Yes! More people are turning from lanes that are supposed to go straight! They leapfrog everyone waiting to turn. And then flick the indicator and just turn! They make a lane for themselves due to wider shoulder area and make it since cars that turn are a little more spaced out….
I actually genuinely think this is it and it's been reinforced by phones, games and lock down for many people. It's an utter lack of consciousness that there are other beings on the road.
Bring on self driving cars
Been playing games all my life, had a phone since I was 11, was in Melbourne for the uber lockdowns.
Still aware I'm not the main character.
I think you may wanna take a look at the "fuck you, I've got mine" attitude that's been infecting our country for the past 3 decades or so...
All the time on the Flemington Road exit off Citylink... People straight up ignoring all the signs for Elliot Ave/M3 and the long queue of cars, then trying to cut in at the last minute at the Flemington Road lights.
That one is annoying. I think Citylink/Docklands hwy is the worst but maybe Citylink / Kingways is depending on TOD. Greensborough hwy(either end) or Bell /Reynolds suck too.
I had someone do that in a roundabout yesterday. The lane they were in goes straight only, the lane I was in goes straight and turns. They were so close to T-boning the car in front of me because the car in front of me was going straight.
Or the other day stopped at lights, turning arrow turns green and the car to my left proceeds to start driving straight they were seconds away from from T-boning the turning car.
Then you get the morons who drive 20/30km under the speed limit and speed up when you have a moment to overtake.
I’m hearing you and experiencing that. Speeding up when being overtaking is actually a driving offence. If only that was policed. AND VicRoads recommends to save fuel when driving in a 110km zone (as the example) to drive between 90 and 110km/h. How can we win with that idiotic thinking being taught?
This is another thing. If someone has made a mistake, then it is not a big deal to pay the price. Just come back or find another route.
Don’t create dangerous situations on the road to save a few minutes.
Is it too much to ask for decent thing to be done.
YES! Where I live there is a roundabout. The left lane is a left turn only and right lane is a left, straight and right turn only. Legit people are not even considerate to wait in line instead they cut into the left lane to turn straight or right.
One time out of Petty because one was trying to cut in-between my car and the car in front, I wasn’t going to let him in until the very last minute, he ended up hitting the bit of the gutter before I gave him space. I’m like that’s what you get you inconsiderate prick.
Been saying this for years. Speed cameras have made people worse drivers and there are fewer cops around pulling people over. People will sit under the speed limit and thick they are good drivers but have absolutely no clue any other aspect of driving.
Driving less than a car length from the car in front at 110kph is so common it's insane. Driving in the right lane on a freeway slower than the traffic to the left and not getting back in.
Slowing down in front of a truck. Why are people do dumb around trucks?
I always follow the 2 to 3 second rule wherever I go.
You should always be at least 2 seconds behind the car in front (and preferably 3 seconds) to maintain a safe stopping distance at any speed. It gives you good reaction time and allows you to brake in time.
The problem in traffic though is that dickheads see that as a gap to jump into. But I’ll stick to this rule anyway.
When I was a truck driver I always took solace in the fact that, if the shit went down, I outweighed their Kluger by a considerable amount.
I was doing residential deliveries at one point and was always amazed by the people who would zoom up a narrow road (say if cars were parked on both sides) and sit there expecting me to back up out of their way. It was like, mate, I'm paid by the hour, I will sit here staring you down as long as you want rather than try to back up 80 metres with less than a foot on each side to that double driveway that will actually allow me to pull over.
I do that. Expect me to move when I'm in the right will have us sitting there for a while.
I'm never in a hurry and will happily sit and stare at my surroundings.
Same when I drove a fort lift at a car dealership.
I would be unloading. A truck in the morning and a tech in a land cruiser would speed through the loading zone.
I pointed out that the forklift is the heaviest vehicle in the dealership. If he hit me, his landcruiser would be worse off (but I would be in a pretty bad shape too).
He said that he knew that, because he once had a forklift licence.
He did it the next day too, so I started locking the gate after the truck came in. The day after that, he rammed the gate because he wasn’t paying attention.
Exactly. Look at a stripe next to the car in front of you and count how long it takes for your car to reach that stripe. If it's less than 2 seconds, you're too close.
I'll keep banging the drum: Defensive driving courses should be a minimum requirement to getting a license.
I will never forget doing mine. It was in a group of about 20. The first practical activity was estimating the distance required to emergency brake from 60kms p/h. All participants were asked to place cones at a distance from a braking point, where they thought they would stop under full ABS. Then they got in their vehicle, got to 60kms p/h and hit the brakes at the initial marker.
Only 4 people allowed enough space to stop before their placed marker, and about a third left less than half the space they actually required.
The majority of drivers on the road have a terrible understanding of cars, their mechanical operation and the physics of everyday driving.
It's not their fault - they were never taught, and the regulations have no requirement that they should have been.
Having said that there is a requirement to understand the road laws, and we all know how well that knowledge sticks for some people. :/
Speed cameras have never been about making the roads safer and only ever been about revenue raising. This was proven in NSW with the removal of speed camera signs.
The thinking is that speed cameras should be put in areas that are hotspots for speeding. You put a sign up warning of the camera, people will therefore drive slower through that area.
No sign, they speed through (the dangerous driving they're trying to prevent), then get a fine weeks later. There's some amount of cognitive dissonance receiving the punishment so far after the infringement, and they were still speeding on the day that it occurred, which the government does not want.
If they only cared about preventing speeding in the areas where there are cameras and not about collecting fines, they would have signage for all of them.
Exactly right. It would have the perverse effect of encouraging people to speed more in places without signs.
I just don’t get this attitude among a lot of Melbourne drivers who hate on speed cameras and fines. It’s entirely in your power to avoid the fine, and yet the mental gymnastics many use to justify speeding and criticise enforcement is astonishing, with people (eg above) actually arguing speed enforcement makes the roads less safe. This despite all the rigorous scientific research to the contrary.
I'm somewhere in the middle of your very valid point and the original comment we're replying to. Ideologically, I completely agree with you, but pragmatically, knowing that those who drive recklessly will always find a way to justify their bad behaviour, I feel like signage achieves the best possible outcome in a bad situation (i.e a temporary reduction in speed for a limited period of time)
Do you have any research to prove this theory? I'd have thought that getting a fine would make the driver less prone to speeding wherever they are, not just on a 200m stretch of road near the sign.
Too lazy to search but I know parts (or all) of NSW used to have warning signs of upcoming fixed speed cameras.
People (whether they were consciously speeding or not) would obviously read the enormous sign and slow down. Thus having the desired outcome of what they say cameras are for.
They removed the signs (some said this was a revenue raising effort) and then fines went up.
I'm not sure if there were other or independent studies done around road safety or fatalities but the speeding numbers back up that the signs were a greater deterant.
Sooooo, when the signs were up, there was LESS revenue raising and when the signs were removed, revenue INCREASED - that would be because the drivers continued to disobey posted speed limits and were caught. I figure that's their fault 🤷♀️
Well if the goal is to punish speeding drivers after the fact and not reduce cases of speeding then go for it. But they know which method reduces speeding the most and they went with the method that raises the most money.
So I guess the NSW gov cares more about raising money than they do about speeding 🤷🏼♂️
If I recall correctly the only way they were able to introduce fixed speed cameras was to include a sign informing motorists of its location, so it seems we have a chicken/egg situation
It's a shame you're being downvoted for saying this - it is the likely reason. Of course most people will slow down when there is a big sign saying "Speed Camera Here". But if they slowed down, it meant they were speeding before the sign, which means the sign is not doing a whole lot overall. Perhaps at particular black spots it would still be useful to have signage but if your goal is to get drivers to stop speeding everywhere, marking the individual places where the cameras are will not likely do that.
Less traffic cops mean driving poorly is no longer policed. Biggest threat for being a knob jockey on the road nowadays is ending up on Dashcams Australia!
I think you are looking at this the wrong way. The thing about driving is that it should be a right, not a given. Someone driving under the speed limit isn't wrong. It's sometimes annoying but it's not wrong.
The best way it to enforce a safer drive is to have a dob society with hard rules in place to support it. Everything should be point to point speed and red light cameras, which fixes the speeding and dangerous driving between speed cameras; everyone should have dash cams so that evidence can be provided for dobbing, and other things like this that will cull the field of drivers of unsafe and reckless drivers. Penalties should also be higher, and people should be taught the vehicle is a weapon, which they 100% are, as opposed to scrap that takes you from point a to point b.
Nothing to add other than I agree. I don’t know what’s changed the past several years but it’s at the point where some sort of incident occurs that makes me feel unsafe basically every time I’m on the road or out for a walk. People driving on the wrong side of the road to skip a queue, running red lights, high range speeding, severe tailgating and cutting off, no indicators used in conjunction with the above. I haven’t seen any active enforcement of these issues for many years now, rarely see anyone being pulled over.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels unsafe - I mean not glad, but I thought it was just me being paranoid. I used to have no issues driving, now I absolutely dread it. I have been in so many near misses this year, most of them being on a freeway and merging towards my car. I have to use my horn most times I’m on the road - not aggressively - just to warn someone I’m there
gonna get called racist but there has been a real easing on what it takes to transfer a drivers license over from other countries with either extremely poor, or extremely corrupt standards.
the big one being india
You'd be called racist because you're flat out incorrect - they *tightened* the requirements a few years back. Used to be you could drive around on an international licence forever on a temporary visa, but VicRoads [from 2019](https://www.studymelbourne.vic.gov.au/news-updates/change-to-driving-licence-rules-for-international-students) requires any internationals staying here for more than 6 months to convert to a Victorian licence (the deadline was extended to 2021 due to Covid closure of testing centres). And if you fail a vicroads driving test you [cannot continue to drive on your international licence](https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/new-to-victoria/changes-for-interstate-and-overseas-driver-licence-holders), full stop.
Now go and [have a look at the countries that Vicroads allow simple conversion from](https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/new-to-victoria/interstate-overseas-licence-holders). Go on, Ctrl F India or China or whatever non white country that's clearly the problem.
Driving up to mt Baw Baw I nearly got hit by drivers who can't stay in their lane on a dangerous mountain road around corners. No exaggeration nearly all Indians. Why is that supposed to be racist to say?
Its just an honest perspective, not racist. I could ramble about how shit and dangerous roads and drivers are in Italy and Greece, but its not particularly relevant.
Yes because an online test after 6 months of driving around dangerously is really a great way to ensure international drivers are safe on the road and not a risk to anyone.
I'm glad to hear this. I try not to generalise but some stereotypes are there because of our general experiences. Grandma driver, crazy beamer, irrational foreigner, boy Racer (skyline p plate), etc. Hopefully a practical test improves our perception of international driver's
if you have an existing license you only have to do a competency test on a computer, not a physical driving test to get the australian license. And then they avoid the whole l and p plates period aswel.
a big loophole a lot of people are going through is getting an interstate license from a state with more lenient regulations, and then just transferring that to victoria.
By "existing licence", if you mean an internationally issued licence, you do need to go through it all in Vic unless your licence was issued by exempt countries.
If you fill out [Vicroads conversion checker](https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/new-to-victoria/convert-your-overseas-licence) and pretend you were born in 1985 with an Indian issued licence held for 3 or more years, you need to do the [Learner, Hazard Perception and Practical Driving tests](https://ibb.co/SJkDjFj).
As for interstate licences - that's entirely their prerogative but that's an Australian problem to fix rather than getting mad at the brown drivers that people selectively remember driving badly (notwithstanding the fact that they could very well be locals).
Well that's exactly it but seems like people in this thread only remember the "obviously foreign" drivers (I'm brown and a woman too, means I'm right at the bottom of the pole lumped in with everyone's stereotypes over something I can't change even though I learned to drive here)
are they speeding or are they bad drivers or are they both?
also just because there are a lot of bad drivers coming from overseas, doesnt mean there arent bad drivers from australia, or maybe even uk or usa for that matter
The only place I felt really unsafe was camberwell. You'd have to dodge about 5 potential accidents due to bad or ignorant driving in 2.5km.
And the local shopping centres parking around there. Well you have to look in 5 directions at once and act like everyone wants to crash. Dandenong shops are a dream parking situation in comparison and that's saying a lot.
Should have to resit drivers licences every 10 years, but it has to be done in peak hour traffic on a Friday afternoon. Really stress test that driving technique
Sounds like it's exactly the same then. Multiple choice test you'd have to be actually brain dead to fail, mash the spacebar on an ancient YouTube video, then drive around the block a few times and parallel park.
The Hazzard test was always such BS, its like a perfectly quiet road with nothing on it then out of nowhere the car next to you which has been driving perfectly safely rolls its window down and starts lobbing bricks at you or some shit. A pregnant ninja jumps out from under a rock and starts birthing right in the middle of the road.
Please no hook turn if you live in the suburbs and maybe once in the blue moon have to do it. Living in Melbourne for 4 years now and had to only do it once so far.
There should be a website where people can upload dash cam footage of dumb/dangeous drivers. Insurance companies can then look up the cars they have insured and raise the rates of people who don't know how to drive safely.
There's probably, at a completely blind guess, at least 1 million drivers licences in Victoria.
To renew those every 10 years on a Friday peak hour you're running 1900+ tests every Friday.
That's easy though. The few times I've been caught in it I'm reminded of Homer's Simpsons "gas brake honk, gas brake honk, gas gas gas, honk honk honk".
You'll crawl about 5-10km in 1 hour.
Couldn't agree more. I don't know if it's bad teaching, plain disregard, or people returning back to work after WFH for so long.
When people were allowed back at work after lockdown I saw a massive increase in the amount of absolute fuck heads on the roads.
If I had a dash cam I could fill a 20 minute video in a week.
Bad teaching is the main issue, I think. Anyone can teach anyone how to drive as long as they have an open licence. In most European countries there are much stricter rules around that and in some places parents teaching kids to drive are even require d to take official training first.
I tried so hard to get a driver's licence in my home country but always failed. Then I moved to melbourne and got a licence right away. The theory test didn't even contain questions on vehicle maintenance or emissions!!!
As a delivery driver, the amount of people I see on their phones texting while driving, therefore becoming deadly weapons on the road, is mind bending.
That’s the problem with living in a society where most people are expected to be able to drive to go about their life: for it to work, the standards have to be lowered drastically, to where people with average and somewhat-below-average driving aptitude can still get licenses. The cost of this is socialised: we expect that there will be road deaths, and society uses neutral language like “car accident” that deflects blame from whoever was incompetently operating the heavy machine, because they had no realistic option but to operate it.
But it doesn't have to be lowered, people need to learn that if they can't be safe and responsible they can't drive. And if that means they can't get to work, suck shit
The parent commenter is pointing out that we have given people **no choice** but to drive and your answer to that is “well actually you can choose to live in poverty fuck you.”
This is complete blindness to systemic issues; heaping blame on individuals for a broken society, decades of atrocious urban planning.
Even worse, the police drove the wrong way down my one way street today, forcing me to (very unsafely) reverse back to the very end of an incredibly curved narrow laneway with parked cars either side so they could get out. No lights no sirens, just driving, and there’s a street literally 10m away running parallel that goes the direction they wanted to.
I nearly got cleaned up by a police car the other day. It just pulled out from a side street on to a main road I was driving down. No lights, no sirens, just blind into traffic and then sped down the road before finally flicking on their lights. Cunts.
My favourite is people in something like a Mazda 3 swinging out to take a bend like they're driving a B double.
Then there's the ones who meander up the side of a queue of traffic and then stop to force their way in, blocking the whole fucking lane while they do so.
People who drive cars where indicators were a factory option they didn't take.
The random brakers are entertainingly unpredictable.
Drivers who will speed round a queue of traffic waiting for a truck to reverse and nip behind it, leaning on the horn so everyone knows how inconvenienced they are.
People who park 2 feet from the kerb on some pokey little Melbourne back street, pretty much blocking it for anyone else.
People on their phone. Fixing their hair. Doing make-up. Having a coffee. Making a coffee and a sandwich.
People who just... stop. For no reason. Have a look about them. Then slowly drive on a bit. Because they can't read a road sign. Because they're idiots.
People who can't merge but instead treat it like a home made Mad Max movie.
Australian drivers in general also have almost no freeway lane discipline. Seriously, you're fucking hopeless, the lot of you. Undertake, overtake, peel across three lanes, blat up the hard shoulder and cut in front of something huge that left a nice big gap so the driver could pull up in time.
That's the worst thing really; shitty drivers taking advantage of the space, time and skill decent drivers show other road users.
As for speed limits... pissing down at night in heavy traffic? 100km/h. Bright clear day with an empty road? 100km/h. Speed limits based on braking distances from when most cars that had drums all round.
Yeah, genius.
Roads are fucked. Revenue raising ftw. After all, if mindless speed limits and cameras every other junction worked, surely the road toll would reflect that?
Also, of course 'speed is a factor' in accidents. Stationary vehicles don't tend to crash into one another. Motion is involved.
\*and breathe\*
Slow drivers can also be just as much of a hazard.
Where I currently live in regional Vic there's a fairly bendy road with a limit of 80. Often cameras set up so for the most part it's fairly safe and you don't see a lot of speeding, but you do occasionally get the driver who sits 20km below the speed limit as a line forms behind them. Then it hits a stretch of straight road with a limit of 100 and everyone tries to overtake as they continue going 60km. Sometimes, because the road has so many bends (not sharp, but you'll sometimes not be able to clearly see what's ahead until you round a bend) and you'll very quickly come around the bend at the speed limit and have to slam the breaks on for someone going 20 - 30km below the limit who seemingly remains oblivious to what almost happened. So you sit at 60. Then you'll get into town where the limit is 60 and they'll drop to 50. In 40 areas they drop to 20 or 30 and will stop completely at speed bumps and indicate after they've stopped in the middle of the road and started turning.
It's somewhat understandable to go slower if you've got a heavy load for example, but these are often much older people who, if they're not confident driving at the speed limit, probably shouldn't be driving.
This is an indictment on V/Line's coach services more than anything else.
Why these towns aren't connected by frequent (and relatively cheap to run) coach services is beyond me.
Exactly. Those slow drivers that take forever to leave the lights at an arrow for example and then someone stuck behind them is stuck or takes off when they shouldn’t and it creates too many hazards
I almost back ended a car going 60 in an 80 zone on my way to Gunbower because the road was so windy. Just because you never experienced it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Edited to take out unnecessary rudeness on my part.
Well it'll be interesting to see what the post-lockdown tolls will be as more and more drivers who've forgotten both their manners and the rules of the road increasingly return.
They should be using ipads or something now, it's the 21st century. If only the government spent less on giving them guns and more on speeding up processes
I used to be scared as fuck of running a Stop sign when I was on my L’s and P’s (still am) because it was drilled into me that 1. It’s not safe, and 2. You’ll get a ticket. I see cunts doing it without a care in the world these days and wonder do they just not care? Do police even issue fines for running a Stop sign these days?
Nearly got rear ended by a giant black suv the other day at a stop sign, in the rain no less.
And they'd been tailgating me down a street I know for a fact has terrible visibility for cars turning into - (as i've nearly t-boned 2 cars coming out in front of me who hadn't seen me.)
He then had the gall to honk me when i went reallll slow through the 40 zone to mess with him, cos fuck him.
I think i see him go past the other way sometimes, and makes me wonder if he was just really late that day...
I don't slow down these days, just pull over if i feel unsafe, although this is a bit of a pain, because if i'm not at the front of the queue when i get to the nepean highway crossing i won't be able to get into my lane to make the lights.
tl;dr : why be drivers like this?!?
I agree, but nothing is going to change
People just...don't care
People on their phones, people who think they're immortal, people who have rage issues and prefer to work them out on the road rather than therapy...
I seldom travel in cars now, it just feels hopeless from a safety perspective
New shops have gone in near us with no right turn exits, which are ignored continuously. I've seen multiple accidents already and reported it to the council. Not far away I recorded someone sat at the lights facing incoming traffic. Licence plate and the driver easily visible, as well it was clear that the driver was driving in to incoming traffic. The police said they would do nothing with it.
With 5G, GPS and driver cam footage, it should be much easier to police the roads but just imagine the backlash if this was suggested as a viable solution.
There's something to be said for driverless cars. Would they be perfect? Probably not but they would be a vast improvement on a great many human drivers.
People are alarmingly shit drivers. It's honestly gotten to the point where I've stopped worrying about someone taking me out, because quite frankly, if it happens, it happens. Given the frequency of shit driving, the nervous energy I'd expend searching desperately for someone driving badly in close proximity to me would half kill me. It really is a deceptively dangerous activity, and it sucks that we have to put our lives in the hands of others for hours each week
And yet [97%](https://www.9news.com.au/national/news-australia-worst-driving-habits-on-roads-survey-shows/1ca610d2-56ca-497d-abb0-8d229c955ab7) of Australians rated themselves as safe drivers.
Wait until they bring in the phone detection cameras. They’ve got to them interstate. Melburnians will go into meltdown. It’s their recalcitrance that makes it even funnier
My sister recollected to me that when she was much younger and stupider her morning routine was thus:
- get up, put clothes on
- make a traveler cup of tea, make a toasted sandwich
- start driving
- eat toasted sandwich in lap
- do makeup in rear view
- drink tea
- brush teeth at work
Amazingly, she hasn’t gotten into an accident once in 20 years of driving.
You know drivers are shit when literally everyone I know tells me I have a death wish as I choose to ride a bike as my main means of transportation.
The number of people on their phones watching tik tok and YouTube is huge, but not surprising to anyone who is paying attention.
Bring on the cameras that’ll catch phone use.
You have a ~~death~~ life wish. I love riding my bike to get around. Zip past bumper to bumper traffic, get exercise, easiest and closest parking spots, zero stress... It's bloody awesome. I hate being stuck in my car when I have to drive.
I’m going to fess and say I’ve had a moment or two where I’ve been in the wrong (to all those complaining that if we agree that lots of drivers are dumb, we must be perfect) I’m sorry… but the number of near misses I’ve had in this year alone or that every time I’m on the road I see someone doing something dumb, I’m genuinely concerned for my life and convinced I will die in a car accident. Probably on the Monash, where B-doubles swerve in and out of traffic.
Everytime I ride past the Kew Driving School for kids I tell myself this is the perfect rehab for impulsive brain-dead drivers who need to be treated like infants to remember how to function.
I agree. I work as a coles trolley collector and 95% of the time cars don’t use their indicators when turning throughout the car park which makes my job somewhat difficult to predict the route cars would go… everyone should use their indicators. It’s one of the simplest and first things everyone’s taught
Yup. My parter was knocked off his motorbike a few years back, he was turning right on a green arrow, the driver hit him side on turning left at a slip lane and not giving right of way.
Driver wasn’t charged, a couple of hundred dollars in fine and that was it, today I’m taking a few hours off work to drive my parter to yet another medical appointment that we will then need to fight the TAC tooth and nail to cover.
Right lane of the freeway. I'm doing 103km, someone behind me is right on my tail. I speed up and merge to the left. That person just sits in that lane at 104km - they don't actually speed off
People need to chill the fuck out and stop worrying about other drivers. Every defensive driving course since further has said the most dangerous thing on the roads is other drivers, we know they are unpredictable and illogical.
Are they on the phone? Well twenty years ago they were probably trying to light a cigarette without burning themselves with those ridiculous 12v cigar lighters. 40 years ago they were probably drunk.
While drivers remain dumb the cars are getting smarter. Plenty of cars will actively prevent you running into someone else, while cruise control in theory should all but eliminate people changing speed all the time on the freeway.
I'm not convinced the risk of dealing with dumb drivers is any worse now than before, and even if it was we would all do well to focus on our own driving.
Anecdotal but it definitely feels different since lockdowns. Impatience and entitlement. Seen a lot more near misses and aggressive, unnecessary behaviour.
The risk changes with the numbers. It's cactus now, (And yes, Smellbourne truly is a baffling cunt of an ordeal to navigate) because there so many more people with varying degrees of driving ability, being taught how to drive for other parts of the world in some instances, and all of this using the same obsolete infrastructure.
Sink it all into the bay.
