Are motorists becoming more and more stupid?

[LTDHO]

If isn't bad enough that the new cars now reverse park themselves.

Now there is an addition to the Sat nav.
It tells you when you approach a train crossing.
As if the lump of pine blocking your path, load chime from the bell and bright red flashing lights aren't enough.

It is both sad and pathetic that the average road user is being made more dumb.

[BLDNUT01]

yes and even though i don,t want to bag ford their blind spot system is stupid too all its going to do is create complacency. What happened to just looking rearview , side mirror blind spot check and merge.

[Jim Goose]

Are motorists becoming more and more stupid?

Answer... Yes

A few years ago in townsville a young female driver ran into a train at a level crossing in south Townsville. The newspaper reported that when questioned how she came to hit the train midway through its passing, she said " I didnt see it"!

[blackf6]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Answer... Yes

A few years ago in townsville a young female driver ran into a train at a level crossing in south Townsville. The newspaper reported that when questioned how she came to hit the train midway through its passing, she said " I didnt see it"!

Cane trains at night are very hard to see if their side reflectors are dirty or missing. But the red flashing lights are easy to see though!

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by teak81

Cane trains at night are very hard to see if their side reflectors are dirty or missing. But the red flashing lights are easy to see though!

This was a very long freight train going through town... well lit area.

I know of a few cane train crashes at night around the burdekin over the years however... they all carry a brake carriage at the end of the cane train these days, which has flashing lights and flood lights all over it so its more noticable.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by teak81

Cane trains at night are very hard to see if their side reflectors are dirty or missing. But the red flashing lights are easy to see though!

in my time going to cairns/mareeba, on three occasions i have all most cleaned up those cain train and tractors.

only due to moon light did i see those cain trains, no lights at level crossings.
no lights on the train at all, even the engine.
nothing,, just a gray suloette in the moon light.

same with the tractor cain train driving down the bruce at 3am, no lights nothing... driving down the middle of the road doing 40kph,. while you have pull 65 tonne up from a 100kph.. cow cocky's have a death wish, and they do pay from their stupiddity.

[TMC]

Yes!!!!!!!!

[EFFalcon]

not all crossings have gates etc.

but its hard to miss 1000 tonnes of train.

people are just getting shorter attention spans and can't concentrate on driving for more then it takes to complete a level of angry birds.

[pauljh74]

Originally Posted by EFFalcon

not all crossings have gates etc.

Which means you should approach with caution and check for trains. If you're not willing to do that, then your chances of being scattered all over the tracks in pieces are higher

[Rodge]

To be fair.... a fair percentage of the population are no good at parallel parking, (I couldn't possibly comment that this may be a gender thing ) and an even greater percentage don't enjoy doing it.

Blind spot assist...there's lots of people with neck problems who arn't as flexible as they might have been at an earlier stage of their lives.

I guess some people scoffed at reverse camera's or reverse sonar years ago, now we take these useful technologies as desireable features with a new car.
No I don't think we're getting dumber, people want convienience, Technology improves, just go with it I reckon...

[_Ben]

Originally Posted by Rodge

To be fair.... a fair percentage of the population are no good at parallel parking, (I couldn't possibly comment that this may be a gender thing ) and an even greater percentage don't enjoy doing it.

I find this sort of funny, in the year that I've had my Ps, I haven't had to parallel park!

[XR6T0Y]

Originally Posted by _Ben

I find this sort of funny, in the year that I've had my Ps, I haven't had to parallel park!

Agree, in the close to 2.5 years on mine, I've only ever done it once. Doesn't bother me if I need to walk an extra 10 mtrs when it comes to parking.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by _Ben

I find this sort of funny, in the year that I've had my Ps, I haven't had to parallel park!

i haven't had to parallel park since i did my Ps, in 1989. Actually, i practiced till i could do it first time, everytime, then didn't have to do it on the test itself.

[Ducati888]

Originally Posted by Rodge

To be fair.... a fair percentage of the population are no good at parallel parking, (I couldn't possibly comment that this may be a gender thing ) and an even greater percentage don't enjoy doing it..

I find it a constant source of amusement that a certain gender boasts of its ability to multitask, and takes great pleasure in lampooning the opposite gender for not being able to multitask, yet find me one who can reverse park a manual car (or an auto one for that matter...)

As to the OP - are drivers getting more stupid? Pretty hard to measure. They are starting from such a low base already.

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by Ducati888

I find it a constant source of amusement that a certain gender boasts of its ability to multitask, and takes great pleasure in lampooning the opposite gender for not being able to multitask, yet find me one who can reverse park a manual car (or an auto one for that matter...)

I can't help you with that. My wife outright admitted to me the other day she will not parallel park, I've known her for long enough to know that's code for, she can't

[Bushbasher]

All this technology is just encouraging people to become lazier and slower of mind. If you don't exercise your brain it gets lazy just like any other muscle and all these "conveniences" just exacerbate the problem.

Bushbasher

[Kable72]

Short answer - Yes

Long answer - Yes.

People are getting lazier and it's pathetic. No one gives way, no one indicated, no one has patience on the road anymore. Too many people sit below the speed limit holding up traffic for no apparent reason. More often than not, people will slow down at school zones, on weekends, at midday. While it is good that people slow down here, not on the weekend at midday. Too far.

Last night, I was stopped at the lights, 2 lane. One lane was left turn only, the other straight/turn right. I was going straight and some fella in a beat up old magna roared straight past me using the left hand only lane just to get in front of me.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by Kable72

People are getting lazier and it's pathetic. No one gives way, no one indicated, no one has patience on the road anymore. Too many people sit below the speed limit holding up traffic for no apparent reason. More often than not, people will slow down at school zones, on weekends, at midday. While it is good that people slow down here, not on the weekend at midday. Too far.

