Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

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Ross
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Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Ross » Tue Aug 07, 2018 6:47 am

https://www.smh.com.au/national/austral ... 4zvpr.html
A survey has found most Australian drivers admitted to doing potentially dangerous things, including eating takeaways and driving while wearing thongs.

The Safe Driving Report from finder.com.au found Generation Y drivers were the most likely to undertake risky behaviour, with 78 per cent admitting to reckless behaviour, including sending texts and using social media while driving.

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby bychosis » Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:03 am

I can’t believe that article seems to focus on thongs and eating and virtually ignores phone use.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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find_bruce
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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby find_bruce » Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:07 am

Never heard of a police blitz on eatining & thong wearing either

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby bychosis » Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:52 am

find_bruce wrote:Never heard of a police blitz on eatining & thong wearing either
nor is it mentioned in any 'dangerous driving' incidents, so it would be completely normal for people to not consider it dangerous. I heard someone say you can't drive in heels once, but they were shouted down by all the females in the room and most of the men couldn't believe what was said either. A few females admitted it is often easier to slip off the heels to drive, but almost noone had really been told not to do it.
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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby MichaelB » Tue Aug 07, 2018 9:21 am

Yep, thongs are dangerous .... :roll:

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby AdelaidePeter » Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:58 am

It's a poor heading. It's Australia's most common dangerous driving habits, not Australia's most dangerous driving habits. (If you want Australia's most dangerous driving habit, it's probably this one, where the driver killed another driver when he was, ahem, "distracted by his new girlfriend" http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-13/c ... ty/8115274 ). But it would have been good to mention texting more, because it's the 3rd most common, and far more dangerous than the first two.

I admit I've engaged in the first two (eating, and driving with thongs on), though I've stopped doing the latter.

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby fat and old » Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:43 am

What's the issue with thongs?

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby bychosis » Tue Aug 07, 2018 12:19 pm

fat and old wrote:What's the issue with thongs?
I think that is the issue with the article!
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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Procat » Tue Aug 07, 2018 2:40 pm

fat and old wrote:What's the issue with thongs?
Drivers become distracted when trying to ease them out of the crack of their bum.
Doug

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby MichaelB » Tue Aug 07, 2018 2:44 pm

fat and old wrote:What's the issue with thongs?
I think the thought is the pedal gets caught between thong & foot. But still ....

And 5" stiletto's or platform shoes aren't .... :roll:

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Thoglette » Tue Aug 07, 2018 4:01 pm

MichaelB wrote:
fat and old wrote:What's the issue with thongs?
I think the thought is the pedal gets caught between thong & foot. But still ....
I'm old and can remember people saying this was dangerous many, many years ago. Back when cars were manual and pedals came in all sorts of shapes and sizes I could imagine this possibly happening. With today's uniformly unexciting automatics, not sot.

And despite much reading of tabloids, I am unaware of a single instance of an accident caused by a thong jammed under a pedal. I think I recall one due to a jammed platform sole. Maybe.

My gut says it's a bit like MHLs - someone had a thought pop into their head and it's become Truth through repetition.
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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby mikesbytes » Tue Aug 07, 2018 4:39 pm

Is it illegal to eat or drink water/coffee while driving?
If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Jmuzz » Tue Aug 07, 2018 5:40 pm

mikesbytes wrote:Is it illegal to eat or drink water/coffee while driving?
No, though they can claim it resulted in "not proper control" and you have to fight that in court.
297 (1) A driver must not drive a vehicle unless the driver has proper control of the vehicle.

RMS publication makes up some of their own stuff about both hands on wheel. What they publish is technically part of law but a magistrate might ignore it because they don't want to deal with publications and hansard and tort law mess that's for higher courts.

If you were swerving around then they can justify lack of control and evidence/admission you were eating helps their case.
Realistically a cop isn't going to pull someone over for it unless they are swerving around.

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Cyclophiliac » Tue Aug 07, 2018 5:42 pm

bychosis wrote:I can’t believe that article seems to focus on thongs and eating and virtually ignores phone use.
I can believe it. This is Australia.

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Thoglette » Tue Aug 07, 2018 6:11 pm

Jmuzz wrote:makes up some of their own stuff
Well said. This has been going on forever: Mr Plod and assocaiate bureaucrats, ah, form opinions about what they think the law and regulations actually mean. And, as the people issuing the tickets, then treat this as actual law.
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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby human909 » Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:10 pm

The old footwear furphy again. :roll:

I've heard people claim that driving barefoot is illegal and dangerous. Personally I have far more dexterity and feel barefoot than with shoes. It is pretty hard to argue otherwise.

As far as thongs go, I'd normally slip them off because they are a bit awkward, but so is riding in thongs too... Stiff boots reduces your foot dexterity too...

Yes, footwear has the potential to reduce your ability to drive. Is it considerable enough to be described as 'dangerous'? I think the current evidence consists of "my brother mate said so".

