NSW's country roads are driving hazards

The inescapable fact is that surviving on a less than perfect highway network requires the highest levels of care and attention. A significant percentage of road crashes occur on highways which urgently need improvement

Recent audits of the NSW highway system by NRMA Motoring & Services, and responses to Member surveys in the Open Road, have highlighted the fact that a significant percentage of road crashes and casualties continue to occur on those highways, or sections of them, which are in most urgent need of improvement.

Open Road readers recently nominated the Princes Highway as the worst stretch of road in NSW, while the Pacific Highway took this dubious honour in our recent Safer Roads Save Lives survey.
 
The Mid Western Highway  (PDF 6.74MB/53 pages) between Bathurst and Marsden, a 226km section audited in September by NRMA experts, was found to require surface and shoulder improvements, with the most common crash type being vehicles leaving the road on a bend.

While these surveys reveal a highway system in obvious need of greater funding for long overdue improvements, they do also point to the need to understand that safe highway driving, especially on substandard sections, requires the correct preparation and specific skills.

Firstly, it almost goes without saying that you need to be alcohol free, well rested and alert before a highway drive, so that your concentration and reflexes are as sharp as they can be.

Your car needs to be in peak condition, particularly your tyres

Higher highway speeds, especially in wet conditions, are very demanding on your tyres' ability to grip the road securely, so you need to ensure that they have plenty of tread and the correct inflation pressures before you set off.

The higher speeds involved on the highway mean that, when things do go wrong, it can happen very quickly. So it's important to keep your eyes up, looking as far ahead as you can, rather than at the road surface immediately in front of your car.

Looking up and ahead allows you to position the car correctly for the road conditions and alignment ahead, and to see potential problems, before you actually arrive at the point where you have to deal with them.

If you spot something that looks potentially hazardous - let's say an impatient driver in a line of oncoming traffic, poking his car across the centreline in what looks like a possible dangerous attempt to overtake - you can slow down, keep an eye on him as he approaches, and move to the left.

Overtaking lanes

Looking up and ahead is also essential when planning how to deal with the end of an overtaking lane - a common feature of NSW highways - when two lanes of traffic have to merge back in to one.

Many drivers become frustrated in this situation because they have not been able to pass slower cars in front, some of which stubbornly refuse to move to the left lane. When the two lanes merge again into one, some drivers find themselves being squeezed on to the wrong side of the road, because they have tried too late to get past a slower car, which itself is merging back into the single lane.

There are several points to think about here

• Keep to the left unless you are overtaking
• Use your mirrors to see what the cars behind you are doing
• When you have overtaken someone, and there is still plenty of overtaking lane to go, move back to the left lane to allow others to pass you

Stay well back from the cars in front

This allows you to get a clear overall picture of who is doing what, plan your manoeuvres accordingly and get an early view of the signs which indicate that the overtaking lane is about to end.

A last second lunge for the front of the queue is dangerous driving, pure and simple.

Poor shoulders

The Mid Western Highway audit's identification of that road's poor shoulders, and the high rate of crashes where a single vehicle left the road, are to a certain extent cause and effect findings.

Many country roads in NSW have rough, crumbling shoulders, in some cases unmarked, where the bitumen edge can be much higher than the dirt on which it is laid.

Many drivers get into serious trouble when, due to inattention, excessive speed, or taking evasive action, they find their car straddling the shoulder with two wheels in the dirt.
A common reaction is to turn the wheel sharply to the right, in an attempt to quickly get the car back on the bitumen.

However this can cause the outside wheels to lose traction and the driver to lose control. The car may slide off the road, or fishtail wildly, possibly across the road into oncoming traffic.

If you find yourself halfway between the bitumen and the dirt, it's vital that you stay calm and resist the urge to be aggressive with the steering wheel in an attempt to correct the situation. Grip and control are what you need. If you ease off the accelerator - gently - and smoothly ease the car back towards the bitumen, you stand a much greater chance of getting there because the car will remain stable.

A similar technique is required if your car starts to skid in a corner. Gently ease off the accelerator, keep the front wheels pointed in the direction you want to go - resisting the urge to apply excessive opposite lock -- and your eyes focussed on where you want to end up.
 

In any emergency you stand a better chance of escape if you keep looking at where you should be rather than at what you might hit

It's worth noting here that new cars with ABS brakes and stability control systems really can make a difference, both in allowing you to avoid problems in the first place, and being able to safely deal with them.

Stability control will detect the different levels of grip available in the straddling the shoulder scenario, for example, and maximise traction at each wheel. It will also arrest instability by monitoring the car's track, and adjusting it if either the front or the rear end threatens to become unstable, either by the driver being too vigorous with the wheel, or the wheels struggling for traction. Stability control isn't a guaranteed safety net against clumsy aggressive driving, but it can help you correct a minor error before it becomes a big one.

This in itself is one of the most hazardous aspects of substandard roads. They are unforgiving, and mete out harsh punishment to drivers for what are sometimes small mistakes of judgement.

This might be unfair, but it does illustrate the inescapable fact that surviving on a less than perfect highway network requires the highest levels of care and attention.
 
Story by Bill McKinnon. October, 2004