Are Rockhampton drivers the worst in the country?

Published: December 16, 2014

Driving a big rig around Australia can be a hazardous experience … but does the varying  standard of driving make some areas more dangerous for caravanners and motorhomers than others?

Grey nomad Morris Reid has caused quite a stir in Rockhampton by labelling the Queensland city’s roads as death traps because the drivers who use them are “among the worst in the country”.

Mr Reid, a 66-year-old former road train driver who has been travelling Australia in a caravan with his wife for the past five years, didn’t hold back as he told the Morning Bulletin newspaper about drivers in the city, labelling them “without a doubt the most dangerous in the country”.

“Their total disregard for traffic rules and other drivers is astounding,” he said. “Traffic lights are only an inconvenience to them (local drivers); green means keep speeding, orange means go faster and red means stop if you feel like it.”

Mr Reid and his wife are from Albany in Western Australia but have grandchildren in Rockhampton, so visit the region regularly.

“All these years I have been on the road, I have been accident free; and out of the many towns I have visited, there is only one that frightens me – Rockhampton,” he said.

  • The poor standard of the roads in some areas are well known for making some grey nomads avoid them, but are varying driving standards another reason to avoid certain regions? Where do you think the best … and worst … drivers are? Comment below.
8 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Rocky is high on my list, but Canberra , Sydney and Geelong beat Rocky hands down. Good roads appalling drivers, I wish I were a highway patrolman I wouldn’t hesitate to take cars and drivers off the road.

I totally agree with Morris. We have been on the road full time for 7 yrs. now,travelling all over this wonderful country of ours,and in that time we have observed all types of horrendous driving. By far the worst are Queenslanders especially within 100ks. of any large city or town. And we are Qlders.

Morris, you should come to Perth for a while – bloody hopeless drivers and therefore dangerous. Perth has become so congested people are frustrated and take risks to try and get anywhere on time. Red lights and double white lines are optional.

We have been travelling and housesitting from Cairns to Brisbane over the last 4 months and it’s the tail gating that’s gets me. I regularly pull over even without the van on the back and let the mad buggers go. we thought the drivers in our own state of WA were bad but they take the cake over here in QLD

Every town or city has bad drivers. On our recent trip around Australia WA took the prize for bad drivers.

I was following a caravan towed be a 4×4 in Broome through several round abouts. He was going straight ahead, but at every round about he indicated a right turn, then exit the R/A without indicating.

We have travelled Australia extensively over the past 4 years and clearly NT and Qld are the most dangerous places to travel. Frequently we get overtaken by trucks and cars and motorbikes on large bends with double lines. On the winding road south of Cardwell we were overtaken by 3 semi trailers, one after the other on double lines. that was really scary particularly when we were travelling at 95-100 kms/hr. In the NT we were constantly overtaken by trucks and cars on double lines when doing 105km/hr.

I think most of us need to look at our own driving first
and that could be a wake call to us all
chill out everyone and take it easy

We come from Mandurah in WA, you will see MH number plates everywhere. Be careful following, they do not know what the little stalk under the steering wheel is for, so they only indicate if they hit the indicator switch by accident as they turn, quite possibly indicating the opposite direction to where they are going.
Currently we are in NSW having just spent 4 weeks near Lismore where the drivers are far better than at home. Lismore has a population of about 42K Mandurah about 80K but the city of Lismore is far more complex. The main difference is Lismore doesn’t have any traffic lights but plenty of roundabouts. Mandurah has only one major roundabout but more than a dozen sets of traffic lights. The need for all the lights is because it’s all but impossible to teach West Aussies how to merge on a roundabout. When it comes to the worst in Australia I think I would put my money on WA Just because I’m WA born & breed doesn’t mean I’m brain dead.

ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop