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| Thread ID: 53359 | 2005-01-15 05:49:00 | Kiwi Drivers... | manicminer (4219) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 314285 | 2005-01-15 07:51:00 | The one about signalling right and going straight ahead was part of the road rules years back. Unfortunately when they change the rules only the newist drivers learn the new rules. Lead to confusion all round as lots of people only know the rules from 10 or 20 years back and none of the new ones. Everyone is basically following a different set of rules seeing as there is no retesting in place. |
Raikyn (6293) | ||
| 314286 | 2005-01-15 07:56:00 | In the past few years, I have noticed drivers of all ages and gender, becoming much more aggresive in their driving style. People running yellow lights, taking risks at roundabouts etc. I live in Hawkes Bay, where 90% of the time the roads are quiet - yet people still cannot wait the extra 30 seconds for a gap to open in the traffic during rush-hours. | somebody (208) | ||
| 314287 | 2005-01-15 08:01:00 | My observations of driving are limited to the Wellington and Hutt areas. Roundabouts or traffic islands are relatively new. When the first ones were constructed in Upper Hutt, at least one of them had the road markings changed 5 times before they settled on a final system. That was going from no lane markings to different variations, some repeated twice, some with only one lane round, some with 2 lanes. Makes you wonder! Dual carriageways and roundabouts started to be extensively built in the UK during the 1930s. This was after the most disastrous year of 1934 in terms of fatalities, a year not exceeded until the 1960s or later. It was realised that something had to be done. So we had dual carriageways, roundabouts, Belisha Beacons and pedestrian crossings, driving tests introduced, a Highway Code, and an extensive road safety educational campaign with the emphasis on courtesy. Road safety was actively promoted everywhere, on posters, advertising and on TV until at least when I left UK in 1977. The safety ads on TV here are quite pathetic and near useless. They try to scare people, where as the emphasis should be on repetition of what people SHOULD do. Like "Only a fool breaks the two second rule" , an easy thing to remember. It takes 2 seconds to say out aloud. So you can judge your following distance. NZers seem obsessed with driving up each others backsides, I think they must be perverts :) Then I was taught to drive with my hands on the wheel at the '10 to 2', position, many NZers seem to have been taught to drive with their hands folded over the top of the wheel. Just look next time at the drivers coming towards you. The police havent helped by suggesting people signal right at an island when they are going 90 degrees or more round the island, and then signal left when turning off. People forget the second bit and think it is correct to signal right even when going straight on!!!!!! Since everyone has to go clockwise round an island, there is no point at all in signalling right, only left when you turn off. But then road markings are crappy to say the least, having two lanes going into one etc. But the golden rule is to give way to traffic on the island. A chap from England 2 weeks ago said he just couldnt understand all this right hand signalling nonsense going on at roundabouts. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 314288 | 2005-01-15 08:03:00 | The one about signalling right and going straight ahead was part of the road rules years back. With respect, I dont think that has ever been the case. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 314289 | 2005-01-15 08:12:00 | In the past few years, I have noticed drivers of all ages and gender, becoming much more aggresive in their driving style. People running yellow lights, taking risks at roundabouts etc. I live in Hawkes Bay, where 90% of the time the roads are quiet - yet people still cannot wait the extra 30 seconds for a gap to open in the traffic during rush-hours. In Hastings more than 5-10 cars in a queue and it's rush hour :D Many people travelling between Nap-Has don't know/care about overtaking safely. I've had to move over to the left and slow down a few times to avoid oncoming traffic. :mad: I think the current rules for roundabouts are, if turning left indicate left. If going straight ahead, don't indicate when entering but indicate left when leaving and if turning right indicate right when entering and indicate left when leaving. |
Raikyn (6293) | ||
| 314290 | 2005-01-15 08:14:00 | With respect, I dont think that has ever been the case. It was when I first went for my licence about 12 years ago. I was originally taught when going straight ahead to signal right when entering the roundabout and signal left when exiting. |
Raikyn (6293) | ||
| 314291 | 2005-01-15 08:18:00 | ...are some of the worst drivers in the world. Sorry I missed your nationality? I don't feel however that the asian driver problem is overrated. I have been hit twice, both times by asian drivers. Once stationary in an outdoor carpark, the second time stationary in a carpark building, where he continued to reverse into me despite me sounding my horn and flashing my lights. My next door neighbours are asians. They have written off 3 cars in the 2 years I've lived here. The local asian student hostel has on average one significantly damaged car parked outside each week (different each time). I think based on the proportion of the population they make up, they are a significant danger on the roads. What I can't understand however is why you don't need a valid drivers licence (NZ) to buy a car. What incentive is there to get an NZ licence (for NZers or other nationalities) when you can just go in (often straight off the plane), buy a car anyway and take your chances of getting pulled up. If you're foreign, produce a photocopy of a foreign licence and get away with it. If you total the car, no worries - pop in and grab another. Not like the car dealers going to turn you away. A car dealer in Palmerston North I know, sold 3 cars to the same Asian student, who paid cash each time over the period of a month. Might as well have been selling him hand grenades. |
ninja (1671) | ||
| 314292 | 2005-01-15 08:21:00 | I think the current rules for roundabouts are, if turning left indicate left. If going straight ahead, don't indicate when entering but indicate left when leaving and if turning right indicate right when entering and indicate left when leaving. That is correct. Somehow people still get confused, although exactly how, I still can't quite understand. |
somebody (208) | ||
| 314293 | 2005-01-15 08:30:00 | Sorry I missed your nationality? I don't feel however that the asian driver problem is overrated. I have been hit twice, both times by asian drivers. Once stationary in an outdoor carpark, the second time stationary in a carpark building, where he continued to reverse into me despite me sounding my horn and flashing my lights. My next door neighbours are asians. They have written off 3 cars in the 2 years I've lived here. The local asian student hostel has on average one significantly damaged car parked outside each week (different each time). I think based on the proportion of the population they make up, they are a significant danger on the roads. What I can't understand however is why you don't need a valid drivers licence (NZ) to buy a car. What incentive is there to get an NZ licence (for NZers or other nationalities) when you can just go in (often straight off the plane), buy a car anyway and take your chances of getting pulled up. If you're foreign, produce a photocopy of a foreign licence and get away with it. If you total the car, no worries - pop in and grab another. Not like the car dealers going to turn you away. A car dealer in Palmerston North I know, sold 3 cars to the same Asian student, who paid cash each time over the period of a month. Might as well have been selling him hand grenades. I think you have had a stroke of bad luck ninja. I agree completely about the licencing situation (esp. when someone can fail a Learners Licence test, and still drive on their international licence), which is utterly ridiculous. In saying that, it is unfair to brand all drivers of a particular race based on a stereotype. The vast majority of accidents involve "kiwi" drivers, but they aren't reported as much because they involve "normal" NZers and don't make good news stories. Go out into the provinces where the vast majority of the populations are European descendents, and you will still find a huge number of accidents - involving NZ European people, or "kiwis" as you may put it. The number of drunk drivers caught, number of people caught severely exceeding the speed limit, you will find the vast majority (per capita) are not actually Asians. |
somebody (208) | ||
| 314294 | 2005-01-15 08:32:00 | That is correct. Somehow people still get confused, although exactly how, I still can't quite understand. Well probably half the drivers were around before roundabouts were introduced. They have never had to learn the correct rules or resit their licence. At the moment a licence is basically for life so some people have only formally learnt the rules from the 50's or whatever. Plus when you hear stories from people 30 and up , it was pathetically easy to get a licence. No test of the road code drive around the block and that's it. Some stories I've heard are even worse :eek: |
Raikyn (6293) | ||
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