Friday, Feb 23, 2018 at 11:35
The really scary part is the simple of lack of driving skills amongst a very large proportion of the
population.
Drivers who don't even understand who has right of way at intersections, T-junctions, and when turning.
Drivers who roll through stop signs at 15kmh with a cursory glance in one direction.
Drivers who constantly fail to indicate - particularly at roundabouts, and when changing lanes.
Drivers who barrel down a street full of parked cars, over the centre line, demanding that oncoming cars pull right over, or stop, to enable them to dominate the road.
4WD and SUV owners are in the majority of this group. I was taught that when you move over the centreline of a road - anywhere - you are conducting an overtaking manoeuvre, and you are therefore on the wrong side of the road - meaning that you're in dangerous territory, and you are obliged to pull back and give way to oncoming traffic.
People who back out of driveways onto the incorrect side of the road - facing oncoming traffic - and who then drive off 200M up the street, on the wrong side of the road!
This one infuriates me, who teaches these people how to drive like 3rd world drivers? I see this idiotic exercise 20 times a day!
Drivers who don't look or indicate when entering roads, from another road or from when parked.
Had a bloke in a flash new dual-cab Hilux, come barrelling out of a big paved area on my left, in front of a business, yesterday - at 45 deg to the road - and from behind a line of parked cars!
He never even looked! - and I had to swerve to the far (right-hand) side of the road, to avoid a near-head-on collision!
Texting drivers and drivers on the phone who place a low priority on proper control of their vehicle - placing vehicle control secondary to phone use.
I was heading up the
Brookton Hwy in Armadale last month and had a small car coming towards me, wobbling in its lane - then it came over the double white line towards me, before it swerved back.
I was staggered to see the
young female driving the car, holding her phone on the top of the steering wheel, and obviously and blatantly texting and driving at the same time!
There needs to be a greatly-increased level of driver skills testing, on a annual basis, or every 2 years at least.
I understand some of the more advanced EU countries do this, and it would be interesting to compare their accident rate and road toll to ours.
The bottom line is, the road toll is increasing, despite the authorities efforts to reduce it.
The multitude of speed cameras is a failed strategy, that needs to be replaced with more stringent testing, and supervision of MDL holders.
Cheers, Ron.
FollowupID:
888603