Poor driving habits getting worse amongst kiwi drivers

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Poor driving habits getting worse amongst kiwi drivers

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Oblivian

6946 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1927144 30-Dec-2017 21:16

Geektastic: I watched a truck jump a red light right in front of me today in Rotorua.

I was waiting to proceed and traffic on the other carriageway was turning right at some lights on Old Taupo Rd.

My light went green and just as I was moving my foot to the gas pedal a big truck turned across right in front of me. His light was definitely red because mine was green.

Insanity.

Very, very tight line. If already part way through the move one is allowed to complete the turn on yellow/red. However that is exasperated by donks who run the orange straight through at you, or ignore the actual use of it and take off to turn on orange/red so as to not wait another phase.

https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resources/turning-right-traffic-lights/

TrendMicro

Best TrendMicro deals for antivirus and malware protection(affiliate link).

Geektastic

17690 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1927171 30-Dec-2017 22:19

Oblivian:
Geektastic: I watched a truck jump a red light right in front of me today in Rotorua.

I was waiting to proceed and traffic on the other carriageway was turning right at some lights on Old Taupo Rd.

My light went green and just as I was moving my foot to the gas pedal a big truck turned across right in front of me. His light was definitely red because mine was green.

Insanity.

Very, very tight line. If already part way through the move one is allowed to complete the turn on yellow/red. However that is exasperated by donks who run the orange straight through at you, or ignore the actual use of it and take off to turn on orange/red so as to not wait another phase.

https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resources/turning-right-traffic-lights/

Our light was green over2 or 3 Seconds before the truck appeared in front of 2 lanes of about to move traffic!

Technofreak

6109 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1927372 31-Dec-2017 15:56

Geektastic:
Oblivian:

Geektastic: I watched a truck jump a red light right in front of me today in Rotorua.

I was waiting to proceed and traffic on the other carriageway was turning right at some lights on Old Taupo Rd.

My light went green and just as I was moving my foot to the gas pedal a big truck turned across right in front of me. His light was definitely red because mine was green.

Insanity.

Very, very tight line. If already part way through the move one is allowed to complete the turn on yellow/red. However that is exasperated by donks who run the orange straight through at you, or ignore the actual use of it and take off to turn on orange/red so as to not wait another phase.

https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resources/turning-right-traffic-lights/

Our light was green over2 or 3 Seconds before the truck appeared in front of 2 lanes of about to move traffic!

Truck drivers seem to be the worst offenders.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

cadman

1014 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1927576 1-Jan-2018 11:40

Technofreak:

Truck drivers seem to be the worst offenders.

Of course. They're on the road all day trying to make a living getting more frustrated by the hopeless timing of lights (short phases, missed opportunities for turns because of a policy of excess safety to allow for people's poor driving abilities rather than actually addressing that problem) and needless red arrows and sitting at intersections on red lights when there's nobody coming the other way. When they start doing things like this they're a symptom that something is wrong with the system.

Technofreak

6109 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1927593 1-Jan-2018 13:16

cadman:

Technofreak:

Truck drivers seem to be the worst offenders.

Of course. They're on the road all day trying to make a living getting more frustrated by the hopeless timing of lights (short phases, missed opportunities for turns because of a policy of excess safety to allow for people's poor driving abilities rather than actually addressing that problem) and needless red arrows and sitting at intersections on red lights when there's nobody coming the other way. When they start doing things like this they're a symptom that something is wrong with the system.

I agree the phasing of some lights isn't very good, but generally it's not too bad. One thing that would make a difference is allowing left turns on red, basically a give way when turning left when the lights are red. This work well overseas.

To address my original comment, the situations I'm thinking of have nothing to do with poor phasing and all to do with some truck drivers being too lazy to stop when the should and knowing they can get away with it due to their size.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1927596 1-Jan-2018 13:31

Technofreak:

and all to do with some truck drivers being too lazy to stop when the should and knowing they can get away with it due to their size.

Hate to tell you this, but if you've started when the lights turned green, you finally get up to 30kph , 30 metres away, the lights turn orange, you're not going to stop 40+ ton without sitting in the middle of the intersection, so the driver has 2 choices, keep nailing it and try to get through or stop in the middle and watch the road rage.

And because you don't know when the light is going to go orange, so you're trying to do your best and keep moving.

The other scenario is you're doing the speed limit (less traffic) and the light goes orange, you're 30 metres away.... there's no way you'll stop.

There are some bad truckers out there, but most are trying to do the right thing by everyone, because their livelihood depends on it (and having a licence).

cadman

1014 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1927597 1-Jan-2018 13:37

Technofreak:

I agree the phasing of some lights isn't very good, but generally it's not too bad. One thing that would make a difference is allowing left turns on red, basically a give way when turning left when the lights are red. This work well overseas.

Along with eliminating red arrows where they're simply not necessary and returning to relying on the GIVE WAY rule.

Technofreak:

To address my original comment, the situations I'm thinking of have nothing to do with poor phasing and all to do with some truck drivers being too lazy to stop when the should and knowing they can get away with it due to their size.

There's always been an element of that but I think that levels we're seeing today indicate the issue is systemic. I was at a set of lights the other day turning right and 3 cars got through. There was no fannying about from any of them either - when the arrow went green they were all off immediately. Then the arrow went orange as the third car crossed the line (I was 5th in line - had I been 4th there would have been 4 cars that got through). There was no opposing traffic and a perfectly good view from the right turning lane so there's absolutely no justification for a red arrow there at all.

Geektastic

17690 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1927611 1-Jan-2018 14:23

blakamin:
Technofreak:

and all to do with some truck drivers being too lazy to stop when the should and knowing they can get away with it due to their size.

Hate to tell you this, but if you've started when the lights turned green, you finally get up to 30kph , 30 metres away, the lights turn orange, you're not going to stop 40+ ton without sitting in the middle of the intersection, so the driver has 2 choices, keep nailing it and try to get through or stop in the middle and watch the road rage.

And because you don't know when the light is going to go orange, so you're trying to do your best and keep moving.

The other scenario is you're doing the speed limit (less traffic) and the light goes orange, you're 30 metres away.... there's no way you'll stop.

There are some bad truckers out there, but most are trying to do the right thing by everyone, because their livelihood depends on it (and having a licence).

This suggests we need more efficient brakes on lorries...