Road Sense

 First published in Column 8 on the 13^th February 1991

 Lately I’ve been reading endless complaints about Kiwi drivers, about their lack of manners and road sense. One consolation is that it’s not only Dunedinites who are getting it in the neck.

The major area of inconsideration is signalling. It really puzzles me that in an age when it couldn’t be simpler to signal where you’re going, so many people are so lazy about doing it.

I mean, I can remember cars with useless little indicators that flicked up beside the front doors. They were so pale and insignificant you couldn’t see them, and frequently they’d get stuck because of the weather.

I can’t be the only person who remembers drivers having to wind down the window and shove their hand out – usually in the rain – in an effort to unstick the thing.

These days it’s so simple to indicate. Indicators are normally – even on a car as ancient as ours – within flicking distance of the steering wheel.

Yet drivers forever neglect to inform others that they’re turning a corner – until the last moment. That can be very frustrating if you’re also waiting to turn - from the opposite direction.

It’s even worse if you’re a pedestrian waiting for a signal. Most motorists don’t bother to signal at all and either nearly kill you, or leave you standing in an exhaust haze.

Other drivers slow down, and slow down, and just when you realise they’re about to park – they signal.

Perhaps inconsiderate driving relates to inconsiderate walking. Have you ever thought how many people would fail a licence if they drove the way they walk?

Take this example. You’re moving a reasonable speed along the footpath in town behind another pedestrian. Something catches their eye and without a single signal regarding their change of direction, they make a sharp right turn.

You bang into them. ‘Excuse me,’ all round. No great damage done, but if that was on the road, you’d be to blame for driving too close.

Worse are those who stop suddenly – no warning, no brake lights, no pulling over to the side of the footpath. What’s the result? A pile-up.

Or consider the way people park themselves in the middle of the footpath for a chat. We’d never tolerate anyone doing it in the street with their cars.

And what about those who come out of doorways without looking left or right – or if it comes to that, without stopping? Some of them are so busy talking to their friends they come out backwards.

Just imagine coming out of your driveway like that. I realise some of us do reverse out of driveways, but usually we have a rear vision mirror to see where we’re going.

There’s a thought: perhaps pedestrians should be made to wear rear vision mirrors. And indicators.

Then there are the forgetful types who remember half a block later they’ve passed the shop they meant to go into and do a sudden U-turn, colliding with whoever happens to be following. You’d hate to be behind them in a row of vehicle traffic.

Some people walk alongside each other in all four lanes, all at the same speed. They block up every chance of passing, until you have to go out on to the road to get by.

That’s like overtaking on a grass verge.

In some cities of the world, the pedestrians practice on the footpath the same kind of courtesy they exhibit on the roads. We don’t practice either.

I guess courtesy on the footpaths is not a top priority in life. Courtesy in driving is.

 

One style of indicator on an old vehicle

If this had been written this year, instead of 1991, I’d have been talking about the effect of reading your cellphone as you walk along the street. This no doubt causes more collisions among pedestrians than the kind of thoughtless walking I wrote about above. And of course reading your phone while driving frequently causes fatal crashes on the roads.  

I read online that indicators were at one time called trafficators.