Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

ab348

venture said:

The intersection right by my house is quite similar to the one Driver described except the speed limit is 25. They have done about as much as can be done to slow down traffic. Everything from putting up displays showing the speed, to having police cars chasing people all day handing out tickets. I have noticed that the overall speed seems to have decreased. Hopefully it satisfies those in control before stop signs start appearing or, heaven forbid, speed bumps.

My street has already been afflicted with a bumper crop of speed bumps, or as they call them here, "speed tables". They differ from the typical parking lot speed bump in that they don't seem to be quite as tall and have a nearly flat section in the center. I don't have to slow down to go over them because I rarely get up to 30mph on the street since it is narrow and has parking on either side. But no matter, the neighborhood nervous nellies often appear on FB complaining about speeding and traffic. There is virtually no traffic here except around 8 in the AM when it is still sparse, and when the high school lets out after 3PM. The rest of the time you could fire a cannon down the street and be at risk of hitting a parked car but nothing else. I almost never see anyone speeding except occasionally on a nice summer day when one of the local yahoos appears.

Unfortunately our Councillor is a pencil-necked member of the cycling class and hates motor vehicles, so he spent about 6 figures worth of tax money on these things and the signs to go with them to no appreciable effect. Grrrr.

explorerx4

White glove vehicle delivery service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10BWC84c4NU

driver100

tjc78 said:

I see your point .. but he does still have the right of way.

He has the right of way....if I was actually in his way. I cleared his path and he didn't even need to apply his brakes....IMHO...he wanted to show he owned the road.

Even if he had the right of way, it is poor driving to be going well over the speed limit, and still expect drivers to move out with little time to even see him coming because of the bend in the road.

I have to use defensive driving because I know some guys are coming around the bend at 60 mph in a 35 mph zone....but he was NOT using defensive driving....he had no clue about what could happen coming around a bend at that speed.

driver100

28firefighter said:

Insert reminder here that most people are really bad at estimating an object’s speed just by eyeballing it. It nearly always seems faster than it is.

It was a 35 mph zone....most cars go 40 to 45, some go 60 or more....I can judge the difference between 40 and 60.

roadburner

I had a case I heard in district court where a guy (a stereotypical geezer) caused an accident by pulling out in front of a young kid who couldn't stop in time. As usual, neither attorney knew anything about TSD calculations or vehicle dynamics.
The old guy testified that he had looked to his left and did not see any cars approaching so he pulled out no more than 2 seconds later. The problem was, he also testified that he had an unobstructed view to his left of at least 1,000 feet- to cover that distance in 2 seconds meant that the kid would have had to have been travelling 340 mph.
The kid testified that when the guy pulled out he hit the brakes and turned the wheel but the car wouldn't turn (he was driving an ancient Cavalier, so no ABS). The attorney for the old guy argued that the kid lied because if he had turned the steering wheel the car would have turned. I ended up having to explain the friction circle to Perry Mason and I wound up finding for the kid.

oldfarmer50

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

28firefighter said:

Insert reminder here that most people are really bad at estimating an object’s speed just by eyeballing it. It nearly always seems faster than it is.

Truth.

I was checking speed on non-interstate highways for a while using radar. When I first started doing it, almost every vehicle was going slower than I thought. After a while I got pretty good at judging speed.

Now the ones who were really moving, way over the speed limit, you could tell right away.

The intersection right by my house is quite similar to the one Driver described except the speed limit is 25. They have done about as much as can be done to slow down traffic. Everything from putting up displays showing the speed, to having police cars chasing people all day handing out tickets. I have noticed that the overall speed seems to have decreased. Hopefully it satisfies those in control before stop signs start appearing or, heaven forbid, speed bumps.

A few times I have looked, started out, and someone is suddenly right at me. So far I have been able to get out of the way. These people are not doing 25, or even 35.

My wife, who is anything but a speed demon, even mentioned recently, that 25 mph seemed too slow and 35 may be more appropriate.

When i take my walk down my road which is a 30 speed limit you can tell that no one is obeying that speed. Combine that with a blind curve one door down and it makes for some interesting exits in the car.

roadburner

imidazol97

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

btw, it was an ugly red newer type Camaro.

