One day I noticed the driver of a car behind glare at me when I stopped to allow a bus to merge in front
Same here in Melbourne.
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I was driving on the Pacific Motorway into Sydney today.
So as I get on the onramp Iām following this car in front of me. About halfway down the ramp I realise this guy is one of those morons who literally has no idea how to merge properly. This guy is barely topping 50km/h and we are rapidly approaching a 110km/h flow of traffic, which is EXTREMELY dangerous. About 100m from the merge, three or four cars behind me are all flashing their lights and honking trying to get this guy to go faster. I join in beeping and flashing but he just ends up slowing down and pulling left. So now weāre at the merge point with a huge number of cars baring down on us on the freeway itself, and we are barely doing 30km/h. I try and get on the freeway around this fool and floor it, and then this fool tries pulling out onto the freeway in my path (heās already run out onto the shoulder because he couldnāt merge).
This is one of the biggest things on the road that gives me the shits. If you canāt merge at the traffic speed, hand your licence in!
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As some might be aware, there are major freeway projects across Melbourne the past couple of years.
During the week, new lanes were opened on the Tullamarine Fwy (around Bulla Rd) and Monash Fwy (around EastLink).
The new traffic management system wonāt switch on until later this year, once both projects are fully complete, this includes the section on the connecting Calder Fwy.
We need to introduce minimum speed cameras on freeway ramps and start ticketing people who canāt find their accelerator!
Best thing to do in this situation is pull back and create some space so that you can floor it at the last second and get up to a decent speed before the merge point.
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yesterday i went to the gold coast and back (around 75km each way) and about 3 times I had to brake due to people just flicking an indicator on and moving into my lane, regardless of if it was clear or not.
2 of these were larger cars (I drive a yaris) so i suspect the attitude is āthey will move or we will make them moveā
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I can kinda understand the sentiment though. Lots of times Iāve discovered Iām in the wrong lane and politely indicated, only for vehicles beside me to speed up. After that Iāve become much more assertive.
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Too many 4 wheel drives and SUVāS on the road these days.Theyāre a nuisance in car parks if you drive a small hatchback like I do you canāt see around them to back out.Also most who drive these vehicles think they own the road.I had a Mitsubishi ASX for a hire car in January/February this year when I did my road trip throughout QLD but I found this vehicle too big for just myself and Iām not used to driving a vehicle this size.Prefer my Toyota Yaris any day
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Yep, Iāve got a Yaris too and hate the 4WDās and the like. Especially when trying to turn left onto a road, they pull up next to you to turn right and block the vision so you canāt see when you can turn. Creep a little bit forward and theyāll do the same thing.
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I think there should be a 4WD vehicle licence category. And it should be a very rigorous process to get such a licence, including an off road vehicle test.
And 4WDs should only be available to people who hold that type of licence.
All wheel drive road cars eg. Subaru Liberty or WRX would not be affected by this.
2WD SUVs should be banned, the height of any such vehicle should be restricted to that of a sedan or station wagon.
I think itās a road safety issue for us drivers of ārealā cars (I too have a hatchback, a Ford Focus).
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Iāll own up to driving a 2wd Territory. Not as big as some, but higher than most cars.
Previously had sedans, Falcons, Commodores, Magnas and Focus. Wanted a station wagon since I was going away more with my then gf (now wife) on road trips and occasional camping trips. Was needing to tow more often and friends and family were sick of lending me trailers and cars. Wanted to take the dogs out but have one in the back seat and one in the back. Problem is the only decent wagon at the time was the Skoda and a bit out of our price range. Tried searching for the Subaru Outback model before it ate the can of spinach but had no luck, so settled on the Territory, mainly because of the driving feel. Also found a near new one with cargo barrier and only 5 seats so the cargo area was at its fullest.
A surprising benefit was the higher seating position has solved many lower back issues and now with a kid loading him in and out is a breeze compared to our other car a Hyundai hatchback.
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I have a 2WD SUV (VW Tiguan) it gives superior ground clearance for the times that I need to take it either on dirt roads of āoffā road and is smaller then a lot of āreal carsā on the market (like the Ford Falcon or the Holden Commodore as examples) not to mention it is littered with tech designed to assist in safety
Simply banning SUVs doesnt actually look at the root cause of some of the issues that people raise with them
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The thing that annoys me about buses pulling out is that itās often hard to tell when theyāve switched from hazard lights to indicating right. I always try and let them in, but Iāve been caught out a few times not seeing the switch in indicators.
Thereās a similar problem with some new cars - their headlight assemblies try to be too fancy - and you end up with a thin LED strip for an indicator - which is often near impossible to see during the day.
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Those thin indicators which have an animation irk me to no end. Such a dumb little decision which looks flashy but makes things objectively worse for others on the road.
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I agree. This āanimationā thing has existed for a very long time, though itās made a resurgence recently.
A clear flashing light is definitely more visible to my eyes than something that progressively lights up and then turns off for a fraction of a second, if that.
One thing that really shits me are those turn signals which blink for three flashes if you tap them. They encourage poor lane changing. There is no way that three flashes of your indicator is a sufficient warning to drivers in the lane next to you.
this?
Iām such a small child at times - i find this brilliant
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To manipulate their productivity some Victoria Police officers faked random breath tests by blowing into the devices themselves.
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How many times has everyone here been RBTed by police via a random pull-over (not a checkpoint)?
I think Iāve been pulled over about 5 times over the past 6 years Iāve been driving. Itās usually a pretty quick process.
Once an officer commented on the amount of rubbish in my car and another commented on the heads-up display I had installed in my car (I think he initially thought it was a radar detector). The other three times were pretty straightforward.
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Onceā¦and it was hardly random as I was still on my Ps at the time and the police car followed me on the empty three lane road for a good 2-3 minutes before deciding to pull me over.
One of my brake lights had blown so I was shitting myself but he didnāt even mention it.