The “This is what we should all do” speech isn’t working anymore – as personal opinion goes nowhere in the age of online forums have proven (ie: those that matter, the lawmakers, do not pay enough heed to them) and it’s principally a venting space for, well, all of us.

There are two key words that apply here:

DRIVER & ATTITUDE.

How is Driver Attitude relevant to improving… anything… that is wrong with our contemporary driver and road situation / problems?

It impacts upon EVERYTHING.

- Courtesy to stay out of the right hand lane
- Allowing those that clearly indicate the space to merge
- Using our indicators as we wish to appear polite
- Clearly knowing our own abilities, and not feeling the need to see how far we can push them (the PRINCIPLE problem with younger – prominently male – drivers); a whole other kettle of fish!
- Not seeing the need to lane jump in heavy traffic / at stop lights / where there’s no room to do so.
- Increasing our awareness and perception of traffic conditions / car space / time of day – becoming more Switched On.

The list is long.

How is Driver Attitude Improved?

From the START, when a learner first gets in that automobile. With trained professionals, ideally placed as mandatory Advanced Driver Training (NOT the parents of the child. It can be the parents handing down the a) bad habits and b) bad attitude that is currently in existence).
Someone to teach them more than “how to parallel park” or “You will be penalized for going 3kmh over the limit”, but getting their Heads Right when behind the wheel.

But, yet again… this is just another internet rant. Very unfortunate. Regardless, it’s food for thought for everyone here.

From,
Someone Who’s Been Young, Sped Lots, Drove Dangerously, Lost Licences, yet Come Out The Other Side With A Wiser, Better, Yet Unique Point Of View.

Give me a break, how did you come up with that crap. No doubt from the typical rubbish coming out from the Australian government. I’m going to guess that you have never lived overseas. Ask any European whick is more dangerous and I can tell you their answer.
If 1) You keep left at all times unless overtaking
2) You indicate early and double check before changing lanes
3) You keep proper distances from the car in front of you (including falling back when someone enters your lane)
then ANY speed limit is safe. Europe has been using this system for years with a better road toll than ours even with much worse weather conditions and traffic density.
Since nearly no aussie drivers keep any of the above rules no wonder you can’t see outside of the typical ’speed kills mantra’.
No doubt you tutt tutt drivers you see speed past you while your at the same time sit exactly on 100 WAY less than the 2 to 3 second safe distance. I can tell you right now, which one is more unsafe.
Blocking the overtaking lane clumps all the traffic into large blocks of fustrated drivers, rather than it spreading out over the freeway. Watch next time your driving for that exact thing and you will see it everywhere on australian roads. Explain to me how this is safer. Watch a web cam for five minutes of an Australian freeway then an European motorway for five minutes. My bet is that you would retract your inane comment and start keeping left more often. Unless Like many Aussies your motto for life is DILIGAF.

Several problems with Australian roads administration impacting behavior, vis

* Intercity freeway and dual-carriageway lengths bear LOW speed limits, typically 100 -110km/h as you know. This low driver requirement leads to carelessness, fatigue and frustration – people see ‘no point’ in being the best they can.

Generally 130km/h or speed de-restriction is better suited here AFTER median barrier install and the U-Turn bays are gate locked.

* On learning of “KEEP LEFT-Motorway”, ONLY NSW does this states roads authority, the RTA, in its ROAD USERS’ HANDBOOK advise readers HOW to appropriately use a motorway or freeway class road bearing three or more lanes. This EXACT tuition mirrors that taught in Europe, China etc, indeed most advanced places subscribing to the UN Road Traffic Conventions. Simply stating ‘keep left’ doesn’t cut it in relation to three or more lane lengths.

The QLD, VIC, SA, NT, ACT, WA, TAS driver handbooks DO NOT spell this out at all, as they really should. It means therefore that most most Aussies consider the middle-lane of three-lane sections – as ‘the actual left lane’! These folk then consider the left-lane to be the ‘truck and caravan only lane’. They are wrong, one uses it first, always, IF it is clear.

I am hoping to have this NSW text inserted into the other jurisdictional handbooks, behavioral change then takes years to catch on.

I was driving once when one of the bolts holding the brakes pads came loose causing the pads to fall onto the rotors resulting in an unexpected braking effect.

Had to buy some new underpants before continuing my journey.

Peter…Please don’t whinge about speeding fines, because at 180k you are WILLINGLY saying that you will pay the Govt revenue.

