Discussion
I presume everyone's out of town for the holidays but if anyone is still around . . . what's been happening to the roundabouts in Auckland?
Driven through 6 or 7 in the last two days that have been driven over, skid marks, broken signs, mowed down plantings etc
Who knew the Boxing Day Sales were that stressful
Driven through 6 or 7 in the last two days that have been driven over, skid marks, broken signs, mowed down plantings etc
Who knew the Boxing Day Sales were that stressful
Holiday Drivers eh... 
I've spent a few hours on the road since christmas (left early boxing day to go away and climb stuff, drove 500+km from Timaru - near Blenheim that day to climb, then back again on the 29th) and was amazed by the amount of truly crap driving I've seen - tailgating, cutting people up, swerving all over the road, incredibly dumb attempts at passing forcing oncoming vehicles onto the side of the road (both on straights and blind corners), the git pointlessly trying to leap-frog his way up a train of at least 50 cars stuck behind some other git at 80 kph...
On a brighter note I followed a rather tasty 80's 911 from Kaikoura to Amberly on the way back down, made some very nice noises when passing people
. I had to lean on the Legacy fairly hard through some of the corners to keep up with him without risking tickets too much, and he didn't even seem to be trying. Had a cool numberplate too, "nine11".
I've spent a few hours on the road since christmas (left early boxing day to go away and climb stuff, drove 500+km from Timaru - near Blenheim that day to climb, then back again on the 29th) and was amazed by the amount of truly crap driving I've seen - tailgating, cutting people up, swerving all over the road, incredibly dumb attempts at passing forcing oncoming vehicles onto the side of the road (both on straights and blind corners), the git pointlessly trying to leap-frog his way up a train of at least 50 cars stuck behind some other git at 80 kph...
On a brighter note I followed a rather tasty 80's 911 from Kaikoura to Amberly on the way back down, made some very nice noises when passing people
. I had to lean on the Legacy fairly hard through some of the corners to keep up with him without risking tickets too much, and he didn't even seem to be trying. Had a cool numberplate too, "nine11". Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 30th December 10:41
On Sat the 30th between Hamilton and Napier 4 drivers at different points of the trip came around the corner on the wrong side of the road. One @ss in a in a celica got in to a hell of a tank slapper just getting back on to his side. None of them were overtaking they just can't drive and don't understand that the white line is not for them to keep in the middle of the car. I should have stuck to my usually rule, stay at home in the holidays.
I should have stuck to my usually rule, stay at home in the holidays.MK4 Slowride said:
Try driving in England lads we have 1 in 10 (probably more) uninsured on the roads & they really can't drive also imigrants who come here just get a car and drive round killing people on occasion & only sever prison sentences that are a few months long!
In NZ we have about 30% of drivers uninsured....... insurance isn't compulsary here
I'd say in NZ we'd have almost 1 in 10 drivers without a drivers licence.
Edited by Esprit on Friday 5th January 22:20
We were the last car on the Aratere - had to reverse onto the rail deck and they put us about half a meter from the last wagon - the kayaks on the roof were overhanging the deck of the wagon. Just heading outthrough Wellington heads into 4.5m seas and got a call to go down to the rail deck. First reaction was $%&#ing alarm as I heard it befroe I saw it. Nothing was tied down and I guess all the slack in the train couplings took up when we hit the first swell and the last one puched into the back of the Subaru. Wasn't as bad as it could have been - we were probably only about 100mm too close, so it just punched the tailgate and smashed the plastic trim - just a pita. Least they had the paperwork done/ admitted liability etc, so just got to find some time to get it fixed.
Should have done a few more km's south to hook up for New Years! Oh well. Hope the Subaru gets fixed soon. The hassle of getting it all done though is a pain eh..Esprit said:
MK4 Slowride said:
Try driving in England lads we have 1 in 10 (probably more) uninsured on the roads & they really can't drive also imigrants who come here just get a car and drive round killing people on occasion & only sever prison sentences that are a few months long!
In NZ we have about 30% of drivers uninsured....... insurance isn't compulsary here
I'd say in NZ we'd have almost 1 in 10 drivers without a drivers licence.
Edited by Esprit on Friday 5th January 22:20
So if you have a crash are you made to pay for the repairs, what happens if it's knock for knock?
If neither is ensured then it's up to you to sort out... if the police get involved, it goes to court and they decide... if one person's insured then their insurance will cover things and find out who was at fault.... if the uninsured is at fault and refuse to pay, they end up in court.
Still it's a pretty lame system.... the number of 16 year olds we have over here buying 300+bhp Mitsu Evos etc on $1 deposit with no insurance who then wrap themselves around lamp posts is quite astounding.
Still it's a pretty lame system.... the number of 16 year olds we have over here buying 300+bhp Mitsu Evos etc on $1 deposit with no insurance who then wrap themselves around lamp posts is quite astounding.
Esprit said:
Still it's a pretty lame system.... the number of 16 year olds we have over here buying 300+bhp Mitsu Evos etc on $1 deposit with no insurance who then wrap themselves around lamp posts is quite astounding.
Hey come on, its not the car’s fault if it gets put through a hedge 
. If we had a good driver training system and sensible road transport legislation you could significantly reduce those figures. Actually to be honest if a country had a good driver training system there would be very little need for large bundles of legislation.
speedy_thrills said:
Esprit said:
Still it's a pretty lame system.... the number of 16 year olds we have over here buying 300+bhp Mitsu Evos etc on $1 deposit with no insurance who then wrap themselves around lamp posts is quite astounding.
Hey come on, its not the car’s fault if it gets put through a hedge . If we had a good driver training system and sensible road transport legislation you could significantly reduce those figures. Actually to be honest if a country had a good driver training system there would be very little need for large bundles of legislation.
Was getting at the fact that the non-compulsary insurance system ALLOWS 16 year olds to drive such cars.... when ALMOST NO 16 year olds have the maturity to handle it.
Sometimes insurance companies are ok, sometimes not. When upgrading from a '90 Legacy to a '97 early last year I got told quite a few times "no we don't insure under-25s with anything bigger than 1.8 litres, and especially not Subarus because they get stolen alot in Auckland Wellington and Christchurch." Finally got someone there with a brain, who actually realised that (a) they were already insuring me with a 2-litre Subaru and I had 3 years of no-claims (b)I wasn't in Auckland Wellington or Christchurch and (c)there was no logical reason that me being under 25 would be a factor in whether it got stolen or not.
I like the compulsory insurance idea (as long as its enforced effectively) but it would need more common sense from the insurance companies than they currently show.
Driver training also a good idea, but would need to focus on attitudes etc as much as or more than on car control - a lot of the 'boyracer' types if you taught them more car control would still act just as stupid, but just be carrying more speed when they did run out of talent and write off their cars/themselves/anyone else in the way.
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