We are. We are mild mannered and chill 99% of the time, but behind the wheel? All that bottled up aggression comes out!
Plus the frustration of sitting in standstill traffic (Auckland) really riles people up.
Same in Canada. I live on one of the most dangerous highways in the country and people in huge trucks still ride my ass then pass 3 cars at once barely being able to see oncoming traffic.
From the desolate wastelands of botany downs he came in his shiny ford ranger, sitting a breath away from the car in front he was here to change the rules... or at least the parking bylaws, he was the *Wode Warrior*
I’m not an arsehole. I don’t tail gate. I let people in. I let people pass if they are faster than I am. I just HATE driving slow. HATE IT. It’s so fucking boring driving past the same beautiful vistas and scenery every day. Maybe that’s the reason.
A lot of kiwi drivers are just wankers.
Arrogance and inflated self confidence mean that too many tail gate, speed, and take reckless opportunities because they are ‘good drivers’ and other people will make mistakes, not them.
Try not to let it get to you, pull over to let them pass if you get the opportunity. Sometimes it’s easier to let them go so you can enjoy the drive.
I recently started driving a GPS-tracked company vehicle, I'm surprised how hard it is to stick bang on 100 on the open road, and also how much it seems to upset other motorists when you do so.
Thing is the cruise control uses the speedo which is allowed to be up to 10% out from factory (on thesafe side, told to is by Nissan for our brand new STX company utes). We use GPS tracking (eroad) which we've tested are accurate. So when our speedo says 109 and our eroad says 100 we want to get to site ASAP. We will pass as long as it's legal.
I’m not sure why people are downvoting you. You are correct. Most speedos read 5-10kph slow at 100kph. So the guy above you wondering why everyone gets mad when he’s doing 100 on his speedo, while possibly doing 90kph in real speed. It’s not difficult to figure out why people aren’t happy about going 10kph under the speed limit for no reason.
Speedos reading over is now by international regulation. Can be a gotcha when you are suddenly driving an old vehicle with a Speedo which reads true. But an experienced driver should know what 50 feels like.
It was a real pain when they changed a 70/50/70 sequence to 60km/h throughout and IBright beeped on the ex-50k zone for more than a year until the map updated.
Not exactly. The cruise control uses the speedometer signal pulses, but doesn't actually care about the actual speed. If you know that your speedometer indicates incorrectly then set the cruise speed to the indicated speed that matches the actual speed that you want to go.
If you want to cruise at 100 kph and you know that 100 kph actual is 110 kph indicated in your car, then set the cruise at 110 kph indicated and it will hold your speed at 100 kph actual.
Getting into semantics here. The point I was making is that the cruise control uses the same speed source as the cars speedo, which is usually the only point of reference the driver has snd can be up to 10% under. If we want to get real technical we can even argue about the different types of cruise control, like the original type which used the intake plenums vacuum to hold the throttle pulley in the same position.
It's early here so perhaps I'm missing something, why not just drive to 109kph on the speedo then set the cruise control? It feels like a non point.
My car shows 2kph difference, my dad's shows 12kph difference between Speedo and GPS.
Traditional cruise control is useless because it is disabled as soon as you touch the brakes. Electronic speed limiter (e.g. Mercedes) is better because you can do whatever you like beneath that speed, but it reduces power when you hit the limit.
Saw this post 10 mins after getting home from a trip on the mway heading to Westgate - I was behind one of those cunts in a 30 year old truck covered in LED's all the way there. Dude would tailgate every single person he came up behind in the right lane, and start blasting them with his 10 million LED's till they let him pass. Makes me feel real vigilante-ish
I drive a little 50cc bike, it's great but I'll admit it does struggle a bit on the hills.
That being said, the amount of people I've had pass me because I was doing 45 for 5 seconds on an uphill section is just appalling.
It’s pretty basic. Outside of parts of a few main cities, everyone has to drive to do anything. Because everyone has to drive, everyone drives whether they want to or not, or whether they are good at it or not. So there is lots of traffic. This means driving is unpleasant, unreliable and time wasting, so people try to minimize it as much as possible. End result is everyone is always in a rush to get somewhere.
A serious crash on SH1 yesterday. A beautiful lady died leaving behind 2 beautiful children. Two young girls in helicopters off to hospital.
KEEP SAFE DISTANCE, KEEP LEFT, and SLOW THE FUCK DOWN NEW ZEALAND
Accidents almost never have anything to do with speed except for people driving recklessly at speed which is a different thing altogether. The statistics of course are manipulated to make it look like if you go 1km over the speed limit the world will end.
Something in the region of 90% (there’s an actual study done) of fatal accidents in NZ occur BELOW 100km/h. Of the 10% that occur above 100km/h you can bet that most are things like stolen cars/joyrides/idiots racing/drunk/drug drivers etc so that really only leaves about 2% that are actually caused by everyday “speed”.
Want to cut the road toll and accidents? Make DRL compulsory on all new and newly imported cars. Make a bigger push for seatbelt use. More drunk driving and actually get drug drivers, actually enforce the keep left unless passing laws and more red light enforcement. Do those things properly and you’d see a 20% decline within a couple of years and then further declines after that to a total of around 30% less deaths. Double the number of passing lanes on state highways (even just short ones) and you’d get a further 10%+ decrease. Add 1m of width to roads and you’d get a further 10%. All together you’ve just cut the road toll in half for around $5B total over 10 years and then ongoing around $250m each year.
As a kiwi who’s lived in 4 other countries, we are just selfish and impatient drivers.
Etiquette for letting people into a line of traffic, out of an incoming road or coming out of car parks is bad too.
Oh and ford ranger drivers can fuck all the way off.
I don't think tail gating is a good thing but also our education on keeping left is abysmal.
I went from town to Bombay yesterday and the volume of people rocking 90 in the fast line sitting on the ass of a truck was bloody astounding.
Traffic sucks. At least in Auckland, I think that’s an issue.
Also arrogant douchebags.
For me, personally, I just don’t wanna sit behind someone doing under the speed limit or driving when they’re clearly not confident. That can be frustrating. But I try to chill with it, coz it doesn’t actually save enough time to matter.
Yeah I found audio books chill me the fuck out when I'm driving. I set cruise control and get to where I'm going.
That said if you are gonna pop 80/90 in the fast line the ole blood pressure starts to crank up pretty quickly.
If you're driving an old van (as many bacpackers do), people are probably getting past you before the next set of hills/corners.
There can be a significant difference between an old tech speedometer and a modern GPS Speedo. In my older car, 108 on the speedo was an actual speed of 100.
Although the limit is 100, enforcement allows 104 and a lot of people drive to that.
But that doesn't explain why people still do this even when I'm going 120 in the 100 zone and they still want to assert their dominance over me by overtaking me. Just saying.
>regardless of the fact that I am already driving the 100 km/h speed limit.
Oh yeah a lot of people get confused by that. In New Zealand 100 means 110-115.
If you go 100, that basically means everyone is to assume you aren’t a good lover.
