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hnpccOK, an article from The Age caught my attention.
We're rude, inconsiderate and aggressive. In short, argues David Morley, Victorians are among the worst drivers in the world — and the blame for that is shared by many.
There's an old saying that there are two things you can't tell an Australian bloke. One, that he's no good in bed; and two, that he can't drive well. While we'll draw the line at any assessment of prowess in the boudoir, we've some bad news on the latter front.
Australian men (and women; let's not be sexist) in general, and Victorians in particular, are some of the world's worst drivers. Unskilled, uncharitable and just plain uninterested, they adopt a standard of driving that falls well short of the mark.
According to Geoff Thomas, director of research and development at driver training specialist Murcott's Driving Excellence, the notion that we're poor drivers is based on plenty of evidence.
"As a group of drivers, we're highly competitive (with each other) and aggressive. We're also a sanctimonious bunch and we tend to think we know everything," Thomas says.
"People also tend to think their cars are better than they really are and there's a complete ignorance of the road rules."
Ask a newcomer to Victoria what they think of our demeanour and abilities behind the wheel and you'll probably be greeted with disbelief at the way a group of people can be so ordinary at something most are required to do every day of their lives.
A survey by motor insurer AAMI also presents a frightening picture of what's going on in the bitumen jungle.
According to the survey, one in five drivers believed that aggression made them better drivers. Forty-five per cent admitted to making illegal U-turns and right-hand turns when they thought it was safe to do so.
According to Dr John Cheetham, a consulting psychologist who analysed the results of the survey, it was clear that "Australians are becoming less safety conscious in their driving".
So what's wrong with us?
Spend some time driving overseas and you'll soon see that traffic can flow well despite poor roads and severe traffic density. Peak hour in Paris or Rome is a great example. It's manic and crazy to watch, but you soon realise that this is only because the cars are moving to a beat (as opposed to the Monash Freeway limbo or the Punt Road non-shuffle).
It does so because the drivers think about what they're doing at the time (and not what they'll have for lunch or where the next speed camera might be) and because their attitude includes the notion of co-operation with other drivers. This attitude, says Thomas, is completely at odds with the siege mentality that pervades the mind of the Victorian (and especially the Melbourne) driver.
"Lane changing in Melbourne is poor," says Thomas. "We don't indicate and if we do, it's a lazy flick of the indicator as we start to turn the wheel.
"We also drive too close to the car in front. Everybody tailgates and they don't like to be told that they do. In fact, stand beside a road, any road, and you'll see that most people wouldn't be able to pull up safely behind the car in front in an emergency."
So whose fault is all this?
At the seat of the problem lie the attitudes of the Victorian drivers themselves. As a species, we're too territorial, short-tempered and vengeful for traffic to flow. Speeding up to block a car that's trying to change lanes should carry a fine. Instead, it's the default setting from the moment the engine is running.
As well as the bad attitude, we're hardly what you'd describe as a skilled collection of drivers. The average understanding of dynamics is poor, the average skill level pathetic. Many drivers have no idea how to respond to emergencies and especially how to avoid those situations in the first place. A state of steely-eyed getaway drivers, we are not.
Drive in Melbourne on a wet morning and you'll see this plainly as the traffic slows to a crawl for no reason apart from ignorance and fear.
Because for many of us driving is a chore, we don't invest any time or effort into getting it right. Where's the joy in perfecting skydiving if you never want to fly in the first place?
That's a salient argument only up to the point where you admit that, if you are going to fly every day, maybe knowing how a parachute works isn't such a bad idea.
The State Government also has to accept a portion of the blame for our status as some of the world's worst drivers. The concept of driver training before a licence is issued continues to be ignored by governments all over Australia, but the Bracks Government's recent refusal even to consider lowering the age for a learner's permit or provisional license (in the face of evidence supporting the notion in other countries) underpins the mind-set that training people to drive properly is not a priority.
Successive governments have also allowed their addiction to speeding fine revenue to present a misleading picture of road safety. By extending the use of fixed and mobile speed cameras and using police cars as mobile speed traps, governments instil the view that speeding is the primary danger on our roads.
