Honestly, drivers it’s not that hard. That stick on your steering wheel is to tell everyone (including those people that you can’t see) where you intend to go. Don’t assume that your direction is obvious or, like some people I know, only indicate if you can see another car that you think might be affected by your actions.
As an ocassionally disabled pedestrian I sometimes need to allow a lot of time to get across the road. It is very frustrating when I have been waiting a long time for a car to go past only to watch them indicate at the last minute (or not at all) and turn just before they get to me. I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for extremely disabled and slow moving people, the elderly or those with children.
Don’t the Greens have a policy along the lines of giving priority to pedestrians and a legal weighting if a pedestrian is hit by a vehicle. As a pedestrian I wouldn’t want to argue right of way with a four wheel drive and it would be small comfort from my hospital bed if I had the force of law behind me, but something needs to be done to give pedestrians more power.
Someone has to have a gripe on Monday morning so I thought that I would have a go…
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astrojax. wheely wheely hope you got personalised plates on your trike hon
astrojax said :
And drivers who wear socks and sandals. Bit hard to spot the socks and sandals, but you know straight away that that’s what they’re wearing having seen the driving.
And any driver who wears a wide-brimmed hat in a car. It’s a sure sign of severe situational awareness impairment. Often they also wear socks and sandals.
And glasses. Just screams “Visual impairment”.
And gingers. Fiery people are dangerous people.
I remember reading complaints about the “indicating right when driving straight” on this site years ago, I thought it couldn’t possibly be true until I saw it one time heading home from the airport. I just can’t comprehend how someone could think it was the right thing to do…
Also mentioned on this site a long time ago, people in Canberra seem to be under the impression that the “Indicator” is called the “Confirmiator”… you get so many people putting it on when they’re already in the process of changing lanes or turning, as if it was to confirm their action, rather than indicate it… never trust anyone on the roads, because they might be one of those people.
kambahkrawler said :
Many of the small roundabouts make it not practicable to indicate on exit (except for turning left as you are already indicating on approach anyway), simply because the time after passing the last exit before your turn is far to little for the indicator to be of any use, hence it is not practicable. If it were possible to indicate each and every time they wouldn’t have that ‘exception’ in the rules would they?
kambahkrawler said :
you forgot 4wd drivers; drivers of cars; drivers of vans; truck drivers, and; motorcyclists. and short people. they got no reason…
qbninthecity said :
Agreed. That actually annoys me more than not indicating at all, because at least no indicating shows a complete lack of thought. Indicating after the fact shows the driver has acknowledged they need to let otehr drivers know WTF they are doing, but why bother since it has already been done (at least the moment to inform has passed).
Infuriating!
Also, I mentioned something like that on here once before and somebody replied with the rather quaint comment, “That’s a confirmicator!”
breda said :
The ones that indicate after they’ve already started turning are the ones that annoy me the most….really they are already halfway through, why bother?
kambahkrawler said :
When you’re not being the int3rn3t h3r0 you’ll probably have time to notice some roundabouts are quite small and in such cases there is generally not enough time of any merit to indicate when exiting. I’d say it is in these instances that Mr Plod would find it acceptable if one failed to indicate their intention to exit the roundabout.
I don’t think people should just stereotype bad drivers. Include the idiots too.
Rubbish drivers – do not know how to indicate or negotiate roundabouts:
Anyone driving a blue-plated vehicle
Drivers with any kind of hat on other than a baseball cap
People who drive with their mouth fully agape
Selfish drivers – know full well how to indicate and negotiate roundabouts but would rather not do it properly:
Taxi drivers
Drivers of clapped out utes
Any driver wearing a baseball cap
Red P platers
Suited middle aged male drivers of BMW’s, Mercs or Lexus
Fat people
Jono said :
I found it not practicable once. I had just been for a boxing lesson, still had the gloves on, and for some strange reason my hands were tied to the bottom of my chair. Couldn’t reach the indicator.
Otherwise it’s pretty practicable.
Unless you’re lazy or don’t give a toss about anyone else.
Oh wait, I forgot we’re in Canberra….
Any Canberran’s scariest nightmare would be a roundabout with a ‘merge’ sign. The ambulances should just line up nearby..
Mysteryman said :
True enough but Id like to see something more concrete before making a statement like ” Anyone in an occupation that requires hi viz clothing is X% more likely to be an inconsiderate, dangerous driver” .
I havent looked to make sure which thread but on one of these two running at the moment someone made the same claim that the worst drivers are public servants. I think in either case its oversimplifying.
Okwhatever said :
Oh dear another person who thinks that there cannot possibly be behavioural trends amongst certain groups of people based on factors such as vocational choice. That’s right, everyone is a beautifully unique snowflake that can’t be categorised.
Dilandach said :
Oh dear another person that thinks your driving behaviour is somehow related to the clothes that you wear, you just sound like a snob. Hang on I can do it too: “…Yeah, um it’s just like the stupid shirt and tie wearing zombies who all think they are exempt from slowing down in 40km roadwork zones”( I mean how dare they be slowed by lowly high vis wearing, loser second class citizens)
Oh wait, do my comments seem unfair and in no way grounded in reality? Hmm.
Indicating is over rated…..every man for himself!
mcmc said :
That is always the one I’m worried about. I never hang in someone blind spots for longer than absolutely necessary. That bit where Northbourne turns into the Federal Highway past the Dickson intersection is downright scary because of this. I watch the traffic in the middle lane like a hawk to be prepared if one of them would decide to change lanes without checking to avoid slowing down for the lane merge.
And yesterday I had to speed because the car in the lane next to me decided to go past the bus as it was already pulling out into his lane.
I have blindspot mirrors and absolutely love them. But I still get annoyed by cars hanging in my blindspot for no good reason too. I only check my blindspot mirror if I’m planning to change lanes and I prefer to see the cars close to me even when I’m not changing lanes.
Minor gripe, but how much fun is complaining about bad drivers?!
WillowJim said :
Untrue….. If your going to quote rules at least read them.A s mentioned by others the rules say we should indicatle left on exit “where practicable”. On small roundabouts it is often not practicable to indicate left on exit, so not a case of the police turning a blind eye or a driver doing something wrong.
On a similar note, CHECK YOUR BLINDSPOT before changing lanes! Noticed this (like most things) is particularly bad on Northbourne! Had a few near misses and if you’re in the middle lane there isn’t anywhere to go if someone decides to change into your lane on top of you! Not that hard especially on a straight road like most of our multi-laned roads are in Canberra!
Goood, good, run to the Greens, that will help.
Extra ‘o’ made me read it in the Emperor’s voice.
I hear you, OP. There is a T junction coming out of my local shops where most pedestrians have to cross (no marked crossing nearby) and I estimate that 50% of cars coming out of the shops parking area do not indicate on their way out. Or, they begin to turn and simultaneously hit the indicator. Thanks. Now and then they indicate one way and turn the other.
The advice above is correct. Trust no-one. It means waiting a bit longer till the coast is clear, but it also means living a lot longer.