CANBERRA $@#% You I’m pulling out anyway

the safest way to drive is to distrust everything and everyone, even youself.

Sage words indeed from the Sergeant and Bethie.

Before this post continues and someone is forced to invoke Godwin’s Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

I formally call for a truce. What do you say HenryBG? I’ll agree to stop “punishing” other road users if you agree to stop being such a crusty old fart and pulling in front of whomever you dam well please?

Maybe we can even go and do a defensive driving course together? Just as long as you promise wear an onion in your belt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARXfQzfl9EQ

Thanks for the feedback one and all.

Aspro

Alderney said :

I needed to copy and paste your comment as I am signed in on the first page of comments, but not the second so could not click on quotes. Some quirk of the riotact web system.

Firstly, to ally the pedant. I know that when my speedo says 105 I am going under 100. How do I know this? The car is only 2 years old and is an expensive European model. Also, it’s been tested.

I ignored your first post as it was so rife with bizarre statements that I figured you could have only been trolling. But after this post, I’m convinced you’re not.

Alderney said :

I was also by no mean the fastest car on the road at the time. Don’t try to diffuse this dickheads actions by blaming me for being there. If it wasn’t me in that spot at that time, it would have been someone else; maybe someone not as capable a driver as I, and carnage may have reigned.

95% of drivers believe that they’re better than average. Hence, nearly half of all drivers are more confident of their abilities than they should be. Overconfidence is possibly the biggest silent killer on our roads. Don’t believe me? Look at the statistics of the most over confident group of drivers on the road… 17 to 24 year old males.

Alderney said :

Secondly, while there may have been some embellishment to my comment, it was intended to indictate the serious nature of the way this fuckwit, who apparently also lives in qbn,

I’m not going to argue that the commodore driver didn’t do anything wrong. They clearly have failed to give way and committed an offence… but why do you keep pointing out that they were probably from Queanbeyan? Is this a vain attempt to convince everyone that the give way offence was somehow worse because of where the driver may sleep at night? I’m not following.

Alderney said :

pulled out with no regard to what was actually happening on the road. If one is required to wait 5 or 10 minutes before proceeding then one is required to wait 5 or 10 minutes before proceeding; simple as that.

Whilst I have no doubt that the situation was heart stopping and possibly required a change of pants, how do you know it was a deliberate and malicious move? It could’ve been a genuine mistake rather than a callous disregard for your safety. All human beings make mistakes… all human beings have natural blind spots, something that cross road intersections on 100 + km/h carriageways do not cater for.

Alderney said :

I’m glad that you feel you are such a legend driver that you can proclaim to the world (or at least the riotact audience) your tales of avoiding wildlife and other animals. What I can say to you is that if you have never had to fight to keep a car under control you have never been in a truely tricky situation. I can say that in my 26 years of driving I’ve really only had to fight to keep control of a car once. Luckily for that person I managed to because they were dead if I didn’t (I would have gone 80 km/h into their drivers side door). That however, does not make the initial pressures my vehicle was under on this occasion (with a 3 year old child on board) any the less dramatic.

It’s fair to say that almost any time that two drivers find themselves in a tricky situation with one another, that neither one of them can be let off all blame completely. In fact both drivers will often leave the scene utterly pissed off at being wronged by someone else.

Many drivers would then praise themselves and their driving ability for being able to get out of that situation… eg: “lucky for that person…”. Drivers will almost NEVER look back on the incident and question what they could’ve done differently to avoid the situation all together.

Classic example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcLKiIMVa0M

I have no doubt the driver of the Rodeo in the incident above went home carrying on about what a close call he / she had when they got cut off at Oaks Estate. Rather than saying “I contributed to a near collision when someone failed to give way to me and I didn’t slow down when I had time to do so”

Back to your incident; being such a capable driver as you claim, I’m sure you were paying full attention to the road. You would not have been tailgating, and thus would had had a good chance to observe the commodore driver approaching or sitting at the intersection with the potential to cross your path. Again being a capable driver, you’d be aware of the deadly ramifications of being involved in a collision at an indicated 105 km/h regardless of fault. You would have immediately taken your foot off the accelerator, or cancelled cruise control, and hovered your foot over the brake… just in case something went wrong.

