes so there's often a route that avoids main roads. In cars there's generally less of a problem but I think that tailgating is an issue. It's not out of malice though I find, usually a lack of awareness.

I have had similar encounters with aggressive bogan drivers in Qld who think it is OK to reverse at you without using the mirror or cut you up and then when you hoot your horn to warn them you are there they spit at you. I found this shocking as I am not used to UK men behaving so aggressively towards a woman who has young children in the car. In one case, I ended up phoning the police to report the incident as it is assault and I knew where the guy lived (he was reversing onto his drive). The civilian operator said he was surprised that I chose to report the incident and instead did not go back and vandalise his house for revenge. I pointed out that I didn't want to risk losing my job in the legal profession....

After 8 years in Qld, I think the behaviour towards me is symptomatic of the general violence towards women that appears to be endemic in Australian culture. I suppose I should be glad that it was only spitting...

I have had similar encounters with aggressive bogan drivers in Qld who think it is OK to reverse at you without using the mirror or cut you up and then when you hoot your horn to warn them you are there they spit at you. I found this shocking as I am not used to UK men behaving so aggressively towards a woman who has young children in the car. In one case, I ended up phoning the police to report the incident as it is assault and I knew where the guy lived (he was reversing onto his drive). The civilian operator said he was surprised that I chose to report the incident and instead did not go back and vandalise his house for revenge. I pointed out that I didn't want to risk losing my job in the legal profession....

 

After 8 years in Qld, I think the behaviour towards me is symptomatic of the general violence towards women that appears to be endemic in Australian culture. I suppose I should be glad that it was only spitting...

What nasty experiences!! I've never been spat at or yelled at but down here we get young males driving powerful V8 utes like maniacs. Don't see much of them during the day - presumably they are at work but there is an area out of town where they drag race and sometimes they come into town afterwards to one of the pubs. Some of them can't resist doing donuts to the accompaniment of screeching tyres and the smell of burning rubber. Luckily the local cops are on to them and cars have been impounded.

Nice post OP, put a smile on my face as I agree with just about everything you wrote.

Agreed about the flashing of headlights, I noticed that in Sydney also when I lived there. Another oddity coming from the UK, if you are listening to the radio during rush hour people would call in to tell the presenter of police traps. This was very useful.

My only comments:

People abide by the speed limits as the police will pull you over for going over it. Much stricter here than the UK. 100k on the freeway is pretty much that, 70mph in the UK you can get away with 80mph easily and possibly 90mph.

Aussie drivers will drive on both lanes on the freeway both sitting at the speed limit. Annoying as you cannot overtake.

Tailgating here, well in Melbourne, is such a common occurrence, never really noticed it in the UK. And the road rage that goes with it here is shocking.

The amount of times people just pull out of junctions and you have to slam on the brakes.

Pedestrians have the right of way, but what gets me is that a large majority just step out and never look. And agreed if they done this in the UK they would be mowed down.

I would have to disagree most poor driving is done by 'P' platers, I think Australian driving standards are poor overall compared to the UK.

One thing that still gets me and even talking to friends and colleagues is the hook turn, only in Melbourne because of the trams. Even people who have lived in Melbourne all there life, still hate it

My summary is it is different, some things easier, some things worse.