Drawing Attention...

[journeyman Mick]

We get a few idiot drivers around here, on average 3 cars a fortnight go off the edge of the Kuranda range road. This has a high potential for serious injury or death. There's idiots that drive it at 40km/h and then madly accelerate on the overtaking stretches causing the traffic to bank up behind them, like 30 or so cars and trucks.

The road I live on is semi-rural and there's a section about 1km away that has a long straight with an off-camber 45deg bend in it. A few times now I've half woken to the screech of brakes (it's very quiet here and sounds really carry at night) followed by that unmistakeable "scrunch" of a car making high speed contact with an immovable object. I usually just half wake, make a mental note "oh, just another ####head driver making an offroad excursion", then roll over and go back to sleep. And before anyone gets upset at me for not checking on the accident victims, There's about 20 houses closer to the site than ours and I do my bit for the idiots in our community by putting out fires that they've lit in scrub right next to their houses etc so I feel absolutely no need to get out of bed a 3am to see what some drunken or drug addled idiot has done to themself.

Mick

[Jack E]

I have nearly had so many accidents at roundabouts it is not funny.
The reason for this: I approach the roundabout looking to the right, I see the way is clear and look forward again ready to proceed through, only to find that the idiot in front of me has stopped to make sure the road is clear to the right:mad:

Another gripe is cars taking off from traffic lights.
Why does everybody need the car in front of them to move 5 or 10 metres before they decide to move?
It's simple, everybody watches the light, when it turns green you watch the car 2 or 3 in front of you, when it starts to move, you move.
People say "but then I will hit the car in front of me", but if he has done the same thing your way will be clear and it won't take a couple of light changes to get through the intersection.

And then of course I hate those people that sit in the right hand lane doing a touch below the speed limit, MOVE OVER:mad:
That is nearly as bad as two cars sitting next to each other doing the same speed and not letting others through.

I also hate the red arrows, I am able to make a decision whether it is safe to turn left or right, I don't need an arrow to tell me so.

Not only should young drivers be taught road rules and defensive skills, they should be taught how to improve traffic flow and be a courteous driver.

Cheers, Jack

[DanP]

Maybe I should become a cop, I think I'd have heaps of fun.

Consider yourself sworn in as a special constable. Go get 'em Tiger...

Dan

[aussiecolector]

Nowhere to pass on our roads, so you can maintain a 60 second gap if you want to. But how do you get the guy behind you to maintain a 2 second gap?

Thats easy, you just slow down untill the reduced speed causes the gap to become 2s. On the highway at 100 I have been down to 60 pleanty of times before they got the idear to pass. May not be practical in heavy trafic though.

[Clinton1]

idiot in a MG....tried pulling in between the truck and dog

Good one. Takes all kinds doesn't it.

I feel sorry for the truckies trying to get out of Melbourne and having fools seeing their stopping zone space as an invitation to "get ahead" in traffic. When I was commuting I'd see at least one truck a day trying not to lock up their brakes and hit the idiot that pulled in front of them. Usually see the car driver mouthing off at the truckie too.

I was getting so stirred up that I was heading toward doing something stupid..... now I just walk 30 meters and I'm at work. Probably just as well.

Thoughts of a fire extinguisher filled with paint stripper, or dog poo mixed with water did enter my mind

Great hijack this one!

[Schtoo]

Heaps of fun or possibly an embolism...

I couldn't handle the fuit loops, I tend to have a very low tolerance for blatant stupidity.

Except for my own that is.

[doug the slug]

......... when some moron in an MG sports (I think... 'twas a long time ago) tried pulling in between the truck and dog!! :eek: .......

