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I've never understood people's need to stop traffic in one lane simply so they can change lanes.
I've never understood people's need to stop traffic in one lane simply so they can change lanes.
You missed my point. I was referring to the situation of someone camped in your blind spot. That assumes similar speeds. Sometimes it's a matter of needing to move left to pass a slower car... ability to speed up is a bit limited there. And there have been times when the BSC/LLC will speed up to disallow the lane change, but not complete the pass.
I try to keep moving at a consistent speed as much as traffic conditions allow. But too often people take that as an affront, and feel the need to race for the open spot.
The drive home, not so nice. Started off with a woman in an Odyssey trying to turn left out of a parking lot, onto a busy street, where she wanted the far right turn lane (across 4 lanes). She couldn't do it cleanly, so she just pulled out and blocked a couple lanes. Then got behind an Outback merging onto a highway - I stayed right as I was exiting immediately, Outback merges left at the typical 43mph, I move by on the right, Subiedouche leans over and gives me the finger :confuse: ...typical passive-aggressive faux outdoorsman. Not long after, several cars ahead saw a rental T&C make a right turn from the left lane, onto a street I'd also be choosing. I scoot by on the left going about 45 in a 40, he was going maybe 25 (seriously) But by the time I was a few seconds past, he had sped up and was pacing me at about 50, genius. He later dropped back again and vanished. Also saw an older woman in a MDX following way too far behind traffic, being passed on the right, and a tiny girl in a Versa who required a honk to get moving on green.
Then while on foot, encountered a newbie looking crosswalk crowder woman in a Maxima, phone yapping light running airhead in a big late model Suburban, smarmy greybeard crosswalk crowder light runner in an SL55, and a texting Jetta driving princess who only moved on green when I yelled and motioned at her from the sidewalk.
It sure is good licenses are so easy to get/buy.
Yeah, well that is an ordinary woman driver of an Ody. Too bad you can't be in our area. Most Mercedes Bens drivers would be left far behind by my wife driving one of her vehicles, an Ody. What I see in Mercedes cars is mostly "seasoned" citizen drivers, and, sometimes blocking the road.
I remember several years ago on I5, seeing a late model S-class in the middle-left lane, going about 20 under the flow of traffic. Little old man driving.
The worst ones I have seen (going strictly anecdotally, and maybe it's skewed because if you see a brand rarely enough, it only takes a couple to make you think they all drive that way) have been Audis.
Although the last two people that came really close to killing me were in a Chrysler 300 and a Cadillac.
Funny that yesterday's commute was torture, today's was a breeze - no real complaints at all. On foot, no crosswalk crowders, but did seem to notice a lot of phone yappers - once again most likely to be in large (and more dangerous to others) vehicles.
1. Toyota Corolla Sport model on a curvy windy road coming back from Julian towards San Diego. Upper middle almost old aged man kept up an EXCELLENT pace considering his vehicle for a fun weekend twisty run.
2. BMW 3 Series on a road going up towards Julian from San Diego. I think it might have been a lady and she kept a very good pace on a fun twisty road.
3. Lotus - Had to go almost all out to keep up with this guy, fun times on the best back roads near Palomar Mountain in Southern California.
4. Driver over a decade ago in a Mustang that moved forward and over a bit when he realized traffic was coming to a stop for no reason on the freeway and the guy behind him might have taken his eyes off the road for a second or two overtaxing his '03 Accord's meager brakes. The extra car space worked wonders to avoid a minor fender bender.
Nothing really bad on the drive today, but was annoyed by an airhead in a Lexus RX who slowed way down a block before her turn, and then turned at ~3mph. Also saw a woman in a 2010+ S-class, going around a blind corner, fast, wobbly, no visible signal, leaned over into the passenger seat - maybe she spilled her Starbucks. And I want to ride a motorcycle around these simps?
You could also try flashing your high beams a couple of hundred times.
That will teach them a lesson.
I favor cattle-catchers mounted on the front of cars; that way, should someone not recognize the 'slower traffic keep right' ideal... one can simply ram the offending driver off the road (given an appropriate warning, such as a flash of the high-beams, and time to respond).
You'd quickly see the errant behavior end, as there would actually *BE* repercussions for doing so. Much in the same way that speeders are pulled over by police, ticketed, and points assessed on their record.
I was out today, got behind a couple of women in an early 00s STS - so slow. I had to honk to get them to exceed 20. Going downhill, would hit the brakes when they got within 5 of the limit. Would tap the brakes everytime an oncoming car passed by. And the driver didn't even appear to be very old, nor a newbie. Finally turned - signaled two blocks beforehand before rounding the corner at 4mph. Seriously. Why are people like this?
Well, you can start by firing their driving instructor, and firing their DMV driver's license tester.
Their trainer should have taught them better, and the driver's license test should fail such shenanigans.
Speaking of which, doesn't the DMW usually only require teenagers to spend just 6 hours driving with an instructor in the vehicle? If your an adult suddenly learning how to drive correctly is no longer important and zero hours are required I believe. All you have to do is get lucky and make 25 good guesses on a multiple choice exam, and avoid breaking any obvious laws during a 5 minute drive around the block.
And that's right, IIRC at 18, one can simply pass the written and 15 minute driving test, and that's it - you're free to drive an Accent or a Veyron or a 42ft behemoth motorhome. It at least needs to be as difficult as getting a motorcycle endorsement. Those are also privatized now, but from the motorcycle instructors I have met, they won't just pass someone for the hell of it.
That costs the family another $100 to retest, most of which goes in the tester's pocket. Quite the scam and it really hurts the family when you live in a place where there's no good jobs.
My neighbor is retired DMV; back in his day he'd ask the parents if their kid could drive (everybody knows everybody). If Dad say yes, the kid would get the license - no test.
I've mentioned this before, but I sent my son to the two day teen school at the BMW Performance Center as well as to the BMW CCA Foundation's one day Street Survival course(which let him experience how his own car handled in extreme situations). The Street Survival course is a huge bargain at just $75.
Kids here always seem to flunk at least the first test and often the second, and often for no rhyme or reason.
My son flunked the first time because he bumped one of the cones in the parallel parking test. That's totally understandable; hundreds of kids die every year while attempting that dangerous procedure...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
You owe me a keyboard...mine has coffee on it now...
I looked, gauged the oncoming Honda to be far enough away in a 45 mph construction zone and accelerated. But not full throttle which would have wound rapidly through my lower 2 gears and had me moving.
I didn't realize that the uphill slope would cut my acceleration along with the AC compressor that was on low volume. So the oncoming Element had to slow down for me as I was doing about 40 by the time he caught up to me. I didn't accelerate full throttle at first underestimating the slope AND I didn't accelerate at first enough to cut off the AC with the throttle position.
The Element tailgated me at 5 feet behind up over the top of the overpass and down the other side at 45 mph. The speed limit of the road was 50 in that area normally. If I'd been in my 98 leSabre, I might have had to brake for a dog or cat on the road, but I'm not ready to trade this 03 leSabre.
So I was the inconsiderate boob who didn't just wait. But I decided I was no longer the problem and the tailgating Element was the problem. Of course he zoomed around me since I was only doing 50 in the high semi traffic zone at the I-70 service area. The driver was doing nothing to mitigate the effects of my driving error.
You really don't want to tailgate someone with the company name on the doors of your company vehicle. Maybe he thought gray hair meant I wouldn't be able to see the sign. But I've spent lots of money from me and Mediscare getting new eyes last summer. I called his company asking what this guy's problem was other than I slowed him down by about 10 seconds in his arrival to the I-70 ramp to Columbus from London. I admonished the manager about how that kind of driving appears to the general public and how I really would like to have a replacement car for my 98 leSabre and I wished I had been driving it. I believe I also mentioned road rage as an adjective for the 5-foot tailgating.
I was inconsiderate. I am a recovering inconsiderate driver. This is the first step of the 12-step process.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The at fault trucker was hemned in by another Southbound trucker traveling adjacently. IMO, the other trucker pinning the Canadian truck to the outside lane is most inconsiderate.
Yet, the Canadian trucker should have slowed down on approach to the bridge and given himself enough time to occupy the center lane of the two lanes going his way.
Always look out for the truckers & yield to them for safety.
I see the wink icon, but I have to respond to the other meaning of that statement.
For a few years here in this greater area we had signs up showing that the car driver should not cut in front of truck after passing. They had to go out an unknown greater distance before moving back into the lane in front of the semi.
