That is ok mistakes happen but did you proceed to the next exit or did you block traffic and try to push back in because you feel everyone else can be held up by your mistake? That is when you become a moron.
Yes! And then when you try to hop in that lane every one in the queue thinks you did it on purpose to avoid the queue and won’t let you in.. I now just always assume I’m supposed to be in the queue until I’m close enough to tell for sure
My best tip when you're new to driving in the city is to look up the route ahead of time and use street view on any turns/lane changes/etc to see what it will actually look like. There are a few places where Google maps really struggles with lanes, which can make it stressful to drive those routes when you're not familiar with them.
Yeah I agree with this. Some people get themselves to the point where they cant remember how streets work because they just let the GPS tell them what to do. Take away the GPS and you’ll find you’ll remember more, even if it might make you drive like a nanny sometimes.
Absolutely. A bloke I know lives 4 streets away. He borrowed something off me and a couple of weeks later had to call me for my address even though he had been here several times. All he had to do was , turn left out of the driveway, turn right at the end, then next left, then left at the end. Without a GPS he was clueless. He must drop a pin when he parks his car at the shops, because without it he would struggle.
not sure if you're being facetious, bin chicken... but in case not:
in Google Maps, tap on the gps location beacon and a half menu comes up, second button is (*P* save parking)
at least for my Android
When I was new to driving around the city, I started going in on weekends or at night when it wasn’t busy. It let me get familiar with my route with no stress.
It's such a small city CBD!
You can definitely get used to it, and likely you won't need to drive into it all that much.
Just go slow, have the GPS voice on and don't be afraid to use "recalibrating" if you take a wrong turn or lane. Leave extra time, don't make any last minute corrections.
You will learn it!
So, use this as a rule of thumb in the city. Any road relating to a female runs south to north. Everything relating to a male runs east to west. I'm a truck driver, and when I came up from nsw, that's the only way I learned it. I hope this helps
Yep, when I first started working in the city after finishing school, that was the most helpful thing anyone ever told me. Boy streets go one way, girl streets the other way.
More specifically they're kings and queens. I found it really handy to know as a pedestrian, as a driver I feel you just need to know a solid handful of the key/confusing intersections well. There's tonnes of time to get into your lane, you just need to know it's your lane much earlier than a GPS would ever tell you.
Yes. It’s normal to feel lost and confused in a new city. Anyone who says otherwise is lying or they have a level of confidence that is based off delusional. But the beauty of something new is the more you drive around the more you will learn the city. Hell iv lived in Brisbane for 15 years and there’s still areas of Brisbane that iv never been to. So it still happens. But the important thing is to just take a breath. Be calm and collected. And if you feel overwhelmed just find a spot on the side of the road and get your bearings. Be ok with making mistakes or missing a turn and having to double back. You only need to make a mistake once to learn from it. But we are all still human.
I’ve been here 8 years and will never forget doing laps of the inner city bypass thanks to my GPS sending me around in circles. I still marvel at substandard roads, footpaths, signage and traffic engineering.
Glad I’m not the only one! I took great pleasure in smashing that GPS. Also got caught out by unfamiliar “no stopping” signs and speed cameras on motorway off-ramps. But also, in many ways Brisbane is the most beautiful city I’ve lived in. The lifestyle is pretty incredible and maybe now the infrastructure will catch up 😊
I’ve been here 10 years (after living and driving in 5 other cities in Australia and a couple overseas) and I still occasionally get confused by the signage, despite using a GPS. And I drive all around Brisbane as part of my job! I’ve never lived in a city with so many loop-the-loops, one-way streets, exit ramps so close together, and other unusual traffic signs and traffic arrangements as here in Brisbane. So no, you’re not stupid. You’re just trying to drive in a bloody confusing city.
Quite.
The signage and placement thereof is appalling. Who the hell puts a direction sign *after* the required turn?
Which ever authority is responsible needs a rethink.
Honestly it's just one of those things you get used to. I recommend going for a drive on a clear Sunday morning when the roads are pretty quiet and going a little under the speed limit when it's safe to do so just to get a good look at all the signs and road markings. For the most part the worst aspect of Brisbane roads are the other idiots on them lol...
Whoever desisgned brisbane roads needs to be punched in the back of the head. You just have to be aware you will get dragged around corners and will suddenly get stuck in right turn only lanes and that cars will just be street parked on massive thoroughfare
Brisbane isn’t like most cities. It’s fkn cooked with the one ways and lanes that you can’t use. Signage is really poor. Some of the worst in the western world. Drive well here, and you can drive anywhere easily.
Brisbane is a truly awful city to drive in. Once I was driving back to my Air BnB and had a killer headache, so I turned off to get to a shop to get some panadol. It took me 40 minutes to find my way back home. I was on the wrong side of the river trying to get to Kangaroo Point. That darn Story Bridge is so hard to get onto, unless you don't want to and then you get stuck going onto it. I was on one of those yellow ride share bikes and by the time I realised I was being funnelled into that bridge there was no way to get off it. No way to turn around, walls on each side of the road leading up to it. I had to ride that heavy yellow 3-geared bike so damn hard to try and reduce the speed differential with all the cars on the bridge. It was terrifying.
The problem is that so many roads are one way and uturns aren't allowed, so if you make one small mistake it has disastrous consequences.
Is there any chance you might have PASC? Going the wrong way up one way streets and missing no entry signs isn't normal. Bus lanes should be quite obvious to spot too. Are you sure you're in a fit enough state to drive? Some of the things you mention would be an instant fail on a driving test and is very concerning - it sounds like you're risking both your own and others' lives. How would you fare without using the GPS at all? Have you been having difficulty with multitasking and focus in other areas lately?
Edit - sources to ponder:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-11/driver-daylesford-pub-crash-charged-by-police/103213184
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/05/31/covid-19-may-have-been-a-factor-in-crash-which-claimed-couples-lives-coroner-says/
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(24)00013-0/fulltext
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(22)00260-7/fulltext
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36657196/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2319417023000872
Brisbane is definitely confusing as hell. I've lived here over 15 years and feel more comfortable driving in the city now, but I still prefer to avoid it whenever possible. It's just so much easier to take the bus or the train in, and not have to worry about parking on top of everything else.
But if you're not stopping in the city itself, if you need to frequently need to drive past or around the city, just focus on getting real familiar with the inner-city bypass and Coronation Drive. Those are the routes you'll need constantly, and if you at least know your way around there, you can avoid getting pulled into the bullshit of the CBD.
GPS is nice as a backup in case you're worried about getting totally lost, but let it take a backseat to driving to the conditions. Focus more on just driving well and observing what's around you, following traffic as much as you can and not going into places you're not supposed to be, even if Google's telling you to go that way. Try and make fewer mistakes that could actually cause trouble on the road by letting yourself make more mistakes in optimal travel time. Even if you miss some turn you needed and have to go way out of your way, eventually the quirks of Brisbane streets will start to stick in your head, one mistake and lesson learned at a time.
But stay the hell away from Indooroopilly, that place is the goddamn Bermuda Triangle.
