Are slow drivers getting slower?

[Franco Cozzo]

95% of my driving to and from work every day is 100km/h freeway work on country roads, I do a bit over 100km a day just to and from work. I sit at 90km/h for most of that because it uses less fuel and its too easy to drift a few over and get done by a mobile speed camera that seems to be strategically placed, plus who is in a hurry to get to work, lol.

I'm a slow driver, but damn today I saw something interesting, I was driving down the tulla freeway in the left lane, and the entry ramp from Micleham road to the freeway, there was a few cars going up to come onto the freeway and a gap between those few and the one in front, so I sped up and lined up with the gap so everyone could merge in without having to do the whole slow down at the last minute and squeeze in somewhere.

So I'm lined up with the gap, then the driver leading the pack, merges onto the freeway at no crap, 50km/h, so everyones on the brakes, the gap is now up the pooper, and he continues to go 50km/h, putting along, then we're about to come up to the onramp to get onto the ring road and he swerves across without indicating, still doing 50, then decides he doesn't want to get on and swerves back just missing the barriers by about 5 meters and across the lines.

Theres a bloody reason why the freeway entrance is so long, its to pick up speed, I might do 10 under the limit but I don't merge going slowly, I get to speed, merge in safely and back off when im in the left lane so anyone else can go in the right lane past me when ever they want.

[Silver Ghia]

Happens all the time, cars not accelerating to speed up in the freeway entrance lane.

You need to get an FG Damo, the economy is best at 100kph and on cruise control so not to drift over, the instant fuel consumption reads higher when doing slower speeds with cruise control set.

Every time i drive these days I think there are significantly more slower drivers, especially in the 100kph zones. Very frustrating behind a slower driver especially when the brake lights keep going on every now and then for no reason. Then when they reach a slower speed limit zone, they keep doing the same speed instead of slowing down to the limit!!??

[Falcon Coupe]

I have noticed the slow trend as well. I have been working an hours drive from home all country roads with a single set of traffic lights to stop at.
A few years ago I could sit on 100 all the way to the same destination, now I meet a car doing 80 or even 70 in the 100 zone every day without fail.

The slow person is only part of the frustration equation, the freight train following being too timid to pass make the situation much worse, it's not uncommon for me to sit 5 cars back and have a car with decent acceleration try and pass us all. The slow people can and will cause nasty incidents on the road.

[uranium_death]

As for road manners etc. I live in Glen Waverley which is no longer what I would classify as an area dominated by caucasians.

In turn, the poor driving and overt disregard for any road rules has increased. I believe that some people have no idea what an indicator is, what giving way means, what holding your line means, what a slip-lane is and what rules apply to them, pedestrian crossings, roadabouts etc.

I would love to see tighter policing of driving instructors for one.
How can the driver of the "Wong's Driving School" instruct properly when he himself is unable to follow the road laws, as I see so often in the area...

Now please keep in mind that my best mate is Malaysian and I regard him as a good driver. He goes 4WD'ing (as in, actually engages 4L and climbs and descents hills) a lot...so please don't tag me as racist. I'm simply being factual, at least from my observations which may or may not be wrong...

[GreenR]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

.
How can the driver of the "Wong's Driving School" instruct properly when he himself is unable to follow the road laws, as I see so often in the area...

haha. Yes I don't like driving around the South Eastern Suburbs such as Noble Park, Dandenong, Springvale etc. It's a different driving world over that side.

[Riksta]

I find the slow are getting slower in Adelaide, 50 in an 80 zone constantly lately.

But the ones I find the worst - cars with Victorian number plates on them. They seem scared to edge up to anywhere near the limit. You do realise you can do the limit, and even a little smidge over on your speedo, without getting done right? They seem to be scared of getting done for doing the tiniest bit over so go extra slow to not get caught, and drive everyone mad!

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Riksta

I find the slow are getting slower in Adelaide, 50 in an 80 zone constantly lately.

But the ones I find the worst - cars with Victorian number plates on them. They seem scared to edge up to anywhere near the limit. You do realise you can do the limit, and even a little smidge over on your speedo, without getting done right? They seem to be scared of getting done for doing the tiniest bit over so go extra slow to not get caught, and drive everyone mad!

In Victoria you see, murderers, rapists and mentally-derranged criminals get a luxury hotel room while a person going 5km/h over the speed limit is branded the scum of the Earth...