A bit over 10 years ago i waas driving home on the parkway in canberra and i had a 4wd tailgating me. I was just about to do the old brake test when i saw that there was an MG between the 4wd and the back of my car! that would have probably been disatrous there cant have been more than 300 mm between the mg and either of the other cars. instead i just slowly eased off the accelerator. i got down to about 10km/h before these idiots got the idea

[Christopha]

Please realise that not all these twats are youngsters, my father frightens the Bejesus out of me. He hates all truckdrivers with a passion, "the barstards all want to go everywhere at 100kph" is his complaint, the limit here is 110..... his reaction if some barstard trucky passes him when he is doing 80 - 90 kph ( that's as fast as anyone need travel!") is to pass them, he will do 160kph to manage this! Then get in front and jump on his brakes! The silly old bugger will not only kill himself and Mum but probably others as well. He just has no idea of any others needs on the road, it is there solely for him and his bloody caravan. Oh, and while I'm on him and the van, he hates towing mirrors, "they are so ugly and they can vibrate you know." so he doesn't fit them, to see behind, if it should ever become necessary, he just saws the steering wheel and makes the van sway a bit till he can see past it......:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Daddles]

Back in the eighties, when my old Gran was in her late eighties , she had to do an annual driving test (think it was annual, might not have been). Anyways, she lived in Renmark and drove and old, blue Austin that she'd had since new (1950's model). She passed her test and mentioned to the terrified copper that she was thinking of buying a new car. He said to her: "Ivy, if you buy a new car, I'm taking away your licence. You know your old car and how it works and everyone else in Renmark knows it and knows to get out of your way."

She was a terror. Some years before that, she was driving me out to the Renmark hospital to visit someone. The hospital is on a long straight ... on a normal two lane road (one each way). About 100 metres from the entrance, she turns on her indicator (fair enough), then pulls into the right hand lane ready to do the turn :eek: Remember, this is the lane that has oncoming traffic ... which was doing the oncoming bit:eek: She calmly turned into the hospital in plenty of time (I still reckon the other bloke slowed down) but considering she went out there nearly every day, how often did she used to pull that stunt?

Grand old lady my Gran. I miss her

Richard

[Groggy]

Please realise that not all these twats are youngsters, my father frightens the Bejesus out of me.

I think I used to car pool with your Dad's brother. He would get in the right hand lane going over the Westgate bridge and sit on 10 km under the limit. When people undertook and cut in front of him ('cuz they were ticked off) he used that as justification to block them "they're idiots anyway and need to slow down before they kill someone". He didn't seem to understand that these were 'normal' people he was driving crazy! Three trips was all I could handle so I bailed on the carpool thing - waaayyyy too stressful and I knew there was trouble waiting to happen.

He got snotty when I tried to explain why people behaved that way "they always behave like that!" was his answer.

[DanP]

I tend to have a very low tolerance for blatant stupidity.

For that, there's always the penalty notice book...

[Schtoo]

Do I get a flashy light on the roof too?

Heeeeeey, can I get a gun too? Can I can I can I?

On second thought, scratch that. I'd end up using the gun more often than the book...


Interesting note. Yesterday there was a little incident about 3kms down the road. Seems some Yakuza fella decided he didn't like some newspaper editor, so the Yakuza shot him. Only winged the paper guy apparently.

The shooter went to the local Police station and turned himself in, all of 2 hours later. :confused:


If the shooter didn't turn himself in, there's a good chance he'd still be running around right now, and possibly never nabbed. Kinda explains just how things are here in that regard really.

Luckily, this kinda stuff happens rarely, so it's not too bad, but it is getting worse.

Just don't ask about the road toll... :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Master Splinter]

Living in a place with good roads and a government wedded to revenue raisers (speed cameras, I think they are called), I really love those people who, in peak hour traffic on a road with 100k limit "want you in the left lane, now!!!" because you are doing the speed limit and they want to do 10k (or whatever they think is a safe 'I wont be booked by the speed camera for that little over the limit' ) over it.

The fact that you'd need a can opener, a prybar and a bit of luck to get your car into the left lane never seems to worry them. (Canberra drivers aren't the best when it comes to letting people merge in in front of them...but they are good at chrome swapping because they are driving too close to the car in front).

I also wonder at the reasoning skills of our local members...they introdce more speed cameras, and the road toll goes up...so the solution is...add more speed cameras!! Maybe they need to focus their efforts on other behaviours...? Oh, of course not, there are no automated 'driving too close to the vehicle in front' cameras. Silly me, I forgot that life saving initiatves have to be kept revenue positive. Pardon me while I slap myself upside the head. Nice to know what your life is worth.