This in accordance with my observations: Australian motorists are the worst in the world
Posted by: winkyincanada on 09 December 2014
There are some pretty awfull drivers not too far from you, Winky. Wouldn't want to be biking anywhere near this one. You have to wonder how some drivers manage to get a license.....
For jaw dropping stupidity you can't beat Filipino drivers. At night many of them turn off their headlights to 'save their bulbs and batteries' because 'we are not stupid, man'. I could fill a book with descriptions of their antics. I would not dream of cycling anywhere near a city in the Philippines.
Judging by the enormous collection of Russian driving disaster vids on Youtube you might think that Russians are the worst drivers but, while it true they are pretty dreadful (many simply buy their licences under the table - like Filipinos) it is also true that most drivers have dash cams so their accidents tend to get filmed whereas UK accidents don't. But Russians (and others) will tell you that Egypt has the worst drivers.
I'd be very surprised if Australia has the worst drivers.
For jaw dropping stupidity you can't beat Filipino drivers. At night many of them turn off their headlights to 'save their bulbs and batteries' because 'we are not stupid, man'. I could fill a book with descriptions of their antics. I would not dream of cycling anywhere near a city in the Philippines.
Judging by the enormous collection of Russian driving disaster vids on Youtube you might think that Russians are the worst drivers but, while it true they are pretty dreadful (many simply buy their licences under the table - like Filipinos) it is also true that most drivers have dash cams so their accidents tend to get filmed whereas UK accidents don't. But Russians (and others) will tell you that Egypt has the worst drivers.
I'd be very surprised if Australia has the worst drivers.
Yeah, Manila is pretty hectic. Amazing that it works at all....
Incompetence and impatience are one thing, and many countries are at least as bad or perhaps worse than Australia. But Australia leads in terms of sheer hatred of, and aggression towards cyclists in my view. It's the only place I've cycled where motorists regularly try to hurt me.
Yeah, Manila is pretty hectic. Amazing that it works at all....
Incompetence and impatience are one thing, and many countries are at least as bad or perhaps worse than Australia. But Australia leads in terms of sheer hatred of, and aggression towards cyclists in my view. It's the only place I've cycled where motorists regularly try to hurt me.
I don't think anyone would go out of their way to hurt a cyclist in the Philippines but the pollution in Manila - well you have to cut your way through it with a knife. The drivers would run you off the road rather than brake or slow down - they simply would not consider the consequences of their actions - driving takes up virtually all of their brain power. The are untrained, unlicensed, uninsured and un-bloody-believably stupid. No brake lights and no signalling and no use of mirrors. They just pull over or pull out without any consideration for any other driver. I've seen idiots overtake me on a blind corner only to find a truck coming in the opposite direction and they have to swerve or brake to avoid catastrophe by the skin of their teeth and I think 'well, that idiot won't do that again in a hurry' but he does, on the very next corner, and again and again. I try to understand this but I can't, I talk to these idiots and I try to find out what goes through their minds but they are incredibly proud and arrogant and they never accept responsibility for their mistakes. One lunetic drove across the highway to get to a car park when I was on my motorbike forcing me to make an emergency stop. I followed him into the car park and knocked on his window. He rolled the window down and even before i could say anything he said 'It wasn't me'.
It is common knowledge here that the bus drivers for a certain national bus company are told to reverse over anyone they hit because the bus company will only have to pay the family of any dead dead kid or old lady $200 whereas if the victim lives and needs hospital treatment the bus company would have to pay potentially many many times more. Ask any Filipino. Life is very cheap. You can pay a 'professional hit man' just $150 to take out anyone you don't like but some Filipinos will tell you this is nonsense - you can actually pay as little as a cheap bottle of local rum.
I know what it feel likes to be a target and I can understand your anger about drivers in Australia.
Yeah, and then there's this... I had an identical crash about 30 years ago. Same thing, riding in a fast group, road debris that I didn't see because of the rider in front, clean somersault and minor cuts and abrasions. Bike was fine and I finished the ride.
Dear Winki,
I literally jumped in my seat watching that. I hope the rider survived to recover, but at best he must have been very badly bruised, and at worst it does not bare thinking about.
ATB from George
Dear Winki,
I literally jumped in my seat watching that. I hope the rider survived to recover, but at best he must have been very badly bruised, and at worst it does not bare thinking about.
ATB from George
He was fine, but his bike wasn't.
I stopped riding a motorcycle in the UK because of the number of car and van drivers who tried to knock me off.
Only one ever actually succeeded though, and that was in slow moving traffic at a roundabout. While in the queue he 'bumped' the rear wheel of the bike twice. Then as soon as the car in front moved away he just drove straight ahead pushing me out of the way, and driving over the rear wheel of the bike.
Several pedestrians reported him to the police.
Dear Winki,
Nowadays I don't attempt any flat out riding, because I fear such a crash. If I had come off like that I might have bounced happily and got back on the bike with gritty ease twenty years ago, but now I'd end up in hospital with broken bones!
These days I seem to have an ever heightened sense of the dangers of heights and speed! And cars on the road while cycling!
ATB from George
PS: I did my first and last cycle somersault when my front wheel went through some ice on a very deep puddle at the age of about seven. I never want to repeat that, though I did get back on to get home. That was along what are called green lanes - once public roads that became farm tracks a very long time ago. So rough as could be with loads of holes and puddles. Dangerous when these are covered in ice!