Editorial: Drivers must all practice patience

Sandra Field is concerned over driver behaviour and roadworks in Northland.

Whangarei resident Sandra Field is right. There will have been more than 18 crashes in the Nixon St area since the roadworks began two months ago.

There are 18 we know about, but I suspect there are multiple minor nose-to-tails or intersection collisions that go unreported.

As a regular user of the affected area, I have been surprised at the number of people who do not know the give way rules at intersections.

At night, turning right onto Mill Rd, I've sat waiting for the vehicle opposite me to drive straight ahead through the intersection. I am turning right, they are going straight ahead, so they have the right-of-way.

So I wait. And they wait. It's dark and the other driver can't see me waving him through. We both wait. Until I decide, "righto, I'm off then". Just as the other driver decides the same thing and we lurch toward one another, and narrowly avoid colliding.

Some drivers, on a busy day, impatiently opt to turn right rather than drive straight ahead.

Conversely, turning on to Mill Rd on busy mornings, I've been pleasantly surprised at the driver courtesy which allows vehicles to enter the stream of traffic from side roads.

The roadworks, it seems, bring out the best and worst of us as motorists.

Hopefully the worst doesn't extend to a fatal accident.

Which is where patience and courtesy comes in - don't underestimate their value, you could be saving someone's life, maybe your own.