Driving standards.

[JDNSW]

Went into town today, and driving back from town had demonstrated a breathtaking example of poor driving.

Heading east along the Golden Highway, there was a good example of why lower speed limits for learners/P-plates etc are not a good idea. I was stuck in a queue travelling at 80 for several kilometres with a double white line - I could not see the holdup, as there was a B-double two vehicles ahead of me, but it turned out to be a L-plate.

When the double line ended, cars started to pass the slow vehicle, and the following line sped up to the 100k limit as the leading ones got past, most being well spaced. As the B-double passed the L-plate, and I was getting ready to do so, one more car to go, a car towing a 25ft boat and travelling about 120kph passed the car behind me, myself, and the car in front of me, and then had to cut in suddenly and brake heavily to 80 as the B-double pulled back in to reveal an oncoming truck.

Probably the worst example of driving I have seen for a long time. He was very lucky the car he pulled in front of did not demolish his boat.

John

[Blknight.aus]

yeah thems the kind of truck nuts that you just want to pit move the van for and then claim they side swiped you conducting a dangerous ill concieved overtaking manouver..

Gets worse when your driving old school trucks with big loads.. ESP the R series with 30 odd ton of trailer and loads.

[CraigE]

I dont think that is a reason to raise the speed, even though I agree they should be travelling close to the upper end of the posted speed limit. It is more of a reason to book impatient drivers like the knob with the boat. Happens everywhere every time, someone at the back gets impatient, thinks their time is more valuable than every one else and has to pass the whole line of traffic and not wait their turn.
I have very nearly hit a few of these cars when pulling out. Waiting your turn and for a clear spot, indicate to pull out all clear and as you go to pass mr knob comes flying past everyone else. I take great pleasure in pulling out in front of them then making sure they do not have the room or time to get past the truck or whatever being overtaken and have to slot back in. Did it one day and the car behind me decided to play the game as well and not give him any room to get back in until the last minute, truck coming the opposite way, the driver went a bit pale when faced with the oncoming truck and no where to go for a split second. edit : Was really plenty of room, oncoming truck coming other way as well, but for a split second would have feared not being able to get back in due to the line of compressed traffic. I did not hold him up at all he was a good 40 metre behind me when I was overtaking the truck and he was doing about 150kph.
:twisted:

[51jay]

CraigE......Sounds like you are an accident waiting to happen....but, then, it wouldn't really be an accident would it....just one more incident of stupid behavior on the roads causing death and destruction

[p38arover]

"Fraid I have to agree.

Ron

[CraigE]

Have to disagree, I have acted legally, its the moron who wants to over take 20 cars that is the clown. These guys need to be slowed down or they will keep thinking that they can do it. If I am about to overtake and a car 10 cars back wants to try and beat me I am not going to sit back and just let him do it. I have gotten a bit sick of having to brake sharply and let these guys in when they realise that they are not going to make it.
I was talking one case where I had indicated to pull out and a car 10 plus cars back was trying to get past when I was probablly only going to make it past safely over taking a triple road train (allowing for a decent safety margin, not a close call for me) and the car behind me decided to close up to give him a bit of a scare. The car behind me did yield to let this car in, but obviously made him think for a bit he was not going to make it.
And I should add at no time putting them in real danger but making them think about their overtaking method.
Also if I am about to pull out and overtake (legally) I am not going to wait for some clown several cars back that thinks he has right of way.
Sorry if you can not see the logic.
Who in their right mind would think they could overtake so many cars at once.
I do clean the mess up from these clowns and it is normally the innocent driver that ends up hurt, not the clown overtaking.

[CraigE]

CraigE......Sounds like you are an accident waiting to happen....but, then, it wouldn't really be an accident would it....just one more incident of stupid behavior on the roads causing death and destruction
Read the quote properly. At no time did I do anything illegal or possible to cause an accident. The stupid behaviour is the idiot that tried to overtake a long line of traffic that were all patiently waiting their turn to overtake the truck and I was next in line. The guy that was next in line obviously decided to give him a bit of a scare by not yielding immediatelly. There was no way this guy was going to get past the traffic line and then the truck, full stop. He has acted illegally under the road traffic act by not ensuring that he has adequate room to complete an overtaking manoevour. The more we just let people do this the more they will think they have the right to do so. When I pulled out to overtake the truck he was still at least 10 cars behind. He was just expecting people to let him in if he needed to pull back in.

