Driving Standards - Too Laid Back?
Discussion
6 years I lived with my wife in the UK, no incidents at all to or from us.
Back in Northern Peninsula of Sydney and so far:
Into us;
Lady reversed into me in carpark while is was waiting for a spot
Mum rear ended us big time while distracted by her kids
my Wife:
Rear ended someone on the Harbour Bridge (distracted by view)
Got my six series wedged on a central kerb and needed towing off
Drove into a parked car last night
I won't list the multiple near misses where cars have locked up behind us.
So 6 incidents in 15 months... All I can say is everyone Is just a little too laid back around here and driving standards seems so much higher in the UK.
Back in Northern Peninsula of Sydney and so far:
Into us;
Lady reversed into me in carpark while is was waiting for a spot
Mum rear ended us big time while distracted by her kids
my Wife:
Rear ended someone on the Harbour Bridge (distracted by view)
Got my six series wedged on a central kerb and needed towing off
Drove into a parked car last night
I won't list the multiple near misses where cars have locked up behind us.
So 6 incidents in 15 months... All I can say is everyone Is just a little too laid back around here and driving standards seems so much higher in the UK.
I count 5, unless you are classifying your wife as an incident!
Driving standard in Australia are abysmal...especially the hogging of the right lane and the general lack of spacial awareness shown by most drivers. Oddly enough it seems to be everyone and not one particular group of drivers.
Driving standard in Australia are abysmal...especially the hogging of the right lane and the general lack of spacial awareness shown by most drivers. Oddly enough it seems to be everyone and not one particular group of drivers.
I blame it on a number of things...and I don't think you can say thay Aussies are worse drivers...its got to be condiitonal.
1) Worse road surfacing / less grip - Slower stopping times - Probably due to temperature fluctuations...I see cars spinning wheels on inclines all the time here.
2) Undertaking is legal - this means people hog the right lane as they know you can undertake, but undertaking is in my opinion dangerous as its still the slow lane. But as people hog the right lane you HAVE to undertake. I have seen some horrendous close calls by people charging up the inside.
3) Generally slower road speeds - at 80kms and lower on big dual carriageway roads people are not paying attention as much as they should. Up the speed limit by only 10kms and I believe you up the concentration levels. Additionally frustration of not being able to drive a decent speed when its safe to do so means people drive too fast when its not and built up. I reckon there should be MORE speed traps in the city and outer areas and LESS coppers policing on bigger roads outside the city.
Thats is all, I know it won't change in a hurry. Overall the roads are not as good and I think this makes a big difference.
1) Worse road surfacing / less grip - Slower stopping times - Probably due to temperature fluctuations...I see cars spinning wheels on inclines all the time here.
2) Undertaking is legal - this means people hog the right lane as they know you can undertake, but undertaking is in my opinion dangerous as its still the slow lane. But as people hog the right lane you HAVE to undertake. I have seen some horrendous close calls by people charging up the inside.
3) Generally slower road speeds - at 80kms and lower on big dual carriageway roads people are not paying attention as much as they should. Up the speed limit by only 10kms and I believe you up the concentration levels. Additionally frustration of not being able to drive a decent speed when its safe to do so means people drive too fast when its not and built up. I reckon there should be MORE speed traps in the city and outer areas and LESS coppers policing on bigger roads outside the city.
Thats is all, I know it won't change in a hurry. Overall the roads are not as good and I think this makes a big difference.
I've got a whole diatribe on this, which I've built up over the past ten years, though never yet committed to print. It's wide-ranging and covers the loafing excuse for a test, the absolute enforcement of rules, the Aussie attitude to rules, road design, the need for bigger/better/cheaper, the 'big car for a big country' attitude, reliance on mates for cheap work, need to invent own standards, and a heap of other things. Usually takes the length of the Federal Highway from Campbelltown to Canberra to get through 
But yeah, standards are crap.
But yeah, standards are crap.