To be fair, Brisbane roads are fucked. It's an awful place to drive. I would do a lot of driving during quiet hours and avoid rush hour until you are feeling more comfortable and familiar with the layout. Or as another poster said, take a bus and just observe. Good luck!
I live on the Goldy and have always found driving in Brisbane City anxiety inducing… like anything though, it gets easier the more you do it. I’m in my early 40’s so I was driving back in days before GPS, and now use Waze all the time!
Just going on all the comments here looks like at least 90% have problems of one sort or another driving in this city. Well finally an answer for the reason why there are so many “bad” drivers in Brisbane city. Everyone’s having one big collective panic attack! 🥴😂🤣
Normal.
Instead of following your GPS blindly, you should pull up google maps beforehand and look at the route so that you have an idea of what roads you'll be travelling on, the names of the main roads, and what the main turns are. Then you can visualise the route in your head and make less mistakes.
Even better get a [Refidex](https://www.bigw.com.au/product/brisbane-refidex-street-directory-2024-68th/p/341047) from Big W and plan your trips with it and leave it on the passenger seat. Each time you hit a red light, look at the maps and plan your next turns. You will learn the city much quicker by using paper maps because when you use GPS you might be one street over from a nice park or place of interest, and never know. With a paper map, you will explore more.
> when you use GPS you might be one street over
Even worse, in some parts of Brisbane (Lutwyche and Wooloowin, I'm looking very pointedly at you), the GPS will guide you into the Airportlink tunnel for some addresses that are very definitely above ground.
Do you need to drive?
Driving in the city is pretty silly with so much good public transit if you don’t absolutely have to drive. I personally only know the city as a collection of places and the routes on foot between those places.
Walking from ESP to central, or Romma parklands to the botanic gardens?? easy as. But driving either of those sounds like a nightmare.
I drove through many cities, some overseas, and none was as retarded as Brisbane city. Driving through Brisbane city is a nightmare, worst design ever!!!!
I frickin hate driving in the city & I’ve lived in bris my whole life + am a whole ass 24 year old grown woman and I’m like aaahhh as soon as it’s peak hour anywhere especially the city
Watch the signs and watch the ground because the arrows on the road provide directions. Also constantly watch the traffic because some of the roads in the CBD do strange things like change from two way to one way Streets
As someone who’s lived in Brisbane their whole life I can add to this by saying, I still don’t know how to get around Brisbane without having a panic attack and getting lost
Getting lost is fine and we all do it. But it sounds like you need some driving lessons. Or at least stop blindly following your GPS and don’t go into one way streets, bus lanes etc. Coz that isn’t normal and just plain dangerous.
I live in the bush, few years ago I had to drive myself to Brisbane City to see a specialist when I injured my hand. Never driven in the city before so I was way out of my league especially driving an old manual Falcon ute with a heavy clutch one-handed. First go I ended up in a bus lane which I have never seen before but after that I had no problems apart from all the stop/start changing gears one-handed. Only thing I suggest is get out there and give it a crack, you'll get used to it. Used an old TomTom for navigation which did ok, it only struggled with the tunnels.
As someone who used to drive a lot for work, Brisbane isn’t easy to get around. There’s a real lack of signage, there’s lots of one way roads and split streets, the hilly and difficult terrain and lack of river crossings also make it difficult as well as the roads just meander along to follow the topography rather than go directly where they need to go.
On the other hand, Brisbane isn’t as big as Sydney or Melbourne, so it’s easier to remember where you’re going, simply because there’s less of it
The signage is terrible and the roads are so difficult to navigate that it's a struggle to get useful directions even from specifically designed GPS navigation tools here.
It's not you.
I’ve never gone down a bus lane etc but if you’re a nervous driver then look at google maps and look at where you normally travel to in the city to have another way to learn on where to go and you can become more aware of your route such as when to change lanes etc.
It's not just you. I swear all the roads in this city are just paved creeks and snake trails. No road engineer in a century has stopped and said "huh, maybe we should have a straight line with no elevation for more than 300 metres."
Best tip for the city I got is majority of horizontal roads are queen’s names and cross running roads are king’s names. Eg. The corner of Elizabeth St and Edward St.
Your GPS shouldn't be leading you astray in regards to incorrect turns into one way streets, but the changes to traffic flow and lanes in the CBD, especially Edward and Ann Streets in the last year or so is beyond a joke.
The CBD is difficult to navigate at first or if you don't go in on a regular basis.
Some general tips that might help.
The city council has deliberately made Adelaide Street bus friendly/private vehicle unfriendly and many bus drivers use it like it is their private road.
Most of the longer straight streets are 1 way so watch out for which way cross traffic is flowing. It's the shorter or bendy streets that tend to be 2 way.
Streets named after Kings flow from 'Garden to Garden' (City botanical gardens to Roma Street Parklands)
Streets named after Queens flow from 'river to river' (Kangaroo point bend to Southbank)
Keep an eye out for the overhead lane guidance like in George Street for the left turns into the last part of Ann Street or the line markings on the road like at the Valley end of Adelaide Street for the right turn into the Valley/Story bridge tunnel.
It can be helpful to avoid the left lane until you have passed the last intersection prior to any turn you want to make to the left.
Go into the city on a Sunday, especially early in the morning just for a drive to familiarise yourself with the streets while it less congested.
Drive slower. Take note of where others are going and not going. Take time to read the signs. Be the turtle, not the rabbit. I'm a motorbike rider, so it pains me to say the aforementioned - but if I wasn't familiar and certain in my riding, I'd be dead.
Until you're familiar and certain, be the turtle.
Getting lost is normal if you’re not familiar with the city. Going up one way streets and blocking entrances is not, genuine question but is your eyesight ok? I ask because when I first got my licence I needed to get glasses to be able to properly read street signs at a distance.
Do you mean the actual city (like the inner city - Brisbane considers the “city” to generally be the part of the city once you go over the bridges from South Brisbane, any exit that you take off the Captain Cook, and the similar entry from Corro drive including North Quay; all this area from Roma street, to Riverside/Eagle Street Pier, to QUT.) Most Brisbanites don’t drive in the city unless forced. I don’t hate it, but only do it on weekends when the traffic is marginally better. In terms of how to learn the city: most of us walk it before we drive it which helps.
Much of the Brisbane traffic system assumes you know where you’re going and you know how to get there. Most new people moving here (we moved here 30 years ago) struggle for at least a few years. The city is full of twists and turns and bad signage.
My advice? Take the bus. We do.
Oh it is the worst.... atm at night especially, so many road works that make the one way streets an absolute nightmare unless you know them all and plan accordingly. But the city is not something I like to drive through if I can help it, and a lot of people ive met refuse to for the sheer stress involved. (So darn stressful) Lot of unexpected turns that you only realize last minute your now in the wrong lane and about to get stuck going in the wrong direction in a massive detour. Never attempt to drive in the city if your in a bit of a hurry, it will shave years off your life.
If you can, drive through during the night, after 10pm. Just an exploration drive.
There are roadworks in some spots at the moment, so that might make things tricky, but there will be less traffic on the road. Some Brisbane drivers are really unco-operative in the city during the day, so it's easier to become more confident and make speedier manoeuvres if you can practice finding your way around off-peak, first.
It's not you. Brisbane - and Brisbane's roads - seem to be designed by a LNP stooge hellbent on making life as difficult for people here as possible...
Waze is probably the best app for navigation. It has SOME lane assist features (not always) and will often warn you to turn right from the second from the right turn lane etc. it's not perfect, but as a newer driver to Brisbane, it does the job fairly well, and will re route around a missed turn etc
It's got warnings for bus lanes, will route you around traffic & accidents (if it has enough time) and will warm you off speed camera's and speed limits.
One thing I did when I taught my son to drive was to take him down to the cbd and work on one way streets etc. at night when there was no traffic so he could become familiar with the signs and arrows IRL without worrying about the gridlock around him.
I never use Google maps anymore I found Waze to be a better driving app for Brissy. Except for when you go into any of the tunnels or around the Northside on the motorway-all gps apps struggle there for me. I actually find driving in Bris so much nicer than Melbourne though. I’ve only lived here for about 4 years but got it down-lived in Melbourne for 10 and still never figured that city out!
You're not stupid. When I moved here over 10 years ago I was constantly doing the same thing. I don't own a car at the moment because I don't need one, but living in a lot of different areas of Brisbane has given me good spatial awareness. When I do drive now (normally an airport run so a friend can park their car at my place) I am generally pretty comfortable though I still avoid the CBD like the plague (which is difficult because I live nearby). You will get it once you get used to the city, it just takes time.
It’s normal. If you’re using Google Maps in your car, change to Waze, it is much better at showing you the correct lane to be in and where to turn.
As others have said, sometimes you need to get in the queue 500 metres early or you will be shut out of your turn. The best example is the Riverside Expressway, if you want to continue north along it and go onto the Inner City Bypass — just stay in the second from right lane the whole way, don’t try to be clever or people will speed up to cut you off.
I cried last week. Got lost and ended up going through the tunnel to other side of town. Never drove city at all.
My original destination is 15 minutes away
Took me 40 and pulling over and crying.
Haha you’ve just described my first year in Brisbane ! I’ve got the hang of it now but it’s by far one of the worst cities I’ve driven in for this. I think it’s bad signage and or roads that aren’t designed intuitively
People hate driving in the CBD, there’s no real “trick” to it you just eventually learn or you avoid it at all costs.
Some find it especially stressful which is honestly ok it’s a very high pressure environment. Try not to let it get to you, ignore the beeps and focus on what you’re doing and where you’re going. Generally stay at low speed and don’t try and “recover” from missed directions halfway through, just go around the block and try again
I remember getting confused as well, but now I have specific places I drive to so I know the routes and when to go into which lane ahead of time.
Over time your brain will pickup the patterns and it will start making sense! You got this.
If you use google maps you can change the settings to give you more information and more instructions. I need that because telling me a turn is in 400m means nothing but telling me my turn is coming up in 400, be in the second from right lane, coming up in 200, turn now, kind of helps a bit.
Getting lost is one thing, the inability to follow road rules is another. There are plenty of driving schools in Brisbane, I suggest you book yourself some lessons.
Bus lanes and one way streets are marked as such. I am therefore suggesting you're unable to drive and ought recuse yourself.
There's "getting lost". Misreading a road condition isn't that.
Or this is a troll post in which Forrest Gump said it best.
Not normal but also it’s worth thinking about why, I think you might suffer from a bit of anxiety which can be triggered when going into the city etc.
I don’t mind driving through the city at all, I’ve driven up the wrong way once as the road I was on is 1 way 1 street over. I laughed it off when I realised and quickly reversed back a few meters.
I noted this and haven’t done it since.
I think it’s just worth doing the speed limit and trying to have some calm music on or something that relaxes you. If you keep going into bus ways, down one way streets and going into no entry zones that much it could be best you avoid driving in the city for your safety and others.
Edit: bus only lanes are nothing to stress about! Try avoid them but it’s not the end of the world and don’t stress about it, just try and remember for next time :)
happens to everyone mate. you're not stupid. make the mistakes and learn, familiarise and do better next time. CBD can be anxiety inducing if you're new. takes time.
It’s not just you. I realized recently that Brisbane roads compared to Sydney roads are more complex (but they’re clever). Any city other than Sydney I’m assuming has the opportunity to have roads / highways that are more planned out. I figure it takes a while to get to know the key roads / tunnels / turn offs here but once you know them you’ll appreciate them. One thing I find that is strange is when lanes merge, sometimes there’s absolutely no sign to warn you. And people are less inclined to use indicators, and when they do, it’s very last minute.
Don't use a GPS, it's not helpful in the city.
Just map out the journey on the computer at home and then do the drive from memory.
I never use GPS. It's more annoying than it is helpful and it takes you much longer to get your bearings in a new city.
Do what you can to get familiar with the city and valley areas and otherwise drive to new areas during the day. It's more difficult in bad weather and at night. Brisbane has a lot of roads which are two or three lane during the weekdays but permit parking in the left hand lane at night/weekends.
Apple Maps tends to be a little better before you start your journey and in showing you what lane to be in. About 9 times out of 10 it’s pretty good.
However, it’s absolute HORSE SHIT once you start driving and you need to navigate to somewhere else. Really gotta plug in the right address before you start, otherwise asking it to go to McDonald’s Jindalee will, and I’m not kidding, set a route to some business somewhere in Western Australia.
Also: don’t touch your mobile while driving. $1000 fine
Yes I’ve moved to and learned multiple other cities including Sydney and Melbourne and never gotten lost as much as I do in Brisbane. The signage is atrocious and the road designs are really challenging for google maps which doesn’t give accurate lane info!
It’s a really confusing city, it’s not just you
When I was new to the area, my gps had me turn down this narrow ramp thing near Roma street.
I done three full laps of the underground bus only network until I could find a way out! Shit was fucked!!
Thought I’d get a mailed fine, but didn’t.
But I now park outside of cbd to ease my anxiety.
Totally normal. I lost count of the times I took the wrong exit at those 'intercity bypasses'... And yes, I obviously had GPS. It'll get better once you get more familiar with these roads. :)
One thing I learned about Brisbane many years ago which certainly has helped me understand the streets better: all male/men/king/prince names run north/south, with all female/women/queen/princess names running east/west.
With having that knowledge of the grid of the CBD, everything started to click a lot easier in town.
Plus, with more and more of the streets becoming one way, the CBD is mostly loops.
Otherwise, after a few trips you’ll be a natural before you know it 🤘
You’re not alone. Just takes getting used to. Your GPS should be steering you right though so not sure what’s going on there.
If in doubt just go slow and follow traffic - if there’s a free lane next to a long queue, don’t be tempted - there’ll be a reason people are avoiding it
My advice, dont drive in the city lol.
You do get use to it after awhile learn which lanes and everything you need but honestly it just was way to chaotic for me.
There is no substitute for knowing the road. This is one of the most confusing cities to drive in. Watch out for the Clem 7, you won't be able to get out of it and will end up on the wrong side of the city. But even just picking which lane to be in when you have a left or right turn coming up immediately afterwards is a headspin.
Google maps has improved a lot since I started driving. I used to go the wrong way down one way streets frequently. The CBD is the worst but it's all bad tbh.
My tips:
1. Turn the sound off on Google maps and just look at the picture. It's annoying how it ducks your music anyway. There's arrows indicating which lane to be in. Sometimes they're wrong but usually helpful.
2. Allow an extra 15 minutes on what Google says if you've never been there before or it's peak hour traffic.
3. Keep using Google maps until you have the route memorised. Don't be ashamed to use it all the time.
4. Never use apple maps. Literally every time my friend is late to the function, it's because they used Apple maps.
Pay attention to the route and exit numbers on your gps and the road signs, rather than just relying on the visual of the map.
There's definitely a number or road signs that are not in very ideal location v. the exit they are for though.
I think it would help to do couple of things:
1. Walking around the city helps make sense of somethings like how female names flow one direction and male names on the other… see how eagle street, Howard smith wharf etc works. There are many confusing bits around. City made more sense when I worked there and walked around at lunch. Plus there’s construction for major projects unfolding so road closures are hard to work out if you don’t know.
2. It helps to familiarise how to get in and out of the city. There’s 3-4 ways to get out from south bank end. For a while, I trained myself to just get to QUT then get to pacific motorway from there. It was the least confusing path for me. Then you can take a challenge with Ann St (as others pointed out, you gotta go left to go right… jezus). If you heading to west end, you have to learn the Roma street / goodwill part.
Story bridge side has a few ways in and out too. I would really just pick one and always go there. For many years, I didn’t know how to even get to the tunnel to get on to the bridge. Just used the valley way.
Entry is the same… I always enter on turbot or story bridge paths. They make more sense and it is easy to split out to the right spot from there.
I would avoid the middle of the city if possible. Always go to an end then follow something like eagle street to QUT then out. Depends where you live of course.
Also Brisbane is allergic to street signs. You have to basically be already committed to your turn waaaay before the street sign lets you know you have the right street.
Also allergic to labelling exits and motorways consistently. It took me awhile to figure out clem7, Ipswich motorway, m7, and airport link tunnel were all names for basically the same road at different points, so I was on the right path even if the name on the sign was different to my gps.
My usual exit from airport link says Stafford/Everton park, IM NOT GOING TO STAFFORD OR EVERTON PARK. That exit actually comes out at Kedron/Gordon park. I don’t really know my way around Brisbane and how the suburbs are connected because I grew up catching public transport. The suburbs where the big shopping centres were in the 90s, and the Caboolture Beenleigh lines are pretty much the only suburbs I know. My mental map of south east qld is toombul-chermside-southbank-carindale-grand plaza-hyperdome-pacific fair.
Lots of great advice in here. I remember being new to the city too 14 years ago. Was confusing.
Sunday afternoons and evening in the city is dead quiet. If you can, do some drives around your route/s when it’s hella quiet
I left Brisbane just before the tunnels and bus crap were built and returned just after, it was a completely different city and much harder to navigate. It was originally just a series of main roads that intersected at the valley and city that would take you where you wanted to go.
The only way I’ve ever navigated the Brisbane CBD successfully is the ⬆️kings ➡️queens rule and if you hit the botanical gardens you’ve gone too far. It really is a shit city to navigate. I’m sorry but it just takes time to get a mental mud map. I find mobile maps just make it worse because the council changes its mind on busways and lanes every 3 months.
It's normal. With your GPS though, make sure to look at the arrows. I prefer waze over g maps because it does this better but it helps me to take the correct lane probably 95% of the time.
I too am fairly new to driving the Brisbane city roads, it’s hectic on a quiet day. I struggled with judging my distance for example “in 300m turn left”, I’d usually take the turn too early 🤦♀️ or tooo late. You could try the Waze app, very seldom do I use Google maps as I’ve found myself using the wrong lane and missing many turn offs adding ample unnecessary time on the trip. Waze also informs you of potholes, cars that have pulled over, traffic congestion, and many other useful information. You can also save routes you’ve been on. Hope this helps!
Give yourself sometime, you will get there!
All the best!
A better gps helps, Most I built car ones or even the old navmans are useless, unless recently updated.
Waze or Google maps are brilliant.
Waze is super clear on how to get around.
Plus practice. Try to go late at night with much less traffic to get used to using the gps and just driving around.
This is no reflection upon you, but... There are some people that should have never been handed a drivers licence in the first place. I realise that not everyone has the same skill set. But some people do not have the reactions, mind set, decision making skills or common sense to be able to operate a motorised vehicle in a safe manner. The licensing system needs to recalibrated to weed these people out so as to make it safer for other drivers.
Yeah sorry mate you're just stupid
PM me your credit card details and I'll look after your finances for you so you can stick to stuff more your intellect level (like colouring books).
[удалено]
This is such good advice. Many times I’ve driven past a queue only for Aunty Google Maps to tell me to turn right in 50 metres. Nope.
sydneysider here. once attempted to go around a queue because my exit was in 750m...the queue was for said exit.
This was the right lane of the riverside expressway for Hale St right?
southern cross drive, left to go down dowling street actually. must've been an event on at moore park.
This is my nemesis. Or, one of them.
That is ok mistakes happen but did you proceed to the next exit or did you block traffic and try to push back in because you feel everyone else can be held up by your mistake? That is when you become a moron.
i went around
Yes! And then when you try to hop in that lane every one in the queue thinks you did it on purpose to avoid the queue and won’t let you in.. I now just always assume I’m supposed to be in the queue until I’m close enough to tell for sure
If you miss the queue go down to Park Rd, up to Milton, continue til you can turn right and head back to ICB
As a frequent driver I've learned ... Never mind
My best tip when you're new to driving in the city is to look up the route ahead of time and use street view on any turns/lane changes/etc to see what it will actually look like. There are a few places where Google maps really struggles with lanes, which can make it stressful to drive those routes when you're not familiar with them.
Yeah I agree with this. Some people get themselves to the point where they cant remember how streets work because they just let the GPS tell them what to do. Take away the GPS and you’ll find you’ll remember more, even if it might make you drive like a nanny sometimes.
Absolutely. A bloke I know lives 4 streets away. He borrowed something off me and a couple of weeks later had to call me for my address even though he had been here several times. All he had to do was , turn left out of the driveway, turn right at the end, then next left, then left at the end. Without a GPS he was clueless. He must drop a pin when he parks his car at the shops, because without it he would struggle.
Drop a pin? You can do that? How?
not sure if you're being facetious, bin chicken... but in case not: in Google Maps, tap on the gps location beacon and a half menu comes up, second button is (*P* save parking) at least for my Android
Thanks I didn’t know that. 👍
Just press and hold on a location, then an option to save it should come up.
When I was new to driving around the city, I started going in on weekends or at night when it wasn’t busy. It let me get familiar with my route with no stress.
