Who really allows this to happen ?

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Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by Die Judicii » 01 Jul 2019, 12:58 am

Federal Govt / State Govt ???

Recently my partner flew in to Tullamarine airport, and went to the car hire area/office.
Standing in line to get served, she had two Chinese women in front of her.
The ensuing events left her absolutely gob smacked.

These Chinese women had just got off their plane, and were trying to hire a car.

With sign language and nodding heads (they could not speak a single word of English) they showed the attendant a brochure on "The Great Ocean Road" and with much pointing and gesticulation they handed over a credit card which was used for payment of a hire car (apparently for a week),,,,,,,,,,,, and without much further ado they were given the keys to an as new hire car which was brought to the hire point by another hire car employee.
They then got in and with the driving skill equivalent to their English drove out.

:wtf: :wtf: :crazy: :crazy:

All she could think of was that she was so glad she wasn't going anywhere near the Great Ocean Road.

Who actually condones this sort of thing happening,, and what would the insurance people do if they caused an accident and some-one got killed ????
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by mickb » 01 Jul 2019, 2:48 am

it sort of makes a mockery of our system of driving laws doesn't it- One of the strictest traffic codes in the world generating revenue under the banner of 'safety', and the police allow tourists with purchased licences to zip around like this. Tourism cash outweighs safety revenue I guess. :lol:
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by Sergeant Hartman » 01 Jul 2019, 5:28 am

Its legal unfortunately... if they have a license from another country they are allowed to drive. Same as if you or I went to America we can drive... even though we might never have driven a left hand drive vehicle before.
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by Macross » 01 Jul 2019, 7:59 am

First time I drove in the USA was my brothers manual El Camino. I had not driven a manual for over a decade and I swear it felt like I had never driven a car before.... Straight out onto the busy Californian roads and on to the highway!!! I think Chinese women would have been shaking their fists at me for those first 100 miles or so. :D
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by JSS » 01 Jul 2019, 8:08 am

It's funny, from what your partner saw on face value i would agree completely that it's a bad idea, but then i've been in countries where i didn't speak the language and couldn't read the street signs and i hired cars and got along just fine cruising all over the place. They will just punch their destination into their phone and it will give them directions in their language and if their driving doesn't get them killed they will find their destination.
I think the bigger issue was that these ladies were also sh!t drivers, that's where the problem lies, but hey we have plenty of people here already who shouldn't have licenses because they can't drive for sh!t.
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by No1Mk3 » 01 Jul 2019, 1:25 pm

Those Chinese ladies would have not gotten a hire here without a valid licence, no question. Their observed skills leaving the airport, especially a sh**hole like Tulla, is no real indication of their ability to match 90% of the nuff-nuffs on the Western Ring Road. Like JSS I have driven in countries where I could not speak the lingo and have fared reasonably well. (Better than the Mrs who went the wrong way round a roundabout then down the wrong side of the road with all the locals going berserk)Cheers.
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by mickb » 01 Jul 2019, 2:43 pm

Ziad wrote:Its legal unfortunately... if they have a license from another country they are allowed to drive. Same as if you or I went to America we can drive... even though we might never have driven a left hand drive vehicle before.


I find switching to the other side isn't too hard as long as you have decent driving skills to start with.
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by Bill » 01 Jul 2019, 4:23 pm

Firstly we have some of the worse arrogant drivers in the world, having just come back from a few weeks in Beijing I have no problem with the situation u described
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by Sergeant Hartman » 01 Jul 2019, 6:37 pm

This was a hot potato topic a few weeks ago on AM radio. Many people rang up saying Some of the drivers are very bad and lacking basic skills. And shouldn't be on the roads. And have cause accidents. Obviously if they have an accident I am sure the rental companies are very good at getting a huge excess.

Anyway I always ask have they ever gone to springvale or boxhill the driving there is umm crazy, most are not tourists.

I remember a conversation I had with a taxi driver about 15 years ago. Who was slightly upset with drivers of a certain country and told me how they only drive bicycles in their own country and get into a car but drive a car like it's a bloody bicycle.
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by marksman » 01 Jul 2019, 9:44 pm

the great ocean road can be pretty hairy
but they have the road signs in chinese as well as english :lol:
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by bigfellascott » 01 Jul 2019, 10:26 pm

It's common all over the world mate, you can drive a pretty much as you want in any of em from my understanding, Imagine if you had to apply for a drivers license every time you went to a different country, that would be a nightmare indeed.

I understand where you are coming from as I often wonder the same thing but it seems to be an accepted practice all over the world.
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Re: Who really allows this to happen ?

Post by TassieTiger » 02 Jul 2019, 9:19 am

I wasn't going to chime in but thought Id share an experience I had last year at work.
Travelling along the highway, I could see cars - literally 1-2klms away, swerving into ditches, spinning round, just chaos...when I then saw a car coming straight at me, headlights ablaze. I have some significant lights on my work vehicle - put everything on high beam, spots, LED's, everything and then slowed to a stop but remained in my lane...as the car came to a dead stop in front of me...
Turned out that two Asian tourists had come around a roundabout and somehow crossed into on coming traffic and THEN forgot what side of the road to be driving on. I could not communicate with them but there were so many people yelling at them - they figured it out.
As a motorcycle trainer for several years - I was often asked to run a course for people that could not speak English and even with an interpreter present - it was impossible to convey terminology etc.
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