I like to think I'm a fairly safe driver. I did get a couple of tickets years ago, decades ago. These days there are too many reasons for staying on or below the speed limit. Although there have been a few times when I forgot what time of day it was and was going a bit too fast through a school zone, but that was usually a school zone which was disguised. Our school zones are SUPPOSED to be to keep kids safe outside schools. But a lot of the real revenue-raisers we have, are outside schools alright, but on roads where there is absolutely no way a kid could get anywhere near the cars. Large fences topped with barbed wire block off pedestrian access in these places, with overpasses for pedestrians. Where these are on expressways, sometimes the speed limit can be 80 Km/hr or more, but during school zone times that can drop to 40 Km/hr. And if there is no change in the fences along the road, no sign of footpaths or pedestrian access anywhere, I get angry with the government.
I'm careful, though - I know the aim is to make money rather than just keep kids safe. I know they have cameras up.
We generally get to know where the speed cameras are, but these days we now have mobile speed cameras in unmarked cars. We can get booked even if we're not speeding, because these cameras are unreliable.
I tend to drive to the conditions and to the other traffic, but you have to watch that because other traffic often speeds.
I also hate tailgaters, especially at night with their lights on high beam. I will pull over to let cars pass me safely, rather than make them take stupid risks.
And we get deer too, in our little area anyway. They can do a lot of damage to a car. We have a few smaller roos (wallabies, really) in our area as well, but I've never hit one of those either. They do get hit, though and would do almost as much damage as a deer.
Out west you get the larger roos. And down near Canberra too, right into the city in fact. They are the bigger Grey Kangaroos, they would do as much damage as a deer.
Further west - the big reds and the euros, the biggest roos of all. They could take out a truck, even if it's been fitted with roo bars. Emus would do a fair bit of damage too, and they do like to run along the road beside cars, until they suddenly try to dash across the road in front of you. If it's a country dirt road (like driving on corrugated iron) then you're generally not going too fast, but it can still make a mess.
Flying birds are a hazard for us also. Some of our parrots are big and can break a windscreen. They also have a nasty habit of suddenly dipping lower as they fly across a road. It's like they're trying to play chicken with the traffic.
husband taught me to anticipate the traffic and it's a habit we've tried to instill in the kids. It can make a big difference in how you drive.
On Friday we're travelling north, driving for about five hours. We'll probably clock up a fair bit of mileage over the week, on mostly country roads and interstate highways. The main highway we'll be following is like a ring road around the entire country. It's got some dangerous places along it, but husband & I have driven it often and know it fairly well.
Marg