MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kit_e_kat9 on March 16, 2012, 02:41:04 PM
-
A few news articles this week got me wondering if they should be driving at all? Follow this link for an article (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glanceview/220476/tourists-try-to-drive-to-island.glance) and a few more photos.
Kit_e
On the way to Straddie # 1
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9uJ0wMRIqN0/T2LD3U-kLxI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/kcBLhZX1Gq8/s400/Oops+2.jpg)
On the way to Straddie # 2
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IVuI63GcGMg/T2LD4-2xQ3I/AAAAAAAAA2Y/SmmVN_RHjJE/s400/Oops+3.jpg)
On the way to Fraser.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bdpQRLe472w/T2LD2S-wObI/AAAAAAAAA2I/qsM9Vw4qQBY/s400/Oops+1.jpg)
-
Ban GPS for hire cars.
Use your brains .
Idiots
-
I'm sure some Aussies have done the same thing as well. ;D
Harry (Jukebox)
-
There is no bounds to natural stupidity.
;D
-
I guess the first one missed the ferry and tried chasing it, the second one has tried a new method of mud crabbing, and the last one, well with the right bait he or she caught a "copperhead".
Tjupurula
-
???
I guess the first one missed the ferry and tried chasing it, the second one has tried a new method of mud crabbing, and the last one, well with the right bait he or she caught a "copperhead".
Tjupurula
The first and second are the same car from the article :)
-
How amusing - when I first saw this I didn't believe it, but after hearing the news on the radio it made my day.
But its not only the tourists that are this silly, a couple of years ago a local man (fool) tried to drive from this same point around the mangroves, through the mud, to the barge terminal at low tide in his 4wd. He got bogged, called his mate or father (can't exactly remember which one) to help get him out. They also got bogged... I still remember the photo in the paper - you could just see the roof of the 4wds.
I love these types of drongos - for once makes me look/feel smart.
:angel:
-
We were checking in at the camp ground at Uluru.
I came out of the office to be greeted by my wife..........the look on her face told me something was up........
A stupid French tart had run the entire side of her hire car along the guard of our camper..... ::)
Minimal paint damage to the camper guard, but serious $$$ to the car.
Wouldn't you think they'd stop at the first hint of a touch........
So, to answer the question, I would say perhaps they should not.........
-
???The first and second are the same car from the article :)
Fair enough Waz65, I was being facetious. I did not see the article, and I thought it was a joke and deserved such a response.
Regards
Tjupurula
-
We were checking in at the camp ground at Uluru.
I came out of the office to be greeted by my wife..........the look on her face told me something was up........
A stupid French tart had run the entire side of her hire car along the guard of our camper..... ::)
Minimal paint damage to the camper guard, but serious $$$ to the car.
Wouldn't you think they'd stop at the first hint of a touch........
So, to answer the question, I would say perhaps they should not.........
Had the same at childcare drop a woman drove in and clipped a car and kept on driving the whole side of her car was a mess. Also had one turn into a parallel park and get the edge of her door caught on the edge of my bullbar, almost peeled her door off.
Why wouldn't you stop at the first contact or in this case the minute you see 10kmof water in front of you?
-
Wouldn't you think they'd stop at the first hint of a touch........
Nup that's the way they drive over there, "bump steering" just lucky she wasn't from India ::)
-
Are they any worse than the average Australian Bogan who believes that it is his birthright to speed, tailgate, use mobile phones, behave like a deranged lunatic on the M1 to the gold Coast etc etc?
-
Tourists have to drive themselves if they dont or cant they would have to get around in taxi . Most of the cab drivers havent been in the country as long as the tourists . Blind leading the blind . This GPS teckno crap has to be a plot for panel beaters , direct trucks under bridges for fun . Down to the end of the pier to catch a passanger ferry & the unsuspecting to be lost forever . Trusting Fools they are ;D
-
The theory of Natural selection at it best. Shame they didn't stay with their vehicle as told then the world would be just a little safer.
I love the GPS units. Couldn't have got around the US with out and even needed ours in Cains last year - great technology. There were, in the US, a number of times when I was told to turn here or there only to find I was now on a bridge but geez, you got to wonder what would have possessed these lot to actually drive off the road. Wouldn't you stop and ask some one
-
Fair enough Waz65, I was being facetious. I did not see the article, and I thought it was a joke and deserved such a response.
