What is it with Drivers and Holidays?

[clontarf_x]

Dunno about anyone else in WA but I've travelled from Ellenbrook to Perth to Cannington to Mandurah and back over the space of 4 days beginning christmas eve to boxing day, and I only saw 3 cop cars? Only one of which was on a highway?

Oh and I was amazed at how well everyone was behaving on the roads too, except heading down Kwinana Fwy near Mt Henry bridge, assholes doing 80km+ in the 60km/hr roadworks area...

And I feel sorry for the people headed down Ennis Ave/Fremantle Road through Mandurah, for 3 days the traffic was banked up in excess of 10km's, i sh|t you not

[mik]

i had a good bit of advice from my supervisor a while a go regarding loonies and nuicance drivers in front of you , pull up and kick the tyres by the time you get going again they hopefully will be well ahead and not a bother

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by mik

i had a good bit of advice from my supervisor a while a go regarding loonies and nuicance drivers in front of you , pull up and kick the tyres by the time you get going again they hopefully will be well ahead and not a bother

Thats amusing.......but very lame :

[snypereb]

Best thing you can do is the right thing thats all i do your bound to get faggots on the road doing stupid stuff all the time!!!

[mik]

depends on wether your you think trying to pass someone who is unpredictable and ,all over the road speed increasing decreasing, maybe not so lame

[Thunder]

Just give them a L.A.P.D style tap from behind and push them off the freeway. Thats what they deserve.

[The G6ET Spot]

Originally Posted by Rapid260

This happened over the easter break a few years ago & scared the bejeezus out of me,

I had just pulled out onto the Brand hwy in west Aust. heading south, I was driving a semi, I was about 1km away from a bend in the road & around the corner came a little s**t box car with a road train behind it looking to over take, now this guy is pulling 2 trailers of L.P.G I could see that the Trucky wanted to over take this car, as the car was going about 80km & this was the only spot for him to do it, because further up the road there was a lot of hills & no overtaking points,

He was waiting for me to pass, so he could make his move, as I went past I watched in my side mirror to see how he went, the truck pulled out to over take, but when he did, the last trailer’s rear wheels touched the gravel on my side of the road,( at this point I had visions of what was going to happen next, so I planted my foot hoping to get as much distance between me & the other truck, which didn’t make any difference), the rear trailer slides on the gravel then whips back onto the road, right next to this car, then goes up onto its left hand side tires, the whole right hand side of the rear trailer was off the ground, like dukes of hazard & I thought to my self this is it, I'm going to die, the trucky realized what was going on because a big black cloud of smoke came from the stack when he put his foot into it to pull it out of this dangerous situation, he bought it back down on all wheels, & completed the over take.

Now while this was happening the s**t box did not slow down, he did not move over to give the truck any room to over take, all he did was hold his line, the whole time from start to finish.

When are these people going to learn that you have to give truck drivers all the help you can when your on the roads, they cant stop quickly, they cant take of fast, they cant just whip out & do a quick over take, they need room for this & as much space as you can give them.
I work in the oil & gas industry so I have seen high pressure gas fires & small gas explosions, so for the people that don’t know what a L.P.G explosion will do I will give you an idea,
One of these tanks with about 20ton of LPG will totally level about 5 square/km radius, 2 of them would be like a small nuclear explosion & would be heard 100km.


I feel sorry for any truck driver that has to drive over the holiday period, it would be a nightmare for them.

This is the exact reason I stopped driving interstate for a living. Was just sick and tired of idiot drivers not having any idea what they are doing. Until the governments change their testing procdures it will just continue to happen. Every driver should have to take a driving course of some sort to educate them as to what to expect on the roads,not just teach them how to drive between the lines which is about all they do now. The authorities say that it would cost a lot of money,I say so what if it costs each person 500 or 600 dollars,over the 40 to 50years that you have your licence it's not that dear. If it saves one life it's worth it.

[superpursuit83]

Originally Posted by clontarf_x

Dunno about anyone else in WA but I've travelled from Ellenbrook to Perth to Cannington to Mandurah and back over the space of 4 days beginning christmas eve to boxing day, and I only saw 3 cop cars? Only one of which was on a highway?

Oh and I was amazed at how well everyone was behaving on the roads too, except heading down Kwinana Fwy near Mt Henry bridge, assholes doing 80km+ in the 60km/hr roadworks area...