The natural, if subconscious, extrapolation by the driving public is that by not breaking the speed limit, they won't place themselves in any danger.
Not even close. It's the great road-safety lie, and it's part of the reason we're such dud drivers. Even for those motorists who don't buy the "Speed and You'll Die" myth, the bizarre (and, frankly, laughable) 3 km/h speeding tolerance, against a background of some artificially low speed limits in the first place, commits them to a driving career of speedometer watching. As an option to pedestrian, traffic and other hazardwatching, this is a tragedy waiting to happen. Again.
Thomas reckons that speed-camera technology could be used to book drivers for tailgating rather than speeding, but nobody in government is interested.
"We've approached the Government to use speed cameras to measure the gaps between cars and catch people travelling too close to the car in front," he says.
"The technology's the same as for catching speeding cars, but nobody wants to hear about an idea that will reduce their revenue from speeding fines."
Then there's VicRoads. Many professional drivers would dearly love to meet those who figured that bottlenecks at freeway entrances could be cured by installing traffic lights to limit the number of cars that could enter the freeway at once.
Such methodology is seriously flawed. The cause of the merging mayhem is twofold, but it's not simply the volume of cars that's at fault. It has much more to do with the fact that merging drivers don't understand that to merge successfully, they must be travelling at the same speed as the traffic into which they wish to merge, coupled with the fact that those already on the freeway are loath to make room for a newcomer. Ignorance and bad attitude breed bottlenecks. Says Thomas: "When we're merging, we don't allow room and tend to barge our way in. Either that or we're timid and get bullied by other cars that won't let us in."
Melbourne itself is part of the problem and, while the city lacks the geographical bottlenecks imposed by Sydney's watery landscape, the urban sprawl plays a large part. Our spreading suburbs have created a large proportion of the traffic congestion that is guaranteed to bring out the worst in us behind the wheel.
Consider that young families are being lured into housing estates such as those in the south-eastern corridor to discover they must rely on a car since there's little, if any, public transport. A typical family in these areas has two cars. The breadwinner drives to work each day while the partner does the school and after-school runs.
And with congestion comes the sort of bad behaviour, red-light running and fate-tempting manoeuvres that have helped us earn our wretched reputation.
David Morley contributes to The Age's Drive section and many other motoring publications. He has driven all over the world.
Particularly liked:
The cause of the merging mayhem is twofold, but it's not simply the volume of cars that's at fault. It has much more to do with the fact that merging drivers don't understand that to merge successfully, they must be travelling at the same speed as the traffic into which they wish to merge, coupled with the fact that those already on the freeway are loath to make room for a newcomer
Thank you kind article writer!! I am amazed by the number of people who speed up to 100kph when they can see the traffic crawling along at less than 60kph or who do 60kph when the traffic is actually zipping along. Presumably on the grounds that that was the last speed sign they saw so they're going to stay at 60 until they see the next sign. It also amazes me the number of people who will not let you in, even as the merge lane is turning into the emergency lane. I'm now at the point of just starting to merge at the car who's blocking me, it's amazing how often they will actually let you in if it looks like you're about to hit them.
"We also drive too close to the car in front. Everybody tailgates and they don't like to be told that they do. In fact, stand beside a road, any road, and you'll see that most people wouldn't be able to pull up safely behind the car in front in an emergency."
Oh yeah. I'm now driving chanting "I cannot control what the driver behind me is doing. I can only control how far I am from the car in front. I cannot control what the driver behind me is doing.." This also adds to the merging congestion problem: there's nowhere to go when there's no stopping distance and/or merging space to go into.
Couple this with a belief (expressed on the radio the other day) that it's "un-Australian" not to do the speed limit at all times and a touching belief in tyres/reaction times/other driver's reaction times/other driver's tyres, particularly in the wet, and you have our wonderful road system.
Congestion is the natural result and it worsens with every new house that's built. Without investment in public transport infrastructure, it will simply continue to get worse.
Bring on the fucking train line to Monash, is all I can say. 2500 new houses at what was Waverley Park? How much put into the Mitcham/Frankston Freeway? How much put into upgrading/extending the train/tram system? Where are the fucking buses anyway? And apparently no one does anything after 7pm in the outer suburbs. They can't. There's no buses.
