Frustrating Drivers - 2 new names - What do you call them?

Cruiser All valid :-) - Surprising how many can not navigate a roundabout the way they were designed for :-)

Cheers

Cruiser, you should try some UK roundabouts... you have to change lanes to get on and off whist obeying traffic lights at each road...

an example

opps, link didn't work :(

The roundabout at Hemel Hempstead in UK is a real doozy-it goes in both directions

Cruiser

I think you will find that lane changes (although not wise) are permitted on roundabout.

See page seventy. road rules

and Part 9 Section 117
Transport Operations Regulation 2009


Also, I don't believe I've ever seen a roundabout with a solid painted white line. How would you get into the inside lane on such a roundabout?

R.

Rob!,

I don't know where your located but in NSW lane changing is not allowed if there is a solid white line dividing the lanes in the roundabout.

I am in Port Macquarie NSW and this place is full of roundabouts with solid white lines.

We also have roundabouts with broken white lines which indicates that lane changing is allowed.

If I know a roundabout has solid white lines, I plan ahead and get into the appropriate lane before I enter the roundabout, that corresponds with where I need to be when I exit the roundabout. Its not that hard to do.

Cheers,

Cruiser

Fair enough. But you still would have to cross the solid white line to get to the inside lane. Wouldn't you? Unless this line is broken.

In Alice Springs there are roundabouts where it is legal to exit from the centre lane while it is OK for the left lane to keep continuing around the roundabout. In the event of the inevitable (and they are numerous) collisions, the car in the left lane is deemed not to have given way to the vehicle on their right.

Gday Mfewster,
Roundabouts in Alice are quite simple....same as SA Im sure?
Left lane can go left or straight ahead.
Right Lane can go straight ahead or right???
As long as you dont over take while on the roundabout ( which is Illegal...Like SA) everyone is safe.

Same rule applies for 5 or more exit roundabouts........Left lane goes left or the the second left.....right lane can use the second left and anything right of that...........

Cheers

Hiya Kia

Think he means sitting in the right lane (fast lane)..You know KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING that a lot of people FORGET.

Or possibly people like my mum, who sit well below the speed limit in areas with limited visability... so when someone comes around a bend who IS doing the limit, you end up slamming on your breaks to not end up in their backseat.

(I've been lecturing her about it for many years now). :)

KK - Read the scenarios - The complaint is in the drivers actions.

Nothing wrong with dong under the speed limit.

There is a difference between a courteous driver and the more ignorant though.

If I am sunday driving and someone comes up behind me at the speed limit, I will let them past at first opportunity. :-) I appreciate that there are a lot of people out there on timetables.

There are a lot these days that think it is there right to go slow and just to prove it will speed up when there is a chance to overtake. I repeat there are a lot of these idiots out there.

Happy Driving :-) Cheers

Lia H - Yes a lot of retired drivers up this way as well. Always try not to get upset with older drivers, we will all get there one day :-).
They are all entitled to there place on the road. Courtesy is the secret to good driving. So a slow old courteous driver is in my good books :-)

Cheers Tony

I can't believe I wrote breaks not brakes - should check before posting.

I am a bit of a closet grandma driver myself :) so I don't have any issue with people going a bit slower. Moreso with the lack of courtesy, as you say.

My mum will not let anyone past, yells at them for being yobbos when they do anyway, and I have actually witnessed her scrape someone's vehicle reversing from a park - and say nothing about it.

Of course the scariest thing is when we all start to inherit the parents' habits - as I keep telling my daughter....she'll get there one day too. :)

I think his main complaint is that they continue doing 85-90 in the 80 and 60 zones. I have seen this a lot and agree. They are driving quite oblivious to the rest of the world.

"sit well below the speed limit in areas with limited visability... so when someone comes around a bend who IS doing the limit, you end up slamming on your brakes to not end up in their backseat."

I'd question that if the bend in the road will limit visibility to an extent that you have to take extreme action to avoid rear-ending a slower driver, what kind of action would you need to take if there was a stationary obstacle on the road around that same bend (ie. a cow, broken-down vehicle, or child, etc.)? Perhaps Lia's mother is actually the safe driver in that scenario.

Off Track _ It is amazing how many people do this - Why???

Good example of this is the Gillies range. People will not pull over to let faster drivers pass come hell or high water.

What happened to a little courtesy - It would make driving enjoyable again.

Cheers

Yep my pet hate, especially when you are in a speed limited truck or bus. IF towing and want to conserve fuel then I tend to slow in overtaking lanes, rather have a truck in front of me anyway. But I had a red p plater slow in the left lane so I could pass yesterday which is a first(considerert p plater lol)
Cheers Pete

Common Courtesy is what is missing.

