Although I failed School Certificate science, I know enough about physics that you shouldn’t pull in front of a truck when it’s trundling along the motorway.
There’s a good reason truck drivers leave a large gap between their rig and the vehicle in front — it’s called momentum (mass times velocity). It’s also called common sense.
The car and truck may be travelling at the same speed, but the truck will take longer to stop due to its mass.
Again — hence the large gaps truck drivers maintain on our motorways.
Twice this week, in a five-minute period, I’ve seen a near-collision as a car suddenly changed lanes (without indicating) and pulled in front of a truck, causing the rig to brake suddenly to avoid a collision. Such manoeuvres should be introduced into physics lessons. They could call them the Law of Stupidity.
Another time drivers should mind the gap is around a bus during rush-hour traffic. If it’s indicating to pull out of a bus stop then — here’s a radical idea — let it move into your lane.
Am I the only nerdy driver who likes it when bus drivers flick their hazard lights as a “thank you” when I let them in?
Letting a bus loaded with passengers in front of you isn’t going to delay your commute. Because here’s something that you don’t have to be Einstein to grasp: the bus is going to move out of your lane and into a bus stop any minute, because that’s what buses do!
While we focus on the poor driving skills of some tourists in New Zealand, we should also look at our own idiotic behaviour on the roads.