If not, you contributed to the near collision and should not be praising yourself quite as much as you are.

Alderney said :

Are you one of those people who believe things because they are in the paper? I don’t think you are, so it might be a good start to not totally believe everything you read on the riotact. Just remember the grain of salt qbngeek.

Again not following.

Postalgeek said :

Seems that once again we have two sides of the same tedious coin: drivers who cut in front of other drivers, and drivers who don’t like letting other drivers in. They feed off each other.

This is one of the reasons why I ride when I can.

You think motorists can’t get on, so you ride your bike instead. I’m not sure I follow your logic? 😛

Postalgeek said :

Seems that once again we have two sides of the same tedious coin: drivers who cut in front of other drivers, and drivers who don’t like letting other drivers in. They feed off each other.

That’s why I like driving in Sydney. More often then not every driver of every discription, will let you in so long as you indicate your intent. We spend our lives rushing from one place to another then wonder why so many people are having stupid accidents that so easily could have been avoided. No one on this forum can honestly say that they have not been involved in some sort of road rage (minor to major) in their driving lives.
in regards to the OP, I have had occasions where I have pulled out in front of a car that I misjudged the distance on, and I am sure I am not the only one. I apologise to you in advance if I do it in the future…..small excuse and an excuse all the same but I am still getting used to driving my new car.

Seems that once again we have two sides of the same tedious coin: drivers who cut in front of other drivers, and drivers who don’t like letting other drivers in. They feed off each other.

This is one of the reasons why I ride when I can.

HenryBG appears to be the only person here who doesn’t understand the road rules.

HenryBG said :

I would say “useless public servants”, except the tradies on our roads are often among the worst.

i would take offence to that comment if I could be bothered. But after ready all the arguements on this post and many others within this forum I’ve calmed my self down when driving and laugh at the idiots on the road. I’m going to buy a dash cam and start naming and shaming.

What I do see, frequently (especially in the 2-hour period surrounding 1700hrs when somebody seems to release all the cretins onto the road), is the situation I described above, where delusional “road-owners” like AsproBoy drive dangerously to “punish” others for daring to enter their lane.

Looks like my alter ego “The Punisher” is personally responsible for the public service grand prix every afternoon at 1700.

My god Henry, It’s like you know me! You know my thoughts …are you watching me right now?
That’s it…I’m putting on my triple layer alfoil hat to keep you out of my head.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD HENRY!!!

NoImRight said :

#55 Aagh. Should have previewed. In a rush. Actually HenryBG comment and my response. Thoroughly Smashed not involved.

Well, no, I don’t see anybody “nearly hitting me”. (Occasionally I see people “trying to hit me”, like the motorcyclist who changed lanes the other day without noticing I was already in the lane. You’d have to get up pretty early in the morning to “nearly hit me”….).

What I do see, frequently (especially in the 2-hour period surrounding 1700hrs when somebody seems to release all the cretins onto the road), is the situation I described above, where delusional “road-owners” like AsproBoy drive dangerously to “punish” others for daring to enter their lane.

As for the idiot who can’t slow down in time to avoid challenging his poor skills at controlling a braking vehicle, all I can say is stick to the left lane in future, keep an eye on the road ahead, and when you see somebody indicating – instead of creating a dangerous situation, adjust your speed in a timely manner to avoid it.

#55 Aagh. Should have previewed. In a rush. Actually HenryBG comment and my response. Thoroughly Smashed not involved.

HenryBG said :

Thoroughly Smashed said :

.

I would say “useless public servants”, except the tradies on our roads are often among the worst.

Excellent post. Managed to label two groups at once while, in your own mind at least, maintaining a sense of balance and fair play. So you see a lot of people that “nearly” hit you. Whats the common denominator here? Maybe spend some time in the room of mirrors…

Yes Henry, every single car that has run up your backside, because you carelessly pulled out into oncoming traffic, has been driven by me and me alone. You would not believe how intimidating my 1.3 lt micro Mitsubishi can be can be.

[Qbngeek said]: Okay, time to point out some very obvious things. First of all the speed limit there is 100km/h, but I am not going to go into that as I am sure you feel you have a right to do 5km/h over for some stupid reason.

