Australian Drivers are rude and inconsiderate

If you are a regular user of one of Australia’s three-lane freeways you will probably be aware of two things;

• Traffic flow is inconsistent for no good reason.
• Slow drivers sit in the island lane and refuse to move out of it.

Obviously the two issues are connected and I have a theory on why it happens. I leave home before peak usage and join the tradies’ daily migration to the big smoke -- a 70km uninterrupted freeway trip.

On at least one morning out of three the flow is barely moving at 90km/h. Sure enough, way up ahead there are three drivers sitting side by side at the same speed.

Eventually after a few kilometres, the island lane driver -- who has actually been going at 91km/h -- has gained six car lengths and has enough room to move over and let the 1km snake behind pass.

But of course he doesn't. He just continues to sit there.

So the 1km snake threads through and overtakes on the inside. This itself can be fraught with danger as by the time we all reach the point where this can happen we have also arrived at the steep incline where the B-Doubles are starting to bank up.

And of course inevitably one will pull out to overtake another and then we have two B-Doubles abreast. A third one that is carrying a light load and has no intention of waiting behind the others pulls into the island lane as he has a clear slot because that same original slow island lane driver has left him room to do so. Three B-Doubles abreast = chaos = 1km of cars slamming brakes.

There are two long inclines on my route and the above scenario happens way too often.

I have to ask;

• What do the 90kmph drivers think they are doing? Do they realise how selfish, inconsiderate and dangerous their actions are?
• Should they even be on the road - if they can take such a leisurely trip to work why don't they catch the train?
• Why are there so many B-Doubles on the road and....  between speeding, cutting in and ignoring most other road rules how do so many keep their licence?
• And the big one - it's a 70km freeway trip - 100k all up for me. I love to drive and won't stop for anything, but a considerable percentage of the other drivers don't. They should be catching a train.

Why don't they?

The answer is simple - the train service is a stinking heap of mess. Carriages are putrid with poorly-cleaned vomit - if you happen to sit in a seat that has had a migrating homeless person use it on the last trip there will be the usual stench of stale urine. I am not exaggerating - I use the service two days a week under sufferance.

Back to my theory.

The guy sitting at 90 is a gentle type and he doesn't like the stench of the trains.

He sits in the island lane because he is frightened of getting squashed by two B-Doubles if he sits in the other two.

There are so many B-Doubles on the road because in this big wide land of ours we have let truck transport become more cost effective and efficient than rail.

So it's all the rail systems fault.

Another pet hate of mine:  drivers who wait five seconds before moving on a green right arrow and leave six car length before following the one before. From a stream of 10, two get to turn right.

And there are a few other per hates I could rant about.

But what are yours? .

Rod Halligan