Travelling home from Eden recently we and about 50 other cars got stuck behind a caravan from the Vic border to just short of Orbost, With limited overtaking opportunities and so many cars stuck behind this caravan doing 70 in the 100 zone there was no way of getting past. Would it have killed them to show some consideration for others and pull over and let people past.

Like others have said above drivers who drive at 80 kph on highways only to speed up to 120kph when there is an overtaking lane drive me crazy.

Should I start on Camry drivers........must show restraint.

2000 Red Rodeo, the line of 50 cars annoys the heck out of me too...but...I don't blame the van, it's all the bloody Camry drivers that don't have enough horses under the bonnet or don't know how to wake them up and get past that annoy me more, especially when they don't leave a gap for those of us that don't drive Camry's to pick a few of them off at a time rather than going for the hoon to pass them all at once...
shame I can't do that in the 4x4...

Aah, yes Bob, but at least we have roundabouts sorted out.

Well, going by the regular carnage at Russell, maybe not.

Bob,

From what i just read, I believe the keeping left on multilane roads only applies to speed zones greater than 80km/h (ie. 90km/h etc) or "keep left..." signs displayed therefore it would seem to be legally acceptable to be there. (not that i think that it is an acceptable practice).

Andrew

"keeping left on multilane roads only applies to speed zones greater than 80km/h "

- the drivers causing the problems those that think "the law doesn't require me to keep left in this 80k zone, so I'm staying in the right lane".

. . . similarly "the law doesn't require me to move left, so I'll drive in the middle lane at 10k below limit, and I'll abuse the drivers overtaking me on the left."

Matt M
Now all you have to do is to learn to merge

Failing to keep left unless overtaking is my pet hate...purely inconsiderate for others...doesn't matter what speed your doing or the limit is...it is also just not safe to have cars passing you on both sides.

I reckon 75% of the cars/trucks etc. that I pass on my way to/from work (130km round trip) I pass on the left hand side (even when I have my cruise set at the limit), I am not all that concerned by someone doing a few k's over the limit, as I think that is no way near as dangerous as people that don't keep left as you end up with cars going all over the place to get around people.

What's worse is when they combine that with the "I need to get off the freweway at this exit with 500m to go" and they probably do the same thing every day, get on the anchors on the freewat to get off...great for traffic flow....nothing better than when they get stuck and have to go pass there exit :-)

You see plenty of people nabbed for speeding by 10k's (in Vic 1 demerit point) but rarely for failing to keep left (3 points, which goes to show that someone in the past decided that it was worse than speeding by a few k's - but now forgotten since the speed kills propoganda). I say rarely, because I did see one, late at night lowered dark commodore, right hand lane (I was in left), about 100m in front of me, sitting about same speed, brand new commodore came along doing prob. 20k over limit, thought to myslef cop car, comes up behind guy in right lane, spends a couple of minutes behind, flashes high beams a couple of times (I was waiting for the guy to jump on anchors in front of cops), finally decides to move left into middle lane, unmarked coppers go past, commodore back into right lane (I think he even flashed coppers!), coppers slow down, back behind car, flash lights couple of more times before putting lights on and to top it off the guy pulls over in the right hand emergency lane. If he had of pulled into left I would have stopped to shake the coppers hand....made my day.

I assume Australia is the only country where they have signs regularly reminding drivers of the fine for not keeping left.

Everywhere drivers are considerate of others on the freeway and automatically move out of teh faster lanes.

Driving in Europe is a real pleasure. Everyone keeps out of the fast lane unless overtaking, even the bmw's and mercs doing 200+ in Germany. Absolutely nobody undertakes anyone, passing on the inside is strictly forbidden. The trucks almost never leave the slow lane. I have never seen an aggressive truck driver anywhere in Europe. The truck speed limit is 90 and they stick to it. We could all learn a lot from them.
I've had 3 month long driving excursions and am continually impressed with how courteous everyone is on the road. I come home and immediately feel like I'm on a dodgem car track full of heroes.
Still, other than that gripe, Australia would be absolutely perfect.

Mike

"Now all you have to do is to learn to merge"

Ha ha ha Bentaxle - totally agree! When I learned to drive, I was taught that the merge ramp was there so you could get a run-up up to the speed of the traffic that you were planning to merge into - many people I've seen are lucky to be doing 60km/h by the end of the merge ramp, then they curse everyone on the 100km/h road for not letting them in!