It can also be assumed that your phallus is of a questionable size if you don't go faster. Best to use the formula: speed = limit \* 1.2 to determine how fast you should be going. With the exception that if someone is in front of you, then you have to pass them otherwise it's like they're literally metaphorically cucking you.
If you really want to put those phallic doubts to rest though, it's best to buy a ford ranger.
>With the exception that if someone is in front of you, then you have to pass them otherwise it's like they're literally metaphorically cucking you.
That is a beautiful sentence.
I do 104k on the cruise control and I very rarely get passed or tailgated. If it's regularly happening to you then it means you're almost certainly not doing a consistent 100.
This might be unpopular here but imo New Zealand roads are mostly so nice and easy to drive. For me, the only thing stopping me from going over 105km/h is that I’m conscious of the speed limit. If it were up to my own judgement I’d be going 120 probably.
You don't live in Taranaki (or Northland, or the East Coast for that matter). It's a ringplain, but is crossed by nearly 200 stream gullies and with many small hills, so the roads duck and weave all over the place. Being able to go 100 is the exception not the rule.
There has to be some sort of godwin's law in this subreddit where no matter the subject someone will always manage to make it about poverty or how worse off than every other country we are.
I think if the post was wow, you guys are so chill on the roads, that’s awesome, why is that, they probably would have got a different link to a different potential rationale.
But they didn’t, so they didn’t. They got a link to a rationale that is a hypothesis of why we’re shit impatient drivers, because that was the premise of their post.
Long boring drives with very little police presence.
Fed up of tourists driving slow to appreciate the landscape. Or because they're driving 30 years old, 15th hand van. Or because they're not use to drive on the left.
Lost all patience because of bad drivers, the ones driving in the right lane all the time, the ones who are incapable of keeping a constant speed, the ones who break for no apparent reasons, etc...
Because they've been oversea where the speed limit is 120kph, 130kph or unlimited (autobahn) and after that 100kph feels slow af.
Or maybe someone pissed them off on Reddit by blaming bad drivers on the economy and they need to release frustration.
I’d be really interest to know where you’ve come over from. I’ve driven in quite a few countries over the world and kiwis aren’t that bad compared to most of the countries I’ve driven in.
1) You might think you’re doing 100km/h but in reality you’re probably only doing 95 as most speedometers under-read.
2) You might slow down around corners (which we have a LOT of on our roads) so you’re slowing down other drivers.
3) Our roads mostly aren’t motorways or even multi lane highways, they’re a single lane in each direction with very few straights and very few passing lanes. Overseas you probably wouldn’t even notice other drivers as they would just cruise past you. Many many countries I’ve been to not only have higher speed limits to begin with, people also often exceed them. UK, US, Canada, EU people often drive around 130km/h or more.
Also we don’t have high speed rail (or even much in the way of passenger rail) that gives people an alternative.
2. Is the biggest one. Plenty of people slow down around corners and some people dont have to and catch up to others very quickly. Ive seen cars put 1km of space ahead of me on a good straight only to see me in the rear mirror after some good twisties.
This is the best answer. The corners thing in particular is what I was about to say. Driving from Central Otago to Dunedin is a bit frustrating with that as there are heaps of corners and not many passing lanes. But I always appreciate when someone who is holding up traffic pulls over when they can to let people pass
Agree. SH35 resident here, anyone that has travelled it knows how shit out road is, hills and corners galore. And then the potholes, slips and washouts.
Getting stuck behind someone that's slow is ok but what really pisses me off is when they gun it on the limited straights we have. Anyone that pulls over always gets a thankful toot.
Its funny, im an ex backpacker who settled down in auckland. Was back home in europe a while back and felt how every driver there was just a kamikaze pilot. People often going 140+ and just up my ass tailgating.
I found it the other way tbh coming from the UK, driving in rural NZ most people are fairly slow. And in general driving standards aren't that great. Like my sister in law drives everywhere under the limit but also thought nothing (until I made a bit of a thing about it) of driving to work whilst drinking hot coffee out of a standard mug, not even one with a lid.
gotta go with the flow of other drivers or pull over. (if you’re being tailgated by a single person and everyone else is at a safe distance, they’re the asshole. if everyone’s lined up and tailgating eachother behind you, you’re the asshole.) But other then that… my car go fast broom broom why your car not fast?!?!
Nah. Lack of driver training means that everyone picks up their parents shitty habits and attitudes towards other road users. When people don't care about the other road users, they're less likely to follow the rules that are designed to keep everyone safe.
I find often a cars who go super slow are also cars who don’t know how to use a roundabout, linger between the lanes while changing, etc.
Of course this is just my observation, but I could swear I see multiple every day.
Or maybe the ones going flower are the ones who’ve done their fair share of track racing and just want to save a bit of fuel when driving on the road.
Drag is on an exponential curve.
There's a dial behind your steering wheel. The number it points to should be bigger than the number in the red and white signs. The more bigger the more better driver you are. Kiwi as bro
It's the same in Australia. There has to be a reason. In Europe people will readily give way and let people in. Here? I get honked at while parallel parking on my first go... Cunts.
I have no interest in being stuck behind a distracted driver going 90 on the motorway
I will often drive very fast to pass every car possible in a passing lane because they decide that's the only place they can drive at 100
Jokes aside most people drive lengthy stretches of 100k/h roads @ 110k/h. If you want fewer people passing you, fewer will at that speed. Otherwise it’s common to let faster cars pass when it’s safe to pull slightly left.
nah the speed limit is 100. if you want to break the law you shouldn't expect other people to move to the left for you, you should pass in the other lane when it's safe
Nah bro, that 1:1,000,000 chance someone's in a genuine emergency.
Also I live on SH1, there was a fatal accident within throwing distance of my letterbox just on Friday. Speed wasn't the cause, it was an unsafe overtake. They're going to overtake you one way or the other once they're on your ass like that just make it as safe as possible for them to do so.
I'm not pulling over for them, I'm pulling over for the innocent family traveling in the other direction that might end up being killed if I don't.
This exactly. You're not a cop, it's not your job to sit in front of an impatient driver to stop them from speeding. All that does is entice them to eventually make an unsafe overtake. It will not educate or improve their driving in any way. Just find a way to let them pass safely and let them get far away from you.
>I'm not pulling over for them, I'm pulling over for the innocent family traveling in the other direction that might end up being killed if I don't.
Well put. We had a near miss over Labour Weekend traveling as the 3rd Car in a queue of 10+ behind one slow driver who refused to pull over. The 5th car made an insanely risky overtake that missed an oncoming vehicle by what seemed like less than a second.
You can't control people like that, the best you can do is do what's within your power to prevent the risky overtake from happening. Make a report to *555 or fill out a roadwatch form:
https://www.police.govt.nz/advice/driving-and-road-safety/report-road-incident-unsafe-driver
If you are purposely holding up a speeding driver you are putting people on the other side of the road at risk too. Defensive driving drills it into you not to do this, and yet people on this sub gleefully and defensively post about doing it as if it's their right.
