Know thine enemy, particularly if they turn out to be a friend of yours.
I had an interesting discussion with an older associate the other day that completely rocked my world and made me think that, as much and as loudly as I rant about other drivers, I don’t really understand them at all. And if you don’t understand the enemy you’ll neither beat them, nor learn to live with them.
Still, I don’t think I’ll ever understand why cyclists think they should be able to trawdle through the central lane of a central Sydney road at 20km/h while I sit behind them.
But I digress. This seemingly lovely old fellow was discussing the drive from Sydney to Batemans Bay, a journey I undertake regularly and which offers two routes – straight down the coast, a twisty-turny by town-blighted road, or down the world’s most boring highway to Goulburn and then south via a fantastic mountain road worthy of Pikes Peakishness, called the Clyde. Now, I like both ways, but the Clyde is one of my favourite bits of tarmac anywhere, when it’s not blocked up like a Christmas bowel by Canberrans with camper trailers.
But my friend never, ever goes that way “because of that horrible mountain, the Clyde, so many corners, it’s so dangerous, just an awful road, don’t you think?” Cue several minutes of my mouth hanging open with dribble leaking down my chin. This only encouraged him to go on. “So, no, I go the other way, but I take it very, very easy through the windy bits, it’s just safer, although I do get lots of impatient young men sitting right on my bumper, why do people do that?”
I was gobsmacked to the floor. I’d probably sat behind him myself, screaming abuse, and not realised. I left a short time after this discussion, pledging quietly to never see him again, obviously, but somehow educated. For some people, driving is not enjoyable, it’s a chore, and a slightly frightening one at that. And the roads that we see as fabulous are completely the opposite to them. This is like discovering that some people really hate chocolate, ham, Christmas pudding and custard and only eat them under sufferance. It’s disturbing.
So, now I understand my enemy, and why he or she is sitting two inches from the steering wheel, with frightened eyes, doing 40km/h in an 80km/h zone. It doesn’t make me loathe them any less, but it does give pause for thought. I’m just not sure what that thought is yet. Anyway, Merry Ho Hos to you all and I hope you all survived the Christmas break, and the quiet times on this site, intact.
Happy New Year Stephen, and welcome back to work.
It woild appear that you have stumbled upon something I have been confonted with for ages. To some people driving is a chore, to most it is merely a convenience and to another few it is a pleasure often ruined by the former categories. This awareness forms part of my “Theory on Stupidity (Motoring)”. Absoultely no one in a position to change the stupid mish mash of regulations enjoys driving. This means they don’t drive and therefore have no idea whatsoever of driving in the current era which results in the stupidity of things like zero ongoing driver testing. And saying in the same breath that driving is a priviledge not a right, but 80yo Aunt Ethel is within her rights to drive at 20 kph because her eyesight isn’t what it used to be.
Anyway Stephen make the best of your bit of fun type road now because soon the pollies will have it speed limited to 50kph with 19 fixed cameras to make sure you pay your bit of deficit off.
didnt a petrol tanker wipe out heaps of people down the south coast over christmas!a drive day at a race track is much more fun,not to mention the safety,not your own but somebody elses one year old for exsample.
Yes, I heard NSW is considering bringing in mobile speed cameras again, no cops involved, just some punter in a van in a bad mood. Can’t wait for that.
Stephen, what’s this Clyde you speak of? It’s the Kings Highway! And using that way adds 50 kilometres to your journey, or adventure as you may call it. (285km via Princes Highway, 335km via Hume and Kings Highway).
Spandau, you are right, that horrible accident occurred about 10km north of Bateman’s Bay.
an except from newspaper:
“Driving south on the Princes Highway with a tanker full of petrol, the 36-year-old was negotiating a bend near Pebbly Beach Road just before 5pm, when something happened that made his Kenworth prime mover cross into oncoming traffic. It collided with three cars before exploding, killing him and sisters Jordon, 13, and Makeely Bridge, 11″.
from an article by Dylan Welch, The Age, Dec 30, 2009
The mother and father of the two children received burns to 80% of their bodies, and the father died a few days later in hospital.
A horrible accident, which doesn’t make me wonder why people with limited driving ability get scared driving on winding, country roads.