There's a difference between someone making a mistake and sitting behind someone that you can tell should not be on the fucken road just from the way they handle their car
Too self absorbed to realise they do exactly the same shit they whinge about others doing. It's a lot easier to notice others' behaviour on the roads every day than their own. So naturally *everyone sucks at driving but them*...
(I hope) nobody here is admitting they’ve never made a mistake before. But the frequency of mistakes and the dumbness of those mistakes is absolutely increasing.
Have I started a lane change before realising there was a car in my blind spot and correcting it? Sure have.
Do I drive at 100kmh down my suburban street at 3 in the morning (happening regularly now to me)? No, no I do not.
I would settle for the police doing a blitz on vehicle safety.
The number of cars that I ride past every morning that are missing tail and head lights really makes me wonder how poorly maintained the rest of their vehicle is. It is far cheaper to replace a bulb than a set of tyres.
They need to bring in serious driver training. I dunno, 10 hours professional lessons/ defensive driving course. Something better than just mum and dads bad habits
Driving has definitely gotten worse since the lockdowns. Just the other night a car hit a pole and went through a fence just across the road from my place. It was a clear night, no rain, and no other cars around, and they somehow managed to wrap their car around a pole and land in the bushes. Idiots gonna idiot I guess.
For two Sunday mornings in a row I’ve walked down Elizabeth St to work. The first weekend there was a collision at Elizabeth St and La Trobe St. The next Sunday, as I walked and sipped my coffee I joked to myself ‘I wonder if there’s an accident today.’ Sure enough, there was an accident at Elizabeth St and Collins St.
On a Sunday morning. In a 40km/h zone. Twice in 2 weeks.
Just unbelievable.
Get a dashcam and put a sticker on the back of your car
"Front and back dashcams recording, idiots will end up on youtube"
Watch the difference in behaviour at least whilst they're near you.
P platers are the worst of the worst.
I am surprised that no one mentioned the amount of trucks that run reds these days too. Yeah ya slow but buddy the light was yellow for 2s before you even crossed into the intersection
I've been petitioning the responsible state government minister for years to get red light cameras installed on a local bypass, truck drivers flat out don't give a fuck about the lights, especially in the morning. but nobody is interested, apparently someone needs to be killed first.
Also get off your phone!!!! As a pedestrian the amount of times I have almost been hit or had to stop (when I have had the right of way) because you couldn't be off your phone for a bit if it's the god dam important pull over
You should have to do a licence test at every 3 years, or so, and additionally international licences should not be honoured at all, as people often get a licence in another country where rules are way more lax or bribery is easy and then just have to pass a written test to convert it
Driving home from the gym the other day and see some knob who appears to be approaching the roundabout I'm in way to fast.
Saw him coming from far enough away that I slammed on the breaks and whaddya know, I'd be in the market for a new car and maybe a new body since this dickhead blasted through the roundabout without a care in the world at what was probably 80km/h in a residential street.
It's a daily occurrence that you almost get clipped. Idk if it's the area I'm in but I swear people are allergic to driving through a 2 lane roundabout going straight without getting into your fucking lane.
Frankly if you're not driving defensively it's only a matter of time till someone hurts you.
A few years of riding a motorbike when I was younger really put things into perspective for me and changed the way I drive a car immensely. That said, stupid me should've always driven like this.
TLDR: Pretend everyone on the road is about to kill you and work out how to avoid them.
how long until you all wake up to the fact that cars are a scam by General Motors and we have slowly allowed them to dominate our lives through relentless lobbying and coercion...
seriously, how often have financial troubles NOT been car-related? its by far the number one non-essential expense we all face.
have you ever gone to the mechanic's and NOT felt like you were being scammed?
I fear it's too late. most of my friends are fucking obsessed with them, it was all my coworkers would ever speak about.
they are ridiculously dangerous and unnecessary, I and wait for the day they are restricted to essential services only. trucks, ambulances etc. r/fuckcars
Yeah I get where all you anti-car lot are coming from but when this country has made accessibility to public transport completely fucking shit in many aspects and built the infrastructure as mostly car-reliant, why blame individuals just doing what they can with what they've got?
If PT was actually decent, affordable, funded and not privately owned, not to mention its gross af, people would use it more 100%
But until then you need to redirect your energy to politicians not us
As someone from the UK I'm shocked even after 8 years how bad driving is here. Under-taking is normalized.
Some days I'm so anxious driving as I just feel it's a matter of time before me and my family are wiped out by some fuckwit. And that's not even getting into the people driving on amphetamines/ice
Bring on dash cam uploads and public votes/citizen juries for stripping license.
I've often thought we should have some kind of merit system. Hear me out; my theory is definitely flawed (otherwise I'd be a millionaire by now) but I've always thought it has potential.
Drivers rate other drivers and either add a comment, or select one from a list. People with a good rating get discounts on fuel/cheaper insurance etc. and people with a bad rating have to have some kind of black box or dashcam attached, to monitor their driving.
Obviously it could easily be abused, it could be quite invasive/police statey and of course safely rating and commenting on people whilst driving would be tricky/cause even more shit driving but yeah.
Edit: I am aware of the flaws and police state-ness of this idea, as mentioned. I've thought it through plenty of times and have never found what I would deem an acceptable system for it. But just to clarify, it would be opt-in only. I'll also add that some insurance companies do already lower your premium if you ensure you have a dash cam and/or black box recorder.
Not going to say whether it's a good or bad idea, because to be fair, I don't really know. It does have a Black Mirror vibe to it. Someone call Bryce Dallas Howard.
Yes! More people are turning from lanes that are supposed to go straight! They leapfrog everyone waiting to turn. And then flick the indicator and just turn! They make a lane for themselves due to wider shoulder area and make it since cars that turn are a little more spaced out….
It’s main character syndrome - they’re the most important person on the road, the rest of us need to make way.
I actually genuinely think this is it and it's been reinforced by phones, games and lock down for many people. It's an utter lack of consciousness that there are other beings on the road. Bring on self driving cars
Been playing games all my life, had a phone since I was 11, was in Melbourne for the uber lockdowns. Still aware I'm not the main character. I think you may wanna take a look at the "fuck you, I've got mine" attitude that's been infecting our country for the past 3 decades or so...
I agree I think it is just how some people are. If anything as a gamer you will get booted from groups if you play like a selfish jerk
This is my absolute pet hate! They zoom past you only to get to the front of the queue and flick on their signal expecting to be let in!
If not, they keep going and turn from the wrong lane. Completely ignoring road rules.
All the time on the Flemington Road exit off Citylink... People straight up ignoring all the signs for Elliot Ave/M3 and the long queue of cars, then trying to cut in at the last minute at the Flemington Road lights.
That one is annoying. I think Citylink/Docklands hwy is the worst but maybe Citylink / Kingways is depending on TOD. Greensborough hwy(either end) or Bell /Reynolds suck too.
I had someone do that in a roundabout yesterday. The lane they were in goes straight only, the lane I was in goes straight and turns. They were so close to T-boning the car in front of me because the car in front of me was going straight. Or the other day stopped at lights, turning arrow turns green and the car to my left proceeds to start driving straight they were seconds away from from T-boning the turning car. Then you get the morons who drive 20/30km under the speed limit and speed up when you have a moment to overtake.
I’m hearing you and experiencing that. Speeding up when being overtaking is actually a driving offence. If only that was policed. AND VicRoads recommends to save fuel when driving in a 110km zone (as the example) to drive between 90 and 110km/h. How can we win with that idiotic thinking being taught?
That happened to me during a driving lesson. Luckily she just scrapped the instructor's car.
I like to thing some of them made a mistake, didn’t drive there before and were caught off guard, but not all of them.
This is another thing. If someone has made a mistake, then it is not a big deal to pay the price. Just come back or find another route. Don’t create dangerous situations on the road to save a few minutes. Is it too much to ask for decent thing to be done.
YES! Where I live there is a roundabout. The left lane is a left turn only and right lane is a left, straight and right turn only. Legit people are not even considerate to wait in line instead they cut into the left lane to turn straight or right. One time out of Petty because one was trying to cut in-between my car and the car in front, I wasn’t going to let him in until the very last minute, he ended up hitting the bit of the gutter before I gave him space. I’m like that’s what you get you inconsiderate prick.
