Hoon Laws

[Turbo6FG]

There was that episode on Top Gear a while ago where James May goes driving with Mikka Hakkinnen & they do the forest rally with all those young drivers (which according to Top Gear was a common thing in Finalnd - get beat up old cars & have fun at speeds that aren't dangerous & actually learn car control). According to James to get their licence young Finns have to go thru quite extensive training & a couple of skidpan days. Interesting point he made was that Finland has produced more racing drivers per capita than any other country in the world. Obviously their culture & attidude to cars makes them more skilled drivers.

I've travelled quite a bit (UK, USA, Argentina, Italy, Germany) & find the road manners & attitudes of drivers over here quite appalling at times. In Italy & Germany the overtaking lane is an overtaking lane, not something for someone to travel on at 20kmh under the limit. In Germany, pulled out to pass a truck, nothing in the rearview mirror, went past at about 160 & pulled back in, a Merc goes past me at well over 200 & immediately gets out of the overtaking lane & back in front of me. When he gets to the next car he does the same - out/around/straight back in the travelling lane. It's one reason why their autobahns work - their road sense & driving manners are so much better.

In Italy there are no unlimited roads now & 110 is the limit but if you are on a main highway the police will leave you alone as long as you aren't too much over 130. If you go up to the north of Italy where all the supercar drivers live you will commonly see Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari traveling on the highways at 200+ where the traffic is sparse. Again the police use their discretion & analyse the circumstances, car, driver & then decide whether to fine them or let them off with a talking too (something the police are not allowed to do over here or they will be sacked if they get found out). Sounding the horn or flashing your lights in Italy or Germany is not considered rude either. Motorists take it as a polite 'excuse me' & move out he way for you.

Argentina is a bad example. The police are corrupt, drive slow cars & in the event they do catch anyone 95% of them will take bribes.

USA & UK seem fairly lenient with about 30kmh over, although UK is littered with fixed cameras which will not let you off. These are clearly marked however so if you get caught for not paying attention it's your own fault. I was with a guy in UK & he parked in a loading bay while his mate ran into the shop. The local bobbie wanders up to the window & tells him to 'clear orf & park somewhere else' so he spins the wheels in front of him & moves to the carpark. All he got was a glare. I couldn't believe it. Over here you'd be catching the bus for a month.

Now I'm not saying we should travel at 200kmh on our roads as most of them aren't made for it but I think we need to take a much different approach to driving over here & be more considerate how we drive in different circumstances. A school zone is different to a freeway at 4:00am in the morning with hardly any traffic on it but it seems 10km over on the freeway will still get you nabbed if someone is hiding behind the bushes with a laser. This 'wipe off 5 or wipe off lives' campaign that the govt runs is a total crock. These aren't the real hoons or causes of death. It's people who think think they can drive how they want when they want regardless of what's going on around them, be totally disrespectful to other road users & expect everyone else to look out for them.

Wow long post!