Vinny van Gogh

Hi all,

My wife and I have just got back to Sydney after a few days "holiday". We headed for Coffs Harbour to look at property with a view to settling there eventually. From there we went to Grafton, Great Innes, Armidale and back to Coff's Harbour before heading back to Sydney taking in Port Macquarie and the quaintly named Tea Gardens. This is a round trip of just under 2000 klms.

Now, its seems to me that there is an element of ..you get nicked if you speed cos the RTA have camera's and unmarked cars etc. So most driver's stay very near the upper limit and abide by the rules as your speed is dropped near built up area's and schools etc,.
Also, the keep left lane discipline is obeyed.
So why is it that if I was doing 90kph in a 100kph I get anything from a 20 year old Toyota to a 40 ton Big Mack glued just 20ft off my rear bumper?
It seems that if I dont hit the max speed indicated I am likely to become a blot on somebody's front bumper.
BUT ...when the signs indicate a reduction...when I slow down...they dont! well not right away. they seem to assess whether a camera car can be about or something.

AND..what about the "zebra" crossing, twice I nearly had bonnet mascots because the buggers just do a turn from pavement onto the crossing and dont even bother checking the traffic...and when your tyres smoke and screech as you desperately try to protect you no claims bonus..they look at you as though it was a case of attempted murder.

I had two of these and one because I had to choose whether to have the guy 3 feet off my rear bumper smack into me or put up with killing what turned out to be a nimble footed guy who could swear in five languages!

AND..stop too soon just because the traffic lights have changed to amber...and do they get tetchy...seems you have to wait until its red before you need even think of stopping. Only to be surpassed by being out of gear with handbrake on and the light drop from red to green with just the smidgens of hint of amber..and behind me 300 cars are already moving while I am trying to get going with the handbrake on!

AND in Sydney...where they do get a few tourists in hire cars..one would think they were aware that not everybody in a car is fully aware of some minor changes in attitudes to speed limits not being quite so "advisory" as they are outside of OZ.
NO...that thought never got anywhere near a Sydneysiders perception..they think Mad Max is a documentary about urban drivers in Oz!

BUT... I do like these Aussie roads that go on forever with just 3 or 4 cars in sight.
So is it just me or do the Aussies drive a bit different?

andrew63

Very funny, very true! Welcome to Oz!
You never even got to roundabout (non)discipline!

Andrew

NickyC

No traffic lights in Australia go Red, Red and Amber, Green - they all go straight from Red to Green. You don't need a 'get ready to go' signal - you just go!

No concessions are made whatever in Sydney traffic (particularly rush hour) for any kind of driver who doesn't know EXACTLY what he's doing and where he's going.

sasbear

So is it just me or do the Aussies drive a bit different?[/QUOTE]


No - it's not just you

comet555

Hmmm.... sounds a lot like Canada, or at least where I'm living anyway

Well, actually you would get passed by just about everyone if you were going exactly the speed limit. On a highway here that is 100 kph most people do about 120 kph. So I think I might like to obey the speed limit for a change.

Haley

steve99

The speed limits here are ridiculously low, its a total scam to raise revenue. Most of the roads would be safer with a 20km increase in the limits, but the revenue from camera's etc would drop dramatically, as most people that drive properly at the moment wouldnt have a need or desire to exceed these new limits)
You see so many infuriated people driving around at present and its largely because, Aussies are pretty crap lazy drivers and dont know any better in terms of using the road, traffic lights rarerly work in synch, roundabouts are just way to hard to even consider building and most of all because there's so many people just dawdling around driving so slowly blocking the roads.

Main freeway in Perth 80-100KM limit ??? its a 4 lane motorway ffs, thats like just over 60mph at the top end....
head down to margaret river, single lane windy road through severe Roo country with turnoffs everywhere, people in and out of Wineries all day...speed limit 110KM .....

its got to be down to revenue potential from the fines.

Vinny van Gogh

Seems about right! Except we were the one's doing a bit of dawdling on the Pacific Highway or where ther either two or three lanes....but.
Been to Perth and on a trip south we dropped off to see Pinjara ( well its sounds good for the racing and I thought it would be a big place..the only thing big was the mistakes in going there!) and we did do the wineries trip..nipping in and out.

Snag is the real problem is that apart from truth about the cash input...Aussie wants the tourists and would lose big time if tourists opted for another sunny spot on the globe. Aussie being what it is..the main attractions are in or very near the cities and thats where the workers are so you get congestion and lack of understanding or even care.
It may be an idea to issue tourist drivers with a big T plate to warn the locals!

matt-and-jenny

That's a bit cynical! (not that I'm against cynisicsm mind ) Most limits were put into place before Speed cams were invented and roads were quieter.
J.

steve99

I still think its worth tucking up some dodgy MP who wants to get his name in the media to get him to push through a 3 year trial of raising them all 20kph and seeing what effect it has on their revenue and the various road stats.
Anyone know if Australia has always been KPH rather than MPH?
Or did they convert over at some point?

Centurion

Speed limits may be lower here. But thats a good thing.

Especially when every other car is at least a V6 with the odd smattering of a V8. And lets not even mention the V6/V8 ute drivers....

I love the way that the cameras and speed traps are sneakily placed. I could never work out why in the UK we had bright orange cameras with nice warning signs and GPS sat nav systems that warned you in advance of them so you could slow down and then speed up again.

As correctly observed by the OP I think that most people stick around the speed limit because the the nazi attitude toward speed enforcement. We may not like it but lets be honest its a good thing for safety.

And yes, I've been done for speeding once here and drive a V6.....but the attitude to speeding does tend to curb an anotherwise tempting desire to floor it in a childish yet completely satisfying way

themerlin

I don't like the way the place speed traps where the speed limit changes, so if you change from 60 to 80 before you get to the 80 zone/sign you get booked.

steve99

especially when you only do it about 6km in advance, its just not on

renth

You mean like Uluru, Kakadu, the Barrier Reef?

Gibbo

I love your post. Very funny but very true. You do get used to it.

Pomster

I was waiting to turn right at a green light yesterday with cars coming straight across the intersection (as it was their green light too).

As soon as the light turned amber, the woman behind me started beeping away- yet cars were still coming across.


She may not value her life and car, but I do.
I then turned when oncoming cars had stopped and lights had turned red, and she cut in front of the cars which now had the green light and nearly lost her rear bumper.

very impatient drivers. Wish I had waited for the next green light for our lanes ....hehehehe