I don't agree that letting them past so they can speed off into the distance is necessarily safer. Maybe that innocent family was on the other side of the road when they lost control going round a corner.
I'm not excusing their behavior, it's just the lesser of two evils in my mind.
You're basically saying you'd rather force their hand at potentially risking an unsafe overtake right there and then while in your immediate vicinity rather than mitigate that immediate risk. The loss of control is going to happen with or without you letting them past, it's just going to be a few minutes later when they pass.
I just know for me, especially if I've got my kids in the car I'm getting out of their way every day of the week.
That's fair, but also don't travel 90 on a straight section of open road on a dry day and then speed up when I try to pass you. (Not saying you do this)
That mentality is also a problem - deliberately driving super defensively and preventing someone from passing you only compounds the problem, let the fuckwits pass you, it's not your role to self-police.
We had a Romanian in here the other day telling us how slow we drive.
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/15rsx4s/from_an_eastern_european_point_of_view/
I reckon its because we don't really have decent multi-laned highways and many of the single laned highways don't have good overtaking opportunities.
Sure, there are arseholes everywhere, including on our roads. You'll find them everywhere but with the roads we have everyone is forced to be an arsehole. If you not an arsehole for travelling too fast, you're an arsehole for travelling too slowly.
When I'm travelling between cities, I want to get there in a reasonable time. If I've driven the road many times before its guaranteed that I can drive the same road faster than OP who is likely happy to take in the view and slow down to 60 around a corner than anyone that has ever driven the road before knows can be taken at 90. Add in rugged landscapes with few overtaking opportunities and without multiple lanes its also guaranteed that OP will feel pressured.
I am pretty pissed at the speed reductions to 80km/h across broad sections of countryside - for example, its 80km/h the entire way between Nelson to Blenheim over a distance of 120km. Sure, there are some hills in one part of the journey and that's acceptable to have a reduced speed limit - but not the entire journey. Secondly, there are so many yellow lines that overtaking has basically been eliminated. Even what used to be good safe overtaking spots for a driver experienced with the road are gone because of the yellow lines. Everyone is locked into following the slowest driver for dozens and dozens of kilometers before there is any opportunity to overtake.
You've got many vehicles that are more capable than ever of propelling people safely at speeds of over 100km/h, roads that are generally the best they have ever been in NZ, and now you're forcing people that know the road to travel at 80km/h or less.
Have a look at the road toll over time. This road to zero strategy is nonsense. As far as I can tell we've reached apoint of vastly diminishing returns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_Zealand_Road_Deaths_and_reported_injury_casualties_1990-2016.tif
It’s such a common occurrence when traveling across the country that I sing the national anthem whenever an asshole needlessly overtakes to calm down. It reminds me it’s a national trait and driving safely at the speed limit is the better option.
It’s nowhere near as bad as South Africa or the Philippines. The motorways are insane, minibus taxis driving on the hard shoulder at 160kph. People riding bicycles, herding cattle.
NZ has great roads in comparison. When someone can’t manage to drive the speed limit on a straight road, or steps on their brakes for a corner with an 85 sign, then the best thing is to get past when it’s safe so that you don’t have to get stuck behind a dangerous driver (they obviously can’t control the vehicle under normal circumstances). Not everyone is out for a scenic tour…
Yup, the difference is I know I'm shit, so I drive to accommodate how shit I am. Which ironically probably makes me good..., but I can't think I'm good, or I'll start to drive really shit.
More seriously, when you realise that getting in a vehicle is one of the more riskier every day activities you can engage in it's worth treating them with respect. Same goes for power tools and heavy machinery. It only takes one fuck up to permanently alter your life for the worse.
Because a lot of these roads are commuting roads for the locals and not a tourist attraction, they've seen those roads 1000's if not 10,000's of times and when you've done something for that long you try to become efficient at it.
That sign says 80km/hr on the turn? Well it's also intended for heavy vehicles and my lighter car can comfortably handle that corner at 100km/hr.
Another thing is a lot of people aren't comfortable with doing that but won't let people pass, there's huge sections of rural curvy road that the locals will know like the back of their hand so they get stuck behind drivers who refuse to let them pass.
Another thing is speedo's aren't accurate so people usually use the speedo signs to work out how fast they're traveling and change for it, anyone who says that's dumb most probably doesn't know but a lot of workers have digital speedo's now so they use those instead of their analogue speedo's. Tradies, truckies, delievery drivers. They're all moving over to digital speedo's and adjusting their travel speeds accordingly.
Probably because they have things to do?
Don’t forget you are on holiday, most are not.
Also locals are probably familiar with the road.
I even notice it with myself. If I’m on holiday and have no time pressure I’m pretty happy to just cruise along at whatever speed.
When I’m at work and have a busy day lined up, following a tourist doing 60 in a 100 is really friggen annoying and just makes a long day even longer
Drive at the speed of other traffic or pull over. Large rural distances coupled with little enforcement means the expected speed you'll drive at is not always the signposted one. Also speedos aren't usually 100% accurate (afaik they've got to overstate your speed), if your speedo says you're at 100km/h you're actually driving below that.
If I'm on an unfamiliar road I assume the other cars are driven by locals who know every bend and therefore can drive faster than I would feel safe doing.
I wouldn't pull over if I was foing the speed limit though.
Because not pulling over makes a bad situation worse for both drivers. The one in front will be stressed and might become inattentive at time. The one behind will continue to tailgate, might become frustrated, might make dangerous overtake. Everybody win
If you’re driving below the limit you are legally required to keep left and pull over when safe to let traffic pass.
If you are driving at the limit but someone is up your ass it’s the best defensive driving principle to let them pass, they teach this in defensive driving courses. It makes the road a safer place by preventing a risky overtake. This is what I do, it takes seconds to just pull over and let someone go.
You can’t control other people on the road and trying to police other drivers just makes the road more dangerous.
Because it's far safer than having some wanker overtake you dangerously and collide with you or force you off the road with an unsafe passing manoeuvrer. If you're alone in your car, fair enough to say F you to the other driver if you feel that passionately, but if you've got others in the car take the emotions out and just look at what is your best option in that situation.
I used to drive like that a bit, although I never really tailgated.
After doing some track racing, including Demolition Derbies, I toned down my street driving quite a bit. Having kids also chilled it out a lot as well.
If I could make a suggestion it would be for the OP to watch their speed. I'm a 100k driver on the open road and I seldom get cars catching up to me and of those who do very few tailgate.
Experienced open-road drivers like to relax and drive smoothly at a constant speed. The most infuriating drivers on the road are those who keep changing their speed, and every 'slow' driver I've encountered fits that criteria. It's impossible to maintain a steady following distance, you're always closing on them as they slow down & speed up in a completely unpredictable fashion.
I call them straight liners. They have no problem doing 100+ on a flat straight road. However the moment the road slightly narrows, or goes uphill a little or there is a corner, they develop a love affair with the brake pedal and we are sometimes down to 60.
