I was late for everything, for most of the last month. Sharing the road during the day with the masses, and the stress that it entails, has been the cause.
Look at it this way: Think about the best time you’ve ever had in a car. I don’t care how illegal—or even kinky—the moment you’re recalling was. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic—inching along so slowly that your speedo needle barely even rises from its perch while you can just sense your wallet lightening from the fuel being burnt as your car goes nowhere—is not going to be one of those things.
Unfortunately, it’s a sad fact of life that this type of driving is what most motorists know, with the other being the coma-inducing highway drive on their way to somewhere presumably more interesting. Cave-dwellers in Landcruisers tentatively mounting the curb to get past a car and into the left turn lane. M3 drivers changing gears at 3000RPM to sit 10kmh under the limit. Most people don’t know the simple joy that comes from spiritedly driving a car on a picturesque winding road. Nor have they experienced the absolute freedom of the racetrack. A situation where the driving, and not the destination, is the point.
It doesn’t help that, for the most part, many motorists either drive rubbish cars or don’t even have an interest in driving the thing as the engineers intended. They’ll never know why genuine drivers enjoy something they see as a chore—both because of the situations they find themselves in and the mindset with which they experience it.
The problem as I see it is that these people who don’t like driving, still do it. And, unsurprisingly, the fact that it’s nothing more than a means to an end for them means that they’re rubbish at it. The sheer levels of utter stupidity that seem to occur between 7AM and 8PM every weekday simply beggars belief.
Only last week while heading home down one of Sydney’s busiest roads, I experienced it firsthand. I sat there, fearing for the state of my panels as arseclowns weaved around me through busy traffic. They dived across multiple lanes at the last minute. They cut people off. They try to force their way into another lane, and end up not only stuck, but effectively and completely blocking both. It’s as though they can see some sort of oasis of clear road that disappears as soon as they get there. I can see a mass of dead traffic with no path through it, why can’t you?
I saw two cars get their comeuppance when one of them decided to sit in two lanes because, at the last minute, the driver realised they needed to make a left turn. Another blockhead thought there was enough room to squeeze between this car and mine in what was left of the middle lane, and force his way through.
He was wrong.
Luckily for me, it wasn’t my car against which this motorist tore the paint and bent the sheetmetal off the side of their car. Nor was it the corner of my rear bumper they ripped to shreds. But it could have been.
It doesn’t help, of course, that Sydney’s roads resemble a plate of involuntarily returned spaghetti bolognese. Unless you’re going down to the shops, it’s impossible to get from one point to another point in under a dozen turns. The roads are labyrinthine and narrow, which only exacerbates the problem. Don’t even get me started on our motorways. Our latest one, the M7, is two lanes wide. In the 21st century and having—I would think—some understanding of Sydney’s population versus a lack of transport options not made up of personal vehicles, the state still government thought it wise to build a road so narrow that the freeway leading to the 50 year old Harbour Bridge is wider.
The last time I went to Melbourne, it took a total of five turns to get from the CBD of Melbourne to my serviced apartment in Box Hill—20km away. When I leave my girlfriend’s place here in Sydney, it takes that many turns to get to a main road in her suburb. Every now and again I’ll read The Age and see Melbournians complain about traffic and congestion. They should spend a week in Sydney, if they want to know how bad traffic can be.
I’d love to just kick everyone out of Sydney, level it, and rebuild it from the ground up with actual town planning. Design a road network that makes sense, and ensure rail links can serve the entire city.
Of course, that’s not feasible. However, we can build smaller channels and try to relieve the pressures on the roads. As driving enthusiasts, I believe we should support public transport. I’m a big fan of trains. I will leave my car at home and catch public transport to and from work, even though I can usually get parking nearby. I’ll walk to the shops unless I’m doing enough shopping that I can’t carry it back.
Let’s take the road back. Get regular commuters off the road—they who don’t bloody want to be there anyway—and give it back to people who have the passion and zeal to use it properly, or who can’t complete their mission without it. Stick everyone else in trains or even buses. There’s nothing worse than seeing row upon row of single occupants in cars, who only needed to carry a briefcase or backpack that could quite easily fit on a train.
If your infrastructure is geared for it, then it’s not a problem of usage. Sydney’s rail network is already at failure point because people are balking at fuel prices and catching the train. The demand is there. All that’s required is someone to meet that demand.
I lived in Hong Kong for a year, and I didn’t miss having a car. All the public transport was efficient, regular—we’re talking one minute intervals for trains on peak—as well as clean and air conditioned. A week after I got back to Sydney, I was thinking about buying a $1000 beater with what I had left in my bank account just so I could get anywhere.
Getting commuters off the road would make the world a better place. For one, we’d have a few less accidents, courtesy of the lower traffic volumes and room for regulatory department to tighten up the licensing system and its requirements without alienating the majority of the constituency. There’d be less pollution. I know my roadrage would disappear if idiots were dragged off the road. Our oil crisis would be lessened. It would even save the Australian car industry, as people would only need their cars for trips to the country while taking the family out on holiday…a task for which big Aussie sedans rule the roost.
Fellow drivers, join me in getting as many people on to a train or bus as possible. Bring the joy of driving our cars back to the road, and do the world a favour in the process.