And I feel sorry for the people headed down Ennis Ave/Fremantle Road through Mandurah, for 3 days the traffic was banked up in excess of 10km's, i sh|t you not

I have yet to see a patrol car this xmas ??? Was only discussing this with a mate last night :

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by superpursuit83

I have yet to see a patrol car this xmas ??? Was only discussing this with a mate last night :

And your complaining????????

[dogfish]

Being a Northern Territory lad and having moved to Brisbane three years ago i think alot of the accidents are caused by people driving outside their limits it is amazing to watch mild mannered office worker in town who drives 50kms a day or so embark on a huge drive interstate and wonder why he or she is not conditioned to the boring drone of the highway. Also i think the fact that you are not usually (legally) allowed to go over 110kms per hour in your vehicles inhibits the driver as once they are out on the open road your speed starts to creep up and your now doing 160kmh and it feels like your doing 100 but this is more stressful on your brain body and your peripheral vision is reduced the faster you go. I do find alot of people down in S.E Queensland love the right lane of a dual or triple carriage way and i admit you are not supposed to be breaking the speed limit when overtaking but how frustrating is it en joe blow insists on doing 105 in a 110 zone. Road conditions down here are an absolute nightmare as well as the Newell Highway in N.S.W you almost need a kidney belt to drive it at the recommended speed.All i am trying to say is that having no speed limit up home (and less Traffic) alows you to find the point you feel safe at in your own vehicle and set a limit where you aren't going to come unstuck we also have 12monthly inspections to ensure vehicles that are 3years or older are still roadworthy rather than when you sell the vehicle i mean some of the cars you see and tyre condition its like how does that stay on the road.

[sfr rob]

Originally Posted by Keepleft

Hoon, a couple of questions:

1. At the time you came to a stop, or immediately before doing so, did you switch on the hazard-warning lights?

I am curious to see if the action is 'automated' in our drivers, I am hoping to 'automate' this action as part of an effort to prevent secondary impacts.

.

Are you for real, i say that would be the last thing you would be worrying about!
" oh i MUST put my hazard lights on and throw my fluro triangle out the window then ponder about holding on tight and getting off the road."

I think that to automate a reaction like that is going to be pretty hard mate.
I think you would be lucky to get people to even activate the hazards after an event like that!


I had another guy try and run me off the road last week coming back from Bairnsdale, i can tell you doing 110kmh on a single lane highway isnt fun when some ***** holden driver decides to roll out over into your lane!!!!

I refuse to drive tonight ( new years eve ).

[outback_ute]

That's the point though Rob, it should be, to give other drivers a warning something is wrong & that you need a clear path to the shoulder if you are not in the left lane. If it is taught from the beginning it is surprising what automatic reactions can be learnt.

[Keepleft]

Originally Posted by deesun

Again I have to admit that N.S.W drivers have become a lot more sensible over the last couple of years or so especially on freeways where they keep left hugely more than 5 years ago. This is probably a direct result of the fine incurred for staying in the right lane.

About 7 years was the time I wrote the NSW-RUH freeway text relating to driving on a freeway/motorway with 3 or more lanes.

NSW is the only Australian state to have this text. Its works. The three demerit points for not keeping left>multi-lane, applied from June 2005.




I also found that travelling on said freeway/tolway/2lane road with headlights on increases your chances of being seen in rearview of slower cars and as such increases the chances of them moving over. They can see you comming from further away and also see that you ARE comming and not just any car.

Not front fogs though:-) AND you can use 'flash to pass' to alert leading vehicles your intention to overtake, must use the indicators in the usual manner too.


This is not to say they are perfect as I know they aren't and there were still a few occasions in which I still had to use the middle or left lane to go past cars who wouldn't move over when they were supposed to, even after I had flashed them a couple of times. One woman, horror of horrors, was obviously tending the kids in the back as she was doing her 100kph and didn't notice even after 3 flashes. Her hubby in the passenger seat not doing his job taking responsibility for the kids, and her gums going 100 to the dozen as I passed. out:

Holiday drivers Deesun, might pick their bodies up later.

[Keepleft]

Originally Posted by sfr rob

Are you for real, i say that would be the last thing you would be worrying about!
" oh i MUST put my hazard lights on and throw my fluro triangle out the window then ponder about holding on tight and getting off the road."

