Road rage

[ratters2005]

report it!!!

[wizzywozza]

You won't hear a horn being sounded here because it's actually illegal to do so!

 

OK .......................... I will admit I actually got out at a set of lights once and had a right go at a woman - she almost killed me by coming straight out of Candy Rd on O'Halloran Hill into my lane on South Road, without looking or indicating or indeed slowing down for the give way lines, and I had to swerve into the path of a truck to avoid her. I'm sorry but she really deserved what she got - she will certainly look, indicate and WAIT for a gap to join traffic moving at 80kph in future. And I'd bloody well do it again if someone drove so carelessly that my health or that or any of my family were put at risk by their pathetic driving. Does that make me a bad person?

 

Been driving 33 years, no accidents, one speeding ticket many moons ago.

[Guest kangomik]

I think some people need to look at how they drive over here. Waiting to allow for cars to pull out of junctions is a big no no - the flow must go..... found that out the hard way

 

Flashing cars to come out or turn in front of you, It's not what they do here, and you will be met with puzzled looks...... flashing lights means police are around normally.

 

Flashing at trucks is different SOME do use the signals like back in the UK.

 

To the OP, as a bike rider i have never just gone off for no reason at all. I have gone off many times on people who proceed to look blankly out of the window clueless about what they have just done. Totally clueless in most cases. Let's face it, thats why they did what they did, they were not aware of the situation around them.

[Anne B]

I have started to use a few rules which seem to be working for me - the following should not be trusted on the roads:

 

P Platers

Bogans

Teens (especially when they have mates with them)

Really old cars

Cars with big exhausts

Utes

V8 anything

V6 anything

Anyone driving wearing a hat/cap

Buses

Commercial vehicles

Scooters

Cyclists

Bikers in shorts

& did I mention P Platers?

 

 

 

Can I add to that

 

Senior Citizens driving gold coloured cars

 

I think drivers are on the whole a lot worse here than the UK. Lots of them are half asleep. I drive with the expectation that they are all bad drivers and so far haven't had any issues. It does make me laugh when you get a bloke in a flash V8 or whatever with a big exhaust tearing away from the lights, and as an earlier posted said, once they reach the speed limit they stick to it religously. What's the point of that?

[jim and adel]

He wasn't even behind us and gave no explanation as to what had occured just ranted raved and spat and yes actually sometimes people DO get angry for no reason

 

I agree. When the idiot got angry with me in Glenelg, I was sitting at the end of a side street waiting to go left and he was coming out of a side street across the road, also going left. My driving didn't influence him one bit and we were about to travel in opposite directions. He was simply a moron.

 

I've got nothing against bike riders and am merely answering the question posed by the OP; imho, getting abused by a bikie isn't a one-off.

 

Jim

[Guest kangomik]

Jim do you mean he was turning the same way as you but he had to cross the road on to your side?

 

If this is the case when he was opposite was he slightly to your right?

[wizzywozza]

The driving out here is shocking. My husband lets people out only to be beeped by other drivers. They drive slowly in the outside lanes and tailgait agressively all the time.

Has anybody taken their driving test over here as I would be interested to know what they actually teach? Spoken to many people from all over Australia who seem to think that the drivers from Adelaide are particularly worse then anywhere else.

 

Hello, this is Rick, wizzywozzas husband.

 

I have recently passed my test over here, not having had a car licence in the UK. I was a Biker for nearly 30 years in the UK, so never took a car test.

Anyways i was surprised how easy it was to pass, however i did have a very good driving instructor, in fact one of the best (streetwise driver education). He was very thorough when it came to instructing me on the road rules, which are quite a bit different to the road rules in the UK. The basic teaching method is the same as in the UK, (i failed twice in the UK on something very minor each time), but there seems to be more modules to pass. However, you do not take all your test at once, but you can pass certain parts of your test as you learn, so for example, reversing the car safely into a parking space, or doing a 3 point turn, or correct use of a junction, ect. When you have passed all those modules, you then do a final test, which is a general driving ability test, then you go on P`s for a couple of years, i have done 9 months on my p`s so far. I think the test standard is very good, and the instruction is good.

 

Anyways having said all of that, driving here in general is i would say from my own personal experience, very good, dare i say better than my experiences in the UK, on a bike. Drivers in the UK are impatient, aggressive, and in many cases positively moronic, (as in the many cases i have seen of people on the motorway reading books, newspapers, maps, or texting as they drive at high speed, and yes i have been known to road rage at such morons, whom have put my life or the lives of other road users in danger, such as putting a huge dent in the side of a car with my steel capped motorcycle boots, just to make them aware that there are other road users.

 

Driving here in Australia, is i think pretty safe (well so far anyways). I have come across idiots on the road, most of whom seem to be either in there teens or early 20, driving high powered cars, and being aggressive to all road users in general. And i have uttered the odd cuss, and gesticulated at some drivers for either pulling out in front of me, or cutting me up, again these are usually the morons i mentioned before. But at the end of the day, i do in-fact feel safer on the roads here, than i ever did in the UK.

 

Ok i will stop here coz i am starting to ramble.

[wizzywozza]

When a car pulls out in front of a motorcycle and there's an accident the motorcyclist usually dies, or is very severely injured.

 

When a car sideswipes a motorcycle the motorcyclist will be very lucky if they only lose a leg from the knee down.

 

". . . hubby was unaware he'd made a mistake." Doesn't mean that he hadn't come close to crippling, or killing, the motorcyclist and his pillion passenger.

 

People don't get angry for no reason. Hubby did something very dangerous that scared the hell out of the motorcyclist and caused him to react the way he did.

 

Rick here again, and just to say to bloody right. I had a car pull out in front of me 15 years ago, and i am bloody lucky to be here now. As it was i had 18 months off work, and all i got was 5 grand in compensation. The same old excuse was given, "sorry mate i didn`t see you". Car drivers, please be aware of bikes on the road.

[jim and adel]

Jim do you mean he was turning the same way as you but he had to cross the road on to your side?

 

If this is the case when he was opposite was he slightly to your right?

 

No I don't mean that. I was about to turn left off a side street onto a main road and he was on the opposite side of the main road, also on a side street and also about to turn left, so we were heading in opposite directions, were separated by a main road, had both given way because the main road was busy, had no reason to lock horns and he still managed to have a problem with me. In my case I found it more embarrassing than threatening and I think that what little brain power he had eventually helped him realise this.

[Guest kangomik]

Jim i am puzzled, especially if it was directed at you. I really don't know why ANYBODY would do that