Regards
Tjupurula
I thought it was funny, as was your response. Both gave me a laugh. Sometimes stupid stuff deserves the piss take.
-
How far from home is one before they become a tourist?
I've had one or two navigational errors courtesy of my GPS and some of you may have seen the photos of the Honda Civic we came across near Tom Groggin at Xmas time; flowed his GPS and ended up in a very tricky predicament.
-
This is my experience with a tourist driver. Been in Australia 6 weeks, imported his left hand drive Mercedes 4x4 ute too. Came round a blind corner on the wrong side of the road and whammo! Everyone was OK. After a couple months they continued their round australia trip in a Patrol...
(http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb318/nabstud/Gucrash1.jpg)
Maybe they need to do an assessment before getting their international licence?
-
The easiest way to solve it is to ban tourists altogether. Then you won't have to put up with them.
Honestly
-
Oh thank God every dickhead driver I see on the road is a foreigner.
Would have never believed an Australian could do something stupid or dangerous.
Those 2 drivers that killed themselves and 3 of their passengers on the Kings Highway last week must have been from Germany then.
The trucky that swiped the tow guy and his customer up near Sydney a few weeks ago (whose truck's speed limiter disabled) was probably from Brazil.
And I suspect more Aussies than tourists lose their vehicles at the beach every week - did anyone see that photo article of off-road disasters in one of the recent 4WD mags?
There are idiots who think they're indestructible all over the world.
-
A hard one this I mean we need tourist dollars so not very clever to ban tourists a focus on the driving habits would make more sense. Yrs ago driving nth of Adelaide heading home to roxby no cars in sight we come to a very large sweeping left hander to my shock half way round I'm confronted by 2 cars coming at us one in each lane. From the time that I saw them till impact time was about 3-4 secs . The last second the overtaking car veers right and both cars pass us one on each side. By this time I had been on the brakes with all 4 tyres smoking still in my lane. Pulled over to recover when the overtaking car returns with me telling the wife I am going to knock the head off this bloke. Well out of the car hops two 6 ft something Germans didn't I give it too them . All they could say was we didn't see we didn't see. My reply to this was you don't overtake on a bend you f'ing kraut moron. Reply was in Germany well I lost it your not in kraut land d$&@ head. We left them leaning on their boot looking back at the corner. We were lucky as the wife was going to drive from 5 mins back at pt Wakefield and said she would have gone left off the road probably hitting these idiots head on.
-
I'll bet lots of Aussies travel to the States or right hand driving countries in Europe, etc, and have their share of mishaps or accidents!
-
Last year we had two Britz toyotas with Japanese tourists come to Lake Gregory. Firstly we were astonished with how polite and courteous they were, and then they showed us their list, in Japanese and English, of the preparations they went through each morning to make sure they travelled safely.
They explained to us, even though their English was not the best, that when they get near water, normally at floodways and the like, if they were not sure of the road they would stop, then walk through to make sure it was okay. I had no doubt they had made sure and asked people what to do, and which ways would allow them to travel safely.
I believe tourists should be driving in Australia, as they are good for the economy. Perhaps those that are used to driving on the opposite side of the road need to be assessed first, then be permitted to drive. I also believe that is such people are caught driving on the wrong siode of the road, their International licence should be removed for the Australian part of their journey, to allow others to be safe.
Just my opinion there.
Regrads
Tjupurula
-
The sad bit is without their $$ lots of things will shut down . Really we are talking about the pesky 3% yet again , always in troble or lost or crashing into something . Though they are fun to watch as they do their thing . If they drive on the wrong side of the road fling them never to drive again thats about all you can do . :cheers:
-
Yeah. These articles got me wondering why Common Sense isn't a standard thing to be taught when growing up.
I mean, seriously, who listens to the GPS when it says you have to drive a passenger car (which isn't yours) through the ocean? Why would you drive your passenger car through the ocean even if it was yours? Why would you listen to a GPS when confronted with an ocean? And if you did all of the above, why wouldn't you at least have a rod out the window trying to get a nice whiting for dinner?
I do realise that you can't ensure everyone has a brain before they get behind the wheel (regardless of where they are from), and I thought these examples were (just plain hilarious) a rather good portrayal of how people (in general) just don't stop and think before they do something.