Is this bias against GM?
LOL

No, sorry imid...it just struck me that a red Mustang or Challenger look so much better than the Camaro with slits for windows.

Just yanking chains. Note that I'm not longer pro-GM after figuring out from the 667% rating on EVs from the Barra discussions with government that gave GM a huge financial assist with carbon credits when the EV's for everyone decisions to raise fuel mileage (CAFE) levels ridiculously high for not effective purpose.

My next car, should there be one, will likely be a Toyota.

driver100

By coincidence, I was coming along that same stretch of road today going in the opposite direction. Speed limit is 35 and I was going about 42.
The difference between me and the guy in the ugly red Camaro;
I saw a Fedex truck who was waiting on my right side that was going to go in front of me, in order to turn left.
Using defensive driving and using a bit of thinking I thought, hmmm, Fedex truck, the guy is making a living, he might go early and he is going to be going slow, so I eased up on the gas, tapped the brakes to give him time to cross and to wake up the guy behind me, it barely caused me any time...maybe 5 seconds, I let the guy cross in front, and there was no need to use a horn.
Easy, keeps the traffic flowing....no need to show who has the right of way.....everyone was happy.

stickguy

Finally conceded to the wife and let her have the siding choice she was digging her heels in on. So she decided to change her mind.

There is a new build down the street that has the garage siding and she kept mentioning really liking it (I did too). So today we walked over with our bag of siding samples to see which is closest. Turns out that her choice of samples looked really good next to that siding on the garage and I even preferred it. She is stuck on that one though (which we had no idea what brand or color it was)

Conveniently the builder (or GC) was sitting in his truck (I politely asked if it was ok to trespass) and while we were holding up samples he told us where it came from and color name. Turns out to be the same company that we have to pick from, and just happened to be a color from the options that we hadn’t ordered a sample of).

Now just need to settle on a paint color! Pushing for Swiss coffee.

ab348

What’s the siding color? The suspense is killing me.

stickguy

Harvard Slate. Sounds hoity toity, being Ivy league. Other choice is Heather.

oldfarmer50

Who’s Heather?

stickguy

Don't tell my wife.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

Who’s Heather?

————————————————
My niece (from youngest brother).

jmonroe

stickguy

Officially selected a Siding color today. Another milestone reached. Conveniently the builder asked the rep where they used the one we wanted to see and sent us to another new neighborhood (that we actually looked at a few years ago) and they had houses in every one of the options we were considering. So easier to make a decision not doing it off a small sample.

sda

Out with the old and in with the new. It was a good soldier for 19 years.

stickguy

Looks expensive!

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

Officially selected a Siding color today. Another milestone reached. Conveniently the builder asked the rep where they used the one we wanted to see and sent us to another new neighborhood (that we actually looked at a few years ago) and they had houses in every one of the options we were considering. So easier to make a decision not doing it off a small sample.

————————————————
Whatever you do, don’t get rid of those wall paint samples because you might want to change the siding color in a few years. Nothing worse than starting all over again.

jmonroe

stickguy

That siding will still be on the house the day I die.

jmonroe1

sda said:

Out with the old and in with the new. It was a good soldier for 19 years.

————————————————-
My wallet aches just looking at that.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

That siding will still be on the house the day I die.

————————————————
Yeah I know that but I was talking about the color.

jmonroe

stickguy

Interior paint? Hopefully that is too because I am getting too old to paint 9’ walls and 2 story foyers and stairwells.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

Interior paint? Hopefully that is too because I am getting too old to paint 9’ walls and 2 story foyers and stairwells.

————————————————
That was my thinking too when we lived in SC. Our house had 10 foot ceilings on the first floor and 9 foot ceilings on the second floor along with a 2 story foyer. But, we also had a modified vaulted ceiling in the family room and foyer that was about 24 feet at its peak.

Several times when I looked up at the ceiling from the family room couch I wondered how I would go about painting it and I kept coming back to the same conclusion…it had to be done from a scaffold like the builder’s painters did it. We moved in 5 years so that got rid of that dilemma.

jmonroe

explorerx4

Hey roadburner,
Here's your chance to start over with your 318.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-bmw-318ti-3/

ab348

stickguy said:

That siding will still be on the house the day I die.

