Hi!
I am a motorcyclist. Phew. Glad we got that one out of the way. (I also drive a car but don't tell anyone).
I live in Adelaide, South Australia (much like the Koreas, yes... we are the non-communist south still split from the north).
Adelaide is a peculiar place, most likely due to our Adelaide Fresh(TM) water. We have vibrant arts and festivals but are a quiet city the rest of the eleven months of the year. Though founded on the ideas of being a progressive and enlightened state, state governments and local councils are routinely buckled under the weight of old fogies with ideas that were out of date 10 years ago (though, in fairness, the state government is starting to pull its head in. Local councils less so. Yes, I am looking at you, City of Adelaide Council). Despite all that, I still do love our state and the city I live in.
Except...
I hate Adelaide drivers. As a motorcyclist, I am used to being just slightly anxious about my (possible) impending mortality, and so I have (like probably every other motorcyclist who cares if they live to see the next day) become acutely aware of my surroundings and predicting (with scary accuracy) what other people on the road are likely to do.
Adelaide drivers tend to have a reputation for being the worst possible drivers out there, and with good reason. They are aggressive and short-sighted. They do dumb things, and then blame you for their mistakes (and that's assuming they admit they made a mistake. It was your fault for being their when they changed lanes without looking). However, this is not to say that all Adelaide drivers are like this. I would hazard that this is indicative of MOST cities, but compared to the rest of the cities, towns and countries I have driven in, Adelaide just seems to have a higher proportion of bad drivers.
And I know that Adelaide drivers are aggressive (reference above when I admitted that I also drive. Yes, I have sat at the wheel of the car and screamed wildly at the guy who pulled out, cut me off and then drove 10km/h below the posted speed limit, all the while getting super angry to near levels of berating that person to their face at the next stop light). However, I thought that just sitting behind the handlebars (or wheel) and screaming obscenities at the dumb-asses around me will not cut it any more. There's no point in being angry if I do not offer some advice on how to rectify the shitty driving I encounter.
Now, the easiest way to rectify poor driving skills is for everyone to ride a motorbike... but that is also unfeasible, even if you get the added benefit of seeing the road through a visor. As a motorcyclist, I have to have my wits about me, simply because otherwise I would be dead or paralysed. And these are just simple things: I always know where other vehicles are on the road relative to my position, I can accurately determine who is about to change lanes or pull out from a side street (with or without looking), I can even determine what kind of a driver you are (good, bad or indifferent) just from observing how you travel in a straight line.
Most of you reading the above were probably thinking 'Well, none of that sounds hard. I do all that all the time', and kudos to you, but please realise that there are a bunch of people on the roads who don't. Either they were not taught how to driver properly or they simply do not care, but they exist. People who are only thinking about their next turn, or what is in front of them, or not even thinking about the road that they are travelling at all.
As a motorcyclist, this both scares me and angers me. And it should to you too. Because whilst drivers get to be wrapped up in two tons of comforting steel, I get to be exposed, protected only by kevlars and hope.
So, I shall try my best to update this blog with my encounters on the road of sub-standard driving skills. I make no promises that updates will be regular, but I do promise that they shall be real. I also promise to offer ways to rectifying these issues, though I also point out that the best way to do that is for you to also think on how you drive.