Look Rob, that action (and more) is conditioned into all driver/road users overseas in EU, places where they are actually taught to drive, I don't mean an affront to Aussie here. I've had dazed drivers, semi-concious who have done the right thing, the first is to turn off that ignition of the crashed vehicle!

You now see text stating these actions in most Australian driver handbooks, and for good reason sir, take this Pdf Tasmanian example to see an example, I suggest you right click the link and choose 'save as'. Page 73.

[url]http://www.transport.tas.gov.au/licence_information/pdf/tas_road_rules_v3_part_3.pdf

Outback-Utes position too is clear on this, rightly so.



I think that to automate a reaction like that is going to be pretty hard mate.
I think you would be lucky to get people to even activate the hazards after an event like that!

Takes time I know, but try I and we - must.


I had another guy try and run me off the road last week coming back from Bairnsdale, i can tell you doing 110kmh on a single lane highway isnt fun when some ***** holden driver decides to roll out over into your lane!!!!

I refuse to drive tonight ( new years eve ).

Look, I do understand, you can but try.

News Year Eve as it was, agreed.

[pauljh74]

I've just come back yesterday from a trip to Eden, NSW - I'm from Melbourne. Now cars with caravans, trailers - fair enough if they do 90 km/h in a 100 zone. You pass them and keep going. But I, and half a dozen others were stuck behind a Magna with a driver only in the car for 50 km doing 110 on the straights, but if he hit any bends he dropped to 80-90 km/h. We're not talking about the ones with yellow speed advisory signs, but the easier ones that don't have these signs. I had a boot full of gear and 2 passengers - the car probably weighed about 1900kg all up, yet I could have driven these bends with one hand on the wheel because the guy in front was taking it easy. Unfortunately the road - the Princes Hwy east of Omeo in Vic, was fairly twisty and real overtaking opportunities were very scarce. Eventually by the time we hit an overtaking lane, we caught another slower driver, and by this stage as soon as the overtaking lane opened up, I just floored it and passed about 4 cars in one hit. I didn't worry about the speed limit for that brief period and hit about 130km/h before settling back to 105km/h. It is much safer being out on your own, as well as less frustrating because I have cruise control. It is no fun switching it on and off because you keep running too close to the car in front because they can't keep their speed variance less than 5 km/h - more like 15 km/h.

Another thing that was annoying was drivers who drove along at 90 in a 100 zone with cars banked up and then find the throttle right when the overtaking lanes appeared. Then lose it again once the overtaking lane finished. They should be rounded up and shot.

Once I made the driver coming the other way a little nervous as I began an overtaking move with the other driver visible in the distance. I had actually passed my target car and wanted to get a little more of a gap before pulling back. But the car coming at me was getting closer and the driver started to veer a little left and I pulled left with 50 metres+ between us. I had the space to get the job done - a head on wasn't going to happen. Otherwise my judgement on overtaking was conservative enough to never be a problem. This is why I got stuck for 50km+ behind that Magna.

On getting closer to Melbourne, I found what unfortunately is familiar - drivers sitting in the right hand lane on multi lane highways/freeways while running side by side and same speed as the car in the left. Otherwise, the behaviour of most drivers on the highway was good, a couple of slower cars even pulled out of the way onto the shoulder to let traffic through, then rejoin at the end. On the way up we were in a 4 car convoy, and our leader's pace was such that we were rarely passed and it stretched us out sometimes because we didn't want to go as fast as he was over a long trip. You don't want to be watching for police constantly on a 6 hour drive.

[Keepleft]

GWN TV reporting WA's highest road toll in years. Mmmm

[clontarf_x]

I heard WA had the lowest recorded in years (CH10)... what the?

[merlin]

Am I right in thinking that double demerits are over? Good, I survivied this time!

I worked over the holidays so was still commuting every day (in the ute) and due to me not wanting to lose any points used cruise control the entire time (usually set 5km/h over the speed limit). Despite the huge amount of cops I saw and the big penalties, people were still flying past me doing speeds like 90km/h down Victoria Rd (in the 60 bits) (usually with red P plates proudly displayed) screaming "book me" or "take my license" - cops were making a killing with the radar gun.