Kit_e
-
Last year we had two Britz toyotas with Japanese tourists come to Lake Gregory. Firstly we were astonished with how polite and courteous they were, and then they showed us their list, in Japanese and English, of the preparations they went through each morning to make sure they travelled safely.
They explained to us, even though their English was not the best, that when they get near water, normally at floodways and the like, if they were not sure of the road they would stop, then walk through to make sure it was okay. I had no doubt they had made sure and asked people what to do, and which ways would allow them to travel safely.
I believe tourists should be driving in Australia, as they are good for the economy. Perhaps those that are used to driving on the opposite side of the road need to be assessed first, then be permitted to drive. I also believe that is such people are caught driving on the wrong siode of the road, their International licence should be removed for the Australian part of their journey, to allow others to be safe.
Just my opinion there.
Regrads
Tjupurula
I've had a fair bit to do with Japanese and they always take what ever they are doing seriously.
My understanding is that in Japan it's a tough test to get a drivers licence. Generally speaking they follow the rules & apply themselves as best they can. For example, drink driving is considered a very serious offence and the community, police & court system are serious about it.
The Japanese police are interesting too. When they pull you over for speeding they are extremely polite but always issue the ticket. Word is there's no such thing as a warning.
-
In the 90's I worked for many years for an assistance company. The medical side dealt with Aussies who had emergencies overseas.
We had LOTS of work involving traffic accidents from Aussies veering to the wrong side of the road, turning wrong way into other streets, and of course victim of poor driving standards of the locals. (I left before GPS) More often than not the best plan was to stabilize the patient and get them the hell out of there by any means available and in some countries that included bribery to save a life.
The worst however is Africa because nobody obeys the road rules, no decent hospitals except in major cities, and half the time a passerby will rob you while you're bleeding and unconscious. That last part,,, we might be heading that way in some areas.....
-
Hi,
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg/300px-Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg.png)
countries with right-hand traffic
countries with left-hand traffic
perhaps we should eventually change sides to get some uniformity?
cheers
-
In the late 80s I worked in the NT at a research institute out of Darwin.
A new employee from Canada arrived at Darwin airport, picked up a brand new Landcruiser and had a head on coming out of the car park. He had traveled less than 100 metres in Australia, couldn't understand why everyone was driving on the wrong side of the road, the hint for him that the steering wheel was on the right hand side didn't compute. He is/was a world leader in his field of science, a truly brilliant man, but, not one ounce of common sense.
He was barred from driving 'office" vehicles until he passed a local driving test, his international licence was a useless piece of paper that took no account of his inability to locate the "common sense" lobe in his brain.
-
About 15years ago we were driving on the Capricorn Hwy heading towards Rockhampton. Coming around a bend on a huge hill, with huge drop off's either side of the road, when we come across a car load of tourists driving at 120km's hr ON OUR SIDE OF THE ROAD. Other than slamming the brakes on we really weren't left with any alternative. It seemed apparent to us that they thought we were on the wrong side of the road and only at the last moment did they take evasive action. They just went on their merry way and left us having coronaries.
Seen some stupid things having lived in the bush for most of my life, but we moved to NSW (Wollongong) 2 years ago and I just can't believe the amount of fools on the road. I think it's just that there are just so many more people in such a small area and there is little care factor other than wanting to get from A to B. There are not many trips where I am not gobsmacked by the crap driving out there these days. I mean no offence but the ASIAN's are the worst. I am sure that most do not have a licence.
That's my bleat for today
-
Hi,
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg/300px-Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg.png)
countries with right-hand traffic
countries with left-hand traffic
perhaps we should eventually change sides to get some uniformity?
cheers
Shouldn't Victoria be red instead of blue, like Mexico.......
Campfire >:D
-
I'll bet lots of Aussies travel to the States or right hand driving countries in Europe, etc, and have their share of mishaps or accidents!
We spent 7 wks in Alaska, Canada & the states a few years ago and while we weren't looking at hiring a car, it was just as well as my bearing were so out of wack. There was at least a couple of times in Vancouver that my husband had to reef me back to the kerb to save me from a car hitting me. I just couldn't adjust to the cars going the wrong way and therefore crossing at the lights at times became a bit of an ordeal. When we were in San Fransisco and trying to cross at lights (which are stupid by the way) and the roads were huge hills were you couldn't see all of the traffic until they arrived at the lights. My husband became infuriated with me because I panicked and I just couldn't (wouldn't) cross the road. I was sure that I was going to hit and I really freaked out. Would like to think I would cope better next time round. I think I'll just stick with Alaska, much calmer than the rest of the states and Canada
-
Those 2 drivers that killed themselves and 3 of their passengers on the Kings Highway last week must have been from Germany then.
