Driving on the open road

[flappist]

Originally Posted by monte.b

Yep ive done a few miles on the old road too mainly from maryborough to gold coast ,down and back each week for the last few years ,been to cairns a few times .That road from rocky to mackay is the most boring road ive ever driven on ,i reckon the further north you go the better the drivers are and the worse the road gets ,most drive with the headlights on in the daytime which is good i reckon ,thats a lot of klm you have got up there was it in a ford

It mostly was in a lot of Fords, 370,000km in a XC Panel Van, 220,000km in a XD Panel Van, 181,000km in a Gemini Panel Van, 120,000km in a RX7, 285,000km in a EA Fairmont Ghia, 132,000km in a EL Fairmont, 140,000km in a AU2 Fairmont Ghia, 87,000km in a BA GT-P, 105,000km in a BA2 F6, 98,000km in a HR 350z and 16,000km in a FG XR6T Ute.

There were many other vehicles but those were the big km ones.....
N.B. numbers are approx and from memory as most of the vehicles were new when I bought them.

Marlborough-Sarina is great compared to the old road and much shorter. The rest of it is not so bad either, it is now all bitumen, dual lane and the narrow wooden bridges are gone.
The only problem I ever ran into was city people who seemed to get all stressed and confused when confronted with distances more than a couple of hundred km and overtaking zones that needed run ups and exceeding of speed limits to be negotiated safely.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by Terror_Tree

Over the last couple of months I have had to do a lot of driving on the Bruce highway north of Townsville. Most of the other road users where ok but, below is a list of things that really ****ed me off..............

2.People who sit on 90km/h but speed up to 120km/h in overtaking lanes!

Mate, those stupid empty heads drive me, you, and everyone else insane.
I've done millions of miles over the years, at one stage was doing 80,000 kms per annum. You should hear the truckies going off on their CB's about those brainless morons.
One day coming back to Qld from Sydney in a Fairlane I had at the time, I caught up to a line of 20 - 30 cars behind one of these sub-humans driving an old VB Commodore. He drove at 90kph and sped up to 120kph in the dual lane overtaking sections. Putting up with this for endless kms I decided I'd had enough and accellerating up to xxx I finally got up alongside him as the lanes closed back to one. I looked across at the middle aged male sloth driving it and started moving into his right front guard. He looked startled and moved left and so did I till I ran him down the table drain to a stop. Other drivers tooted their horns in appreciation.

OK, flame away. I couldn't care less. If the same situation arose, I'd do it again.

[Falconson71]

Originally Posted by Pedro

Mate, those stupid empty heads drive me, you, and everyone else insane.
I've done millions of miles over the years, at one stage was doing 80,000 kms per annum. You should hear the truckies going off on their CB's about those brainless morons.
One day coming back to Qld from Sydney in a Fairlane I had at the time, I caught up to a line of 20 - 30 cars behind one of these sub-humans driving an old VB Commodore. He drove at 90kph and sped up to 120kph in the dual lane overtaking sections. Putting up with this for endless kms I decided I'd had enough and accellerating up to xxx I finally got up alongside him as the lanes closed back to one. I looked across at the middle aged male sloth driving it and started moving into his right front guard. He looked startled and moved left and so did I till I ran him down the table drain to a stop. Other drivers tooted their horns in appreciation.

OK, flame away. I couldn't care less. If the same situation arose, I'd do it again.

Hear Hear!! Only time I've ever driven that slow was on my P's!

[Madaya]

I guess, as long as no harm done but I think we all agree, morons who cruise below the speed limit, but speed up on the overtaking lanes, or on good stretches of road deserve a major ramrodding.

I know there are times when I actually ease up to let folk get past. I might speed up on the twisty bits and find myself catching up to dudes who've overtaken me on the straights.

[Falconson71]

Originally Posted by Madaya

I guess, as long as no harm done but I think we all agree, morons who cruise below the speed limit, but speed up on the overtaking lanes, or on good stretches of road deserve a major ramrodding.

I know there are times when I actually ease up to let folk get past. I might speed up on the twisty bits and find myself catching up to dudes who've overtaken me on the straights.

I find that too.

It's just as bad when your going to overtake and these idiots speed up! Dangerous!

[2011G6E]

Roadworks are my pet hate...more precisely, idiots who refuse to slow down for them...I take great pride in following the signs exactly and having a row of morons behind me itching to get past.

