Bad Drivers & Bad Road Design In Perth

[BreathLess]

I notice that alot of ppl try to overtake you in a skyline i had a falcon before and like ppl just stayed behind me now they try going around me.

Wats really fun is u get a disposible camera with flash and as ppl speed past take their pic and they slow down really fast.

[noise]

I like your points OP'er and have thought most of these things myself.

[dr00]

try riding a motorbike on perth roads. when its your skin not just panel work on the line you really understand how shit perth drivers are. i also dont like that attitude of "sometimes i make mistakes so meh" because you getting distracted by the chick in lycra can easily result in a trip to the emergency room for me.

you take the responsibility of controlling a big lump of metal so you need to devote your attention to that. its not just a case of "oops didnt see you terribly sorry". im not saying mistakes are unacceptable but some of you dont seem to realise the importance that comes with the consequences.

[ossie_21]

try riding a motorbike on perth roads. when its your skin not just panel work on the line you really understand how shit perth drivers are. i also dont like that attitude of "sometimes i make mistakes so meh" because you getting distracted by the chick in lycra can easily result in a trip to the emergency room for me.

you take the responsibility of controlling a big lump of metal so you need to devote your attention to that. its not just a case of "oops didnt see you terribly sorry". im not saying mistakes are unacceptable but some of you dont seem to realise the importance that comes with the consequences.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What about the riders that go down the middle of the lanes???? Only a matter of time before one rides straight into a car changing lanes because they are trying to get through the traffic.

[dr00]

i never said all riders are angels riders do some insanely stupid stuff but thats their choice and generally they only hurt themselves. the truth is the majority of serious bike accidents are caused by other drivers' mistakes.

FYI lane splitting is legal (and fairly safe) if its done properly. that is the traffic is not moving and the centre line isnt crossed without indicating. if the traffic isnt moving people cant change lanes. they can open their doors which happens but fault there is debatable and doesnt do much if the bike is going slowly which it should be. the maniacs who do 100kmh through moving traffic down the freeway are definitely deserving of the "temporary australian" title.

[MLCrisis]

try riding a motorbike on perth roads. when its your skin not just panel work on the line you really understand how shit perth drivers are. i also dont like that attitude of "sometimes i make mistakes so meh" because you getting distracted by the chick in lycra can easily result in a trip to the emergency room for me.

you take the responsibility of controlling a big lump of metal so you need to devote your attention to that. its not just a case of "oops didnt see you terribly sorry". im not saying mistakes are unacceptable but some of you dont seem to realise the importance that comes with the consequences.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I knew I would wear this one. I cycle as well, so I am well aware of the consequences. I was not suggesting that I am lackadaisical, if anything I am suggesting the opposite. I take pride in my driving but, given the topic, I was admitting that I am not perfect. Having been sprawled on a number of bonnets, shredded various clothes, worn various flats on hips, shoulders and knees and woken up in an ambulance after landing unconscious in the way of oncoming traffic - it would have been memorable, but I have no memory of it - I take more care than most looking for cyclists at junctions. But despite all that, I got it wrong this morning. As it happened, I managed to stop just in time to give him the room to avoid me. No excuses and I apologised profusely. I was the dickhead.

So, in the knowledge that I am not perfect, I look to improve my driving all the time. I concentrate on things like giving bikes room. I pull out from the inside lane of the freeway to give room to the vehicle who is entering from an on-ramp. I work hard to drive as well as I can, all the time, which is why the people doing the things listed gives me the sh$ts.

But you can add another to the list - the motorcyclists who sit in your blind spot on the freeway and then crack the shits when you pull out! (Happened to me just the once, I must admit - but I see the potential often.) And I always give a long signal first and 99 times out of a hundred I look over my shoulder as well as check the mirrors. But on one occasion, the two combined - I did not look over my shoulder and this dickhead was sitting there. Because of my long signal, he knew I was coming, so it was not a near miss, but he yelled and gestured anyway. Most motorcyclists won't do this, but some clearly have no idea.

And now I have my mirrors adjusted to minimise the blindspot.

Oh, and anyone who is human can be distracted by something when driving. If you acknowledge it, you can manage it - so I don't drive perving at girls in lycra. I only perve from the comfort of the traffic light queue!

Cheers.

[ossie_21]

While we are on the subject of motorbikes, have to love the ones that sit right behind you on the freeway for no apparent reason ie I was on the middle lane of 3 @100kph, no traffic either side & he decided to tailgate for a while instead of picking another lane.