More importantly, if you were struggling to keep control of your car under heavy braking then I suggest you get it serviced and get them to pay particular attention to your brakes. I have literally stood on the brake (I even lifted my arse off the seat because of the force of my leg on the pedal) in several cars to avoid wildlife and farm animals (my Dad lives in the middle of nowhere) and I have never had to fight the car to maintain control. The worst one pukked slightly to the left adn it was nearly 15 years old. [end quote]

I needed to copy and paste your comment as I am signed in on the first page of comments, but not the second so could not click on quotes. Some quirk of the riotact web system.

Firstly, to ally the pedant. I know that when my speedo says 105 I am going under 100. How do I know this? The car is only 2 years old and is an expensive European model. Also, it’s been tested.

I was also by no mean the fastest car on the road at the time. Don’t try to diffuse this dickheads actions by blaming me for being there. If it wasn’t me in that spot at that time, it would have been someone else; maybe someone not as capable a driver as I, and carnage may have reigned.

Secondly, while there may have been some embellishment to my comment, it was intended to indictate the serious nature of the way this fuckwit, who apparently also lives in qbn, pulled out with no regard to what was actually happening on the road. If one is required to wait 5 or 10 minutes before proceeding then one is required to wait 5 or 10 minutes before proceeding; simple as that.

I’m glad that you feel you are such a legend driver that you can proclaim to the world (or at least the riotact audience) your tales of avoiding wildlife and other animals. What I can say to you is that if you have never had to fight to keep a car under control you have never been in a truely tricky situation. I can say that in my 26 years of driving I’ve really only had to fight to keep control of a car once. Luckily for that person I managed to because they were dead if I didn’t (I would have gone 80 km/h into their drivers side door). That however, does not make the initial pressures my vehicle was under on this occasion (with a 3 year old child on board) any the less dramatic.

Are you one of those people who believe things because they are in the paper? I don’t think you are, so it might be a good start to not totally believe everything you read on the riotact. Just remember the grain of salt qbngeek.

Felix the Cat said :

I see quite often people going left around a 90 degree corner coming to a stop when there is a car some kms back in the distance and then pulling out when a car is approaching 50m away at 80km (eg Gungahlin Dr turning left onto Gundaroo Dr near Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club).

I think that is HenryBG you are following…….

HenryBG said :

AsproBoy said :

HenryBG said :

AsproBoy said :

HenryBG said :

To the OP:
I would suggest that you are belatedly noticing standard driving behaviour from people who’ve driven in the real world.
There’s something special in the Canberra water that makes people think nobody’s allowed to get in front of them.

I understand your disappointment, but you’ll have to understand – the problem is yours.

Thanks for the insight Henry. You have definitively demonstrated that encountering self-important arse hats like yourself on the roads is no doubt the root cause of my problem.

How ironic – somebody who doesn’t believe he should have to slow down for other traffic on the road calling somebody else a “self-important arse hat”.
Not that I have the faintest idea what an “arse hat” is – some kind of american thing learnt from the idiot box, I have no doubt.

Look Grandpa Simpson… I am obviously confusing you with technicalities and “jive talk” that those dang blasted kids always go on with, so I’ll dumb it down a little.

My fundamental assertion is that pulling out into the path of an oncoming car doing 80km/hr, causing said oncoming car to brake heavily to avoid a collision, is an unsafe manoeuvre.

I’ll wait here while you go and google “arse hat”.

When you say “causing said oncoming car to brake heavily”, do you in fact mean, the driver of said oncoming car, having seen somebody turn into their lane, continues to accelerate for as long as possible in order to approach the rear of the offending vehicle at a very high speed in an attempt to intimidate before braking heavily and acting like the victim instead of the road bully he really is?

Just curious why, when you see a car turning into your lane, you feel the need to drive so quickly when what you should be doing is slowing down.

No one else got that from Aspro’s comment, just you Henry. I suspect you do this often & that is why you have such experience with it.

Can you not see that when you pull out of a side road (not a slip lane) into a piece of road that is marked at 80 or 100 km/h & dont have a Ferrarri or a Hyabusa that acellerates to 100 in 4 seconds is dangerous?