Seeing as how a woman working as a stop/go person at roadworks was flattened and killed the other day by a semi up near Marlborough, you would think people might realise that the lower limits are there for a reason.
Sad thing yesterday was a roadworks area with people there working, and everyone overtook me as we approached the area (in a temporary sixty zone), with roadworkers waving their hands to tell the vehicles to slow down as they roared through. Then maybe three or four kilometers down the road around a bend was the speed camera van, well past the roadworks.
Here's a tip Mr Plod...go and sit in the roadworks areas instead...you'd pay off the state debt in a month with the fines.

Trucks? Don't get me started. I've been doing a GPS accurate 115kph in a 110 zone and still get overtaken by B doubles and triples. Been run off the road twice. Lots of fun. They're the worst at roadworks too...there are plenty of signs well out from the roadworks saying what's coming, but they refuse to even start to slow down until they'e passed the first reduced speed zone signs, then they have the damn hide to complain that "people don't give us enough room"...well chuckles, that also means it's your responsability to start slowing down much earlier and use your skills as a professional driver to ensure you don't drive in a way that means you have to quickly roar up behind slower traffic in those areas and tailgate cars a meter or two off their bumper through roadworks where it is highly likely you will have to stop fairly quickly.

[Falconson71]

Soon will be the day when gps automatically limits our speed.

[4.0i_SiX]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Roadworks are my pet hate...more precisely, idiots who refuse to slow down for them...I take great pride in following the signs exactly and having a row of morons behind me itching to get past.

While I agree with you 100% and obey roadwork speed signs myself. I can see why some people dont. Besides being impatient *******.

I get sick to death of the council repairing a road and then leaving the speed signs in place for weeks and weeks after they have completely finished what theyre doing. Or they pull them down but forget to remove the black sheets they put over the original speed sign, Just pure laziness

On that note can anyone explain the logical reason why the section of the Gateway motorway just before the Mt Gravatt capalaba Road turnoff ( heading northbound ) drops down to 80? No roadworks have gone on there for months.

[Agent86]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Roadworks are my pet hate...more precisely, idiots who refuse to slow down for them...I take great pride in following the signs exactly and having a row of morons behind me itching to get past.

Seeing as how a woman working as a stop/go person at roadworks was flattened and killed the other day by a semi up near Marlborough, you would think people might realise that the lower limits are there for a reason.
Sad thing yesterday was a roadworks area with people there working, and everyone overtook me as we approached the area (in a temporary sixty zone), with roadworkers waving their hands to tell the vehicles to slow down as they roared through. Then maybe three or four kilometers down the road around a bend was the speed camera van, well past the roadworks.
Here's a tip Mr Plod...go and sit in the roadworks areas instead...you'd pay off the state debt in a month with the fines.

Trucks? Don't get me started. I've been doing a GPS accurate 115kph in a 110 zone and still get overtaken by B doubles and triples. Been run off the road twice. Lots of fun. They're the worst at roadworks too...there are plenty of signs well out from the roadworks saying what's coming, but they refuse to even start to slow down until they'e passed the first reduced speed zone signs, then they have the damn hide to complain that "people don't give us enough room"...well chuckles, that also means it's your responsability to start slowing down much earlier and use your skills as a professional driver to ensure you don't drive in a way that means you have to quickly roar up behind slower traffic in those areas and tailgate cars a meter or two off their bumper through roadworks where it is highly likely you will have to stop fairly quickly.

I wont condone the actions of a few of the morons out there in trucks, but taring us all with that brush is narow sitghted if notdisplaying the same mind set that helps to create the problems we all face.

YES they should use more discretion and slow sooner etc.
Until you have to deal with the lunacy that a large portionof theindustry operatesunder, please dont cast stones.

Personally, i dont work within sectors that are under such pressure simply because all the risk would be on me, and reward goes to someone else.

And just think. For every mongrel truckie you come across, there will be dozens you dont even notice because they are just out there gettingit done.

[max_torq]

Over the last few years of lots of highway driving, I find truck drivers in general are very good, consistent, observant, only when they overtake one another you need some patience with them.

Locals are a hassle, when you encounter a very fast aggressive car tailgating you, it is often a local who will be pulling off the next exit, best just to pull over and let them past. In towns the locals are the slow cars full of kids and pulling up for shops and schools, its their life... soon you'll be miles away.

The worst ones are self-appointed globocops who think they enforce the speed limit, usually they don't have cruise control and are 10km under the limit, and can't seem to understand that the big line of traffic behind them is evidence that they are too slow.
And caravans.

[Falconson71]

Agreed... Caravans! *shudders*

ALSO,
The city is awful as soon as a spot of rain hits, everyone drops their speed by about 15k's. They don't seem to understand that if you just back off Just a little bit you'll be fine. Really brings things to a crawl.

