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#31
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mack wrote:
If you're coming from a country that drives on the other side of the road, I'd spend a week or so walking around getting used to the new arrangement. A week to get used to drive on the other side of the road? Wow. Driving on the other side is as easy as switching from gears to automatic transmission. Stickers saying "Drive left" may help. A day, at leats two and you are used to it. A lot of american tourists die in Australia (of all tourists they have the highest death rate). Well ... ;-) Having now driven on the other side of the road for 25yrs, I find going back there quite hard. I nearly had an accident back home as I tried to drive on the left lane. Going back really seems to be more difficult then getting used to driving on the left side. Also why are you driving so much, you're going to be exhausted? On our first trip to Australia we drove 7.500 km on sealed roads within a month, to see as much as possible. (We didn't expect to come back that soon.) Although it was quite a bit of driving we enjoyed every single kilometer. Unsealed roads can be quite exhausting. You need more attention to watch the road (and look out for irritated kangaroos, too). And some streets (i.e. from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock) can be a bit booring. (Still better then driving to work in a commuter train! :-) ) Bego -- "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - George W. Bush, 5.8.2004 |
#32
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mack wrote:
If you're coming from a country that drives on the other side of the road, I'd spend a week or so walking around getting used to the new arrangement. A week to get used to drive on the other side of the road? Wow. Driving on the other side is as easy as switching from gears to automatic transmission. Stickers saying "Drive left" may help. A day, at leats two and you are used to it. A lot of american tourists die in Australia (of all tourists they have the highest death rate). Well ... ;-) Having now driven on the other side of the road for 25yrs, I find going back there quite hard. I nearly had an accident back home as I tried to drive on the left lane. Going back really seems to be more difficult then getting used to driving on the left side. Also why are you driving so much, you're going to be exhausted? On our first trip to Australia we drove 7.500 km on sealed roads within a month, to see as much as possible. (We didn't expect to come back that soon.) Although it was quite a bit of driving we enjoyed every single kilometer. Unsealed roads can be quite exhausting. You need more attention to watch the road (and look out for irritated kangaroos, too). And some streets (i.e. from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock) can be a bit booring. (Still better then driving to work in a commuter train! :-) ) Bego -- "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - George W. Bush, 5.8.2004 |
#33
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Peter wrote:
More notably the astronomer Gene Shoemaker died a few years back in an accident depressingly familiar. I heard that he'd died on a country road in WA. I'd assumed it was a headon from driving on the wrong side of the road, but had never heard any details. I was sorry to hear of his untimely death. He did much for us all. He was driving on a narrow outback road, crested a rise and found a truck heading at him. The normal thing to do is for each driver to move from the middle of the road to their side, but of course he naturally moved to the right side of the road, which as it turned out was the wrong side. Joe -- Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml Homepage http://www.austintek.com/ It's GNU/Linux! |
#34
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Peter wrote:
More notably the astronomer Gene Shoemaker died a few years back in an accident depressingly familiar. I heard that he'd died on a country road in WA. I'd assumed it was a headon from driving on the wrong side of the road, but had never heard any details. I was sorry to hear of his untimely death. He did much for us all. He was driving on a narrow outback road, crested a rise and found a truck heading at him. The normal thing to do is for each driver to move from the middle of the road to their side, but of course he naturally moved to the right side of the road, which as it turned out was the wrong side. Joe -- Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml Homepage http://www.austintek.com/ It's GNU/Linux! |
#35
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Bego Mario Garde wrote:
mack wrote: If you're coming from a country that drives on the other side of the road, I'd spend a week or so walking around getting used to the new arrangement. A week to get used to drive on the other side of the road? Wow. Driving on the other side is as easy as switching from gears to automatic transmission. Stickers saying "Drive left" may help. A day, at leats two and you are used to it. Everyone is different. I know some people in England who have no trouble driving in Europe. I'm not surprised to hear that people can drive on the other side cold. It took me 2 years after coming to USA to be confident that if something untoward happened that my instinctive reaction wouldn't be to do a Gene Shoemaker. I had one near accident like this the first week in USA and had nightmares about it for a year later. My cousins live about 800km out of Sydney and on one trip I had to choose between the train and driving by car. I called them up and asked what I should do. They said "no way in hell should you drive - an american tourist killed himself here just the other day". After a trip to Australia one year, I returned to the US and pulled out of a petrol station here onto the wrong side of the road and had cars diving off the road everywhere to avoid me. A friend of mine from Australia drove down from Philadephia to DC to meet me, on freeways most of the way (the easiest driving as far as being on the other side is concerned) and he was a wreck by the time he got to me and wanted me to do all the driving for his visit. I actually take about 2 weeks in Australia, riding a bike before I feel safe to drive. Turning corners at intersections requires some thought - you can wind up on the wrong side of the road. Looking at the front passenger of the other cars for clues as to what the car is going to do next is another problem. You also tend to offset the car in your lane. On my first trip back to Australia in 10yrs, I turned a corner at an intersection and ran the outside hubcaps into the cement gutter, not realising that the car now extended to the left of me. Even now after many trips back, on a divided road in Australia, I have the hardest time figuring out which is the fast lane. If you aren't good at changing sides, then you are a menace to yourself and other people on the road. I believe I'm just an average driver. Where I fit on the chart of ability to change side I don't know. I maybe one of the worst cases for all I know. American tourists have about double the chance of dying in Australia of any other tourist. I don't know why, but until you know you aren't going to join them, people coming to Australia should know that changing sides is a problem for some. Joe -- Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml Homepage http://www.austintek.com/ It's GNU/Linux! |
