The stupidity of drivers
 

Why do so many aussie drivers drive in dangerous conditions without their lights on? Thick pea souper this morning and probably every 3rd driver I passed didn't have them on?! Thick or what! One was even a school bus!

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Were they all girls? you know how women drivers can be..

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Not one - as it happens, I personally checked that out :sneaky:

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Re: The stupidity of drivers
 

Because only SPEED matters here..dangerous driving is perfectly fine as is no lights, tail gating, undertaking, driving in the middle lane (on roads signed keep left),driving in thongs, kids driving high power V6's, etc, etc

Only SPEED matters.

If you don't believe me, I can scan and post on here a reply letter that I received from a senior person at the NSW RTA when I wrote to them recently about the introduction of mobile speed cameras.

After 5 months got a reply from the RTA. I actually sent my letter to the gay ex-roads minister before he was known publicly for using his official car for activities of the night and became the ex-minister

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No matter how many times people see those "No driving in thongs" adverts they just WILL not listen :D

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I was just about to mention tailgating. I was driving home last night along a freeway in rush hour traffic and torrential rain and all the drivers in front of me and beside me were seriously up each other's asses. Its just so dangerous in those conditions. Do they think they're invincible or are they just stupid?!

Same when I'm stopped in traffic or at lights, you can practically see up the nose of the person behind sometimes because they're so close..

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Maybe the fog confuses them, and they don't know what it is ???

I even forgot where my fog lights switch was. And never even considered the rear fog light.

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Those who live in Brisbane bayside may well be aware that there's been major road work on Quarry Road in Birkdale/Thorneside. The speed limit is 40km. But yet unless there is someone holding a "Slow" or "Stop" sign, 80% of the drivers drive at 60+km. I don't get it. Can't drivers read the signs on the road?

Every morning, if I'm out early, I notice many of the traffic cones have been knocked down by stupid drivers the previous night.

Just a warning to those who might drive in the area - if you tailgate me or a few of the local residents, we slow right down to below 40.

Mrs JTL

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Re: The stupidity of drivers
 

I get tailgated every single morning/afternoon to and from work, I get abused for doing the speed limit in the school zone and last week even had a prime mover go so far up my arse I nearly 'vomited a gear stick'.

Last week I also had a Landcruiser weaving from left to right to try and over take me, I resist the urge to call them thick, simpleton bastards that deserve to be in a half way house for stupid people, I ignore them. I dont break but like you, I slow it down.

And if they do go up my backside, I will have no hesitation in taking legal action, taking everything they own if they are not insured and I will have no care nor thought for the consequences to them or their family.

If anyone has any good (legal) tips on dealing with tailgaters then please let me know.:o

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Here's a funny thing, a while ago I was followed home by these numbskulls that put full beam on until there was a car coming the other way. So, I slowed right down thinking I'd rather have them in front of me than behind and they slowed too. This continued all the way (me having adjusted the rear-view mirror) until I turned off.

I recounted this story and at work as a 'look at the psychos you meet' and one of my workmates said she did the same ... she didn't realise (until told) that having full beam on will blind the car you are following so only dipped for on-coming traffic.

I was speechless.

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A mate of mine had a switch wired to his brake lights, so, let them get real close then flick the switch. Childish but fun.

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Slam on the breaks works, or if highway use handbrake so they don't see your brake lights! ... ;)

If they plough into you then they're simply not leaving enough room are they, and pretty much 100% of the time will be to blame too!

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Ooh . . . chance would be a fine thing!

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Left foot braking....

Keeping your right foot on the accerator pedal move your left foot and just touch the brake so your brake lights come on but you don't slow down....see how quickly they back off.

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Light touch of the pedal does the same

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ta da!

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Great advice if you are 19 and don't care about the consequences. :rolleyes:

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That's crazy! I live in Sydney in a VERY built up area and have come across quite a few people driving with the full lights on in recent weeks.. How can these people not know when to use fulls and when to use dims?!!

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And they really can't use roundabouts here either.... !
They sit, waiting until the whole roundabout is clear of traffic!

