[alastpa]

Do they not teach the keep left...pass right rule in SA anymore?? Seriously!:furious::furious::furious:

Since the beginning of the year I drive from the Grayston on-ramp to New Road and back on the M1 everyday. Everyday there's at least 10 people sitting in the far right hand lane (please note I don't call it 'the fast lane' cause that's not what it is) doing 80-90kph and steadfastly refusing to move over. Normally there is not a single car in front of them for 300-1000m but they make no effort to either move over or run at the national speed limit.

If you wait politely behind them...they don't move over!
They can see the traffic building up behind them but....they don't move over!
You can flash your lights at them and then they DEFINITELY won't move over!

One is therefore forced to overtake on their left (itself an illegal move) or wait patiently while they crawl along for what could be 500metres or 10km....it all depends on what they feel like.

My personal behaviour is that if I can move over I immediately will or I'll speed up just a little bit so as to not inconvenience the driver behind me. Then as soon as I have a gap to move over I will.

Of course I don't cruise in the right hand lane unless I'm overtaking or moving significantly faster than the traffic in the next lane over to the left.

If one hoots or flashes ones lights at these people they more often than not shake their fist, give you the finger or launch into a foul mouthed tirade.

Today on my drive there were 3 major accidents on the south bound side between Grayston and New Road. All requiring emergency service and closure of one or more lanes. Honestly how does one crash on a straight road, with everyone moving in the same directions at similar speeds. These accidents all started in 'the fast lane' from what I could tell.

In my mind it's three main factors:
1. People overtaking on both the left and right hand sides when they should only be overtaking on the right. This is caused by a number of factors chiefly of which is the fact that SA driver's don't generally move over to allow the traffic to flow and plain impatience (which I'll admit I sometimes do)
2. Cellphone usage (Today I observed a guy in a white ASX weaving heavily through the traffic without once indicating while glued to his phone) Often driving cars which are plainly fitted with bluetooth.
3. People waiting until the last POSSIBLE moment to move over from 'the fast lane' to the far left hand to get to their offramp. This forces people in every single lane to brake heavily to accommodate them. This also causes a tailback at the offramp because these people have to force their way in at the head of the que.


My solution would be for a JMPD car to cruise in the right hand lane with cruise control set at 125kph. If they come up on a driver dawdling at below that speed or refusing to move over they hit them with a spot fine right there.

Lastly I've noticed it's not only taxi's and trucks that have the habit of doing this. It's very often older white gentleman (I use the term gentleman very loosely) who refuse to move over. They're also the ones most likely to launch into the foul mouthed tirade.

 

[Alfa.gtv6.zn]

I share your frustration...after i move left and overtake the person sometimes wakes up and moves to the centre lane, making way for others.
Unfortunately we have to deal with this on daily basis, some people dont even know how a 4way stop works, some don't know stop is stop not yield and vice versa...
Cellphone usage : people aint on calls no more, they texting...

 

[Giorget2]

Funny thing is, it's even specifically mentioned in the regulations to the National Road Traffic act that:

A) It's illegal to drive in the rightmost lane of a multi-lane road unless you are moving significantly faster than other vehicles in the other lanes. (
B) It is legal to flash lights to slower traffic in front of you to signal your intention to overtake.

EDIT: In addition, here's the instructions from the National Road Traffic act's subregulation 298(3) for the driver of the vehicle who is being passed:
"The driver of a vehicle on a public road shall ... upon becoming aware of other traffic proceeding in the same direction and wishing to pass his or her vehicle, cause his or her vehicle to travel as near to the left edge of the roadway as is possible, without endangering himself or herself or other traffic or property on the roadway, and shall not accelerate the speed of his or her vehicle until the other vehicle has passed."

This also includes driving on the shoulder of the road (i.e. in the yellow line) This is legal to do. Subregulation 298A:

" Notwithstanding subregulation (1), the driver of a motor vehicle may, during the period between sunrise and sunset, drive such motor vehicle on the shoulder of a public road which is designated for one lane of traffic in each direction –
a) while such motor vehicle is being overtaken by another vehicle; and
b) if he or she can do so without endangering himself or herself, other traffic, pedestrians or property on such public road; and
c) if persons and vehicles upon a public road are clearly discernible at a distance of at least 150 metres. "

 

[Giorget2]

Another thing is people who refuse to drive in anything but the second to rightmost lane. Admittedly, in South Africa we have only a few highways with more than 3 lanes. On a 3 lane highway I can understand someone not driving in the left hand lane all the time - to avoid really slow trucks, people going onto off-ramps or merging traffic from on-ramps.