Interesting topic this. I've only been in Oz for 2 months. I've already got 2 fines on the road. The first was for doing 107kph in a 100 zone and the 2nd for jumping a traffic light. Both unintentional and not because I was hooning around or anything like that. I disagree with the previous poster about needing more speed traps in the city. The problem is that it is so hard trying to stick to the completely draconian speed limits that people are less able to concentrate on the actual driving, hence more accidents. I've seen it countless times here, driver constantly hauling on the brakes to try to get down to 80 or 70 (limits randomly change every few hundred yards to flummox you even more) that they fail to notice another car coming into their lane.
I really am not saying this because of my 2 fines, I think it's actually dangerous how low the limits are here and the super strict enforcement of them.
The other thing I've noticed here is that so many people just blindly follow the rules without any question "yeah the police are strict but that's good because speeding is from the devil" or similar sentiments.
Just my 2 cents worth!
I really am not saying this because of my 2 fines, I think it's actually dangerous how low the limits are here and the super strict enforcement of them.
The other thing I've noticed here is that so many people just blindly follow the rules without any question "yeah the police are strict but that's good because speeding is from the devil" or similar sentiments.
Just my 2 cents worth!
I'm Australian, I learned to drive in Australia and I have now lived in the UK for about 3 years and various parts of Asia for 7 years.
The standard of driving in Australia _is_ abysmal, you are not just imagining it. Even places like Vietnam (3 years there in Vietnam driving, no incidents and nobody telling me to get %^&$ed, which I've worked out happens about once or twice a year in Australia), I think the standard of driving is often better than Oz.
Not only that, apparently the only thing you need to do to remain "safe" and avoid being a "killer" or "hoon" (that word makes me want to vomit) is remain below the posted speed limit.
The standard of driving in Australia _is_ abysmal, you are not just imagining it. Even places like Vietnam (3 years there in Vietnam driving, no incidents and nobody telling me to get %^&$ed, which I've worked out happens about once or twice a year in Australia), I think the standard of driving is often better than Oz.
Not only that, apparently the only thing you need to do to remain "safe" and avoid being a "killer" or "hoon" (that word makes me want to vomit) is remain below the posted speed limit.
adeelster said:
Interesting topic this. I've only been in Oz for 2 months. I've already got 2 fines on the road. The first was for doing 107kph in a 100 zone and the 2nd for jumping a traffic light.
Don't worry about it. The speeding fine is not a reflection on the standard of your driving. Presumably you still have a UK licence so you cannot get points on that. If you do obtain an Australian licence in the future, it is unlikely anyone will be organised enough to put points on it. The traffic light infringement should not have happened however. The amber phase on Australian lights is longer than the UK, so there is no reason to go through a red light. Like creampuff I am Australian with most of my driving experience from Australia, these last 2 years I have lived in UK. I agree the standards in UK are much higher, drivers are more alert and indeed more courteous. I think with the sheer volume of traffic, the tricky narrow roads/lanes, many highspeed motorways, all means drivers have to be very alert.
One thing I do find more relaxing in UK is not having to watch the speedo all the time or look for suspicious cars either driving towards you or hiding in bushes at the bottom of a hill. On a recent trip to Australia I was only driving for 10 mins before I came across highway patrol with a speed laser and then a few miles later pulled up for a random breath test. Why in a country that is 34times the size of UK with a third of its population the police presence on the road seems like a factor of 10 over the UK ?
One thing I do find more relaxing in UK is not having to watch the speedo all the time or look for suspicious cars either driving towards you or hiding in bushes at the bottom of a hill. On a recent trip to Australia I was only driving for 10 mins before I came across highway patrol with a speed laser and then a few miles later pulled up for a random breath test. Why in a country that is 34times the size of UK with a third of its population the police presence on the road seems like a factor of 10 over the UK ?
Standards round here are pretty dodgy, I find the average Melbourne motorist has zero awareness of anything that is not in their forward field of vision. The act of checking side or rear mirror is unknown, replaced by the confident swerve.
I also see an unbelievable amount of cars with no working brake lights, which could go some way to explaining the popular pass time of smashing into the back of another car.
