Welcome to Just Commodores, a site specifically designed for all people who share the same passion as yourself.

New Posts Contact us

Just Commodores Forum Community

It takes just a moment to join our fantastic community

Register

F***wits at roundabouts

Calaber

Nil Bastardo Carborundum
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Messages
4,334
Reaction score
1,357
Points
113
Location
Lower Hunter Region NSW
Members Ride
CG Captiva 5 Series 2
At the end of my road is a major roundabout. The speed limit in our street is 50kph and the cross road, a major regional distributor, is a four lane 70kph road.

Our roundabout is the first one you encounter on Wyong Road after leaving the F3 freeway, which has a 110kph limit. The roundabout is at the bottom of about a half kilometer incline. This tends to mean that traffic leaving the freeway is still in "F3 mode" and instead of approaching the roundabout at 70, they are more likely to be doing 80 or 90.

For us to enter the roundabout, we not only have these people coming from our right at high speed, our vision is extremely limited by the decorative entryways developers place at the entry to residential development areas. In other words, we don't have much time to see, estimate speed and make a safe entry to the roundabout. It's a recipe for death.

Crossing from the other direction, to enter our street, the same problem exists, because the idiots won't slow down. They think they have the speed to cross in front of you, even if you are already on the roundabout.

Well, last week, I struck two cretins side by side coming from my left. I was half way across the intersection and about to enter my street, indicator working. The first (a p plater, of course!), who was in the kerbside lane, crossed in front of me, forcing me to brake to avoid him. The second, the car beside him in the median lane, decided that I had already gone through, so she decided to go through too. Trouble is, I had stopped for the other f***wit, so I was right in front of her.

She realised her mistake at the last second and swung hard left to avoid me, while I accellerated hard to the right. Our cars actually brushed, with only a polish needced to remove the paint on my side mouldings.

The police don't pay enough attention to traffic behaviour at roundabouts and this is one where they could set up camp and book nit wits all day long. Too much policicing emphasis on speeding (particularly over holidays), not enough on intersections.

Someone will die at this intersection. It won't be me - I have had enough scares to be extremely cautious every time I use the roundabout. But the behaviour of Central Coast drivers of all ages at roundabouts is beyond description.
 

minux

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
6,929
Reaction score
245
Points
63
Location
Melbourne
Members Ride
2017 SSV Redline
Calaber, once again it shows that driver education in Australia is a joke. The government are hell bent on making people believe that hoons and speeding are the only issues on our road. Sadly, neither of these are hardly an issue, driver education and poor policing of this education is what the problem is. Sounds like you had some pretty lucky escapes.
 

Calaber

Nil Bastardo Carborundum
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Messages
4,334
Reaction score
1,357
Points
113
Location
Lower Hunter Region NSW
Members Ride
CG Captiva 5 Series 2
Minux

Totally agree with you. Our local council seems to think that roundabouts are the solution to a multitude of traffic issues, but the local population seems to think they are minor interruptions to their journey which only requires a slight deviation of the steering wheel to negotiate, not a tool for safe traffic management.
 

I drive a VL Commodore

I drive a Skyline, too.
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Adelaide, South Australia
Members Ride
VL Commodore Poverty Pack
Why is there a roundabout on a 70kph distributor anyway? That's just asking for trouble.

Roundabouts are an inexpensive solution to slowing traffic on residential and other minor roads and occasionally intermediate roads up to 60kph. Add more lanes and higher speeds and things just get stupid.

And lets not forget the deluded faggots who think plodding pretty flowers and **** right in the middle of the ****en things is a good idea.

Send some angry letters to your local government about the issue. If you're serious set up camp at the roundabout with a camera during peak traffic and record all dangerous activity and wing that off with your letter.

Although if your local is like my local it will take 3 or more serious accidents before the area is fixed. It took my car, two others' and one persons' life before they fixed a particular blackspot near my place. :bang:
 
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
1,030
Reaction score
14
Points
0
Members Ride
VN S1
Or you could get out one night gorilla gardner style and paint some thick white rumble strips on the road. A bit of work but council sucks.
 
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
269
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Age
35
Location
Cairns, QLD
Members Ride
VS S Pack Ute
Roundabouts are one of my biggest pet hates. Seriously. I cannot stand the blatant disregard that most people seem to have towards the road laws when using them. Especially when it comes to indicating.

Councils/Road authorities are often even more negligent with regard to them. They are forever putting plants/etc on them restricting visibility.

I feel you pain bro.
 

Sabbath'

Redblock Jesus
Joined
Jul 3, 2006
Messages
6,280
Reaction score
4,208
Points
113
Location
Vic
Members Ride
80 Series// VFII Black Edition
Councils seem to think that putting physical lumps in the road will curb a speed problem, when other measures could be safer, and more effective.

Case in point:

On Haverbrack Drive in Mulgrave they've set up "Esses" to slow traffic down, and to try to stop the amount of through traffic from Police Road to Wellington Road. The speed limit down the road was 60. It's a wide 2 lane road, and because of the nature of it, it wasnt uncommon for people to be doing atleast 80 through it. So the first step was to simply reduce the speed limit.

When that didnt work, the Esses went in. But the stupid thing is, they've put them in in such a way, that you can comfortably go through them at 50, and even up to 55 is possible on the downhill sections. They have done NOTHING to stop the speeding problem as a whole because anybody who drives the road regularly knows how to go around them. It just causes a traffic hazard when granny may goes around them at 5km/h because she cant negotiate the turn, or, when people on the side roads think you're going to slow down more so they pull out in front of you.
 

Pub247

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2006
Messages
3,372
Reaction score
59
Points
48
Location
Melbourne S.E.
Members Ride
Ford Fairmont
Yeah i like roundabouts I think in theory theyre much better than traffic lights and they should keep traffic flowing better. Anyone who has been or lived at noosa like me would know how well the system works noosa has/had only 1 traffic light in the whole town out the front of the school.
Problem is some people just dont care about others drivers or just fail to grasp the concept of a roundabout its not hard.
I had a close one the other week on the notorious thompson road roundabout because some ******** decided not to indicate to tell me he was going right instead of straight ahead
 

vsl67

Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
792
Reaction score
15
Points
18
Members Ride
VS l67 statesman
Some of the roundbouts are poorly designed with landscaping to block views throwen in and add the idiot driver factor to this equals trouble

Other round abouts are worse than others with exits/entries points to close together this is a bad problem with the two lane roundabouts that dont have the arrows painted on the road
 

System

Donating Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Messages
193
Reaction score
6
Points
18
Location
Adelaide
Members Ride
2005 VZ commodore exec
i treat every round about like an intersection- give way to your right, indicate RIGHT if you are going right, indicate LEFT if you are going left- and straight ahead, no indicator, none of thie BS "first right indicator, then when half way round left indicator to go straight".... that only confuses people.

I dont see how people cannot grasp how to go through a round about?
 
Top