Thread: How on earth does this happen?

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Fair point Billy, I wonder how many people have had overseas qualifications RPLed, or are still driving with a foreign licence though.

Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

[...]Quite a lot. I'd say. There seems to be a lot of confusion in greater Sydney, as to what exactly are the rules and this confusion seems to escalate in bad weather.

I got my licence at 17yo in QLD and never lost it, never been cancelled or suspended. That was over 40yrs ago and I have never been forced to retest. So far no different to a lot of people my age I am sure. About 30yrs ago I moved to Canberra and at some point my QLD licence was converted to ACT licence.

Some of you will know I lived much of the last 20yrs overseas (Malaysia) and recently moved back home to OZ bringing some imports (Wife, son, and Defender all made in Malaysia). ("recently" - its now just over a year! Seems like just weeks.)

In due course I got a Malaysian driving licence (all motor cars and all motorbikes) simply issued on the strength of my Australian ACT licence. Then I let my Australian licence expire. It ran on and then expired about 13yrs ago.

It looked like my wife and I would face the same requirements to get our Malaysian licences converted to Australian licences (NSW): Not the full learner process - Just do the driver knowledge test, then a practical driving test. Passing meant getting full open NSW licences.

I did the driver knowledge test. Passed 100% as one ought. Then fronted up at the appointed time for my driving test - the tester noted my answer to the "have you ever held an Australian licence before" question - and suggested it is very likely I don't need to do ANY tests..... a quick phone call to the ACT equivalent to RMS to validate, then I am sent away with a shiny new NSW licence.

(Wife not so lucky - she had to do the tests. She passed her knowledge test and has failed (just by a whisker) her first road test)

Sorry for the long lead up describing the current system as actually implemented for some foreign countries. Note: Malaysia falls outside of the shorter list of countries that qualify for direct conversion - no testing at all.

A couple of low hanging fruit in that long tale:
1. its been 40+ yrs since I got my licence and never had to do any further testing
Comments: Not sure this is a bad thing. 40yrs experience on the road delivers far more than studying and practicing for some ****ant number of hours to pass a couple of tests.

However....(!)

2. In my case - of the 40yrs since I first got an Australian driving licence, I spent almost 20 of those years driving near enough exclusively in SEA. The different driving skills/habits learned in my last 20 years of driving experience could be considered incompatible with the skills/habits needed in Australia!


Conclusions:
I think this is the real problem that needs to be addressed regarding foreign drivers getting on to Australian roads
- the skills/habits/mindset needed for success on the road (no accidents, loss of life) in some foreign countries are VASTLY different to the skills/habits/mindset needed for success/survival on Australian roads. (....or other similar western countries)

Here is just one example of a fundamental difference between driving in Malaysia (...and many other asian nations) as compared to driving in Australia (...and many other similar nations):
- In Malaysia pedestrians look after themselves. They know that even on pedestrian crossings, even with traffic lights, they cannot be guaranteed it is safe to cross a road. Getting run over in your own driveway, adults or infants, is unheard of. Pedestrians take responsibility for their own survival, and parents responsibility to inculcate these skills into their kids.
- In Australia it is vastly different. Pedestrians step out onto roads and driveways with almost reckless abandon confident in what they may falsely think is a shared understanding with car drivers - that drivers look out for and avoid pedestrians.

One of the stark, even scary, aspects of my assimilation back into Australian driving has been the need to constantly remind myself to look out for pedestrians as they do not look out for themselves. After a year back, mostly remembering - I frightened myself and a pedestrian just a few days ago as I forgot to stop BEFORE crossing the footpath when coming up a basement carpark ramp.

There are many other examples and some can be written up quiet hilariously (road markings and signage all being largely ignored....etc).

My point is that one can study and practice for a test - Whether its once in a lifetime, or every 5yrs makes no difference, it takes just hours of effort. But it takes 5yrs to get 5yrs worth of driving experience. But what kind of experience has an experienced driver gotten in his last 5yrs?:
- If a person's driving experience is relevant to the Australian road safety mindset then simply granting equivalent licence is perhaps good enough.
- If a person's driving experience is relevant to completely dissimilar assumptions then rigorous and focussed testing would be needed and still does not guarantee a good outcome.
- I think the current process recognises this to a degree (some countries don't need to do any tests, some do).


In my case, honestly: 20yrs driving in a region where assumptions are not compatible with the Australian road safety mindset (e.g. pedestrians look out for themselves so much as to be a non-problem). I should not have been granted an Australian licence just because I had one decades before.

".......In my case, honestly: 20yrs driving in a region where assumptions are not compatible with the Australian road safety mindset (e.g. pedestrians look out for themselves so much as to be a non-problem). I should not have been granted an Australian licence just because I had one decades before.[/QUOTE]

Pedestrians are really becoming a problem, a lot more are listening to Ipods (or similar) or looking at their mobile phones, while walking out in front of traffic.

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

".......In my case, honestly: 20yrs driving in a region where assumptions are not compatible with the Australian road safety mindset (e.g. pedestrians look out for themselves so much as to be a non-problem). I should not have been granted an Australian licence just because I had one decades before.

Pedestrians are really becoming a problem, a lot more are listening to Ipods (or similar) or looking at their mobile phones, while walking out in front of traffic.[/QUOTE]

Happened to me yesterday - exactly that. Guy was wearing earphones and doing something on his phone, walked out onto the road as I was turning into the street he was about to cross. I saw it coming and stopped, he was half way across the road before he looked - then nearly **** himself as my bullbar was a foot from him. Had he done done this in front of distracted driver (like someone on their phone) he would be in hospital now or dead.

As I have said before , if footpaths weren't used as parking spaces , there would be less time spent walking on the road. I look out my window now and see about 3 cars on and across the only footpath on the road . On is a council ute . Council and police don't seem to think it is worth ticketing .

They're red hot on it down here - easy money. About once every 3 months the council will do a drive through every street with a camera car. Any vehicle on a nature strip, on a footpath or parked across the footpath get a fine in the mail - it's easy to see when this has been done as everyone all of a sudden parks legally through the whole town for a few weeks until they go back to doing what they used to do.

Originally Posted by weeds

Slightly off topic, I picked up a worm car from Toyota Service the other week and they had removed the aftermarket floor mat (the ones with the raised edges) and placed it in the back foot well....the interesting part was they have a printed card that slips over the rear vision mirror highlighting the dangers of ill fitting floor mats.

Common practice these days, I believe. My daughter had the same thing happen. Also a Toyota, so maybe it's a Toyota thing.

Originally Posted by Homestar

Pedestrians are really becoming a problem, a lot more are listening to Ipods (or similar) or looking at their mobile phones, while walking out in front of traffic.

Happened to me yesterday - exactly that. Guy was wearing earphones and doing something on his phone, walked out onto the road as I was turning into the street he was about to cross. I saw it coming and stopped, he was half way across the road before he looked - then nearly **** himself as my bullbar was a foot from him. Had he done done this in front of distracted driver (like someone on their phone) he would be in hospital now or dead.[/QUOTE]

Exactly the same thing happened to me. When my bloke caught me in the corner of his eye, he nearly jumped high enough to clear my car but had I been distracted he'd me red mush on the road.