In Kentucky, they even ran (run now) public service commercials from the highway department to not cut in front of trucks because it causes them to get into accidents. The signs have disappeared from where I used to see them on I-75 in Ohio. I don't know if KY still has the signs. \
But why is it okay for truckers to cut in front of cars with as little as 8 feet spare before they wag their trailer back over, but cars cutting over with much greater distances to spare in front of trucks causes accidents? Gimmeabreak.
In KY they actually used a distance radar in a trap truck to measure how closely autos pulled over in front of the truck and then gave them tickets.
I give truckers courtesy and about 60% respond. I find FedEx semis and dual trailer drivers to be very good drivers in this part of Ohio. We have a terminal near I-70 and I-75 junction, so there are a lot of them.
As for the I-5 semi driver: that's why God invented brakes--he should have stopped instead of entering the bridge. However, I find a few of the semi drivers traveling resist using their brakes to slow down for anything, even when they are exceeding the speed limit by 5 mph.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Why would anyone brake to slow down by 5 mph?!? Just take your foot of the gas pedal and gently coast slower.
Brakes are meant for stopping... killing speed to avoid accidents, collisions, and to keep oneself from flying off the road, *NOT* for the minute by minute regulation of your cruising speed!!!
:mad: :mad: :mad:
Everytime I see drivers like this (tapping their brakes every 30 seconds or so), or those that comment in the same vein... all I can think of is a scene from Happy Gilmore.
Happy Gilmore - Just Tap it in...
Locally, I think turn signals have gone away for the holiday weekend. Some appalling driving out there yesterday and today - random unsignalled turns and turns from the wrong lane galore. I also notice the city has put up a sign at a major intersection reminding free-turners that the U-turn lane on the cross street has the right of way when the free turn lane has red. I've seen many a close call there, esp by the new to motoring set who we so dearly need.
Got to use the horn yesterday, couldn't hold it in. Stuck behind a Camry going 25 in a 35, crawling, then at the last second gets into a turn lane with no signal. I hit the horn, driver glares at me. If only I had a car-to-car missile launcher.
Also lots of stupid light sequencing, as city traffic volumes are light for the long weekend. I saw a late model Jag XK stop and go on a red, bravo, someone else who is fed up with the negligent "engineering" of local traffic controls.
The truck I drive at work has engine braking (aka 'Jake Brake') - if it's activated, and you take your foot off the gas to decelerate, it triggers the brake lights. Might be what's happening with the trucks in your example as well.
That doesn't even make sense in rereading of my post. The word "tapping" is not mentioned. Too much caffeine?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Got on an interstate under reconstruction yesterday afternoon to go east. Had considered an alternative route but decided to take a chance on getting on the interstate and usual heavy Sunday/holiday traffic. Two lanes each way with trucks, semis required to use left lane.
On the ramp and just before merge noticed a huge, huge backup of vehicles from the west, which would be behind me. Merged into the right lane just behind a black limo with livery license plate. A semi was next to me in left lane and another semi just in front of him.
For next 8 miles, 8 MILES, the semi drivers and the limo driver drove exactly the construction zone speed limit. Safe and legal drivers no doubt. With the limo driver exactly placing the rear of his/her car at the front bumper of the trailing semi, for 8 MILES. Noticed no traffic, vehicles in front of this blocking trio. Finally, the construction situation changed a little and allowed getting around both the limo and each semi.
Do brakes really "fail" that often anymore? My money's on a cell phone.
anyway, parked in front of his apartment (on the uphill side) a bit behind an old saturn wagon. Come out about an hour later, to find the saturn mushed up against my front bumper. turns out, the girl in front of that car (with a 2007 Milan) tried to get out of her parking spot, and managed to back into the Saturn hard enough to wrench it sideways and push it into my car (wife's 7 MO RDX).
thankfully, looked like it only bent my license plate and did not other damage (there is a little pod that sticks out to hold the front plate). So, pretty much no big deal. I back the car up as far as I can and we go out to dinner.
When I get back and am loading the car, the girl that owns the Saturn comes back, and I explain what happened to her (there was a card on her windshield from the cop that wrote up the report). But, it has a stick and as she was trying to pull out, she was so bad at it that she managed to back into me again. Same spot, more damage to plate. So, I back up in front of the driveway to get out of her way, determine that there was no additional damage, and she finally manages to roar out into the road.
it was a long, long day.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
His advice to me tonight? Drive fast so no one can hit you from behind.