I've lived in this city my whole life. I know most streets back to front as a pedestrian. I avoid the city at all costs because it's so confusing
It's such a small city CBD! You can definitely get used to it, and likely you won't need to drive into it all that much. Just go slow, have the GPS voice on and don't be afraid to use "recalibrating" if you take a wrong turn or lane. Leave extra time, don't make any last minute corrections. You will learn it!
If you want a laugh, change the language of your GPS to Italian and get it to pronounce Enoggera
then ask it if you should turn left onto south pine road, turn right onto south pine road, or continue along south pine road
Omg...every road is literally South Pine Road!!! Ahahhahahahhaahhahaa
I have Siri with male Irish voice. Beaudesert is an interesting pronunciation
Ann st onto the motorway is hilarious, you go left to go right and vice versa. Who thought of that?
There is a street where to turn left, you have to specifically be in the middle lane!!! Not sure if it’s the same one you mentioned
So, use this as a rule of thumb in the city. Any road relating to a female runs south to north. Everything relating to a male runs east to west. I'm a truck driver, and when I came up from nsw, that's the only way I learned it. I hope this helps
Yep, when I first started working in the city after finishing school, that was the most helpful thing anyone ever told me. Boy streets go one way, girl streets the other way.
I’ve been in Brisbane now for 35 years and that’s never occurred to me before. Thank you!
No problems
That is clever if that’s how it works. Thanks for sharing.
More specifically they're kings and queens. I found it really handy to know as a pedestrian, as a driver I feel you just need to know a solid handful of the key/confusing intersections well. There's tonnes of time to get into your lane, you just need to know it's your lane much earlier than a GPS would ever tell you.
Yes. It’s normal to feel lost and confused in a new city. Anyone who says otherwise is lying or they have a level of confidence that is based off delusional. But the beauty of something new is the more you drive around the more you will learn the city. Hell iv lived in Brisbane for 15 years and there’s still areas of Brisbane that iv never been to. So it still happens. But the important thing is to just take a breath. Be calm and collected. And if you feel overwhelmed just find a spot on the side of the road and get your bearings. Be ok with making mistakes or missing a turn and having to double back. You only need to make a mistake once to learn from it. But we are all still human.
Normal mate. My ex’s mother refused to drive in the city whatsoever despite driving all her life. It can be super confusing
I’ve been here 8 years and will never forget doing laps of the inner city bypass thanks to my GPS sending me around in circles. I still marvel at substandard roads, footpaths, signage and traffic engineering.
That happened to me so many times! 😡
Glad I’m not the only one! I took great pleasure in smashing that GPS. Also got caught out by unfamiliar “no stopping” signs and speed cameras on motorway off-ramps. But also, in many ways Brisbane is the most beautiful city I’ve lived in. The lifestyle is pretty incredible and maybe now the infrastructure will catch up 😊
I’ve been here 10 years (after living and driving in 5 other cities in Australia and a couple overseas) and I still occasionally get confused by the signage, despite using a GPS. And I drive all around Brisbane as part of my job! I’ve never lived in a city with so many loop-the-loops, one-way streets, exit ramps so close together, and other unusual traffic signs and traffic arrangements as here in Brisbane. So no, you’re not stupid. You’re just trying to drive in a bloody confusing city.
Quite. The signage and placement thereof is appalling. Who the hell puts a direction sign *after* the required turn? Which ever authority is responsible needs a rethink.
Brisbane and it's suburbs are a case study for town planning students of what not to do and why.
I'm the same, I live close enough to visit maybe once a month and I cannot navigate the stupid roads in the cbd
Honestly it's just one of those things you get used to. I recommend going for a drive on a clear Sunday morning when the roads are pretty quiet and going a little under the speed limit when it's safe to do so just to get a good look at all the signs and road markings. For the most part the worst aspect of Brisbane roads are the other idiots on them lol...
Whoever desisgned brisbane roads needs to be punched in the back of the head. You just have to be aware you will get dragged around corners and will suddenly get stuck in right turn only lanes and that cars will just be street parked on massive thoroughfare
Just wait until you hear about the flightpaths... 
Brisbane isn’t like most cities. It’s fkn cooked with the one ways and lanes that you can’t use. Signage is really poor. Some of the worst in the western world. Drive well here, and you can drive anywhere easily.
Brisbane is a truly awful city to drive in. Once I was driving back to my Air BnB and had a killer headache, so I turned off to get to a shop to get some panadol. It took me 40 minutes to find my way back home. I was on the wrong side of the river trying to get to Kangaroo Point. That darn Story Bridge is so hard to get onto, unless you don't want to and then you get stuck going onto it. I was on one of those yellow ride share bikes and by the time I realised I was being funnelled into that bridge there was no way to get off it. No way to turn around, walls on each side of the road leading up to it. I had to ride that heavy yellow 3-geared bike so damn hard to try and reduce the speed differential with all the cars on the bridge. It was terrifying. The problem is that so many roads are one way and uturns aren't allowed, so if you make one small mistake it has disastrous consequences.
Is there any chance you might have PASC? Going the wrong way up one way streets and missing no entry signs isn't normal. Bus lanes should be quite obvious to spot too. Are you sure you're in a fit enough state to drive? Some of the things you mention would be an instant fail on a driving test and is very concerning - it sounds like you're risking both your own and others' lives. How would you fare without using the GPS at all? Have you been having difficulty with multitasking and focus in other areas lately? Edit - sources to ponder: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-11/driver-daylesford-pub-crash-charged-by-police/103213184 https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/05/31/covid-19-may-have-been-a-factor-in-crash-which-claimed-couples-lives-coroner-says/ https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(24)00013-0/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(22)00260-7/fulltext https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36657196/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2319417023000872
Brisbane is definitely confusing as hell. I've lived here over 15 years and feel more comfortable driving in the city now, but I still prefer to avoid it whenever possible. It's just so much easier to take the bus or the train in, and not have to worry about parking on top of everything else. But if you're not stopping in the city itself, if you need to frequently need to drive past or around the city, just focus on getting real familiar with the inner-city bypass and Coronation Drive. Those are the routes you'll need constantly, and if you at least know your way around there, you can avoid getting pulled into the bullshit of the CBD. GPS is nice as a backup in case you're worried about getting totally lost, but let it take a backseat to driving to the conditions. Focus more on just driving well and observing what's around you, following traffic as much as you can and not going into places you're not supposed to be, even if Google's telling you to go that way. Try and make fewer mistakes that could actually cause trouble on the road by letting yourself make more mistakes in optimal travel time. Even if you miss some turn you needed and have to go way out of your way, eventually the quirks of Brisbane streets will start to stick in your head, one mistake and lesson learned at a time. But stay the hell away from Indooroopilly, that place is the goddamn Bermuda Triangle.
Are you listening to your gps or panic driving?
To be fair, Brisbane roads are fucked. It's an awful place to drive. I would do a lot of driving during quiet hours and avoid rush hour until you are feeling more comfortable and familiar with the layout. Or as another poster said, take a bus and just observe. Good luck!
Don’t drive in the city if you’re doing that chief
I live on the Goldy and have always found driving in Brisbane City anxiety inducing… like anything though, it gets easier the more you do it. I’m in my early 40’s so I was driving back in days before GPS, and now use Waze all the time!
