There’s a new breed of person on the streets these days. They are called Smombies, iWalkers or Petextrians, and you probably know who you are. It’s also becoming riskier to be a pedestrian. Tragically, 71 pedestrians have died in Australia in the 12 months to mid-October 2016, compared to the 2013-15 average of 40.
We think tailgating is one of the worst driver habits on the road, yet many of us do it. One reason is simply to stop other drivers taking a space in front of us. Of course, it’s not the only reason. When participants in a survey were asked why they tailgated, road rage and anger was the top response.
A recent provocative article in Car Advice describes the frustration of sitting behind drivers who hog the fast lane, even at slow speeds. According to the police, lane hogging is one of the main gripes of motorists. Nobody likes it.
Our last blog, Australians love their motorbikes, failed to mention they love their cars too. 2016 has been a boom year so far for new car sales, up 3.4% higher than last year. This is the best half-year result ever for the new car industry in Australia.
It’s illegal to drive unregistered or uninsured, over the speed limit or under the influence of drugs and alcohol. What if it were illegal to drive at all?
All over the world people have had original, sometimes quirky, ideas about how to slow us down on the roads. England uses smileys, France creates cardboard cut-outs to represent fatalities, India is trialling virtual speed bumps.
Wonky walkers are a familiar sight – somebody walking across the road while stabbing at their mobile phone. Who has not felt frustrated with the pedestrian who is so captivated they don’t look where they are going?
The fact is more pedestrians died on NSW roads in 2015 than 2014. There were 61 fatalities in 2015, compared to 41 in 2014 – 17.5% of all deaths on the road. Sadly, 17-25 year olds have the second highest risk of death as pedestrians (after older pedestrians, 75 years and over).
Nearly 350 people died on the roads in NSW last year, according to preliminary 2015 road toll figures from Centre of Road Safety.
Regular drivers to the Sydney CBD are being forced to slow down. From April this year, 40kmh speed limits will apply across a larger zone.
Many people in the CBD are on foot and some take unncessary risks when crossing the roads. In the past 10 years, 12 have died and more than 1,400 have been injured. (In fact, pedestrian deaths saw the highest increase in all of NSW, up 48.7%, from 41 deaths in 2014 to 61 in 2015.)
During 2015, more Australians than ever went out to buy a new motor vehicle. They bought 1,155,408 new passenger cars, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and commercial vehicles. This was 3.8% more than in 2014 and it broke the record set in 2013.
SUVs were so popular, sales grew 15.9% and took up a whopping 35.4% of the market, up from 31.7% in 2014. In fact, Australians bought more SUVs than small cars, even though small cars were four of the top 10 bestsellers.
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