Thread: Road Rage, who gets it?

Originally Posted by p38arover

Last night I asked Dad how he got his truck licence. He went to Auburn police station and told them he needed it. The copper asked why. Dad said he was a mechanic at the abbatoir. So the cop said "Alright" and wrote it out.

On my 17th. birthday I went to the court house and got a learner's permit from the clerk who told me to go to the police station and arrange to have a test. I did this and the copper said something along the lines of " What, you young bugger, you haven't got a licence? I've seen you driving around town for ages. Righto, drive me around and I'll see how you go." Around a few blocks of Winton we went, no hill start test as no hills in town, no parallel parking test as plenty of parking space anywhere, no three point turn as you can turn a road train around in pretty well any street in Winton. Back to the station where I got a licence and he said he had better give me a truck and a tractor licence as well, seeing as I was an apprentice at a carrying company. I tested my luck by asking for a motor bike one as well and got it.

Originally Posted by Xavie

I too am very relaxed, I always indicate, I slow down for red lights, give way, let people in, let people out, keep to the left, but sometimes the little things really get to me...

Wow! I usually stop for them !

Originally Posted by LavisLane

I used to drive about 1500kms a week and road rage nearly killed me a few times! I eventually stumbled upon a classical station by mistake and it chilled me right out...

You've got to watch out for that "classical" music though - if you get something like the 1812 Overture then it feels like the highway has become a war zone and your fighting instincts usually surface.

Originally Posted by p38arover

On the highway, I'm usually 10-15 km/h over the limit. I hate getting behind people who travel at or below the speed limit.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

...I would say the reason most people are driving at less than the speed limit is because 95% of speedo's read over by 5% or more, mine is spot on now so when i'm doing 100 i am passing most of the traffic. ...

I've noticed that the new Defender speedo is barely 2kph out at 100kph (on GPS) so I am forever feeling like everyone else is dawdling.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Sounds like me, but its the morons that sit on 80 in the right lane with 100m + of clear lane in front that all of a sudden find the loud pedal after you have indicated and start going around them or the ****** in the X5 that thought he would pull out in front of me while i was no more than 3 car lenghts away doing 80 + and then said ****** using the emergency lane to overtake and then push in front of traffic where there is no space...

One thing that many people fail to realise is that when there is a broken centre line on your side you can use the centre overtaking lane for oncoming traffic if it's safe to do so - even if there are cars in the oncoming far left lane. I always take advantage of this when there is a long column of traffic behind someone slow with no-one making any serious attempts to overtake except in their own direction overtaking lanes. You invariably get dirty looks from the people you are passing who must think that the one or two cars coming towards you are going to randomly change lanes at any time, even though there is a keep left rule and no other traffic. Or else they are just p!ssed off that they didn't think of it.

And before anyone trys to tell me that this is not actually allowed - I have tested it. I overtook a cop car when there was a huge column behind some caravan and he didn't seem to mind. I once used this technique in France too and judging by the spontaneous eruption of traffic that followed me it must have been some sort of epiphany for them. It amazes me how often people fail to think logically when driving.

I also used to get annoyed at poeple who blast up the kerbside lane at traffic lights until my mate simply pointed out that if EVERYONE did it then more traffic would actually make it through each change of lights. Now I am of the opinion that it's not so much rude to run up the left lane, as it is just plain stupid to sit there like a mullet in a right hand lane and queue. I'm happy if I get through the lights one change earlier and I'm also happy to sort out the merging on the other side of the intersection in a courteous and orderly manner. If I have the misfortune to get stuck behind a parked car then so be it. I just wait until everyone else is past then pull out. Needless to say there are usually dozens of people still queued on the other side of the intersection who didn't get through at all.

And what is it about the words "Form One Lane" that is so hard for people to understand? If I am in the left lane and someone is behind me in the right, I often get flashed or tooted at for merging across in front of them. It's not the same as "left lane ends" FFS! No-one indicates, you just move in turn and the car in front automatically has right of way. I could just as well insist that they should have indicated left.