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby uart » Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:09 pm

I've occasionally driven wearing my cleated cycling shoes. Definitely way worse than thongs. :o

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Scintilla » Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:15 pm

Not so enthused with the VicToads approach :x
Vicroads wrote:Bikes need to stop and give way too, just like a car would.
Yeah, like they "would" :P :roll:

Image

https://www.facebook.com/vicroads/posts/999836543532709

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby find_bruce » Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:25 pm

Jmuzz wrote:RMS publication makes up some of their own stuff about both hands on wheel. What they publish is technically part of law but a magistrate might ignore it because they don't want to deal with publications and hansard and tort law mess that's for higher courts.
Techinically that’s almost completely wrong. RMS publications are not law, tort law is irrelevant to criminal offences & its a very limited set of Hansard that is relevant (2nd reading speeches only)

RMS has been publishing for years that a safe passing distance was 1 m but police would not prosecute the closest of shaves.

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby JPB » Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:17 pm

human909 wrote:
I've heard people claim that driving barefoot is illegal and dangerous. Personally I have far more dexterity and feel barefoot than with shoes. It is pretty hard to argue otherwise.
Number 2 son is currently learning to drive and his ex Highway Patrol driving instructor has him taking his shoes off so that he has a better feel for the pedal.

And I wont drive in thongs as they dont feel secure on my feet.

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Cheesewheel » Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:43 pm

Jmuzz wrote:
mikesbytes wrote:Is it illegal to eat or drink water/coffee while driving?
No, though they can claim it resulted in "not proper control" and you have to fight that in court.
297 (1) A driver must not drive a vehicle unless the driver has proper control of the vehicle.

RMS publication makes up some of their own stuff about both hands on wheel. What they publish is technically part of law but a magistrate might ignore it because they don't want to deal with publications and hansard and tort law mess that's for higher courts.

If you were swerving around then they can justify lack of control and evidence/admission you were eating helps their case.
Realistically a cop isn't going to pull someone over for it unless they are swerving around.
The moral to the story is don't eat McDonalds in front of police.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/ ... 3260e574a6

A stack of McDonald's hotcakes cost a Brisbane driver more than $250 after he was sprung by police eating behind the wheel at a northwest intersection on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old was charged with Failing to have Proper Control of a Motor Vehicle.
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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby DavidS » Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:45 pm

human909 wrote:The old footwear furphy again. :roll:

I've heard people claim that driving barefoot is illegal and dangerous. Personally I have far more dexterity and feel barefoot than with shoes. It is pretty hard to argue otherwise.
Barefoot driving saved me once. I put the foot down to get through an amber light, the accelerator stuck. It was an old car (1968 Datsun Bluebird) and the accelerator pedal just rested on the rod. I managed to curl my toes around the accelerator rod and yank it back.

Barefoot driving should be encouraged, very safe, feet can do all sorts of things when not covered by shoes.

DS
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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby human909 » Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:47 am

DavidS wrote:Barefoot driving saved me once. I put the foot down to get through an amber light, the accelerator stuck. It was an old car (1968 Datsun Bluebird) and the accelerator pedal just rested on the rod. I managed to curl my toes around the accelerator rod and yank it back.
Scary stuff, glad your quick thinking and dexterous toes helped prevent an accident... As a tangent:

Most industrial machinery have specific training regarding the processes in which to respond to an emergency, often this would for example be an emergency stop. Now most operators might never need to take emergency action, but the small chance of a malfunction is there and you want operators to be trained to know what to do. (Dreamworld ride operators told not to press emergency button) Our cars and out 'training' in using cars are a long way removed from normal safety protocols.

Woman fights for life after car crash at Miranda netball court Most of these accidental acceleration accidents could be readily prevented by various safety innovations. But it would seem that neither the government or consumers care enough about it for it to occur. Another simple approach would be automatic acceleration cut off if the pedal is pressed all the way. (Several other safety devices that control speed work this way.)

But of course for the moment I can only dream. We spent plenty of money making cars safer for their occupants, far less on making the roads and the car and drivers on them safer for everyone.


I've also experienced uncontrolled acceleration. The car was a manual so taking it out of gear wasn't just easy but very instinctual. (Though it should also be instinctual in an automatic.) I was boxed in by traffic so I ended up riding the red line and the clutch up a hill before I could pull over safely. It was a work car and the battery had shifted tightening the accelerated cable.

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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby Thoglette » Wed Aug 08, 2018 11:12 am

human909 wrote:Most industrial machinery have specific training regarding the processes in which to respond to an emergency, often this would for example be an emergency stop.
....
I've also experienced uncontrolled acceleration. The car was a manual so taking it out of gear wasn't just easy but very instinctual. (Though it should also be instinctual in an automatic.)
What surprises me is no-one in these situations ever, ever thinks of turning the ignition off.

Probably can't do it in half of today's cars but actual mechanical failure is so rare it's newsworthy.
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Re: Australia's most dangerous driving habits revealed

Postby human909 » Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:07 pm

Most people living mundane and uneventful lives are good at responding to unexpected situation. Particularly being able to control panic feelings.
Thoglette wrote:What surprises me is no-one in these situations ever, ever thinks of turning the ignition off.
One solution. Un-ideal in many cases as then you would lose power steering and power braking (though you might have lost that anyway). Flick it into neutral or push in the clutch.

From what I understand part of the issue with uncontrolled acceleration is that you also lose power assisted braking in many cars. So people are faced with a double whammy. The loss of power assisted braking is because on non turbo and non diesel cars the assisted braking is provided by the vacuum created by the throttled engine. A wide open throttle means little or no vacuum, so no braking assist.

Like you say, pretty rare situations. But not unknown. Two people in this thread have had it occur but it hasn't been newsworthy because appropriate action was taken and no damage occurred.

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