Actually, the 2nd driver - whilst not tourist - was a Chinese National studying at ANU
The story that started this topic, IMO isn't anything to do with race or country or driving in a different country. That driver is obviously a complete fruit-loop that shouldn't hold a license anywhere!
-
As a Highway Patrol member, all tourists including people studying etc etc should be made to undergo a driving test and theory, signs etc. the students are the worst drivers and they don 't have a care in the world as they do not accrue demerit points on foreign licences. Very frustrating.
Donuts :police:
-
I watched in horror one night as a french girl in an old Cortina ploughed headlong into a motorcycle in front of my oldies house in Caloundra. She was on the wrong side of the road on a crest in the road when he came over the top..........I think he was doing a fair rate of knots at the time as well. Not pretty.
-
Hi,
A friend works over seas in RH drive countries and has a similar model car over there to his vehicle stored here, just to add a multiplier to the problem.
He switches from left to right with out any difficulty by thinking drivers/passengers side instead of left/right.
I'm not sure I could do that.
cheers
-
Accidentally driving on the wrong side of the road can be human nature - takes adjustment for most so the first day or so are frought with danger. Agree some sort of basic driving test for tourists should be the go - but if the situation were reversed we would see it as a drag going OS and doing the same.
In Canada I was going to be there for a year or two and even though I could have driven as is I thought it best to sit for a local license - some laws are always slightly different.
What is less dangerous but probably worse is situations like the OP or when I have had to explain to a tourist in their hire 4WD - see these here, they are your front locking hubs......
-
Shouldn't Victoria be red instead of blue, like Mexico.......
Campfire >:D
Classic! :laugh: I'll get the roller out and start on the bottom left if you can send me some paint money :cheers:
I can't drive on the wrong side of the road to save myself. Scared the wife witless when we hired a car in Italy a couple of years ago (she did arrange pick up in Rome ???). Couldn't make myself believe that there wasn't half a car to the left of me that was going to get swiped if I drove too close to the centre line. Clipped every kerb and roundabout we passed. On the bright side she insisted on driving everywhere for the next 3 weeks which left me free to sample the local wines :cheers: at every opportunity. Funnily enough I don't think the locals would've even noticed the erratic driving on the first day, I was probably one of the better ones.
-
I'm still trying to get my head around the red bit right up the top of the world.
Do they require sled dogs and reindeer to keep to one side of the road? ;D
And why is it a free for all down the very bottom?
Kit_e
-
I'm still trying to get my head around the red bit right up the top of the world.
Do they require sled dogs and reindeer to keep to one side of the road? ;D
And why is it a free for all down the very bottom?
Kit_e
What about Antarctica? They must drive in the middle .
Hard to believe that the big blue bit down the bottom is a result of that tiny little blue speck up the top. I believe that Sweden changed from left to right at some stage in the 60s/70s, maybe we should try that to make life easier for the international visitors ;) *ducks*
-
I rode the creb on my bike off road bike when I lived up in cairns. Amazing trip. I headed up the Bloomfield track as an alternative one weekend and when I got to the first creek crossing there was a line of 4wds waiting to cross. I pulled up behind a farmer who was sitting on his ute tray with a beer. I asked him what was going on and he said head down to the creek and have a laugh.
28 cars I past in this line to find a britz trooper full of Germans wading through an ankle deep crossing that was about 5m long with sticks with several on croc patrol. Most of the locals at the front where shouting at them and they didn't speak English and kept on doing what they where doing. I just rode straight over and I think they thought i was either the bravest man or the stupidest they had ever seen.
Safety first I guess but god help them at the next few. I bet they set up a tent city. !!!!!
-
Mrs T & I helped out some Japanese backpackers, broken down in Western Qld the other day. They had a list of towns they were expecting to pass through between Blackall & Townsville, the first was Barcaldine.
We found them broken down on the Tambo to Alpha road, 75 km short of Alpha. They'd driven in the opposite direction to what they'd written, because that's what the GPS indicated. ::)