more courtious drivers in sydney

[GXL078]

U turns on unbroken lines and even at traffic lights (NSW) are common place now.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

Sydney drivers certainly aren't the most considerate, infact it's getting pretty bad....

Try merging on M2 from Lano cove road in peak..... They just don't think......

Hee hee ... I must see you on the roads sometimes and not know it.
I know what it is like on the M2 in the afternoon heading out .... I leave work later so I am in less traffic though.

I get used to it ... and I try not let it get to me though ... as I drive in it all the time. I'd go insane if i let it get to me.

Sometimes you have to drive to the "conditions" ... and sometimes the idiots that push in the last second and swap lanes all of the time need to learn that "it's not going to happen in peak times". (I usually make it harder for them just for fun).

Took me a while to get used to using the vehicle in an "assertive" fashion ... no eye contact works a charm.

In Sydney ... it's a case of survival of the fittest. I am happy at the end of the day when I am heading away from it all.

People need to chill out in traffic ... if it's heavy traffic ... you just have to sit in it and be calm ... the more you get worked up ... the worse it is .... and then road rage can occur.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by xcgxl

U turns on unbroken lines and even at traffic lights (NSW) are common place now.

My wife did it the other day (at traffic lights) ... and got caught.
I laughed at her ... she thought it was legal.
A lot of people think it's fine to do it.

Go figure .. her brother is a cop at Blacktown ... and she didn't believe him that it was illegal (till she got caught).

Now she has learnt her lesson.

[GXL078]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

My wife did it the other day (at traffic lights) ... and got caught.
I laughed at her ... she thought it was legal.
A lot of people think it's fine to do it.

Go figure .. her brother is a cop at Blacktown ... and she didn't believe him that it was illegal (till she got caught).

Now she has learnt her lesson.

LOL, My wife asks really dumb questions about the road rules. She got her license in 1983 and hasn't driven since. I am worried about her getting back into the car. I don't want to teach her without an L plate (she has a gold license) because I figure I will cop abuse and end up in punch up with someone. I am worried she is going to get heaps of fines or worse, crash with our baby on board. Do you reckon some peole are just not cut out to be drivers? She doesn't like it when I suggest that. Traffic in Sydney has changed heaps since 1983. Too many dangerous imports on the road now and I don't mean the cars!

[Mechan1k]

Some people just aren't cut out for Sydney driving .... Bec can handle anything from Parramatta and west .... and east of Parramatta and she hates it.

I haven't had my licence that long (got my Ls in 94) ... and traffic is increased so much since I got my licence. I thought it was busy back in the mid-90s .... but not like it is now in Sydney.

You need to drive in it every day of the week to keep up with it ... if you haven't driven in Sydney traffic for a while ... you'll be in for a rude shock.

A suggestion for teaching her to "get back into it" ... start further out west where it is quieter and in off-peak times ... and then gradually get her back into it.

At least my wife drives to and from work and to the main shopping centres that she wants to get to ... and can get around to places she knows ... other than that ... she gets me to drive. I thought she didn't mind driving ... but thinking about it now ... if she doesn't have to drive ... she doesn't really want to and leaves it to me.

She avoids the city like it's the plague and if we have to drive in ... I do it. Mind you ... when i do drive her through the city she can't handle my driving in the traffic ... I think it's because I go into "courier driver" mode and drive "assertively" ... hee hee

[Keepleft]

Originally Posted by Smoked

Its a "I pay my taxes, I own the WHOLE Road" mentality. Unfortunately it is only going to get worse.

Thats only a small part of the behavioural problem, it really goes beyond 'driving' too.

Only an increase in the numbers of operational highway patrol police and an increase in the monetary levels of general driver behaviouoral fine levels will help stem the bad discipline and behaviour.

Problem is, some police are not much better, but they are a minority.

Here in NSW we must remove serving HWP from general duties policing back to fulltime HWP duty. We need to increase the numbers of unmarked HWP vehicles.

The reality is that bad driving, for example 'not indicating' is done deliberately, sometimes as a way of showing their displeasure at the world arounf them, be that government created in their minds, or by other road users.