Where to start?

Find a race track,not public roads is the obvious.
Most modern medium sized 4 cylinders are capable of this speed,some do this & more with ease,so there is nothing to prove.
180 KM/H where traffic may enter & attempt to merge or exit shows an inhumane attitude to others.
No one expects that some @#&% is travelling at this speed from behind.
Reaction times & stopping distances.
Does Peter understand this?
I suspect not.
His writings reflect the way he drives.
At 180km/h his reaction time will take him at least 40 meters,50 meters is likely.
To safely brake at 100km/h the distance can be as far as 50-60 meters from the time you finish reacting & put your foot on the brake till you stop.
At 180km/h,who knows?
If an obstacle appears 100 meters away at 180km/h Peter is as good as dead.
At 100-120 km/h you MIGHT have a chance IF everyting is perfect.
Beyond this those laws of physics which car makers try SO HARD to limit the effect of become harder to mask.
Did notice the time of the post 4.14am.
Just in after being out for a night of speed?

a) Being held up by the car in front of you
b) Have heaps of room behind you and are traveling at a greater speed than the speed limit.

There is no excuse for anyone to be in the right lane unless they meet one of these criteria. That means if you’re holding up the person behind you and have the open road ahead, MOVE LEFT or SPEED UP, FAST. I will probably get criticized for saying it, but I have no problem speeding up to 150km/h or more to abide by this rule. If I feel like taking it easy at 120km/h, I’ll do it in the right lane if and only if theres no-one behind me. And if I only want to go the speed limit, I’ll chill out in left lanes.

Lets face it, yes speed limits exist but we all know that they are a load of horse shit. Its all about revenue raising, and it’s perfectly safe to do 150 on most of the major highways around Melbourne.

I regularly travel at over 180mk/h on the Monash freeway and it’s probably safer than traveling at the speed limit because I spend less time on the road, am more alert, and I’m always scanning the traffic and identifying potential hazards.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel the need, when you have to overtake a right-lane-hog on the left, to accelerate as fast as possible, to show them how fast you would have been going had it not been for their blockage of the road? I try to drive as close as possible to them as well, to show them the error in their ways.

I always slow down when someone is overtaking me on a high speed road to make it safer for him/her. Always trying not to hold up traffic behind me if I am driving on a single-lane road (but again – I am NOT familiar with EVERY country-side road, so do not expect me to do the speed limit there just because the road sign says so).

Traffic in cities is a different story altogether. As many readers already pointed out: everyone pretty much is already going at the speed limit; you may need to turn right at the next lights or just need to turn right soon – why on Earth would you go faster in these situations?
Just calm down and drive safely, ok?

I’m an Adelaide driver too and often wonder which Corn Flakes brand has a free driver’s Licence in the box!

I witnessed one driver doing 60k in an 80k zone and then went past me doing 80 in a 60 zone…work that one out!

I may be at fault here, but I frequently drive on the S/East Freeway to Mt Barker and will often stay in the right lane doing 110-120 (limit is 110 for all you non-South Aus drivers).

I do this because of the many slower drivers in the left lane that I regularly catch up with and overtake. By staying in the right lane I get a smoother ride and don’t have to keep moving left and right all the time.

Also (in Adelaide anyway) the left lane is always the one being repaired (badly) and is often more bumpy and pot-holey than the right. Anyone been along the left lane of the SE Freeway past Hahndorf lately? The left lane coming back to Adelaide is even worse!

If another car is really ‘closing the gap’ on me fast (and obviously think they are on the AutoBarn), then they must be a more of a hurry than me, so I then move to the left and let them pass. Maybe if I’m lucky there will be a ‘cop and laser’ over the next rise and I will go past them…Ha Ha!

Am I being naughty for staying in the right lane, going a bit over the limit, to enjoy a better ride?

While we are on SA drivers…Can you all please turn off your f*@%ing driving lights in the city! They are NOT fog lights (you have been conned if you think they are!), and besides, we don’t have that thickness of fog to need them, even in the hills. Do other states have similar ‘fog light’ problems?

My 5c worth.

9 times out of 10 you’ll get there quicker.

Highway Patrol don’t police it because it’s too hard. (and they’re too lazy, rather sit behind a tree and raise revenue)

But oh dont worry about that, its those kids in there hotted up cars that kill everyone, plus we make more money off them.