This is my observation after almost dying 3 times in 2 months on my motorcycle by cars switching lanes without noticing me!

And this. For some reason. Always happens when you are not recording your drive.

Anyhow. I am making this post because for serveral reasons. I wanted to make this post earlier but then I didn't really felt te need to write it. But what happend today changed it.

At 12 oktober at 21:45 I messaged my friend saying how I almost got killed.
I was driving on the left lane in Springvale Rd. At this point to be exact.

At the middle lane was a car waiting before a the traffic lights. But the lights where green and you could see the other cars driving off in the distance... The driver that was proberly on his or her mobile realizes this and start hitting the gas on what is proberly an automatic car. Now i was doing around 70 in this area where the speed limit is 80. In australlia the "fast" lane is the right lane. (most people here don't seem too bothered about this either...) I was around 20 meters behind the car.
Now the car was accelerating and realized it actually wanted to go left instead. And without looking or putting on any turns signals just THREW the sfeering to the left blocking my path.
I had to go full on my hyosung 650GV cruiser brakes. My back wheel blocked up and I made a huge slide barely hitting the car that was still going to the left. I think I went from 70 to 10km/h in not more then a couple of seconds.

Basic paint skill image for the visual readers under us

There was a truck on the very right lane that saw this event and came up to me at the next traffic lights saying. "you are lucky you are alive! What a idiot!" And I agreed and whe drove on.

Well this shit happens. Even in Holland. Once in a few months you get some idiot doing a crazy stunt.

But today. at 23 Okt. 21:30. I was driving the Springvale Rd. And I was driving. Yep... You geussed it.

THE EXACT SAME POINT. And there was an car in the right lane at the EXACT SAME POINT. And this car did the EXACT SAME THING. It threw its direction to the left without using blinkers and watching other traffic. The only diffrence this time was that there was another car before me. That also had to evade this idiot.

I had to brake real hard again. And my back wheel blocked up again. I think there are 2 stripes now. I am going back tomorrow to see if they are visable.

So the next traffic light. instead of the truck driver talking to me. The car infront of me stood next to me and we went like

The 3th time was a asian lady doing the same thing cutting me off but me being on the right side of the road about to take her over. This all makes me wonder how much change is it that this happens... What would have happend if ONE of those two would not end the way it did. Why do events in life turn out the way they do. Such a small thing or such a split second changes everything. Its scary. The butterfly effect. The fact that I am in Melbourne as a Dutch guy is also just a series of events that are just so random and might have been so close to not happening.
Makes you think "Am I think lucky to still be alive. To be alive in the first place?"
Or "What could have been if I did went out that night? Would I have met my dream partner? Would I have won the lottery?"

Ontopic again.
Yes, I know not all the people living in Melbourne must drive like this.
And I hear you think

So what is your point?

My point is. When I am driving from work to home. Which is about 32 kilometers. (20 miles?) It takes me a easy 1 hour and 10 minutes. This brings me on a avarage speed of around 25 km/h? While most of these KM are the highways. Its insane how much Melbourne traffic sucks and is stuck all the time. For example. 2 lanes of like 10 cars each are waiting because 1 person decides to take a right turn. And this happens.

And these totally unnecessary blocks happen ALL THE TIME. These can be solved by just thinking ahead and reacting properly so that for this example the left lane can pass. I think the people of Melbourne should really consider driving smarter. Including less braking aswell. I see lots of heavy cars brake hard at lights instead of letting go of the gas 100 meters before it. Some even accelerate to take over right before a traffic light stop. And lots of people here driving BMW x6. Porsche. Range rovers. Land rovers. And all kinds of v6 or v8 cars or just gas drinking machines. They sit inside them all alone wasting the other free seats and tons of gas and making C02. Just standing still is a very normal thing here. Being stuck in traffic is part of daily routine.
As a dutch person I just can't understand this. I start to feel guilty to what we are doing to this world.

I think if Melbourne would trade in the cars for motorcycles the gas useage would go down so much. Aswell as traffic jams.
Remove the Bicycle helmet law in order to make riding Bicycle more attractive aswell.

Remove half the train and tram and bus stops! There are SO MANY stops. you can litterly expect one tram stop every 200 meters. People CAN WALK. Its healthy. Removing stops from the public transport makes it faster to reach destinations and thus making it more attractive. In holland a bus stops maybe once in 3 kilometers.

BUT MOST IMPORTANDLY.
JUST PAY MORE ATTENTION AND THINK AHEAD!

You might just not kill a motorcyclist.

*(images from google / maps / bitmoji)