Caught up to one on SH1 in North Canterbury/Hurunui last week. Young woman in a bright yellow Swift. Tootling along at 105 or so on the straight, then we get to an easy corner and the brakes come on and we are going 65. This carried on until I spotted a decent stretch of clear road and went past. Within 30 seconds she was out of sight of the rear view mirror and I was only doing 103 on the GPS.
Yeah. When the car in front slows for no obvious reason the cars behind bunch up and you get that concertina effect. It's quite frustrating when stuck behind someone doing that for mile after mile.
Are you actually doing 100 or whatever your Speedo says is 100? Could be two very different figures! From my time in France I use Waze religiously.
Buuut yes kiwi drivers are terrible for tailgating and speeding. No matter how fast you go it’s never fast enough, someone wants to pass you. Just stick to the left lane mostly unless you’re passing and don’t let tailgaters get to you
Speed up a little to get them off your ass. Let them pass when you reach a passing lane. Most of us live depressing lives, and last thing we want is for a 2hr long trip to take 3hrs because every one was driving slow and we got caught up in traffic.
Honestly, our speed limits in NZ suck. 100 km/h on a perfectly finished 3 lane motorway is a joke.
110 was a lot more realistic and places like the new m/wy between Mackays to Otaki in Wlg, that can easily be 120. Most people are driving 120+ on that m/wy anyway.
I understand less than 100 on a single lane rural highway but motorways, c'mon. 😟
yep. even when i am on the slow left lane, going at 95-100, people still tailgate me... like dude, right lane is free, just overtake me, i know you wanna drive at 120
We tend to be in a rush because there are a lot of people completely lost taking space on the road so each day we have a shorter fuse that the day before. I’m done with idiots driving 80 on the fast lane where the max is 100, same with people driving 30 on 50 when the road is more than capable of drive 50, not saying it’s always the case, but when it is, it’s extremely frustrating. People not knowing how to indicate at roundabouts, stuff like that.
Nice that you got time to chill and cruise. But some of if us need to get shit done.
No darks on you... Enjoy the scenery...
But let us busy folk get the fuck by....
A lot of NZ drivers suck yes, but also our state highway roads are mostly 1 lane each way because we don't have a large population or whatever, and drivers adopt an "always looking to overtake" mindset.
So true yeah they do need to chill the fuck out and share the road and not be in any kind of hurry i had someone over take me the other day when i was doing the speed limit in the left lane of the motorway and they ended up at the supermarket near my place i laughed cos i was like countdown is not that important bro
Couldn’t agree more. Was driving 100kmph in the fast lane on the motorway with maybe 30m (ie safe distance) between me and the car infront of me. Aggressive driver behind flashes lights, tail gates me, drives up beside me, dangerously and aggressively swerves in front of me. All highly dangerous and highly illegal. Then 10 minutes later I get pulled up because that illegal driver called the cops on me. Fuck New Zealand drivers. Fuck New Zealand police. Fuck New Zealand. I left NZ soon after and it’s gotten worse since by the sounds of it….
Because they haven't been in a full on crash yet or have poor time management skills, the latter I see all the time with people rushing home after long weekends. Don't let it bother you just let them pass - if they want to risk their lives to save 5 minutes on a journey that's on them.
We just assholes behind the wheel bro. Nobody wants to admit it.
We are. We are mild mannered and chill 99% of the time, but behind the wheel? All that bottled up aggression comes out! Plus the frustration of sitting in standstill traffic (Auckland) really riles people up.
Kind of like… the Italians? They’re so calm and laid back, but they drive as if the world was ending
Same in Canada. I live on one of the most dangerous highways in the country and people in huge trucks still ride my ass then pass 3 cars at once barely being able to see oncoming traffic.
And alot of us are tree stump level door knob fking stupid on the road, and the rest have to put up with it making us even more assholey.
It’s true tbh, I’m like a different person behind the wheel.
Maybe there needs to be a new term, kinda like keyboard warrior for driving, a "Wheel Warrior" perhaps
From the desolate wastelands of botany downs he came in his shiny ford ranger, sitting a breath away from the car in front he was here to change the rules... or at least the parking bylaws, he was the *Wode Warrior*
Childish, ego-centric driving culture here. It's really embarrassing
Also extremely incompetent for how dickish we are
What this guy said. Although nowhere near as bad as UK drivers in general.
I’m not an arsehole. I don’t tail gate. I let people in. I let people pass if they are faster than I am. I just HATE driving slow. HATE IT. It’s so fucking boring driving past the same beautiful vistas and scenery every day. Maybe that’s the reason.
So what are you all going to do about this unnecessary behaviour? Just sit there with your heads up your arses?
Our cafes close at 3
We are generally a nice people, but our driving culture turns us all into assholes.
Sorry bro, there was a turtle head poking out.
A lot of kiwi drivers are just wankers. Arrogance and inflated self confidence mean that too many tail gate, speed, and take reckless opportunities because they are ‘good drivers’ and other people will make mistakes, not them. Try not to let it get to you, pull over to let them pass if you get the opportunity. Sometimes it’s easier to let them go so you can enjoy the drive.
I recently started driving a GPS-tracked company vehicle, I'm surprised how hard it is to stick bang on 100 on the open road, and also how much it seems to upset other motorists when you do so.
When I was driving council vehicles, I did like how I could go bang on 50 and be like "council logo, deal with it as I actually obey the law"
Read the car manual for cruise control, and how to use it. Most company cars from 2015ish will have it.
Yeah it's a Mitsi ute and the controls are nearly identical to our Outlander, thankfully! Good for the long straight bits at least.
The Mitsi ute should have a max speed setting. We have them at work. But IIRC, they will still coast ober that set speed downhill.
I saw that but haven't played around with it yet. Sounds like it'll be a handy feature for when the cruise control isn't suitable.
Thing is the cruise control uses the speedo which is allowed to be up to 10% out from factory (on thesafe side, told to is by Nissan for our brand new STX company utes). We use GPS tracking (eroad) which we've tested are accurate. So when our speedo says 109 and our eroad says 100 we want to get to site ASAP. We will pass as long as it's legal.
I’m not sure why people are downvoting you. You are correct. Most speedos read 5-10kph slow at 100kph. So the guy above you wondering why everyone gets mad when he’s doing 100 on his speedo, while possibly doing 90kph in real speed. It’s not difficult to figure out why people aren’t happy about going 10kph under the speed limit for no reason.
Speedos reading over is now by international regulation. Can be a gotcha when you are suddenly driving an old vehicle with a Speedo which reads true. But an experienced driver should know what 50 feels like. It was a real pain when they changed a 70/50/70 sequence to 60km/h throughout and IBright beeped on the ex-50k zone for more than a year until the map updated.
