This picture popped up in my twitter feed this morning and I had a chuckle. Funny cos it's mostly true....
Then something happened a few hours later that made me rethink how I felt about Perth drivers and then almost immediately that way of thinking was reversed by another incident. Right now I'm just confused. Perth has a bad, and deservedly so, reputation when it comes to all things driving related. There's the above pic for instance, also try changing lanes in front of somebody and see what happens. You'll watch that three car gap close to two feet in a matter of seconds and if you do manage to get in there the abuse you'll cop is akin to digging up someone's long departed mothers body from their grave.
So after chuckling at the above I headed out in my own car, turned a quick left onto William st, noticed a small mini van at the stop sign up on my right and another car at the same intersection on my left. The left car one pulled away and the mini van cut across William st. I was far enough away for it to be safe but then suddenly, and I swear I never saw it either, there was a small 4 door red car in front of me. Clearly the mini van hadn't seen it, with the end result being the red car T boning the mini van. Mini van spins and stops facing towards me. Red car is messed up, front end pushed back towards the drivers seat. I stop my car, gather my thoughts (weird how I didn't know what to do for a second or two) then flick on my hazards, jump out and check on the red car occupants. The driver is okay but his wife is bruised and sore from the seat belt. That's a good thing right?
The mini van driver is an elderly lady and she's well shook up. Everyone seems okay though apart from the bruising. Pretty soon there are at least another 6 - 8 people on the scene all willing to help out. Perth people are awesome I'm thinking, sure they drive badly and are extremely aggressive at times but in a crisis we all pull together. I look over and the driver of the red car has sat his wife down on a verge side wall and is now holding the hand of the mini van lady who's still very shook up, amazing. Phone calls are made, people are on their way and witness names and numbers are exchanged. Two of us notice that the cars are blocking traffic so we roll the red car to the curb. The mini van which is blocking the cross street is facing the wrong way down William st but it's still okay to drive. I jump in and try to figure out this strange gear and braking system, then it happens....
As i'm sitting there starting the van up a woman in a big V8 Ford pulls up to the scene and wants to go down the street I'm blocking with the van. Clearly the 12 or so people standing around on the corner, the smashed glass and bits of metal on the road, the wrong way facing mini van with the T bone dent in its' side made no sense to this woman at all. She didn't add it all together and think "oh an accident", or did she? Maybe she just saw an inconvenience to her because she stopped next to me looked me in the eye and slammed the palm of her hand onto her cars horn. I sat there confused, fumbling with those stupid gears and tried to comprehend what was happening. Someone on the kerb told her to stop blasting the horn and use her brain. Her response...drop a gear and burn off down the road. I really hope she wasn't put out too much...sheesh.
So there you go Perth, you befuddle me, you bedazzle me and you shit me, but I still love you. Just not so much some of your drivers.
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