Stormer999

Bevs inthe UK we have what are called mini roundabouts, if you ever get bored all you have to do is find one (we have thousands) pull up a chair and have the laugh of your life. The rule of the road is the vehicle from the right has the right of way....but these islands are so small (2 mtrs max) that we end up with all entering traffic stopping.......then they all try to go together so we get down to 'who dares wins'........

JohnThePom

While your scenario is logical it doesn't take everything into account. Try being a pedestrian crossing when vehicles signal right but then change their signal to left at the last minute. And the busier the roundabout the worse it gets because you just can't wait until there is no traffic.

Or on those big busy crowded roundabouts the traffic is often 'streaming' or 'merging'. The problem with your approach isn't that it's technically wrong it's just that other people will make the wrong assumption, draw the wrong conclusion and do something stupid.

Not that this is directly relevant, but I remember an old boy who took the highway code literally. He used the flashing of his headlights as a warning that he was there. You can just imagine the confusion when he did this every time he approached a junction with traffic waiting to pull out...

JohnThePom

I find it quite odd that people drive past in noisy monstrosities thinking how cool they are, when all that crosses my mind is that the car sounds broken...

Bit like badly made hairpieces, jeans hanging off your arse etc etc.

I've been getting increasingly irritated by a lack of consideration for other people with regard to noise thouh. 'Spose I'm getting old and the next door neighbour's large bass speaker combination doesn't help.

On the train last week some (apparently deaf) beer-gutted, comb-over sporting and office-suited middle aged guy (just in case people think I'm being too harsh, I share some of those characteristics) had his ipod on so loud (with earphones in) that you could actually hear the music instead of just the chhhk chhhk a chhhhk tchhhk a tchhhk noise. He was listening to "Don't you think I'm sexy" by Rod Stewart. Shameless.

I suppose taste is subjective, it would be a boring world if we were all the same.

Woodlea

I'm going to stick my neck out and stick up for the NZ driving test system and insurance rules.

When I passed my test in the UK all I had to do was the practical and I could do this on my 17th birthday if I wished (it was 1983 and I understand there is a theory test now over there). If I passed I could drive on my own at 70mph on a motorway or 60mph on a country lane, and of course I did, fortunately my mini could only do 65 mph tops so I couldn't do too much damage!

Anyway in NZ kids can't just get behind the wheel on their fifteenth birthday and go driving. They have to do the theory test and pass it to get their Learners Licence and then be accompanied for the next six months. The accompanying driver has to have held their full licence for at least two years. Then after six months the Learner has to sit a practical test to obtain their Restricted Licence and if they pass they are restricted to driving between the hours of 05:00 and 22:00 with no passengers unless the passenger has their full licence and have held them for two years. After 18 months of that they can then sit the Full License test which is another practical. Quite a thorough process then.

I too was amazed that there was no compulsory insurance requirement and wrote to my MP about it as I thought it would help to keep the youngsters out of powerful cars. The response was interesting and can be summarised as follows. The main "cost" of accidents is medical costs and because of ACC everyone is covered so all that would need to be covered was damage to other vehicles or property. According to the insurance companies it would only cost about $400 to insure a 15 y.o. on a 3.0L Skyline for 3rd party insurance. I know this is about right as it only cost me $75 to add my 15 y.o. son to my fully comp BMW insurance when he was on his Learner's. So it is not much of a deterrent unlike in the UK, which is a shame.
Perhaps there should be a mechanism where ACC can claw back their costs from drivers thus encouraging insurance and deterring the young and foolish.

Back to the original post. It's not a problem where I live

cookie2b

In the UK most ppl drive over these, they are just round road humps, im not surewhat good they do, deffo he who dares wins.....

Leither

My sister in law is a complete biff on the road and no matter how many lessons she took, she couldn't pass a driving test in the UK after over 20 years of trying and quite frankly would never pass a driving test.

Within 6 months of arriving in New Zealand, she had passed a test and was on the road.

As for insurance: your MP seems to have missed the point. Everyone may be covered by ACC but that doesn't compensate a parent whose 17 year old has been wiped out in their Subaru. If the insurance was $10,000 for a teenager, it would soon get them into Fiestas and Minis.

Also: the sale of Subarus should be banned in NZ until they learn how to pronounce the name properly

RobClubley

Well, corollas and Starlets Fiestas and Minis are "Euro" cars and therefore too expensive

Soo BAA roo...

simonsi

Nope, evidence from such as the UK is that the problem young drivers just become problem uninsured drivers - but all the non-problem young drivers get clobbered for the insurance costs. So nothing really changes but the cost to the law-abiding rockets.

simonsi

Quite so, can't say I've seen an early Fiesta here, unlike many other 80's and earlier Euro cars running about...

Leither

It's possibly to do with the cars thier f-a-a-a-thers drove when they were molesting sheep

Leither

I know what your saying here but as there is no real insurance for young drivers in NZ, the feds could quite legitimately pull all the young SuBaaaru drivers for their documents. After a couple of pulls, crush their car and stick them in jail for a week or 2.

simonsi

But surprise, that approach isn't going to fly here any more than it does in the UK.

Anyone any stats? Is the problem in NZ really any worse than anywhere else or is it just the reporting is different?

There is of course no real difference between a teen killing someone else in their own or a stolen car so to hit ownership may not address the problem.

BEVS

Based on this , I feel you'll be good to go here.

Leither

I don't know if the problem of boy racers is any worse but the road death statistics are worse in NZ than in the UK.

simonsi

Yes but take the comparatively safe motorway and A-road network out of the UK figures and the rural roads that are more comparable to NZ roads arent so different safety-wise.

You have to compare like with like.

You've obviously had problems but its another quiet night on the East Coast Rd outside, nr Browns Bay at least....