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The Psychology of NZ Roads
I spent last weekend at Mt Maunganui, basking in the glorious sun of everywhere-but-wellington.
Because I was advised to ditch my little Toyota Corolla in favor of dad’s Honda something-much-bigger-with-airbags, I did all the driving. 14 hours over the course of just over a weekend is TIRING!
Anyway, I had plenty of time to ponder (between Francie’s wonderful mix tapes, patches of extreme fog and bursts of intense gossiping) how people in New zealand drive.
Unlike pretty much every proper country in the world, New Zealands number 1 highway is a skinny two way street. Head on collisions at 100kms an hour are literally an oversteer away. We also have a lot of blind corners.
To counter this we have a couple of things:
- 100km an hour limit
- Yellow lines to show when it’s unsafe to overtake
- A growing number of passing lanes
You would also think that we had a genuine interest in treating each other as friends on the road. We are all very reliant on each other for our own survival.
But we actually treat it like a race track.
I generally sit just below 105kms an hour (still legal but not a nanna) – I am also overtaken by just about everyone. Even if all they do once they overtake me is to slow down to my speed.
I am yet to drive to the Mt (and I have done it a lot) without seeing at least one loony overtake on a blind corner at about 120kms an hour. This time, we saw someone pull out to overtake, and then the guy in front get an inferiority complex and pull out in front of him. We were also passed by three motorcyclists, who obviously nearly avoided a crash about 2kms down the road – or at least that’s what it looked like the angry people in the van were saying to them when they were all pulled over at the intersection.
I also love the people who sit at 90kms the whole way then speed up to 105kms in passing lanes. I think they get a bit of a control freak buzz out of slowing everyone down, but what they cause is road rage and crashes.
The New Zealand culture still very much is a speedy one. We feel sorry for each other when we get speeding tickets (and I don’t mean the 61kms an hour in a 50 zone) and we don’t think about the risk of killing someone, we are just concerned with the potential cost of speeding to our wallets.
If you actually think about it, our roads are terrifying. Most of us are convinced we are the world’s best driver (although it would seem out inability to stick within the speed limit, or define a blind corner negates this) and most of us are also convinced that our state highway 1 is actually a formula 1 racetrack. Am I the only one who is a nervous wreck whenever I get behind the wheel on a long drive?
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September 30th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
When traveling north, I spend as little time on SH1 as is humanly possible. There’s no real option south of Turangi, but then the road between Taihape and Levin is pretty good and usually not very packed compared to roads north of Taupo.
Here’s how I usually get between Auckland and Wellington. It’s pretty obvious how to modify it for The Mount.
http://bit.ly/ak_to_wn
The one tricky bit is using SH1 in the WRONG DIRECTION for about 2 km near Lake Karapiro. Some of the roads are quite rural, but are smooth and flowing except for a few quite short stretches (e.g. 2 or 3 km just south of Lake Waipapa is the worst) Oh, and the turn from Waipapa Rd to Rotongata Rd is easy to miss traveling north. (and Oreipunga Road to Plantation Rd — but just take Maungatautari Rd instead)
I’d say check your speed with a GPS if you can. On many cars when the speedo is reading 105 you’re doing more like 98 or 99. I sit on a *true* 106 or so (reads 110 in my car) and 1) very few people want to overtake me (and I let them past easily if they do), and 2) cops have *never* taken a second glance at me at that speed, including when I’m overtaking them. Police policy is that you’re ok up to a TRUE 109, which is about 114 on the speedo in my car. Just be very very sure that you know the calibration of your car’s speedo, which varies with tyre wear and (to a lesser extent) inflation.
And of course only do this if you’re feeling comfortable and safe at that speed.
October 1st, 2009 at 1:15 am
“…every proper country in the world,” – oh come on, surely such phrases have been chucked into the bargain bin a long time ago! *sigh* – poor little New Zealand, oh woe is us so far away from civilisation etc etc …
October 1st, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Nah I think of us as a proper country :) hence I think we need proper roads.
Although I must say, there are more and more passing lanes!
October 1st, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Oh yeah, I also have heard that in WWII the Americans not only built a bunch of airfields around the country, they also wanted to 4-lane SH1 between Auckland and Wellington. For free. And our lovely government at the time said “nah, she’ll be right…”.
October 3rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I think your post, and some of the comments, actually point to a big part of the explanation for the problem you are describing.
According to Google Maps it’s 531km from Wellington to the Mount on SH1. They assume a driving time of 7 hours 25 minutes, which implies an average speed of 72 km/h.
Let’s assume that by driving at 105 km/h on the open road, rather than 100 km/h which is the legal speed limit, you can increase that average speed by a full 5 km/h over the whole trip (in reality it would probably be less than that, but let’s keep it simple).
What do you gain? Less than 30 minutes.
And, what does this cost you in terms of safety, stopping distances, etc, not to mention fuel? So, why would you do this? To avoid being considered a “nanna”. Isn’t that a bigger problem than the quality of the roads?
I was recently caught speeding on the motorway. It made me think about why I was driving faster than I needed to and should have been. I didn’t come up with a single good reason. The only answer I could think of at the time when the cop asked was: “because I’m an idiot”.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Hi Rowan,
Totally agree. However, I was also told (maybe bad advice??) when i used to drive at 100kms on the dot, that all this did was cause the queues behind you to get angry and increase the potential for dangerous overtaking. It also generally means those driving behind you are right on your bumper, which IS dangerous.
I also agree with Bruce that my 105kms is OFFICIALLY still only about 100 (judging by those nifty new speed signs that show you how fast you are going)