Victoria IS the Nanny State

[TheInterceptor]

I agree with many of the posts in this thread.

More than once i have considered hanging up the keys and just biking it everywhere because of the things people do, or in fact, dont do. It gets worse when your late for somthing (of importance).
In the middle of the night, no morons, no worries just cruise the limit.

Rolling road blocks and the like cause annoyance, annoyance builds up. Annoyance turns to anger, Anger builds up. Anger = road rage.
Road rage is not good for anyone.
It can make you hit 80 in a 60 zone. It can make you force sombody off the road.

But thats ok, the saftey camera's are there to save us from ourselves.

Hm i wonder where Sudzy is...

[Airmon]

Nah I just think there are more Toyotas on the road.

[my_gxl]

Originally Posted by Seduce XR6

OMG Brute 33 you must drive in the same area as I do LMAO... same, same, same same lol

On my daily journey (20-30 minutes) is 1 overtaking lane with a 60 limit & guess what the slow drivers all speed up to 80 ish so you cant pass them (well I still do but don't tell anyone)

I call it overtaking syndrome. The cure seems to be getting the bonnet in front of theirs, then they slow down again.
Having a noisy V8 helps too.

[my_gxl]

Originally Posted by Silver Ghia

Happens all the time, cars not accelerating to speed up in the freeway entrance lane.

You need to get an FG Damo, the economy is best at 100kph and on cruise control so not to drift over, the instant fuel consumption reads higher when doing slower speeds with cruise control set.

Every time i drive these days I think there are significantly more slower drivers, especially in the 100kph zones. Very frustrating behind a slower driver especially when the brake lights keep going on every now and then for no reason. Then when they reach a slower speed limit zone, they keep doing the same speed instead of slowing down to the limit!!??

i thought it was just a Brisbane thing to go slowly onto the freeway, just to see how much fun it is to bring a 100 zone to a standstill. Its been perfected to an artform here.

[|Nate]

You should see my face when the 70kw Barina I drive occasionally accelerates faster onto the freeway than a VY SS that seems to think going at 50-60 onto a 110 section of the western freeway on-ramp is perfectly fine.

[ea90gl]

Lets see, just today, I was stuck behind some fella who had a striking resemblance to Father Time doing 45km/hr in a 60 zone while the guy next to us was probably doing 46.7km/hr. Then later while driving onto an expressway (entry to the southern expressway via marion road to the adelaide people) was stuck behind another lady who was doing 60km in an 80 zone and decided to brake for some reason entering the freeway even though the lane we were in does not end. As I go to overtake this braking idiot, the other idiot infront of them decides to change lanes infront of me and accelerate to the now 100km/h limit by about 1km/hour per kilometre of distance. Just can't escape these people these days

[93EB_SXR6]

Originally Posted by ea90gl

Lets see, just today, I was stuck behind some fella who had a striking resemblance to Father Time doing 45km/hr in a 60 zone while the guy next to us was probably doing 46.7km/hr. Then later while driving onto an expressway (entry to the southern expressway via marion road to the adelaide people) was stuck behind another lady who was doing 60km in an 80 zone and decided to brake for some reason entering the freeway even though the lane we were in does not end. As I go to overtake this braking idiot, the other idiot infront of them decides to change lanes infront of me and accelerate to the now 100km/h limit by about 1km/hour per kilometre of distance. Just can't escape these people these days

From Adelaide/know exactly what you mean.

[Ben73]

In peak hour I just chill and never rush around. But I just drove from Newcastle to muswellbrook at 1 am and I couldn't believe how many cars I passed. Had cruise control set on the speed limit most of the way and a passed atleast 10 cars like they were standing still.
It's 1am there is stuff all cars and people around why is half of all drivers too scared to do the speed limit.

[Seduce XR6]

Originally Posted by TheInterceptor

I agree with many of the posts in this thread.

Rolling road blocks and the like cause annoyance, annoyance builds up. Annoyance turns to anger, Anger builds up. Anger = road rage.
Road rage is not good for anyone.
It can make you hit 80 in a 60 zone. It can make you force sombody off the road.

But thats ok, the saftey camera's are there to save us from ourselves.

Hm i wonder where Sudzy is...

Well said that is exactly how they make me feel & as for Sudzy, don't you mean Harold Scrubie (think Sudzy is him)

[gaz084]

I travel 100kph on the m4`s 110kpm zone only because the old hilux wont go any faster than that haha.....but where i can do the speed limit i do the speed limit as a tradesman i cant afford to loose my licence.