[Bluehoon]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Hee hee ... I must see you on the roads sometimes and not know it.
I know what it is like on the M2 in the afternoon heading out .... I leave work later so I am in less traffic though.

I get used to it ... and I try not let it get to me though ... as I drive in it all the time. I'd go insane if i let it get to me.

Sometimes you have to drive to the "conditions" ... and sometimes the idiots that push in the last second and swap lanes all of the time need to learn that "it's not going to happen in peak times". (I usually make it harder for them just for fun).

Took me a while to get used to using the vehicle in an "assertive" fashion ... no eye contact works a charm.

In Sydney ... it's a case of survival of the fittest. I am happy at the end of the day when I am heading away from it all.

People need to chill out in traffic ... if it's heavy traffic ... you just have to sit in it and be calm ... the more you get worked up ... the worse it is .... and then road rage can occur.

Couldn't agree more... When you see me, you'll know it.... Can't miss the ute...

Cheers

[GXL078]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Some people just aren't cut out for Sydney driving .... Bec can handle anything from Parramatta and west .... and east of Parramatta and she hates it.

I haven't had my licence that long (got my Ls in 94) ... and traffic is increased so much since I got my licence. I thought it was busy back in the mid-90s .... but not like it is now in Sydney.

You need to drive in it every day of the week to keep up with it ... if you haven't driven in Sydney traffic for a while ... you'll be in for a rude shock.

A suggestion for teaching her to "get back into it" ... start further out west where it is quieter and in off-peak times ... and then gradually get her back into it.

At least my wife drives to and from work and to the main shopping centres that she wants to get to ... and can get around to places she knows ... other than that ... she gets me to drive. I thought she didn't mind driving ... but thinking about it now ... if she doesn't have to drive ... she doesn't really want to and leaves it to me.

She avoids the city like it's the plague and if we have to drive in ... I do it. Mind you ... when i do drive her through the city she can't handle my driving in the traffic ... I think it's because I go into "courier driver" mode and drive "assertively" ... hee hee

Thanks for that. I bought her an auto and now I drive it to work! (I am trying to sell my manual). I have taken her to the quiet industrial areas near our home on weekends. There is no-one there, she has had 4 paid lessons and had to cancel a couple due to morning sickness. I dont want to stress her either as she is 20 weeks pregnant now. My dad offered to take her but she doenst want to. She only wants to be able to drive to the shops when Im not around. We try to avoid the city also. The only non-asians there now are the beggars.

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Some people just aren't cut out for Sydney driving .... Bec can handle anything from Parramatta and west .... and east of Parramatta and she hates it.

Take Bec on a nice holiday to Europe with a hire car. Get her to drive round London, Paris, some Italian cities and motorways. When she gets back to Sydney it'll seem like Wilcannia! I know when I got back after a couple of years there I thought it was a public holiday in Sydney there was so little traffic but it was a normal weekday!

Funny thing is though in spite of the traffic volumes over there, things move along better because everybody is tuned and alert to driving. None of the vague stupid and agressive stuff you get here. Also traffic planning is better. You can move across London better on coordinated traffic lights, none of the constant starting grid stuff you get here, followed by empty road, then full stop, then start again. Traffic moves more evenly. And everybody THINKS ahead, thinks around them and so on. Some of the idiots here would be blasted off the road there.

[cupic]

Originally Posted by dan b

just had a bit of fun at president avenue in kogarah, barbie doll driving in front of me in peak hr on the phone and smoking decides to cut the person beside her off to get into that lane nearly causing a 4 car pile up (her,me, the guy behind me and the driver she cut off). i give her a serving as i got past. at the next set of lights she decides to return serve by asking whats my problem? my problem? "you're driving whilst on the phone, you flick your cig butt out the window and landed on my bonnet and you nearly cause a 4 car pile up i don't have a problem barbie". then she replies by saying "you're only jealous because you can't get a root", my fiancee was sitting in the car with me : whats that got to do with what she just did??????
has anyone else had the same problem here?
i don't know, some women (not all present company excluded of course) are really getting worse than us males on the road
frustrating :

