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Thread ID: 87356	2008-02-18 05:51:00	Are New Zealanders Bad Drivers?	legod (4626)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
641485	2008-02-21 03:54:00	Yea, I just keep my distance when stopping at intersections, the closest I get is so you can still see the rear tyres. As a rule of thumb when behind another car at a stop it should look like the rear tyres are sitting on your bonnet.	rob_on_guitar (4196)
641486	2008-02-21 12:12:00	I feel exactly the same way . Happens all the time . Your sitting there, no indicator, are they gonna turn, are they not . . . you decide to go then they turn, just about run into you, and start swearing at you for almost running into them . "WELL IF YOU WOULD ****ING INDICATE!!!!" i had an exchange of words a few days ago with a driver who, approaching from my right at a roundabout, indicated left and slowed down to go straight through:groan: not as bad as the holden driver abusing me after he ran a red light to find me in his path:groan: But it doesn't work that way on two lane roads, which Auckland has plenty of . You indicate right . Someone turning left stops to give way to you . But traffic going straight through in the right lane next to them does not have to give way to you, so you cannot turn . The person turning left, who by Murphy's Law, is often slow on the uptake, looks at you like you are mad because they are giving way to you and you are not turning . So you point at them to go, hopefully indicating that the straight through traffic means you can't turn . Meanwhile, straight through traffic in their lane that has banked up behind them gets impatient and starts to move into the right lane to get round them making it again impossible for you to turn . Eventually they give up and turn and you only get to turn when the way is completely clear of any straight through traffic . Even when on single lane roads, the problem of straight through traffic persists, because impatient kiwi drivers, who don't look ahead to see why the car in front of them has stopped, often decide to go around it, thereby dangerously straying into your path as you turn right . It's a stupid rule, that while it was designed to ease traffic flow, in fact contributes to accidents . now you see, this is what i said before about mirrors if people used them, they'd see there's no point in giving way as the drivers behind them have right of way and will prevent the right-hand-turner making their turn i very rarely see left hand turners doing what you describe, but i suspect that's because many of them are just turning without considering who has right of way:thumbs: what about at uncontrolled intersections where you are looking to turn right out of a sidestreet and a person is trying to turn right into your street? if there is no give way nor stop sign, you actually have right of way . for my full bike licence test i was tested on this, and while i had right of way i stopped incase the other idiot wasn't going to give way . sure enough he didn't even slow down . the testing officer then had a go at me for giving way when i didn't need to, despite the fact that my caution and waiting to see if the other driver would stop actually prevented me from being seriously injured:illogical and once i had a big argument with a mate who was adamant that a stop sign didn't imply that you had to give way:horrified	motorbyclist (188)
641487	2008-02-21 21:58:00	Our turn left/give way to right turning traffic rule is just plain stupid. You see it causing confusion, and probably crashes, every day. whats wrong with it, its easy.....PROTECT DRIVERS DOOR ! simply do not put yourself in a position where someone can hit your drivers door. ........... If I recall correctly, the rule was revoked in NZ (in the 80's??) because traffic on Auckland's motorway would not keep left and this was causing frustration and congestion. Yet another knee-jerk legislation solution!! proberly due to the right hand offramp into auckland CBD ;) the problem is with the effects of undertkaking rather than the manouver itself. Allow one to undertake means you do not have to move over the left at any point........ they don't keep left with or without any rules. take auckland motorway, there is always a case of the left lane travelling faster then the right hand lane. if there was no undertaking that would mean all that traffic would have to stop and wait blocking up the rest of the motorway, even tho they have a clear road in front of them. they would have to wait till whatever blockage in the other lanes cleared before they can go. stupid. whats the rule with crawler/passing lanes........"keep left unless passing". there is always people deliberately trying to hold everyone up by staying in the right hand lane. undertaking is a necessity due to all the dumb @#$% who have no idea what they are doing.	tweak'e (69)