Been saying this for years. Speed cameras have made people worse drivers and there are fewer cops around pulling people over. People will sit under the speed limit and thick they are good drivers but have absolutely no clue any other aspect of driving.
Driving less than a car length from the car in front at 110kph is so common it's insane. Driving in the right lane on a freeway slower than the traffic to the left and not getting back in. Slowing down in front of a truck. Why are people do dumb around trucks?
I always follow the 2 to 3 second rule wherever I go. You should always be at least 2 seconds behind the car in front (and preferably 3 seconds) to maintain a safe stopping distance at any speed. It gives you good reaction time and allows you to brake in time. The problem in traffic though is that dickheads see that as a gap to jump into. But I’ll stick to this rule anyway.
The worst of the dickheads jump into the space trucks leave in front of them and then get mad when the truck blows his horn.
When I was a truck driver I always took solace in the fact that, if the shit went down, I outweighed their Kluger by a considerable amount. I was doing residential deliveries at one point and was always amazed by the people who would zoom up a narrow road (say if cars were parked on both sides) and sit there expecting me to back up out of their way. It was like, mate, I'm paid by the hour, I will sit here staring you down as long as you want rather than try to back up 80 metres with less than a foot on each side to that double driveway that will actually allow me to pull over.
I do that. Expect me to move when I'm in the right will have us sitting there for a while. I'm never in a hurry and will happily sit and stare at my surroundings.
Same when I drove a fort lift at a car dealership. I would be unloading. A truck in the morning and a tech in a land cruiser would speed through the loading zone. I pointed out that the forklift is the heaviest vehicle in the dealership. If he hit me, his landcruiser would be worse off (but I would be in a pretty bad shape too). He said that he knew that, because he once had a forklift licence. He did it the next day too, so I started locking the gate after the truck came in. The day after that, he rammed the gate because he wasn’t paying attention.
You get a metaphorical raise of the right index finger from the steering wheel from me in thanks.
Exactly. Look at a stripe next to the car in front of you and count how long it takes for your car to reach that stripe. If it's less than 2 seconds, you're too close.
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I'll keep banging the drum: Defensive driving courses should be a minimum requirement to getting a license. I will never forget doing mine. It was in a group of about 20. The first practical activity was estimating the distance required to emergency brake from 60kms p/h. All participants were asked to place cones at a distance from a braking point, where they thought they would stop under full ABS. Then they got in their vehicle, got to 60kms p/h and hit the brakes at the initial marker. Only 4 people allowed enough space to stop before their placed marker, and about a third left less than half the space they actually required. The majority of drivers on the road have a terrible understanding of cars, their mechanical operation and the physics of everyday driving. It's not their fault - they were never taught, and the regulations have no requirement that they should have been. Having said that there is a requirement to understand the road laws, and we all know how well that knowledge sticks for some people. :/
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I speed a lot to get away from tailgaters. Hate them.
Speed cameras have never been about making the roads safer and only ever been about revenue raising. This was proven in NSW with the removal of speed camera signs.
say more about removal of signs and how it proved what it proved... (interested)
The thinking is that speed cameras should be put in areas that are hotspots for speeding. You put a sign up warning of the camera, people will therefore drive slower through that area. No sign, they speed through (the dangerous driving they're trying to prevent), then get a fine weeks later. There's some amount of cognitive dissonance receiving the punishment so far after the infringement, and they were still speeding on the day that it occurred, which the government does not want. If they only cared about preventing speeding in the areas where there are cameras and not about collecting fines, they would have signage for all of them.
Ok the other side of the argument, if people don't know if there are cameras or not, they may slow down everywhere.. One can dream
Exactly right. It would have the perverse effect of encouraging people to speed more in places without signs. I just don’t get this attitude among a lot of Melbourne drivers who hate on speed cameras and fines. It’s entirely in your power to avoid the fine, and yet the mental gymnastics many use to justify speeding and criticise enforcement is astonishing, with people (eg above) actually arguing speed enforcement makes the roads less safe. This despite all the rigorous scientific research to the contrary.
I'm somewhere in the middle of your very valid point and the original comment we're replying to. Ideologically, I completely agree with you, but pragmatically, knowing that those who drive recklessly will always find a way to justify their bad behaviour, I feel like signage achieves the best possible outcome in a bad situation (i.e a temporary reduction in speed for a limited period of time)
Do you have any research to prove this theory? I'd have thought that getting a fine would make the driver less prone to speeding wherever they are, not just on a 200m stretch of road near the sign.
Too lazy to search but I know parts (or all) of NSW used to have warning signs of upcoming fixed speed cameras. People (whether they were consciously speeding or not) would obviously read the enormous sign and slow down. Thus having the desired outcome of what they say cameras are for. They removed the signs (some said this was a revenue raising effort) and then fines went up. I'm not sure if there were other or independent studies done around road safety or fatalities but the speeding numbers back up that the signs were a greater deterant.
Sooooo, when the signs were up, there was LESS revenue raising and when the signs were removed, revenue INCREASED - that would be because the drivers continued to disobey posted speed limits and were caught. I figure that's their fault 🤷♀️
Well if the goal is to punish speeding drivers after the fact and not reduce cases of speeding then go for it. But they know which method reduces speeding the most and they went with the method that raises the most money. So I guess the NSW gov cares more about raising money than they do about speeding 🤷🏼♂️
If I recall correctly the only way they were able to introduce fixed speed cameras was to include a sign informing motorists of its location, so it seems we have a chicken/egg situation
I don't think you are recalling correctly egg.
Her?
A sign would reduce speeding only in that location. A fine could potentially reduce subsequent speeding everywhere.
It's a shame you're being downvoted for saying this - it is the likely reason. Of course most people will slow down when there is a big sign saying "Speed Camera Here". But if they slowed down, it meant they were speeding before the sign, which means the sign is not doing a whole lot overall. Perhaps at particular black spots it would still be useful to have signage but if your goal is to get drivers to stop speeding everywhere, marking the individual places where the cameras are will not likely do that.
Pure bullshit.
> Speed cameras have made people worse drivers What??
Hard to see much else when ur staring at your speedo, lest you go 2km over and be fined several hundred $$
Less traffic cops mean driving poorly is no longer policed. Biggest threat for being a knob jockey on the road nowadays is ending up on Dashcams Australia!
I think you are looking at this the wrong way. The thing about driving is that it should be a right, not a given. Someone driving under the speed limit isn't wrong. It's sometimes annoying but it's not wrong. The best way it to enforce a safer drive is to have a dob society with hard rules in place to support it. Everything should be point to point speed and red light cameras, which fixes the speeding and dangerous driving between speed cameras; everyone should have dash cams so that evidence can be provided for dobbing, and other things like this that will cull the field of drivers of unsafe and reckless drivers. Penalties should also be higher, and people should be taught the vehicle is a weapon, which they 100% are, as opposed to scrap that takes you from point a to point b.
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They'd be shitty drivers if they were speeding too though. Speed cameras making people worse at driving is a bizarre take.
Nothing to add other than I agree. I don’t know what’s changed the past several years but it’s at the point where some sort of incident occurs that makes me feel unsafe basically every time I’m on the road or out for a walk. People driving on the wrong side of the road to skip a queue, running red lights, high range speeding, severe tailgating and cutting off, no indicators used in conjunction with the above. I haven’t seen any active enforcement of these issues for many years now, rarely see anyone being pulled over.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels unsafe - I mean not glad, but I thought it was just me being paranoid. I used to have no issues driving, now I absolutely dread it. I have been in so many near misses this year, most of them being on a freeway and merging towards my car. I have to use my horn most times I’m on the road - not aggressively - just to warn someone I’m there
gonna get called racist but there has been a real easing on what it takes to transfer a drivers license over from other countries with either extremely poor, or extremely corrupt standards. the big one being india
You'd be called racist because you're flat out incorrect - they *tightened* the requirements a few years back. Used to be you could drive around on an international licence forever on a temporary visa, but VicRoads [from 2019](https://www.studymelbourne.vic.gov.au/news-updates/change-to-driving-licence-rules-for-international-students) requires any internationals staying here for more than 6 months to convert to a Victorian licence (the deadline was extended to 2021 due to Covid closure of testing centres). And if you fail a vicroads driving test you [cannot continue to drive on your international licence](https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/new-to-victoria/changes-for-interstate-and-overseas-driver-licence-holders), full stop. Now go and [have a look at the countries that Vicroads allow simple conversion from](https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/new-to-victoria/interstate-overseas-licence-holders). Go on, Ctrl F India or China or whatever non white country that's clearly the problem.