Down here in the gong Girl in a corolla on phone, turn car with knees, while doing her nails WTF.
some girls not all should never have there licenses

cheers

[AUIII XR8 MAN]

Some thing wrong if some one has neally to hit you or run you off the road in Sydney. Thats why i now drive a 89 Lazer to from work. What a few more dents.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by cupic

Down here in the gong Girl in a corolla on phone, turn car with knees, while doing her nails WTF.
some girls not all should never have there licenses

cheers

My wifes old car (323 mazda) was written off on a freeway by a brainless 18 year girl doing her nails while driving. My wife stopped quickly for slowing traffic and the brainless one didnt see in time. My wife had just dropped of our 2 kids, one 4 one 3 at grandma's. The car seats that they were in were crushed against the back of the front seats. They were quality evenflo seats and they were demolished. I have had more than one night mare about what could have been if my two little tackers were in that car at the time. Cupic is rite. These dumb girl dogs should not be allowed to drive.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by new2ford

Take Bec on a nice holiday to Europe with a hire car. Get her to drive round London, Paris, some Italian cities and motorways. When she gets back to Sydney it'll seem like Wilcannia! I know when I got back after a couple of years there I thought it was a public holiday in Sydney there was so little traffic but it was a normal weekday!

Funny thing is though in spite of the traffic volumes over there, things move along better because everybody is tuned and alert to driving. None of the vague stupid and agressive stuff you get here. Also traffic planning is better. You can move across London better on coordinated traffic lights, none of the constant starting grid stuff you get here, followed by empty road, then full stop, then start again. Traffic moves more evenly. And everybody THINKS ahead, thinks around them and so on. Some of the idiots here would be blasted off the road there.

Have been to London when i was younger ... and bloody hell ... the traffic was mental ... a mate of mine moved out here from London and he says Sydney traffic is leisurely. And he also mentioned that there's more accidents over here than there are in England (I'd believe that too ... I'd say their drivers are better than ours).

[GXL078]

Originally Posted by new2ford

Take Bec on a nice holiday to Europe with a hire car. Get her to drive round London, Paris, some Italian cities and motorways. When she gets back to Sydney it'll seem like Wilcannia! I know when I got back after a couple of years there I thought it was a public holiday in Sydney there was so little traffic but it was a normal weekday!

Funny thing is though in spite of the traffic volumes over there, things move along better because everybody is tuned and alert to driving. None of the vague stupid and agressive stuff you get here. Also traffic planning is better. You can move across London better on coordinated traffic lights, none of the constant starting grid stuff you get here, followed by empty road, then full stop, then start again. Traffic moves more evenly. And everybody THINKS ahead, thinks around them and so on. Some of the idiots here would be blasted off the road there.

I wouldn't touch a hire car in Europe. I get confused enough crossing the road with LHD. Not to mention the liability is anything happens to it. And when you get to your destination you have to park it somewhere. I find it so much easier to train it from city centre to city centre and then its just a short walk to a cheap hotel. If you want a real thrill though, rent a Vespa in ROME, total madness. Italy is crazy they pull up at the lights and make an extra lane for themselves (in cars) and drag five across on scooters, even women in business suits racing around on them. But the best thing of all are the hotted up quad bikes racing each other, wheel standing away from the lights!! The only place they are not silly enough to double park is on the tramlines. They park nose to nose right on the street corner. There are heaps of disabled people and you hear ambulances all the time, there must be a lot of scooter accidents.
In London you can travel all day in zone 1-4 for about 5 pounds off peak, busses, light rail, tube and mainland trains. You get charged that just for driving into the city (congestion tax). Cars are better suited to travel in Australia where there are longer distances and minimal train services.

[snortycorty]

My OH's sister is a shocker. Went in the car with her once. She did not stop at any stop signs (too busy choosing which perfume to wear from the glove box) Then whilst speeding along she couldnt decide which pair of sunnies suited her outfit best that day (she's looking in the mirror and not watching the winding road ahead doing about 80km) and then decides to rummage around the floor in the back of the car to find a cd to play.
Her husband is a copper though so that kind of explains why she musnt give a crap, probably gets away with heaps of stuff where she lives cos of his position!

