Aggressive Drivers

[NCR600]

I guess this thread could fit into "General" quite easily, but I'll post it here seeing as there's already a similar thread in "XC" and it's about my recent experience in a car, and not on a bloody bicycle!

Mrs NCR and myself recently had the pleasure of escorting a couple of foreigners around NSW. They couldn't get over the fact that in this country, if you sound your horn or gesticulate or shout at a fellow motorist who has done the wrong thing, YOU are the one subject to a tirade of blue language and obscene gestures. This happened multiple times whilst we were ferrying them between tourist traps.

Now, I'm a fairly stupid sort of bloke, but I'm smart enough to know that when I'm wrong, a little contriton goes a long way. Unfortunately it seems that in Australian culture, if you're wrong, the more colourful language you use and the clearer your one finger salute (I never saw the traditional V sign being used, which is at least humourous by virtue of it's campness) the righter you are.

This attitude seems to reflect the attitude of general society in microcosm.

"It's not my fault I nearly hit you, you shouldn't have been driving on your side of the road minding your own business just as I was about to turn right in front of you"

"It's not my fault, you were riding a motorcycle and YOU DIDN'T HAVE YOUR HEADLIGHT ON"

"It's not my fault, you're a bloody cyclist and you slowed me down for 30 seconds!!!"

"It's not my fault, the owners of the pub got me drunk"

"It's not my fault, the scoutmaster flashed his tronkus at me"

Is Australian society in general so fucked that nothing is anyone's fault anymore?

We are a nation of selfish, arsehole megalomaniacs who believe that everyone else is below them and should get the hell out of their way when they're in their tin cages.

Very few of them however, would be willing to push in front of me in a supermarket queue.

[Breaka]

We are a nation of selfish, arsehole megalomaniacs who believe that everyone else is below them and should get the hell out of their way when they're in their tin cages.

Very few of them however, would be willing to push in front of me in a supermarket queue.

Middle aged women spring to mind.

3 out of 5 weekdays I travel the same road morning and afternoon, both the times at which school start and finishes....so roughly 8-9 and 3-4:15, which seems to be the same time that middle aged mothers are taking there kids to school. I go through two school zones, six roundabouts, one set of traffic lights, many residential and semi residential areas where the speed limits are 50-60km/h with the highest speed limit being 80km/h.

On countless occasions I have found myself being tail-gated through 40km/h school zones by middle age females who appear to be carrying school kids themselves ready to be dropped at that school or another school. I see them coming up behind me at speeds that are of greater than the correct 40km/h and I also get the feeling the only reason they slow down and do the correct speed is because there is a car in-front of them......then they have the hide to make out as if I'm in the wrong because there is a Red P plate sticking out from underneath of my number plate. Now I know that this isn't really what many would classify as your typical 'road rage' but as you said NCR it is basically saying to me "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROAD" and not to mention dangerous.

And as you say NCR, they wouldn't dare push in front of someone if they were waiting in line at a supermarket. I think it has something to do with the fact that everyone is given the same 'power' as everyone else...whether they be female or male it doesn't really matter.

[Ham]

totally agree it has happened to me in the past. my favorite is the idiot tailgating you when your going the speed limit because of a speed camera ahead idiot has overtaken my and abused me then passed the camera speeding and probably got fined.

[Hobzai]

Totally with you, NCR600. I'm often heard saying "We seem to be a society of bad mannered, ugly hearted, needlessly aggressive people in a pointless hurry." I see it every day and Ham's experiences are typical.

I was in a similar situation on a three lane highway, being tailgated in the left lane as I could see a bus stopped up ahead (no bus bay) and was slowing down gradually. Tailgater proceeded to overtake me using the middle lane, give me the finger and a choice selection of typical Australian epithets, pull out from behind the truck he was following, back into the left lane in front of me under a bootful of 4.0 litre Ford straight six power, followed closely by as good a test of an ABS system as you're ever likely to see (remember the bus?). I gave him a nice round of applause. Yet this near death experience did nothing to even take the edge off him.

What's disturbing is I hear my MTBer friends complain about "slow drivers", when in fact the target of their ire was simply doing the speed limit. They lose 5 minutes out of their day and the world is ending.... what's happening to us? :rolleyes:

[leitch]

take this for example, i was coming round a roundabout (give way to the right AND giveway to any vehicle on the roundabout) and this wanker bogan in his beat up POS commodore wagon waiting to go stopped, looked me right in the eye and proceeded to drive straight out in front of me. i jumped on the brakes and the horn, to which he gave me the finger and a mouthful of "f*cking c*nt" etc etc. wtf?

i couldnt help but laugh... what a wanker.

[TheBofh]

Mrs NCR and myself recently had the pleasure of escorting a couple of foreigners around NSW. They couldn't get over the fact that in this country, if you sound your horn or gesticulate or shout at a fellow motorist who has done the wrong thing, YOU are the one subject to a tirade of blue language and obscene gestures. This happened multiple times whilst we were ferrying them between tourist traps.Australians, and West Australians in particular, must be the most aggressive & discourteous drivers in the world, (I have driven in France & Italy & they have nothing on Aussies). Letting other drivers change lanes, merging lanes without causing a bottleneck, leaving a sensible distance between you and the car in front, not running other drivers off the road just because they're in front of you, all seem to be alien concepts here.
Take a relaxed approach to road rules if you must but don't start foaming at the mouth as soon as you come up behind someone who is selfishly doing the speed limit.