You know the best thing about this? I drive against the traffic. I'd absolutely hate to be driving with it. But then again, I wouldn't, because I would be driving at most to the train station.
But seriously. I have seen some fucking incredible road rage recently. The all time wierdest was driving up Lygon St behind a tram. As you do, given that there's trams along there, and cars parked and basically all you have to do is sit tight and you'll get there eventually. This wasn't good enough for a guy behind me. He's come up along the side and tried to push in one car ahead. The woman he's tried to push in front of was amazed, not least because she thought he was about to turn into a side street. Hell, I thought he was about to turn into a side street, he was certainly going faster than I would head towards the parked cars ahead. The woman's basically done a "what are you doing?!?" gesture - bad mistake. The guy has then proceeded to basically hang half out the car and shout abuse at her. While driving behind me. This was the point I got Dean to turn around and start watching what he was doing on the grounds that my attention was probably better off driving the car and watching what the traffic ahead of me was doing. We finally (after many slamming on the brakes by him, probably in an attempt to get her to rear-end him) got to Albion St, where you can pass the tram. I've headed in next to the tram, and overtaken as we've gone through the bend. He's come flying through, been cut off by someone pulling out of the Maccas (slowly, but they were being careful), slammed on the brakes and then cut off the same woman as before in order to prevent her from passing him in the other lane. Seriously. And then driven at 20kph behind me in order to shout abuse at her while simultaneously preventing her from passing him. Unbe-fucking-lievable.
We took his details and rang the cops, the guy's a complete dickhead. Doubt anything happened though.
This even tops the driver that I saw punch the moving car next to him on the SE arterial. Way to lose an arm.
Even better than the woman who rear ended us because we 'weren't far enough into the intersection' for her (we were as far across as we could reasonably be without blocking the through traffic) and who then took off doing 80 in a 60 zone, merged across all 4 lanes of the Eastern and cut off four cars doing so. We took her details too and reported her for not stopping when she rear-ended us. No damage, nothing happened.
My favourite would have to be the woman who was (as far as I could see) blind drunk on Plenty Rd. Her car had a sticker saying "Miracles happen". The main one being of course that she hadn't killed anyone yet.
The 'DriveRight' campaign is a fucking joke as well. Seriously, have you seen the driving of some of these fuckwits? And the best thing is that they all think they're careful, safe drivers. Sheesh.
Having said that, I find myself driving more aggressively all the time. I never used to speed, now I'm usually 5km above the speed limit. I find myself driving 2 seconds behind the car in front, less if the traffic's done one of it's sudden stops between High St and Warrigal Rd. I find that I'm getting more easily pissed off by the people around me while driving.
I'm trying to stay calm and focused while driving. Something that isn't necessarily easy when you've got a semi sitting about 1m behind you doing 100kph. I really wish sometimes I hadn't loaded trucks, because I know roughly how much they weigh and what the momentum is likely to be.
There are times driving when I can feel the fragility of my spine.
I wish I had the option to just catch 2 trains, instead of it being a tram, train then bus. Basically factor in the connections and you're adding another two hours plus onto my commute. That and the working between sites thing makes it basically untenable to take public transport for the most part. *sigh*
People read while they're driving, can you believe? I didn't either until I was collecting this time last year for the Good Friday appeal. I thought one was a bit odd, but it was quite a few people doing it. And not just mobiles or Melways (I kind of understand the Melways). Books, newspapers, you name it. For fuck's sake, concentrate. And what, you can't not read for the time it takes you to get there? Take a fucking train/tram/bus then.
I don't know how you fix it. Personally I'd start with increasing funding for public transport, decreasing parking in the CBD - who drives to the fucking CBD?!? Honest to God, why? And isn't it nice that NAB are moving to Docklands, where there'll be 'increased parking' in their new building. Increased fucking parking?!?!? For Christ's sake, it's the only part of Melbourne that the tram system's been extended to in the last 5 years!! It's right next to the fucking public transport hub. But then this is the same society that gives free cars to MPs, even when they live in fucking Coburg, Fitzroy or Brunswick. *sigh* Make the Pollies use their Gold Passes. Then see how quickly things start being fixed.
We're rude, inconsiderate and aggressive. In short, argues David Morley, Victorians are among the worst drivers in the world — and the blame for that is shared by many.
There's an old saying that there are two things you can't tell an Australian bloke. One, that he's no good in bed; and two, that he can't drive well. While we'll draw the line at any assessment of prowess in the boudoir, we've some bad news on the latter front.
Australian men (and women; let's not be sexist) in general, and Victorians in particular, are some of the world's worst drivers. Unskilled, uncharitable and just plain uninterested, they adopt a standard of driving that falls well short of the mark.
According to Geoff Thomas, director of research and development at driver training specialist Murcott's Driving Excellence, the notion that we're poor drivers is based on plenty of evidence.
"As a group of drivers, we're highly competitive (with each other) and aggressive. We're also a sanctimonious bunch and we tend to think we know everything," Thomas says.
"People also tend to think their cars are better than they really are and there's a complete ignorance of the road rules."
Ask a newcomer to Victoria what they think of our demeanour and abilities behind the wheel and you'll probably be greeted with disbelief at the way a group of people can be so ordinary at something most are required to do every day of their lives.
A survey by motor insurer AAMI also presents a frightening picture of what's going on in the bitumen jungle.
According to the survey, one in five drivers believed that aggression made them better drivers. Forty-five per cent admitted to making illegal U-turns and right-hand turns when they thought it was safe to do so.
According to Dr John Cheetham, a consulting psychologist who analysed the results of the survey, it was clear that "Australians are becoming less safety conscious in their driving".
So what's wrong with us?
Spend some time driving overseas and you'll soon see that traffic can flow well despite poor roads and severe traffic density. Peak hour in Paris or Rome is a great example. It's manic and crazy to watch, but you soon realise that this is only because the cars are moving to a beat (as opposed to the Monash Freeway limbo or the Punt Road non-shuffle).
It does so because the drivers think about what they're doing at the time (and not what they'll have for lunch or where the next speed camera might be) and because their attitude includes the notion of co-operation with other drivers. This attitude, says Thomas, is completely at odds with the siege mentality that pervades the mind of the Victorian (and especially the Melbourne) driver.
"Lane changing in Melbourne is poor," says Thomas. "We don't indicate and if we do, it's a lazy flick of the indicator as we start to turn the wheel.
"We also drive too close to the car in front. Everybody tailgates and they don't like to be told that they do. In fact, stand beside a road, any road, and you'll see that most people wouldn't be able to pull up safely behind the car in front in an emergency."
So whose fault is all this?
At the seat of the problem lie the attitudes of the Victorian drivers themselves. As a species, we're too territorial, short-tempered and vengeful for traffic to flow. Speeding up to block a car that's trying to change lanes should carry a fine. Instead, it's the default setting from the moment the engine is running.
As well as the bad attitude, we're hardly what you'd describe as a skilled collection of drivers. The average understanding of dynamics is poor, the average skill level pathetic. Many drivers have no idea how to respond to emergencies and especially how to avoid those situations in the first place. A state of steely-eyed getaway drivers, we are not.
Drive in Melbourne on a wet morning and you'll see this plainly as the traffic slows to a crawl for no reason apart from ignorance and fear.
Because for many of us driving is a chore, we don't invest any time or effort into getting it right. Where's the joy in perfecting skydiving if you never want to fly in the first place?
That's a salient argument only up to the point where you admit that, if you are going to fly every day, maybe knowing how a parachute works isn't such a bad idea.
The State Government also has to accept a portion of the blame for our status as some of the world's worst drivers. The concept of driver training before a licence is issued continues to be ignored by governments all over Australia, but the Bracks Government's recent refusal even to consider lowering the age for a learner's permit or provisional license (in the face of evidence supporting the notion in other countries) underpins the mind-set that training people to drive properly is not a priority.
Successive governments have also allowed their addiction to speeding fine revenue to present a misleading picture of road safety. By extending the use of fixed and mobile speed cameras and using police cars as mobile speed traps, governments instil the view that speeding is the primary danger on our roads.
The natural, if subconscious, extrapolation by the driving public is that by not breaking the speed limit, they won't place themselves in any danger.
