Are Drivers Habits Getting Worse?

Melb69 on 14/10/2018 - 10:56
Last edited 21/10/2018 - 13:48 by 1 other user

Is it me or are people's driving habits getting worse?

  1. Driving through red lights.
  2. People deciding to make late lane change across multiple lanes to get to a turn off.
  3. Uber drivers worst.
  4. Then Taxi drivers.
  5. People sitting in right hand lane 10kms below speed limit rather than freeing up that lane and being courteous.
  6. No indicating at roundabouts. Just not in ndicating at all for turns or lane changes.

I could go on and I see this often and don't drive that much only short drive from work to home each day.

Automotive

Comments

  • kaleidoscope on 15/10/2018 - 20:00

    Im only 2+ years into driving and make a strict habbit of adhering to road rules because I firmly believe they’re there for a good reason.

    To answer your question yes I have noticed an increase of drivers breaking rules. Lot of impatience and being distracted by phones and other electronic devices… the worst are the people who would not follow the correct lane and try to merge at the neck blocking everyone else….

    just 2 days ago there was an accident in M1 with resulted in huge traffic and noticed a truck driving on both emergency lane and first lane… There was a tow truck behind him trying to get to accident scene via emergency lane and this guy would not clear way, as i went passed the truck saw the driver was talking on his phone… jeez :-/

  • Schezwon on 15/10/2018 - 20:27

    Thank God you brought this up… Starting to notice uber and other rude share drivers, driving like taxi drivers… Not indicating when changing lanes and treating the roads like a race track. I notice plenty of drivers not indicating at all and cutting in late.

    People are selfish and rude these days… Not all.. But plenty.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/10/2018 - 22:58

    Sydney eh?

  • Yummy on 15/10/2018 - 23:28

    Forgot those red light creepers. What is the point to move up inch by inch while waiting in red light?

    • Melb69 on 16/10/2018 - 05:07

      This happen because drivers slow up to lights and dont judge their stopping distance. They stop way before they need to in front. Then oh. I suppose ill creep up now. No point.

    • tkdbboy on 17/10/2018 - 16:30
      +2

      Make room for people who need to enter a turning lane at the lights

  • kyoba on 15/10/2018 - 23:55

    I love it when people get so angry that after exhausting all their headlights, screaming in the car, they resort to windscreen wipers on a pure sunny day. You know someone's pissed when the windscreen wipers come on and it ain't raining.

  • Flanders on 16/10/2018 - 06:30

    Not sure if they are getting 'worse' but they sure as heck don't seem to be getting better.
    I think more law enforcement and fines given out for some of the offenses mentioned, would most definitely improve driving and improve road safety.
    I noticed a bunch of cars around me in 90 zone, all suddenly dropped to 80 when highway patrol officer came into view. If people think they will get caught, suddenly they tend to want to do the right thing (even if it is just for fear of getting busted).
    The 1 thing that could and would almost certainly have an amazing impact of driving improving, would be if everyone's dash cams wwre admissible as evidence, and maybe even a live feed to law enforcement.

    Sure, nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes sometimes.
    Therefore there would have to be a fair and reasonable amount of leniency and cautions, for the things that aren't usually prosecuted or fined for much, but things which we see other motorists doing wrong every day (and even have dashcam footage of already). I wonder how many accidents are caused by bad drivers, where they were doing something all the time unchecked and without being fined (like people who don't indicate) I wonder how many of these exact same people later cause serious accidents. ie. You see stuff on roads, and it can annoy the crap out of you, but also often we see a situation where if one had not reacted quickly to avoid collision, there would have been a crash and the other driver would have been 100% at fault. Some drivers you kind of think to yourself 'its only a matter of time till they do that again, and have a collision' . If they were pulled up about it earlier by law enforcement (using our dash cams already fitter) and given a couple of warnings to stop that dangerous behavior, I think many lives could be saved.
    We are already making vehicles that drive by themselves such as the google cars etc, it is foreseaable that an automated type system could manage all the feeds from all the dash cams across Australia, and send an alert of sorts through to law enforcement, then either warnings/cautions be sent out, or after so many warnings the offending driver gets a fine.

  • MementoMori on 16/10/2018 - 11:08
    +2

    What's up with the increase in people driving around at dusk (and in the dark) without their headlights on?

    'Well I can see, so why do I need them on?'

  • jli789 on 16/10/2018 - 11:34

    lots of idiots on the road,,, The other day, I was driving normally, suddenly this car on the right is swirling into my lane, we were driving parallel to each other, then I honked until he settled down. This is a red p plater, then this guy on the passenger seat yelled: " we were giving way to the ambulance!"
    That's great, but it's not like there is any room for me to let you in, our cars were parallel, your red p plater was literally crushing into my car, if I didn't lean towards the parking lane a bit.

  • HKS on 16/10/2018 - 16:25

    the more technology advances the more people will get distracted. people weren't texting and driving 15 years ago because it was extremely hard to pressing a button 3 times to type one letter now with qwerty keyboards it's a lot easier. inbuilt nav/radio etc people play with.

    people should be banned from driving tbh, they are either in a rush or distracted because they are so bored by driving. it's made me stop my spirited driving so often because normies make me cringe when driving through the hills in SA.

  • Dack Smith on 16/10/2018 - 18:11
    +1

    Many drivers out there are really terrible, not signalling, speeding across multiple lanes etc.

    Tailgaters are closet arse sniffers who seem to delight in this behaviour lol

    Simply shit drivers who can't use their vehicles worth a damn, they're everywhere like the plague.