"I assume Australia is the only country where they have signs regularly reminding drivers of the fine for not keeping left. Everywhere drivers are considerate of others on the freeway and automatically move out of the faster lanes."

Mike DID has obviously not visited Asia yet! Usually the big/slow vehicles take the RH lane so their 40-50km/h "cruise" is not constantly interrupted by the almost-stationary vehicles (including motorbikes carrying up to 6 people, pedestrians or even animals wandering about) in the left lane(s). If faster vehicles (ie. cars) want to overtake (even just to get out of the smoke of the truck/bus!), they can generally only do this on the left of the trucks/buses that almost invariably stay in the RH lane. The car driver must take his chances with the 'wanderers' in the left lane(s), picking a gap big enough to complete the manoeuvre, while at the same time allowing for the occasional motorcyclist to pull into the traffic at any time from the left (without even so much as a cursory glance: they must truly believe that what they don't see can't hurt them!). Added to all this is the problem of trying to find a gap by having a 'peek' around the LH of a bus or truck while driving from the RHS of the car!

Now, at the risk of being terribly misunderstood and accused of being racist, let me make some suggestions: I am not surprised that driving slow in the inside lanes is becoming more common because I understand that very little (read: NO) training is required, and that at most (depending on the country of origin), a short practical driving test is all that is required. Now, when you have people who have learned to drive in a country where driving slow in the inside lanes and overtaking on the left is accepted as 'normal', can we reasonably expect those people to suddenly have an urge to "kept left unless overtaking" when/if they move to Australia? So, should there be re-training required before immigrants drive on Australian roads, or do we just accept their 'driving style' as part of their culture (and a 'valuable contribution' to our multicultural society!) as seems to be the current approach?

Don't start me on Merging Lanes:-

On night shifts I drive the M4 Motorway into Sydney. Once through the Toll gates I make sure to get into the far right lane to avoid any chance of rear ending a Camry.

In Sydney they are the favoured vehicle of a particular ethnic group. These timid drivers leave the Technology Parks drive up Silverwater R. onto the M4 on ramp at 60k, they then wait till they get to the END of the merge lane, brake to 30/40 k's and pull straight out in front of 80k plus traffic.

Not unknown to see rear enders or free way traffic skating about to avoid collisions. I don't know what it is with the Silverwater eas bound on ramp, I just don't seem to see it any else.

My late father-in-law was a classic for this when merging onto the M5 at Wilton, always bitched that the 110kph free way traffic would not slow down to let him in.

Ian

Since we have started on merging lanes, the bright sparks in VicRoads have decided to put traffic lights half way down the on ramps onto the freeways now!!!

Trying to keep longer gaps between the cars that come to a stop instead of speeding up to merge. Obvoiusly too hard to teach people how to merge in the first place, much easier to put in more lights.

So now if the freeway traffic is doing 100klicks, you no longer have 100-200m to speed up to match the traffic from a rolling/cornering speed, but you have to be able to get up to 100 in 50m!!!!!!

No problem in my sedan, gives me a good excuse to put the foot down.

But in the 4x4 with the van on ......yeah right....I'll be lucky to try and merge at 70......some "speed kills" brainwashed VicRoads person believes this is safer than me having 100m-200m to match the freeway traffic speed......WRONG....obviuosly not a problem for them in their BMW's or Camry's if they really push them, but have obvoiusly never towed a van where momentum makes or breaks....they need to get out of their offices more....

I fell better now, until the next time those merge lights go red!!!!

. . and having six lanes in the one direction means you'd better learn how to change lanes safely (then you don't hog the right lane) and you learn to move to the exit lane in good time.

I don't see anything wrong with driving 10km/h below the limit - even that is way too fast in some conditions. However, let me suggest that in good conditions, drivers SHOULD generally be able to maintain a speed that is close to the speed limit. If not:
EITHER the speed limit is inappropriate for that section of road
OR the driver is not sufficiently confident to drive that vehicle
OR the vehicle is not particularly suitable for driving at the speed limit (either due to 'limp home' repairs, towing heavy load, bicycle etc.)
OR the driver is just enjoying the scenery (or is distracted)

In any of these cases, if there are drivers behind you that obviously want to go faster than you're willing to drive, I think most would believe that it is not too much to ask that you to assist them in overtaking, or at the very least: don't go out of your way to make it difficult for them to overtake! Afterall, if you don't like somone else's driving, remember: you can far more easily avoid them if they're in front of you than if they're behind you! :-)

Pop - Not having a go at people that want to drive slow - Just what some do in addition to that.

If you are a slow driver thats fine, What matters is if you are considerate of others that may not want to?

