Lookin2Oz

Interesting thread.

I have never understood why the same people that drive a Honda Civic with an exhaust that makes it sound like a truck will go and put their ear protectors on when using their lawnmower.

This my dear forum friends sums up NZ.

Who says that New Zealanders or not image conscience? That’s another clause in the sell NZ brochure.

Meantime there are thousands of death-traps on the roads being driven by kids with very little driving experience and a very bad attitude.

The one that gets me the most is you hear the piece of scrap rolling towards you and the thudding bass of the five thousand dollar sound system in the $500 car and there in the back is – a baby, in the NZ safety standards approved baby chair with a toddler being bombarded with brain damage levels of dB – and guess what – no ear protectors.

She’ll be right

We were in the UK earlier this year and NEVER once had a bad driving encounter and we were there for 5 weeks. Perhaps the OP has adopted the Kiwi way of driving

I can honestly say that here in NZ I see a really bad driving attitude from truck drivers – EVERY DAY.

We found that the UK truck drivers always kept to the left and NEVER tailgated, here the big monsters just want you to get out their way and will sit right on your tail. That is a very bad attitude and is most likely not only restricted to driving.

Really, you can get a very good idea of a country by their road attitude as it really is all about respect for other people.

love30stm

Remind me not to move to Auckland....lol

lardyl

you might have something there...
seriously though, some people have said to me that the driving attitude of Kiwis is partly down to how un-crowded the roads used to be - explaining that no-one looks too hard when they back out of parking spaces and drive down the middle of the road rather than adoption a decent position, etc
maybe it also has something else to do with the rural roots, the available space and the pioneer "grab it while you can" attitude hanging over into a more modern society where it clashes with the new world of clogged motorways, etc - and so it is worst in Auckland....??
anyway who knows???
at least up here you are less likely to be taken "deliverance style" into the bush....although you might end up "sushi style" in a suitcase....
pays your money, takes your choice.....

Browner_

Loved your post, laughed out loud.

But surely you dont mean that these scum drivers are putting their kids in car seats and safety belts now are they?

Going slighly off topic, I saw one of those monster monster trucks being driven through the narrow and residential Mana Esplanade (SH1) the other day, and the driver was ON THE PHONE. One misjudgement and he could have wiped out a whole school and half a shopping centre.

Lookin2Oz

Don't tell me - the big tough guys in Palmie cut their grass without ear muffs

love30stm

I dont know as i dont live in Palmie...lol

and you know what I dont care....

but i do like Auckland

sr71

There is no doubt that Kiwis and Aussies have some of the worst driving standards in the developed world. The truck driving on the Southern Motorway in Auckland is very scary at times, they even seem to race each other and most drivers are very, very aggressive.

I don't get the loud exhaust thing either, I think it's a big sign of immaturity. there is a place for sports-tuned exhausts, but when they put these drainpipe sized exhausts on these pieces of junk they really don't serve any practical purpose (they could actually be losing performance)

But I still do not understand how you can be that bothered by them unless you live on a main road, most of NZ's suburban streets are completely dead once you get off the arterials.

Make all the excuses you want, rural roots, unclogged roads etc, but the fact is they are just a bunch of retards with no awareness of what is going on around them.

Browner_

There we are folks, all the facts summed up.

I for one wish to head for Europe. No idea how to achieve it, but I want OUT.

Browner_

Well, I for one am sick of being woken up, or disturbed by, or having my children shocked out all existence by one of these crap heaps either starting up, driving home or revving past my cardboard walled house.

I didnt emigrate all the way here to have a crap existence like that.

sr71

Well i presume you mean mainland Europe, rather than the UK as the problem exists there.

As for Europe, that's another story, it's not easy to migrate there either, a whole world of complications and pain.

shan63

Amazing

You moved to NZ to reap the finacial rewards and all I hear is the complaints.

Move from Wellington if you dont like it and commute. Paraparaumu is quiter.

Ok Ive never been to the UK but its not all peachy there from what the expats here tell me.

I lived in NZ for years and never had trouble with boy racers or my house getting broken into. Houses made of plywood?? I own a lovley new brick home and I cant hear my husband pull up in the driveway......

bourbon-biscuit

We built one and it's not brick but the dog tells me when my husband is home- I can't hear the car either!

bourbon-biscuit

I have to say though, luckily I did not move here to reap the financial rewards, otherwise I think I'd be very, very p***ed off!

Browner_

I'll take issue with you there. UK is vast and has a vast infrastructure and vast road network and vast village network.

There are plenty of lovely places to live in the UK, Im not a city person at all. Admittedly it aint cheap.

In NZ , the road and village infrastructure is virtually non-existent. The options available to you are extremely limited.

After a while, the walls may close in on you in NZ, they have done for me.

I have spent time in England and Europe every year for the past 4 years, and I know where Id rather be.

Browner_

I think that is the exception rather than the rule though.