Tailgaters, disabled car park hogs, and lane swappers raise the ire of police
Fast-lane slowpokes, tailgaters and the roundabout illiterate could soon find themselves paying a hefty price as police say they’re getting ready to crackdown on our roads’ worst pests.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
They tailgate, crawl along in the right lane, can’t use a roundabout properly, don’t know how to turn the indicator on or sometimes off, park in disabled spots or can’t park at all, and most of all they are menaces on the road.
Police are cracking down on drivers whose law breaking may seem minor and irritating but can have horrendous consequences.
Latest fine figures for the 2019/20 year show South Australian drivers are improving some of their annoying habits, but are being witnessed by police more often for others.
RAA spokesman Charles Mountain said the organisation kept track of bad habits on the road, and members complained most about tailgating.
In the last financial year 3947 drivers were caught too close to the vehicle in front of them, an increase from the 3073 in 2014/15.
The other most annoying habits on the road reported to the RAA by motorists are; mobile phone use, not using an indicator, lane swapping, and blocking intersections.
“There are many more rule-breaking behaviours that people find annoying like the way drivers wrongly use roundabouts, or not keeping left on multi-lane roads unless overtaking," Mr Mountain said.
“These offences can also lead to situations in which people become enraged and other drivers can then make poor decisions as well.
“We obviously need to do more work in helping drivers understand all the road rules and how they work.”
Police figures show the number of illegal U-turns they witnessed has also increased; from 2176 to 2486, and pedestrians are becoming more of a nuisance with 1097 caught doing the wrong thing in the last financial year compared to 734.
Using a roundabout is an increasing struggle for motorists, with 1995 caught in 2019/20, up from 1208.
And worryingly police witnessed and fined 910 drivers — an increase of 355 over five years — who ignored the right-of-way of emergency vehicles rushing to help others.
Also recording a dramatic increase were people seen by police not using their indicators, increasing from 1407 to 2366 in the last five years.
The RAA helps motorists who are struggling with ever-changing roads and road rules.
An expert will be available on Friday 9 October at Tea Tree Plaza from 10:30am to 14:30pm, and Friday 30 October at RAA Mile End Store 10:30am to 14:30pm
Police figures also show almost the same number of motorists over five years are being caught double parking, pulling out with no signal, failing to turn off the vehicle indicator, driving with a pet on their lap, ignoring a one way sign, riding a bike with no hands and overambitiously reversing down a road.
Officer in Charge of SA Police's Traffic Services Branch Bob Gray said minor misbehaviour could have serious consequences on the road.
“Drivers following too close to the vehicle in front of them or drivers failing to indicate their intention to turn, can result in collisions and even serious injuries.”
“Every crash on our roads can be avoided.”
But for some offences police are having a harder time finding and fining those who do the wrong thing.
One of the biggest drops over the last five years has been for people freeloading on public transport, reducing from 2636 caught in 2014/15 to 1094 in 2019/20, and bad parking.
And Adelaide motorists are improving their ability to stay away from new bus, bicycle and tram lanes.
There are fewer smokey bombs on the road than there were five years ago, and people are also less often caught blocking clearways, swapping lanes without indicating, and cutting in front of other drivers when they don’t have right of way,