[XBROO]

My brother used to work for road tech, and got the ***** with people speeding past them. One day he was that fed up that he threw his shovel at a truck speeding through. He hit the truck on the drivers side door, he was waiting for him to stop. But he didn't and the truck just kept going, must of knowing he was doing the wrong think. Probably good for him or my brother would of had an assault charge, as he was that worked up that he would of just bashed him.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by XBROO

My brother used to work for road tech, and got the ***** with people speeding past them. One day he was that fed up that he threw his shovel at a truck speeding through. He hit the truck on the drivers side door, he was waiting for him to stop. But he didn't and the truck just kept going, must of knowing he was doing the wrong think. Probably good for him or my brother would of had an assault charge, as he was that worked up that he would of just bashed him.

Unless of course the truck driver pull out a shotgun and blew his head off....

We are talking about plots for Home and Away or Neighbours or some other fictional situation here as anyone who, in real life, were to throw a shovel at a moving motor vehicle for any reason should and most likely would be charged with attempted murder.......

The level of stupidity required to endanger oneself, other road workers and other road users by launching a large sharp metal object at a heavy moving vehicle where it could rebound back at other workers or into the other lane at innocent road users is almost unfathomable.

[ryeman]

Just back fm test driving the Rosebud/Bulleen freeway/tollway/freeway and am now convinced a majority of drivers won't use cruise control, no matter how light the traffic, it seems they must believe the 'horror' stories ( myths) about runaway cc s, but then I don't allow distractions to divert my attention....massive disruption in the tunnel due police n Vicroads incl sherrifs on hand for ever known chk just west of the tunnel more than 500 metres of them...is that regularly seen?

[2011G6E]

Guys I work with who own caravans all seem to sit on the speed limit...they're common statement about doing this instead of sitting on 80kph (or slower) to "save fuel" is this:
"You've already ruined your fuel economy by slapping a tonne or more of van with the aerodynamics of a block of flats behind your vehicle...what's a bit more to make sure you keep up with traffic and don't **** everyone off?"

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by ryeman

Just back fm test driving the Rosebud/Bulleen freeway/tollway/freeway and am now convinced a majority of drivers won't use cruise control, no matter how light the traffic, it seems they must believe the 'horror' stories ( myths) about runaway cc s, but then I don't allow distractions to divert my attention....massive disruption in the tunnel due police n Vicroads incl sherrifs on hand for ever known chk just west of the tunnel more than 500 metres of them...is that regularly seen?

I tried to set my cruise control in my 1976 model car and for some unknown reason, my speed kept dropping until I depressed the accelerator down again....Why?????

Not all cars have this fitted and I hate it with a passion....Breeds laziness

[ryeman]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

.......

Not all cars have this fitted and I hate it with a passion....Breeds laziness

Only use it in light traffic on the freeway, it simply means predictability for others....

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by ryeman

Only use it in light traffic on the freeway, it simply means predictability for others....

And on normal highways. Also improves fuel economy - the computer drives the car better than me.

[BF-2K7]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Not all cars have this fitted and I hate it with a passion....Breeds laziness

I tend to disagree that it breeds laziness. It's a valueable tool to use on long journey's.

I used it extensively on my return roadtrip up & down the east coast however I found alot of other motorists either didnt use it (maybe were afraid to use it) or didnt know how to use it correctly.

Modern cruise controls are very simple to use and with the touch of the brake (or coast button - located conveniently on the steering wheel) you can disengage it and slow down for obstructions/roadworks and the like.

Furthermore if you have your cruise speed set to say 110kph a flick on the 'gas' pedal can swiftly move you forward past another motorist then once past take your foot off and it will resume your cruising speed without even touching it at all!! A wonderous thing!

Im glad I have it

[4.0i_SiX]

I dont get a chance to use the cruise control, nobody around here can sit on the one speed so I have to keep turning it off. gets old real quick.

[Franco Cozzo]

I come across something rather annoying every day to and from work on the country highway near where I live.

For some reason, people enjoy pulling out onto the highway in front of me and going slow, if you're going to come out in front of me, can you please at least pick up speed quickly?

I'm doing 100km/h, and they insist on pulling out and slowly potting up to the speed limit, this one guy in a ute does it every day and another guy in a white ED wagon, I nearly always meet the guy in the ute at the same place and time, and he always does it to me.

The guy in the ED Wagon does it all the time near Sunbury, pulls out in front of everyone, slowly accelerates and then sits 20km/h under the limit.

