Google these keywords "kiwi" + "drivers" + "worst" and you will find a plethora of web sites and blogs out there on this topic. No surprises there, indeed, look! I have just added another one to it.That's right, here it comes, it has been swelling up inside for a while and now I have decided to get it off my chest and write it down. Kiwis are disgraceful drivers.
Now, I wouldn't go saying something like this without backing it up with reasons. Here they are...
Kiwis drive a lot more than most countries, historically I think this is because NZ has been, and still is a small town country, with long distances between major centres, drivers can get licences at the age of 15 and I believe this comes from the fact that teenagers would often need to drive the tractor, van, or similar to help on the farm.
Insurance: New Zealand law does not require drivers to have insurance on their vehicles, this raises alarm bells immediately for many people, since it means that the level of apathy toward responsibility for others property can be very high.
Intersections: New Zealand uses mostly a British influenced road rule system, with many roundabouts and similar controlled junctions / intersections, but there is also a strange mixture of 4-way stops and intersections with bizarre merging into multiple lane one way roads. It seems all very haphazard with no real uniformity throughout the country.
The left turn rule. I actually think this is a great rule and I wish they had it in the UK, unfortunately many drivers do not know how to implement it and end up holding traffic up more than this rule is designed to ease. For example, you are waiting behind someone who is turning left and giving way to those waiting to turn right, but cannot due to the flow of through traffic from behind you. Yet many people will give way, even though they cannot go!
Tailgating. I have never, repeat never encountered such bad tailgating in my life. The 2 second rule here appears to be the 0.2 second rule.
I have talked to many other expats from a variety of countries and I know I am not alone in this view. I have been tailgated at 65kph in a 50kph zone, or recently I was tailgated while overtaking at approx 120kph in a 100kph zone with the driver flashing his lights behind me to get me to move over.
I know I should not speed, and generally I don't, but I think its a fair statement to say that most people all over the world creep over the speed limit, especially while overtaking.
Drivers seem to only watch the car in front. Not the car in front of the car in front of the car in front. Resulting in numerous nose-to-tail accidents every day. "Oh he braked! How dare he!"
Roundabouts are awesome: I think they are way better than traffic lights and if I had my way, every intersection would be a roundabout!
For those of you in countries that do not have roundabouts, they greatly aid traffic flow by allowing vehicles to only have to worry about traffic coming from the one direction and you do not have to stop if its clear. In this case a driver will give way to traffic only coming from the right hand side. If your right side is clear, you go.
Hilariously however, in NZ a driver (driver A) will often sit at a roundabout and give way to the driver on the right (driver B), while that driver gives way the car on his or her right (driver C), who gives way to driver A. This results in what can only be described as a Kiwi style Mexican standoff, which is strange because drivers here are very aggressive, but not assertive. Go figure.
Cycles are a menace and no bicycles should be allowed on New Zealand roads.
At least this appears to be the view of many drivers. On Auckland's North Shore, a new 6km cycle lane has been installed on a wide single lane road. There is actually an organised campaign to abolish them!
It appears that drivers think that Cyclists do not deserve a safe zone to ride in. Ironically cyclists are probably safer without a cycle lane, because of the drastically low level of many peoples driving ability. Cars often drive with one wheel in the cycle lane anyway, increasing the danger to cyclists. At least without a cycle lane cyclists would not be lulled into a false sense of security.
Lights. Now this one really throws me. Me and my girlfriend (She is Canadian) often play a game when driving at night to see how many people drive with no lights on. Often we can count up to 7 or 8 cars along the 7km stretch of road between my work and home. Indeed last night I was driving in Auckland and a car was behind me with no lights on. It was approx 7.30pm and its completely dark in NZ at that time in early September. Fearing for the driver and his potential victims lives, I waved at him, flashed my lights, hazard lights to get him to realise that he had no lights on. I was met with a bewildered look.
Courtesy. I like to think I am a courteous driver and I allow people out whenever I can, however many people here have an issue with this. I recently got into a verbal boxing match when I let a car out of a side street while sitting in a slow moving traffic jam. The guy behind me got pissed off and and overtook me, cutting off the person I allowed out and he gained an entire car length toward his destination at approx 3Kph. ( "its a traffic jam! you cannot go anywhere anyway!" )
The flip side of the one above is what I call the "telepathic invitation". This is where a New Zealand driver does allow you to go, but doesn't tell you. No flash of the lights, no wave, nothing, just a telepathic transmission from them to you. I never seem to receive the invitation, perhaps my Scottish telepathic antennae do not work so well here.
I always thought the universal code for allowing someone to go was to flash your lights at them and leave a gap. In NZ this seems to be met with "why is this guy flashing his lights at me? I don't understand"
Well that is my moan about the state of NZ driving. My remarks can be found reflected in the high toll of deaths and injuries on NZ roads and the numerous smash repair businesses they have here.
Google it.
Further reading:
No comments:
Post a Comment