Phenomenal topic.

The problem you are encountering is the "Perth tw@t Effect".

Place any mild natured Perthian in a car and he/she transforms into a rushing octane fueled psycho who is in a desperate quest to anywhere fast. With the firm belief that EVERY other road user is a shAt driver and must be put in their place.

I drove 5 hours back from Gerro last weekend. As soon as I got into Perth. Bang. Accident. There are Really really REALLY bad drivers here!

check your speedo if you think everyone is speeding, dad has 30+ years of land/marine survey experience so i have had some interesting GPS systems to play with and our cars speedo is around 8% out [under reading] and 1% out in the newest and the 4X4 is 4% or so. manufacturers limit is 10% so you could be well under the limit.
but i would agree perth drivers have some real A holes but going <10km over the limit is hardly the worst offence you see.

Yes... In an area that has a speed limit of 100 km/h. This road rule varies from state to state. In WA, you must keep left unless overtaking in areas of 90 km/h or more.

It is also an offense to travel at 20 km/h or less than the speed limit on a freeway in WA.

http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/lic_drivesafebook_part3.pdf (page 66).

And I agree... Perth has the most aggressive and least courteous drivers of anywhere I have driven in Aus...

If someone wants to go wreally wreally fasssstttt, that's up to them. Not my (and hopefully not your) job to determine, enforce or control the speed at which another driver chooses to travel

Stay cool, give way and watch the angry red faced () drivers

Right hand lane is the overtaking lane. If you want to do 100 you can do that in the middle lane

A few years ago i was driving from brisbane to perth.Aroud Broken Hill this guy in a clubsport commodore passed me doing at least 180k's .A few hours later i passed him while he was fueling up at a roadhouse.This went on for the rest of the trip,about 3 days.Now i was sitting on about 80-90 all the way.Twice i passed him while he was getting a ticket from the highway patrol.This still didn't deter him??? And well you guessed it first set of lights in perth i rolled up beside him ......
It just goes to show that speeding is pointless over any distance and short distances well you may save a cupla minutes but when you arrive your stressed, you have used more fuel,risked you own and others lives and maybe got flashed on the way.
When will people realize there is NO POINT!!! ffs.....

stribo said...

A few years ago i was driving from brisbane to perth.Aroud Broken Hill this guy in a clubsport commodore passed me doing at least 180k's .A few hours later i passed him while he was fueling up at a roadhouse.This went on for the rest of the trip,about 3 days.Now i was sitting on about 80-90 all the way.Twice i passed him while he was getting a ticket from the highway patrol.This still didn't deter him??? And well you guessed it first set of lights in perth i rolled up beside him ......
It just goes to show that speeding is pointless over any distance and short distances well you may save a cupla minutes but when you arrive your stressed, you have used more fuel,risked you own and others lives and maybe got flashed on the way.
When will people realize there is NO POINT!!! ffs.....

I guess the issue is not about speeding, but about being considerate. If someone wants to go faster than you, pull over and let them, if someone needs to pull out from a junction, flash your lights and let them. As everyone has said Perth drivers are pretty poor.

Yes that may be right ZED but speeding is extremely inconsiderate as you are risking the lives of others
I was a delivery driver on perth roads for over 12 months in a sign written ute .Not one ticket and not one complaint Believe me i saw it all , the amount of times i was cut off,pulled out on braked hard in front of etc etc.But i kept my cool gave em a wave and went on my way.Thats being considerate not pressuring other drivers out of lanes etc. for the sake of a cupla minutes in our busy self important schedules .

What happens when you're doing 160 in your super safe car when Johnno and his pissed mates pull out in front you? I dont think your air bags are going to help you much then.

You think this guys airbags saved him?

We wont drop the speed limit, because the government etc have to compare death rates and speed. They would have come to the conclusion that those speeds get you wherever you are going in a resonable time, and at a reasonable risk.

Zed said...

But people are dying on our roads everyday doing 80, doing 100 so why not drop the speed limit? I've driven in France and in Germany where the speed limits are 160 in France and open speed limits (in sections) in Germany. They have lower road fatalities than Australia. Admitedly we don't have the best roads in the world, but the Mitchell freeway is as good as the motorways I've driven on in France.

Yes your right but whats the rush mate??? See my previous post about driving the length of the country the old hair and the tortise mate....

Sure P's platers cause many fatalitess due to lack of experience, when they think they know it all.
Im learning to drive and the worst people are the old ones. The havent got a farking clue about their surroundings.If its not in their front window it doesnt exist. They try to let people out to "help them" when they have right of way, and confuse the **** out of everyone.
All of my near misses (many many of them), were either my fault, or some old hag whos got no idea of anything. I know its unfair, but they should be retested more often.
A bloke at works older sister worked at an old peoples home, and they spoke to hear about redoing their license. Many comments were like " You have to do stuff you never do, like check your blindspots and indicate."
I agree with older people being more experience, but how would they have any experience with high speeds. Also it would be very misleading for other road users, and would no doubt cause more accidents because of different speed judgment. It owuld be awkard, all traffic lights would not be useful, as they have their orange phase to be appropriate for the speed limit. Imagine the chaos of 50% of the population doing 60, and the rest do 80 or 100 even.

decrepit said...

Anybody taken driving lessons lately, where did courtesy fit in the course???? I wonder because I've seen a number of P platers sitting in the right hand lane.

Yep, no courtesy section. I was told when trying to get into another lane, "if the dont let you in, just cut infront of them" Good to see they are teaching the right attitude.

I think Everyboduy is loosing the plot of this discussion Again

If I'm doing 90kmh in the right hand lane

Go around

I was there first

I'm in front of you so who cares[}:)][}:)]

- Speed doesn't kill, it's the sudden stop.
- What's the story with air-bags? V8 supercars don't have them. If they can crash at 250kph and walk away, why don't car manufacturers build safety structures into their cars like racing cars?
- Drivers in Tassie are largely consdiderate, but don't realise that indicators exist. Or if they do, they'll put them on as they turn the corner!