Not even close. It's the great road-safety lie, and it's part of the reason we're such dud drivers. Even for those motorists who don't buy the "Speed and You'll Die" myth, the bizarre (and, frankly, laughable) 3 km/h speeding tolerance, against a background of some artificially low speed limits in the first place, commits them to a driving career of speedometer watching. As an option to pedestrian, traffic and other hazardwatching, this is a tragedy waiting to happen. Again.
Thomas reckons that speed-camera technology could be used to book drivers for tailgating rather than speeding, but nobody in government is interested.
"We've approached the Government to use speed cameras to measure the gaps between cars and catch people travelling too close to the car in front," he says.
"The technology's the same as for catching speeding cars, but nobody wants to hear about an idea that will reduce their revenue from speeding fines."
Then there's VicRoads. Many professional drivers would dearly love to meet those who figured that bottlenecks at freeway entrances could be cured by installing traffic lights to limit the number of cars that could enter the freeway at once.
Such methodology is seriously flawed. The cause of the merging mayhem is twofold, but it's not simply the volume of cars that's at fault. It has much more to do with the fact that merging drivers don't understand that to merge successfully, they must be travelling at the same speed as the traffic into which they wish to merge, coupled with the fact that those already on the freeway are loath to make room for a newcomer. Ignorance and bad attitude breed bottlenecks. Says Thomas: "When we're merging, we don't allow room and tend to barge our way in. Either that or we're timid and get bullied by other cars that won't let us in."
Melbourne itself is part of the problem and, while the city lacks the geographical bottlenecks imposed by Sydney's watery landscape, the urban sprawl plays a large part. Our spreading suburbs have created a large proportion of the traffic congestion that is guaranteed to bring out the worst in us behind the wheel.
Consider that young families are being lured into housing estates such as those in the south-eastern corridor to discover they must rely on a car since there's little, if any, public transport. A typical family in these areas has two cars. The breadwinner drives to work each day while the partner does the school and after-school runs.
And with congestion comes the sort of bad behaviour, red-light running and fate-tempting manoeuvres that have helped us earn our wretched reputation.
David Morley contributes to The Age's Drive section and many other motoring publications. He has driven all over the world.
Particularly liked:
The cause of the merging mayhem is twofold, but it's not simply the volume of cars that's at fault. It has much more to do with the fact that merging drivers don't understand that to merge successfully, they must be travelling at the same speed as the traffic into which they wish to merge, coupled with the fact that those already on the freeway are loath to make room for a newcomer
Thank you kind article writer!! I am amazed by the number of people who speed up to 100kph when they can see the traffic crawling along at less than 60kph or who do 60kph when the traffic is actually zipping along. Presumably on the grounds that that was the last speed sign they saw so they're going to stay at 60 until they see the next sign. It also amazes me the number of people who will not let you in, even as the merge lane is turning into the emergency lane. I'm now at the point of just starting to merge at the car who's blocking me, it's amazing how often they will actually let you in if it looks like you're about to hit them.
"We also drive too close to the car in front. Everybody tailgates and they don't like to be told that they do. In fact, stand beside a road, any road, and you'll see that most people wouldn't be able to pull up safely behind the car in front in an emergency."
Oh yeah. I'm now driving chanting "I cannot control what the driver behind me is doing. I can only control how far I am from the car in front. I cannot control what the driver behind me is doing.." This also adds to the merging congestion problem: there's nowhere to go when there's no stopping distance and/or merging space to go into.
Couple this with a belief (expressed on the radio the other day) that it's "un-Australian" not to do the speed limit at all times and a touching belief in tyres/reaction times/other driver's reaction times/other driver's tyres, particularly in the wet, and you have our wonderful road system.
Congestion is the natural result and it worsens with every new house that's built. Without investment in public transport infrastructure, it will simply continue to get worse.
Bring on the fucking train line to Monash, is all I can say. 2500 new houses at what was Waverley Park? How much put into the Mitcham/Frankston Freeway? How much put into upgrading/extending the train/tram system? Where are the fucking buses anyway? And apparently no one does anything after 7pm in the outer suburbs. They can't. There's no buses.
