Dangerous drivers

Now that the COT has calmed down I thought I'd get a bit more serious and share with you an experience today.......


Well I I was sitting at the lights today getting ready to merge onto St. Heliers Bay Rd from Riddell Rd. well, I was at the front of the queue and it was my turn to move off once the pedestrian crossing light went red again- but an early model Subaru Legacy blitzes throught the light from the Bay side of St Heliers Bay Rd. and was supposed to move on the part of St Heliers Bay Rd. that goes toward the old hospital- the car was travelling at about 60-70 Kays- I get ready to move off when there is a loud CRASH!!!!!!!!!!! and an explosion of glass- I turn my head and what happens I see a wrecked Subaru Legacy roll backwards and come to rest on the traffic light pole- as it turns out it collided into the front of a Real Estate office (Which I am pretty sure is currently vacant).


Well the car and the shop front were write-offs- but this could have been FAR more serious- what if the Glendowie College kids who were STANDING in front of the office only 1/2 a minute priror had still been there??? No doub they would have been killed- What if she had hit the Mitsubishi Lancer that was in the cue on the oppisite side??? or had she been a few meters off where she hit and shunted my car down the hill into other waiting cars??? - The driver was lucky to have only been knocked unconcious

But heres the thing- the driver was not a teenager, a Maori or an Asian OR a testoterone fuelled male- but a middle-aged woman.......


This is why Orange lights are stupid, for that woman clearly sped up to go through the orange light and misjudged the corner, didn't steer hard enough and WAMMO!!! thats a lot of paper-work for the insurance and a situation that could have been made far-worse



MORONS!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

Haha, sounds like she got what she deserved...

Don't think I'm mean or anything, but it probably wouldn't have been that bad if she had died... one less bad driver on the road to possibly kill others :p

-Grendel

Even if it means laying down hard on those brakes I usually do to make sure to stop at yellow lights. (are they really orange out there?)

I've almost been hit MANY times by idiots flooring it to 70 or so in a 40 to get through a yellow...and usually missing the yellow and punching through a red.

Theres no accounting for the stupid. I hope she learns something from this.













Never pay again for live sex! (http://showmewebcam.com/?p=1) | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! (http://showmewebcam.com/?p=3) | Chat for free! (http://showmewebcam.com/?p=5)

Originally posted by TerminalVelocity
Even if it means laying down hard on those brakes I usually do to make sure to stop at yellow lights. (are they really orange out there?)

I've almost been hit MANY times by idiots flooring it to 70 or so in a 40 to get through a yellow...and usually missing the yellow and punching through a red.

So many people in St. George do this - once I watched 6 cars run through a red, 3 seconds after it had changed. One was a Roto-Rooter truck, so I called and chewed them out.

The same people also jump greens all the time. As soon as cross-traffic gets a red, they floor it...

One of these days, I am going to see a catastropic accident - person jumping a green meets person stretching a yellow. Side-impact collisions kill so many people each year, and with the practically nonexistant time savings, you'd think people will have more sense.

On the day when I see this accident, I'll probably feel bad - but I probably shouldn't.

Yes, they are really orange

In NZ arn't the lights actually amber?

Even if people speed up for amber lights, i'rd still rather have them then the alternative of no warning light. Then people would just floor through lights as they went red.

sarujin

Originally posted by sarujin

Even if people speed up for amber lights, i'rd still rather have them then the alternative of no warning light. Then people would just floor through lights as they went red.

Exactly, also people would always have to come to a screaching hault, or simply collide with someone.

Just to raise this one from the dead.....
I grew up in South Africa where the only form of 'public' transport is the mini bus taxi, these are 13 seat minivans(usually with 26 people in them) with mostly unlicensed black drivers.
If you are at a light, any light, waiting to go, when the light goes green, it is safest to count to 6 in the 2001.....2002....2003.... method, that way you are sure none of the 'kaffir taxi' driving idiots is gonna come barreling into your door from side.
One of my friend's daughters was killed by one of these idiots, but the police claimed they couldn't prosecute because neither the vehicle nor driver were licensed....how stupid is that?
In South Africa the police target white drivers from middle-class areas to ticket for violations, because they know nobody else will pay their tickets, and that is something the police admit to!!
Oh well....had my ramble:)

Ray

In London England, the traffic lights do the 'drag strip christmas tree' ie at the end of the red phase, the light then goes to amber, pauses for 3 seconds and then drops to the green. As the light changes to green, the predictable happens and everyone hits the gas pedal straight away as they are all anticipating the green signal.

Now I'm not sure whether it's a cause and effect relationship operating here. Folk don't seem to run the amber light much as they know that the opposing stream won't hesitate and floor it straight away (ie they will get T-Boned) OR whether driving skills in the UK are better and they do stop for the amber.

