Are Canberra’s drivers the worst in Australia?

Comment from Tim Benson, Publisher B2B Magazine.

Are Canberra’s drivers the worst in Australia?

As a Canberran who has lived here for 40 years (I’m 48) I would like to suggest that Canberra drivers are the worst and most inconsiderate drivers in Australia. I am constantly shocked by the actions of my fellow drivers.

Whether it is watching drivers speed up so as not to enable merging traffic, or watching them tailgate vehicles in 50 and 60 zones, and my favourite, overtaking vehicles on the right at very high speeds only to pull in front of a vehicle doing the speed limit and slowing down to under the speed limit in front of them.

I am just bewildered, daily, by just how bad and inconsiderate, my fellow, Canberra drivers are. Yet, Canberra drivers will whinge that they must slow down in traffic, or heaven forbid, come to a stop … (arrgghhh calamity, your less than 20-minute trip to work may take 25 minutes). Recently I’ve been overtaken on the right, and left, only to have the car sit at the traffic lights as I turn the corner. I’ve had drivers think they are so good that they no longer require the use of their blinkers.

I’ve had the rat runners, that think they are saving time by convoying through the suburbs, either not having the courtesy of letting me out of my driveway, speeding up so that I can’t get out of my driveway or tailgating me when I travel down my street at the speed limit of 50 kmh.

I’ve owned big cars and small cars and have to say that, to many of my fellow Canberra drivers, size matters. I find that Canberra drivers in smaller cars are friendlier and more considerate and law abiding, and, on the whole, those driving larger, and more powerful vehicles, are definitely compensating for something.

We were forced to purchase a larger vehicle because we make the trek down to Thredbo and back each weekend in the ski season. Now, you don’t need a twin turbo diesel 4WD to get you to Thredbo, but the fact is that there are so many ridiculously large 4WDs thundering down the highway that they make you feel intimidated and that you would most definitively come off second best if you were in an accident.

Oh, and my favourite recently was a guy that pulled his car into a disabled spot in a Canberra petrol station, got out and started waltzing into the shop. I pulled him up and said, “Mate, you know you’ve parked in a disabled spot?” His answer was, “Yeah, but there aren’t any other parks left” …