Page 3 of 7 FirstFirst 1234567 LastLast
Results 31 to 45 of 99
  1. #31
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Not far enough away from Melbourne
    Posts
    4,200

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by damian View Post
    The reason they give each other so much room is to avoid even more crashes than we already have here.
    Funny you should mention crashes - on our last day in Brisbane I commented to my girlfriend that in the whole week we had not seen a crash or even been held up in a traffic snarl created by a crash. In Melbourne they seem to replay the same crashes at the same locations with different cars about the same time every second day and the traffic banks up for hours.

    I have driven in Jakarta, where the traffic is bumper to bumper literally 24/7, yet they are very courteous and you only have to flick your indicator once to have a space open in the lane next to you, because they know that it might be them who want to change next. I had no trouble changing lanes in Brisbane either, but in Melbourne you soon learn that if there is a gap in the traffic DO NOT INDICATE, just change, because as soon as you do indicate the rude idiots will deliberately close the gap as soon as you indicate that you want it.

    Damien, if you find driving in Brisbane to be scary, come to Melbourne and be prepared to be terrified. I was driving a friend's car in Brisbane. I would not take the chance of driving a friend's car in Melbourne. I would not lend out my car to my best friend to drive in Melbourne. The risks are too great. Brisbane is still just like an oversized country town.

    Doug
    I got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #32
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Not far enough away from Melbourne
    Posts
    4,200

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Big Shed View Post
    Doug and Damian, I can see neither of you have driven much in Adelaide

    Until you do you don't know the meaning of aggression on the road.

    I have spent quite a bit of time in Adelaide. I was posted there for four years when I was in the army. That was late 70's and early 80's. It was pretty good back then, far better than sydney or Melbourne but not as good as Brisbane. I visited Adelaide a couple of times about 3 years ago and the conditions are pretty terrible. The road system was substantially the same as it was in the early 80's but the volume of traffic was probably double, compacted on the same road system. I did not find the drivers anywhere near as aggressive or inconsiderate as they are in Melbourne. they are just frustrated, not aggressive.
    I got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.

  4. #33
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    bilpin
    Posts
    3,551

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by doug3030 View Post
    I have spent quite a bit of time in Adelaide. I was posted there for four years when I was in the army. That was late 70's and early 80's. It was pretty good back then, far better than sydney or Melbourne but not as good as Brisbane. I visited Adelaide a couple of times about 3 years ago and the conditions are pretty terrible. The road system was substantially the same as it was in the early 80's but the volume of traffic was probably double, compacted on the same road system. I did not find the drivers anywhere near as aggressive or inconsiderate as they are in Melbourne. they are just frustrated, not aggressive.
    You must have been driving an APC.

  5. #34
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Mt Crosby, Brisbane
    Posts
    2,548

    Default

    I was thinking about this the other day. I occurred to me I am less scared on a motorcycle in Sydney than I am in a car in Brisbane.

    I can only imagine you've been really lucky. When we have a ig crash here, say on the pacific which is south east of the city, the whole city gridlocks, that is the roads north and west also stop. That doesn't happen in Sydney.

    Personally I don't find Sydney drivers aggressive but maybe I'm used to them. It's the unpredictability of Brisbane drivers that scares me so. They will literally do anything at any time. It is rare that I go anywhere more than a few kilometers without a near miss.

    I also saw more crashes happen in front of me the first 12 months in Brisbane than I'd seen in 30 years in Sydney. One was a double fatality.

    Anyway, I just wish you all good luck and safety wherever you drive.
    I'm just a startled bunny in the headlights of life. L.J. Young.
    We live in a free country. We have freedom of choice. You can choose to agree with me, or you can choose to be wrong.
    Wait! No one told you your government was a sitcom?

  6. #35
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    ACT
    Age
    84
    Posts
    2,578

    Default

    If you want aggression, just drive in any of those places with an ACT number plate.
    Regards
    Hugh

    Enough is enough, more than enough is too much.