  • Brick Tamland on 16/10/2018 - 18:37

    People are more distracted by their phones whilst driving. So many times you are sitting at the red lights, the lights go green but the person in front doesn't move. They have their nose deep into their phones and it takes them maybe 5 to 10 seconds to move off. By then half the cars waiting don't make it through. I like to call it the 'iDelay'. Or people don't indicate, when they get closer, yes they are on their phone.

  • chk on 16/10/2018 - 19:45
    +1

    No. 5 People sitting in right hand lane 10kms below speed limit. Mostly because they are waiting for a turn off.

    There is nothing wrong with this unless the road is above 80km/h

    • Melb69 on 17/10/2018 - 05:34
      -1

      Why does the speed limit make any difference. 2 lanes and slower driver in right lane because he want to. Driving at 90km/hr than 100. That is just drivers not being courteous to others. See it all the time with senior cits. No offence. It is a fact.

      • chk on 17/10/2018 - 09:41
        +2

        read the road rules…I dont make them up, I just follow

  • Sammyboy on 17/10/2018 - 08:44
    +1

    For sure. So many drivers don't give way when they are doing a u-turn, even when there is clear signage. A friend was forced to reverse to give way to an aggressive driver who was doing a u-turn.

    People always run the red light at the intersection of the small shopping centre I go to. So many accidents have happened there.

    Also at roundabout, drivers just dash straight through, even though you are mid turn in the round about. You can see their head doesn't even turn right to check for traffic.

    Finding a lot of people in the large utes such as the Ford Rangers, Hilux etc drive over the speed limit and quite aggressively.

    People driving at 90km in the 100km zone the M1 (Monash) and then once it hits the 80kms zone close to city, they stay at 90km!! So then they end up speeding! Noticed same thing the other day, driving 50 in a 60 zone but stayed at 50 in a 40 zone.

    People that drive 80 to 90 in the 100 zone single lane roads (such as driving to the snow), and then they speed up to 110 in the overtaking lanes, forcing you to then have to drive faster to overtake.

    Obviously the increase in international licence drivers doesn't help the road situation either. In many countries you can still bribe an official and get a licence straight away without even taking a test. Its common knowledge and it amazes me the Australian government doesn't make international licence drivers sit another test before issuing a local license.

    I heard a rumour once about Vic Roads, that testers would be reprimanded if their fail ratio was too high (for overseas people sitting local licence) as it would be interpreted as being racist or discriminating. They would be pulled aside and asked why they failed these people and then told they should just ignore the little mistakes and start passing more international drivers.

    • DN38416 on 18/10/2018 - 08:07
      +1

      "People driving at 90km in the 100km zone the M1 (Monash) and then once it hits the 80kms zone close to city, they stay at 90km!! So then they end up speeding! Noticed same thing the other day, driving 50 in a 60 zone but stayed at 50 in a 40 zone."

      OMG THIS! The exact reason I can't stand driving on the Monash. I always drive at the speed limit and follow the speed indicated on my GPS (far more accurate) and not my speedo… and I'm constantly flying past people in the 100 zones, then when it changes to 80 they all start overtaking me. Then it'll go back to 100 and I get stuck behind them doing 90. WHY? Why do people do this?
      Then I end up getting super frustrated and do stupid shit like tailgating.

    • donga100 on 18/10/2018 - 12:38

      People that drive 80 to 90 in the 100 zone single lane roads (such as driving to the snow), and then they speed up to 110 in the overtaking lanes, forcing you to then have to drive faster to overtake.

      Yeah, WTF?!

  • flooro on 17/10/2018 - 09:56

    I've noticed more people driving through red lights.

    I've also noticed people beeping at the first car waiting at a set of lights even though it is in the middle of a red light.

    People not being attentive when the lights change (you can sometimes see them not looking at the road).

    I also saw a light accident recently where the cars were waiting to turn left and go straight. The straight arrow turned green while the left arrow was still red and the second car in the lane waiting to turn left rear ended the first car waiting at the lights.

    I guess drivers are getting more aggressive and less attentive (may be due to mobile phone use).

  • Baghern on 17/10/2018 - 11:38

    How do you know they're uber drivers…

    Over reliance on GPS is what I believe is the issue, GPS is great but not 100% precise, ie which lane to take. If its a busy lane, you need to change early not the 500m heads up the GPS gives you.

    I've been forced to take turns because there was no indication that the lane I was in would turns in a compulsory right turning lane… ie the middle lane has to turn right too.

    Local road knowledge of the average drivers is really poor no.

    I had a friend who believe he knew Sydney roads better than Taxi drivers, after GPS… it all went to mush.

    • ruddiger7 on 17/10/2018 - 16:31

      Uber drivers have an Uber symbol in their car windows so you know its an uber.

  • shiny1 on 17/10/2018 - 18:08
    +1

    Sitting in the right lane is only a problem on freeways/motorways. On local roads, there is no such rule.

  • gasman70 on 17/10/2018 - 19:43
    +1

    The6 really can’t get any worse. I feel safer driving in Russia or China.

  • snapper on 18/10/2018 - 00:11
    +2

    Bring on autonomous vehicles! Then all of these arguments will be moot. Also, estimated 45,000 fewer hospitalisations per year from car accidents, for anyone that needs more compelling reasons.

  • DavionTerry on 18/10/2018 - 01:24

    The world in general is getting mad :) not only drivers

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