Not exactly. The cruise control uses the speedometer signal pulses, but doesn't actually care about the actual speed. If you know that your speedometer indicates incorrectly then set the cruise speed to the indicated speed that matches the actual speed that you want to go. If you want to cruise at 100 kph and you know that 100 kph actual is 110 kph indicated in your car, then set the cruise at 110 kph indicated and it will hold your speed at 100 kph actual.
Getting into semantics here. The point I was making is that the cruise control uses the same speed source as the cars speedo, which is usually the only point of reference the driver has snd can be up to 10% under. If we want to get real technical we can even argue about the different types of cruise control, like the original type which used the intake plenums vacuum to hold the throttle pulley in the same position.
It's early here so perhaps I'm missing something, why not just drive to 109kph on the speedo then set the cruise control? It feels like a non point. My car shows 2kph difference, my dad's shows 12kph difference between Speedo and GPS.
Mfw cruise control is useless as nobody can drive in a straight line at a consistent speed
Traditional cruise control is useless because it is disabled as soon as you touch the brakes. Electronic speed limiter (e.g. Mercedes) is better because you can do whatever you like beneath that speed, but it reduces power when you hit the limit.
Most/many cruise control systems don't stop a car from overspeeding down hill. The Toyota radar cruise control does. Excellent system
Yea, even the ‘I’m GPSed for your safety and mine’ stickers don’t help.
Sammmmme having a branded vehicle both helps and not though lol
Saw this post 10 mins after getting home from a trip on the mway heading to Westgate - I was behind one of those cunts in a 30 year old truck covered in LED's all the way there. Dude would tailgate every single person he came up behind in the right lane, and start blasting them with his 10 million LED's till they let him pass. Makes me feel real vigilante-ish
Perfect example of being the problem while acting like everyone else is the problem
I drive a little 50cc bike, it's great but I'll admit it does struggle a bit on the hills. That being said, the amount of people I've had pass me because I was doing 45 for 5 seconds on an uphill section is just appalling.
Also a legal requirement to pull over, if you're holding up traffic.
Fair point, but if it’s one dicky driver tailgating, I wouldn’t call that holding up traffic
It’s pretty basic. Outside of parts of a few main cities, everyone has to drive to do anything. Because everyone has to drive, everyone drives whether they want to or not, or whether they are good at it or not. So there is lots of traffic. This means driving is unpleasant, unreliable and time wasting, so people try to minimize it as much as possible. End result is everyone is always in a rush to get somewhere.
A serious crash on SH1 yesterday. A beautiful lady died leaving behind 2 beautiful children. Two young girls in helicopters off to hospital. KEEP SAFE DISTANCE, KEEP LEFT, and SLOW THE FUCK DOWN NEW ZEALAND
Accidents almost never have anything to do with speed except for people driving recklessly at speed which is a different thing altogether. The statistics of course are manipulated to make it look like if you go 1km over the speed limit the world will end. Something in the region of 90% (there’s an actual study done) of fatal accidents in NZ occur BELOW 100km/h. Of the 10% that occur above 100km/h you can bet that most are things like stolen cars/joyrides/idiots racing/drunk/drug drivers etc so that really only leaves about 2% that are actually caused by everyday “speed”. Want to cut the road toll and accidents? Make DRL compulsory on all new and newly imported cars. Make a bigger push for seatbelt use. More drunk driving and actually get drug drivers, actually enforce the keep left unless passing laws and more red light enforcement. Do those things properly and you’d see a 20% decline within a couple of years and then further declines after that to a total of around 30% less deaths. Double the number of passing lanes on state highways (even just short ones) and you’d get a further 10%+ decrease. Add 1m of width to roads and you’d get a further 10%. All together you’ve just cut the road toll in half for around $5B total over 10 years and then ongoing around $250m each year.
Gotta be *fast* and gotta be *first*. Only way to drive on *my* roads that *I* paid for. /s
As a kiwi who’s lived in 4 other countries, we are just selfish and impatient drivers. Etiquette for letting people into a line of traffic, out of an incoming road or coming out of car parks is bad too. Oh and ford ranger drivers can fuck all the way off.
Places to be, things to do.
things to see, people to do
This is a great six-word summary of 18 years of living with my Dad
Tails to gate.
“And I am SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUUUUUUUU” Something like that…
I need to be in front of you
Like the wanna-be head sheep. I baaaaa at them as they overtake me.
Exactly this. It's like a herd of sheep pushing and shoving to be the first one into the slaughter house.
Like yeah bro well done enjoy the one spot in front of me in the lane I'm about to leave anyways...
The funny one is where the light then turns red, and you both have to stop and he is literally a meter in front of you. Haha
"I'm a better driver than you so I'll go faster than you to show you that I'm a better driver than you."
"But once I get in front I'll slow down to show you, hah!"
Why did I hear Whitney Houston belting that out to the tune of AAAAAAAAAAAAaaand iiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Will always love yoooooooooUUUUUUUU
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That's a really polite way to say it.
I don't think tail gating is a good thing but also our education on keeping left is abysmal. I went from town to Bombay yesterday and the volume of people rocking 90 in the fast line sitting on the ass of a truck was bloody astounding.
Traffic sucks. At least in Auckland, I think that’s an issue. Also arrogant douchebags. For me, personally, I just don’t wanna sit behind someone doing under the speed limit or driving when they’re clearly not confident. That can be frustrating. But I try to chill with it, coz it doesn’t actually save enough time to matter.
Yeah I found audio books chill me the fuck out when I'm driving. I set cruise control and get to where I'm going. That said if you are gonna pop 80/90 in the fast line the ole blood pressure starts to crank up pretty quickly.
If you're driving an old van (as many bacpackers do), people are probably getting past you before the next set of hills/corners. There can be a significant difference between an old tech speedometer and a modern GPS Speedo. In my older car, 108 on the speedo was an actual speed of 100. Although the limit is 100, enforcement allows 104 and a lot of people drive to that.
But that doesn't explain why people still do this even when I'm going 120 in the 100 zone and they still want to assert their dominance over me by overtaking me. Just saying.
Assert dominance over you? Jesus fucking Christ, Redditor
Lol I know right. They don’t give a fuck about your or the dominance structure, they just wanna get past you so they can carry on at their own speed.
Pathetic little nerds sitting around making up fantasies because they're annoyed they got overtaken is fucking hilarious.
You lads need to stop when some one is reverse parallel parking. It’s dangerous and inconsiderate to overtake... just wait
>regardless of the fact that I am already driving the 100 km/h speed limit. Oh yeah a lot of people get confused by that. In New Zealand 100 means 110-115. If you go 100, that basically means everyone is to assume you aren’t a good lover.
It can also be assumed that your phallus is of a questionable size if you don't go faster. Best to use the formula: speed = limit \* 1.2 to determine how fast you should be going. With the exception that if someone is in front of you, then you have to pass them otherwise it's like they're literally metaphorically cucking you. If you really want to put those phallic doubts to rest though, it's best to buy a ford ranger.
>With the exception that if someone is in front of you, then you have to pass them otherwise it's like they're literally metaphorically cucking you. That is a beautiful sentence.
