Interesting you should say that rehctub. A couple of days ago I was quite startled by a car which came out of nowhere, entering a roundabout on my right as I approached it. It came from behind a dense band of vegetation about 1.5 metres high – high enough to almost completely hide a car and dense enough to hide any hint of headlights at night.

Utterly bloody stuuupid!

I’d get on to the local council about that.... if I thought they’d take a tad of notice of me.

Hazza, you old self-confessed hoon, you’re almost as bad as our ‘mate’ Nhojjie!!

Oh…. hold on…. on second thoughts, no I’d rather have your type out there than his/hers/its.

Being a hoon is one thing, but being just totally intolerant of any other road users, who are going evenly slightly slower than what they want to go, regardless of the speed limit or any other factors, and who don’t hold back on showing their contempt, are the type of drivers that need to be eliminated from our roads.

Of course I’m just assuming that h/h/i’s driving is similar to h/h/i’s behaviour on OLO…. which I think is a pretty reasonable assumption!

Ok, so how should we judge a persons driving standards. Should it be judged by the number of infringements (traffic violations only) they have accumulated, or, should we judge it by the numbe of accidents they have had. Il start.

I started driving in 77 and, although I have never lost my license, I must have had at least a dozen or more fines for speeding and one, as a very innocent 17 YO for crossing the tip of a double line in making a U turn. But, touch wood, I have only ever had one slight accident when I was 17, other than hitting the odd roo.

When on a multi lane highway, I either sit in the far left lane, or, I do the same speed as the rest of the traffic.

So, while I may have had my share of speeding tickets, I do consider myself a safe driver.

We have similar driving histories rechtub. I started in 1976. I’ve had one accident, in ~1978, which the esteemed police deemed to be my fault, but which absolutely was not.

I’ve never lost my license and have had very few fines over the years. I went for more than 20 years without incurring a fine or demerit point, and I’ve always been a prolific driver, with a great passion for exploring far and wide.

So I consider myself to be a safe driver, well and truly.

The other thing that I’ve done is to write letters to the editor, express my concerns on OLO, discuss them with RACQ, Dept of Transport and local council people and make complaints to the police about the worst instances of rank driving that I have been subjected to… all of which I feel a good and caring driver should be doing, to the best of their ability.

Unfortunately, all of this has given me a very poor impression of our police, Dept of Transport and local authorities when it comes to road safety. RACQ is the only one that has been worth communicating with.

I am a quick driver. I wouldn't have managed to set a number of Bathurst lap records if I weren't. I also had an aging mother who until recently, in her 90s was a very slow driver.

I want everyone on the road to drive at a speed they are comfortable with, no matter how slow.

I had an accident on the road in 1960, & a couple on the track since then, but I've found that if you value your car you tend not to damage it in accidents. I have always organized my life so I was never running late, so never had to hurry on the road.

We have many slow retirees, & farmers with old utes & trucks out here, giving many slow vehicles on our roads. The only ones who upset me are the drivers who never overtake these slow vehicles, but drive so close behind them they make it very difficult for anyone else to pass.

Luddy you'll be pleased to know I value the paintwork on my old restored sports cars too much to follow closely behind other cars, so it won't be me tailgating you. I may pass you, if you are dawdling, in a noisy burst of power, hidden under that old body & nice paint, but I'm sure you won't mind that.

<< I want everyone on the road to drive at a speed they are comfortable with, no matter how slow. >>

Can’t go along with that.

Slow drivers are a hazard, Haz. Slow drivers that hog the road and don’t pull over to the side to let the great long line of traffic that has built up behind them pass are mongrels, who deserve to be booked for failing to show due courtesy to other road users, if not for dangerous driving.

We’ve all got to travel at a reasonable speed, unless there is a very good reason. A tractor or a cane-harvester or grader or anything of that sort, which has to travel on public roads at some point, and can only go very slowly, comprises a good reason. But they still need to be compelled by law to pull over and let traffic clear whenever they can.

<< I may pass you, if you are dawdling… >>

Well, it depends what you mean by dawdling. There are abundant morons out there on the highways who seem to think that ‘dawdling’ is anything below 108kmh in the 100 zone!