Nutty season on the roads

[AllanB]

I do not know what it is about this time of year.

I have a local road I ride most weekends year long. Maybe two or three times during the year I see some silly car action. More often that not is is silly motorcycle passing action witnessed during the year.

But in the past couple of days I have witnessed absolute stupid passing moves by drivers. Blind wideish corners, wrong side of the road, open road speeds - both times the drivers to their credit (?) were totally committed to their moronic move as they continued to pass a second vehicle ........ WTF - got away with one- lets try another?

In a funny twist today, I stopped for fuel on the way back as did a car driver - turns out he was behind me when todays silly actions started - he commented that I almost made him shit his pants when I passed him earlier - bike noise and he was in the humdrum of stuck in a line of slow cars - but he started paying attention when I started braking for no apparent reason. I'd seen the car pull out with no reasonable vision of the other side of the road (think - bikes sit higher than cars and accelerate like hell, and I'm thinking - farrrkk I'd not pull that move on my bike) and started pulling back in expectation of potential mayhem.

Anyway - the car driver commented - there is something very wrong on the road ahead when it's a motorcycle rider you see shaking his head! - as in people are usually shaking their heads at us!


Worst thing is, the statistical chances of a crash in both cases were car vs motorcycle due to the roads popularity with bikes. ACC would have stacked this up as another motorcycle injury/death.


So I have been wondering a bit this evening about Xmas nutters - my theory is there are a fair number of reasons for the sillyness:

Volume of traffic = frustration (lack of self control)

Lack of open road experience (annual holiday after 50 weeks of suburban tootling)

Brain fart.



The later happens to all, hopefully without dire consequences to others.



Stay safe.

[Akzle]

having clicked up 2300 km last week (caged with children :'( ) i've actually been 90% OK with what i've seen.

still slow cunts impeding, and speeding up at every passing oportunity, and my searing hatred of rav4s hasn't decrased. but mostly just fatalistic cruising.
being that i'm a fuckinggooddriver™ i tend to notice my bubble expands and people around me tend to shed the fuckwittery.

[mossy1200]

Still slow cunts impeding, and speeding up at every passing opportunity.

This never impresses me. Some will sit on 85 then hit 110+ in a passing lane only to slow down again after.

[AllanB]

Some (read too many) drivers slow down way to much on corners. And this is leaving my motorcycle brain on hold - car mode if you like.


We have had a decent rant on a rider training thread recently - driver training is just as important. My daughter has just done a session so she can get her full license earlier - interesting what they were teaching her.

Would it be really awful if we all had to do 'regular' compulsory training? I don't know - maybe every 7 years or so. Refresh on the road rules type stuff - reminder of how to behave - that type of shit.


And multi lane roundabouts. Christchurch has a few now - speeds are way too high and so many fuckers have no idea of how to treat the lanes. Last year had a odd number of trucks 'falling over' on them .........

I detest them. Entering one is akin to playing Russian roulette but with say 21 chambers .......

[caspernz]

Would it be really awful if we all had to do 'regular' compulsory training? I don't know - maybe every 7 years or so. Refresh on the road rules type stuff - reminder of how to behave - that type of shit.

It's a good idea, but it has to go hand in hand with meaningful enforcement. In my line of work I find most folks can put on a decent show during an assessment, then for the next 6 months just go back to their old ways.

[Akzle]

Some (read too many) drivers slow down way to much on corners. And this is leaving my motorcycle brain on hold - car mode if you like.


We have had a decent rant on a rider training thread recently - driver training is just as important. My daughter has just done a session so she can get her full license earlier - interesting what they were teaching her.

Would it be really awful if we all had to do 'regular' compulsory training? I don't know - maybe every 7 years or so. Refresh on the road rules type stuff - reminder of how to behave - that type of shit.


And multi lane roundabouts. Christchurch has a few now - speeds are way too high and so many fuckers have no idea of how to treat the lanes. Last year had a odd number of trucks 'falling over' on them .........

I detest them. Entering one is akin to playing Russian roulette but with say 21 chambers .......

vote akzle. i'll halve the road going population overnight. police will have mounted .30 cals. no speed limits.

[pritch]

This never impresses me. Some will sit on 85 then hit 110+ in a passing lane only to slow down again after.

Those guys are speedsters. On my last road trip twice I got stuck behind lines of cars following someone doing 80kph and north of Otorohanga one doing 70kph.

And the cops who saw these line ups did nothing.

[Gremlin]

It's not only the open road. As businesses were winding down prior to Christmas, you could almost see the drop in driving skill on the motorways. The people that were there gone, replaced with fresh people, not normally on the motorway or in congested traffic... and doing the stupidest things...

As for my holiday travels (only 1-1.5k in a week) it was mostly on gravel or minor roads. Going from the Waikato back to Auckland I completely avoided all the motorways (or for SH2, was that carpark? hehehe) and had a lovely run with minimal traffic. Highly recommend staying away from other vehicles. 100% effective at reducing the chance of seeing/being involved in, idiocy.

[Laava]

Those guys are speedsters. On my last road trip twice I got stuck behind lines of cars following someone doing 80kph and north of Otorohanga one doing 70kph.

And the cops who saw these line ups did nothing.

Some of these people are the "70 kph everywhere" people. They have figured that you are just better to do an "average" 70kmh for optimum benefit. They go hard out in town and then just trickle along on the open road. Shoot them, shoot them now!