I feel like such a hillbilly though, i thought traffic here was getting bad, but its nothing compared to the stories from up there! We went to Geelong on the weekend and I drove in the "city". LOL That was hectic enough for me!
I would never drive in sydney, i remember going there about 8 years ago and i reckon if i had of stuck my head out the window i could almost rub noses with the person in the car next to me lol. And the cars were like bumper to bumper and horns going off everywhere!

[photn]

i over took a taxi on a dual carriage way, he was doing 50 in a 70 zone. then pulled up at the set of lights. he was behind me and i was in poll. he came up and Flashed me with his lights a couple of times. im wtf.......luckily there was a truck next to me with a full load and we wehre going up a hill. ( the taxi was the only other person on the road with me) so i decided to take it easy lol.....all i can say is i recieved multiple light signals and sounds. but seriusly all because i overtook him on a dual carriage way , no one else on the road and he was doing 50 in a 70 zone. like WTF.........

[Mechan1k]

I had guy in a VY 1-tonner this morning in a hurry ... he decided he wanted to sit 1 inch off my rear bumper out near Wilberforce ... he got bored of that and overtook me over double white lines ... I was doing 100 in the 90 zone as it was.

I let him go .. he caught slower cars and I caught him ... so I sat back as I didn't want anything to do with the crazy driver ... further along Windosr Rd ... he does the same thing to someone else ... although both in the right lane ... I took the left and passed them (I was like WTF ... I was expecting him to go around the left anyway) ... he cracked it and swerved around the left to pass .... although i had strategically placed myself in the left with no room to go around ..... so he tailgated me again for a while.

I got bored of it ...moved forward more and left him swerve around and pass ... I was already doing 90 in the 80 zone there too ... he swerved across and cut me off ... I just let it slide and gave him a "clap clap the handicap" gesture.

He tore off ... and comeing up to a new set of traffic lights .... which were red and there was a van already stopped ... he swerved around the van and flew through the red light.

Ummmm ... it wasn't a mistake as he was braking and slowing for it ... then floored his way across it ... what he didn't realise there was a silver marked Commodore sitting over the otherside of the intersection behind another car.

Thank goodness there was a police officer there at the right time to see the dangerous antics of this driver ... Copper didn't have to look twice to turn around and go after him.

Was sweet justice seeing him being pulled over ... if only the cop had known what he was doing earlier in traffic though.

Some people just shouldn't be let out on the road.

[GXL078]

Originally Posted by photn

i over took a taxi on a dual carriage way, he was doing 50 in a 70 zone. then pulled up at the set of lights. he was behind me and i was in poll. he came up and Flashed me with his lights a couple of times. im wtf.......luckily there was a truck next to me with a full load and we wehre going up a hill. ( the taxi was the only other person on the road with me) so i decided to take it easy lol.....all i can say is i recieved multiple light signals and sounds. but seriusly all because i overtook him on a dual carriage way , no one else on the road and he was doing 50 in a 70 zone. like WTF.........

The allsorts driving cabs need to be informed of their responsibilities as a public passenger vehicle driver and should lose their licences if they partipate in road rage. Also remember that every taxi driver will be carrying a weapon of some description, or will just headbut you with their turban,

[photn]

Originally Posted by xcgxl

The allsorts driving cabs need to be informed of their responsibilities as a public passenger vehicle driver and should lose their licences if they partipate in road rage. Also remember that every taxi driver will be carrying a weapon of some description, or will just headbut you with their turban,

its damn annoying, cause its not the first time i have had an encounter with a taxi being ans *******. not to mention, the taxi that flashed its lights was a god dam silver service..........

When driving into the city and taking parra road, watch out for taxi drivers who get into the left turn only lane in peak hour traffic and then go straight and assume that they have right of way when there is no ware to go, cause god damn the last time one did that to me........he was there for 5 minutes.......if you dont obey the road rules then your gonna pay.......