Last time I did a driving lesson before I got my license I got told that if I caused anyone else to brake for me, it was an instant fail.

The best one was some lady in a Kluger, it was around 6AM and me and the old man were following each other down the highway on our way to work, it was just us two, this lady comes out of an intersection in front of us, we brake for her, she slowly accelerates up to 80km/h, then turns off maybe 500m down the road into someones driveway, why couldn't she have waited for us to go past?

Then this morning, someone in a Hilux overtakes maybe a line of 10 of us, there is roadworks on the highway at the moment in one particular section, and we're doing the 60km/h on the sign, he overtakes all of us from the back.

6AM on the highway is the Macedon Ranges 500 for commercial vehicles.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by BF-2K7

I tend to disagree that it breeds laziness. It's a valueable tool to use on long journey's.

I used it extensively on my return roadtrip up & down the east coast however I found alot of other motorists either didnt use it (maybe were afraid to use it) or didnt know how to use it correctly.

Modern cruise controls are very simple to use and with the touch of the brake (or coast button - located conveniently on the steering wheel) you can disengage it and slow down for obstructions/roadworks and the like.

Furthermore if you have your cruise speed set to say 110kph a flick on the 'gas' pedal can swiftly move you forward past another motorist then once past take your foot off and it will resume your cruising speed without even touching it at all!! A wonderous thing!

Im glad I have it

Maybe I'm old school....I have a 95 Fairlane and used it once on a 300K round trip...After about 50K out in the country, I started falling asleep as I wasn't controlling the speed....The car was...So I never used it again..

IMA, I drive from S.A to QLD every 2 or so years, taking 2 days to drive as far North as Bundaberg, so distance isn't a big problem for me.

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by new2ford

And on normal highways. Also improves fuel economy - the computer drives the car better than me.

Actually it doesn't, The latest ones are getting better I guess but the thing with cruise is it wants to keep you at the set speed no matter what so when you start up a climb, be it a long shallow one or rolling hills the computer will keep trying to accelerate back to your set speed, even until the throttle is wide open if necessary, where as you won't do that with your foot, you'll drop a bit of speed rather than give it the berries to maintain your set speed. Over a trip of a couple of 100 kms or more on anything but flat ground you'll notice the difference.

Bushbasher

[BF-2K7]

Originally Posted by Bushbasher

Actually it doesn't, The latest ones are getting better I guess but the thing with cruise is it wants to keep you at the set speed no matter what so when you start up a climb, be it a long shallow one or rolling hills the computer will keep trying to accelerate back to your set speed, even until the throttle is wide open if necessary, where as you won't do that with your foot, you'll drop a bit of speed rather than give it the berries to maintain your set speed. Over a trip of a couple of 100 kms or more on anything but flat ground you'll notice the difference.

Bushbasher

I disagree with this too, I have never experienced excessive acceleration/over revving with my cruise control on any vehicle, it never went over 2500rpm to get up a series of hills and was always smooth so "even until the throttle is wide open if necessary" I find is truely exaggerating.

It may step down a gear (maybe two depending on towing weight) and smoothly accelerate but NEVER to the extent of an open throttle!

IF it does there is something wrong with it!! - and needs mechanical attention.

"where as you won't do that with your foot" - c'mon! MANY people do this! and you know they do!

There is NO way you can convince me that anyone would not 'stomp' on the gas pedal to get past a slow moving car overriding the cruise control.

I believe that crusie control (in most circumstances) is more economical than 'human' driving as humans tend to over accelerate/brake whereas the crusie control tends to do this more smoothly.

[FPV_Steve]

A lady from my work drove me home one night and wasn't using her cruise control on the freeway. I asked why and she said she had never used it in 2-3 years of having the car. So I put it on for her and she kept freaking out at how weird it was that her feet were doing nothing. Yet my mum, dad and myself had no troubles adjusting to the cruise control.

My workmate hasn't used cruise control since that first time, so just goes to show that there are people who just can't or dont want to adjust to it.

[XBROO]

Originally Posted by flappist

Unless of course the truck driver pull out a shotgun and blew his head off....

We are talking about plots for Home and Away or Neighbours or some other fictional situation here as anyone who, in real life, were to throw a shovel at a moving motor vehicle for any reason should and most likely would be charged with attempted murder.......

The level of stupidity required to endanger oneself, other road workers and other road users by launching a large sharp metal object at a heavy moving vehicle where it could rebound back at other workers or into the other lane at innocent road users is almost unfathomable.