[2011G6E]

My son was quite lucky when he got his licence out here, as virtually anywhere we want to go is "highway driving", so he clocked a massive amount of highway time before going for his test.
Some driving school instructors have said to me over the years that they don't even go out of town onto the highway. One would think that part of the licence test would be getting taken out to the highway and being made to drive at the speed limit for a while. If that simple task terrifies you, perhaps you should be getting a bus...

[Keepleft]

Slower? Yes - its all deliberately engineered.

In the 70's, I'd visit Australia (NSW) and drive from Sydney to Newcastle, the Hunter regions.

In those days, NSW had speed derestriction (//), basically outside of towns and cities, a 'prima facie' speed-limit of 80km/h applied. You could exceed this 'restriction' if the prevailing circumstances of the road, weather, driver and vehicle warranted.

Under this system drivers would;
Keep separation, indicate before moving out to pass, kept the indicator on>>>, then would indicate left - FULLY - to move back in. Observation was good, it had to be. Manners = much more polite than now, much less stress and 'road rage'.

And so on say Hue Hue Road (Wyong Shire) for example, we'd be at varying speeds; say 40 - 160km/h, you might say typically 120km/h in the old Holden ute.

Then the Wran bolshie Labor government overturned speed derestriction (//) and introduced a blanket rural maximum 100km/h (100), effective July 1979.

OUTCOME:- our permitted road speeds reduced, bunching-up of vehicles increased, travel times increased by minutes and over the long haul - even an hour or more. Fatigue increased along with stress and anger, All culminative in effect - all traffic all of the time!

Okay, so we have the Hue Hue road at 100km/h, we've reduced our 'typical' 120km/h down to 90-105km/h. RTA a few years back made a large portion of this once open speed road 80km/h maximum, and made a portion 90km/h.

So, we've gone from 120km/h to 80-90km/h - further adding to the above observations. Think of the cilminative effect - ie - for ALL TRAFFIC.

Now, mirror such examples statewide (even nationwide). Heck, when the Hume Highway in NSW was (//), when clear - we'd sit at 140 - 160km/h upping to maximum sometimes, you'd slow down of course when roo's were about.

With ever more restrictions on speed and movement, people lost interest in 'driving', it became more of a chore, they didn't see the need or requirement for driving as well as they once did under speed derestriction.

Heck, I'd get off the F3 northbound which has always been 110km/h at the Peats Ridge exit, - then the effective END of the freeway run north. From that point, when clear, the derestriction signs (//) signalled it was okay to go faster IF SAFE. And so often, family would jump up to 120-140km/h. Nowadays its 80-90-100km/h.

Add in the much increased numbers of vehicles and population, ever reduced per capita infrastructure funding as the country fell/falls under the global financial system, and the States lose ability to independently raise road funds, and we have all the making of an unhappy motoring populace.

Add in cameras, fixed and mobile, stationary and point to point, advertising campaigns, - it all further adds to "attitude"; angry and f-you all kinda attitude.

Add in changing society and the ongoing destruction of kinship and civil disorder.

With such low speed allowances, sorry 'permission' on some otherwise fine interstate roads, improved vehicles and the nanny state impact - where many a driver now "enjoys" playing road games to deliberately pee other drivers off, as a way of "getting back" I guess.

The answer has to be a YES - people have gotten slower, and more rude, mateship is dead or dying - and it'll continue until I guess road vehicles are 'intelligently driven and managed' by GovCo (ITS). That is their ultimate aim.

Some just can't be bothered indicating whatsoever to pass when arriving on the door of a slow driver or two, and so 'go around', happy to annoy the slowies by not using the indicator.

Or, those folk that KNOW that passing by overtaking on double lines really annoys the "others'", and does so, even when they are at or near the limit, or even slightly over.

Observed a NSW Highway Patrol; he had set up an RBT and license check on the F3 Morisett southbound on-ramp. Leaving 70 metres for folk to get up to speed to join 90-120+ traffic.

Hopeless. Made a phone call to complain - they don't that further.

[In Focus]

I hate the drivers who think they are safe by going at 50kph in a 60kph zone, and then start to break when they are coming up to a GREEN light - in case it turns to amber.