Just going on all the comments here looks like at least 90% have problems of one sort or another driving in this city. Well finally an answer for the reason why there are so many “bad” drivers in Brisbane city. Everyone’s having one big collective panic attack! 🥴😂🤣
Best tip for city driving: Don't. Use buses and trains and even uber where possible. It's not worth the reduction in your life expectancy.
3 different routes. 0 navigation signs. https://preview.redd.it/zsighoftjy3d1.png?width=1998&format=png&auto=webp&s=2864d4fc40b31f7b613eba5bd22981bf3bacd6c4
Normal. Instead of following your GPS blindly, you should pull up google maps beforehand and look at the route so that you have an idea of what roads you'll be travelling on, the names of the main roads, and what the main turns are. Then you can visualise the route in your head and make less mistakes. Even better get a [Refidex](https://www.bigw.com.au/product/brisbane-refidex-street-directory-2024-68th/p/341047) from Big W and plan your trips with it and leave it on the passenger seat. Each time you hit a red light, look at the maps and plan your next turns. You will learn the city much quicker by using paper maps because when you use GPS you might be one street over from a nice park or place of interest, and never know. With a paper map, you will explore more.
> when you use GPS you might be one street over Even worse, in some parts of Brisbane (Lutwyche and Wooloowin, I'm looking very pointedly at you), the GPS will guide you into the Airportlink tunnel for some addresses that are very definitely above ground.
Do you need to drive? Driving in the city is pretty silly with so much good public transit if you don’t absolutely have to drive. I personally only know the city as a collection of places and the routes on foot between those places. Walking from ESP to central, or Romma parklands to the botanic gardens?? easy as. But driving either of those sounds like a nightmare.
It's good in the CBD. But gets pretty shit and time consuming not far out
I drove through many cities, some overseas, and none was as retarded as Brisbane city. Driving through Brisbane city is a nightmare, worst design ever!!!!
Find a new place to go in the city each week and just drive there. You'll get your confidence to and explore the city as you go. Good luck
I frickin hate driving in the city & I’ve lived in bris my whole life + am a whole ass 24 year old grown woman and I’m like aaahhh as soon as it’s peak hour anywhere especially the city
Watch the signs and watch the ground because the arrows on the road provide directions. Also constantly watch the traffic because some of the roads in the CBD do strange things like change from two way to one way Streets
As someone who’s lived in Brisbane their whole life I can add to this by saying, I still don’t know how to get around Brisbane without having a panic attack and getting lost
Getting lost is fine and we all do it. But it sounds like you need some driving lessons. Or at least stop blindly following your GPS and don’t go into one way streets, bus lanes etc. Coz that isn’t normal and just plain dangerous.
Do you need to be driving in the city?
I live in the bush, few years ago I had to drive myself to Brisbane City to see a specialist when I injured my hand. Never driven in the city before so I was way out of my league especially driving an old manual Falcon ute with a heavy clutch one-handed. First go I ended up in a bus lane which I have never seen before but after that I had no problems apart from all the stop/start changing gears one-handed. Only thing I suggest is get out there and give it a crack, you'll get used to it. Used an old TomTom for navigation which did ok, it only struggled with the tunnels.
I recommend getting out of the car and using a bus observing how the bus driver works it
As someone who used to drive a lot for work, Brisbane isn’t easy to get around. There’s a real lack of signage, there’s lots of one way roads and split streets, the hilly and difficult terrain and lack of river crossings also make it difficult as well as the roads just meander along to follow the topography rather than go directly where they need to go. On the other hand, Brisbane isn’t as big as Sydney or Melbourne, so it’s easier to remember where you’re going, simply because there’s less of it
The signage is terrible and the roads are so difficult to navigate that it's a struggle to get useful directions even from specifically designed GPS navigation tools here. It's not you.
I’ve never gone down a bus lane etc but if you’re a nervous driver then look at google maps and look at where you normally travel to in the city to have another way to learn on where to go and you can become more aware of your route such as when to change lanes etc.
It's not just you. I swear all the roads in this city are just paved creeks and snake trails. No road engineer in a century has stopped and said "huh, maybe we should have a straight line with no elevation for more than 300 metres."
Best tip for the city I got is majority of horizontal roads are queen’s names and cross running roads are king’s names. Eg. The corner of Elizabeth St and Edward St.
Not stupid, I was the same. It takes a bit to remember and get used to but you do get used to it
I consider myself advanced and still took me 3 years to understand
Your GPS shouldn't be leading you astray in regards to incorrect turns into one way streets, but the changes to traffic flow and lanes in the CBD, especially Edward and Ann Streets in the last year or so is beyond a joke. The CBD is difficult to navigate at first or if you don't go in on a regular basis. Some general tips that might help. The city council has deliberately made Adelaide Street bus friendly/private vehicle unfriendly and many bus drivers use it like it is their private road. Most of the longer straight streets are 1 way so watch out for which way cross traffic is flowing. It's the shorter or bendy streets that tend to be 2 way. Streets named after Kings flow from 'Garden to Garden' (City botanical gardens to Roma Street Parklands) Streets named after Queens flow from 'river to river' (Kangaroo point bend to Southbank) Keep an eye out for the overhead lane guidance like in George Street for the left turns into the last part of Ann Street or the line markings on the road like at the Valley end of Adelaide Street for the right turn into the Valley/Story bridge tunnel. It can be helpful to avoid the left lane until you have passed the last intersection prior to any turn you want to make to the left. Go into the city on a Sunday, especially early in the morning just for a drive to familiarise yourself with the streets while it less congested.
I’ve been driving here for about 30 years and I still forget which lane to get into, especially on the airport/ICB and Clem7!
Drive slower. Take note of where others are going and not going. Take time to read the signs. Be the turtle, not the rabbit. I'm a motorbike rider, so it pains me to say the aforementioned - but if I wasn't familiar and certain in my riding, I'd be dead. Until you're familiar and certain, be the turtle.
Getting lost is normal if you’re not familiar with the city. Going up one way streets and blocking entrances is not, genuine question but is your eyesight ok? I ask because when I first got my licence I needed to get glasses to be able to properly read street signs at a distance.
Do you mean the actual city (like the inner city - Brisbane considers the “city” to generally be the part of the city once you go over the bridges from South Brisbane, any exit that you take off the Captain Cook, and the similar entry from Corro drive including North Quay; all this area from Roma street, to Riverside/Eagle Street Pier, to QUT.) Most Brisbanites don’t drive in the city unless forced. I don’t hate it, but only do it on weekends when the traffic is marginally better. In terms of how to learn the city: most of us walk it before we drive it which helps. Much of the Brisbane traffic system assumes you know where you’re going and you know how to get there. Most new people moving here (we moved here 30 years ago) struggle for at least a few years. The city is full of twists and turns and bad signage. My advice? Take the bus. We do.
