The inevitable Canberran Driver diatribe – we all knew it was going to happen

Okay so I’ve been here for a good 4 months now, and I think it’s safe to say that I’m pretty much over the whole NAm confusion at the wrong-sided driving (I say wrong sided, not because it’s WRONG, but because I’m if nothing else, definitely North American… just so everything’s nice and square and PC). So I can also safely state that I no longer attribute the near-death experiences to my downright stupidity.
I now rightly place them at the feet of the Canberran DRIVERS FROM HELL, and THEIR downright stupidity.
This is compounded by the fact that I heard on the radio the other day that more people from Canberra die in motor vehicle accidents in Australia than ANY OTHER CITY’S INHABITANTS. Now there’s a statistic to be proud of…
I swear to god these people can’t drive, can’t reverse, can’t park, can’t STEER A SHOPPING CART worth shit. And it seems to be a phenomenon particular to the national capital.
Nowhere else in this country have I ever experienced a driver a) not bothering to turn their heads, or even check their mirrors, when reversing out of a parking spot, b) making eye contact with you as you’re about to cross the street WHEN YOU HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY, and careening around the corner in front of you anyway – it’s a miracle I still have all my toes, and c) having failed to hit you the first time through the parking lot, turning around AND TRYING AGAIN.
I tell you, I’ve been a lot of places in my life, and I’ve felt safer on the street in South America, Southern France, and KYIV than I ever do here. To be a pedestrian in Canberra is to seriously entertain a death wish – every time you walk out the door.