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A survey conducted for GIO has found that eight out of ten NSW motorists have experienced discourteous driving, even though 85 percent of those surveyed believed it was “very important” while driving.
The “State of Courtesy” survey asked 1621 drivers aged 18 years and over if they had experienced discourteous driving in the last 12 months, concentrating on 13 bad-mannered behaviours.
Discourteous behaviours ranged from driving slowly in the fast lane and not providing a friendly wave for letting others merge to “playing loud music with the windows down” and unnecessary use of high-beam lamps.
Naturally, it was suburban Sydney that ranked poorly - thanks largely to heavy traffic - while country NSW drivers were more courteous.
Sydney’s north took the gong for the least courteous driving in NSW, with five out of the 13 impolite behaviours most likely to be experienced there.
Frequently changing lanes, not letting others merge, swearing or rude gestures, using the horn in anger and using carpool or emergency lanes illegally to avoid congestion all featured heavily in Sydney’s north.
Surprisingly, Sydney City and the Inner West bucked the trend with none of the 13 behaviours ranking highly, making it the most courteous part of the state.
GIO spokesperson Stephen Bell said that the survey also found that incidences of discourteous driving were increasing.
“There is a serious lack of courtesy across the state,” Mr Bell said.
“And it’s getting worse, with more than two-thirds of NSW motorists believing there is less courtesy on the roads compared to five years ago.”
Outside of Sydney, Northern NSW ranked the worst with tailgating being the major issue while the best rural area was the West, where failure to indicate was the biggest problem.
“With more than 4.8 million vehicles on the roads and Sydney’s traffic congestion named and shamed as one of the worst in the Western world, its important drivers make courtesy a priority,” Mr Bell said.
As for drivers themselves, rural drivers, seniors and truck drivers were considered the most courteous while owners of heavily modified cars, young males and taxi drivers ranked poorly.
The survey also found that bad weather, delays caused by collisions, peak hour and Friday afternoons were the times a driver was most likely to experience rude behaviour.
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5 Comments
The article says "85 percent of those surveyed believed it was “very important†while driving" but it is unclear what "it" is they believe to be "very important". I'd suggest the good result from the city and inner west simply shows you where all the discourteous drivers actually live. They are probably so busy abusing North Shore drivers they don't have time to notice anyone abusing them. I see many of the actions described here on a daily basis. If I had to pick a group more responsible than others, it would be SUV drivers and the more expensive the SUV, the more likely they are to believe they own the road and the rest of us should just get out of their way. I put it down to the fact that you never see police on the streets enforcing the law. When I got my license in the 1970s, I used to see several police cars every day whilst going about my daily activities (school and beach)but these days I doubt I see a police car a week.
you right - no enforcement of the correct driving in daily driving. well in general - how can a country bread good drivers when the your ones are learning from the bad drivers... the other day the L-plater almost killed me - he slowed down to give me way - but his best mate told him as he was doing so that he does not need to give me way so he accelerated... lucky I dont trust L-platers...
Mmm - reading it another way, possibly nearly everyone in the Inner West drives like that as a matter of course, so it's just seen as normal :-))
ON a semi-related note, I renewed by license yesterday and because my record is clean for the past 5 years, I got a 50% discount. That means 5 years only cost me $83. What a great initiative for the NSW govt to take.
CAZZO | 16 Jul 2013 01:49
Same same in Victoria, but only 30% off i believe In any case its now being removed, money hungry bastards! :):)