.

Not sure about your next of the woods, but in Adelaide, the signs say, 25KM's when kids are present....I interperate that as being all hours of the day...

All these modern bells and whistles are definately making us lazy.....I'll even go as far as saying it includes ABS brakes too.....Means we can't be bothered concentrating as hard on the task at hand, as we have a false sense of security these modern gadgets will help us drive a car.

[karj]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Not sure about your next of the woods, but in Adelaide, the signs say, 25KM's when kids are present....I interperate that as being all hours of the day...

All these modern bells and whistles are definately making us lazy.....I'll even go as far as saying it includes ABS brakes too.....Means we can't be bothered concentrating as hard on the task at hand, as we have a false sense of security these modern gadgets will help us drive a car.

Your interpretation of that is correct. In SA, school zones apply all hours of every day of the week (including weekends and public holidays) so long as kids are in the area.

[prydey]

this amused me somewhat.

Originally Posted by Kable72

no one has patience on the road anymore.

first you say this ^ and then follow with

Originally Posted by Kable72

Too many people sit below the speed limit holding up traffic for no apparent reason. More often than not, people will slow down at school zones, on weekends, at midday.

[Grunter]

All these new-fangled bells and whistles are a waste of time! Bring back the model T Ford!!!



Seriously guys, Blind Spot Assist is not a replacement for the driver checking before lane changing, it's to assist (funny how the technology has that word in it) the driver and further reduce the likely hood of cutting someone off, which could lead to an accident.

The Sat Nav notifications on speed limits, cameras, etc, is again to aid the driver, not to lessen any drivers awareness of their surrounds.

[Jeddak]

isn't it funny how times change things...

in the 1970s when Chrysler released the VH Valiant and the CH Chrysler the company was blasted by the motoring media for making such a car with poor visibility to the side and rear,this was very obvious when compared to the then new HQ Holden and Statesman. these were class leaders in all-round visibility (XA Falcon was sot of in the middle)

today nearly every car made has tiny side glass (top to bottom) and wide sloping "A" and "C" pillars with downward sloping front and rear ends which cannot be seen from the drivers seat
and SUV's are no better, I know we own one

Also with better sound proofing, better sound systems with speakers EVERYWHERE,its no wonder that more people are not connected to what they are doing behind the wheel,
and lets not get onto the phones in cars,hands free or not....

[Kable72]

Originally Posted by Jeddak

Also with better sound proofing, better sound systems with speakers EVERYWHERE,its no wonder that more people are not connected to what they are doing behind the wheel,
and lets not get onto the phones in cars,hands free or not....

I listen to my music loud all the time, I'm still alert to what's going on around me. You have to be these days with all the pathetic drivers going around these days. Probably going to get flamed here but I see better P plate drivers than those who hold an Open licence. Some people just should not hold one.

[lucas2]

Originally Posted by Kable72

I listen to my music loud all the time, I'm still alert to what's going on around me. You have to be these days with all the pathetic drivers going around these days. Probably going to get flamed here but I see better P plate drivers than those who hold an Open licence. Some people just should not hold one.

I agree, as a P plater I don't hold the attitude that "i'm a better driver" than everyone else..but I do feel that a lot of young drivers I know are more aware of their surroundings, compared to older drivers that have tunnel vision behind the wheel.

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by lucas2

I agree, as a P plater I don't hold the attitude that "i'm a better driver" than everyone else..but I do feel that a lot of young drivers I know are more aware of their surroundings, compared to older drivers that have tunnel vision behind the wheel.

I reckon one area where young people crap all over older drivers is drink driving. People who grew up in the era when drink driving was legal seem to be more guilty of it than anybody else (despite the binge drinking feral stereotype of young people) and they don't understand why it's such a heinous thing to do. Nobody I know in their 20s drink-drives. Just my opinion anyway.

[EDManual]

Speed limits and red lights, especially turning red lights are my pet hates! Make people so useless behind the wheel!

Might sound a bit harsh, but keeping some parts of the road seem to be dangerous is the best way for people to keep concentrating.

[302 XC]

It still amazes me even in this day and age of all the gadgets,bells and whistles,people still cant read the lines in the middle of the roads
Double lines means its not safe to overtake,usually poor visibilty for whatever the reason,or theres a corner coming up
But alas a drive yesterday we got overtaken,us and the car in front on double lines approaching a corner,in all things one of those underpowered heavy as lead 4x4s
Then not the next corner some dude on a motorbike
Im sorry but when these stooopid people become car/trucks bonnet ornaments im not stopping to peel them off
Like the saying goes ,you cant teach stupidity

[Cheese3]

sigh . . . these aids are good to assist the driver but i've ranted on this for years that people are getting lazier and it's pathetic . . . sad state we are becoming . . . sigh

[poppa smurf]

the world is now a far more complex place than it was years ago......driving is no longer a simple pleasure

it has become a very serious and complex day to day necessity

advertising, increased traffic, in car distractions all add up to make this pastime very dangerous indeed

the simple pleasure has passed into another time

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

If isn't bad enough that the new cars now reverse park themselves.

Now there is an addition to the Sat nav.
It tells you when you approach a train crossing.
As if the lump of pine blocking your path, load chime from the bell and bright red flashing lights aren't enough.

It is both sad and pathetic that the average road user is being made more dumb.

Agreed, my Navman tells me where there is a train crossing even if I'm not going to cross it.

QLD Rail are now going to fine people up to $10,000 for destroying boom gates as a result of driver negligence. About effin time because they do stand out. You must be an absolute moron if you don't see one or even hear it.