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I survive using quick acceleration to do everything. Get it done and get out of there. I have no time or inclination to punish stupid drivers. LL parker? ZOOM. I'm around you and outta there.
I find that "planning ahead" constantly is a great way to deal with CA traffic. Having a small fast car is very handy for me. If I waited politely to be allowed to move over 3 lanes to an exit, I'd still be out there heading to Mexico.
Coupled with the crumbling infrastructure of the nation's highways, a day on the freeway can be a pretty wild ride. Lane changing at 75 mph between two huge SUVs while going over potholes and trying to hole shoot an exit---no wonder 5 pm is cocktail hour at the Shiftright manor.
I moved up from Silicon Valley area over 20 years ago. Took me several years to learn to allow for the antics that I see most every day. Down where I came from, if you drove like these people up here, you'd be dead in about 3 minutes...
The rain panic really amuses me. Although this area isn't a leader in rain volume, it is in rain duration - lots of rainy hours and days. One would think they could adjust to it, become accustomed. Nope. Rain is freak out time, commutes double and triple in length, and crawling along at 20 under, in fear, is the thing to do. 2-handed deathgrip on the top of that Prius or beige crosssovervan steering wheel, wipers going full speed in a drizzle, well below the limit with a line behind.
The Sandman
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
How fast do you want to be going when you lose control?
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
http://youtu.be/5XdohA-4tQ0
Perfect. Even the cars are right - could be anywhere from Portland to Bellingham.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
The timid scaredy cat motorist who slams on the brakes when a raindrop hits the windshield is a dangerous obstruction, and should call a cab or find someone else to drive him.
Speed limits are designed for the lowest common denominator and for revenue creation as well as supposedly "optimin" conditions.
And highway-1/big-sur/nepenthe (scenic but not 'fun', due to strong fear of driving within inches of cliffs.)
silicon valley driving is not exactly like LA driving but has a bunch in common. the lane-splitting motorcycles greatly annoyed my better-half on "the 101" as well as on the street with the funniest name of all: "the El Camino".
Out this morning, early before the rush, heading down a 40mph arterial at roughly the speed limit, Accent makes an idiotic free turn and pulls out in front of me, even though nobody is behind me for the line of sight. I am only minorly annoyed, change lanes, speed up a little to go around. Accent keeps accelerating in my blind spot, up to about 50, but once I am ahead a little, it drops back and never speeds up again. A few minutes later, a Civic makes a similarly dumb turn in front of me - that one was rewarded with high beams.
This is actually a normal thing here, just been awhile since I've whined. I am seriously going to look at hardwiring a dash cam into my next car, then time to create a youtube channel.
I was just about to say that you have had a really good stretch! But, no such luck. LOL
Oh yeah, yesterday I got behind a late model M3 with working turn signals - that's equivalent to 10 considerate drivers in normal cars.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
LLC = stump is a good one. Also like a pylon.
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the best optimization i've found for east-coast interstate driving is to use reverse lane-discipline when outside urban/dense areas:
right lane is the fast lane: up to 24.9 mph above posted limit
middle lane cruising/bigrig/MLC lane, up to 9 to 19 mph over posted limit
left lane is the LLC/slowest lane: up to 9 mph over posted limit
Also disturbing is the increasing number of people who drive with non-functioning head/tail/brake-lights. Seems to be almost as bad as all the cars sold without turn signals.
Today's sightings, both of which scream "Bellevue". First, middle aged woman in an ML350, turning right from a straight only lane, phone to her ear - but she signaled. Which is more than one can say for the younger guy in an F30 3er who made a typical-for-the-brand aggressive swerve across 3 lanes with no signal.
Is this the illusion of immortality at work?
I'm turning left in a dedicated left turn lane---there are actually two dedicated left turns lanes. So I'm in the inner, and a jacked-up Toyota pickup is in the outer (you can already tell where this is going, right)?
So we both make the turn---naturally I am in a Mini that corners pretty well and the Toyota, being on the outside, has a longer way to go and, no doubt, a harder steering effort.
So the two turn lanes merge into one about 50 yards after the turn.
