In 45 years of living in the UK I saw one serious accident. I have been in Perth for 2 1/2 years and have seen 4!! one being a fatality.

Am I just unlicky or does anyopne else have the same experince?

Unlucky Even

43 years living in Canada and I saw hundreds of collisions on the freeway into Toronto for work. 3 1/2 years in Australia and I've seen 1. Pedestrian vs car travelling at 70+ km/h. Guess who won?

Sounds like you've been unlucky. Or there are more cars on the road here than where you came from.

I've not seen accidents but you hear of fatal accidents virtually daily in WA. Way more so than the UK. The driving is dreadful though, especially when wet. People don't give way, can't negotiate roundabouts and freeway driving is just frightening at times.

I have found that their driving skills and road awareness here are generally pants, the social attitude towards cars here is sad (v8 mate PHWOAR!) and someone caught drink driving is just 'unlucky' the road toll is no surprise

There is much more traffic in the part of the Uk that I came from (near London) Perth is so quite in comparrison. That what amazes me so little traffic and so many accidents.

The style of driving seems very agressive here.

Saw two accidents when I lived in the UK. Not seen any in Perth, yet.

One thing I heear on the TV news at least once a week and don't remember ever hearing in the UK: Driver losing control and driving into a house..

Here they tend to drive into each other....or into trees.

The standard of driving in Brisbane is appalling......getting from A to B can be a real test of survival skills

Yep, the cop that dealt with my husbands car crash has been T boned 3 times (off duty).

My colleague has had two crashes - not his fault, the taxi driver that took my husband to his hospital appointment had been T boned, I know of lots of people that have been in accidents.

Driving standards terrible, even a cop said to me he was appalled at the standards here.

Drink driving more acceptable here - and not just by the Aussies either, I have been told about people driving pissed out of their heads with their kids in the back of the car.

People also think that they can re-write the speed limits as well, they dont need to abide by them and speed is OK if you can control it.

Fremantle cemetry looks pretty full and there are loads of little white crosses 'graves' on the roads indicating where people have been killed. I dont know how it compares to the other States but there is no denying that some of the driving here is appalling.

If there are not many police cars on the roads enforcing the rules, then people will do as they please. In England i often saw police...In Brisbane there are very few police cars enforcing the law. When they improve this, the accidents will decrease. Generally people know how they "should" drive, but like children they try to get away with behaving like a dick. As a driving instructor i teach my students to drive safely and well. I'm sure some of them will f**k about when they are alone or with their mates. When you see police on the road you drive properly.....so there should be more police. Unless you want to change the character of most Australian drivers i.e compulsory driving lessons, which unfortunately would be more difficult and expensive.

Way way more people die on the roads in the UK, it's so much bigger in terms of population. So little goes on in Perth that a car crash is headline news.

The problem with Australia is that they target speed too much as the cause of accidents. In my opinion it starts from the driving schools and tests up, they're just not good enough. I notice my fiance does some things that you would fail a test for in the UK such as not putting on your handbrake at traffic lights etc, I know most people don't but it's not controlling your vehicle properly. I asked her about it and she said they don't even teach you to do that let alone fail you on a test for it.

This on top of what I believe is the biggest problem here is that young men are allowed to drive 250kw+ cars which is rediculous. If they simply put a restriction on the power of a car you could drive before you were 30 or had passed an advanced drivers course I imagine a lot of the deaths would be reduced.

That and drink driving is rife too.

rant over

Making Insurance compulsory would sort out the young drivers in V8,s and other high powered cars, Easy to enforce just let the insurance companies sort it out and i bet not many would cover an 17 yr old in a V8 or similar vehicle. Also 3 months ban for drink driving is pathetic and even more so the Exceptional Licence which allows pissy drivers to get their licence back so they can get to work
John

Introduce a MOT type annual inspection to get the deathtraps off the road would also help.

Poor attitudes to road safety, waste of time putting up speed limit signs...
gotta be on your guard all the time.

hmm