Ghoul Alert - More drivers learn wet road = slippery road

And on the TV news: “The wet roads caused numerous traffic accidents in canberra today…” NO IT DID NOT!

Xbikee: see post 12 – wet roads – where poorly designed or where drains are blocked can indeed cause accidents. (But I take your point.)

Caf: The what??

futto said :

I drive on this bit of road all the time. It is really slippery and the water doesn’t drain off it and pools up. My traction control light came on several times on the way home yesterday, and I was driving like grandpa.

How about those evil tyre created “gutters” that form on the Parkway when its raining? They fill up with water, rather than draining to the side and then cause you to aquaplane right next to a concrete barrier. I try to avoid that road when it is raining because of this.

Got caught by that on the Parkway on Friday night, had knocked about 10-20k’s off my speed to cope and was watching people fly by… Frightened the sh*t out of me. Something has to be done about the drainage on certain parts of this road.

…Woomargama…

Gungahlin Al, can you explain the Satanic Shed in Woomargama?

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

Sounds like a fairly typical 4WD owner attitude.

Oh, i don’t know, I own an old magna. maybe hitting me will improve its look….

@danman – I do the 3-second count. bigger gap, but it still seems to fill with idiots… though some try to merge where there is no gap. like my passenger door. and beep at me, as if it is my fault…

And on the TV news: “The wet roads caused numerous traffic accidents in canberra today…” NO IT DID NOT!

Sounds like a fairly typical 4WD owner attitude.

I have an old MQ Patrol 4wd…. All lanes are mine (you car cost more than my heap)!

el said :

Broke traction at 130 last night, held it but

LOL. 1:30AM, or 130Km/H??

A minor detail 😛

I’ve also noticed around here, that there are a lot of dickhead P-Platers trying to show off in front of their friends or whatever.

It grinds my gears!

miz said :

Agreed about the tailgating – three seconds is ideal, but then people feel free to snaffle your buffer. Tres irritating!

I too hate tailgaters. I usually slow down if I feel the guy is trying to intimidate me into going faster.

But we all have to change lanes. If the gap is safe, I’ll change, and expect the guy/girl behind to drop back, as I do. Otherwise we’d all miss a lot of turns.

Lane lines are barely visible in the wet too. On Friday evening – still light – I (rather embarassingly) ended up in the ‘bus only’ bit on Athllon Drive at the Hindmarsh lights, as I could not see the lane lines with all the shiny stuff on it!

Agreed about the tailgating – three seconds is ideal, but then people feel free to snaffle your buffer. Tres irritating!

How about those Curtin drivers!! If anyone in the world can’t drive it’s them.

So… people can’t drive in the wet, and lack basic vehicle safety understanding.

Better install some more speed cameras.

GottaLoveCanberra said :

It’s a notoriously bad area and could definitely do with a resurfacing.

Spray-pave? 😛

That roundabout has an accident almost every single time it rains. I shit ye not.

The guys at work replace the poles on that roundabout, particularly the southbound one, quite often.

It’s a notoriously bad area and could definitely do with a resurfacing.

G-fresh – I don’t mind people merging in front of me, as long as they leave a gap of at least 2 seconds between cars.

What I hate is someone shoe boxing their way into my buffer zone and then hitting their brakes to avoid colliding with the car in front of them.

If you need to move into a lane, my suggestion is to do it earlier if you find it’s a struggle…

DJ said :

If you think Canberra drivers are bad…. try driving in Perth.

I was in Adelaide recently and it seems as if they take sitting in your blind spot very seriously. They are very good at it too. Oh, that, and driving in a staggered pattern on dual carriageway. They tease you with a gap, but never open it up enough to move through. Of course, they do this on perfectly open and visible roads while driving well under the speed limit.

Having done a fair bit of driving now in every state and territory I can honestly say that I would be hard pressed to pick a difference. If there’s bad driving to be done, across the board, regardless of what city you’re in it’s taxi’s and courier/delivery vehicles that without exception demonstrate the worst road skills and observance of rules.

Overheard said :

* Sigh *

First person to stump up some hard stats to back up their ‘Canberra drivers [blah, blah, blah]’ observations has licence (no pun intended) to continue these sort of assertions. P.S. Polls with ~=100 recipients do not equal ‘hard stats’.

Don’t know about “hard stats” but I drive approx 300km per day (6 days) all over Canberra and Queanbeyan and it is my observation that Queanbeyan drivers are much better than Canberra ones – as in more courteous and safe and also more knowledgable and dilligent with road rules. 9/10 times in Qbn if I see a car doing some stupid move it has ACT plates.

If you think Canberra drivers are bad…. try driving in Perth.

Overheard Canberra drivers ARE abysmal.
When I lived in Holbrook (Woomargama actually) the drive to Sydney was always fine until the Canberra traffic joined in. It then became more like dodgems with people tailgating, ducking in and out of lanes, and generally crazy stuff.

Yep – tailgating.

The water lying along Northbourne and on Flemington near Well Station Drive was really dangerous regardless of driving quality.

* grey * jumpers

* Sigh *

First person to stump up some hard stats to back up their ‘Canberra drivers [blah, blah, blah]’ observations has licence (no pun intended) to continue these sort of assertions. P.S. Polls with ~=100 recipients do not equal ‘hard stats’.

Slightly off topic, and just outside the region, can I advise anyone heading to the coast that it’s not just dusk and dawn that you have to watch out for woolly jumpers, as I found out the hard way today.

RIP, Skippy; you never had a chance. And neither did my VX. Bah! Mercifully it was quick, and the car is still drivable.

Busy day; I was helping clear fallen trees across the road near the Monga State Park on the way down — winds on the Clyde and at the Bay are very strong.

How about those evil tyre created “gutters” that form on the Parkway when its raining? They fill up with water, rather than draining to the side and then cause you to aquaplane right next to a concrete barrier. I try to avoid that road when it is raining because of this.

Yep. No sign of any work being done to fix the shocking state of the Parkway this year either.

I knew it was raining heavily when I saw people *actually slowing* to 60Km/H on Adelaide Avenue last night.

Broke traction at 130 last night, held it but

LOL. 1:30AM, or 130Km/H??

I drive on this bit of road all the time. It is really slippery and the water doesn’t drain off it and pools up. My traction control light came on several times on the way home yesterday, and I was driving like grandpa.

How about those evil tyre created “gutters” that form on the Parkway when its raining? They fill up with water, rather than draining to the side and then cause you to aquaplane right next to a concrete barrier. I try to avoid that road when it is raining because of this.

Danman said :

I really hate the pr!cks that take my buffer zone – especially in the wet…

My rule of thumb is 2 seconds behind the car in front…

Come on people. That gap isn’t there to let you in.

Yeah we don’t like people merging in front of us in Canberra. An abhorrent liberty to take. My lane.

Having learned to drive in the UK….

I really hate the pr!cks that take my buffer zone – especially in the wet…

My rule of thumb is 2 seconds behind the car in front…

Come on people. That gap isn’t there to let you in.

Broke traction at 130 last night, held it but

Yeah, but most places I’ve been to the drivers tailgate. It’s not a unique Canberra problem. (You should see some of the cabbies in Melbourne)

No, the big problem is that Canberra drivers tailgate like crazy all the time, and don’t seem to make any adjustment to allow for the poor weather conditions. Then they wonder why they can’t stop in time to avoid a rear ender. Though I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how many drivers had their lights on through the day yesterday. Not the black mini driver though, the car that most needed to have them on was simply a vague shadow through the rain. Sigh.

Meh, we’re no worse than most other places. The big problem is we have wet weather so infrequently than when it happens we’re not use to it.