Lol Most entertaining story i still don’t get the other person i totally see it from your point of view prehaps that’s the problem no matter how much these people complain they may as well be speaking a forigen laungue anyway if driving is such a chore and is so hard tell him to catch public transport.
he sounds like one of those people who would like nothing better to do than sit in a corner and wait to die or maybe thats to harsh all i’m trying to say is live a little i mean my mums 52 and rides a motor cycle got her liicense just a couple of months back frightens the hell out of me but thats normal i guess.
It might add 50km but it takes exactly the same amount of time. Riddle me that, Little Bitsman.
50km is quiet a long way noramlly espesially onto of what your doing to travel to work and back were do you work Antartica.
Happy New Year to all!
Christmas travel is pretty much a chore for everyone, but surely it can’t be too hard to just relax and go with the traffic flow? The people who want to go 20 Kph faster or slower spoil it for everyone.
Clyde Mountain Rd can’t hold a candle to the Kangaroo Valley Rd for fun twisties and stunning views.
And for the record, yes a lot of Canberrans drive to the south coast for the holidays, but I’ll bet my lugnuts the majority of caravans along that road have NSW or Vic plates.
gee corbs,looking at the news this morning the blood spilt on the roads down there is insane,more then murders in victoria.
12 Months ago my mother spent 2 weeks in hospital close to death due to a car crossing onto the wrong side of the Kangaroo Valley road, resulting in a head-on.
I’m sorry but anyone who finds driving enjoyable on these admittedly beautiful roads is living in another dimension and poses a public liability. Driving ‘enjoyably’ means pushing your luck & that’s something that must not happen on public roads.
The few stints I’ve had on a legal racetrack were a blast..!!
Cheers
Scott
Guys i think your missing the point here it isn’t about people dieing on the roads its about how the other side thinks and why.
Personally, I understand where the old bloke’s coming from.
I know my Camry prefers the wide, open straight stretches of a freeway with the van on the back, rather than narrow, bumpy rural roads.
Bronson I am surprised at your comment. Wouldn’t you like to take the caravan through some twisty, bendy road? Where nearly every corner has an advisory sign of 25km/h or thereabouts? Presuming you’d do 10 to 15km/h around those corners, you could almost take photos while you drive.
On second thoughts, you’d probably just jack-knife the ‘van and cause more road misery for others. Best you stick to wide, open straight stretches of a freeway. At least then other people can overtake you easily.
“I’m sorry but anyone who finds driving enjoyable on these admittedly beautiful roads is living in another dimension and poses a public liability. Driving ‘enjoyably’ means pushing your luck & that’s something that must not happen on public roads.”
No, I think you’re wrong. I haven’t caused an accident, yet, touch wood, but I’ve seen plenty of slow drivers and idiots cause them.
Scott, I am sorry about what happened to your mum, but there is a huge difference between enjoying a drive, and being a risk to the public.
Hoons might all be driving for fun, but not all people driving for fun are hoons.
To me, pushing your luck is not enjoyable…well maybe at the casino, but not on the road.
earthy,where are you?.so corby,you havent come across decloved,decapitated or burnt bodies on the side of the road yet?
“Decloved”? I’ve come across a few people falling off motorcycles on the Clyde in my time, and been quite close to a bike accident, but nothing as horrible as what you describe, thankfully.
Well the fact that enjoying a drive is not all about thrill seeking but simply that, enjoyment, seems to have been sorted.
While driving home the other night, dodging the “Immortals” travelling full tilt on a wet windy night, a little light bulb came on above my head.
Fear is the key. Catchy isn’t it? Authority has big problems with individuality so many, many laws are passed to force us into one great homogenous lump. To achieve this on the roads they have to reduce us to the lowest common denominator, i.e. people like Stephen’s friend. Queensland is going to do this by unashamedly following the “Victorian model” of “100% covert operations” with unmarked crap vehicles fitted with the latest 1k-over-and-your’e-gone cameras. Naturally we who were not timid will now be turned into nervous wrecks worrying about our licence, constantly scanning the speedo and road verges and twitching uncontrollably. Bingo, we no longer enjoy motoring and have joined the frightened masses. I’m thinking of emigrating.
Spandex why the big egar to talk to earthy aren’t we entertaining enough for you and why would you say haven’t seen any horribly injured people yet i don’t know about you but thats not a good thing it almost sounds like thats the only thing possible to people when they drive which might i add is not true by a long shot sure there are alot of accidents but compare that with how many people use the road every day the percentage is like .005 or somthing like that.