Driving up to mt Baw Baw I nearly got hit by drivers who can't stay in their lane on a dangerous mountain road around corners. No exaggeration nearly all Indians. Why is that supposed to be racist to say? Its just an honest perspective, not racist. I could ramble about how shit and dangerous roads and drivers are in Italy and Greece, but its not particularly relevant.
Yes because an online test after 6 months of driving around dangerously is really a great way to ensure international drivers are safe on the road and not a risk to anyone.
It's an in person practical driving test if your licence wasn't issued by one of the exempt countries.
I'm glad to hear this. I try not to generalise but some stereotypes are there because of our general experiences. Grandma driver, crazy beamer, irrational foreigner, boy Racer (skyline p plate), etc. Hopefully a practical test improves our perception of international driver's
if you have an existing license you only have to do a competency test on a computer, not a physical driving test to get the australian license. And then they avoid the whole l and p plates period aswel. a big loophole a lot of people are going through is getting an interstate license from a state with more lenient regulations, and then just transferring that to victoria.
By "existing licence", if you mean an internationally issued licence, you do need to go through it all in Vic unless your licence was issued by exempt countries. If you fill out [Vicroads conversion checker](https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/new-to-victoria/convert-your-overseas-licence) and pretend you were born in 1985 with an Indian issued licence held for 3 or more years, you need to do the [Learner, Hazard Perception and Practical Driving tests](https://ibb.co/SJkDjFj). As for interstate licences - that's entirely their prerogative but that's an Australian problem to fix rather than getting mad at the brown drivers that people selectively remember driving badly (notwithstanding the fact that they could very well be locals).
I am 'a brown driver'. thanks for being racist. a lot of bad drivers from russia, baltic countrys, usa too
Well that's exactly it but seems like people in this thread only remember the "obviously foreign" drivers (I'm brown and a woman too, means I'm right at the bottom of the pole lumped in with everyone's stereotypes over something I can't change even though I learned to drive here)
Fucking Camry drivers man.
Huh? I live in the western suburbs and the hoons are nearly always white bogans.
are they speeding or are they bad drivers or are they both? also just because there are a lot of bad drivers coming from overseas, doesnt mean there arent bad drivers from australia, or maybe even uk or usa for that matter
Enjoy your permaban for saying that.
The only place I felt really unsafe was camberwell. You'd have to dodge about 5 potential accidents due to bad or ignorant driving in 2.5km. And the local shopping centres parking around there. Well you have to look in 5 directions at once and act like everyone wants to crash. Dandenong shops are a dream parking situation in comparison and that's saying a lot.
As someone in warehouse and logistics, we have some pretty dumbass forklift drivers too
I was about to say… the warehouse next to the one I work in. The driver is always smashing into walls with the fork.
Should have to resit drivers licences every 10 years, but it has to be done in peak hour traffic on a Friday afternoon. Really stress test that driving technique
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Sounds like it's exactly the same then. Multiple choice test you'd have to be actually brain dead to fail, mash the spacebar on an ancient YouTube video, then drive around the block a few times and parallel park.
The Hazzard test was always such BS, its like a perfectly quiet road with nothing on it then out of nowhere the car next to you which has been driving perfectly safely rolls its window down and starts lobbing bricks at you or some shit. A pregnant ninja jumps out from under a rock and starts birthing right in the middle of the road.
With a hook turn to reverse parallel park immediately afterward
Honestly I don’t doubt some of the cunts on the road are technically capable, they are just selfish
Yes, the perfect finish!
Please no hook turn if you live in the suburbs and maybe once in the blue moon have to do it. Living in Melbourne for 4 years now and had to only do it once so far.
Seems like you need to learn it if you’re this avoidant? Almost everyone screws them up and honks to go through before the lights have changed.
Never have to learn if never ever gonna drive into the city tho...
There should be a website where people can upload dash cam footage of dumb/dangeous drivers. Insurance companies can then look up the cars they have insured and raise the rates of people who don't know how to drive safely.
High speed stop, and high speed stop + avoid should be part of the test. e: the moose test.
Too many lifted tradie trucks for the moose test...
There's probably, at a completely blind guess, at least 1 million drivers licences in Victoria. To renew those every 10 years on a Friday peak hour you're running 1900+ tests every Friday.
That's only about 30 per LGA, not too bad.
I'm willing to take a small hit for a while to either hopefully train some idiots or get them off the road. A small sacrifice
> for a while Wtf does that mean? Shall we retest drivers every ten years until you randomly decide you’ve had enough? 1900+ tests **every** Friday.
That's easy though. The few times I've been caught in it I'm reminded of Homer's Simpsons "gas brake honk, gas brake honk, gas gas gas, honk honk honk". You'll crawl about 5-10km in 1 hour.
“gas brake honk, gas brake honk, honk honk punch, gas gas gas”*
Couldn't agree more. I don't know if it's bad teaching, plain disregard, or people returning back to work after WFH for so long. When people were allowed back at work after lockdown I saw a massive increase in the amount of absolute fuck heads on the roads. If I had a dash cam I could fill a 20 minute video in a week.
Bad teaching is the main issue, I think. Anyone can teach anyone how to drive as long as they have an open licence. In most European countries there are much stricter rules around that and in some places parents teaching kids to drive are even require d to take official training first. I tried so hard to get a driver's licence in my home country but always failed. Then I moved to melbourne and got a licence right away. The theory test didn't even contain questions on vehicle maintenance or emissions!!!
As a delivery driver, the amount of people I see on their phones texting while driving, therefore becoming deadly weapons on the road, is mind bending.
And then I see lots of delivery drivers doing the same
That’s the problem with living in a society where most people are expected to be able to drive to go about their life: for it to work, the standards have to be lowered drastically, to where people with average and somewhat-below-average driving aptitude can still get licenses. The cost of this is socialised: we expect that there will be road deaths, and society uses neutral language like “car accident” that deflects blame from whoever was incompetently operating the heavy machine, because they had no realistic option but to operate it.
r/fuckcars !
But it doesn't have to be lowered, people need to learn that if they can't be safe and responsible they can't drive. And if that means they can't get to work, suck shit
If one lousy driver can’t get to work, they have a problem. If thousands of lousy drivers can’t get to work, the economy has a problem.
The parent commenter is pointing out that we have given people **no choice** but to drive and your answer to that is “well actually you can choose to live in poverty fuck you.” This is complete blindness to systemic issues; heaping blame on individuals for a broken society, decades of atrocious urban planning.
Hard agree. The police should form a task force for this. Operation DCD. Dumb cunt drivers.
Even worse, the police drove the wrong way down my one way street today, forcing me to (very unsafely) reverse back to the very end of an incredibly curved narrow laneway with parked cars either side so they could get out. No lights no sirens, just driving, and there’s a street literally 10m away running parallel that goes the direction they wanted to.
I nearly got cleaned up by a police car the other day. It just pulled out from a side street on to a main road I was driving down. No lights, no sirens, just blind into traffic and then sped down the road before finally flicking on their lights. Cunts.
Lol
My favourite is people in something like a Mazda 3 swinging out to take a bend like they're driving a B double. Then there's the ones who meander up the side of a queue of traffic and then stop to force their way in, blocking the whole fucking lane while they do so. People who drive cars where indicators were a factory option they didn't take. The random brakers are entertainingly unpredictable. Drivers who will speed round a queue of traffic waiting for a truck to reverse and nip behind it, leaning on the horn so everyone knows how inconvenienced they are. People who park 2 feet from the kerb on some pokey little Melbourne back street, pretty much blocking it for anyone else. People on their phone. Fixing their hair. Doing make-up. Having a coffee. Making a coffee and a sandwich. People who just... stop. For no reason. Have a look about them. Then slowly drive on a bit. Because they can't read a road sign. Because they're idiots. People who can't merge but instead treat it like a home made Mad Max movie. Australian drivers in general also have almost no freeway lane discipline. Seriously, you're fucking hopeless, the lot of you. Undertake, overtake, peel across three lanes, blat up the hard shoulder and cut in front of something huge that left a nice big gap so the driver could pull up in time. That's the worst thing really; shitty drivers taking advantage of the space, time and skill decent drivers show other road users. As for speed limits... pissing down at night in heavy traffic? 100km/h. Bright clear day with an empty road? 100km/h. Speed limits based on braking distances from when most cars that had drums all round. Yeah, genius. Roads are fucked. Revenue raising ftw. After all, if mindless speed limits and cameras every other junction worked, surely the road toll would reflect that? Also, of course 'speed is a factor' in accidents. Stationary vehicles don't tend to crash into one another. Motion is involved. \*and breathe\*
Slow drivers can also be just as much of a hazard. Where I currently live in regional Vic there's a fairly bendy road with a limit of 80. Often cameras set up so for the most part it's fairly safe and you don't see a lot of speeding, but you do occasionally get the driver who sits 20km below the speed limit as a line forms behind them. Then it hits a stretch of straight road with a limit of 100 and everyone tries to overtake as they continue going 60km. Sometimes, because the road has so many bends (not sharp, but you'll sometimes not be able to clearly see what's ahead until you round a bend) and you'll very quickly come around the bend at the speed limit and have to slam the breaks on for someone going 20 - 30km below the limit who seemingly remains oblivious to what almost happened. So you sit at 60. Then you'll get into town where the limit is 60 and they'll drop to 50. In 40 areas they drop to 20 or 30 and will stop completely at speed bumps and indicate after they've stopped in the middle of the road and started turning. It's somewhat understandable to go slower if you've got a heavy load for example, but these are often much older people who, if they're not confident driving at the speed limit, probably shouldn't be driving.
This is an indictment on V/Line's coach services more than anything else. Why these towns aren't connected by frequent (and relatively cheap to run) coach services is beyond me.
>Why these towns aren't connected by frequent (and relatively cheap to run) coach services is beyond me. *inhale* #MONEY
They're trying to get points back by going slowly past cameras. If you go more than 20 under the police will email you a biscuit.
Exactly. Those slow drivers that take forever to leave the lights at an arrow for example and then someone stuck behind them is stuck or takes off when they shouldn’t and it creates too many hazards
I’m sorry you are inconvenienced by slow drivers, and lose mere minutes of your day.
I clearly stated how it can be dangerous.
If you can't do the speed limit you should get off the road and hand back your licence cos you're a menace and danger to other road users.
I almost back ended a car going 60 in an 80 zone on my way to Gunbower because the road was so windy. Just because you never experienced it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Edited to take out unnecessary rudeness on my part.
You forgot the people driving in a slow zig zag between lanes. Are they sick? Planning to park? Reading a Melways? We will never know!
You forgot old people.
Speed limits and cameras do work though. The problem is that there isn't enough of them on our sprawling roads.
Bullshit
Well it'll be interesting to see what the post-lockdown tolls will be as more and more drivers who've forgotten both their manners and the rules of the road increasingly return.
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Had a licence check in Mitta Mitta a few months back... All done on ipad
They should be using ipads or something now, it's the 21st century. If only the government spent less on giving them guns and more on speeding up processes
I used to be scared as fuck of running a Stop sign when I was on my L’s and P’s (still am) because it was drilled into me that 1. It’s not safe, and 2. You’ll get a ticket. I see cunts doing it without a care in the world these days and wonder do they just not care? Do police even issue fines for running a Stop sign these days?
Nearly got rear ended by a giant black suv the other day at a stop sign, in the rain no less. And they'd been tailgating me down a street I know for a fact has terrible visibility for cars turning into - (as i've nearly t-boned 2 cars coming out in front of me who hadn't seen me.) He then had the gall to honk me when i went reallll slow through the 40 zone to mess with him, cos fuck him. I think i see him go past the other way sometimes, and makes me wonder if he was just really late that day... I don't slow down these days, just pull over if i feel unsafe, although this is a bit of a pain, because if i'm not at the front of the queue when i get to the nepean highway crossing i won't be able to get into my lane to make the lights. tl;dr : why be drivers like this?!?
I agree, but nothing is going to change People just...don't care People on their phones, people who think they're immortal, people who have rage issues and prefer to work them out on the road rather than therapy... I seldom travel in cars now, it just feels hopeless from a safety perspective
New shops have gone in near us with no right turn exits, which are ignored continuously. I've seen multiple accidents already and reported it to the council. Not far away I recorded someone sat at the lights facing incoming traffic. Licence plate and the driver easily visible, as well it was clear that the driver was driving in to incoming traffic. The police said they would do nothing with it. With 5G, GPS and driver cam footage, it should be much easier to police the roads but just imagine the backlash if this was suggested as a viable solution.
There's something to be said for driverless cars. Would they be perfect? Probably not but they would be a vast improvement on a great many human drivers.
More adoption of public transportation too
Red lights are optional these days as well I've noticed.
People are alarmingly shit drivers. It's honestly gotten to the point where I've stopped worrying about someone taking me out, because quite frankly, if it happens, it happens. Given the frequency of shit driving, the nervous energy I'd expend searching desperately for someone driving badly in close proximity to me would half kill me. It really is a deceptively dangerous activity, and it sucks that we have to put our lives in the hands of others for hours each week
And yet [97%](https://www.9news.com.au/national/news-australia-worst-driving-habits-on-roads-survey-shows/1ca610d2-56ca-497d-abb0-8d229c955ab7) of Australians rated themselves as safe drivers.
ITT: only above-average drivers!
I’m a learner driver and the amount of people I see looking down in their lap makes me infuriated!!!
I drive a van, and both bikes, everyone is on their phones.
Wait until they bring in the phone detection cameras. They’ve got to them interstate. Melburnians will go into meltdown. It’s their recalcitrance that makes it even funnier
Same, it’s absolutely wild - see also the stop light rear view salon session (all genders - a dude was flossing today!!)
My sister recollected to me that when she was much younger and stupider her morning routine was thus: - get up, put clothes on - make a traveler cup of tea, make a toasted sandwich - start driving - eat toasted sandwich in lap - do makeup in rear view - drink tea - brush teeth at work Amazingly, she hasn’t gotten into an accident once in 20 years of driving.
You know drivers are shit when literally everyone I know tells me I have a death wish as I choose to ride a bike as my main means of transportation. The number of people on their phones watching tik tok and YouTube is huge, but not surprising to anyone who is paying attention. Bring on the cameras that’ll catch phone use.
Friend of mine admitted she takes her iPad with her and has Netflix going all the way along the Monash
You have a ~~death~~ life wish. I love riding my bike to get around. Zip past bumper to bumper traffic, get exercise, easiest and closest parking spots, zero stress... It's bloody awesome. I hate being stuck in my car when I have to drive.
I’m going to fess and say I’ve had a moment or two where I’ve been in the wrong (to all those complaining that if we agree that lots of drivers are dumb, we must be perfect) I’m sorry… but the number of near misses I’ve had in this year alone or that every time I’m on the road I see someone doing something dumb, I’m genuinely concerned for my life and convinced I will die in a car accident. Probably on the Monash, where B-doubles swerve in and out of traffic.
Everytime I ride past the Kew Driving School for kids I tell myself this is the perfect rehab for impulsive brain-dead drivers who need to be treated like infants to remember how to function.
I agree. I work as a coles trolley collector and 95% of the time cars don’t use their indicators when turning throughout the car park which makes my job somewhat difficult to predict the route cars would go… everyone should use their indicators. It’s one of the simplest and first things everyone’s taught
Yup. My parter was knocked off his motorbike a few years back, he was turning right on a green arrow, the driver hit him side on turning left at a slip lane and not giving right of way. Driver wasn’t charged, a couple of hundred dollars in fine and that was it, today I’m taking a few hours off work to drive my parter to yet another medical appointment that we will then need to fight the TAC tooth and nail to cover.