[R650R]

Some (read too many) drivers slow down way to much on corners. And this is leaving my motorcycle brain on hold - car mode if you like.


We have had a decent rant on a rider training thread recently - driver training is just as important. My daughter has just done a session so she can get her full license earlier - interesting what they were teaching her.

Would it be really awful if we all had to do 'regular' compulsory training? I don't know - maybe every 7 years or so. Refresh on the road rules type stuff - reminder of how to behave - that type of shit.


And multi lane roundabouts. Christchurch has a few now - speeds are way too high and so many fuckers have no idea of how to treat the lanes. Last year had a odd number of trucks 'falling over' on them .........

I detest them. Entering one is akin to playing Russian roulette but with say 21 chambers .......

Should be instant loss of licence to be seen braking after the apex of a corner at a speed where even if it was wet there is no danger of loss of control. Some people seem to need to feel the brake pedal like some safety blanket that might be gone if they don't touch it every two seconds....
And multilane roundabouts on single lane highways.... there's a real cracker in Napier with three exits only, inner lane marked for right turns only but people still insist on try to go straight thru....never ends well as the outer lane is straight thru/left and right turn (inner lane effectively too tight for trucks)....

[AllanB]

Same road today. Same silly passing x 2.

Time to avoid it for a few weeks I think. On the bright side most are back at work next week so the usual behavior may apply.

[jafagsx250]

Most of the silly over takes would probably be averted if the slow drivers pulled over in....... I don't know. Maybe the slow vehicle lane? I have been stuck behind a bus or a car towing a trailer for kilometers because they don't pull over and there aren't many safe places to pass them.

And people going 100 in the right lane. It's not a fast lane but if people want to risk a ticket then just move over.

I think having to beat a certain time around a race track as part of your license may help. Think about the revenue that would be gathered year round by shit drivers being unlicensed

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[AllanB]

Most of the silly over takes would probably be averted if the slow drivers pulled over in....... I don't know. Maybe the slow vehicle lane?

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You are correct that in all cases I have seen it is a train of vehicles trundling along behind someone doing 80 or so. No dedicated passing lanes on this stretch.


To their credit I have also seen some drivers pulling heavy loads pull aside to allow traffic to pass - obviously people who actually look in their mirrors.


Tell you one thing I have noticed the grass on the roads edge is bloody long presently - to the point where if in a car visibility around a sweeper or the likes is severely reduced.

I also noticed it's a great hiding place for the police lately. Crafty buggers.

[Akzle]

Most of the silly over takes would probably be averted if the slow drivers pulled over in....... I don't know. Maybe the slow vehicle lane? I have been stuck behind a bus or a car towing a trailer for kilometers because they don't pull over and there aren't many safe places to pass them.

And people going 100 in the right lane. It's not a fast lane but if people want to risk a ticket then just move over.

I think having to beat a certain time around a race track as part of your license may help. Think about the revenue that would be gathered year round by shit drivers being unlicensed

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mother-fucking-vote-fucken-akzle.

licenses are issued by getting within 10% of a rally driver's time.
re-sat every 2 years. (and it's free)

reigonal licenses, with huge letters painted on your car "A" for aucklander - not allowed to drive any where else (ever)
("T" for other townies - limited to their towns) "W" for woman, not allowed to drive over 80, "O" for old cunt (anyone over 40), just as a courtesy notice,
"R" for rural driver - basically a permit to drive anywhere.
If you want to leave your town you apply for a holiday permit (and pass the appropriate test)
everyone gets an orange light that can be switched on for when you're drunk.
anyone breaching the stamp gets the shit kicked out of them, second offense they get shot.

[russd7]

Most of the silly over takes would probably be averted if the slow drivers pulled over in....... I don't know. Maybe the slow vehicle lane? I have been stuck behind a bus or a car towing a trailer for kilometers because they don't pull over and there aren't many safe places to pass them.

And people going 100 in the right lane. It's not a fast lane but if people want to risk a ticket then just move over.

I think having to beat a certain time around a race track as part of your license may help. Think about the revenue that would be gathered year round by shit drivers being unlicensed

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after driving from nelson to invercargill in a van that was burning oil in the rear cylinder and starting to make really bad noises (it did make it home) i will give you my thoughts on pulling over. quite simply put they can get fucked, i knew i was slow on hills so and with all the traffic on the lewis i decided in my wisdom to take the quieter route down the buller and grey valley to stillwater then through to jacksons, once i got on the greymouth chch road i did the whole pull over whenever i could and even waving vehicles through when stopped at one lane bridges, now i was trying to keep momentum up to get good runs at the steeper stuff but fuckwits in their cars who can't fucken drive and braking for corners that they should take easily at over a 100km in a car, now it must be asians ect you may say, but a lot of these vehicles had bike racks full of pushies, the last straw came when coming up to the otira, now i know the old girl was gonna struggle gettin up there so i stopped and let the road clear behind me and had a nice wee gap when i took off and fuck me if i didn't catch up to the useless fuckers and was eventually in 1st gear crawling up the otira in a line of traffic. turns out i should have stayed in front of them and would have had a clear road in front of me.

the other thing that would fuck me off is people not passing when i pulled well to the left with good visibilty for them to pass. i eventually said to the wife that they can get fucked, i stopped worrying about the dicks behind me and therefor my stress levels dropped tremendously.