I lived on the Sunshine Coast for 8 years.I visit the Coast perhaps 6 times a year to visit my son and his family.What has become painfully obvious to me is the pathetic,moronic,just sheer bad driving habits that just seem to be accepted.Speed be it on a main road,bye road,and even in shopping center car parks appear to be the norm.Respect for other road users is practically nowhere to be seen.It must be a dumping ground for defective vehicles,no indicators,missing brake lights etc.Total disregard for stop signs.Roadworks.......just ignore the speed limits posted,pity the poor bugger doing his/her job as flag people(Stop and Go)I think some people think they are there just annoy them.The Police are rarely seen patroling the roads as a detterent for speeding etc.Perhaps a sneaky radar trap may be found and then we have the 4wd parked with darkened windows with a sign telling us that aspeed camera is in operation.Now I have got that of my chest I plead with any G/N's heading for the Sunshine Coast to be alert.Whatever you do do not drink and drive.You never know what time of the day or night that there will be road closures and EVERY driver is breath tested.I will be interested if any Forum readers who live up that way will either agree or put forth their opinion of the Sunshine Coast driving habits.Cheers.Ibbo.PS The Sunshine Coast is a fantastic place to visit I am in no way knocking it.Just the driving habits.

Ibbo, We stopped going to Queensland years ago , because it be came to rushed and they put up THEM dont camp here dont do this dont do that sign,s. Stopped at a beach and it took 15min to read the dont sign,s Found S.A the best state for summer and WA the best state in the winter....PLUS all the small roads make driving a BIG risk in Queensland got a broken windscreen every time we went there...and thats a fact..bob

I did not mention the friendly middle finger salute,funny I thought I was getting the thumbs up signal,took me ages to stop feeling sorry for all those poor folk who did not have thumbs.My favourite is the slow and deliberate V sign complete with a big smile.The Finger Fools just hate that response.Not that I usually give anyone the satisfaction of acknowledgment.Oh well back to my basket weaving.Cheers.Ibbo.

Its all about respect.. but its hard to take anything seriously, when the law makers & legal system are found wanting a little bit of common sense. Today on the wireless or radio today in Melbourne, its reported that a person has been escorted out of a pub on many occassions because of bad conduct, so the last time he gets thrown out he goes into the local courthouse & gets a restraining order against the Manager of said pub. So the way I understand the situation is, everytime this ratbag walkes into this pub, the Manager must walk out the back door & not allowed back until this bloke plays up & they throw him out again or just goes home. Also its been suggested that we make all our angry, voilent & misbehaving youths do National Service - great - give a gun to these people............

Good morning Guys/gals,

Definately agree with you all on these probs.its every where, just some may be worse than others.

There seems to be no getting through to the road users .
Thursday night at home ,just a few streets away ,A 16yr L plate unsupervised,a15yr inthe front ,8&11 yr in back up & down the street overtacking several cars in a 70kl zone ,straight road ,crashed in to a power pole ,2 in rear dead at scene other critical &flown to Newcastle.I might just say they were abbo's.

Saw plenty of it on the hwy yesterday coming up.
A very young girl entered the hwy from the left near the byron turn,cut myself & a b doubble off,lucky no one in the centre lane as we both had to move over to miss her .
she then pulls out & passes us both & wa are doing the 100klh,
A couple of kl up the road we hit the 110k mark,have not seen her since .
There was another 6/7 that went past like we were going the other way,all young girls .Not a hwy patrol to be seen ,

We need to bring back the old system in the schols & home ,respect & disapline.
If they are not taught at a very youg age there seems to be no hope later .


PS. IBBO,forget to ask last nifgt where is One Arm Cove ,?
seems like you had a long day.

safe travell to all.

Jim.North Arm Cove,North of Karuah just off the old Pacific Hwy.7 klms from the Rock service center.Not far from Tea Gardens.27 clicks from Buladelah.Being brought up at a time when respect for your elders and the Law was the norm I have got to say that almost all the kids and youth problems must start in the home.Having said that I don't think that Parents,teachers,the Law get any help from the Dogooders who have made sure that kids have their"Rights".Why should the armed forces have to teach the young respect?I could well imagine an RSM saying something like'Now come on sonny,pick up your clothes and tidy up around your bunk space'.You Cant't tell me what to do I know my rights".The RSM would answer something like Grot the only rights you have in this army is your right leg and right arm.Having had a bit of a shot at the youth of today does not fix anything.I would hate to be a young person growing up in the fractured world we live in.Cheers.Ibbo.