Cheers

YEP THEY ARE CLASSICS as well! :-) Cheers

"I like to set my cruise control at 100km/h"

If you set it based on your speedo reading, you may be doing a real 90km/h, which would explain why people frequently overtake you.

So explain why that might cause them to slow down after overtaking him?!

Ah, Mike, my speedo on the Nissan is very optomistic - so I use the GPS to set my speed by :-)

Gerry

Yes - I find that towing the boat - Lots of people just dont like to sit behind a towing vehicle, even if you are doing the limit or just above.

And before you say anything DID - when my speedo reads 96 I am doing 100k :-)

Cheers

"when my speedo reads 96 I am doing 100k"

- then your vehicle doesn't comply with Australian Design Rules any more.

Mike R - WHO GIVES A HOOT :-)

. . . your Insurance Company, the Roads Authority . . . .

Thats a good one - Or the tourist :-)

We have a one lane bridge in a dip crossing a river - you usually come over the crest just to find a Tour Guide or Tourist parked in the middle of the bridge - Go figure the mentality? :-) Cheers

Yep they are all out there :-)

:-) Quite right, we were all P Plate Pros :-)

Bar protection is nearly a must :-) Cheers

You have a b/bar LOL no just kidding
Cheers Pete

Yep them cruisers take a while to wind up :-)

I suppose its like everything - there are positive and negative drivers and thus we are confronted with these issues. Cheers

If reducing the speed limit saves, then they'd better reduce it to 5 km/hr - think of how many lives that'll save.

5's a bit mundane, but 80kph will do nicely thanks...

greed is what has set our speedlimit to 100kph, nothing else but grubby old greed!

Robertbruce,

Is that the drivers or government's greed?

Honky

.
it's everyone's greed, mine not so much, i can be patient...

He was slip streaming :-)

Usually only done with trucks but you must have been breaking the wind for him and saving a lot of fuel :-)

Cheers

This post has been read by the moderation team and has been moderated due to a breach of The Foul Language Rule .

Forum Moderation Team

He was probably waiting for a straight section of road! LOL :-)

Yep had a couple of those today myself - slow as for ages so I passed and there they are sitting on your bumper

Must keep them awake :-)

Cheers

Couldn't have said it better, after reading all posts, I too wonder, in Army Transport they teach you how to drive to survive, in all types of vehicles, in all types of weather, in all types of terrain, rarely if ever do you hear about an Army driver having an accident.
The course goes for 3 months, 6 days an nights a week, sunday off, with elimination night on sunday.

When I returned to civies I took my training with me and ended up transporting high explosives for 20 yrs, our Army motto was

one flash and your ash, we got the best meals, hot showers, lerks an perks because our lifespan was considerably shorter than most other units, it wasn't unusual to be sitting on top of 5 tonnes of HE everyday, along with mortar rounds, ammunitions, grenades, petrol, oils, lubes, you either learn to drive properly or go out with a bang

I'll second that Duke....and BuggerBogged...drive to stay alive, whatever that takes.....and just enjoy life.....

Cheers

Beautifully stated!

The whinge factor that appears to running through this thread appears to be the lack of consideration shown by other drivers to the poster, yet the posters to date are only capable of identifying the errors of others.

Who here has never made a driving decision that has never inconvenienced another?

If as much energy was spent in monitoring our own driving as complaining about others, the roads would be a lot safer places

"Is it all worth getting so uptight about."

In some cases it is... Yes, we all have our responsibility to "drive to stay alive, whatever that takes" (as Landy said), and part of that responsibility is keeping our own tempers in check (when we are mad/impatient is probably when we are most prone to do the most stupid things). But at the end of the day, there are a lot of other drivers out there who don't seem to care to "drive to stay alive" and it's not just their problem - too often they take out other road users with them. If someone is carelessly endangering your life, or the lives of your family, friends, etc. I think it's something worth "getting so uptight about". I believe our state/territory governments are handing out licences far too easily (as was predicted when driving schools were given the authority to issue/not issue licences) - too many people don't take driving seriously (it's really not a computer game where you can just tap the space-bar for another 'life').

Of course, having said that, many of the 'incidents' referred to above seem to be things that are simply annoying (lack of courtesy) rather than being particularly dangerous - I can't say the same for the average Tasmanian's habit of driving down the centre of the road regardless of oncoming traffic (you can pick the tourists because they all dive off onto the shoulder as soon as they see an oncoming car - there's a good chance it's another Taswegian!).

Timbo ya Bozo,
Why did i Know you would come back with a ridiculous statement like the last paragraph in the post above. Like the poster its too stupid to answer.
Duke