Close Call's

[Graham]

yeah it does make sense - lucky he didn't hit me though, I didn't know of that rule either :O you learn something new every day

Agreed aswell JMI, far too many times have I seen people turn or merge on a freeway/highway without signalling and it almost ending in an accident which is why I tend to stay a tad further behind traffic.

I think you're meant to be 2-6 car lengths behind someone as a general rule??
On average it takes 6 carlengths to come to a complete stop if you're travelling 60km/h though.

I was pulled over once for "tailgating" and the officer explained it all to me. I certainly wasn't tailgating but me and some friends were on our way back from a cruise in the hills and we may have been driving close together.

oh, and I always check my blindspots ofcourse

[tryg]

The level of instruction really differs from years gone by...

I am sure that people should be failed for even a single event of not carrying out a lane change/turn using "indicator, mirror and over-the-shoulder" checks...

[Graham]

the way that I was taught when I was doing driving lessons was

"SMS"
Signal
Mirror
Shoulder.

nice and easy to remember. I'm not sure how lenient instructors are for driving tests nowerdays because on my test I went 56km/h in a 50 zone and he noticed it AND wrote it down. He probably assumed it was a mistake because I was always 5km/h under the limit and thought it was a 60 zone.

Also had a problem with parking, cars were way too close to the line. Reverse parking I aced it first go though.

[tadz0rz]

Signal mirror shoulder? Never thought of that. The way i merge is mirror shoulder signal...Often scares people when you just start indecating and their in your blind spot.

So maybe...MSS...lol. Thats just me though

[Graham]

mm that's true i suppose, but then again indicating first would give them a little bit more time to react

but to each is their own, whatever works

[blade888]

In the recent findings of Sydney drivers being the worst in the country, one of the major contributors of that being the case is the fact that if you signal to change lanes, check your mirror and shoulder, by the time you start to merge the person behind WILL have accelerated to try to cut you off. Hence why I agree totaly that people should have more training to see the tell tell signs of driver behavior and not rely in indication.

Over 60% of lane changes in NSW involves the car you are merging in front of or over taking either not keeping a safe distance behind you afterwards or dangerously accellerating to either cut you off or ram you.

Classic example is at Pymble on Pacific HWY, I've seen over 20 rear enders there, 4 of which were very serious and 2 fatal over a span of 4 years. People not wanting to let others in front of them even though the merging car is following the road rules and being safe by the 'SMS' mentality. They end up ramming themselves into the rear of the car in front or corner tap the merging car and end up pile driving them side on between themselves, the poor merging car and the car ahead and in those cases can kill the merging driver.

[Graham]

Dying over something so small and stupid.. such a waste.

[LAOS]

My dad gave me one of the best bits of advice when I was learning, he said to always think that every other driver on the road is an idiot and to assume they're always going to do something stupid.

Also the UK learner driver recently introduced a 'hazard perception' test where you identify potential hazards before they happen, that way you can prepare yourself and your driving to avoid the hazard.

[Graham]

My dad gave me one of the best bits of advice when I was learning, he said to always think that every other driver on the road is an idiot and to assume they're always going to do something stupid.

Also the UK learner driver recently introduced a 'hazard perception' test where you identify potential hazards before they happen, that way you can prepare yourself and your driving to avoid the hazard.

That is a pretty good piece of advice, i like it
Myself I already think that of 95% of Commodores.
One of my closer experiences with a commodore would be the following:

Went to friends house.

Friend wanted me to drive car (he was on his L's and couldn't but he wanted to make sure it was regularly driven)

I drove car with a different friend in another car

We are at set of lights, 80's model commodore is next to me at the set of lights and starts revving, giving us the finger and being their boganish normal selves. I ignore them.

They take off but then later get behind me, a roundabout was coming up and my friend was behind them so I did a full circle and got behind him.

Bogans pull over 250m up the road then get behind my friend

we are now on a small road in a bushy area which isn't marked.

bogans overtake my friend and try running me off the fkn road. I almost crashed my friends car swerving so that they didn't hit me.

Hit the skids and they did too and continued to follow.

At this point I was fuming, I have very little tolerance on the road and can rage if someone does something stupid to me, if I was in my Magna I am 110% positive I would've attempted to try a pit maneuver. It sounds very stupid (and I don't even think i should've written that ) but that's how pissed I was.

Friends dad is a Prison warden and his neighbour is a police officer, luckily they didn't follow us home.

I was just so confused why someone would even do that to someone random on the road.

There is a Hazard perception test you have to pass after you've done your practical driving assessment in Western Australia. I'm not sure when it was introduced though.

[tadz0rz]

Yeah they do that here in VIC aswell, I believe you can take the hazard perception test 3 months before you have booked your actual test. Providing you pass the perception test that is..

Bogans in their fully sick commonwhores really annoy me. Its due to the fact that there is nothing original about their car, but they want everyone to know they have one. Its like, if you want to stand out get something that isnt a shotty family salon with rear wheel drive so you can rip fully sick burnouts in front of your fully sick mates in front of the fully sick maccas on bell street. Theres never anything tasteful when it comes to hoons srsly, its all burnouts and no class. Nothing sets them apart from other commodores, i struggle to find the difference between one p platers commodore and the next one i see 20 meters down the road.

</RANT>

[tryg]

Commonwhores !!! funny

i usually call them Commonbores !

[tryg]

Poor me, a bike rider, usually gets the brunt of abuse on the road.... I know not why motorcyclists are treated so badly on the road... but heaven help anyone who tries hard to kill someone else on the road (the get what they deserve for such actions).

[blade888]

My dad gave me one of the best bits of advice when I was learning, he said to always think that every other driver on the road is an idiot and to assume they're always going to do something stupid.

Also the UK learner driver recently introduced a 'hazard perception' test where you identify potential hazards before they happen, that way you can prepare yourself and your driving to avoid the hazard.

Yeah I got that Advice when I was doing my Defensive driving skills course. Best advice you can follow and keep you aware of road hazards, both objects, cars and drivers.

[xiii]

lol i feel ya when ur talking about commodores..

but its even worse when you see bogan women driving excels like they're freakin V8s, especially the fat ones that eat with one hand and use the other to slap they're bastard children in the passengers seat..

lol

[Graham]

lol i feel ya when ur talking about commodores..

but its even worse when you see bogan women driving excels like they're freakin V8s, especially the fat ones that eat with one hand and use the other to slap they're bastard children in the passengers seat..

lol

Thank god I don't come across those sort of drivers in WA (well, I haven't seen any )

There was a dodgy car on the Freeway yesterday, was all over 2 (out of 3) lanes and there was a moderate amount of traffic, must've been drunk or high or something . Overtook him quickly to avoid a possible accident, then he overtakes in the emergency lane (didn't see it, but there was a car in the left lane) to try and catch upto me, but then he turns off at the next exit, was quite random