Canberra reader truth is i push my luck probly a little to much more than most you see i’m a night shift worker and i drive around in a car all night and i should have been splatterd to a tree on more than 20 occasions of the top of my head but i’m still talking so hows this the statitic’s are not always right.
You know who cause acciedents people who don’t give a crud about other drivers and do whatever they feel like on the roads them and slows because slow people ie old farts a so parranoid about driving that they think the rest of us aren’t capable of driving so there just way to cautious and when some one tries to overtake they block them and think there doing the world a favour also they don’t look they drive half blind i would rather have everyone being hoon’s on the road than have old people driving next to me.
happy new year yoda,well, we havent heard earthys wisdom for ages.
I remember Earthy was getting ready for the arrival of his babies, Romeo and Alfi. Perhaps Earth Lover has become Earth Father and he is that zombie like state of new parenthood.
Speedy, you nailed it about the people who “don’t give a crud”, but it can be anyone, not just the oldies. I HATE the people who take about 15 minutes to overtake one car on the freeway, because their cruise control is at 111, the car they are going past is on 110. It’s like watching mobility scooters race.
Merry ho-ho’s ….
Drunken Prostitutes ?
Stephen, you’ve never seen a slow driver cause an Accident in Australia, only impatient idiots. Australian law defines it as such. If we had minimum speed limits, as per Germany, you would have a case.
I was going to suggest that you are at least correct regarding irresponsible slow drivers in fast lanes, but have you ever been in the situation where a single lane spreads into two, as per overtaking lanes, and you want to let someone past? They will stick their vehicle into the slow lane to overtake so quickly that moving into the slow lane yourself is challenging death..
And don’t start me on the use of indicators..
Australian drivers are some of the worst in the world, and you are perpetuating that situation, Stephen.
Scott yes i know exactly what your talking about there’s also the ones that like to sit 1 inch of your bumper even when you give them room to overtake.
Slow drivers(i mean 10/20+ under the limit in good conditions)are either simply arrogant or incompatent – and pose the same threat to other rd users as a speeding driver.
Worse still doing it on a busy single lane rd causeing the speeders to pass.
If you treat your driveing like doing the dishes – 2words – public transport.
and bi/anual re/tests for anyone over 75.
doesnt mater how fast you drive on a busy single lane road,the suburbia numb skull will allways try and catch,tailgate and then overtake as dangerously as possible,so its probably better to drive slower so he can get past for his own safety,just because he didnt take a piss before leaving the pub,..six monthly testing for all drivers under 35 is definately needed.
The only good thing about a hoon is there confident in there own ability and they don’t hold traffic up thats why i prefere them over a slow.
I’ve done both routes – and the Kings Highway/Clyde Mountain way is much, much better. The road is by no means dangerous, despite all the deaths that occur there, and when not busy (an increasingly rare thing) it can be an astonishingly good drive. You have to know the road though – some of the recommended speeds around bends can be doubled, while some mean exactly what they say.
By contrast, driving up/down the Princes Highway is frustrating in the extreme.
John, personally I think it comes back to one crucial fact. That the Kings Highway route is fully 50 km longer!
Now if your work pays for your car and your fuel, then good for you. As Stephen pointed out, the time for the journey is roughly the same. Though I think that depends on your start point.
If you went from Top Gear Towers, in Sydney city centre, you could hook up the eastern distributor, then M5 and Hume Highway. (If you know the road, you know that you can travel from there to the outskirts of Melbourne with not one traffic light at all. That’s roughly 900km with no traffic lights, no roundabouts etc. Very impressive).
If you went via the coast road though, you’d get off the fast road within 10km or so, have to crawl through Brighton Le Sands, and then several other suburbs too boring for me to remember, until Sutherland. Also up hill and down past Wollongong, Shellharbour, Nowra, etc etc.
That’s where you lose your time. Of course, while you and Stephen are filling up again at the petrol station, we arrive first at the destination anyway. Ha ha!
Hey check this s**t out! You can now get David Hasselhoff to do the voice on your sat-nav! Or if you prefer KITT, the car from that show with the Hoff in it.
Wicked, hey bro!
http://www.navtones.com/
Wait a minute Top Gear own’s tower’s.
