Thread: Why Do We Have Crashes

Originally Posted by Ian

I spend a lot of time on the road & see some amazing stunts & antics. I have come to the conclusion that of all the fools, and there s no shortage, on our roads 10-15% need further training/experience; the rest have major attitude/manners issues. I believe this goes beyond driving. Does anyone else in my age bracket (grown up kids) think that there are more random acts of violence, stabbings, bashings & road rage etc. than when we were young? Or am I just echoing my ol grandad?

Ian,

I'm sure a lot of others feel the same.
I do not know what has happened to the young of today.
Some of their behaviour is unbelievable. Maybe it stems from all the violent electronic games they play.

As for the roads, they are full of impatient and reckless idiots who have no consideration for others.
It is getting worse, not better.
We need more Police on the roads.

Cheers,

Mabe we should look at ourselves first of all. Actually take responsability for our actions and not pay lip service to it untill we can find someone else to blame. Then we can teach our kids by our actions, that meen so mutch more than words. Long term project but it could be worth a try.

I'm a road accident rescuer and we recently had to change the terminoligy that we used for crashes. Due to legal liability reasons we are no longer allowed to refer to crashes as accidents as we are implying that no one is at fault. it has taken some time but we are getting used to calling everything road crash rescue now.

I think the numbers are fairly even for who is to blame for many crashes in my 20years of rescue I dont think i have seen one age group doing much worse than the others.

I think many rescue groups are now also facing the problem that we have rescue vehicles that are very capable of reaching unsafe speeds. our truck is around 6.5ton and can easily reach 140km/h and i have a new batch of drivers about to be licenced which is giving me nightmares. I have seen a few accidents caused by rescue vehicles so i think we also need our own bad drivers category.

Originally Posted by waynep

2. truckies with too much pressure on them to deliver on time

Whilst I agree with all of your points, this is one of my pet hates.
I reckon 8 out 10 vehicles I encounter running red lights are trucks, and usually bloody great big ones. And before anyone makes the vaguely valid point about stopping distance. Let's not forget they're travelling in a built up area where they should expect to encounter red lights and so drive accordingly....

too many fiddly little gadgets in cars to make the driving experience more comfortable. buttons to press and screens to look at. little things that go "bing" all take the driver's atention off the road.
again, inexperienced drivers with too much power under their foot and an irresponsible attitude.
old drivers- spacial awareness decreases with the rest of the senses, their peripheral vision goes, their hearing goes and their reflexes go.
impatient drivers that feel that their journey is more important than everyone elses
arrogant drivers that believe they are either a better driver than everyone else and an therefore drive faster or more erratically, or believe they have a certain right when they are on the road, weather that be to a place in a traffic queue or in a lane or a parking spot, despite all
others

and TAXI DRIVERS - need i say more?

Originally Posted by Rosco

Whilst I agree with all of your points, this is one of my pet hates.
I reckon 8 out 10 vehicles I encounter running red lights are trucks, and usually bloody great big ones. And before anyone makes the vaguely valid point about stopping distance. Let's not forget they're travelling in a built up area where they should expect to encounter red lights and so drive accordingly....

I can only relate to you the amount of times that I stop my b-double at lights only to see any number of cars going through the red past me. B-double 62500 kg average car 1000-1500 kg. It's not about the vechile it's about the attitude of the person holding the steering wheel.

Hi all, I work for the RFDS in Alice Springs. Every week our crews go out to pick up the broken from road crashes. We collect the ones who are too remote for the ambulance crews to get to, or the too seriously injured to be transferred to the regional hospital. Aside from alcohol the key contributing factor (in these parts) is not driving for the conditions. ie. Too fast, too far, too tired, inexperienced for the task at hand.
Its really hard to listen to someone tell of how they are responsible for the death of their partner Son, Daughter or friend .....and if only..... they had slowed down or stopped for break at the last town.

If youre on holidays whats the rush?

Ok, take last nite for example, went to pick my boy up from work at 10 oclock local Woolies, was parked out the front and a little rocket pulled into the taxi rank out the front, 2 guys got out went into Woolies, the driver gets out carrying a long neck, stumbles and fall **** over head, he gets up and falls over again, totally smashed he was and only very young, he gave up trying to walk and crawled back to his car, funny how he could drive but not walk! I got his rego number and called the cops and said if your fast enough you might get a good pinch, dont know if they got him. They still do it, you cannot tell a young person whos just got his Ps to putter along and be careful, obey the rules and your all good, soon as they are out the house with there mates it all goes out the window. raise the age limit to 21 for both drinking and driving,
Rage as you call it is an everyday thing, my wife recently was stuck at a T intersection in peak hour, an impatient bugger behind her yelled to get moving, she replied have some patience, he abused her and she took off first slot she could find endangering her and the car coz of this ******, he followed her home and luckily I was out the front when she came home, he pulled up wound down his window and called her a few names, I said get out your car and come say that to me you *$%#, he swore at me in some ethnic tongue, he wore my sprinkler!
This is becoming really the way it is, we are to obsessed with getting everywhere in a hurry, courtesy has gone out the window, who says please and thankyou these days, people need to learn to chill out and slow downand keep your mouth shut, they will find they will live much longer