jayr

"Australian drivers are among the most abusive and aggressive in the world, a survey has found.

Australian drivers were in the top three rankings worldwide in all forms of road rage examined.

EOS Gallup Europe interviewed 13,673 drivers from 23 countries, comprising 15 European Union countries (including Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Scandinavian countries), the US, Russia, Japan, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Australia, for their exposure to road rage in the past year.

It found Australian drivers have the dubious honour of being the world champions of aggressive or obscene gestures.

We were the second most irritated by other drivers' actions, the second most likely to admit to aggressive behaviour on the roads, and the second most likely to be victims of road rage.

Australian drivers ranked second for verbal abuse and for aggressive light-flashing. Australians ranked third in tailgating.

The survey found culture played a part in the form of aggression displayed.

In Australia, 77 per cent of drivers had an obscene gesture made at them, compared to only 9 per cent in Japan. But the Japanese aggressively pursued one another, with 70 per cent of drivers saying they had been aggressively tailgated, compared to 57 per cent in Australia and 6 per cent in Russia.

But the RACV's public policy manager, Ken Ogden, said he did not give the survey any credence.

Factors such as the degree of urbanisation, climate, terrain, distances travelled, road conditions and local customs had not been factored in, he said.

Antisocial behaviour manifested itself in many forms, with most behaviour learned from an early age, he said.

"It's not a car or a road-related problem, it's a problem endemic to society," he said.

pommie bastard

Sorry Pal you me beat to it .

jayr

But the RACV's public policy manager, Ken Ogden, said he did not give the survey any credence.

Factors such as the degree of urbanisation, climate, terrain, distances travelled, road conditions and local customs had not been factored in, he said.

Antisocial behaviour manifested itself in many forms, with most behaviour learned from an early age, he said.

"It's not a car or a road-related problem, it's a problem endemic to society," he said



I liked the way the RACV thinks its a problem endemic to society, not just roads, so is Australia one fo the most angry and aggressive countries in the world?

pommie bastard

The Aussies pride themselves on their sportsmen and women , just watch the Aussie cricketers as a good example .
They will abuse , bitch and cheat in order to win , a couple give a bad name to the word Yob in a game that should be played by Gentlemen with better manners than most.
The English have long been thought of as a soft touch in some sports , could be that we are bought up to think that the way a game is played is more important than a result and fair play counts.
The average Aussie will try to win at all costs , dog eat dog and if you win stamp on the loser which shows up in every day life here , you never work with someone here more of a case of work against them.
The Sun Newspaper changed the way reporting was covered in the UK in the gutter press , thanks to a gutter dweller who now is an American but was born and educated here stand up that bastard Murdock a piece of typical Aussie scum.
The word Mate is well over used is this because Aussies have none so call everyone this ?

Ceri

How do they know the road rage drivers are "Australian"? They may be British expats in Australia flicking their V's to bad Aussie drivers.

Before anyone says Aussie drivers are safer than Brit's - think again. Britain is second for "safest driving countries" figures for accidents and fatalities per car, per hundred thou population, and per distance .

Britain is considered as second safest after Switzerland (or is it Sweden? - one of those two anyway is number one) Australia ranks about 8th in the figures, after countries such as Japan.

cheers

dotty

The roads are a piece of cake compared to getting a park in a shopping centre.

Lost count of how many times, some great fat grizzly hairy aussie lass has hurled abuse at me for taking a car park or not leaving as quick as they would like. At the Sunny Coasts rather sad excuse for a shopping centre "Sunshine Plaza" they were queing 6 deep for each park on the long weekend. Foul mouths, swinging punches, trolleys being pushed into cars, risk your life just picking up the weekly groceries. The 6 weeks over the Xmas school holidays are so bad we actually pay the wopping small store prices to avoid going there. Mental.

Dont even begin on the lady like behaviour encountered on the School run.

jayr

Drivers in Aus (or Brissie anyway) are so discourteous. As a vastly experienced motorway driver, even I am extra cautious about joining major roads as people won't pull over to let you in. Also a little lane discipline wouldn't go amiss. As for when it rains, it's like noone knows how to drive at all, why do they always crash in the rain, its not like its uncommon.

dotty

Agree with that, every time it rains the roads block up from a string of accidents. With 150+ days of rain in SE Qld a year you just cant get it? can you.

Don

Well, yes: UK enforces car safety belt usage, which kind of helps. But also figure in for UK: a) higher car ownership per capita, b) lower average road speed (all those jams and tailbacks), c) higher motorway usage (M-ways are very safe compared to other roads) ... and you can start to see why UK does so well statistically.

Cheers - Don

pommie bastard

In this post you have summed up the outdoor lifestyle that is Australian .
Cars rule walking anywhere is out the door , the shopping centres have big car parks and people fight over getting 2 yards nearer the doors , we also have had prats wait while we load our up into the car .
Its fun to sit there in the car until the person blows their top then reverse out a little and then go back in , oh what fun as for the trollies about time they bought in the same system as the UK coin deposit.
They dump theses bloody things anywhere we live not far from the shopping centre and its common to see people pushing them home and dumping the trolly in the street or parks , the collection points are next to empty .

Ceri

Australia enforces it too - don't wear a seatbelt here - points and a fine, Hubby has already had a fine from this - $120 I think it was , something like that. Welcome to the land of road cops - that's all they seem to do here instead of fighting real crime - speed cameras and fines.

The figures are based on a few things rolled into one - per car, per hundred thou people, per mile - they are not my figures - but they have considered every angle - how many cars can one person drive at the same time? Australia comes way down on the list. And New Zealand dosen't even hit the top 10 of safe driving countries. And I think you may find Australia as a whole drives a lot slower than the UK. And if it was due to you travelling in Traffic Jams - Singapore would be on that safe list which they are not.

The roads here are terrible - they are not safe, little things like placing a lampost on a motorway which is not set back far enough , so if you come off you end up wraping yourself around one- hard shoulders are basically non existent - they are tiny - slip roads are too short and they are curvy - road surfacing is cheap and slippery on major roads, and junctions - when wet it is skiddy. - turning lanes are in the "fast lane " and not the left hand lane. You can overtake on the left. And the amount of people who sit on the outside lane is unbelievable - forcing you to take them on the inside - ignorant B*ggers , mostly people who need "blind Tw*t mirrors " if you ask me!


cheers

Mandy Bale

Well they just have to be good at everything don't they?

You should see me behind the wheel - nothing compares!!

Mandy

jayr

I would definitely agree that driving in Oz does not feel as safe as in the UK, and I suspect Sydney is a lot worse than Brissie.

jah4reds

First paragraph - good point. I'm sure this isn't typical but the only time my wife has had an accident here involving another car was with a recent scottish immigrant. An elderly gentleman who hadn't been here long (ie, months) and had gone a bought a enormous 4WD when he arrived. He quite obviously wasn't used to size of the bleeding thing and couldn't see our *small* Toyota Camry (about the size of a Mondeo). He drove out of a small shopping car park into the side of our car whilst my wife was waiting (yes - stopped and waiting) at the traffic lights.:lecture:

Nuts if you ask me,
AndyH

etlniwd

Definately not. Sydney drivers are angels compared to those in Brisbane.

Try this experiment. Get into the middle lane of a busy Brisbane road. As you approach a left-hand turn off start indicating that you wish to move over to the left-hand lane. 9 times out of 10 the driver just behind you on your inside will accelerate to block your path.

I don't know why they do this.