Either way, there are some very serious penalties for both jumping the green and not stopping for the amber - it seems to work because everyone understands how it works.

It's a bit like the 'hook turn' in Melbourne Australia - I still don't get how that works but it does and everyone is used to it.

As for the road rules and generally driving in New Zealand - it plainly sucks big time. Apart from third world countries that I been to - I am going to put my hand on heart here and say NZ drivers are 'pathetic morons' when it comes to pedalling their cars.

The licensing system is lax and fails to require a suitable standard, the road rules are a nightmare (get this - our road rules don't actually require a fast or a slow lane and you overtake someone on either the left lane or the right lane - it doesn't matter) and the policing is inadequate (they seem obsessed with dumbing down road rules to obey the speed limit, don't drive and drive and put on your seat belt) and seems to be focussed on revenue collection rather than on promoting basic skills, concentration and attitude.

Originally posted by replicant_008

It's a bit like the 'hook turn' in Melbourne Australia - I still don't get how that works but it does and everyone is used to it.


Just for the record,

A hook turn is turning right from the left lane accross 3 lanes on a 4 lane road. It is neccesary because Melbourne has trams in the right hand lanes.

I've just come back from a very enjoyable weekend in the city.....well,Istarted to enjoy it once I got safely to my destination,pulled the key from the ignition,and left the disiesel to quietly corrode for 60-odd hours........
Coming up a flat straight strech of the southern motorway,close to Drury services,I got well and truly monstered by some prick in a Cherokee...despite the fact that Iwas speeding,he closed up behind me in the slow lane at alarming speed,leaving it to the last moment to swerve around the back of the GT-D and blast by at about 140.... unfortunately just as he executed the manoever,the guy in the fastlane,who had been running parallel to me for some time,decided that he wanted the centre lane too....Normally a little click similar to snapping your fingers wouldn't worry me.But when the noise is made by a 3 tonne armoured handbag carrier clipping your door mirror at full speed,it's not a sound thatI want to hear too often.Looking at the traffic over the weekend Isaw an absurd number of vehicles with panel damage to the sides.There's a dangerous mix of myopic,agressive and just plain clueless drivers in the Queen city that needs addressing.Next time I visit,I'm renting a tank.

Originally posted by taranaki
.Next time I visit,I'm renting a tank.

Or just getta Jetta- It's how I deal with incompetence- towbars are a must though :D :finger: :devil:

Originally posted by Moss1O6GTi

But heres the thing- the driver was not a teenager, a Maori or an Asian OR a testoterone fuelled male- but a middle-aged woman.......


what do you mean not an asian? what do you have against asians?

A Kiwi saying "Asian" is akin to someone griping about, say, a "Mexican" in the U.S. if I have understood how things work...

I won't go into some of the lovely maneuvers I've been witness to. My post would be FAR too long.

It's a popular myth in NZ that ALL 'Asians' are lousy drivers.It's one of the last socially acceptable forms of overt racism in this country.Plain fact is,the average white-skinned Kiwi is no better and some are a lot worse.

The current campaign against Asians by a has-been politician is perpetuating this nonsense.It's time for ALL New Zealanders to address their poor driving skills.



Except me.:D

Every myth or sterotype is based on fact.

Yes I'm sure everyone in New Zealand, or infact everyone in the world can work on improving their driving. No one is perfect. But Taranaki how often have you drivin' on the North Shore recently?

Its not just strictly the 'asians', but a hell of alot of the bad drivers seem to be them. Like today going up a 50km hill, I had someone infront of me that just wouldn't go faster then about 30. I encounter quite a few of them a day. Plus since at high schools its the asians that can afford the more expensive cars, hell there have been asians bringing evos to school. But when you look at all the expensive cars in the student carparks, the only damaged ones are the expensive cars. So putting two and two together, its the asians with the damaged cars. You can only damage a car by bad driving.

Plus the other reason people gripe about asians more is you can't tell south africains apart from kiwis.

sarujin

Originally posted by sarujin
Every myth or sterotype is based on fact.

Yes I'm sure everyone in New Zealand, or infact everyone in the world can work on improving their driving. No one is perfect. But Taranaki how often have you drivin' on the North Shore recently?

Its not just strictly the 'asians', but a hell of alot of the bad drivers seem to be them. Like today going up a 50km hill, I had someone infront of me that just wouldn't go faster then about 30. I encounter quite a few of them a day. Plus since at high schools its the asians that can afford the more expensive cars, hell there have been asians bringing evos to school. But when you look at all the expensive cars in the student carparks, the only damaged ones are the expensive cars. So putting two and two together, its the asians with the damaged cars. You can only damage a car by bad driving.