#36
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Bego Mario Garde wrote:
mack wrote: If you're coming from a country that drives on the other side of the road, I'd spend a week or so walking around getting used to the new arrangement. A week to get used to drive on the other side of the road? Wow. Driving on the other side is as easy as switching from gears to automatic transmission. Stickers saying "Drive left" may help. A day, at leats two and you are used to it. Everyone is different. I know some people in England who have no trouble driving in Europe. I'm not surprised to hear that people can drive on the other side cold. It took me 2 years after coming to USA to be confident that if something untoward happened that my instinctive reaction wouldn't be to do a Gene Shoemaker. I had one near accident like this the first week in USA and had nightmares about it for a year later. My cousins live about 800km out of Sydney and on one trip I had to choose between the train and driving by car. I called them up and asked what I should do. They said "no way in hell should you drive - an american tourist killed himself here just the other day". After a trip to Australia one year, I returned to the US and pulled out of a petrol station here onto the wrong side of the road and had cars diving off the road everywhere to avoid me. A friend of mine from Australia drove down from Philadephia to DC to meet me, on freeways most of the way (the easiest driving as far as being on the other side is concerned) and he was a wreck by the time he got to me and wanted me to do all the driving for his visit. I actually take about 2 weeks in Australia, riding a bike before I feel safe to drive. Turning corners at intersections requires some thought - you can wind up on the wrong side of the road. Looking at the front passenger of the other cars for clues as to what the car is going to do next is another problem. You also tend to offset the car in your lane. On my first trip back to Australia in 10yrs, I turned a corner at an intersection and ran the outside hubcaps into the cement gutter, not realising that the car now extended to the left of me. Even now after many trips back, on a divided road in Australia, I have the hardest time figuring out which is the fast lane. If you aren't good at changing sides, then you are a menace to yourself and other people on the road. I believe I'm just an average driver. Where I fit on the chart of ability to change side I don't know. I maybe one of the worst cases for all I know. American tourists have about double the chance of dying in Australia of any other tourist. I don't know why, but until you know you aren't going to join them, people coming to Australia should know that changing sides is a problem for some. Joe -- Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml Homepage http://www.austintek.com/ It's GNU/Linux! |
#37
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mack wrote:
Peter wrote: More notably the astronomer Gene Shoemaker died a few years back in an accident depressingly familiar. I heard that he'd died on a country road in WA. I'd assumed it was a headon from driving on the wrong side of the road, but had never heard any details. I was sorry to hear of his untimely death. He did much for us all. A man very well liked and respected by his peers. "Gene Shoemaker, renowned both as a geologist and an astronomer, and a member of the Board of Directors of The Spaceguard Foundation, was killed instantly on the afternoon of July 18, when his car collided head-on with another vehicle on an unpaved road in the Tanami Desert northwest of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia. His wife Carolyn, who had closely collaborated with him in both his geological and his astronomical activities for many years, was injured in the accident and is in stable condition in Alice Springs Hospital." http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/news81.html "The world has lost one of its most renowned scientists with the death of Eugene Shoemaker at age 69. On the afternoon of July 18th, Gene and his wife, Carolyn, were involved in a car accident in central Australia. He was fatally injured; Carolyn suffered broken ribs but is expected to recover. The pair had arrived in Australia just six days before to study some of the continent's numerous impact craters -- an annual trek Down Under that they'd made a habit in recent years." http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/shoemak.html And some pictures of Gene and his work: http://tinyurl.com/4muxx Peter |
#38
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mack wrote:
Peter wrote: More notably the astronomer Gene Shoemaker died a few years back in an accident depressingly familiar. I heard that he'd died on a country road in WA. I'd assumed it was a headon from driving on the wrong side of the road, but had never heard any details. I was sorry to hear of his untimely death. He did much for us all. A man very well liked and respected by his peers. "Gene Shoemaker, renowned both as a geologist and an astronomer, and a member of the Board of Directors of The Spaceguard Foundation, was killed instantly on the afternoon of July 18, when his car collided head-on with another vehicle on an unpaved road in the Tanami Desert northwest of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia. His wife Carolyn, who had closely collaborated with him in both his geological and his astronomical activities for many years, was injured in the accident and is in stable condition in Alice Springs Hospital." http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/news81.html "The world has lost one of its most renowned scientists with the death of Eugene Shoemaker at age 69. On the afternoon of July 18th, Gene and his wife, Carolyn, were involved in a car accident in central Australia. He was fatally injured; Carolyn suffered broken ribs but is expected to recover. The pair had arrived in Australia just six days before to study some of the continent's numerous impact craters -- an annual trek Down Under that they'd made a habit in recent years." http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/shoemak.html And some pictures of Gene and his work: http://tinyurl.com/4muxx Peter |
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