[vnx205]

The more we just let people do this the more they will think they have the right to do so. When I pulled out to overtake the truck he was still at least 10 cars behind. He was just expecting people to let him in if he needed to pull back in.
I'm not going to enter the discussion about the appropriate response to such people, but I have seen an incident that suggested the driver believed he had the right to do what he wanted and everyone else just had to fit in around that.
There was a long line of traffic heading from Canberra to Yass. At the head of the line was a heavily loaded, ancient farm truck. (It was slow enough to be holding me up in the Series III).
There were about 20 or 30 cars behind him. While he should have pulled over to let us past, it is not his behaviour that astonished me. It was the car driver who started several places behind me who pulled out and passed a few cars and then forced his way back in.
He repeated this several times until he eventually got past the truck.
What was interesting was that he was pulling out even when there was a vehicle coming the other way and he would only just have time to pass one or two cars and then he would force his way in at the last moment and people would have to make room for him. No-one else in the queue took the opportunity to overtake where he did. We were all waiting for somewhere safe.
What was even more interesting was that he was driving a Rolls Royce and he wasn't on some sort of life saving mercy dash because when we got to Yass, he was parked in the main street.

[Grizzly_Adams]

I must admit I generally don't like to be the hold-up and know that there are lots of impatient people out there.

When I'm in the Defender I just chug along at the posted speed limit and if I see an overtaking lane I'll make sure I'm in the left so people can get past me (unless there's a slow moving vehicle there that I need to get past first and I can do so, of course).

If it's a single lane, there are people behind me and it's a area where they can overtake safely I move towards the side of the road so the people behind me can see and take their chances overtaking.

I've even been known to brake gently (but not whilst there is still someone behind me, only when they are beside me) whilst people are overtaking to ensure they can past safely and easily, then return to my normal speed.

These actions are exacerbated when I'm towing the camper, especially when there's a hills involved.

Even doing all that to try and avoid dangerous situations, I've seen some pretty stoopid driving. I want to rig-up a camera in the Defender so I can press a button and it starts recording, I think after only about 6 months I could make a movie of "Australia's worst drivers".

Don't care if they are in the right or wrong, if they have an accident whilst trying to overtake me they could just as easily take me out so I just let 'em through.

I know how CraigE feels though and I'm sure that we've all done something similar at one time or another in our lives. It's just so frustrating seeing what some of these impatients twits do and how many lives they put at risk by their impatient manuveurs.

I'm not trying to judge anyone, each to their own I say. Must be in a mellow mood this morning :)

[JDNSW]

I dont think that is a reason to raise the speed, even though I agree they should be travelling close to the upper end of the posted speed limit. ...

I think you missed the point - L and red P plate drivers cannot legally travel at or even close to the posted speed limit in NSW - they are limited to 80 and 90kph regardless of the limit (was 100 here). Where there is fairly heavy traffic on a narrow two lane road with a lot of double lines (as in this case), it can be a real problem. But that does not excuse this sort of driving.

John

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Read the quote properly. At no time did I do anything illegal or possible to cause an accident.
Craig

Wrong, what you did IS ILLEGAL - the offense is "Failing to overtake with safety". Every overtaking driver can be charged with that one. They can also charge you with "Negligent Driving" even if, you were strictly in the right, you are morally wrong.

Your one protection is that there are'nt many coppers out there on the roads to book you anymore.

Diana

[George130]

I'm not going to enter the discussion about the appropriate response to such people, but I have seen an incident that suggested the driver believed he had the right to do what he wanted and everyone else just had to fit in around that.
There was a long line of traffic heading from Canberra to Yass. At the head of the line was a heavily loaded, ancient farm truck. (It was slow enough to be holding me up in the Series III).
There were about 20 or 30 cars behind him. While he should have pulled over to let us past, it is not his behaviour that astonished me. It was the car driver who started several places behind me who pulled out and passed a few cars and then forced his way back in.
He repeated this several times until he eventually got past the truck.
What was interesting was that he was pulling out even when there was a vehicle coming the other way and he would only just have time to pass one or two cars and then he would force his way in at the last moment and people would have to make room for him. No-one else in the queue took the opportunity to overtake where he did. We were all waiting for somewhere safe.
What was even more interesting was that he was driving a Rolls Royce and he wasn't on some sort of life saving mercy dash because when we got to Yass, he was parked in the main street.