[tigeryas]

those widescreen rearview mirrors do wonders for my blind spot and general idea of what's behind you. best $10 i ever spent on ebay.

[WhatBrake]

In total agreement mate, sometimes it's just a joke on Perth streets...Something needs to be done about the incompetency, stupidity and lack of confidence of some (most) drivers in Perth. People dont understand driving like a retard actually causes more accidents than driving sensibily and confidently! Also the driving test instructors have so many different personal levels of what constitutes a pass to get your licence it's also unbelievable, if these people do their jobs properly now we wont be bitching in 10 years when these young drivers turn into older more retarded drivers. In getting my licence i failed the first time for driving down the middle of a carpark when the lane was barely big enough for my car and another 1/3 of a car, then my next test was with the chief instuctor who was meant to never pass anyone, i passed with 98% and it got me wondering; how crap must people be (he was a very fair tester, and it was just commonsense driving).....thats def not a brag either, just trying to highlight the point.

Cheers

Edited October 4, 2005 by WhatBrake

[WhatBrake]

Perth drivers can't merge.   

Forgot to post this totally agree, again. Perth drivers slow down to like 50 on the freeway to merge into a gap. I put up with this crap every day going to uni and it shits me so much, when merging keep a constant speed if not accelerate and slot in, it's not that bloody hard!

Cheers

[skyzerr33]

I feel Joondalup is quite crap too..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So true north of the river drivers are so much worse then south of the river. the number of near accidents i see everytime i go somewhere in joondalup is mind blowing.

the best was some stupid lady in a white magna doing 60 in the joondalup shops carpark and drives straight through a stop sign without looking nearly t-boning the car in front of me.

on the islands

they are put there for safety. the pedestrian safety not urs. you'll notice the roads that have them (generally) are long and straight and in high pedestrian traffic area's.

[Josh]

Joondalup was designed by a very angry man...

[Cazisk]

- driving past a traffic light (green) and the person next to you decides that he will take your lane instead. (this usually happens when the road isnt so straight through the traffic light and the lines are dodgy so he thinks ur lane is his lane) you push the horn and the bastard starts yellin at you like its your fault rofl this pisses me off so much

[ossie_21]

What pisses me off the most about the freeway is that if people did actually do 100, traffic would be a lot smoother. I work usually 6-1:30/2:30, traffic obviously isn't a problem. I have tafe on Wednesday where I start at 8, so am on the freeway at about 7ish. There is an amount of traffic where everyone can be doing 100 no problem, but because there are a few other cars around people panic & do 70/80, slowing the traffic down.

This has a domino effect & soon the whole freeway is slowing down & filling up, getting worse as it gets to peak hour. The way I see it the sooner you are off the freeway the better it will be. That's why raising the speed limit would help a fair bit. Peak hour will never change, but when it takes about an hour for a 40-min trip it's bs.

[DanR33]

I am from Sydney and Ive been in Perth now a little over a year (I can actually afford a house here - at the expense of my 'line *sob*). Now these are the things Ive noticed since living here.

90% of Perth drivers I warn should never drive in Sydney. Sit 10kms below the limit on any road, sit in the right hand lane for too long, or take off from a set of traffic lights slower than the maximum acceleration your car can go then you risk being seriously hurt. Drivers there are not only crazy, they are crazy! Most Perth "P" plater hoons would get ran off the road by a senior citizen!

Now next is the whole 2 lanes 2 cars at a traffic lights problem. Picture this - you roll up to a red light where there is two lanes with one car in each lane. You try to pick which one will take off faster because you are in a bit of a rush. There is an Ford XR8 sitting next to a hyundai excel. Which one do you sit behind? Answer - You pop too many sleeping pills to put urself out of ur mysery because you know they will both take off like snails. Seriously people I drive a Charade - Every car is faster than mine. If I am tail gating you during take off it is because you do not know the pedal on the right is the accelerater!

Now the other thing I have noticed that hasnt been mentioned (I agree with everything else in this thread) Is those people who sit 20km below the limit on roads like gnangara. 70km in a 90 zone is not acceptable but this is not my main problem.