Oh it is the worst.... atm at night especially, so many road works that make the one way streets an absolute nightmare unless you know them all and plan accordingly. But the city is not something I like to drive through if I can help it, and a lot of people ive met refuse to for the sheer stress involved. (So darn stressful) Lot of unexpected turns that you only realize last minute your now in the wrong lane and about to get stuck going in the wrong direction in a massive detour. Never attempt to drive in the city if your in a bit of a hurry, it will shave years off your life.
If you can, drive through during the night, after 10pm. Just an exploration drive. There are roadworks in some spots at the moment, so that might make things tricky, but there will be less traffic on the road. Some Brisbane drivers are really unco-operative in the city during the day, so it's easier to become more confident and make speedier manoeuvres if you can practice finding your way around off-peak, first.
This is why I refuse to drive in the city, I’d rather park on the Southside and catch a bus. Although I make the exception for late night driving
It's not you. Brisbane - and Brisbane's roads - seem to be designed by a LNP stooge hellbent on making life as difficult for people here as possible...
Waze is probably the best app for navigation. It has SOME lane assist features (not always) and will often warn you to turn right from the second from the right turn lane etc. it's not perfect, but as a newer driver to Brisbane, it does the job fairly well, and will re route around a missed turn etc It's got warnings for bus lanes, will route you around traffic & accidents (if it has enough time) and will warm you off speed camera's and speed limits.
One thing I did when I taught my son to drive was to take him down to the cbd and work on one way streets etc. at night when there was no traffic so he could become familiar with the signs and arrows IRL without worrying about the gridlock around him.
I never use Google maps anymore I found Waze to be a better driving app for Brissy. Except for when you go into any of the tunnels or around the Northside on the motorway-all gps apps struggle there for me. I actually find driving in Bris so much nicer than Melbourne though. I’ve only lived here for about 4 years but got it down-lived in Melbourne for 10 and still never figured that city out!
You're not stupid. When I moved here over 10 years ago I was constantly doing the same thing. I don't own a car at the moment because I don't need one, but living in a lot of different areas of Brisbane has given me good spatial awareness. When I do drive now (normally an airport run so a friend can park their car at my place) I am generally pretty comfortable though I still avoid the CBD like the plague (which is difficult because I live nearby). You will get it once you get used to the city, it just takes time.
It’s normal. If you’re using Google Maps in your car, change to Waze, it is much better at showing you the correct lane to be in and where to turn. As others have said, sometimes you need to get in the queue 500 metres early or you will be shut out of your turn. The best example is the Riverside Expressway, if you want to continue north along it and go onto the Inner City Bypass — just stay in the second from right lane the whole way, don’t try to be clever or people will speed up to cut you off.
I cried last week. Got lost and ended up going through the tunnel to other side of town. Never drove city at all. My original destination is 15 minutes away Took me 40 and pulling over and crying.
Haha you’ve just described my first year in Brisbane ! I’ve got the hang of it now but it’s by far one of the worst cities I’ve driven in for this. I think it’s bad signage and or roads that aren’t designed intuitively
I've always thought the CBD was designed by a drunk and the engineers just went with it
check you GPS navigator isn’t on the pedestrian setting
guys please…………….. it’s really not that hard 😭
People hate driving in the CBD, there’s no real “trick” to it you just eventually learn or you avoid it at all costs. Some find it especially stressful which is honestly ok it’s a very high pressure environment. Try not to let it get to you, ignore the beeps and focus on what you’re doing and where you’re going. Generally stay at low speed and don’t try and “recover” from missed directions halfway through, just go around the block and try again
I remember getting confused as well, but now I have specific places I drive to so I know the routes and when to go into which lane ahead of time. Over time your brain will pickup the patterns and it will start making sense! You got this.
If you use google maps you can change the settings to give you more information and more instructions. I need that because telling me a turn is in 400m means nothing but telling me my turn is coming up in 400, be in the second from right lane, coming up in 200, turn now, kind of helps a bit.
Brisbane is absolutely dogshit to drive in and around.
International license?
Sounds like a normal day for me, and I've lived here for 5yrs! 😆
Getting lost is one thing, the inability to follow road rules is another. There are plenty of driving schools in Brisbane, I suggest you book yourself some lessons.
Bus lanes and one way streets are marked as such. I am therefore suggesting you're unable to drive and ought recuse yourself. There's "getting lost". Misreading a road condition isn't that. Or this is a troll post in which Forrest Gump said it best.
Not normal but also it’s worth thinking about why, I think you might suffer from a bit of anxiety which can be triggered when going into the city etc. I don’t mind driving through the city at all, I’ve driven up the wrong way once as the road I was on is 1 way 1 street over. I laughed it off when I realised and quickly reversed back a few meters. I noted this and haven’t done it since. I think it’s just worth doing the speed limit and trying to have some calm music on or something that relaxes you. If you keep going into bus ways, down one way streets and going into no entry zones that much it could be best you avoid driving in the city for your safety and others. Edit: bus only lanes are nothing to stress about! Try avoid them but it’s not the end of the world and don’t stress about it, just try and remember for next time :)
Stop Driving. Catch the bus. Duh.
Everything is very well signed. Try playing the, "what was the last sign?" Game. Like you're a learner.
Bro look at the signs and don’t listen to the gps ffs. Like seriously how hard is it to take notice and not rely on technology.
happens to everyone mate. you're not stupid. make the mistakes and learn, familiarise and do better next time. CBD can be anxiety inducing if you're new. takes time.
Bit of both
If you're unsure of any parts on the route, use google street view to orientate yourself with where you come from and where you're going to...
It’s not just you. I realized recently that Brisbane roads compared to Sydney roads are more complex (but they’re clever). Any city other than Sydney I’m assuming has the opportunity to have roads / highways that are more planned out. I figure it takes a while to get to know the key roads / tunnels / turn offs here but once you know them you’ll appreciate them. One thing I find that is strange is when lanes merge, sometimes there’s absolutely no sign to warn you. And people are less inclined to use indicators, and when they do, it’s very last minute.
Don't use a GPS, it's not helpful in the city. Just map out the journey on the computer at home and then do the drive from memory. I never use GPS. It's more annoying than it is helpful and it takes you much longer to get your bearings in a new city.
Do what you can to get familiar with the city and valley areas and otherwise drive to new areas during the day. It's more difficult in bad weather and at night. Brisbane has a lot of roads which are two or three lane during the weekdays but permit parking in the left hand lane at night/weekends.
Apple Maps tends to be a little better before you start your journey and in showing you what lane to be in. About 9 times out of 10 it’s pretty good. However, it’s absolute HORSE SHIT once you start driving and you need to navigate to somewhere else. Really gotta plug in the right address before you start, otherwise asking it to go to McDonald’s Jindalee will, and I’m not kidding, set a route to some business somewhere in Western Australia. Also: don’t touch your mobile while driving. $1000 fine
It took me a year after moving to Brisbane and driving through the cbd often to make decent sense of it.
Truck driver here! Get the waze app best navigation for around Brisbane.
Use Waze. In Brisbane one street will travel in every direction known to man
I used to just follow all the one way signs til I eventually stumbled across the parking tower.