Well a truck speeding through road works is a big piece of metal as well, that could kill all the workers not just one. Don't worry my brother and I know how to handle ourself. And you treat a gun as an extented part of the arm, so if he saw a weapon, I asure you the truckies live wouldn't be worth living. As I said the truckie never stop and it never got reported. We've both done our fair share of bodyguard type of work.

For starters it was a dual lane hwy and one lane was blocked off, he was shoveling some hot mix, when he heard other workers up from him yelling at the truck to slow down. So my brother like I said had, had enough and if the truckie wanted to endanger lives then **** him. Don't worry we're not scared of doing time to rid the world of ignorant A-holes. So mate don't give your assumptions if you weren't there and you don't know the facts. Only two people could of got hurt and that was the truckie or my brother. As it was 2am in the morning and at that particular time the truck was the only one flying through the road works. My brother was the last worker in the direction of travel as well.

PS Don't watch home and away or neighours, might have to start if they have this kind of action in it.

[buddha]

Originally Posted by Nic85

Biggest gripes with Highway users: People who can't keep a constant speed and people who think it's their right to sit in the middle lane on a 3 lane highway.

I agree with the lack of a constant speed ... even without cruise control, this should be a basic skill in driving.

I kinda disagree on the middle lane statement, though ... while its not "a right" to use the middle lane, there is a theory that says the left lane is for entering and leaving the motorway or for driving under the speed limit, middle lane is for general use at the speed limit, and the right lane is for overtaking. I was told that when I was learning, and I think it works ok.

I believe in NSW/Vic (and maybe some other states) the law considers a three lane motorway as having one left lane and two right lanes, hence requiring people keep to the far left lane unless overtaking, so the theory may be illegal in those states.

Having said that, here in Queensland, its quite fine to sit in any lane, on any speed, in any conditions ... and Police do it regularly just to prove the point!

[Terror_Tree]

Sad to say a lot of people just don’t know how to drive on the open road. One simple thing I have been doing for years is driving with my headlights on all the time, even then people still don’t see you!

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by BF-2K7

I disagree with this too, I have never experienced excessive acceleration/over revving with my cruise control on any vehicle, it never went over 2500rpm to get up a series of hills and was always smooth so "even until the throttle is wide open if necessary" I find is truely exaggerating.

It may step down a gear (maybe two depending on towing weight) and smoothly accelerate but NEVER to the extent of an open throttle!

IF it does there is something wrong with it!! - and needs mechanical attention.

"where as you won't do that with your foot" - c'mon! MANY people do this! and you know they do!

There is NO way you can convince me that anyone would not 'stomp' on the gas pedal to get past a slow moving car overriding the cruise control.

I believe that crusie control (in most circumstances) is more economical than 'human' driving as humans tend to over accelerate/brake whereas the crusie control tends to do this more smoothly.

I never mentioned excessive acceleration or over revving but if you are climbing a long steep hill for example the cruise will attempt to maintain your set speed no matter what. If your speed is 110kph@ 2100rpm then that is what the the cruise will try to maintain. So when the point comes that the car needs to go down a gear to maintain that speed it'll do it, even 2 or maybe 3 with these new 6sp boxes, if the speed isn't too high but the point is, how far down do you think the throttle has to be and how much load on the engine to force a down shift of 2 gears, that would be pretty much wide open or close to it. That is how a cruise is designed to work and there is nothing wrong with it if it does that under those conditions. Most people on the other hand will let that car lose speed on a steep climb rather than put their foot to the floor to maintain the speed unless there is some reason to have to maintain the speed.

As for stomping on the throttle to pass someone, that was and is irrelevant to the point I was making, we are talking about cruising not overtaking.

In relation to your last point, again we're talking about constant speed travelling not stop start or varying speed traffic situations. Yes there are plenty of drivers who drive like they are on a mission, hard acceleration and late braking into corners, most of those are urban or city drivers and are in the minority out in the country, (unless they're the testosterone filled young blokes who just can't help themselves but that is the same no matter where you are), because we don't have to race the traffic and duck in and out of high traffic flow situations so don't have the "mission" mentality. Again, not relevant to my point that an educated foot is more economical than cruise control. Next time you do a 300km+ highway round trip somewhere, that's not all flat running, do it without the CC and I'll bet you can get better economy than the CC assuming you can stay within the speed limit and not drive like a complete wally. Coast up to speed reduction signs and into town limits and squeeze the throttle when accelerating don't stab the throttle and be last of the late brakers and you'll do better than the CC.

Bushbasher

[ryeman]

Zacly!