Road Rage in Australia
19 May, 2006
7 Comments 
Are we really getting sick of idiot drivers on the road or what? I know I am. Nothing in the world frustrates me more than trying to merge onto a highway behind a grandma slowing down to 60 to “safely” merge. So many times have slow / careless drivers almost caused me massive accidents. Offcourse, in the case of our 93 year old grandma, it would have been my fault, why was I so close to the other car when I was trying to merge? Maybe because I was trying to merge onto the highway! You don’t slow down, you speed up! It’s so frustrating!
4WDs who take up the right lane, or just come out of car parks or simply merge into you whenever they feel like it! Slow drivers who go 20km/hr under the speed limit then when you try to pass them on the right hand lane you end up with a speeding ticket because you were going 6km over the limit… It’s all my fault, because I was speeding. It doesn’t matter if you go 50km/hr in a 90 zone, as long as you don’t go 100. The reality is slow drivers cause just as many accidents as speeding drivers; albeit in different ways. A speeding driver might cause himself an accident and have his own car involved in the accident, Slow drivers on the otherhand, firstly, cause other drivers to speed, and secondly, usually not be involved in the accident it self, so it’s not their fault. So what do the police do? Spend millions of dollars a year advertising for us to slow down and promote this idea that almost all accidents are a result of speeding drivers. It doesn’t matter if you take up 2 lanes on the highway, as long as you don’t speed. It doesn’t matter if you do your make up in the rear view mirror and stop traffic every 20 seconds; just make sure you don’t speed!
It is absolutely and utterly frustrating! So what happens when you get really fed up with the 4WD, Volvo and the 80yr old+ drivers? You get angry. You get angrier than a fat woman who just dropped her cheeseburger. Road rage can take many forms. I can personally say that I suffer from road rage; lots of drivers make me really angry. They simply don’t care where the other cars are, they are in big tank-sized cars and they have this attitude of, well, I am in a big car, you better give me way or you’ll get crushed. Thankfully though, my anger is shared by lots of people!
A staggering 87 per cent of Australians suffer from road rage, according to carsguide.com.au survey, with females and young people being the most frequent offenders.
CarsGuide
87 per cent! My god. Given that, it seems that either some of the people who suffer from road rage are actually the ones causing the road rage for others, or that only 13% of people are bad drivers. I am not sure which one is right; nevertheless it seems to me that half the people on the road wouldn’t pass a driving test if they took it again today. Which is why I would be in absolute favour of a mandatory 5 year licensing system whereby you would have to take your driving test every 5 years to keep a license. Sure it will cost a lot of money to hire new staff for all the sections, but it’s not like the government isn’t going to make it back! With the ~$40 charge for taking a driving test these days, it would even act like a cash cow for the government. The main question is who would vote for a government that wanted to introduce these laws? The funny thing is, I think 87% of people would! So why isn’t an opportunist minister coming out and saying he wants to introduce these laws? I’d be right behind him!
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May 25th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Ahaha! Fat lady dropping a cheeseburger! Actually you get a lot angrier than that. More like a fat, starving lady who dropped a large triple cheeseburger meal, mc apple pie and mc cookies while trying to reach it in the drive thu.
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June 14th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I love this site. Good work…
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October 10th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Some F*cking arseholes on the road should f*cking die, I wish I had a .50 AE Pistol with me to blow their F***ing heads off!!
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January 11th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Teen Girls Teen Titans Hentai Teen Girls That Are Hot…
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view…
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August 13th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Getting angry is one thing, but some people are just ridiculous. This morning on the M4 an I’m-more-important-than-everyone-businessman-with-my-crappy-car-and-fake-Oakley’s-type tried to ram into my side - numerous times - while holding everyone behind him… all because I edged into his lane to avoid getting hit by someone on my other side. Justified road rage? I think not.
Then again, I don’t think my wish to take out a baseball bat and smash up his crappy little car was a justified reaction either, though much more so than his.
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November 4th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Hey,
May well be slammed for this but heck.
I drive a “big 4wd” Landcruiser 100 series, i use it to go to places like Fraser, and spend a good deal of time driving in and around cities.
Personally i HATE people who have never learnt to drive a big car. why do i say this? because they have no idea about blind spots. they sit on your rear quater panel watching your blinker flicker at them and they do nothing, they dont speed up or slow down to let you in which is probably what is causing your hatred of them just “assuming your lane”.
In the past i used to try and speed up or slow down to get in, but i have found (especially in sydney and on the Pacific Highway) that drivers tend to speed up or slow down so they can stay in this position i dont know whether this is intentional or whether they are just on auto pilot trying to maintain the same distance/speed. however, this point above most really ticks me off, there is no excuse my blinker is at eye level.
one of my other pet hates is people who fail to use their blinker, and then wander around the lane as if they are lost before making sudden direction changes. this above all else is dangerous! if you dont know where you are going GET A GPS! make up your mind, turn on your blinker and act predictably. this alone will see accident rates decline.
as for people over taking… well if you get caught speeding while overtaking me your an idiot! i do the speed limit, sitting on cruise control in the left hand lane, so if your in such a hurry to pass me that you will speed to do so, well thats your problem. should everyone slow down so you can pass?
as a fully licenced driver who went through under the old system, i can safely say the new regulations will accomplish NOTHING and neither will making the system longer accomplish anything. we live in a nanny society that tries to regulate everything as a means of fixing problems. the problem with using this in our licencing system is it takes the focus away from the important factors which are Skill, Knowledge and reflexes. which is why im in favor of there being manditory advanced and defensive driver training. however this will never happen, and hense our accident rate will never change.
I think the premise for this rant was largely unjustified, and angled squarely at people driving large vehicles. if you can see its a large vehicle then give it some space, are you so invincible that you would jocky for space with an articulated vehicle? road train?
But there is some parts of this rant which are justified, people need to take more care of the drivers around them. for example Motor Cyclists need to be aware that cars may not see them as they move beteen cars, and drivers of cars need to be aware that bikers might be riding next to them and their manovering ability is different to that of a car.
Also people need to take alot more care when entering or leaving carparking spaces, driveways, roads and roundabouts. in the last 5 years i have seen way too many accidents happen because people went paying enough attention.
In the course of everyday driving there is alot to get angry and frustrated about, however allowing that to affect your driving is dangerous and irresponsible.
and to some extent the authorities are right (as much as i hate to admit it) you can get out of alot more trouble with the brake than you can with the loud peddle.
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December 7th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
hey,
My story begins with a hard working father taking his kids to the shops on a busy melbourne roads, when a driver comes out of nowhere and almost causes the father to have an accident. Like many people in this counrty he got frustrated, he done the wrong thing and swerved at the lady, yelling at her and sticking his finger up. 6 months later the police knock on his front door asking if he was involved in that incident, being an honest person he admits to incident. Recently he got locked up for 16 months. WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN THIS COUNTRY!
The worst part is recently i read about a hit and run incident where the man was locked up for 14 months, the lady he hit is left with permanent brain damage, and he was drunk, i ask again WHERE IS THE JUSTICE!!!!!
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