Thread: Why Do We Have Crashes

Originally Posted by vnx205

That's true.
You often see examples of courtesy and commonsense, but because they don't cause a drama, you tend not to notice them.
Just recently I have noticed a situation where everybody seemed to be doing the right thing.
I made the mistake twice of traveling along Lane Cove Road at peak hour. Just before De Burgh's bridge there is a road that feeds in from the left with no traffic lights.
On both occasions we were crawling along and for as far as I could see ahead, every single driver employed the convention of alternating cars from each road.
Not only that but drivers tended to hang back a bit to make it obvious to the driver due to come in from the left that there was going to be a gap left for them to slot in.
And the final touch was that on both days when I did the same the driver moving into the gap I had left gave me a polite wave to acknowledge that they appreciated my making it easy for them to merge.
Even though it had really required no effort on my part, I felt good that someone had recognised that I had done the sensible thing.

Traffic merging is definately up there with my pet hates, when it's done properly and with common sense, traffic flows nice and smoothly with everyone able to go about their business nice and calmly.
What i can't stand is idiots that will do anything in their power not to let you merge in front of them!!!! As if by letting one car into the queue in front of said idiot will make him late for work.
The end result of him speeding up to prevent you joining traffic in front of him is that people have to start breaking which in turn has the ripple effect of slowing everyone..........
i could go on ........and on.......and on.....



.....and on

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....

However, if its a borderline run through a red light its not their fault regardless. They must flow with traffic....

And green doesnt give you automatic right of way under the law either

And here comes Xmas....

City pilots on country roads and highways trying to 'make a mile'

Damn...

Originally Posted by Ken

More and more often I see stupid people do even more stupid things in vehicles big and small
Coming home from work after being away, driving for 3 hours this retard pulls out in front of me (50mtrs) Im doing 110kmh ,
Have you ever had to slow down to 60kmh from 110kmh with a trailer in tow (No trailer brake) and two other blokes with all their gear in the car as well in the space of 40 mtrs its no picnic let me tell ya
And then when I get the chance to pass said IDIOT he gives me the finger as if Im to blame I tell ya something

The things you see when you havent got a gun

That's something that seems to be happening more and more; drivers automatically assuming they are in the right and everyone else is in the wrong.
The most recent example I saw involved a young female in a car some distance in front of me. Both of us were in the left lane and approaching a point where we would have to merge with the traffic in the lane on our right.
A car full of young males passed me, obviously in a bit of a hurry.
The woman in front put her blinker on ready to move into the right lane when the impatient young males were only a few car lengths behind.
What should have happened is that the impatient young males should have just continued at the pace they were going and by the time the women had moved across, they would have been safely past.
As she hadn't started to merge, the blinker looked to me like a signal that she intended to move across as soon as the lane on her right was clear, which it would have been in just a few seconds. That could have all happened quite smoothly and safely.
What actually happened was that the impatient driver got the idea that the women was going to move into his lane and braked quite unnecessarily so that the women was then forced to slow down to let him pass as she had originally intended. The impatient driver after having slowed down, then planted the foot to rush past her.
From my vantage point behind, it seemed that the woman was driving carefully and giving appropriate warning of her intention, but showed no sign of moving across until the lane was clear.
In spite of that, as the car full of young males sped off after disrupting the smooth flow of traffic the driver felt obliged to stick his arm out the window and give her the finger and a mouthful as if she was at fault.
I'm not sure whether he actually believed that she was in the wrong or whether he had to save face in front of his mates by blaming her rather than admit that he hadn't been concentrating fully on what was happening around him and had panicked.

Originally Posted by Gooner

Somebody said "what's it going to take?"
I don't know the answer but Im leaning towards making it harder for kids to get on the road these days.

News radio this morning reports a 30 day veteran P Plater in Balgowlah doing 170km/hr in an 80 zone. How do you legislate or educate for that.

Stupid kids, over-powered cars, mobile phones, thumping stereos and 3 or 4 fellow muppets in the car - and why are we surprised when it ends badly.

I'm adraid I'm with you on this one. Make it harder forget multi questions at the test, ask one get it right or no licence, fail three times can't go again for 6months, they may realy learn then.

Up the age to 18 minimum, older would be better but probably wouldn't make that much difference, I know some great young drivers, my kids for one & many of the old Rover Crew (18-26 y.o. Scouts). A couple of these guys were in early twenties when they got their licence & are skilled drivers now.

I know not practical but govenors on vehicles would make sense, I can't tell you how many times I get overtaken by red & green "P" plates in the bush on highways, females in little Corollas etc, it doesn't have to have a V8 etc

So many gadgets and distractions my Navman beeps and flashes red when I exceed 110kph very annoying

P platers are too inexperienced. No one has told them that driving can actually be a dangerous thing... See, in computer games, big car crashes are exciting, they don't cost anything and it usually only takes a few seconds before your on the road again . I played those games too, but somewhere along the way i figured out that driving in real life is not a game.

Maybe if they met some people that had been in serious "accidents" they might think twice. The thing that amazes me is the ones that have been in serious "accidents" and STILL drive like they're in a computer game. And then everyone gets all upset when they get killed next time.

Ever noticed that every news report about a P plater death involves a Commodore? IMHO P platers should be banned from driving ANY "cool" car regardless of its power. That way they won't want to go fast, cos they'll look uncool anyway!

I work with a P plater who tries to tell me that he can't help going fast (sees if his Commodore can reach the maximum on the speedo) and drives at stupid speeds every day. *When* he dies, i won't be going to his funeral.

FYI i am not old and bitter about young drivers. I am 28.

Originally Posted by Bulldog

P platers are too inexperienced. No one has told them that driving can actually be a dangerous thing... See, in computer games, big car crashes are exciting, they don't cost anything and it usually only takes a few seconds before your on the road again . I played those games too, but somewhere along the way i figured out that driving in real life is not a game.

Maybe if they met some people that had been in serious "accidents" they might think twice. The thing that amazes me is the ones that have been in serious "accidents" and STILL drive like they're in a computer game. And then everyone gets all upset when they get killed next time.

Ever noticed that every news report about a P plater death involves a Commodore? IMHO P platers should be banned from driving ANY "cool" car regardless of its power. That way they won't want to go fast, cos they'll look uncool anyway!

I work with a P plater who tries to tell me that he can't help going fast (sees if his Commodore can reach the maximum on the speedo) and drives at stupid speeds every day. *When* he dies, i won't be going to his funeral.

FYI i am not old and bitter about young drivers. I am 28.

Well said Bulldog, I'm still an old gamer (twice your age) & love to wreck havoc & carnage on the PC or PS2, but never take it on the road, the trick is to know it's only a game & you can't do it in real life...and live again by pressing reset.

An old friend gave a steering wheel and half a dozen great speed games one year for the PC, great to get it out of the system in this fashion.

It would be interesting to see the crash statistics from the US where they can drive from a younger age. The problem is there has to be an entry point somewhere and with it will always be the novilty of being unleashed behind the wheel for the first time, be they 16, 25, or 35. Experience has to come from somewhere though, irrespective of the age. I was intersted in some comments earlier from a crash rescue worker on here, and the comment that there was not a notable difference in age groups from his experiences, which is what makes me wonder if we're blaming the youth incorrectly just as 4WDer's are often stereotyped. There needs to be a time where people start to take responsibilty for themselves which is part of growing, although unfortunately it can also end in self destruction.