[clontarf_x]

I was a good boy and usually I excessively manouver my right foot while driving, but over these holidays I was a very very good little cherub and used my cruise control.
*pats self on back*

[Mechan1k]

Double demerits finished at midnight this morning (ie: 0000 03/01/2006)

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by merlin

Am I right in thinking that double demerits are over? Good, I survivied this time!

I worked over the holidays so was still commuting every day (in the ute) and due to me not wanting to lose any points used cruise control the entire time (usually set 5km/h over the speed limit). Despite the huge amount of cops I saw and the big penalties, people were still flying past me doing speeds like 90km/h down Victoria Rd (in the 60 bits) (usually with red P plates proudly displayed) screaming "book me" or "take my license" - cops were making a killing with the radar gun.

I must have seen the same P-platers as well ... obviously no brain ... or they switch it off when they get in their cars (or Mummy and Daddy's car) ... OK this is not to all P-platers ... but I find there are quite a lot out there that spoil it for the rest of the sensible P-platers out there.

Thing is there were many instances I was thinking "where's the Police when we need them" ... I for one didn't see many cops out over the holiday period ... only the few along Richmond Rd doing RBT around New Years and Xmas.

[rapidxr6]

Seems i wasnt the only one that had a holday driving drama miss-hap near-miss, doozie.......WHATEVER!!
anyhoo..was cruisin to Adelaide last friday to spend new years there. Everything was sweet till we got into tailem bend, just before the roadhouses there is the left hand lane(not sure the name of road) that merges to the double lane, we were sitting just below the 80 limit in the left hand lane with a white van approx 30metres in front of us.I noticed that 3 cars had stopped on the merging lane trying to get onto the double lane heading to adelaide. So as to open up a pocket for the merging traffic i signalled and merged to the right lane and with that all the 3 cars pulled out into the left lane..sweet i thought..NOT! this stupid god damn P'plated peroxide headed stupid : thats was leading the 3 merging cars decided that the left lane was not to her liking and decided to pull into the right hand lane doing around 20kph god damn right in front of me, leaving me trapped, giving me about 3 car lengths to work with.!!. From 4th to 1st on the horn and on the anchors smoke rubber & tar everywhere. And god DAMN IT you'd think she'd give it some gas and gun it....NO... she..... stopped on the middle of the freakin' highway swinging her stupid looking head side to side to see what was going on...& here i am about 4 inches off her left side rear end with the xr's right side front corner:ticking: double : she then decides to drive off. Looking in my rear vision mirror i see that big B-double i just passed a minute back coming up on the righthand lane and the left full of traffic. Being unscathed and wanting to stay that way i was back on the gas bending the hell out of the tacho needle 1st,2nd,3rd gear smokin the dunny's up, rear end driftin' out on a wickedly hot, sticky highway while going left around the stupid ИИИИИИ, snatched 4th, stuck the good ol finger up out the window and blew past her... i still wait to see if i got booked for speeding, fanged it to the tunnel from Tailem Bend, never looked back.
Well i know for sure there is a some tyre damage, flat spots, they just don't feel right, pulls a little to the left and a little vibration. Getting it all checked out this friday. Best thing no-one was hurt, my bottle of Gentleman Jack's survived and i got my daily dose of adrenaline.
All i can say is thank god this didn't happen on sunday, would'nt have had a chance, the road were terrible due to heavy rains and visibility was shocking. It actually rained the whole way to Mt Gambier!
Never the less, New Year's was a blaaast!

[DOC]

Originally Posted by rapidxr6

i still wait to see if i got booked for speeding, fanged it to the tunnel from Tailem Bend, never looked back.
!

Sounds like you had a fun time on our roads, you may be lucky and not get a letter in the post, but that bit of road through the hills leading up to the tunnel ( and i believe the tunnell has a set camera ? ) is a great spot for the boys to pick of a few who get a bit heavy on the foot.

glad all turned out well for the new years.

[Bucknaked]

I left Adelaide New Years Eve for home. Got to Narranderra and a ford ute was flashing it's lights madley. Thinking there was a radar, we checked our speed. But it was for an accident. A Landcrusier took out the front of a Festiva. The skid marks on the cruiser leading upto the ditch on the side of the road covered the one lane. Looks like the festiva turned in front of the crusier who was maybe going quicker than the 50 speed limit for the town. He's cleaned up the front and continued on into the ditch. When we arrived, the police were there, but it looked like it only just happened not long ago. As far as we know, no deaths. Low speed impact I think.