Have to agree having been on the receiving end of an accident where the other driver was entirely on the wrong side of the road, I saw the car for a long way ahead and got right off the road but was hit on my right front, the driver was overtaking, I had no where to go. had injuries which in the scheme of things were not that serious ! my old toyota mark 2 was solid still the repercussions carry on. Saw a big truck too fast onto a curved bridge this week with his right side overlapping the centre line, the wheel just over but the body well over as it was leaning going too fast for the bend, had we been right onto the bridge we wouldn't have gotten off so easily. Also witnessed a truck and trailer unit run the red lights in Oamaru recently !
rob_man,
Apr 23, 10:04pm
The first one appears to be suicide, the second a lack of attention and the third the result of laziness perhaps? Enforcement might have some bearing on the last one but not the other two.
delerium1,
Apr 23, 10:50pm
No quota? Easier to ping people 3km over the limit. More tax chasing speeding
funkydunky,
Apr 23, 10:55pm
I think smartphones in peoples laps play a huge factor in this
corky,
Apr 23, 10:58pm
The answer to the problem lies in OPs heading "drivers need to stop crossing the centreline".
tamarillo,
Apr 23, 11:29pm
No it's the other bits in our laps that cause the problem.
truckr,
Apr 24, 12:29am
phones are a major problem i almost had a head on last year with a guy in a 4wd completely on wrong side of road on corner , had i not blasted my air horn and moved to shoulder he would have hit me he was still on my side of the road as he passed me and still was txting, you probably don't realize how many people are using their phones while driving but in a truck you see them and most that drift over the centre line or fail to stop at stop sign or give way, 9 times out of ten have a cellphone in their hand.
gedo1,
Apr 24, 1:01am
Firstly. how many Police do you think are out there? Enough so that they see every wrong piece of driving any where at any time on NZ roads? Hardly! Secondly. the revenue gathering to which you refer. NZTA contract NZ Police to do just that. Meaning that Police are contracted to take the revue from the seemingly willing contributors, of which there are so many.
elect70,
Apr 24, 4:24am
See the survey on what people do in their cars while driving . Texting emailing , shaving , doing their hair , reading maps . all of which takes focus off the road , even couple seconds is enough to cross centre line .
gunhand,
Apr 24, 4:34am
Agree, how can the Police enforce this issue if they don't see it. I'm pretty sure if someone crossed the center line and were observed by a Police officer they would certainly would want to have a word with the offender. When we all see these things happening (and some doing it) when is the next time you see a cop? 1km down the road? 20kms down the road or maybe not at all. Since we are disturbed by the actions of others perhaps a device in cars that notifies the Police when it strays outside its lane, and maybe other offenses as well? Highly unpractical no doubt and of course no one would want that kind of enforcement now would they, especially the safe speeders who certainly wouldn't cross a center line, they would howl in protest no doubt. And if there was a Police car every km on the road hammering everyone for everything (and there would be shit loads of offenses) there would also be accusations of Police state and revenue gathering etc etc. For every offense a cop pulls someone over for there are probably 20 (or a whole lot more) that go unobserved.
tintop,
Apr 24, 6:19am
Where have you seen anyone get done for 3km over the limit where there have not been other circumstances ?
captaink,
Apr 24, 6:50am
Was watching tele the other night, not sure of the programme, cop was taking a drink driver back to the station for a evidential breath test after blowing over out Piha way, cop observed a car crossing the centre line a number of times, stopped the driver, (of Asian descent) who said he was cutting the corners to not wake the baby who had just gone to sleep. I'd prefer the driver was put to 'sleep' but when observed the cop did stop him.
ema1,
Apr 24, 6:55am
By concentrating on the job at hand. AT ALL TIMES. LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT which it does. It's high time folks in this country moved away from the NO TOMORROW MENTALITY. PERIOD!
tweake,
Apr 24, 8:50am
a lot of the driving on the wrong side of the road is just lazy driving.
have a look on any country road at the wear patterns. they are all go onto the wrong side of the road on corners. some nice wide roads only have a single pair of tire tracks smack bang in the center of the road. now all that becomes habit. when they are tired, maybe the odd beer or two or simply distracted, no prize for guessing what habit they fall back to.
skin1235,
Apr 24, 8:53am
have you noticed that all the drivers that cross the line are moving to the right to do so perhaps if we switched to right hand driving they'd simply drive off side of the road and NOT kill someone elses family doing so
ianab,
Apr 24, 9:38am
To be fair, the Taranaki one was 2 elderly women, and the one that crossed the centre line seems to have gone all the way to the grass on the wrong side and veered back into the oncoming vehicle.
Sounds more like a medical event?
How are you going to police old ladies having strokes etc behind the wheel?
tweake,
Apr 24, 9:50am
regular medical testing. work mate follow an old lady for about 5km on very windy road and she was on the wrong side for most of it. he called it in and the cop pulled her over just before town. she didn't know what planet she was on.
ianab,
Apr 24, 10:07am
Licence / medical tests are fair enough. But an oldie can go from "fine" to "laa-laa land" in 60 seconds.
skin1235,
Feb 26, 4:42pm
not the oldies, but you'd be hard pushed with your stopwatch to see how quick a youngun goes from bad to troppo, you just have to pass him, takes all of 10 seconds, then in the 2 seconds it takes for him to realise you actually drove past him all is calm, then the red cloud comes down !
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