Or at least until the day you sell the place.

andres3

It is correct to assume someone could go 60 in a 35 zone. It is bad driving to assume "everyone goes 40-45." Driving should be based on current real-world live conditions, not assumptions.

That story @roadburner told is a classic example of using math to irrefutably prove someone's speed estimation is a bucket of bologna. It's the only way you have a chance in hell to win in a traffic court speeding ticket case. Even if you prove the Officer's testimony is certifiably conflicted with mathematical certainty, you might get a traffic court judge that doesn't care or thinks the Earth is flat, and find you guilty anyway.

andres3

Speaking of speeders, this article puts a smile on my face:

https://ww2.motorists.org/blog/a-casualty-of-revenue-collection/

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

Hey roadburner,
Here's your chance to start over with your 318.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-bmw-318ti-3/

————————————————-
How many times do you think that car has seen 14K miles? That has to be laughable to list a ‘96 like that.

jmonroe

explorerx4

@jmonroe1,
When I looked at the listing, it was up to 18.5K and the end of the auction isn't even anywhere close.

stickguy

I love that Ti, but what a waste, only 700 miles per year? Drive the poor thing!

stickguy

ab348 said:

stickguy said:

That siding will still be on the house the day I die.

Or at least until the day you sell the place.

well, once I sell it, new owners can do anything they want to it. Won't bother me in the least.

explorerx4

Anyone get the Crutchfield 50th anniversary catalog? I'm enjoying it, especially the pages with all their old catalog covers.

laurasdada

Driving home, the "Drive System Malfunction" warning came on; loss of EV system. Sluggish acceleration, heard some clunking from the rear end. But, car made it home no problem. Have an appointment Tuesday at dealer for 3 year maintenance, brake fluid cap recall and state inspection. Will add this to list.

I'll give her a quick ride tomorrow, see if an overnight reboot rights the ship. I believe that I've seen this at least once before in my 3 years of ownership, reboot did the trick. If not, will drive the M240 until Tuesday's trip. And, begin thinking of the next sensible family car...

Michaell

@laurasdada said:
Driving home, the "Drive System Malfunction" warning came on; loss of EV system. Sluggish acceleration, heard some clunking from the rear end. But, car made it home no problem. Have an appointment Tuesday at dealer for 3 year maintenance, brake fluid cap recall and state inspection. Will add this to list.

I'll give her a quick ride tomorrow, see if an overnight reboot rights the ship. I believe that I've seen this at least once before in my 3 years of ownership, reboot did the trick. If not, will drive the M240 until Tuesday's trip. And, begin thinking of the next sensible family car...

What family? Isn’t it just you and the missus?

Time to ditch the A7 and go full EV.

laurasdada

Yes, in the words of the philosopher Bill Withers, Just the Two of Us.

Not sure I'm ready for all nuke, but may take the long trip to the Boston Seaport to stop by the Lucid store. I was on my way home from my fave money-losing place, where they have a Tesla store, touting big incentives on the rwd Y, but being a contrarian not sure I would go Tesla. Too many folks in the store for me to stop in.

One more year of warranty on the A7, so I should be good until then at least.

jmonroe1

andres3 said:

Speaking of speeders, this article puts a smile on my face:

https://ww2.motorists.org/blog/a-casualty-of-revenue-collection/

————————————————-
Try explaining why the killing of an innocent motorcycle driver is funny. Just because a cop did it while speeding? I don’t get that kind of humor.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

Interior paint? Hopefully that is too because I am getting too old to paint 9’ walls and 2 story foyers and stairwells.

————————————————
That was my thinking too when we lived in SC. Our house had 10 foot ceilings on the first floor and 9 foot ceilings on the second floor along with a 2 story foyer. But, we also had a modified vaulted ceiling in the family room and foyer that was about 24 feet at its peak.

Several times when I looked up at the ceiling from the family room couch I wondered how I would go about painting it and I kept coming back to the same conclusion…it had to be done from a scaffold like the builder’s painters did it. We moved in 5 years so that got rid of that dilemma.

jmonroe

Painting a vaulted ceiling seemed easy compared to putting the sheetrock up for one.😢

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

Interior paint? Hopefully that is too because I am getting too old to paint 9’ walls and 2 story foyers and stairwells.