Plus the other reason people gripe about asians more is you can't tell south africains apart from kiwis.

sarujin


This is all so very true.

Except the last line- Wanna know why the Asian people have the expensive cars?- I'd say in about 7 cases out of ten, it is because they come to NZ, while thier rich parents stay back in Asia- they tell them they are studying, they enrole in a course, never attend it, then live in NZ off mummy and daddys money- and some native of NZ misses the place in the course because of it. Of course they are good for thieving off :D. However.......South Africans on the other hand, come over here after they were educated in South Africa. They are all teachers and doctors- USEFUL people.........I have counted 7 South African teachers at my school and numerous SAF's in the health system.

I am not discriminating in any way against Asians.........Just the ones I mentioned above, the ones that are becoming an all-too-common occurance :(

Originally posted by sarujin
Every myth or sterotype is based on fact.

Yes I'm sure everyone in New Zealand, or infact everyone in the world can work on improving their driving. No one is perfect. But Taranaki how often have you drivin' on the North Shore recently?


sarujin

Sadly,I don't get up to the city very often.What I can tell you,living in this last corner of 1960's NZ that is quaintly referred to as Taranaki,is that while 'Asians' are not nearly as commonplace in these parts,there is no shortage of stupid,ignorant and just plain dangerous drivers.I don't care what colour people's skin is,I've done my time with the volunteer fire brigade,and they all tend to look the same when you are cutting them out, late at night in the rain anyway..

1 in 8 folk in New Zealand are of Asian Descent and 2 out 3 of them like in the Auckland Metropolitan Area. Auckland Metro composed about 30% of the population so taking this into account roughly 25-30% of the population in Auckland claimed Asian Descent.

A significant portion of these folk are migrants and learned to drive in a very different environment. We have developed a stereotype about asian drivers in the same way we used to (and some cases still do) cubbyhole women drivers.

We all suffer brain fade from time to time but each time an asian driver does we attribute this as evidence of our stereotype. I could come to a similar conclusion about courier drivers too - in fact I used to think that Commodore drivers were the worst on the road but that isn't fair either. I will say that on the advanced driving courses that I have done, the 40-50 year old male successful executive large car driver seemed to have more difficulty acknowledging faults with their driving, over-estimated their skill level, were too aggressive with their attitude and improved the least during the courses.

Speaking to the instructor I was able to relate my observations which I made - he confirmed these but also noted that there were a number of 30 something successful women drivers that were in the same boat.

From my observation, some of the relatively poor driving habits of some asian drivers is annoying (slow driving), some of it is dangerous particularly the lane-changing and some of it is amusing (parking). However, I will state that DUI drivers (particularly the 30ish women driver and the 40ish male drivers) are the real dangers...

Originally posted by sarujin
Every myth or stereotype is based on fact

I wouldn't be sure on that one either. If that were true, the earth would be flat, worms would be germinated from horse hair, we couldn't exceed 34 km/h without suffocating due to the air pressure, man could not fly, the sound barrier couldn't be broken...

The folk we now call 'African-american' would still be considered inferior in intelligence, segregation would still be a good idea or worse still slavery ... women shouldn't be doing athletics in case their wombs would fall out with strenuous athletic exercise and would not be considered intelligent enough to vote, bleeding sick folk would still be practiced and bathing more than once a week would damage your skin... atomic energy would be safe too... gay folk would still be outcasts as would be immigrants, refugees and the displaced...

I'm sorry to harp on... don't take this personally but these kinds of 'where there's smoke there's fire' opinions are nothing but a convenient shield for the ignorant, the bigotted and the xenophobic to continue to justify the foul, unjust and ultimately insulting opinions as justifiable.

I find this kind of attitude unconscionable and cowardly - and I'll stand up and be counted as someone who detests it...

Note I never said all sterotypes and myths based on facts, are true and justifible. They quite often come around in some cases as they are more true, but time and social changes, political changes etc, change them.

Most of what you listed replicant, was once deemed to be true, thats why the sterotype came around. But in todays society/culture the wrongs of these have been rightened. Yes many sterotypes are terrible things which induce hate into our culture and relations with other people. But many sterotypes just exist, and have not much relevance today.

One for example is White Europeans are usually taller then Asians. This isn't the exact truth, its only a sterotype. But its come around because it once was more true then it is in todays society. It doesn't mean we should discriminate against them. Its just a observation on people.

Just like certain cultures been seen as having bad drivers, doesn't mean we shouldn't not let them be allowed to drive. We should just make sure they are better drivers. So in the example of NZ, we shouldn't stop all asian immigrants from driving. We should make sure they follow and know our road rules and laws. So they are on the same footing as any other kiwi.