While I agree that the normal method of "going for it" on amber isn't a good idea, breaking in ANTICIPATION of an amber, let alone a red, is ridiculous.

[damo76]

I hate the ****** that drive at 80 to 90 on the highway and when an overtaking lane comes up they speed up so i cant overtake them and then they slow down again when the overtaking lane finishes.

[T-Pak Addict]

Funny how people think others are going slower, I have the opposite problem in the northern burbs of Adelaide... I sit on 60/65 and just about everyone passes me doing 70ish and you see the brakes come on before an intersection.... These arent just Commodore drivers either..... You would think with all the anti hoon laws in Adelaide that people would get the message but no they havent....

Boy do they get annoyed when they get stuck behind me but I dont really care that much its their problem. I always get to work 15 mins earlier than I need to, so I am in no rush (like to make a coffee before I start).

I think most people are in too much of a rush these days and dont want to leave a little earlier so they can just relax and cruise to work....

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by T-Pak Addict

Funny how people think others are going slower, I have the opposite problem in the northern burbs of Adelaide... I sit on 60/65 and just about everyone passes me doing 70ish and you see the brakes come on before an intersection.... These arent just Commodore drivers either..... You would think with all the anti hoon laws in Adelaide that people would get the message but no they havent....

Boy do they get annoyed when they get stuck behind me but I dont really care that much its their problem. I always get to work 15 mins earlier than I need to, so I am in no rush (like to make a coffee before I start).

I think most people are in too much of a rush these days and dont want to leave a little earlier so they can just relax and cruise to work....

my diff has an awesome howl at 60..65... so i always sit on 70.........

[BFZF8]

Originally Posted by Brute 33

But lately the cool thing to do at night is to drive with parking lights on and fog / cornering lights on......dumb as....

I'm glad it's not just me noticing this! I've never noticed it before this past week but I've seen three cars doing exactly this! Do they send out emails to each other?!

Back on topic, I don't know that I necessarily agree that people are getting slower. Rather I think people simply can't judge an appropriate speed for whatever conditions they're driving in (regardless of the posted limit). For instance, people will do 70 on a straight section of road with a posted limit of 80kph and then steam through at the same 70kph on a quiet residential street where there are kids riding bikes and scooters. Never been able to work that out.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by T-Pak Addict

Funny how people think others are going slower, I have the opposite problem in the northern burbs of Adelaide... I sit on 60/65 and just about everyone passes me doing 70ish and you see the brakes come on before an intersection.... These arent just Commodore drivers either..... You would think with all the anti hoon laws in Adelaide that people would get the message but no they havent....

Boy do they get annoyed when they get stuck behind me but I dont really care that much its their problem. I always get to work 15 mins earlier than I need to, so I am in no rush (like to make a coffee before I start).

I think most people are in too much of a rush these days and dont want to leave a little earlier so they can just relax and cruise to work....

[Silver Ghia]

Originally Posted by T-Pak Addict

Funny how people think others are going slower, I have the opposite problem in the northern burbs of Adelaide... I sit on 60/65 and just about everyone passes me doing 70ish and you see the brakes come on before an intersection.... These arent just Commodore drivers either..... You would think with all the anti hoon laws in Adelaide that people would get the message but no they havent....

Boy do they get annoyed when they get stuck behind me but I dont really care that much its their problem. I always get to work 15 mins earlier than I need to, so I am in no rush (like to make a coffee before I start).

I think most people are in too much of a rush these days and dont want to leave a little earlier so they can just relax and cruise to work....

Depends on the speed limit you are doing 60/65 in. If its a 60 zone thats fine but the OP was talking about those doing significantly less than the posted speed limit. You always get a few that drive faster, but there are more and more drivers that drive significantly slower than the speed limit, when conditions are bright and sunny, and nothing in front of them.

[GreenR]

Yesterday I drove home 25 minutes on the Hume Highway. 2 o'clock. Fairly busy-ish. Sat on 100 then 110 (the speed limits) and passed 1 car towing a caravan, and 2 other cars. Caravan was going about 90 in 100. Other cars were going roughly 5km slower.

Not sure whats going on everywhere else but where I am people are not driving slow

[Supercharged]

I think they may be going slower to minimize fuel usage or are simply selfish.

[Ben73]

They are in their own world and don't care about anyone else.

[TheInterceptor]

No, its because the closer they get to the magic number (1km over limit), the more dangerous and life threatening it is therefore they drive at a safe speed...