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I think so much of it just comes down to the tuition. Nearly all drivers were taught by their parents in this country it seems. There is just no discipline whatsoever in Australian (especially QLD) drivers. They are lazy (no indicators before they manoeuvre), impatient (deliberately running red lights, driving down hard shoulders in traffic, deliberately driving down one way streets because it is "quicker"), belligerent (turning right to cross single continuous white lines on road and subsequently holding up traffic behind them), ignorant (sitting in outside lanes when not overtaking anyone or there is no one to be seen ahead or driving with no lights on in the dark).

I've said it once and I'll say it again, you would think you were in some third world country where driver's licenses were handed out in exchange for a police bribe.

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You've never been to QLD, right?

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the M1 white knuckle ride :rofl:

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The lights are a bane of my life, if it isn't full-beamers/fogs then it's the badly adjusted mob ... living out in the sticks you can't really avoid it ... I reckon the lack of a yearly roadworthiness test is to blame.

And then there is the drink driving ... some of things you see ... it really is like rewinding 20, 25 years compared to the UK.

I like my life out here but the driving standards are shocking.

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I reckon the Southbound stretch from exit 24 down to whereever is just freaking Wacky Races ... 110 limit?! :eek:

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dosnt help when even the courts dont take drinking and driving seriously
if your over the limit and banned you can get a work licence to drive to and from work get caught speeding to many times and your walking for 3 months wtf is that about?

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I've never driven in the UK but before anyone else points it out I feel that unfortunately I have to admit that Irish drivers really aren't all the hot either!

I guess the whole getting a provisional license simply because you're 16 and being able to drive on the open road even if you have never driven before didn't help :confused:

The system has changed there in recent years but I do remember a huge pile up on a main motorway in Dublin some years back where a woman was actually killed simply because there was horrendous fog and people didn't know how to adapt their driving to suit the conditions..

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I spent 3 months in QLD, but never drove there!

Certainly in the NT, they have no clue how to use a roudabout - give way to the left, not the whole thing! Everyone just sits there waiting for everyone else....

Not in QLD?!

And yes they are VERY lazy - and seem not to understand the whole "signal and manouver" process - just do what you want, don't let anyone else know when you're changing lanes, turning... etc.

There was a guy killed here just outside Darwin a couple of days ago (3rd one in a year, at the same intersection), a roadtrain collided with a car. Someone ran a red light, but they don't know who, yet, apparently.
Last June a 21 year old girl was killed in the same situation, here.

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Did you know me in the UK ?

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They are taught to give way to the right.... but what they haven't been taught is to give way to those already ON the roundabout.

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Yup, that is cock-eyed for sure.

I don't pretend that the driving was that flash in the UK (and MY driving in particular, especially years ago!) but part of the problem here is that I don't think people have learned to cope with increased traffic volume ...

Just watch a typical merge and it's painful ... I just shut my eyes (kidding, only when the OH or MIL are driving ...).

Any fog or rain here and it's bets off how long the journey will take ... some road conditions don't help either ... slippery, line markings disappearing, flooding at the slightest provocation.

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No, my point was that in QLD with roundabouts, the theory tends to be that you just keep going until you hit someone. People don't stop here, let alone give way to the right or traffic already on the roundabout

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Did you have a TR7 that could wink a headlight?

Did it get girls?

No. :lol:

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Haha, it's the opposite here! People just sit and wait forever, for no reason!
:rofl:

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Having said that, 90% of them coming round the roundabout will continue flashing right even though they are going to exit.

The very time you pull out in front of one is the time he will actually be continuing round. Been there, done it.

And it's in the RTA manual too - "You must indicate left if it's practical to do so"!

The whole approach is wrong - in traffic it basically means that the RTA assume everyone has a mental map of where each car has entered the roundabout, so as to keep track of what the indicators actually *mean*. Lunacy!:frown:

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Actually in these parts I have found roundabouts to be pretty safe, people do actually wait an age if they see someone. My Aussie OH reckons it's because they are a fairly new invention and the locals are still getting used to them.

Like electricity :D

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When we bought a place in SW Florida in 1992 they'd just installed the first roundabout in Naples.

When we sold up in 2004 there were still regular letters in the local paper complaining that they were too complicated to use: which way do you turn, how do you leave them, can you change lanes to get off them etc?

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and the wheel :lol:

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YES! They NEVER indicate off, GRRRR