The truck is, of course, behind me...but speeds up, tries to push me aside and squeeze in--naturally I brake-- he darts in, gives me the finger--both from the driver's window---THEN open the back window, while driving, to give me the finger again.
I'm laughing and shaking my head the whole time. I wave him ahead "okay, okay, you win Rugged 4WD dude!"
Today, Mazda with an air dam on the trunk uses the left turn lanes only ramp off the interstate,
then at the end of the line cuts into the right turn lane. The right turn lane is backed up a quarter mile onto the interstate. This is at lunchtime, so it probably was someone wanting to get to the many restaurants and carryout places on the strip next to the interstate.
Got the Chick-Fil-A and it has entry off an access street behind the store. People line up in the direction that comes from the east to make a left turn across the alley into drive-thru. A car from the west somehow ends up making a turn in front of the cars from the east and is sitting block both lanes of the "street" for 3-4 minutes until the drive-thru line moves again. Brand of car? A Mazda that's a few years old just like the one on the interstate ramp.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Driving the Forester is like "E-Z" mode, as none of this stuff occurs (well, quite rarely, anyway) when I'm in that car.
I'm disappointed that you yielded your ROW to this guy, though. You're just enabling that ludicrous behavior!
I was reading the other day about the old guy up in Napa who got so enraged by a bicyclist he chased the bike through a parking lot and ran him down on a golf course. He's in jail now for a good long time.
A guy behind me leaned on his horn!
Twenty years ago I would have flipped him off but old age and "maturity" prevented this now.
Naturally I was right behind him for ~3 miles just cruising along with traffic. Could be that I still have the out of state plates on the van - in about 3/4ths of a mile he could have calmly passed back where the 4 lane picks up again and not blown a bucks worth of gas out hustling around me in the merge lane.
Inconsiderate litterbugs (Yahoo).
Lots of traffic out there today, and driving is what I will call a diverse experience, take that for what you wish. I also went to Costco earlier, hoping it wouldn't be a madhouse immediately after opening. I was wrong. It was a zoo, the parking lot included. I park out in the boonies and walk, funny to see the trollers circling around for a spot.
And right now with the wife's additional job duties and new clients, I feel like I need to be around more to help her out. I'm still on the fence about going back to the long distance driving even though the West Palm one just needs a current drivers report from me while the closer Ft. Lauderdale gig hasn't said yes, but hasn't said no either and since it really is closer, I'm thinking of just giving them some more time to call me on a day off. The girls all say to stick with the Hertz gig and call it a day so am pretty torn right now. I've been having some painful spinal issues of late but would like to earn some extra money now that season is about to start. Decisions, decisions!! So I'll leave it in G-d's hands right now and let him decide what I need to do here!
The Sandman
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
Would be more fun if we had a train like Portland and Vancouver.
Also, it was a cloudy, dark early morning with light rain, and around 20% or more of vehicles I saw didn't have headlights on.
I've heard a lot of really un-hinged comments this morning...
I caught a horn late last week shortly after I turned right onto a major thoroughfare. When I pulled up to the light at the intersection, there was a vehicle, about 50 yards to my left, also pulling up to the road to make a right turn from a gas station there. We were pretty much in sync in terms of our timing on getting to the roadway and then entering it. The difference was, this guy came barreling out of there vs. me just being nonchalant about it. Of course, he closes the gap between us due to his eager application of the accelerator, so he crawls up my wazoo, lays on the horn, then jerks to the left lane and flies by.
I was chuckling about it because it was so nonsensical for him to expect me to somehow yield to his vehicle, which was not on the roadway I entered at the time I entered it, and then create the conflict himself by accelerating up to me feeling offended rather than just switching lanes and passing me as any normal person would do with a slower-moving vehicle ahead. Then, as fate would have it, we were side by side at the front of the line come the next light. So, light turns green, he squeals his tires (like he was trying to actually move out quickly, but failing) so, finding this just too amusing (and to add insult to his perceived injury), I smoked him - in my little Fiesta. Haha! Manual transmissions can be so much fun sometimes....