  7. #36
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Bunya Mountains, Australia
    Age
    69
    Posts
    522

    Default

    Ahhhh ....... The disabled car park .... That fabled oasis in the vast thirsty desolate car park desert.



    I pulled in at Aspley Shopping centre a few years back. I was in a hurry, a delivery. All the disabled spots were empty.

    I parked in one, a disabled person parked beside me ... gave me a dirty look ... but not to worry I was off and running.

    I got back to the station wagon, 5 minutes, fully loaded .. only to find he had placed two tek-screws in the valve stems of the rear tyres .. both were flat .. and he was no where to be seen.

    Ok ... ok .. OK !!! ... but why was he carrying tek-screws ? Did he know I was coming ??

    cool bananas ... greg

  8. #37
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast
    Age
    63
    Posts
    847

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Mutawintji View Post
    Ahhhh ....... The disabled car park .... That fabled oasis in the vast thirsty desolate car park desert.



    I pulled in at Aspley Shopping centre a few years back. I was in a hurry, a delivery. All the disabled spots were empty.

    I parked in one, a disabled person parked beside me ... gave me a dirty look ... but not to worry I was off and running.

    I got back to the station wagon, 5 minutes, fully loaded .. only to find he had placed two tek-screws in the valve stems of the rear tyres .. both were flat .. and he was no where to be seen.

    Ok ... ok .. OK !!! ... but why was he carrying tek-screws ? Did he know I was coming ??

    cool bananas ... greg
    Can't comment on why someone would have tek-screws in their vehicle. Presumably because they have uses for them.

    As to this particular use of tek-screws ? Well, you were warned and another driver - quite possibly another person running a delivery - knew just how useful tek-screws could be and besides that never even charged you for them.

    Some of us who have permits, choose to use nearby parking spaces when they are available just so PERMIT spots are available to other PERMIT-HOLDERS. Even when we are in a hurry.

    My excuse officer ? I was in a hurry and....



    Just sayin'.

  9. #38
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Bunya Mountains, Australia
    Age
    69
    Posts
    522

    Default

    I'm not complainin .... tho a few murderous thoughts crossed my mind with havin to buy a battery compressor in the shopping centre that day as well as runnin late ... !!!!!

    But later, sanity returned ... do the crime, do the time ... ... I even admired his courage later on because it was a brave act regardless. I could have returned at any moment. He was an old fella and disabled, and anyone could lose it if they found someone letting their tyres down.

    cool bananas ... Greg

  10. #39
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    bilpin
    Posts
    3,551

    Default

    So if you had returned and found an old fella letting your tyres down, what would you have done that would have labelled him as brave? Shorely you wouldnt stoop to knocking the s##t out of a disabled old bloke, as well as park in disabled parking?
    As a certain singer once said, "Why are people so unkind?"

  11. #40
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Bunya Mountains, Australia
    Age
    69
    Posts
    522

    Default

    No ... Of course not ... But he didn't know that ? So .. Thats courageous, to place yourself at risk when the outcome is unknown.

    There were about six of these spaces ... All vacant. Still vacant when I returned, including the one he had parked in. His wife was in the car. It just seemed to me a bit over the top ... Two tyres ? I only have one spare, wouldn't one have been enough to teach me a lesson ? My own mission was urgent, for others, not myself.

    We all have our own problems ... I hadn't actually set fire to an orphanage, or stolen from the Salvation Army fund in order to laze on a tropical island paradise ?

    I was just in a hurry.

    What would you have done to teach me a lesson ? What would you decree as suitable punishment ?

    cool bananas ... Greg

  12. #41
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Not far enough away from Melbourne
    Posts
    4,200

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Mutawintji View Post
    What would you have done to teach me a lesson ? What would you decree as suitable punishment ?

    cool bananas ... Greg
    The punishment should be determined by the law, not some self-styled, old, disabled vigilante with a pocket-full of tek screws.

