Hoping this will end up in FAQ to help new arrivals, but I am unable to post a new topic there. :doh:

Just thought it might be an idea to tie together some things about driving people might not know if they don't read the Aus Highway Code in detail immediately. Not being there, I don't know many but will start with the following -

Don't park facing the opposite direction to the traffic flow - you will get a ticket.

Don't park near a fire hydrant - you will get a ticket.

Don't park within 3 metres (I think) of a junction - you will get a ticket.

Don't bother flashing your lights to let someone out of a junction, they will ignore you.

Anyone know if the Australian Highway Code or study aids for the driving test exam are available online or for purchase in the UK?

Yep - you can practice the theory test online. Trouble is I can't remember where the bookmark for the website is. If I'm not mistaken Elaine has a link from her website.

EDIT : HERE it is.

Also, over in the freshly reconstructed FAQ - you'll find a whole section devoted to motoring issues!!!!!

I haven't updated the Index yet though - theough Julia might have - (and it may be defunct now we've separated the main categories out) so don't go via there....

hullo to all,

i am a south australian born and bred.

i lived 1i years in u.k (west london ..hounslow)

i find my own country people(note: not sexist..) adelaidians to boot....the most stupid...ignorant...utterly braindead..ill mannered drivers i have ever had thew displeasure of being on a road with.

please...be careful out there....it is a zoo of idiotic animals.

yours...safefully.

ron oxer.

Here here - I totally agree with you there! :unsure:

Baa Baa Baa Baa - they are all sheep. Follow each other in a single line of traffic at each others bums (even at 100kph), this is so that the person in the left lane cannot get in between them. They don't move to the left even when there are no cars in the left lane! They have no common sense whatsoever! :happy45:

Baa Baa Baa Baa ......

Just one tip .......Keep your eyes and ears peeled as the driver infront/behind /at the side of you WILL without exception ...do something unbelievable , ie U turn , stop without warning, reverse towards you !!!..

Be careful out there

Fire poles are not immediately obvious. They are white with a red band at the top.

Do not park in your driveway overhanging the footpath - you will get a ticket.

Do not exceed the time limits stated on the signs - you will get a ticket.

Tailgating is a popular pastime here. As is opening car doors into the next one parked at the supermarket/mall car park. I have amassed a collection of dents/scratches that were'nt there before.

Disabled parking spaces are really for lazy a :sign53: 's who just can't be bothered to walk the extra few feet.

South Australian drivers in general are stumped when they encounter a roundabout.

They also feel the need to come to a near dead stop when turning left into a side road/driveway.

The following applies to traffic lights:
Red = stop
Green = go
Amber = Go faster!

Changing lanes: The etiquette seems to be indicate, then pull out regardless if there is a space or not. The onus is on the car behind in the next lane to take suitable evasive action!

None of the above are in the highway code tho!

Desiree
:D :D

Do you know something I used to hate giving people traffic tickets when I was in the UK but as you've mentioned some of the "unusual' driving habits of adelaide inhabitants I am finding myself giving more and more out (but not for parking the wrong way on a street or anything like that - thats just petty. I mean for 'real' offences that are dangerous.)

Honestly it's like shoting fish in a barrel! If i ever get bored of the Police Force i think I'll set up my own driving school and teach defensive driving - at least some people will know how to use the roads safely then!

Phew - I don't know where that blast came from - probably a little frustrated after attending ANOTHER crash where spped and tailgating were the major factors.... grrrrrr

If anyone needs traffic law questions answering please feel free to get in touch - i may not know them all but i can find out if not.

Dan

They are all without exception the most ignorant drivers ever.

I wait with my children to cross the road, the drivers are already slowing down to approach an island and not one of them slows enough to let us cross. I was stood there for at least 5 mins. (Busy school chucking out time). You would think other women with kids would slow, but no, they are worse. Tunnel vision, blinkered idiots!!

COMPLETE IGNORANT PIGS.

Need to calm down.

Libby

Hi

what more can I say, other than if you are parked in a 1/2P, 1P or whatever - make sure that it doesn't become a cycle lane during your timezone, because that's another ticket!

Also learner drivers are able to take their driving test in an automatic car and are then entitled to drive a manual without further lessons.


Jules :)

Yeh, they do drive in the left lane - what happens is you'll be driving along at the speed limit in the right lane having just overtaken someone, and see someone coming up fast in your mirror, so you'll indicate to move into the left lane to let the idiot through, then just as you start your manoeuvre (sp?) you'll see the speeding car dart into the left lane to try and overtake you there! That's if the person you've just overtaken doesn't see your left indicator on and speed up really fast to close up the gap so you can't move over anyway!!

Accidents waiting to happen, most of them - I do wonder if the driving teachers here even MENTION lane discipline to learners!

Oh and don't forget the great aussie carpark trick of seeing someone with bags of shopping, and kerbcrawling after them to find out where they're parked, then sitting with their indicator on impatiently waiting for the people to load up and depart so they can have the space! I always unload then sit in the car reading for about ten minutes just for fun!!!

D
xx

At the risk of being contravesial, :68: we drove on our reccie trip back in May and didn't find the driving any worse than the UK. Martin got a bit wound up by people driving in the right lane on a dual carriageway, when they should have moved over to the left, (but he does here in the UK) but on the whole the driving was ok. We found that cars mostly seemed to keep to the speed limit and didn't push you to go faster, as they tend to do in the UK. Perhaps we were just lucky, but we did drive every day and went into the city on several occassions. Just my opinion, saying it how we found it.


Lesley

Totally agree there Lesley - except for one instance of an old lady going the WRONG WAY round a roundabout! Couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I almost got taken out yesterday in London at a traffic controlled roundabout. Lights turned green for me so I moved off - and this :sign53: runs the red light on the other side and misses me by a couple of inches :68:

Indeed there are, :) I reckoned to check that out first and could not see so many mentiones of rules etc like I have on a couple of previous posts in general discussion, so I thought it might be a good idea to start one. - sorry. :doh:

Nice one - its not all bad then :) I only really get to see the really really bad drivers! I suppose all the normal drivers blend into one when I'm on the lookout for the bad ones :)

I'm sure we'll get onto the subject of burnouts soon too! It may be nice living by the beach but its not too nice living by the beach and a car park! Nothing a high powered rifle shot through the engine block wouldn't sort out but I'm not allowed to do that!

Dan

Steve saw a classic yesterday - some guy doing 70kms on South Road READING A BOOK!

On the flip side -
Coming from London, since being in Adelaide I have not encountered any aggressive driving. Or seen any road rage. Or been sworn at. Or been flipped the finger. The roads here are wide enough to negate the need for some alpha male (or female) to race headlong at me. No one has really cut me up. I don't have to pay to park every time I go shopping and NO congestion charge if I want to get to the city. :)
It's different to what I'm used to (which might not be so bad after all!) I just find myself looking out for different things.

Desiree
:D :D

Had to go to Flinders Hospital today and whilst going around the multistorey car park to find a space, some stupid woman was driving in the wrong direction and even when we shouted out to her that she was going the wrong way, she carried on regardless - and she wasn't even an old lady!!! :angry: :sigh:

I too wonder where some people get their drivers licence from , just yesterday going between Nuriootpa & Tanunda i had some silly old f :sign53: r driving a Holden HSV at roughly 35-40kph on a stretch of road where the speed limit is 80kph now what i want to know is why some old coffin dodger would want 6ltr+V8 if they dont know where the F :sign53: ing loud pedal is ?

I keep reading posts about Adelaide drivers and how bad they are.

I must say that these comments confuse the hell out of me. I drove some 3k kilometers whilst in oz last xmas and I found it a complete 'piece of p*ss'.

Try driving a hire car in Naples, or anywhere else in italy for that matter. Then you may have a different opinion about driving conditions in SA.

V

Thanks for that. Now I know what I parked next to all day on Friday. No ticket though - got away with that one so won't be doing that again.

My tip for Adelaide driving - don't go anywhere near the level crossing in Jetty Road, Brighton. One false move and it'll rip the bottom of your car off.

Strewth!
. . . . looks like I have to go in and bat for Australia!

I had a motor-bike licence in England, back in the late '60's. There was less traffic on the roads in those days and other drivers used to give way and let you in more.
I got my driving licence for a car in South Australia after arguing that I wouldn't be able to drive a three-wheeler car, which I could on my motor-bike licence previously in England.
I knew there were no three-wheelers here. Reliants and Delboy never made it to Australia. On the strength of my argument the bloke gave me a full car licence. Later that year they changed the licence classifications and I got a truck licence out of the "grey areas" in the new classification. That happened in 1973.
I now drive full time for the Post Office . . . . .so . . . watch it!!!!!
I drive everything from little red vans (made in Dagenham) up to big "B-doubles" that weigh 65 tons and dwarf anything on the roads in England. They are twice the size and length of the biggest artic you ever see there!
South Australian drivers are relaxed and I notice how aggressive the drivers are in London. If there is a half inch gap in the traffic, you go for it! Wow . . . . sitting in the passenger seat of my sister's car is like riding the dodgem cars, or the roller caoster.
Everyone ignores any speed limit on the motorways and I witmess cars zipping past me at light speed as I observe 70MPH.
We are amazed in Adelaide on the TV to see in Britain how 50 or 70 cars can end up crashing into each other on busy motorways in the fog. Surely, if you can't see into it, you lift your foot . . . but NO! . . . the drivers there just barrel on as if it's a bright sunny day with perfect visibility! . . . . causing a 70 car pile up!
. . . . . . . and South Australians are hopeless drivers?????????
I'd be interested in hearing how 70 car pile ups are good driving! I can't say I've ever heard of that one here.

Onya Bob. Nothing wrong with the drivers here, its the newcomers that haven't a clue !! Once they've been here a few months no more whingeing!!

Stevo.

Re Staying in the right hand lane.


130—Keeping to the left on a multi-lane road

(1) This rule applies to a driver driving on a multi-lane road if:

(a) the speed-limit applying to the driver for the length of road where the driver is driving is over 80 kilometres per hour; or

(b) a keep left unless overtaking sign applies to the length of road where the driver is driving.

Note 1—

Length of road and multi-lane road are defined in the dictionary.

Note 2—

Part 3 deals with speed-limits.

(2) The driver must not drive in the right lane unless:

(a) the driver is turning right, or making a U-turn from the centre of the road, and is giving a right change of direction signal; or

(b) the driver is overtaking; or

© a left lane must turn left sign or left traffic lane arrows apply to any other lane and the driver is not turning left; or

(d) the driver is required to drive in the right lane under rule 159; or

(e) the driver is avoiding an obstruction; or

(f) the traffic in each other lane is congested; or

(g) the traffic in every lane is congested.

Offence provision.




Basically if the speed limit is less than 80 you can drive in any lane you want.

What can I say, after reading the above I think I'll walk !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:chuckle: