4mo ago

An unwritten 'country code' is putting Rob's life at risk on the road, and all he's doing is turning right

www.abc.net.au An unwritten 'country code' is putting Rob's life at risk on the road, and all he's doing is turning right

WA sprayer operator Rob Mitchell says a growing number of drivers are mistakenly interpreting his signal to turn right as an opportunity to pass him, with dangerous consequences.

"Indicating to pass" is insane and needs to stop

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26 comments

This makes no sense at all. Why would large vehicle drivers do that? It's the job of the people behind them to patiently stay behind and make their own decision on when it's safe to pass.
This is why we have the mantra "don't be nice, be predictable". Being nice and letting people through out of turn makes it dangerous for everyone.
- Road trains are fucking massive. They take a long time to pass even if you break the speed limit by 20 km/h, and they obscure your view of the road quite substantially. It's near impossible for a driver to safely pass a road train without the truckie's assistance on some roads. The fact that drivers mostly know truckies will do this means they are less likely to attempt an unsafe overtake which could endanger both them and the truckie.
  
  The article is about a agricultural spraying tractor. Those aren't long and don't drive long distances.
  
  Yes, but the comment I was replying to was talking more generally about the unwritten rule of the right blinker meaning "it's safe to pass".
- On country roads it is a lot less stressful for you and the trucker if you have a cb radio. You don't need a massive areal and all wired in, just a little handheld for to communicate to a truck in front or behind.
  Say you're towing a caravan at 90kmh. You can just say to the truck behind "white land cruiser and van to linfox truck, I'm slow, in 3km there's a overtaking area I'll let you go around."
  
  Every car in every country should come with a handheld CB radio.
  I don't say this because I want it to help, I say this because I want it to sound like a modern warfare 2 (original) lobby.
  
  Get on uhf40 at the top of the gateway bridge in Brisbane, you can hear every whinging/gossiping truckie in the city all at once haha.
  
  Calling other people's mothers whores might lead to road rage though.
  
  Eh. They were gonna get road rage anyway. Just make cars built like giant bumper cars.

26 comments