If you do this on a regular basis then your arrogance is astounding if you expect other people just to slow down for you. I would not be surprised if you get run over by a B double one day & that poor driver will have to live with that for the rest of his life even though it would not have been his fault.

Thoroughly Smashed said :

To contribute, if I’ve got room to do so I will move out of the left lane when I see someone in the distance waiting in a slip lane.

Yours appears to be a voice in the wilderness.
I *really* don’t understand why so many people have trouble with this simple concept.

I would say “useless public servants”, except the tradies on our roads are often among the worst.

AsproBoy said :

HenryBG said :

AsproBoy said :

HenryBG said :

To the OP:
I would suggest that you are belatedly noticing standard driving behaviour from people who’ve driven in the real world.
There’s something special in the Canberra water that makes people think nobody’s allowed to get in front of them.

I understand your disappointment, but you’ll have to understand – the problem is yours.

Thanks for the insight Henry. You have definitively demonstrated that encountering self-important arse hats like yourself on the roads is no doubt the root cause of my problem.

How ironic – somebody who doesn’t believe he should have to slow down for other traffic on the road calling somebody else a “self-important arse hat”.
Not that I have the faintest idea what an “arse hat” is – some kind of american thing learnt from the idiot box, I have no doubt.

Look Grandpa Simpson… I am obviously confusing you with technicalities and “jive talk” that those dang blasted kids always go on with, so I’ll dumb it down a little.

My fundamental assertion is that pulling out into the path of an oncoming car doing 80km/hr, causing said oncoming car to brake heavily to avoid a collision, is an unsafe manoeuvre.

I’ll wait here while you go and google “arse hat”.

When you say “causing said oncoming car to brake heavily”, do you in fact mean, the driver of said oncoming car, having seen somebody turn into their lane, continues to accelerate for as long as possible in order to approach the rear of the offending vehicle at a very high speed in an attempt to intimidate before braking heavily and acting like the victim instead of the road bully he really is?

Just curious why, when you see a car turning into your lane, you feel the need to drive so quickly when what you should be doing is slowing down.

Sgt.Bungers said :

When I first started driving I also had this problem, got cut off all the time.

After sitting defensive driving and several advanced driving courses, motorbike and truck driving courses, I no longer experience drivers failing to give way resulting in an emergency situation anywhere near as often. Almost never in fact.

The key thing that changed was me. I have slowed down considerably. I now treat every other road user as a trained assassin who is going to attempt to kill me the instant I let my guard down. When they make their move, they’re not only going to do their very best to make it look like an accident, but will also kill themselves if they have to.

While it sounds absurd, when you think about it, this is an incredibly realistic representation of using our roads, regardless of your mode of transport.

My advice? There’s not a lot you can do to change the behavior of others. Though ff you’re constantly finding yourself in emergency situations, have a look at your own driving.

If you see a road user approaching an intersection where you have right of way, immediately start easing up on the accelerator in case you need to start braking. If the road user is approaching at high speed and may not stop, release the accelerator and hover over the brake, or even start braking. If they see you and stop, no problem, continue on your merry way. If they don’t see you and fail to give way, you’ve already wiped 5 km/h off your own speed and will be in a better position to stop safely if you have to.

Learn that a give way sign and a dotted line is never going to physically stop a 1 to 62.5 tonne machine, ever. Most drivers will also avoid ever stopping at all costs. Approaching an intersection, they’ll check with a fleeting glance if it’s safe to proceed, then move off if they believe it’s safe. Naturally if they have not seen you (how often have you looked for the butter in the fridge and not seen it immediately, even though it’s right in front of you), then they’re still going to go.

Most drivers will not double check. If you’re prepared for this then you’ll have far fewer problems.

Very well said. Defensive driving is a must. Always be aware of every car around you and have a think about what they are likely to do next. You can usually predict when some idiot is about to do something stupid before it has happened. This has saved me on more than one occasion.

I see quite often people going left around a 90 degree corner coming to a stop when there is a car some kms back in the distance and then pulling out when a car is approaching 50m away at 80km (eg Gungahlin Dr turning left onto Gundaroo Dr near Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club).