When stuck behind someone like this I do the only human thing - overtake them which is what causes the problem. There are idiots out there that get offended by overtaking (I'd get offended if I got overtaken by a charade too!) so when you have passed them they flash there high beams and beep there horn because no one should go faster than 20kms below the limit in their minds. I usually slow down to about 40 in front of them just to show them how it feels and to let them know that it aint some chick driving the car its actually some big scary bloke.

oh one more - Those idiots that dont use a right indicator to turn right at a round about. And you almost run into them and they raise their hands at you like "be more careful" when its their fault! Man I'm getting angry writing in this post! *happy thoughts Daniel, happy thoughts* I really need to leave now...

[Chainfire]

People who forget they even have indacators.

People who don't wave or say thanks when u let them in or through a line of traffic, ungreatfull!! (or people who dont let u in, usually old snobby looking woman in their festivas)

When it is peak hour traffic and there are two sets of lights in close range of each other... and the traffic builds up from the 2nd set of lights all the way back to the 1st set. Instead of waiting for the traffic to move up, people proceed to go through the 2nd set of lights, and find they are stuck in the middle of the intersection, even more annoying when they are still there and the lights change. One guy did this, got stuck in the intersection, panicked, put in reverse and backed straight into the front of my mates car. (Atleast his car was a Holden )

People who tailgate u 2mins before they decide to overtake (either get off my arse, or go past me!) if anyone tailgates me, i usually slow down untill they change lanes to overtake, then i speed up so they can't

[tigeryas]

What pisses me off the most about the freeway is that if people did actually do 100, traffic would be a lot smoother. I work usually 6-1:30/2:30, traffic obviously isn't a problem. I have tafe on Wednesday where I start at 8, so am on the freeway at about 7ish. There is an amount of traffic where everyone can be doing 100 no problem, but because there are a few other cars around people panic & do 70/80, slowing the traffic down.

too bad kwinana's running at suburban speed atm with all those roadworks, not much of a 'free'way is it

bleh, and i probably wont be living anywhere near where it affects me anywa =/

[Josh]

Idiots on the road is all I can say...

That really shits me when people sit in the right hand lane doing less than speed limit... I like to turn high beam on and blast their retinas...

Also on the overtaking thing, I overtook some old c00t in a shuttle van going to work, turning from the highway onto horrie miller drive I went over the very last bit of solid white line, to overtake the said c00t in van, then gave it a blat up the hill to the roundabout. Now my car isn't exactly quiet so that may have upset him... anyway I pull into work and see this old c00t had turned onto the street of my work and was glaring and fist shaking at me... WTF?!?!? I didn't cut him off or do anything dangerous... There were no other cars in either lane at the time...

People on the road suck... I speed but I know how to do everything (mostly) else right on the road... I indicate, give way correctly, let people in.

Oh and another thing!! I was on the new joondalup drive roundabout which used to be 1 lane, but now is 2, I was in the inside lane going straight when some c0ck in a hilux in the outside lane, decided it would be fun to turn right, when I was right next to him(No indication either)... Now I proceeded to follow him, as I don't have horns hooked up in my car atm...

I follow him to his house and he gets out, so do I and I say "You know back at the roundabout you know you aren't supposed to turn right from the outside lane buddy!" and he says "Oh really? I didn't know..." he then proceeds to tell me a story of how earlier that day someone had done it to him, or he saw someone do it someone else and he said that he thought "fark!! that was stupid" I said to him " then why did you do it to me then!! You knew it was wrong!!"

I should stop now as dick heads make me too angry...

[kamakazi]

hahaha bak in my days indicators were an optional extra . nah it pisses me off when ppl dont indicate

[SeriesIIGTST]

Agree with everything that has been said. All so true and piss me off no end. But none more so than this:

Perth drivers can't merge.    

That is the single trueist statements I've ever heard. One and one people? Geesus, you think we'd asked them to solve the meaning of life. FFS, lights go green, if left lane ahead, it goes left, right, left right as you merge into single file. If some twat guilty of not taking off at "normal" accelerationg speeds results in one instance of one, two, one, so be it, but then it continues one and one. Same with merging lanes, roads, on-ramps, narrowing raods, whatever. One and one. It's polite, it's easy. I nearly ended up the curb the last time a Perth driver dislayed their ignorance to the one and one principle as some b!tch in a 4WD decided they were going to "beat the hoon". Needless to say, I got out my car the next set of lights, and very politely educated this person who refused to wind down her window. Bear in mind, i was neatly presented in my suit and tie as I was heading to work

Gees it gets me fired up. My like the original poster stated, they have no response to "polite education"