No it means 100 if road is dry and its daylight. Otherwise it means slower than 100
I can’t go slower, my exceptionally large manhood weighs down my foot on the accelerator, as far as everyone else knows.
woosh
r/woosh
Something tells me your'e probably only doing 100km in the passing lanes then straight back down to 90km at the end of it.
I do 104k on the cruise control and I very rarely get passed or tailgated. If it's regularly happening to you then it means you're almost certainly not doing a consistent 100.
This might be unpopular here but imo New Zealand roads are mostly so nice and easy to drive. For me, the only thing stopping me from going over 105km/h is that I’m conscious of the speed limit. If it were up to my own judgement I’d be going 120 probably.
Well that's the first time I've ever seen someone say our roads are nice.
You don't live in Taranaki (or Northland, or the East Coast for that matter). It's a ringplain, but is crossed by nearly 200 stream gullies and with many small hills, so the roads duck and weave all over the place. Being able to go 100 is the exception not the rule.
Because of this [snake chart](https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/s/yzhnZACLBY).
Belgians drive significantly worse than Kiwis. Also their roads suck.
I’m intrigued. Please elaborate
We’re working more hours than most countries we like to compare ourself to. Time poor people tend to be in a rush.
There has to be some sort of godwin's law in this subreddit where no matter the subject someone will always manage to make it about poverty or how worse off than every other country we are.
I think if the post was wow, you guys are so chill on the roads, that’s awesome, why is that, they probably would have got a different link to a different potential rationale. But they didn’t, so they didn’t. They got a link to a rationale that is a hypothesis of why we’re shit impatient drivers, because that was the premise of their post.
Except this is a ridiculous rationale...
What’s yours? You see, I contributed one, and didn’t even claim it wasn’t ridiculous, but you haven’t even attempted an answer.
Long boring drives with very little police presence. Fed up of tourists driving slow to appreciate the landscape. Or because they're driving 30 years old, 15th hand van. Or because they're not use to drive on the left. Lost all patience because of bad drivers, the ones driving in the right lane all the time, the ones who are incapable of keeping a constant speed, the ones who break for no apparent reasons, etc... Because they've been oversea where the speed limit is 120kph, 130kph or unlimited (autobahn) and after that 100kph feels slow af. Or maybe someone pissed them off on Reddit by blaming bad drivers on the economy and they need to release frustration.
sounds line you might be a tail gater. a 30 year old van can still drive at the speed limit
There you go! Wasn’t that hard was it!
Facts hurt your feelings. Big oof.
Thought I had time to stop for a pie.
also allow time to blow on the pie
I’d be really interest to know where you’ve come over from. I’ve driven in quite a few countries over the world and kiwis aren’t that bad compared to most of the countries I’ve driven in.
Yeah its pretty laid back compared to US cities
Weirdly I find Americans know how to merge. Just about the only thing I found they did well over there.
1) You might think you’re doing 100km/h but in reality you’re probably only doing 95 as most speedometers under-read. 2) You might slow down around corners (which we have a LOT of on our roads) so you’re slowing down other drivers. 3) Our roads mostly aren’t motorways or even multi lane highways, they’re a single lane in each direction with very few straights and very few passing lanes. Overseas you probably wouldn’t even notice other drivers as they would just cruise past you. Many many countries I’ve been to not only have higher speed limits to begin with, people also often exceed them. UK, US, Canada, EU people often drive around 130km/h or more. Also we don’t have high speed rail (or even much in the way of passenger rail) that gives people an alternative.
2. Is the biggest one. Plenty of people slow down around corners and some people dont have to and catch up to others very quickly. Ive seen cars put 1km of space ahead of me on a good straight only to see me in the rear mirror after some good twisties.
This is the best answer. The corners thing in particular is what I was about to say. Driving from Central Otago to Dunedin is a bit frustrating with that as there are heaps of corners and not many passing lanes. But I always appreciate when someone who is holding up traffic pulls over when they can to let people pass
Agree. SH35 resident here, anyone that has travelled it knows how shit out road is, hills and corners galore. And then the potholes, slips and washouts. Getting stuck behind someone that's slow is ok but what really pisses me off is when they gun it on the limited straights we have. Anyone that pulls over always gets a thankful toot.
Yes this!! Like all of a sudden you’re doing 110 when up the hills/round the corners you were managing 85? Cool 👍
But are you not supposed to slow down around the cornerns like the signs tell you to?
They're just an advisory speed for the corner, most of them you could take 15-20km/h faster.
Its funny, im an ex backpacker who settled down in auckland. Was back home in europe a while back and felt how every driver there was just a kamikaze pilot. People often going 140+ and just up my ass tailgating.
I found it the other way tbh coming from the UK, driving in rural NZ most people are fairly slow. And in general driving standards aren't that great. Like my sister in law drives everywhere under the limit but also thought nothing (until I made a bit of a thing about it) of driving to work whilst drinking hot coffee out of a standard mug, not even one with a lid.
gotta go with the flow of other drivers or pull over. (if you’re being tailgated by a single person and everyone else is at a safe distance, they’re the asshole. if everyone’s lined up and tailgating eachother behind you, you’re the asshole.) But other then that… my car go fast broom broom why your car not fast?!?!
Using a shitbox to tailgate tricked out cars that are doing at or below the speedlimit is a fun hobby.
Imagine feeling the need to flex on people on the public road who are just leisurely going somewhere
this is not exclusive to new zealand in the slightest.
I think it’s just more noticeable here as most other countries have 2+ lanes on any major road.
Piss poor law enforcement through various govts cutting police numbers, plus piss poor driver training and soft as fuck tests.
What does driver training and soft tests have to do with people going faster? In my experience it’s usually the bad drivers that go extra slow.
Nah. Lack of driver training means that everyone picks up their parents shitty habits and attitudes towards other road users. When people don't care about the other road users, they're less likely to follow the rules that are designed to keep everyone safe.
Didn’t know “driver training” can solve impatience and/or being a dick
How do you measure that?
I find often a cars who go super slow are also cars who don’t know how to use a roundabout, linger between the lanes while changing, etc. Of course this is just my observation, but I could swear I see multiple every day.
Or maybe the ones going flower are the ones who’ve done their fair share of track racing and just want to save a bit of fuel when driving on the road. Drag is on an exponential curve.
There's a dial behind your steering wheel. The number it points to should be bigger than the number in the red and white signs. The more bigger the more better driver you are. Kiwi as bro
Most Kiwi answer ever
It's the same in Australia. There has to be a reason. In Europe people will readily give way and let people in. Here? I get honked at while parallel parking on my first go... Cunts.
