Thread: Truck Driver Tailgating?,...in the "Nanny State"..Yeah right.

Originally Posted by trog

The new drivers should be taught by impartial professionals. Can't afford it well there is uber etc. I would hate to be tasked with teaching a kid. I haven't been assessed since getting my licence way back , who knows what my considered good driving really equates to ?

Most of us would likely fail. Son did first driving test not in his car but in the driving instructor and he failed for not knowing where the demisters were quickly. 3 buttons/knobs to get demisters on. He reckons the windows were not even fogged.

If you can't find the necessary controls without looking in a controlled environment , what will happen when needed in a situation. Part of the driving instruction I had was to find these controls with my eyes closed , and to practice this in any other vehicle. If you can't find the lights wipers or even the radio volume controls get off the road.

Originally Posted by Chops

Not exactly sure on this Andy, (there "maybe" in certain situations),, however, if the truck had undertaken the guy in the car,, you can be sure people would be saying "there goes some ****** truckie driving like an idiot again", so more hate for truckies.

My personal take on all this is that the truck/s should be allowed "to pass" using the right hand lane if needs be.
The only problem with this being, that as soon as they start to do this, the car will immediately speed up, screwing the truckie over for a passing maneuver, and no doubt, lack of attention/intelligence will at the same time, see some other clown move in behind the car that was being passed, and give the truck no where to go back into the lane from where he came.

There's a lot of rather bad and impatient truck drivers on our roads, but, in my own opinion, they are professionals, and basically are OK. On the other hand, from driving in and around Melbourne, there seems to be more woeful car drivers on our roads than ever before.
I think gaining a licence should have more theory in it, not practice. This theory should be the teaching of road manners and courtesy toward others on the road. Little things like, "its not my business if your speeding, but hey, maybe you've got an emergency, I'll move over and give you room",,, things like deciphering how fast a car is coming up behind you,, or how much room you need before you can pull out safely from a "T" intersection. If the guy coming has to brake fairly hard so he doesn't T-Bone you,, then you've ****ed up,,
Simple common sense stuff, needs to be taught. As a learner, 120 hours with a driver who's got no idea is more dangerous than not doing the hours,,, which I'm guessing a lot would probably lie about anyway.

All very well mate, and no doubt true.
BUT, what has this to do with my thread,.....to put it bluntly,....if you were the car driver,....would you pull over to let him by, or......would you not?
Pickles.

Originally Posted by Pickles2

All very well mate, and no doubt true.
BUT, what has this to do with my thread,.....to put it bluntly,....if you were the car driver,....would you pull over to let him by, or......would you not?
Pickles.

I've always pulled over,, even in the D4. If I'm on a go easy drive, (a Sunday drive, which could be whenever) if traffic starts to build up behind me, or a faster vehicle wants to overtake, I always give them room, one way or another.
It was something taught to me by my father,, common sense, manners and courtesy,, he was a truck driver.

Originally Posted by trog

I have given this a bit of thought , having watched the behaviour of drivers on the gateway between toombul rd and mt Gravatt road , of which I traverse three round trips per working day. Sure there are idiots in trucks cars and motorbikes. But only L and P drivers seem to get the attention. So as there have been calls for different plates for visitors , oldies and caravans , why not one for every driver. Rounded to the closest five years , it could display their experience. Not displaying the plate gives the cops a reason to pull them over to check credentials. And web reports can tell us about the "x" number plate who did something stupid.

At first this seems like an idea with merit, but when you look at the details more closely gaping holes appear in the suggestion. Let's consider a 25 to 30 year old professional driver, possibly a truck driver, travelling professional, taxi driver or courier. They may drive hundreds of km per day 5 days per week and have better than a decade of driving experience under their belt.

Now let us consider a 35 to 40 year old office worker who catches public transport to work, may not own a car or drive at all each week. They would be wearing a plate indicating over 20 years of holding a licence but have less on road driving experience than the previous example gained in their first year of professional driving. More than that the 20 year licence holder takes time "refreshing" their driving skills every time they rarely get behind the wheel.

The other issue is the School Run Mums driving the family 4WD. Dad catches public transport to work every day while mum gains experience driving the 4WD in urban traffic 5 or more days per week. Yet when the family goes way on holidays or for the weekend, the parent with least experience in the 4WD is driving? (How many here are in this situation, I'd say a few)

The post was meant to be as sarcastic as possible. I watch others on the road often with a degree of wonder , but just jumping on the visible minority's ,
L and P s does not do them justice with all the other idiots about.
If I had a dash cam the idiot drive along the cycle oath on Sandgate road would have garnered a few chuckles , though it did remind me of the news article of the driver in Mel who did actually target a cyclist on the seperate path. For the most part I see morons , self absorbed idiots and ignoramuses out there. It really has killed any enjoyment of driving for me. My young nephews don't want to drive for the same reasons . For them the bike or public transport is the better option.

FFS, what happened here is two ignorant/aggressive drivers met on the same bit of road neither of them gave a rats arse about other road users, End of story

Originally Posted by trout1105

FFS, what happened here is two ignorant/aggressive drivers met on the same bit of road neither of them gave a rats arse about other road users, End of story

There is no evidence to suggest the car driver was either ignorant or aggressive. He was driving according to and within the national and state road rules.
The driver of the truck was tailgating. Some consider that aggressive. If it is aggressive, then the driver of the truck was being aggressive.
The truck driver moved to the r/h lane to pass the car. If the truck driver didn't know of the rule that he was not to move into that lane, then he was ignorant. I suspect he wasn't ignorant and knew full well he was breaking that rule. Either way, because ignorance is no excuse (apparently), he should be charged.
I suspect the story will continue.