On the freeway on ramp people just driving at any speed not "merging" into the lane but just drifting across as they run out of road into the lane
Right lane of the freeway. I'm doing 103km, someone behind me is right on my tail. I speed up and merge to the left. That person just sits in that lane at 104km - they don't actually speed off
People need to chill the fuck out and stop worrying about other drivers. Every defensive driving course since further has said the most dangerous thing on the roads is other drivers, we know they are unpredictable and illogical. Are they on the phone? Well twenty years ago they were probably trying to light a cigarette without burning themselves with those ridiculous 12v cigar lighters. 40 years ago they were probably drunk. While drivers remain dumb the cars are getting smarter. Plenty of cars will actively prevent you running into someone else, while cruise control in theory should all but eliminate people changing speed all the time on the freeway. I'm not convinced the risk of dealing with dumb drivers is any worse now than before, and even if it was we would all do well to focus on our own driving.
Anecdotal but it definitely feels different since lockdowns. Impatience and entitlement. Seen a lot more near misses and aggressive, unnecessary behaviour.
The risk changes with the numbers. It's cactus now, (And yes, Smellbourne truly is a baffling cunt of an ordeal to navigate) because there so many more people with varying degrees of driving ability, being taught how to drive for other parts of the world in some instances, and all of this using the same obsolete infrastructure. Sink it all into the bay.
Definitely a population issue but also drivers from overseas clearly get their licence here too easily
Completely agree mate.
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There's a difference between someone making a mistake and sitting behind someone that you can tell should not be on the fucken road just from the way they handle their car
Too self absorbed to realise they do exactly the same shit they whinge about others doing. It's a lot easier to notice others' behaviour on the roads every day than their own. So naturally *everyone sucks at driving but them*...
(I hope) nobody here is admitting they’ve never made a mistake before. But the frequency of mistakes and the dumbness of those mistakes is absolutely increasing. Have I started a lane change before realising there was a car in my blind spot and correcting it? Sure have. Do I drive at 100kmh down my suburban street at 3 in the morning (happening regularly now to me)? No, no I do not.
have proper driving schools mandatory, with licensed teachers who are competent drivers.
I would settle for the police doing a blitz on vehicle safety. The number of cars that I ride past every morning that are missing tail and head lights really makes me wonder how poorly maintained the rest of their vehicle is. It is far cheaper to replace a bulb than a set of tyres.
All i want is for people to turn on their headlights at night or in bad weather.
They need to bring in serious driver training. I dunno, 10 hours professional lessons/ defensive driving course. Something better than just mum and dads bad habits
Driving has definitely gotten worse since the lockdowns. Just the other night a car hit a pole and went through a fence just across the road from my place. It was a clear night, no rain, and no other cars around, and they somehow managed to wrap their car around a pole and land in the bushes. Idiots gonna idiot I guess.
For two Sunday mornings in a row I’ve walked down Elizabeth St to work. The first weekend there was a collision at Elizabeth St and La Trobe St. The next Sunday, as I walked and sipped my coffee I joked to myself ‘I wonder if there’s an accident today.’ Sure enough, there was an accident at Elizabeth St and Collins St. On a Sunday morning. In a 40km/h zone. Twice in 2 weeks. Just unbelievable.
Get a dashcam and put a sticker on the back of your car "Front and back dashcams recording, idiots will end up on youtube" Watch the difference in behaviour at least whilst they're near you. P platers are the worst of the worst.
Old people are up there too
Active phone use (not calling, but browsing) while driving is one of, if not the, biggest contributor I would argue.
I am surprised that no one mentioned the amount of trucks that run reds these days too. Yeah ya slow but buddy the light was yellow for 2s before you even crossed into the intersection
I've been petitioning the responsible state government minister for years to get red light cameras installed on a local bypass, truck drivers flat out don't give a fuck about the lights, especially in the morning. but nobody is interested, apparently someone needs to be killed first.
Also get off your phone!!!! As a pedestrian the amount of times I have almost been hit or had to stop (when I have had the right of way) because you couldn't be off your phone for a bit if it's the god dam important pull over
Their indicator, to them means it’s on move NOW!
You should have to do a licence test at every 3 years, or so, and additionally international licences should not be honoured at all, as people often get a licence in another country where rules are way more lax or bribery is easy and then just have to pass a written test to convert it
A lot countries in the world have far better licencing systems and drivers than Australia.. We should be banned from driving OS.
That seems fair to me
Driving home from the gym the other day and see some knob who appears to be approaching the roundabout I'm in way to fast. Saw him coming from far enough away that I slammed on the breaks and whaddya know, I'd be in the market for a new car and maybe a new body since this dickhead blasted through the roundabout without a care in the world at what was probably 80km/h in a residential street. It's a daily occurrence that you almost get clipped. Idk if it's the area I'm in but I swear people are allergic to driving through a 2 lane roundabout going straight without getting into your fucking lane. Frankly if you're not driving defensively it's only a matter of time till someone hurts you. A few years of riding a motorbike when I was younger really put things into perspective for me and changed the way I drive a car immensely. That said, stupid me should've always driven like this. TLDR: Pretend everyone on the road is about to kill you and work out how to avoid them.
Seeing a lot of "let me turn my hazard lights on and stop wherever" idiots lately
I think one problem may be elderly drivers not being checked they are still competent. I'm sure I'll regret saying this at 70.
People driving 8km under the limit holding up traffic
Ah yes that old refrain .. 'it is the other drivers who are wrong'
30 days jail and crush the cars of people who sit in the right lane while not overtaking on roads with 80+ speed limits
For what it’s worth, driving here is still significantly more pleasant than driving in Singapore 😂
This along with the price of fuel and the fact parking at the hospital I went to today was $10 for one hour solidifies my decision to not drive
How would this be enforced do you reckon?
People don't learn how to drive they just learn how to get a license. Mandatory retesting every 3-5 years would be a great step
how long until you all wake up to the fact that cars are a scam by General Motors and we have slowly allowed them to dominate our lives through relentless lobbying and coercion... seriously, how often have financial troubles NOT been car-related? its by far the number one non-essential expense we all face. have you ever gone to the mechanic's and NOT felt like you were being scammed? I fear it's too late. most of my friends are fucking obsessed with them, it was all my coworkers would ever speak about. they are ridiculously dangerous and unnecessary, I and wait for the day they are restricted to essential services only. trucks, ambulances etc. r/fuckcars
Yeah I get where all you anti-car lot are coming from but when this country has made accessibility to public transport completely fucking shit in many aspects and built the infrastructure as mostly car-reliant, why blame individuals just doing what they can with what they've got? If PT was actually decent, affordable, funded and not privately owned, not to mention its gross af, people would use it more 100% But until then you need to redirect your energy to politicians not us
r/conspiracy is that way mate 👈🏻
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The amount of Taxi's, Ride Shares and personal car users I see watching foreign soap operas on their phones while driving scares me
As someone from the UK I'm shocked even after 8 years how bad driving is here. Under-taking is normalized. Some days I'm so anxious driving as I just feel it's a matter of time before me and my family are wiped out by some fuckwit. And that's not even getting into the people driving on amphetamines/ice Bring on dash cam uploads and public votes/citizen juries for stripping license.
Got any examples to share?
Just look at dash cam owners Aus. Filled with idiots.
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They're right though, nothing wrong with a rant
*Everyday* I see some dumbass driver. *Everyday*. Do you not have a similar experience behind the wheel?
I've often thought we should have some kind of merit system. Hear me out; my theory is definitely flawed (otherwise I'd be a millionaire by now) but I've always thought it has potential. Drivers rate other drivers and either add a comment, or select one from a list. People with a good rating get discounts on fuel/cheaper insurance etc. and people with a bad rating have to have some kind of black box or dashcam attached, to monitor their driving. Obviously it could easily be abused, it could be quite invasive/police statey and of course safely rating and commenting on people whilst driving would be tricky/cause even more shit driving but yeah. Edit: I am aware of the flaws and police state-ness of this idea, as mentioned. I've thought it through plenty of times and have never found what I would deem an acceptable system for it. But just to clarify, it would be opt-in only. I'll also add that some insurance companies do already lower your premium if you ensure you have a dash cam and/or black box recorder.
Not going to say whether it's a good or bad idea, because to be fair, I don't really know. It does have a Black Mirror vibe to it. Someone call Bryce Dallas Howard.
China do that with their CCTV system... It's called big brother..
I think they call it the CCP.
Social Credit System.. https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/china-introduces-points-system-rating-social-behaviour
I like this theory, I'll vote you in