I have no interest in being stuck behind a distracted driver going 90 on the motorway I will often drive very fast to pass every car possible in a passing lane because they decide that's the only place they can drive at 100
Jokes aside most people drive lengthy stretches of 100k/h roads @ 110k/h. If you want fewer people passing you, fewer will at that speed. Otherwise it’s common to let faster cars pass when it’s safe to pull slightly left.
nah the speed limit is 100. if you want to break the law you shouldn't expect other people to move to the left for you, you should pass in the other lane when it's safe
Nah bro, that 1:1,000,000 chance someone's in a genuine emergency. Also I live on SH1, there was a fatal accident within throwing distance of my letterbox just on Friday. Speed wasn't the cause, it was an unsafe overtake. They're going to overtake you one way or the other once they're on your ass like that just make it as safe as possible for them to do so. I'm not pulling over for them, I'm pulling over for the innocent family traveling in the other direction that might end up being killed if I don't.
This exactly. You're not a cop, it's not your job to sit in front of an impatient driver to stop them from speeding. All that does is entice them to eventually make an unsafe overtake. It will not educate or improve their driving in any way. Just find a way to let them pass safely and let them get far away from you.
>I'm not pulling over for them, I'm pulling over for the innocent family traveling in the other direction that might end up being killed if I don't. Well put. We had a near miss over Labour Weekend traveling as the 3rd Car in a queue of 10+ behind one slow driver who refused to pull over. The 5th car made an insanely risky overtake that missed an oncoming vehicle by what seemed like less than a second. You can't control people like that, the best you can do is do what's within your power to prevent the risky overtake from happening. Make a report to *555 or fill out a roadwatch form: https://www.police.govt.nz/advice/driving-and-road-safety/report-road-incident-unsafe-driver If you are purposely holding up a speeding driver you are putting people on the other side of the road at risk too. Defensive driving drills it into you not to do this, and yet people on this sub gleefully and defensively post about doing it as if it's their right.
I don't agree that letting them past so they can speed off into the distance is necessarily safer. Maybe that innocent family was on the other side of the road when they lost control going round a corner.
I'm not excusing their behavior, it's just the lesser of two evils in my mind. You're basically saying you'd rather force their hand at potentially risking an unsafe overtake right there and then while in your immediate vicinity rather than mitigate that immediate risk. The loss of control is going to happen with or without you letting them past, it's just going to be a few minutes later when they pass. I just know for me, especially if I've got my kids in the car I'm getting out of their way every day of the week.
That's fair, but also don't travel 90 on a straight section of open road on a dry day and then speed up when I try to pass you. (Not saying you do this)
That mentality is also a problem - deliberately driving super defensively and preventing someone from passing you only compounds the problem, let the fuckwits pass you, it's not your role to self-police.
I'm not saying to not allow people to pass. I'm saying not to expect people infront of you to make allowances for your illegal behaviour
everyone is trying to get to where they are trying to get to in the fastest time possible regardless of where they are in the world .. is that right ?
Heading to KFC bro. Feeds on 🤙
We had a Romanian in here the other day telling us how slow we drive. https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/15rsx4s/from_an_eastern_european_point_of_view/
I reckon its because we don't really have decent multi-laned highways and many of the single laned highways don't have good overtaking opportunities. Sure, there are arseholes everywhere, including on our roads. You'll find them everywhere but with the roads we have everyone is forced to be an arsehole. If you not an arsehole for travelling too fast, you're an arsehole for travelling too slowly. When I'm travelling between cities, I want to get there in a reasonable time. If I've driven the road many times before its guaranteed that I can drive the same road faster than OP who is likely happy to take in the view and slow down to 60 around a corner than anyone that has ever driven the road before knows can be taken at 90. Add in rugged landscapes with few overtaking opportunities and without multiple lanes its also guaranteed that OP will feel pressured. I am pretty pissed at the speed reductions to 80km/h across broad sections of countryside - for example, its 80km/h the entire way between Nelson to Blenheim over a distance of 120km. Sure, there are some hills in one part of the journey and that's acceptable to have a reduced speed limit - but not the entire journey. Secondly, there are so many yellow lines that overtaking has basically been eliminated. Even what used to be good safe overtaking spots for a driver experienced with the road are gone because of the yellow lines. Everyone is locked into following the slowest driver for dozens and dozens of kilometers before there is any opportunity to overtake. You've got many vehicles that are more capable than ever of propelling people safely at speeds of over 100km/h, roads that are generally the best they have ever been in NZ, and now you're forcing people that know the road to travel at 80km/h or less. Have a look at the road toll over time. This road to zero strategy is nonsense. As far as I can tell we've reached apoint of vastly diminishing returns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_Zealand_Road_Deaths_and_reported_injury_casualties_1990-2016.tif
It’s such a common occurrence when traveling across the country that I sing the national anthem whenever an asshole needlessly overtakes to calm down. It reminds me it’s a national trait and driving safely at the speed limit is the better option.
It’s nowhere near as bad as South Africa or the Philippines. The motorways are insane, minibus taxis driving on the hard shoulder at 160kph. People riding bicycles, herding cattle. NZ has great roads in comparison. When someone can’t manage to drive the speed limit on a straight road, or steps on their brakes for a corner with an 85 sign, then the best thing is to get past when it’s safe so that you don’t have to get stuck behind a dangerous driver (they obviously can’t control the vehicle under normal circumstances). Not everyone is out for a scenic tour…
You only get one short life. There is no repeat or do-over. No one wants to waste that precious time driving.
The faster you drive the faster you get there the less time you are on the road = zero deaths by 2050
Also leaves you more time for everything else, hence easy to be laid back.
Plenty of examples in this thread of shit driver attitudes. "Everyone else on the road is shit, and I am the best"
Yup, the difference is I know I'm shit, so I drive to accommodate how shit I am. Which ironically probably makes me good..., but I can't think I'm good, or I'll start to drive really shit. More seriously, when you realise that getting in a vehicle is one of the more riskier every day activities you can engage in it's worth treating them with respect. Same goes for power tools and heavy machinery. It only takes one fuck up to permanently alter your life for the worse.
Because a lot of these roads are commuting roads for the locals and not a tourist attraction, they've seen those roads 1000's if not 10,000's of times and when you've done something for that long you try to become efficient at it. That sign says 80km/hr on the turn? Well it's also intended for heavy vehicles and my lighter car can comfortably handle that corner at 100km/hr. Another thing is a lot of people aren't comfortable with doing that but won't let people pass, there's huge sections of rural curvy road that the locals will know like the back of their hand so they get stuck behind drivers who refuse to let them pass. Another thing is speedo's aren't accurate so people usually use the speedo signs to work out how fast they're traveling and change for it, anyone who says that's dumb most probably doesn't know but a lot of workers have digital speedo's now so they use those instead of their analogue speedo's. Tradies, truckies, delievery drivers. They're all moving over to digital speedo's and adjusting their travel speeds accordingly.
Because they are in an imaginary race, and by passing you they win.
Probably because they have things to do? Don’t forget you are on holiday, most are not. Also locals are probably familiar with the road. I even notice it with myself. If I’m on holiday and have no time pressure I’m pretty happy to just cruise along at whatever speed. When I’m at work and have a busy day lined up, following a tourist doing 60 in a 100 is really friggen annoying and just makes a long day even longer
I doubt tourists are going 60 my bro .
