What is it with Perth having terrible drivers with an inability to merge?

Little else frustrates and unites Perth motorists like merging — or everyone else’s perceived lack of ability to do it. Experts say it’s often down to poor driver behaviour, itself a topic that’s drawn condemnation from magistrates as recently as this week. “The thing that struck me when I came to Perth was how appalling the driving was,” magistrate Donna Webb on Thursday said. Though traffic analysts and experts say — and an online search for “why can’t drivers merge” supports — that it’s not a Perth-specific issue, drivers elsewhere have bigger pet peeves. Where a recent survey by the RAC of more than 1660 motorists thought poor merging was the worst driving habit on WA roads, a failure to merge properly ranked fifth in a list of pet peeves in SA and third in Queensland. Tailgating was the biggest gripe in both States, and Victorians ranked bad merging second, behind drivers staying the right lane, in a survey on the most frustrating freeway driving habits. RAC external relations general Will Golsby said merging “seemed simple” but could be complicated by road design, busy traffic and speed. “Failing to merge properly causes frustration, worsens congestion and increases the chance of a crash,” he said. So is a failure to merge properly a worse problem in WA? It depends on who you to speak to. Perth is home to numerous social media groups dedicated to parking fails, merging mishaps and other driving disasters. One Facebook group — aptly named Perth’s Worst Drivers — has almost 50,000 members. The page is flooded daily with photos, videos and dash-cam footage from disgruntled drivers outing other motorists who “have got no idea”. One commented, “I’ve driven all over the world for over 30 years . . . and yes, WA drivers are some of the worst I’ve encountered: un-curious and entitled.” University of Western Australia transport economist Brett Smith says poor merging is often down to driver behaviour. “We have some very timid people who really hold up traffic . . . some people are less risk-taking and others are more risk-taking,” he told The Sunday Times. “(During peak hour traffic), some drivers will stop and try and get into the congested lane as soon as possible, and others go at a faster speed making sure they get in further up the queue.” He said poor driving habits were likely learned behaviour. “Some people come onto the freeway . . . and their sole aim is to just get to the far right lane and get across three lanes as quickly as possible,” he said. “In some cases the parents have taught them . . . someone has taught them that the best way is getting over to the far right lane as soon as possible which could be part of early driver education.” Defensive Driving School’s Adrian Periera has been a driving instructor for almost a decade. He says merging accidents happen when drivers are being inattentive and impatient. “People are not being attentive to what’s happening ahead of them,” he said. “We also see a lot of pressure on the road . . . people are in a rush and they’re hurrying to go to work or whatever and they just merge without checking. “It’s happened so many times, even to instructors, when we’ve indicated and people just cut across.” Anecdotally, Mr Periera said the Mitchell Freeway on-ramp — southbound between Elder Street and the Narrows Bridge — was one of the worst spots for merging in Perth. Dr Smith echoed Mr Periera and said the on-ramp was “very abnormal (compared to anywhere) around the world”. The segment has five lanes heading southbound: three which continue towards the Narrows Bridge, and two which enter at Charles and Elder Street, only to exit at Riverside Drive and Mounts Bay Road. “The three lanes which stay on the freeway are congested because they’re heading towards the Narrows, but the other two lanes are not congested because nobody is going back into the city during peak hour,” he said. “Then we get drivers who use those two inside lanes to drive quickly and make up (the queue) a few places ... but by the time they get to the merge point, the other drivers are like ‘that’s a bit unfair, I’m not going to let you in’. “In some ways, just being slightly selfish does affect everybody around you.” Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said merging was a “hot button issue” but said it fell on the shoulders of every Perth driver. “It’s the perception of West Australians by Western Australians,” she said. The minister herself played into this with an April Fool’s Day social media post this month, suggesting the Government would offer free two-hour “how to merge” sessions. Suggesting users nominate other drivers who needed the training invited dozens of comments. Mr Periera said road structures and a lack of signage were often to blame for merging crashes. “Most roads are marked properly with a ‘form one lane’ sign board, but there’s some roads that don’t have them,” he said. “If there are no signboards and people are still required to merge, they may be unaware that a merge is happening.” He said it was imperative road users followed traffic rules like using their indicators and checking their blindspot. “You need to indicate into whichever lane you’re moving into, so if you’re in the right lane and you’re merging left, you need to indicate left and check your blindspot,” he said. “You also need to hold the line; allow the line to bring you into one lane and don’t drift in the middle . . . a lot of people just drift into the middle and they might clip the bumper of the car behind you that’s trying to merge.” Ms Saffioti said though the Government was significantly investing in reducing bottlenecks and congestion on the roads, “ultimately, like anywhere else in the world, it comes down to being alert and respectful of other drivers on the road”. One new feature of the road network — the so-called smart freeway on the Mitchell — has provoked controversy and put the merging debate firmly back in the spotlight. Mirroring the same technology on the Kwinana Freeway, drivers enter the Mitchell’s on-ramps in a staggered fashion with overhead gantries displaying lowered speed limits and warnings about incidents ahead in response to traffic. Main Roads WA said the ramp signals “improves merging and reduces the stop-start conditions on the freeway, thereby improving safety and the smooth flow of traffic”. “Each on-ramp on the Smart Freeway has vehicle detectors in the road surface that provide data around the number of vehicles entering the ramp,” a spokesperson said. “Managing the flow of vehicles onto the freeway makes merging easier and safer and it prevents stop-start conditions from the merge point and helps keep freeway traffic moving.” Ms Saffioti said the technology would manage traffic flow during busy periods. “Depending on where they’re travelling from, drivers can expect to save up to seven minutes during peak hour, which ultimately means a safer journey and less time spent in gridlock,” she said at the time. Mr Periera said the Smart Freeway was a good concept but said there needed to be more enforcement to ensure all drivers merged smoothly. “It limits the number of cars which flow onto the freeway during rush hour so it gives drivers gaps between cars,” he said. “We’ve got cameras on the freeway which keeps everyone safe, but until enforcement comes into play, people need to be a little bit more careful.” Mr Periera also believes the majority of merging accidents happen when one of the drivers is an international student. Foreigners visiting WA as a tourist, on a business trip, student or working temporarily can use their international drivers license. But Dr Smith believes poor merging was not isolated to Perth. He has spent extended time in Shanghai — a population of nearly 30 million — and says merging in the Chinese city is nearly impossible during peak hour due to its congestion. Outside of those hours, there’s little respect for road rules, he said. He believes the idea that merging is disastrous can be exaggerated because drivers were more likely to remember bad experiences. “We all see bad examples of merging . . . you just remember the bad ones, but you don’t remember the thousands of other times you’ve merged successfully,” he said. “You’re less likely to notice the car speeding up using the emergency lane . . . than you are to notice the 20 or 30 people that just merged normally.” Dr Smith urged drivers to be “slightly courteous” and reminded them to use their indicator. “Just be slightly courteous: not overly courteous because then you will clog the traffic behind you,” he said. “Don’t try to make up a couple of cars . . . just merge behind the one that’s in front of you and the one that’s behind you. “It’s as simple as that.”

What is it with Perth having terrible drivers with an inability to merge?

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