But if certain ones choose not to follow our countrys culture, then why should we have to put up with it. I can't go to Singapore, litter and get off without a fine because over here in New Zealand I'm allowed too. I do whats expected in each country i'm in. I follow their rules, not my own.

sarujin

sarujin- :ylsuper

Back on topic, the manic driving in Kiwi-land isn't nearly as bad as here in Italy- example- I was in the Alfa driving down the countryside and past the vineyards at about 160 km/h, when an asshole in a Ferrari Testarossa gets on my tail, I ignore him for a bit and push it harder, suddenly the Ferrari lurches out narrowly avoiding a group of teenagers in thier FIAT Tipo and lurches past me- I look to my left and what do I see him doing at approximatley 200km/h??? Drinking a god-damned glass of Red Wine :mad: :mad: I let him past and slow it down to 130 and drop to 5th gear and cruise, then about an hout later I see a Polizia 156 has pulled the Ferrari driver over......I really did wish him luck:finger:

Ho... Italians drive funny. I like this country ;)

Originally posted by Stefanel1
Ho... Italians drive funny.


Undersatement of the year! :lol2:

What's all this about getting on South Africans?
I grew up in South Africa, but I now live in America.
Can I tell you why so many SA folk are in NZ, because the quality of life is that much better. Like it was stated, they are all professionals, not run-of-the-mill folk.
You got to understand the living conditions in South Africa, if you want to hear some things from my personal experience, I am 27 now, I grew up in Port Elizabeth, but this is what I experienced before leaving SA:
5 of my friends were murdered
3 of my female friends were raped
3 of my friends were assulated and their cars stolen/hi-jacked
1 of my friends was stabbed 7 times for the cost of a Pizza
That is not bullshit, it is hard facts, do you see why I left SA?
SA drivers aren't the best, but can I tell you summin, in State College where I live, some of the worst drivers are asian, but the worst ones are white university students....how weird.....
Sorry for defending the country I grew up in, but it is still where I grew up, I was not born there though......
Sorry for totally going off-topic too.....

Ray

Originally posted by freakray
What's all this about getting on South Africans?
I grew up in South Africa, but I now live in America.
Can I tell you why so many SA folk are in NZ, because the quality of life is that much better. Like it was stated, they are all professionals, not run-of-the-mill folk.
You got to understand the living conditions in South Africa, if you want to hear some things from my personal experience, I am 27 now, I grew up in Port Elizabeth, but this is what I experienced before leaving SA:
5 of my friends were murdered
3 of my female friends were raped
3 of my friends were assulated and their cars stolen/hi-jacked
1 of my friends was stabbed 7 times for the cost of a Pizza
That is not bullshit, it is hard facts, do you see why I left SA?
SA drivers aren't the best, but can I tell you summin, in State College where I live, some of the worst drivers are asian, but the worst ones are white university students....how weird.....
Sorry for defending the country I grew up in, but it is still where I grew up, I was not born there though......
Sorry for totally going off-topic too.....

Ray


No problem and well said :)

Originally posted by freakray

SA drivers aren't the best, but can I tell you summin, in State College where I live, some of the worst drivers are asian, but the worst ones are white university students....how weird.....

That's b/c State College, PA is a shyte hole... The whole town is Penn State. I've been there 3 times, and I'm never impressed. Oh, and college students are obnoxious, cocky, arrogant drivers. I'm just waiting for someone with lousy parallel parking skills to hit my car. :o

I've heard some pretty nightmarish stories from my friend who grew up in SA, and I must say I am not eager to ever visit. :eek:

Hey, I've got no problem with South Africians, I'm friends with plently.

In my above post, I only just said you can't tell the apart from regular kiwis, I wasn't insulting them in anyway. Infact out of all the south africians i know, I can't think of any that are really bad drivers, and I know heaps of kiwis who are terrible.

The only thing I can't stand is South Africians giving directions. They say crazy things like turn left at the next circle, and the take a right at the robots.

Anyway I've got respect for you, coming from a country with problems, that have effected you, and still defending it. :cool:

Sarujin

The only thing I can't stand is South Africians giving directions. They say crazy things like turn left at the next circle, and the take a right at the robots.

Hmmm....that's because in South Africa traffic circles/roundabouts (depends where you are from) are non-existant, and they call then robots for some reason, not stop lights, traffic lights or anything else....plain old robots......

That's b/c State College, PA is a shyte hole... The whole town is Penn State. I've been there 3 times, and I'm never impressed

That's not true Tangie, it's worse!! The only time I like State College is during the summer, from fall through spring there are 40,000 students ruining the town.

I've heard some pretty nightmarish stories from my friend who grew up in SA, and I must say I am not eager to ever visit

Unfortunately now you know your friend was not lieing.....sad, my wife is American, and to be honest, I am wary of taking her to SA....

Tell your friend a fellow South African says "hello"