Thats just the barton Highway. See it everyday. Yes I sit under the speed limit on there but I hug the left unless the vehicle behind try's to push me along. Those times I don't worry about hugging the left and just ignore them. There are heaps of deaths on the Barton that never make the news and heaps of non fatalities.

[UncleHo]

G'day Lotz-A-Landies :)

I agree with CraigE on this one, he states that he had indicated, was in the R/H lane and this other vehicle had come up behind him, the Vehicle that was behind CraigE in the L/H lane closed spaces so as to stop the Vehicle No2 from pushing in again, but CraigE had done a correct overtaking move and was proceeding correctly but was observing this in his mirrors.

cheers

[UncleHo]

G'day George130 :)

THAT, is why the Lord invented 3" nails :twisted: for Nits like that, (probably late putting his Lotto in)

cheers

[landyfromanuthaland]

Try travelling the coast road from Newcastle to the Gold coast, damn truckies think its a drag strip and u really see some stupidity from both sides truckers and over zealous holiday makers, the speed limit is there for a reason yet people take it upon themselves to speed and the end result is what we will see after this long weekend, how many will die? and to what end?

[twitchy]

Have to disagree, I have acted legally, its the moron who wants to over take 20 cars that is the clown. These guys need to be slowed down or they will keep thinking that they can do it. If I am about to overtake and a car 10 cars back wants to try and beat me I am not going to sit back and just let him do it. I have gotten a bit sick of having to brake sharply and let these guys in when they realise that they are not going to make it.
I was talking one case where I had indicated to pull out and a car 10 plus cars back was trying to get past when I was probablly only going to make it past safely over taking a triple road train (allowing for a decent safety margin, not a close call for me) and the car behind me decided to close up to give him a bit of a scare. The car behind me did yield to let this car in, but obviously made him think for a bit he was not going to make it.
And I should add at no time putting them in real danger but making them think about their overtaking method.
Also if I am about to pull out and overtake (legally) I am not going to wait for some clown several cars back that thinks he has right of way.
Sorry if you can not see the logic.
Who in their right mind would think they could overtake so many cars at once.
I do clean the mess up from these clowns and it is normally the innocent driver that ends up hurt, not the clown overtaking.




Gotta agree with the point of stopping idiots from killing some one else because thats what ALWAYS happens.

Man try driving a Franna crane & wait till you see where they try & pass. F*** me there are some people who I would gladly run over to save others!!!!!!!!!

[CraigE]

As qualified by Uncle Ho and maybe i should have qualified it, I was watching this in my rear view mirror. I have also discussed it with a traffic officer and at no point was anything I did illegal or immoral. On the other hand the car that overtakes a line of traffic with out due care could have been charged.
Generally if I am getting ready and have indicated to overtake, I am not going to wait for some smart ass that got his or her licence out of a weeties packet, cause once one starts they all start and at times have been caught in lines of traffic especially in the Perth hills for 5 minutes as no one coming from behind will let the cars caught right behind the truck overtake.
However the car behind me that bunched up behind the truck and did not give him room to get back in may have been in a spot of bother if it went pear shaped.

Craig

Wrong, what you did IS ILLEGAL - the offense is "Failing to overtake with safety". Every overtaking driver can be charged with that one. They can also charge you with "Negligent Driving" even if, you were strictly in the right, you are morally wrong.

Your one protection is that there are'nt many coppers out there on the roads to book you anymore.

Diana

[landyfromanuthaland]

If u want to go fast by a sports car, u cant speed in a Landy unless of course u have dropped over a cliff or down a mine shaft, even if u could speed in a Landy and I pick on the series here u still have to stop em, being over taken in a Landy is just what happens, to really stir them up wear your tweed hat and chuff on a pipe, nothing pees me of more then seeing some old sugar daddy rattling along in his red MG wearing a tweed hat and smoking a pipe, mind u some volvo drivers wear tweed hats too