But on a highway with 4 or 5 lanes, why oh why would you keep sitting in the second from right-hand lane at 80km/h to 110km/h while there's one or two perfectly good lanes to your left?!?!?! :furious:

What happens because of these palookas is that a faster car, doing 120km/h comes along and wants to overtake, but is blocked from doing so by the fool at 100km/h in the second from right lane. So the overtaking car pulls into the right-hand lane, only to be obliterated by the car doing 150km/h to 180km/h coming from behind. Crash, bang, boom, slams into the idiot who was going 100km/h in the lane to the left, wiping him out as well. Family cries "Oh no, he was such a good driver, never drove faster than the speed limit! What a tragedy!"

 

[alastpa]

But on a highway with 4 or 5 lanes, why oh why would you keep sitting in the second from right-hand lane at 80km/h to 110km/h while there's one or two perfectly good lanes to your left?!?!?! :furious:

200% agree!!!
I forgot to mention this part. on a 4 or 5 lane highway if your in the second from right lane you should be driving at 120kph or just below. Then nobody doing the speed limit will need to go into the far right hand lane very often.

It's not just about accidents. If everyone did it and 'moved over' the traffic would improve at least 30% over night.

One of the reasons I don't pay fines anymore is because you can commit all the above moving violations 100 times a day and not get fined just as long as you do it below the speed limit. The problem with the authorities drilling this 'speed kill's thing into us is that they competely miss moving violations that are a much bigger killer!

It's not speed that kills it's a BIG difference in speed that kills. Like one car doing 80kph in the right hand line while another is doing 140kph as you mentioned.

 

[El 4 Romeo]

I used to get frustrated because I adopted a normative approach. I now accept that people are generally selfish and believe that they're right most of the time. Imagine a world where we made decisions based on what people actually do versus making decisions based on what they're supposed to do. Less stress? For what it's worth, I'm a reformed borderline road rager.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[alastpa]

I'm a reformed borderline road rager.

What's your secret? I need to learn some Zen for these situations.

 

[AlfistiGT]

Sometimes justice does get served. Last month I was on the N12, evening, barely any traffic and some idiot was sleeping on the fast lane at 80 km/h. I flashed him a couple of times, he clearly did notice me, waited patiently behind him, made obvious moves to signal that I want to pass.... but no signs of that guy moving to any of the 3 other lanes so I was forced to overtake on his left side. After passing him I just saw in my rear mirrors that an unmarked police car was busy pulling that guy over.

 

[Ian Lusso]

I don't even bother. I pass on the left. My blood pressure and mental health already leaves much to be desired.

http://www.dekra-solutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/rettungsgasse-autobahn.jpg

This is an image of a German autobahn. The lane on the right is standing still due to a traffic jam. Notice how the vehicles pull to the side of the road to allow any emergency vehicles to pass through, even though there aren't any. This is a law that is strictly enforced.

But the actual reason for posting this picture is to illustrate the lane on the left. Not a single vehicle in the overtaking lane. Because that is what it is for. Overtaking.

 

[Ratel]

In S.A that will be the Taxi lane! Lmao:biglaugh:

 

[AlfistiGT]

But the actual reason for posting this picture is to illustrate the lane on the left. Not a single vehicle in the overtaking lane. Because that is what it is for. Overtaking.

Yip, lived there 15 years. If you don't move to the far right slow lane, you get a fine and collect points in Flensburg. If you overtake on the slow lane, you get fined and collect points. The chances of you getting caught is high. Everyone sticks to the rules and thus it is possible for many parts of the Autobahn to have no speed restrictions, everything is "predictable". I would guess we could easily triple the traffic on Gauteng highways if everyone would be law abiding citizens like the Germans, but that is wishful thinking.

 

[Ian Lusso]

Oh my hat. I just noticed a 166 in that traffic jam! :biglaugh:

 

[alastpa]

I would guess we could easily triple the traffic on Gauteng highways if everyone would be law abiding citizens like the Germans, but that is wishful thinking.

Couldn't agree more and that's unfortunately where many South Africans don't see the greater good.

My favorite example is when I was in Germany last year for a work event. We were all given week passes for the U-Bahn (Underground) and S-Bahn (above ground trains)
In Germany the train stations have NO turnstiles of ANY kind. One can walk straight off the street and onto the platform. There are machines on the platforms to buy tickets and everyone does because they abide by the law and understand the greater good.

This would never work in SA because maybe 2% of people would actually pay for a ticket. People would wholesale rape it and never pay. Therefore we'd need turnstiles which would become a bottleneck during peak times and inconvenience everyone BUT because we don't see the greater good it wouldn't work. Very sad really.

South African's are good at this. Another example is at my previous job we were all given petrol cards with an 80/20 split. The company pays 80% and the other 20% comes off your salary. Lots of people went out and bought second hand V8 SUV's and big petrol double cabs. They also used their petrol cards to drive to Cape Town and back on their family holidays etc. So the company changed the policy to, they pay for the first R1000. For the rest we had to produce a log book of our work trips and claim them back. So because of a few selfish [email protected]#&^%#s we all had to suffer and be inconvenienced.

 

[alastpa]

Make it 4 accidents on the same stretch of highway in one day.

 

[Cfm78910]

If this freaks you out don't come anywhere near the Western Cape. It is absolutely pathetic. If you want to get somewhere here at anything above walking pace you have no choice but staying in the left lane and passing the idiots. Only good thing about this mess is that it makes it easy for us to drive in Europe. After all, they keep right and pass left there too!

 

[MartinS]

It's actually really hectic nowadays in JHB. Speed doesn't kill so much, I think; it's the idiots going slowly on the highways that cause a fair amount of the problems on the roads. Plus the cutting in at the last moment that causes everyone to slam on brakes. You need a special type of resolve to deal with this. The other Sunday morning early, an old guy in a Merc M55 cut in front of me whilst reading his iPad, and driving. I flashed lights, as I was at 120, and he was at about 80, and I had to overtake him on the left. This obviously upset him, as I had disturbed his morning read while he was travelling on the highway. He then caught up with me and flashed his lights.... I therefore responded by opening the GT up a bit, and he kept following me, but then lost interest at 180+.

Stupid really - but in some cases you have no choice but to fight fire with fire.

The GT did very well, however

 

[Jchan11hk]

Generally, South African just do not respect the law, doesn't matter it is the traffic law, OHS Act, by laws....nope, who cares. I do not need to respect the law or to the person next to me. :furious:

If you think this is worse, my boss told me laws are just guidelines....:readit:

 

[El 4 Romeo]

What's your secret? I need to learn some Zen for these situations.

Long story.

Moral: realising that people just don't care whether you're having a heart attack or not. It's not worth it. Just avoid them as far as possible. Put on some talk radio. Enjoy the drive.

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[Ian Lusso]

True story and I can download Tracker evidence: On the N1 home from Cape Town I often reach 200km/h in the very left (slow) lane for the full 3km past Century City while the other two lanes are standing dead still. The same when traveling to town in the morning down Plattekloof hill almost as far as N1 City. It's ridiculous but always ensure that the yellow lane is clear for me to commit to avoidance action if I need to, yet this has never been necesarry in the 8 years that I am back in Cape Town since living on the West Coast.

Threatened with a gun during a road rage incident? Been there and done that. I never smack first though but I always smack last. I would like to see someone get up and attempt to smack me after my first smack to his chutt. But anyway that is the reality of our daily drive in SA. Today we had wind speeds of up to 160km/h and very heavy rains even for Cape Town but a doos in a double cab was on my ass on the N1 to the point that where we had to brake suddenly for a real accident that took place 2 cars ahead, he had to veer off onto the bush. Yes I laughed at him and opened my window so he could see me laugh out loud and point at him. Monkey. I didn't have peanuts to throw at him though.

Rain and stupid don't mix.4x4's don't brake like cars. Especially not with rock crawler tires.

I love the sunroof in my 159 though. It allows you to give a monkey the finger before disappearing into the distance. Did this only once though while the wife wasn't looking...

It's staggering when one has to learn really bad habits because of others 'stupidity.

 

[MartinS]

Put on some talk radio. Enjoy the drive.

True. The high energy, supposedly "happy" radio stations that churn out the high energy music and pranks etc actually contribute negatively to your tension levels while driving.

If you do tend to react negatively on the road to the idiots, rather listen to talk radio, or preferably listen to your own collection of calmer music that you personally enjoy. Even some classical music helps reduce stress, but then this is not everyone's cup of tea.

This is one of the reasons why I want to replace the CD player with an MP3 player in the GT. Rather play music that you like while driving.