You know the best thing about this? I drive against the traffic. I'd absolutely hate to be driving with it. But then again, I wouldn't, because I would be driving at most to the train station.
But seriously. I have seen some fucking incredible road rage recently. The all time wierdest was driving up Lygon St behind a tram. As you do, given that there's trams along there, and cars parked and basically all you have to do is sit tight and you'll get there eventually. This wasn't good enough for a guy behind me. He's come up along the side and tried to push in one car ahead. The woman he's tried to push in front of was amazed, not least because she thought he was about to turn into a side street. Hell, I thought he was about to turn into a side street, he was certainly going faster than I would head towards the parked cars ahead. The woman's basically done a "what are you doing?!?" gesture - bad mistake. The guy has then proceeded to basically hang half out the car and shout abuse at her. While driving behind me. This was the point I got Dean to turn around and start watching what he was doing on the grounds that my attention was probably better off driving the car and watching what the traffic ahead of me was doing. We finally (after many slamming on the brakes by him, probably in an attempt to get her to rear-end him) got to Albion St, where you can pass the tram. I've headed in next to the tram, and overtaken as we've gone through the bend. He's come flying through, been cut off by someone pulling out of the Maccas (slowly, but they were being careful), slammed on the brakes and then cut off the same woman as before in order to prevent her from passing him in the other lane. Seriously. And then driven at 20kph behind me in order to shout abuse at her while simultaneously preventing her from passing him. Unbe-fucking-lievable.
We took his details and rang the cops, the guy's a complete dickhead. Doubt anything happened though.
This even tops the driver that I saw punch the moving car next to him on the SE arterial. Way to lose an arm.
Even better than the woman who rear ended us because we 'weren't far enough into the intersection' for her (we were as far across as we could reasonably be without blocking the through traffic) and who then took off doing 80 in a 60 zone, merged across all 4 lanes of the Eastern and cut off four cars doing so. We took her details too and reported her for not stopping when she rear-ended us. No damage, nothing happened.
My favourite would have to be the woman who was (as far as I could see) blind drunk on Plenty Rd. Her car had a sticker saying "Miracles happen". The main one being of course that she hadn't killed anyone yet.
The 'DriveRight' campaign is a fucking joke as well. Seriously, have you seen the driving of some of these fuckwits? And the best thing is that they all think they're careful, safe drivers. Sheesh.
Having said that, I find myself driving more aggressively all the time. I never used to speed, now I'm usually 5km above the speed limit. I find myself driving 2 seconds behind the car in front, less if the traffic's done one of it's sudden stops between High St and Warrigal Rd. I find that I'm getting more easily pissed off by the people around me while driving.
I'm trying to stay calm and focused while driving. Something that isn't necessarily easy when you've got a semi sitting about 1m behind you doing 100kph. I really wish sometimes I hadn't loaded trucks, because I know roughly how much they weigh and what the momentum is likely to be.
There are times driving when I can feel the fragility of my spine.
I wish I had the option to just catch 2 trains, instead of it being a tram, train then bus. Basically factor in the connections and you're adding another two hours plus onto my commute. That and the working between sites thing makes it basically untenable to take public transport for the most part. *sigh*
People read while they're driving, can you believe? I didn't either until I was collecting this time last year for the Good Friday appeal. I thought one was a bit odd, but it was quite a few people doing it. And not just mobiles or Melways (I kind of understand the Melways). Books, newspapers, you name it. For fuck's sake, concentrate. And what, you can't not read for the time it takes you to get there? Take a fucking train/tram/bus then.
I don't know how you fix it. Personally I'd start with increasing funding for public transport, decreasing parking in the CBD - who drives to the fucking CBD?!? Honest to God, why? And isn't it nice that NAB are moving to Docklands, where there'll be 'increased parking' in their new building. Increased fucking parking?!?!? For Christ's sake, it's the only part of Melbourne that the tram system's been extended to in the last 5 years!! It's right next to the fucking public transport hub. But then this is the same society that gives free cars to MPs, even when they live in fucking Coburg, Fitzroy or Brunswick. *sigh* Make the Pollies use their Gold Passes. Then see how quickly things start being fixed.