Finally, how common is the 'thanks' style open palm gesture over here? I often get a funny look when I offer it up on the rare occasion someone decides to let me out into a queue of traffic.
I also see an unbelievable amount of cars with no working brake lights, which could go some way to explaining the popular pass time of smashing into the back of another car.
Finally, how common is the 'thanks' style open palm gesture over here? I often get a funny look when I offer it up on the rare occasion someone decides to let me out into a queue of traffic.
I couldn't resist! I drove for 20 years in the UK with a couple of 3 point speeding fines despite driving for a living for many years. In my first 2 years here I have had 6 speeding fines and one hooning "warning" which to this day leaves me utterly baffled? I've been fined over $1000. I appealed one fine and was told that because I hold an international licencse I don't have the right to appeal speeding offences! 
And I really don't drive fast, I drive a big fat Pajero and literally crawl along here never really knowing what the speed limit is and uncertain if the person in front is going to swerve into my lane or the guy behind is going to swerve up my inside and accelarate to a point exactly level with me and then, for no discernable reason, just sit there.
I was trying to explain to my wife why I get so frustrated driving here as she didn't drive in the UK or here. The best explanation I could come up with was that there just seems no natural "flow" to the traffic here so you can never get into any kind of rhythm.
Having said that, trying to adopt the same driving style here as you would in the UK is a road that leads to frustration. For the sake of my sanity I've decided to adopt the attitude of acceptance and just let everything go - it's not easy but marriage is a help here.
Almost everyone has a significant number of points, in contrast to the Uk. It's an accepted thing here to have points on your licence. But I still don't understand why the Australians just go along with this situation. I tell my mates here about the concept of speed cameras in the UK being yellow to draw attention to accident blackspots so at least the government can pretend that by reducing speed they are saving lives. Here the cameras are arbitrarily placed and hidden so can only bee seen as a cash cow - and yet no one complains.
I guess life's too good here to bother about these sorts of things? I certainly love it here despite the driving (and taxis).
BTW I actually think the RBT's are excellent here. I've been stopped more times in 2 years than in my whole 20 years in the UK and have no problem with that at all.
Phew
And I really don't drive fast, I drive a big fat Pajero and literally crawl along here never really knowing what the speed limit is and uncertain if the person in front is going to swerve into my lane or the guy behind is going to swerve up my inside and accelarate to a point exactly level with me and then, for no discernable reason, just sit there.
I was trying to explain to my wife why I get so frustrated driving here as she didn't drive in the UK or here. The best explanation I could come up with was that there just seems no natural "flow" to the traffic here so you can never get into any kind of rhythm.
Having said that, trying to adopt the same driving style here as you would in the UK is a road that leads to frustration. For the sake of my sanity I've decided to adopt the attitude of acceptance and just let everything go - it's not easy but marriage is a help here.
Almost everyone has a significant number of points, in contrast to the Uk. It's an accepted thing here to have points on your licence. But I still don't understand why the Australians just go along with this situation. I tell my mates here about the concept of speed cameras in the UK being yellow to draw attention to accident blackspots so at least the government can pretend that by reducing speed they are saving lives. Here the cameras are arbitrarily placed and hidden so can only bee seen as a cash cow - and yet no one complains.
I guess life's too good here to bother about these sorts of things? I certainly love it here despite the driving (and taxis).
BTW I actually think the RBT's are excellent here. I've been stopped more times in 2 years than in my whole 20 years in the UK and have no problem with that at all.
Phew
Funnily enough this morning was a prime example................
Approaching a speed camera (thanks to local radio I knew it was there), bloke in front slows down to less then 50, also sticks his hand out of window and made slow down arm signal. I mean come on, it was a 60 zone, we didnt really need to slow down that much.
Grrrrrr
Approaching a speed camera (thanks to local radio I knew it was there), bloke in front slows down to less then 50, also sticks his hand out of window and made slow down arm signal. I mean come on, it was a 60 zone, we didnt really need to slow down that much.
Grrrrrr
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