Not a good weekend for cars, but major congrats to your kiddo!
By saying that you have a "few semi drivers that resist using their brakes to slow down for anything, even when they are exceeding the speed limit by 5 mph"... then the converse is that most semi drivers DO use their brakes to slow down for anything, even when they are exceeding the speed limit by 5 mph.
That's what got my goat.
How can you say there are no good jobs there? It sounds like being a driver's license examiner around those parts is a good job.
Had to drive on my nemesis highway yesterday, the 401 in Ontario. Luckily I only had to go a mile to cut over to another road. The news last night was all about the complete blockage of the 401 east of Toronto due to an accident. My general impression of Ontario drivers hasn't improved any over the years; lots of speeders and tailgaters that belies the "polite" Canadians rubic.
Oh, did see a Range Rover Sport pull out of a Whole Foods parking lot (naturally) and block 2 lanes of traffic trying to get into a desired turn lane. It received several well deserved honks. Never a cop around that place...
also i bet you have noticed how the traffic flow opens up after the Left Lane Controllers have been given the prescribed treatment.
For the ones that will just stay behind you in the left lane, you can just stay ahead of them at minimum highway speed 45 mph, until all the bigrigs and normal drivers have passed on the right. expect cheers from them, but some may be confused and flip you off!
the prescribed LLC treatments provoke the exact results you mention in the northeast too. indeed a certain percentage of LLCs are the ones who try to pass on the right at 99 mph, to then go 55 in the left lane again if they can cut back to left lane. they really love the left lane more than life itself!
btw, have you noticed that Priuses seem to be MLCs more than LLCs ? MLCs are not egregiously bad as LLCs, but they can be annoying iimpediments to normal traffic/drivers too!
good luck to LLCs trying to avoid Newtonian physics when LLCing a larger or faster vehicle.
years ago friend of mine with 99 suburban diesel was LLCed and brake-checked by a car driver ahead of him. significant crash resulted. no damage to suburban or suburban-driver.
This does nothing initially to cure the traffic blockage caused by the LLCers and may make it worse... But sometimes it results in the LLCer realizing that following the rules and moving right is their best move.
Lot of whining for 4.3 minutes
Yes, what is 4 minutes in the big scheme of things. So, if a commute on an interstate were 24 miles, then it would only be 12 minutes more. Not really that much when compared to 24 hours in a day. Think of all of the lives saved if all interstates had a 45 mph speed limit.
I'm laughing because the construction zone speed is set for a reason. Going 75 through the zone is not safe or they would have the limit at 75 mph.
I laugh because during our Road Trip starting Monday, I saw several police cars watching in construction zones here in Ohio. I saw 3 OSP units with stopped vehicles, all from Michigan, who apparently thought the 55 speed limit did not apply to them in construction on a legal holiday in Ohio.
Those few minutes for a miles-long construction slower speed are trivial in terms of your whole trip. We had more time wasted by the DOT in Ohio which had been doing temp construction at an overpass and had lanes down to 1 with a huge backup on Wednesday. Signs still out and after 10-14 miles of slow then 30-40 mph, there are no workers. Just two trucks with workers/supervisors chatting on one side of interstate--but the signs were still left out to form one lane. They should have taken down signs both directions and then had their chat to kill time before heading back to clock in.
Now that's inconsiderate. I think every truck in Michigan and Canada was heading south through that backup--more trucks than passenger cars.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
and your idea reminds me of a story. My boss of some years back commuted on 95/295 from PA to NJ, and tended to drive quickly. one stretch is about 5 lanes wide, and one day he comes up to a LLC convention, essentially a rolling roadblock, in the 4 left lanes.
so, being in a hurry, he moves to the far right and passes (I think he had a Bullit mustang at the time).
Yup, next thing you know a cop is pulling him over. that LLCs were a police trap, just trying to sucker someone into passing in the right hand lane. And I guess go over the SL, since I think the cops were right at it.
talk about a waste of taxpayer $ and time/effort that I am sure could have been better spent elsewhere.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Funny thing about the unmanned construction zones though - HUGE problem in Europe, worse than in the US.