Old school driving techniques

Deref said :

No – there’s no “old school” rule about it. Stupidity knows no age.

Probably the caution is a response to seeing the ACT rego plates, an infallible sign that the driver is probably obnoxious, impatient and obsessed with rules instead of common sense. Safe driving is about
considering other road users, driving to the conditions and avoiding hitting anything. So if other people drive more cautiously than you, in your state of perfection, think they should, you could try driving to the conditions, instead of resorting to abuse. Slow down and get a life.

Holden Caulfield said :

JC said :

t is a stop sign for a reason you fools. (the reason being visibility to the right on approach)

There’s more visibility from that approach to the intersection in question than some give way signs around the place. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop of course, so there must be other reasons for making it a stop sign, you would think, than just visibility and sight lines.

You must have a go go gadget neck. I know I cannot see too far down to the right until just before the stop sign.

JimCharles said :

Forgive me, if you both arrived at the same time, the right of way is obviously theirs to proceed straight over. But…..if they hadn’t arrived at the junction and would have been required to come to a complete stop anyway, wouldn’t the right of way be automatically yours because you should already be engaged in your manouvre to turn right when the other vehicle hasn’t even arrived at the Stop sign so isn’t engaged?

I’ve seen far too many people blitz straight through STOP signs without stopping that I wouldn’t be taking that chance. And good luck trying to prove any resulting collision was the other driver’s fault because they failed to stop at the STOP sign.

JimCharles said :

What happens if there is 1 car waiting to turn right, but 20 cars wanting to go straight over. Do you have to sit there and let them all through?

Yes, that’s the rule.

By the way – there is no such thing as “right of way” in Australian Road Rules, only a requirement for another driver to “give way”, it is an important distinction.

m_ratt said :

Of course, if it was a four-way-stop-sign (I don’t even know if they exist in NSW), did you stop at the line before they did?

I’ve only encountered them in the US, where you ignore who is going where, and instead give way to those who stopped at their line before you did.

There was one in the back blocks of Yass so I’d guess it is still there. I was told that is was placed there because someone with influence wanted to slow the traffic around his house so I don’t know if it was an officially sanctioned one or just a local special.

JC said :

t is a stop sign for a reason you fools. (the reason being visibility to the right on approach)

There’s more visibility from that approach to the intersection in question than some give way signs around the place. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop of course, so there must be other reasons for making it a stop sign, you would think, than just visibility and sight lines.

m_ratt said :

Of course, if it was a four-way-stop-sign (I don’t even know if they exist in NSW), did you stop at the line before they did?

I’ve only encountered them in the US, where you ignore who is going where, and instead give way to those who stopped at their line before you did.

They work reasonably well, but certainly take some getting used to. The Mythbusters did a test on the effectiveness of 4-way stops as against roundabouts; IIRC the roundabout was about twice as effective.

m_ratt said :

It was a kiwi thing ( http://slightlyodd.com/2010/03/new-zealands-stupid-right-hand-turn-rule ), which changed last year ( http://www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/around-nz/road-user-rule.html ), and if I recall correctly was the same in Victoria until only about 5-or-so years ago.

The “right turn rule” you’re referring to only applies when the oncoming car is turning left. The oncoming traffic in O.P’s example was going straight ahead. Also, the rule changed in Victoria about 15 years ago.

I’m sorry to say that if they wait too long I just go. No point dealing with people like this.

JimCharles said :

“Perhaps they were working on the ‘got there first rule’ – i.e they thought I had right of way as I got to the intersection a couple of seconds before them? “

Forgive me, if you both arrived at the same time, the right of way is obviously theirs to proceed straight over. But…..if they hadn’t arrived at the junction and would have been required to come to a complete stop anyway, wouldn’t the right of way be automatically yours because you should already be engaged in your manouvre to turn right when the other vehicle hasn’t even arrived at the Stop sign so isn’t engaged?

The answer is it all depends. If you can complete your manoeuvre before they stop and are ready to move then you are still giving way to them. But if they stop and then cannot go because you are in their way then you have failed to give way. In this case it will come down to mere seconds of difference.

JimCharles said :

What happens if there is 1 car waiting to turn right, but 20 cars wanting to go straight over. Do you have to sit there and let them all through?

Technically yes. The turning car needs to give way.

tim_c said :

It’s not just old-school drivers, or south-coast retirees, it is a very common confusion also in Canberra, even from those fresh out of driving school.

see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG7yYt1TNLs

Interesting that you point out that intersection. I was thinking about that intersection when I saw this thread. The intersection is an absolute moron-magnet, though I get the opposite result, where people pull across in front of me when I’m going straight ahead.

Wentworth Avenue on the other side of Kingston is also rife with people who should not be driving. I don’t know what it is about Kingston that attracts them.