Driving in Oz

[xyphod]

I've just spent 5 week in Austraila with quite a bit of driving involved (around 4000km). My impression! What a complete police state when it comes to driving.
Thank god I had cruise control, otherwise I would have spent alot of money on fines.
Nobody speeds, even in the middle of nowhere. Everywhere you go there a big posters of police (trying to look intimidating) with captions, "We have you in our sight". "If you speed you are a d*ckhead". And tripple points on bank holiday weekends.
The motorist has truely lost! Was a sad time.

[Mr Gear]

xyphod said:

I've just spent 5 week in Austraila with quite a bit of driving involved (around 4000km). My impression! What a complete police state when it comes to driving.
Thank god I had cruise control, otherwise I would have spent alot of money on fines.
Nobody speeds, even in the middle of nowhere. Everywhere you go there a big posters of police (trying to look intimidating) with captions, "We have you in our sight". "If you speed you are a d*ckhead". And tripple points on bank holiday weekends.
The motorist has truely lost! Was a sad time.

The only place I ever got a speeding fine was in New Zealand on a road so empty I could have got out the car and had a sleep on it.

That said, despite the opportunities to speed, there is no better place on earth for a road-trip than Australia:



...even if all you have is a 1.2 8v Corsa!

[Silent1]

1 Monaro (kindly leant by an Oz PHer to me)
1 complete disregard for ozzie speedlimits (no one explained how strict they were)

The best day of my life

To be fair though, most drivers in Oz are completely incapable of driving.

[Cactussed]

That's partly why I left. The road policing is beyond draconian. Unfortunately, the road manners and lane disipline aren't much better.

If you enjoy cars and driving, you're FAR better off over here...

[xyphod]

Yep I couldn't believe it. 400k of straight line driving on the Hay plane in NSW. And everybody stuck to the 110km/h speed limit.
God was it boring and dangerous. Borded with the slow speed and constantly looking at the speedo not at the road (those roos are suisidal).

[Pommygranite]

After the Northern Territory bought in speed limits (previously unrestricted in parts) the road injury/death toll went up. The reason? It was so boring driving at 60mph for hours on end with nothing to distract drivers that they lost concentration or fell asleep.

Motoring in Australia is like Jessica Alba without a vagina: looks awesome on the face of it but is ultimately unfulfilling.

[braddo]

Yet there doesn't seem to be much of a track day scene (or is there?), which I thought would have really taken off in recent years. I suppose most people will only be in reach of 2-3 circuits though, whereas in many parts of the UK you probably have 15 within a few hours' drive...

[phil_cardiff]

Pommygranite said:

After the Northern Territory bought in speed limits (previously unrestricted in parts) the road injury/death toll went up. The reason? It was so boring driving at 60mph for hours on end with nothing to distract drivers that they lost concentration or fell asleep.

Motoring in Australia is like Jessica Alba without a vagina: looks awesome on the face of it but is ultimately unfulfilling.

She's still got a mouth though?

[GTIR]

I was there until 1997 and there was no speed cameras.
I remember driving flat out (about 80 in my 1978 Corrolla) for a couple of hours and never got pulled by cops.

[xyphod]

Well I did do a bit of bush bomb driving ;o)
A number of my relatives out there have 5+ acres of land. They go out and buy an old bomb for about $50 and drive around the land in as stupid a way as possible ;o)

[Mr Gear]

braddo said:

Yet there doesn't seem to be much of a track day scene (or is there?), which I thought would have really taken off in recent years. I suppose most people will only be in reach of 2-3 circuits though, whereas in many parts of the UK you probably have 15 within a few hours' drive...

Some of the tracks are local government owned! It's brilliant. Check out Willowbank Raceway. Owned by the Queensland government, it hosts grassroots drag and circuit events on a regular basis. A bloke in Townsville told me that the local police run a free drag event at the airport to get the kids off the streets!

It doesn't get much better than that.

[smack]

(Some) Australians like making rules for the sake of making rules. And no one stands up against them. A shame, as it is a nice country.

[Cal_GTA]

We had a hire car for 2-3 weeks while we were on holiday in Australia.. painful experience. Was glad to get back onto our roads after a few weeks over there.

Total police state with ridiculously slow limits in quite literally the middle of nowhere.

[Silent1]

You guys obviously never drove down gravel roads, no cops and no rules, I vmaxed an ancinet Subaru liberty down one on the farm and his 110mph in it, scary as hell though!

[mybrainhurts]

[Zod]

Driving in the towns and on the freeways is an awful experience.

Off the beaten track, it's more fun, or woudl be if the cars were not so st.

[LS6wetdream]

Silent1 said:

You guys obviously never drove down gravel roads, no cops and no rules, I vmaxed an ancinet Subaru liberty down one on the farm and his 110mph in it, scary as hell though!

there is 1 rule for driving on gravel roads, always put your hand on the front windscreen when another car is coming, that way if it shatters from a rock, you wont get covered in glass :P

aussie cops are little hilters, especially hard on any done up car with a young driver, they will fine you for not indicating when changing lanes

my mate lost his license 3 times, they would have an absolute field day in this country, and all the inconsiderate BMW drivers would find themselves with no license

Edited by LS6wetdream on Friday 11th June 20:21

[v15ben]

The road policing is pretty draconian. Saying that though I've been flat out in a hire car just off the Great Ocean Road and very quickly cross country in an Evo VIII so it can be done

[mybrainhurts]

v15ben said:

The road policing is pretty draconian.

This is, undoubtedly, overcompensation for guilt emanating from the knowledge their country is founded on the dregs of British criminal society...

[busta]

LS6wetdream said:

there is 1 rule for driving on gravel roads, always put your hand on the front windscreen when another car is coming, that way if it shatters from a rock, you wont get covered in glass :P

I was told the theory was you're less likely to get a stone chip. Didn't make much sense to me though. With laminated windscreens there's not much chance of getting covered in shattered glass though unless it's a bloody big rock. Henry Ford worked that one out in 1919!

Regarding the policing, it is ridiculously stirct. Travelling from Geraldton to Carnarvon in WA is 480km of nothing much, but you can guarantee as you rise over one of the many crests on the way you'll see a silver and orange Holden coming the other way.

On the other hand, as mentioned, the dirt roads are pretty lawless and very entertaining if you're in a RWD car- even my slush box 1989 Volvo was fun!