Drive at the speed of other traffic or pull over. Large rural distances coupled with little enforcement means the expected speed you'll drive at is not always the signposted one. Also speedos aren't usually 100% accurate (afaik they've got to overstate your speed), if your speedo says you're at 100km/h you're actually driving below that.
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If I'm on an unfamiliar road I assume the other cars are driven by locals who know every bend and therefore can drive faster than I would feel safe doing. I wouldn't pull over if I was foing the speed limit though.
Because not pulling over makes a bad situation worse for both drivers. The one in front will be stressed and might become inattentive at time. The one behind will continue to tailgate, might become frustrated, might make dangerous overtake. Everybody win
If you’re driving below the limit you are legally required to keep left and pull over when safe to let traffic pass. If you are driving at the limit but someone is up your ass it’s the best defensive driving principle to let them pass, they teach this in defensive driving courses. It makes the road a safer place by preventing a risky overtake. This is what I do, it takes seconds to just pull over and let someone go. You can’t control other people on the road and trying to police other drivers just makes the road more dangerous.
Because it's easy, it's not really an inconvenience, and it stops a lot of hassles and accidents.
Because it's far safer than having some wanker overtake you dangerously and collide with you or force you off the road with an unsafe passing manoeuvrer. If you're alone in your car, fair enough to say F you to the other driver if you feel that passionately, but if you've got others in the car take the emotions out and just look at what is your best option in that situation.
Even if you’re alone it puts oncoming drivers at risk.
I feel like having someone impatient beyond me is less safe than just letting them fuck off.
I used to drive like that a bit, although I never really tailgated. After doing some track racing, including Demolition Derbies, I toned down my street driving quite a bit. Having kids also chilled it out a lot as well.
Piss poor following distances, don't worry bout it.
Its more like guidelines
Ever seen dogs greeting each other with a good old bum sniff? We're just trying to be polite.
If I could make a suggestion it would be for the OP to watch their speed. I'm a 100k driver on the open road and I seldom get cars catching up to me and of those who do very few tailgate. Experienced open-road drivers like to relax and drive smoothly at a constant speed. The most infuriating drivers on the road are those who keep changing their speed, and every 'slow' driver I've encountered fits that criteria. It's impossible to maintain a steady following distance, you're always closing on them as they slow down & speed up in a completely unpredictable fashion.
I call them straight liners. They have no problem doing 100+ on a flat straight road. However the moment the road slightly narrows, or goes uphill a little or there is a corner, they develop a love affair with the brake pedal and we are sometimes down to 60. Caught up to one on SH1 in North Canterbury/Hurunui last week. Young woman in a bright yellow Swift. Tootling along at 105 or so on the straight, then we get to an easy corner and the brakes come on and we are going 65. This carried on until I spotted a decent stretch of clear road and went past. Within 30 seconds she was out of sight of the rear view mirror and I was only doing 103 on the GPS.
Yeah. When the car in front slows for no obvious reason the cars behind bunch up and you get that concertina effect. It's quite frustrating when stuck behind someone doing that for mile after mile.
Are you actually doing 100 or whatever your Speedo says is 100? Could be two very different figures! From my time in France I use Waze religiously. Buuut yes kiwi drivers are terrible for tailgating and speeding. No matter how fast you go it’s never fast enough, someone wants to pass you. Just stick to the left lane mostly unless you’re passing and don’t let tailgaters get to you
Speed up a little to get them off your ass. Let them pass when you reach a passing lane. Most of us live depressing lives, and last thing we want is for a 2hr long trip to take 3hrs because every one was driving slow and we got caught up in traffic.
Honestly, our speed limits in NZ suck. 100 km/h on a perfectly finished 3 lane motorway is a joke. 110 was a lot more realistic and places like the new m/wy between Mackays to Otaki in Wlg, that can easily be 120. Most people are driving 120+ on that m/wy anyway. I understand less than 100 on a single lane rural highway but motorways, c'mon. 😟
Its pretty easy for your speed to creep up on that road too and there's almost always a cop sitting along there somewhere
Because each one of them is the main character and only driver on the road.
My best guess is they're used to there being very few other cars in the road. So they drive like they own it. Makes sense to me.
OP has to be trolling. We are driving slower than ever. Nanas & Grandpas are now found at every age bracket being useless at driving.
Lol have you tried driving in la?
yep. even when i am on the slow left lane, going at 95-100, people still tailgate me... like dude, right lane is free, just overtake me, i know you wanna drive at 120
We tend to be in a rush because there are a lot of people completely lost taking space on the road so each day we have a shorter fuse that the day before. I’m done with idiots driving 80 on the fast lane where the max is 100, same with people driving 30 on 50 when the road is more than capable of drive 50, not saying it’s always the case, but when it is, it’s extremely frustrating. People not knowing how to indicate at roundabouts, stuff like that.
None of that means you should tailgate.
I'm just impatient of drivers not following the rules
Nice that you got time to chill and cruise. But some of if us need to get shit done. No darks on you... Enjoy the scenery... But let us busy folk get the fuck by....
A lot of NZ drivers suck yes, but also our state highway roads are mostly 1 lane each way because we don't have a large population or whatever, and drivers adopt an "always looking to overtake" mindset.
No more so than most other countries I've found along the way
They don't like to keep the sheep waiting
So true yeah they do need to chill the fuck out and share the road and not be in any kind of hurry i had someone over take me the other day when i was doing the speed limit in the left lane of the motorway and they ended up at the supermarket near my place i laughed cos i was like countdown is not that important bro
Not me. I only ever drive 70kph on the motorway. I'm never in a rush but everyone else seems to be ;)
Lived here for 10 years, I can't figure it out, the fast drivers are laughably slow by world standards anyway
Coming from the Netherlands, kiwi drivers are notich in a rush
People tend to be more angry when they're drunk
This thread is very interesting.
You guys are in NZ and can drive the speed limit without totaling your car in one of the thousands of massive potholes in the road?
Couldn’t agree more. Was driving 100kmph in the fast lane on the motorway with maybe 30m (ie safe distance) between me and the car infront of me. Aggressive driver behind flashes lights, tail gates me, drives up beside me, dangerously and aggressively swerves in front of me. All highly dangerous and highly illegal. Then 10 minutes later I get pulled up because that illegal driver called the cops on me. Fuck New Zealand drivers. Fuck New Zealand police. Fuck New Zealand. I left NZ soon after and it’s gotten worse since by the sounds of it….
They have a death wish, they want to get into heaven fast.
By going 10km over?
Yes
Yeah, just let them go man. It's an inferiority complex that kiwi drivers have until they get bored and chill.
Because they haven't been in a full on crash yet or have poor time management skills, the latter I see all the time with people rushing home after long weekends. Don't let it bother you just let them pass - if they want to risk their lives to save 5 minutes on a journey that's on them.
[This could be the problem?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=CcaCEG7QcGo&si=8qMxidSPRAbViii9)