[Jon]

take this for example, i was coming round a roundabout (give way to the right AND giveway to any vehicle on the roundabout) and this wanker bogan in his beat up POS commodore wagon waiting to go stopped, looked me right in the eye and proceeded to drive straight out in front of me. i jumped on the brakes and the horn, to which he gave me the finger and a mouthful of "f*cking c*nt" etc etc. wtf?

i couldnt help but laugh... what a wanker.
Just on the roundabout subject,it seems to me that the rule actually is" whoever comes up to the roundabout fastest has right of way whether there are others in the way or not."
I personally enjoy pulling into a roundabout first and forcing an approaching hoon (who is not actually up to the give way line yet) to land on their brakes .Sucked in arsehole ,its called right of way. Now if someone approaches that genuinely needs right of way such as cars with trailers,trucks etc,then I will gladly give way whether I am in a hurry or not.
Cheers jon

[leitch]

I personally enjoy pulling into a roundabout first and forcing an approaching hoon (who is not actually up to the give way line yet) to land on their brakes

in that situation, i wouldnt have called myself an aproaching hoon. i had right of way, and a Peugeot 307 isnt exactly a hoon-able car ;)

[Elbo]

I like to take the even more aggrevating approach when someone is tail-gateing me. The closer they are behind me, the slower I go. I've had times where I have ended up going 30km/h on a 50km/h road or 20km/h in a 40km/h school zone.

I also drive under the speed limit by 5km/h a lot of the time, simply to try and save wasting fuel and because I'm not actually in a hurry. This seems to shit people off even more.

One other thing I've noticed is that a lot of drivers tend to sit right in your blind spot, they just sit there, not overtaking you in a 2 lane road or not backing off so you can actually see them. It's very dumb.

[Regan of Gong]

I'm on my L's at the moment, and you get hell with the yellow plates on the back. I do the speed limit, where my 80kph restriction lets me, and I am constantly tailgated.

The worst thing was when I was overtaken in the wet, doing the speed limit, OVER DOUBLE LINES. It's like everyone just assumes- L plate= much slower than speed limit.

It's really tempting to brake suddenly when someone's right on your tail, except they probably wouldn't react quick enough and then we'd both be in trouble.

[stinky-dee]

I know what you are talking about Breaka, had a guy in a BMW with kids in the car overtake me in a 40km/h and give me the death look for doing the speed limit. Bet if one of his kids got hit in a school zone he woiuld be the first to jump up and down.

[emcgough]

My job at the moment consists of deliveries for about 7 hours of the day. I'm a P plater who doesn't want to lose their license by speeding, so consequently I have another car with an aggro fuckwit driver, up my clacker for basically 95% of the day. It's really just not cool....

[|Matt|]

The worst thing was when I was overtaken in the wet, doing the speed limit, OVER DOUBLE LINES. It's like everyone just assumes- L plate= much slower than speed limit.


So true. I got my learners about 2 months ago and now I feel I am an okay driver, I'm no longer the typical super slow L plate driver, but I still have idiots tooting their horns at me when I may take a little longer and a dangerous intersection because I like to look for a bigger gap. I still get tailgated even though I always drive at the speed limit. I must admit, the P platers aren't as bad as regular drivers in my experiences, but maybe I'm just not around P platers often enough.

[Vicious_Fishes]

So true. I got my learners about 2 months ago and now I feel I am an okay driver, I'm no longer the typical super slow L plate driver, but I still have idiots tooting their horns at me when I may take a little longer and a dangerous intersection because I like to look for a bigger gap. I still get tailgated even though I always drive at the speed limit. I must admit, the P platers aren't as bad as regular drivers in my experiences, but maybe I'm just not around P platers often enough.

i got my p's on tuesday :p

and if any of you guys from the mainland think it's bad with the commy's, etc, try it down here in tassie :rolleyes:

merging on brooker is nothing short of... lets just say it's interesting.

[|Matt|]

i got my p's on tuesday :p

and if any of you guys from the mainland think it's bad with the commy's, etc, try it down here in tassie :rolleyes:

merging on brooker is nothing short of... lets just say it's interesting.

Vic and their bloody communist granny-state laws...can't get our P's till 18. But you have to live in Tasmania, so I guess that makes up for it.

[randomridermax]

some lady about 25 was tailgating me when i was pizza delivering on a dark road at night so i slowed down to a stop in the middle of the road where two cars where parked on both sides got out to ask what was the issue or did she have a problem with me going the speed limit i dont with ive ever seen a car do a three point turn that quickley, i hope she learnt her lesson

the other thing i do is when someone is tailgating me i pull over let them go past then sit on there ass and see how they like it:)

[johnny]

I.......Yeah? Fuck you buddy get outa my way!