Impatient Driving Irritates Me

Most of my working life is spent on the road. Hence I see a lot of good and bad driving. Unfortunately it is the bad driving that most sticks out. What I notice most is the impatient driving. The people that seem to be in such a hurry to get somewhere that the safety of all other drivers takes a lower priority.

Impatient driving takes many forms. Mainly darting in and out of traffic with reckless abandon. Speeding up the vacant left lane is another, when they could just wait briefly for the slower vehicles to move over.

Does impatient driving achieve anything, as usually impatient drivers are waiting at the next set of traffic lights with the rest of us.

Suggestions:

• Be content with the speed limit
• Choose a lane and stick to it
• Keep a gap around you to avoid crashes
• Think about the comfort of your passengers
• Never drive angry
  
• Don’t rush, as nothing is ever that important. Look at the big picture
• An obvious one – don’t answer your phone in the car. No call can be that important that you are willing to put your life in danger

I am irritated for a short moment, but quickly get over it. Can’t let stupid drivers affect my cruise to my destination.

But today (7/4), as if to confirm my point of angry and impatient driving having no place on the road, I got abused by a truck driver for going too slow (in his opinion) despite having a patient in the back with a possible fractured hip. Of course after passing me he didn't speed off into the sunset, he was stuck in the same line of traffic a few cars ahead of me. I ask, is it all really worth it?

A Spoonful of Suffering

The media are doing a fine job in scaring the general public. Rental crisis, Mortgage crisis, Housing crisis amongst others. Our economic situation is dire if you were to believe the media.

Truth is that we are still doing well, considering how poorly other countries are going. Yes, we all have had to tighten our belts in relation to our own budgets, and sacrifices need to be made. But people are carrying on as if they haven’t experienced any suffering at all. So much so that when things started to go slightly downhill they panicked, led by the media of course.

Things have been far worse in the past and we got through it. Perhaps the main whingers didn’t go through the recession of the early 90’s where interest rates reached 17-18%.

General Ambulance Rules

1. If you could be bothered to call an ambulance at 3am you should be bothered to be transported. I don’t care how trivial it might be, more than likely we got out of bed for this call out
2. If the patient can tell you that they are short of breath in one full sentence then they more than likely not short of breath
3. If the patient complains of neck pain they shouldn’t complain of discomfort when a hard collar is applied, it’s just something we have to do
4. If the patient does something they know makes them sick then they shouldn’t expect much sympathy from Ambulance and Triage
5. If you feign unconsciousness you give us free reign to inflict pain to wake you up
6. Don’t be surprised when Towies beat us to motor vehicle accidents
7. Don’t call for an Ambulance then dislike being asked so many questions about your condition. If we didn’t ask we would not be doing our job properly
8. Don’t call us and then apologise for calling us once on scene
9. Your general practitioner can actually do more for you when it comes to trivial matters
10. If you're in police custody don't tell us your "I'm innocent" sob story. We're not interested and we'll only side with the police anyway.
    

Petty Partisan Political Point Scoring

Or for the sake of brevity, the 4P’s. Mostly used to accuse a political party of having not so noble motives for their actions.

Most recently we have had Kevin Rudd accuse Malcolm Turnbull of the 4P’s. This was due to Turnbull’s decision to oppose the bill in the Senate and therefore delay it’s implementation. Rudd, in a 5-minute press conference, managed to refer to Turnbull getting out of the road of this bill at least 7 times.

As a general rule, though, it seems that he who accuses another of the 4P’s is in fact perpetrating the 4P’s themselves. There aren’t even any points to be scored in opposing this Bill so Rudd’s accusation is unfounded. In ‘Yes, Minister’ parlance this would be a “courageous decision” by Turnbull. As in it is so courageous it might even be disastrous to ones political aspirations. So how can he be trying 4P’s when his decision is particularly unpopular? Therefore his motives must nobler than Rudd is trying to portray.

Meanwhile, Rudd is scoring his own political points by appealing to our greedy nature and dishing out cash to those apparently most in need of a one off cash bonus. Any long-term consequences the nation might face as a result of this bill are ignored. It is after all the job of the opposition to review what the government is doing. To pass a bill virtually sight unseen would be irresponsible of them.

This is a big deal and Rudd is trivialising the Bill by expecting the opposition to let it through. As if the decision to pass it would be inconsequential. Considering all the work the previous government did to get this country out of massive debt it shouldn’t surprise or annoy anyone that the now opposition wants to review this piece of legislature.

Side Effect of Success

Australia has been the world’s best cricket playing nation for over a decade. In all forms of the game we have been dominant. Now, a lot has been made of the ‘downfall’ of Australian cricket. Yet this was always going to happen sooner or later.

Success needs stability with a solid core of players. Having this will give the best chance for success. Unfortunately, it means that there are few changes made to the team lineup. The fewer the changes the less opportunities for younger players to gain experience. This leads to a lack of depth when the solid core decides to give the game away.

So what happened to Australian Cricket?

Retirements Post Ashes 2007

• #1 Fast bowler – Glen McGrath
• #1 spin bowler – Shane Warne
• Long time opening batsman – Justin Langer
• Middle order batsman – Damien Martyn

More recent retirements

• Revolutionary wicket keeper/batsman – Adam Gilchrist
• Other opening batsmen – Matthew Hayden

There are six of Australia’s finest retiring in the space of 2 years. No wonder our team is struggling at the moment, that’s over half the core players that have helped us be so successful over the past decade. Now we have too many young and/or inexperienced players trying to make it all at the same time.

It was good while it lasted. But supporters should not be downcast. Instead be happy that we experienced Australian cricket at it’s best. Now we get to see the next generation develop before our very eyes.

Although perhaps now Cricket Australia won’t rest on their laurels next time we have an extended period of success. Even a great team needs some rejuvenation.