Could it be something that your son is organising, to deter you from visiting so bloody often Ibbo?? Everybody is always very courteous when I go up there but then again I do have South Australian plates and we don't beat them in Rugby!!

My experience of Qld drivers and the road rules are, it's compulsory to overtake on solid and double white lines, and the closer to a bend the better, just to raise the excitement factor. Speeding is a sport, tail gating is compulsory. The vehicles all have CD stackers as the preferred option in place of indicators, a useless accessory. If those teenage drivers are being taught by the parents who practice the above driving skills, we're in a lot of trouble. They do it just right for the driving test, and then they seem to have free reign to "do it their way". It's really scary. Last night in Cairns, driving home from Sing Australia rehearsal at about 2100hrs, I followed a car up Mulgrave Road, a very major road in Cairns, which had no headlights turned on. No one was there to pick them up. Speeding in car parks is a state sport I think. It is all about lack of respect, and absolute selfishness and the fact they are totally oblivious to others. Bring back road manners and defensive driving.

I'm old.

Been driving in Australia for 45 years.

Not a lot has changed in that time except that there are more people and more buildings and more rules to cope with it all.

I joined an industry of well paid and highly responsible employees and not one of them had the slightest concept of the word "courtesy" once they got behind a steering wheel.

The one note opera "Mi - Mi" could be heard emanating loudly from their AM radios and 8 track stereos.

Vehicle modification for maximum noise, tyre squealing, and gravel chucking was all the thing in those days.

Not one of them under 30 years old.

Nostalgia is really not what it used to be.

You really are having a bad hair day Rolly.................LOL

Memories!!!!!!!!!!

Well Smoky do you have the rest of the atachment must be a Ford there somwhere V8 perhaps??????

OH BOY!!! I am feeling battered and bruised...{ I'm a Qld driver.} Sorrrrrry Guys.

Del.Just take care on the roads.Cheers.Ibbo.

Yep a Ford .......with a 8 track stereo http://members.cox.net/surround/quaddisc/quadq8cd.htm Dave

Had to take a trip from here {Hervey Bay} to Brisbane last week. Scarey!!!! I hear you Ibbo, and definately agree with you. We travel the "back roads" as much as possible, take our time, and we'd have a lot more of that if Roger would retire. We visit family in Ipswich and if we have to go to the Gold Coast or Brisbane, we take a train. That's another scarey thing to do..... a couple of fellas, sitting there...waited till the doors closed Then lit their little very thinly rolled "smoke." What did we do? Same as everyone else....Nothing!!!! What can you do in a situation like that?

Terro,I hate to disagree with you,Iknow what you mean but drive on the Sunshine coast and believe me your eyes will pop open.Just spend a week on the roads up there.We are not all tarred with the brush when it comes down to commonsense .I am not talking about Hoons,they dig their own graves,I am talking about just ordinary folk who really should not be allowed on the roads.Respect,commonsense,sadly lacking I am afraid.Try logging on to the Sun Coast Daily and reading the horrendous tales of misery ,Old hat Terro?I dont think so.I am not knocking you Terro far from it.In my opinion driving on the Sunshine Coast Roads is like having a death wish unless you are vigilant.Cheers.Ibbo.

you want scarey in Qld.......try driving up to Laminton NP....the trip there is horrifying....get around a bend and see a bus coming down.... theres no passing areas.. Dave

The Bruce Highway in Qld runs all the way up the Cairns. It's a killer. Road design has a lot to do with it. It's a standard 2 lane highway which carries almost every vehicle heading north. Next to the 2 lanes, there is no where to go. There's a deep storm water drain. The width of the fog line is less than half a metre. The overtaking lanes are very short - just about long enough to allow a semi or b-double to pass me travelling up hill at about 60kph with the van on the back. Much of Qld's road toll is attributable to the road design. They've built these highways as cheaply as possible, conserving as much road work and road making materials as possible. The Govt "talks" about the road toll, and clearly drivers are not driving according to conditions as carefully as they should, but the road making practices of this state leave a lot to be desired. Then they let the selfish, inconsiderate drivers loose on them. In comparison, WA, SA and NT have great wide roads, with a roadside verge as runn-off in the case of an emergency. I had to use one of these wide verges on a secondary road, leading into Learmonth and Exmouth, to avoid a confrontation with a triple Western Star road train. Some of Vic's secondary roads are inadequate as well, but their major highways are generous. It's still all about the driver's attitude. Cars and roads don't kill people. People kill people.