My boss travels around the world as CEO of a global operation, and states Sydney traffic is the worst of them all. The main problem in Sydney is that we have no ringroad system with freeways to suburbia feeding into it at intervals. What we have is 3 lane arterials that are meant to cater for traffic from 4 or 5 Sydney regions. General Homes Drive feeding Airport, Hurstville area, South Sydney, South West, Campbelltown etc. Parramatta Road feeding Inner West, Parramatta region, M4/Penrith, etc.

[Mechan1k]

I deal with them everyday in the city ... they think they have the same rights as buses when it coems to lane changing. I don't give them the satisfaction of that.

You do need to be wary on Parra rd though as they like to use 2 lanes at the same time as they have no idea how to drive ... if i am next to them though ... I make sure they "stay" in their own lane.

They think lane changing is the same a merging and you have to let them in .... not the case ... I don't let them either.

I treat taxi drivers with the contempt thery deserve .... but it really goes on how I see them drive in the first place ... if they drive well in traffic ... I leave them alone. (it's rare to see a good cabbie out there though).

I keep them in line and keep em worried.
I have a louder horn and bigger lights as well ... and good brakes.

[kiwikid10]

I have driven in a number of countries overseas, LHD and RHD and to me Sydney is getting worse.
The younger generation (no offense to those on this forum as it is not all of them) seem to be driving like lunatics, especially young red p plate girls in hyundai excels or mitsubishi lancers with fake evo kits!
However that said I did fear for my life in Thailand (I worked for a global automotive company and visted our plants there regularly). When the driver appointed to me would overtake traffic at 120 kph in a 80 kph zone (Thais don't obey many traffic laws, and the cops don't have radar for speeders) uphill on a blind crest every day!
My collegue who I took over there, on his 1st trip gave up looking out the window as he was so scared.
And then there's Shanghai......but thats another story.

[GXL078]

I was a passenger in one of a line of 3 busses on Richmond rd. on the way out to Yarramundi. This feral in a VL Commodore (who must have been unemployed as it was the middle of a weekday) overtakes the first bus ON THE LEFT ON THE GRAVEL SHOULDER!! Then he overtakes the next bus over the double UNBROKEN lines just as a Falcon wagon pulls out from a side street on the left in front of all three busses. The Falcon had to moove left onto the opposite shoulder in order to miss the Commodore. The busses, of course were all travelling at the speed limit.

[Den.]

Originally Posted by ltd

On another point, has anyone else noticed the increasing amount of drivers who don't indicate when turning or changing lanes anymore?

Almost ALL Canadians!!!! :

[ltd]

Yeah, I've travelled extensively throughout the world, driven through New York City in peak hour, LA in peak hour, London, Munich etc.
Sydney is the worst. People have one hell of an attitude when it comes to traffic especially merging traffic, they speed up to cut you off.
Taxis are one of the worst offenders, I hate the bastards. They will cut you off, slam on the brakes, pick up a customer and then wonder why you are mad.
Actually I saw a taxi driver being beaten on Liverpool Road the other day. Guy pulls in front of a B double full of blue metal, slams on his brakes to pick up a passenger and then gets collected. He was OK but didn't quite take too well to people telling him it wasn't the truck drivers fault. Arguementative little camel riding turban wearing pr1ck if I ever did see one. Anyway, he eventually provoked the truck driver enough by pushing him (in some stupid attempt to get the truck driver to admit liability I guess), and the truck driver literally smacked him down. Cops turned up, a few of us gave statements, taxi got towed, truck drove off.
Some days, it is good to get out of bed when you get to see things like this.

[janek]

Its not only the people.

The infrastructure is plain shit.

The lights are set to stop start you. If anyone has driven through downtown houston, thats a model of what peak hour should be. Its all in sets of 8. 8 green lights, 8 red lights in a row.. Easy access to main highways (which get clogged, but you still get 45 miles in an hour- not bad in peak hour traffic!)

The rta need to get off their ***** and give sydney some infrastructure. Stop raping the residents and profiting from private contractors, GIVE US SOME BLOODY DECENT ROADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!

But yes, barbie should never be allowed to drive.