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Cor bloody hell that was a rant. funny, but I tend to agree. Most cars entering cities only carry the driver, lanes sould be set up for multiocupancy and abusers fines. Pedestrian crossings should respond to pedestrians more quickly instead of waiting for cars to dissapear then change. Raise early morning & all-day parking charges to ridiculous rates to put off commuters. But part refund rego to people producing seasonal public transport tickets to encourage them to take publis transport.
Absolutely, I’m a big advocate of using public transport. I’d much rather deal with a piss-soaked hobo on a train than do battle with the retards on the Eastern Freeway every morning.
Plus, the money saved on not driving can then go into car parts and trackdays - things that actually make driving fun.
Tony, I still think public transport just gets in the way - especially trams in Melbourne - what a joke of a system that is.
The last time I saw Mike, when he and a couple of mates came up to Sydney, I had a rant about trams. I think it may have sealed the deal on me being offered this column.
After that conversation I thought Melbournians wanted to dry hump trams or something. Thankfully not all of you are like that.
Public transport is great when its not on the roads. Long-distance travel (within a metropolitan area scope) should be done by a public transport system that runs in conjunction to the road network. In other words, trains. You can densely pack a lot of people into that area, and their frequent stops don’t impede traffic. Being electric, they’re also more efficient at start/stop traffic.
Buses should only serve the local neighbourhood, and take people to the train station if they need to get somewhere far away.
Screw you guys, I love trams.
…Alright, I can see I’ll need to qualify that one.
I love trams so long as they’re not sharing the road. A 4-lane road (2 either side) instantly becomes a 1-lane road with regular stopping whenever a tram is around on a shared road. It’s like the car drivers are on the tram, the way they have to stop at every single stop. Alternatively, they risk lives by furiously flying past the tram as it’s slowing to a halt before stopping at a posted pickup point.
So, I love trams like the ones on Melbourne’s Burwood Highway from the corner of Station Street. It has its own section down the middle of the highway, where cars can’t go. No loss to the cars though, as we still get three lanes either side of the tracks. Now THAT’s a viable tram system.
Maybe - all I see is the majority of them taking up road space, clogging the roads, they have stops situated at most sets of lights (WTF!), so cars that could be going on the green are stuck sitting there.
They are powered by Victorias coal fired electricity grid so they aren’t even emissions friendly. They are a carry over from another century and have no place in the modern world.
We should take a leaf out of California’s book and make roads for cars/trucks/buses - and thats it.
And if you think there is something romantic about the damn things then think of me next time you’re on one, paying $3.20 for a short trip, standing up, with your nose in someone elses armpit because they’ve been designed to seat about three.
I’m just going to tell myself off for getting a little off-topic…
On the subject of public transport, I agree with Tony and Alan, I support buses and trains, they make sense and their use should be encouraged.
I doubt I will use them, but others certainly should.
I’d love to be able to catch a train instead of sit in traffic. Unfortunately, despite light rail having been catered for in the original plans for Canberra, it was never developed… meaning the choice is between a car and a wonky bus system (overcrowded in the mornings evenings, empty in the day). So it’s either deal with the huddled masses on a bus for an hour, or half an hour of dealing with morons like the one I did today, who actively blocked me from coming over into his lane (sped up and slowed down to physically block me). He’s lucky he didn’t get to learn what road rage really is.
I’m one of those miserable commuters that carries a backpack and drives a Barina.
There are two busses I can take: one departs at 5.10, takes 35 minutes to get home (plus an extra 15 on Thursday nights) and that’s followed by a 15 minute walk through a marginally safe neighbourhood. The other departs at 5.25, takes 30 minutes and also ends with a 15 minute walk. So, I’ll end up home at either 6.00 or 6.10 depending on which bus I take. There is no rail system in my area in Brisbane.
If I go by car, I leave at 5.05 and arrive home by 5.25. It’s quieter and more comfortable. I only have to deal with dumb motorists and a little more stress. The worst night, last week, had three out of four lanes closed by a three car pile up. On that night (the worst one ever, mind you), I still got home by 5.45.
It costs about $40 a month to take the bus versus about $130 a month for the car. And I’d still rather take the car. After nine hours at work I just want to get home as quickly and comfortably as possible. And public transport doesn’t offer that yet.
Cause and effect, supply and demand; people who don’t actually like driving would prefer to catch public transport but because services are continually late, unreliable, and overpriced (with further price increases on the horizon), they choose to use their cars instead. As for why these people don’t car-pool, I don’t know.
Until we are given a public transport system that’s reliable we’ll continue to use our cars. the petrol price will have to rise to about $2.00 a litre before that changes peoples’ willingness to take public transport in any meaningful numbers.
In Adelaide there is a unique transport system known as the o-bahn.. There is also another one in Europe
What it is; is a bus that can drive along the road as usual then at certain locations it can turn off and go on to a groove like track specifically designed for the obahn buses
The bus can fly along at 100Km’h and is guided along the track via a series of horizontal wheels that are fitted to the front middle and rear of the bus
So its a cross between a Bus and a Train.
Thing is the SA govt is spending millions on upgrading the metro rail “network” [note sarcasm] when it would be better of extending the o-bahn network
Wheelnut, I was having that very discussion the other day with a mate (I’m originally from Adelaide). The O’Bahn is a great setup but the local govt has extended the old Glenelg tram line (causing big traffic issues apparently) and is now putting one in to Port Adelaide so people can get to the footy!
As a country we need to start paying politicians more so that we can attract some decent ones that can make some sensible decisions.