Fighting for something good in, what sometimes seems like a world of bad, often leaves you looking for the reason that you keep at it.
So it is sometimes on this site when you get streams of uneducated, abusive drivel from the likes of Carl and his ‘alter ego’, Smokey. (I don’t want to get into, yet another verbal stoush with Carl, because, he’s ‘dun more skoolin van me’, and I hate being torn down by academic criticism.)
I often cringe when you hear some comments or even conversations on the radio, even after you decipher the ‘tongue in cheek’ comments and are left wondering how anybody could hope to drive any vehicle, let alone a semi trailer, under the conditions and pressures that we are expected to endure, with any degree of responsibility. Dare to comment on it and you will undoubtedly, after streams of abuse and advice’ be invited to pull up and sort it out.
I read the letters on this site and a constant theme is “I reported it to the police and nothing is done about it.” Even Lyndal has experienced the very reaction or more accurately, no action, and lack of follow up. Even personal visits to the Police Station evoke little or no response.
We are all aware that the NSW Police are so under staffed that they cannot even hope to respond to even some of the more serious reports and their presence out on the roads is negligible, unless they have done a big escort of wide loads some distance and they then return at intervals so as to space the cars out which gives the impression that there is a high presence on the road.
In contrast to this seeming inaction, last Sunday afternoon I had a visit at home from the local constabulary - the second time they had tried to find me - as I was informed inquiring into the details of an accident that I was involved in unbeknowns to me)and why I refused to stop even after being pursued by the other vehicle.
Briefly the details were, while turning right from Sunnyholt Road, Parklea, which is a multi lane road into Quakers Parkway, another dual lane road, via a dual turning lane, I ‘collided’ with a car. The said vehicle then pursued me for a distance of some 3-4 kilometers before turning off to report the matter to Quakers Hill Police.
My reply to all this is simply, I travel that route almost daily so I am aware of the area.
Being a wide sweeping turn, I use the left lane so as to turn as smoothly as I can and leave whatever room I can for cars on my right hand side, bearing in mind, despite the wide turn, once I start turning, the rear of my trailer is out of sight.
Quakers Parkway is a dual lane divided road with no less than six sets of traffic lights to the point where the other vehicle “gave up the chase’.
Quite simply, my defence to all this is, if the other car had hit the prime mover, I am sure I would have been aware of it, and the prime mover tracks within the turning lane, (bearing in mind, I’m still 10k’s from my first stubby so I can only assume that what has happened was that the other driver has tried to at least follow me through the turn or tried to overtake me through the turn, either way, contrary to the DO NOT OVERTAKE TURNING VEHICLE sign clearly displayed according, to law on the back of my trailer.
Given that this took place, allegedly, at 9:40 pm on a Sunday night, the traffic would be very light, so if a vehicle was flashing his high beam, I am sure that I would have noticed it, in fact, if another vehicle had hit me and not stopped, I would have made damn sure he noticed it.
The driver then pursued me for some 3-4 kilometers on a dual lane road, through five sets of traffic lights and I can tell you I have never had a clear run through those lights in the 4 or 5 years that I have been using that road regularly, and then turned off at the sixth set to report to the Police, and couldn’t get my attention or get in front of me to stop me.
UNBELIEVABLE!
Anyway, this has apparently taken place in early August and now some five weeks later, after, I would estimate, around ten or twelve Police hours, and that’s only if it doesn’t go any further, we find out that the damage sustained is minor scratching and a small dent on the car.
Obviously this driver wants me charged to enable him to claim damages, however, if he knew that it is illegal to overtake a turning truck, there is even a sign on the rear to tell you so. Common sense would tell you that if you do and the truck looks like getting close to you, DON”T stop and hope it will go away, (it will but only after it runs over your car)KEEP MOVING AND TURN A BIT SHARPER, a car is easy to manoeuvre in that situation.
I believe situations like this could be avoided and Police left to do serious Police work, with a higher level of…., wait for it…, Driver Education! Now where have I heard that before!
So the whole point of this weeks ramblings is that, just when you start asking yourself why, reminders like this come along, then you go back to the site and read the posts from the likes of Rhonda, all the Dave’s, Chris, (hell, why did I try to name them all), suffice to say all those that give a damn, not to mention some ‘ugly Sheila from Ballina’ that cared enough to start all this as well as the work being done by the likes of Rod Hannify and Heather Jones, and then you realize why.
Until the States get out of the financial state that they are all in, and that can never happen under our current financial system, and stop relying on massive revenue gained from unconstitutional, illegal and ineffective electronic surveillance techniques, and get serious about road safety, and get back to Police presence and develop a proper system of driving tuition, I guess it is always going to be left up to the likes of all of us.
Sometimes it’s a bit like wetting your self in a wetsuit, it gives you a nice warm feeling, but nobody else notices.
I applaud Lyndal’s initiative with the Hotline as a first step and we have plans to get started on our next project, may I say, with a lot of input from all on the site, and from there we must start taking it to the authorities. I hope we’ve all got patience. Stay focused.
Cheers Westy