    I am sure Mutawintji believed that it was a calculated risk to park in the disabled spot, and one taken in the knowledge that there were six spots vacant so no disabled person would be disadvantaged. While what he did was technically wrong, who is the victim of his actions? Nobody was inconvenienced but him.

    Even if he had taken the last spot, it is wrong for someone to take the law into their own hands and disable his vehicle. In fact you have to wonder about the mentality of the person who was so offended that he had parked in one of many vacant spots that they disabled his vehicle, thereby preventing him from vacating the valuable resource for a considerably longer period of time.

    Doug
    I got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.

  13. #42
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Bunya Mountains, Australia
    Age
    69
    Posts
    522

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by doug3030 View Post
    The punishment should be determined by the law, not some self-styled, old, disabled vigilante with a pocket-full of tek screws.

    I am sure Mutawintji believed that it was a calculated risk to park in the disabled spot, and one taken in the knowledge that there were six spots vacant so no disabled person would be disadvantaged. While what he did was technically wrong, who is the victim of his actions? Nobody was inconvenienced but him.

    Even if he had taken the last spot, it is wrong for someone to take the law into their own hands and disable his vehicle. In fact you have to wonder about the mentality of the person who was so offended that he had parked in one of many vacant spots that they disabled his vehicle, thereby preventing him from vacating the valuable resource for a considerably longer period of time.

    Doug
    Man !! .... I don't know why, can't quite put my finger on it, but for some reason I like this post. The phrase 'A Solomon comes to judgment' springs to mind.

    As you point out, this guy did not have a problem with me, or the carpark, but a problem with the world, whom he held responsible for his problems. Hence, he went about 'armed' looking for revenge. He had seriously inconvenienced himself and his wife as well, as they could not do their shopping in that center that day as planned. He had not learnt, for all his years, to live at peace within himself.

    The author, Thomas Mann, a German, whose books were burnt by the Nazis, in 1900 published a very short story, a few pages long called, 'The Road to the Churchyard' about a 'disabled' guy called Praisegod Piepsam.

    Its a good read, and deals exactly with this issue, if you can find it. Very hard to find.

    I'm autistic, but for me this is a bonus feature, not a disorder (Haahaa)

    From me, live life without regret, its all good ... Greg

  14. #43
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    ...
    Posts
    7,955

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by doug3030 View Post
    While what he did was technically wrong, who is the victim of his actions? Nobody was inconvenienced but him.



    Doug
    The victim of this crime is society. Laws are made to be obeyed not broken at will.

    Next you'll argue that you can speed provided that no accident occurred or double park in a street because it's a quiet street.

    I agree taking the law in his own hand is wrong, I would have taken some photos with my phone camera and gone to the police or council and insist that they fine him accordingly.

    Peter.

  15. #44
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Not far enough away from Melbourne
    Posts
    4,200

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Sturdee View Post
    The victim of this crime is society. Laws are made to be obeyed not broken at will.

    Peter.
    "Laws are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools."
    (Solon, the Lawmaker of Athens, d. 559 BC)


    I think there is a huge difference between "borrowing" one of a number of vacant disabled car parks for a short time and potentially life-threatening behaviours like double-parking in front of schools and speeding.

    Doug
    I got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.

  16. #45
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Bunya Mountains, Australia
    Age
    69
    Posts
    522

    Default

    I said Solomon ... perhaps I should have said Solon.

    Wow ... You have kept your old grade 3, 4, 5 school readers like me. I'm 58 and still have my readers, still read them. HaaHaa

    cool bananas ... greg

Page 3 of 7 FirstFirst 1234567 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Used and Abused
    By Scribbly Gum in forum HAND TOOLS - UNPOWERED
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 1st May 2012, 10:12 AM
  2. Replies: 2
    Last Post: 23rd June 2011, 11:38 PM
  3. Abused Stanley 78 finds loving home
    By Bodgy in forum HAND TOOLS - UNPOWERED
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 21st March 2006, 12:43 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •