Driving gripes revealed
It may be red-light runners, tailgaters, or drivers who forget to signal – no matter the driving gripe, we all have at least one.
For Hamilton motorists, cellphone users were high on the list.
Julie Strawbridge from Claudelands said it doesn’t matter whether you are texting or talking on the phone – they are equally bad.
Younger people are more guilty of texting while driving, but people talking on the phone aren’t concentrating, either, Strawbridge said.
‘‘I keep wishing the police would see and pull them over, but it never happens and it makes me so angry ... it only takes a matter of a few minutes to pull over and answer the call or text.’’
Wairere Drive, Cobham Drive, Kahikatea Drive, Anzac Parade bridge, the Hillcrest roundabout and the Dinsdale roundabout were also identified as some of the city’s major choke points at rush hour, causing drivers a lot of frustration.
AA regularly surveys its members on what the most annoying and concerning habits are on the road, AA driver training general manager Roger Venn said.
The top 10 almost always include inappropriate use of horns, not moving back to the left lane once you’ve overtaken, tailgating, use of phones, redlight running, not signalling, not using your lights correctly, not merging like a zip, holding up traffic, and speeding up when someone is trying to overtake, Venn said.
‘‘They’re all understandable, but as a road user you have to take responsibility for your own behaviour,’’ he said. ‘‘We don’t own the road, we share it, and no-one has any more of a right than anyone else.’’
Some commenters suggested rewriting the rode code to teach better etiquette.
But Venn said this is not the rode code’s job.