I believe its the ACP (Australian Consolidated Press) tower, corner of Elizabeth and Park St, in Sydney CBD. It surely could win a prize for the sh!tt!est office building in Sydney city.
Not sure if it’s still owned by young Mr Packer? He should sell it, so someone can demolish it and it’s neighbour, and build something fresh and modern on the site. They could lease back a few floors in the new building and invest the rest.
Mr Corby, is my info up to date? Is ACP still there? I have strippers booked for your birthday so I need to know.
I hope Little bit’s doesn’t have a cruel sence of humour and get you a nice lovely fat o gram or worse a man lol that would be funny though.
Travelling at 69kmh in the right lane of a dual lane 70kmh zone, overtaking a 50kmh mini driver, some numbnuts, decided to pull into the right hand lane in front of me. This person pulled out when I was about 30m away from them & after making eye contact with me. I jumped on the brakes & came to a screeching, almost halt, about 1ft from this persons rear bumper. Planted my hand on the horn & gave them the one fingered salute. With the kids in the car I was less than pleased.
At the next set of red lights, I got out, walked up to thier car & asked them why the f@#k they pulled out in front of me when they saw me coming? The response went something like “f@#k you, you had enough time to slow down for me.” I promptly told them that it was thier duty to make sure they had room to pull out without impeding other drivers, let alone nearly causing an accident. Thier response agin was F U. I pointed out that they had no brain, that they were a danger to society & if they had any sense at all they would go park on a set of train tracks. I then got back in my car & proceeded to ignore the torrent of abuse that came drifting through my open window.
This person was a male about 35yrs old & had two small children in thier car. Further proof that age is meaningless when it comes to arrogant dangerous drivers.
Onto another subject now that I have had my rant. To suggest that anyone who enjoys driving is causing accidents or is endorsing dangerous driving is just plain stupid. I enjoy driving immensley yet I rarely exceed the speed limits & I don’t push hard around corners or into my braking zones. I save that for the track. You don’t need to be driving on the edge to enjoy driving.
As for emerging ito a two lane situation from one lane, stay far enough left that the person behind knows your going left instead of changing to what lane you want at the last second. Indecisive driving causes more accidents that anything else other than perhaps ignorance. Scott, I’m sorry to hear about your mum, I’ve lost family in car accidents to, but really, your problem sounds more like it’s caused by you, rather than those around you.
Being a learner driver that has driven less than 10 hours, i can safely say i have driven about 5-10 kays under the limit. As my skills build up however, i will migrate to the posted limit in good conditions. Ben Zene (post 18) is absolutely spot on about the speed limit. I live in Queensland, and I find myself cheking my speed every 10 seconds or so, to make sure im not speeding. If im slightly over, i will continuously look at my speedo until im under the limit. Its stuff like this that causes crashes, as i occasionally stray to the left or right cause im not watching the road ahead. Im not saying that speeding is right. Im saying that having a speed camera hidden wherever the pigs feel like it is dangerous. More people like me will look at their speedo continuosly, focusing on the road less, and then ending up in the tree they will enivitably hit.
I have also had the experience of having: people pull out infront of me with little room to spare, the ignorant dickhead who sticks to your bumper on a single lane road through hills, the people who have to just fly past you when they get the chance because you were a few kays under the limit and that was just too much of an inconvience for them, and the f*ckwits who just dont give a rats arse about anyone else on the road. (hoons included) It is also people like this that causes crashes worthy enough of news headline. Its not right.
I myself actually enjoy driving alot, and evn though its mainly just through suburbia, I really cant wait to point a car at a nice bit of road. Scott, sorry to hear about your mother, but just because I enjoy driving, does not mean Im pushing the limits every time im behind the wheel. Im actually a very safe, sedate driver at the moment. Because I enjoy driving, does not mean I will become a full blodded hoon as soon as I get my P’s.
As for the post itself. I too can see the point of view the older associate has. When I first got behind the wheel, it was a very daunting experience. That is why some people find driving a chore, its scary. If he has to drive a little under the limit just to feel safe, so be it.
Sorry about the gian post guys!
all cars can be fitted with speed alerts such as a voice that tells you when you reach 50,60,70kmph etc,but nobody wants it including the governments because they want you to speed so the can collect revenue.