641488	2008-02-21 22:45:00	Couple of examples... 1. People who drive along and dont have the brains to turn off their left indicator coming up to a junction. 2. People behind the left turn car going straight go around the car waiting to turn. 3. People turning into petrol stations or simialar whose entrance is immediatley after the left thurn they weren't making but had indicated early. etc etc etc So it's not the rule, it's the idiots who don't follow it? I don't see how it's the rules fault if people don't adhere to it. It makes sense, if people weren't too thick to use it then it would work perfectly. Harsher road testing, and occasional (ie: decade) retesting. People get lax, take them off the road.	Thebananamonkey (7741)
641489	2008-02-21 22:49:00	If I recall correctly, the rule was revoked in NZ (in the 80's??) because traffic on Auckland's motorway would not keep left and this was causing frustration and congestion. Yet another knee-jerk legislation solution!! proberly due to the right hand offramp into auckland CBD ;) spaghetti junction is not a normal case;) probably due to people not expecting people to be passing from their left though if those people were keeping left to begin with, we wouldn't have a problem i hate people who sit in the outside lane doing 80kph, alongside two other cars doing 80kph, with a huge space infront and a huge tail behind. one of the few times when i'll use my bike to split between cars at high speed - with horn blaring stop-start traffic is where all the nose to tails seem to happen, and it's stuff like that that unnecessarily causes it and what about those rubber-neckers? i remember one morning i got a flat tyre thanks to some idiot leaving shards of aluminium on the motorway. in the half hour i sat off the side of the motorway, my bike in the bus/emergency lane due to the ground being to soft to hold the bike up, traffic backed up 10km from where i was between rosebank and gt north rd all the way to westgate (my friends in cars inform me). (maps.google.com) of course when the bike shop came round to pick me up, they had to sit in this traffic too. of course as soon as cars passed me they went back from 40kph to 100 unbelieveable some cops came by (in the bus lane) to see what the problem is. apparently if you're stopped like that without a mechanical breakdown beyond your control or other very good reason, there's a nasty fine attached.	motorbyclist (188)
641490	2008-02-21 22:56:00	So it's not the rule, it's the idiots who don't follow it? I don't see how it's the rules fault if people don't adhere to it. It makes sense, if people weren't too thick to use it then it would work perfectly. Harsher road testing, and occasional (ie: decade) retesting. People get lax, take them off the road. while i do agree, i think testing isn't perfect. anyone doing the test will be on best behaviour, but that will still cut out the ones who really shouldn't be driving	motorbyclist (188)
641491	2008-02-21 22:57:00	I don't have a car atm. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Just like with computers, I love them and hate them in equal measures. They're beautiful, astons and ferraris are just perfect. But hondas and hyundais etc. I'd rather walk. I realised that driving actually sucks, it's stressful, hot, and no way to unwind at the end of a day. But I'm lucky enough to live within an hours walk of home. A nice way to start and end the day :) More people should try. But it would be nice if pedestrians decided to keep left too. Makes it easier. Esp with slow walkers.	Thebananamonkey (7741)
641492	2008-02-21 23:00:00	i know what you mean about slow walkers! doesn't your car have air con? (and yeah, driving is horrible - i'd rather ride in a hailstorm)	motorbyclist (188)
641493	2008-02-21 23:00:00	while i do agree, i think testing isn't perfect. anyone doing the test will be on best behaviour, but that will still cut out the ones who really shouldn't be driving Exactly. Anything to get the worst of them off the road is good. But it would also remind people that driving is a luxury, not a god given right. One that can be taken away if abused. And it would keep people on their toes, having to learn the current road rules, not just what they did "in their day".	Thebananamonkey (7741)
641494	2008-02-21 23:07:00	i think if we make it stricter, like random "surprise" testing, we'll solve conjestion no more idiots, so thing's will run smoothly and there's only be a handful of drivers left:lol:	motorbyclist (188)
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