Yes I’ve moved to and learned multiple other cities including Sydney and Melbourne and never gotten lost as much as I do in Brisbane. The signage is atrocious and the road designs are really challenging for google maps which doesn’t give accurate lane info! It’s a really confusing city, it’s not just you
My advice would be to get off the road and stay off the road
What's to be confused about 🫠 https://preview.redd.it/0azku70ru14d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99ae0b2a53c8a11fa679febabac768040a2c8ab2
The app doesn’t differentiate between exits 120A and 120B on the gateway at Bracken Ridge. I’ve been caught out !!!
When I was new to the area, my gps had me turn down this narrow ramp thing near Roma street. I done three full laps of the underground bus only network until I could find a way out! Shit was fucked!! Thought I’d get a mailed fine, but didn’t. But I now park outside of cbd to ease my anxiety.
Totally normal. I lost count of the times I took the wrong exit at those 'intercity bypasses'... And yes, I obviously had GPS. It'll get better once you get more familiar with these roads. :)
It's normal.
One thing I learned about Brisbane many years ago which certainly has helped me understand the streets better: all male/men/king/prince names run north/south, with all female/women/queen/princess names running east/west. With having that knowledge of the grid of the CBD, everything started to click a lot easier in town. Plus, with more and more of the streets becoming one way, the CBD is mostly loops. Otherwise, after a few trips you’ll be a natural before you know it 🤘
You’re not alone. Just takes getting used to. Your GPS should be steering you right though so not sure what’s going on there. If in doubt just go slow and follow traffic - if there’s a free lane next to a long queue, don’t be tempted - there’ll be a reason people are avoiding it
My advice, dont drive in the city lol. You do get use to it after awhile learn which lanes and everything you need but honestly it just was way to chaotic for me.
I have lived in Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane and Brisbane is the hardest city out of all three to navigate.
There is no substitute for knowing the road. This is one of the most confusing cities to drive in. Watch out for the Clem 7, you won't be able to get out of it and will end up on the wrong side of the city. But even just picking which lane to be in when you have a left or right turn coming up immediately afterwards is a headspin. Google maps has improved a lot since I started driving. I used to go the wrong way down one way streets frequently. The CBD is the worst but it's all bad tbh. My tips: 1. Turn the sound off on Google maps and just look at the picture. It's annoying how it ducks your music anyway. There's arrows indicating which lane to be in. Sometimes they're wrong but usually helpful. 2. Allow an extra 15 minutes on what Google says if you've never been there before or it's peak hour traffic. 3. Keep using Google maps until you have the route memorised. Don't be ashamed to use it all the time. 4. Never use apple maps. Literally every time my friend is late to the function, it's because they used Apple maps.
You can control if. It dulls music.
Yeah it ducks the volume but I prefer to change the setting so there's no voice interrupting
Stop driving in the city. No idea why you would even need to?
Pay attention to the route and exit numbers on your gps and the road signs, rather than just relying on the visual of the map. There's definitely a number or road signs that are not in very ideal location v. the exit they are for though.
I think it would help to do couple of things: 1. Walking around the city helps make sense of somethings like how female names flow one direction and male names on the other… see how eagle street, Howard smith wharf etc works. There are many confusing bits around. City made more sense when I worked there and walked around at lunch. Plus there’s construction for major projects unfolding so road closures are hard to work out if you don’t know. 2. It helps to familiarise how to get in and out of the city. There’s 3-4 ways to get out from south bank end. For a while, I trained myself to just get to QUT then get to pacific motorway from there. It was the least confusing path for me. Then you can take a challenge with Ann St (as others pointed out, you gotta go left to go right… jezus). If you heading to west end, you have to learn the Roma street / goodwill part. Story bridge side has a few ways in and out too. I would really just pick one and always go there. For many years, I didn’t know how to even get to the tunnel to get on to the bridge. Just used the valley way. Entry is the same… I always enter on turbot or story bridge paths. They make more sense and it is easy to split out to the right spot from there. I would avoid the middle of the city if possible. Always go to an end then follow something like eagle street to QUT then out. Depends where you live of course.
Saw the title and said "Good fucking luck, mate."
Also Brisbane is allergic to street signs. You have to basically be already committed to your turn waaaay before the street sign lets you know you have the right street. Also allergic to labelling exits and motorways consistently. It took me awhile to figure out clem7, Ipswich motorway, m7, and airport link tunnel were all names for basically the same road at different points, so I was on the right path even if the name on the sign was different to my gps. My usual exit from airport link says Stafford/Everton park, IM NOT GOING TO STAFFORD OR EVERTON PARK. That exit actually comes out at Kedron/Gordon park. I don’t really know my way around Brisbane and how the suburbs are connected because I grew up catching public transport. The suburbs where the big shopping centres were in the 90s, and the Caboolture Beenleigh lines are pretty much the only suburbs I know. My mental map of south east qld is toombul-chermside-southbank-carindale-grand plaza-hyperdome-pacific fair.
Lots of great advice in here. I remember being new to the city too 14 years ago. Was confusing. Sunday afternoons and evening in the city is dead quiet. If you can, do some drives around your route/s when it’s hella quiet
I left Brisbane just before the tunnels and bus crap were built and returned just after, it was a completely different city and much harder to navigate. It was originally just a series of main roads that intersected at the valley and city that would take you where you wanted to go.
The only way I’ve ever navigated the Brisbane CBD successfully is the ⬆️kings ➡️queens rule and if you hit the botanical gardens you’ve gone too far. It really is a shit city to navigate. I’m sorry but it just takes time to get a mental mud map. I find mobile maps just make it worse because the council changes its mind on busways and lanes every 3 months.
It's normal. With your GPS though, make sure to look at the arrows. I prefer waze over g maps because it does this better but it helps me to take the correct lane probably 95% of the time.
I didn't know that either, will have to try it, thanks
I too am fairly new to driving the Brisbane city roads, it’s hectic on a quiet day. I struggled with judging my distance for example “in 300m turn left”, I’d usually take the turn too early 🤦♀️ or tooo late. You could try the Waze app, very seldom do I use Google maps as I’ve found myself using the wrong lane and missing many turn offs adding ample unnecessary time on the trip. Waze also informs you of potholes, cars that have pulled over, traffic congestion, and many other useful information. You can also save routes you’ve been on. Hope this helps! Give yourself sometime, you will get there! All the best!
No it is not normal! It’s a reflection of your driving skill and reading ability since everything is clearly marked. But it is common.
A better gps helps, Most I built car ones or even the old navmans are useless, unless recently updated. Waze or Google maps are brilliant. Waze is super clear on how to get around. Plus practice. Try to go late at night with much less traffic to get used to using the gps and just driving around.
If you can't follow clearly marked road signs I ask you in the interest of public safety to stay off our roads
This is no reflection upon you, but... There are some people that should have never been handed a drivers licence in the first place. I realise that not everyone has the same skill set. But some people do not have the reactions, mind set, decision making skills or common sense to be able to operate a motorised vehicle in a safe manner. The licensing system needs to recalibrated to weed these people out so as to make it safer for other drivers.
Yeah sorry mate you're just stupid PM me your credit card details and I'll look after your finances for you so you can stick to stuff more your intellect level (like colouring books).