————————————————
That was my thinking too when we lived in SC. Our house had 10 foot ceilings on the first floor and 9 foot ceilings on the second floor along with a 2 story foyer. But, we also had a modified vaulted ceiling in the family room and foyer that was about 24 feet at its peak.

Several times when I looked up at the ceiling from the family room couch I wondered how I would go about painting it and I kept coming back to the same conclusion…it had to be done from a scaffold like the builder’s painters did it. We moved in 5 years so that got rid of that dilemma.

jmonroe

Painting a vaulted ceiling seemed easy compared to putting the sheetrock up for one.😢

————————————————
I agree. I saw the sheet rockers doing some of that job. They really moved while doing it too. They probably had 6 or 7 scaffolds set up with planks to walk back and forth from each of them. They moved around like they were on the floor. It was obvious they did that before. But the real fun was watching the crew that did the taping and finishing dancing around on the planks and scaffolds. Mrs. j had to walk out because it made her nervous. I thought it was amazing. I could barely stop watching them. The things some folks do for a buck.

jmonroe

stickguy

still not as bad as the high iron workers walking around on skyscraper beams with no safety gear.

28firefighter

It’s not a @roadburner special because it has a sunroof. His is a very rare slick top.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

still not as bad as the high iron workers walking around on skyscraper beams with no safety gear.

————————————————-
That’s a whole different field.

I heard years ago the majority of those high iron workers were American Indians (and most of them Mohawks) were chosen because of their great balance and coordination.

I’m not afraid of heights but you can count me out of that profession.

jmonroe

sb55

sda said:

Out with the old and in with the new. It was a good soldier for 19 years.

New furnace? Mine crapped out on Wednesday night. It is an NTI propane unit that hangs on the wall. The repair guy came yesterday and said that it needs a new board. And then casually mentioned that you can't get parts for this 14 year old model anymore. UGH. But the board is not from NTI, and they luckily found one that they can hopefully get it in today. We have 1 heat pump so that we can keep part of the house livable, but the worst part right now is that we don't have hot water. Fortunately it's been a mild year here in VT and the part of the house closed off isn't freezing.
My hot water storage tank had and internal coil leak last year so that needed replacement. That replacement was about $3K, so I'm dreading thinking of a new furnace too if it comes to that.

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

jmonroe1 said:

@andres3, good to hear your wife is OK. That’s the most important part. From what I’ve heard about accidents there are always he-said she-said situations that have to be resolved. I know you don’t like insurance companies but this is where your insurance company is your friend. Right or wrong they’ll do their best to support their policy holder not the other guy. That person’s insurance company will fight for them.

Unfortunately, sometimes it’s a split decision but you can’t do it on your own unless you have deep pockets and have several unbiased witnesses who are willing to support you. I’ve been told that it’s not uncommon for witnesses to decide not to get involved at the last minute, so you have to be prepared for that. Maybe this is where dash cams help but I’ve heard they can lead to split decisions too.

Good luck.

jmonroe

No doubt even video can leave room for interpretation, but part of the problem is those so called "insurance arbitrators" like favoring the house with those "split" decisions. U-turns are a form of "left turn" and left turns are almost like rear-enders, the person making the dangerous left turn has the greater duty of care in almost any situation.

I get the insurance is supposed to fight for their insured, but believing a cockamamie malarkey bigly pile of manure story is another thing.

I got hit many years ago making a left turn. The cop ticket the other driver and my insurance was insistent that the other driver was 100% at fault.

Hence the qualifier "almost any situation."

I wouldn't say "almost any situation" as there are plenty of situations in which the left turner has right of way.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

Interior paint? Hopefully that is too because I am getting too old to paint 9’ walls and 2 story foyers and stairwells.

————————————————
That was my thinking too when we lived in SC. Our house had 10 foot ceilings on the first floor and 9 foot ceilings on the second floor along with a 2 story foyer. But, we also had a modified vaulted ceiling in the family room and foyer that was about 24 feet at its peak.

Several times when I looked up at the ceiling from the family room couch I wondered how I would go about painting it and I kept coming back to the same conclusion…it had to be done from a scaffold like the builder’s painters did it. We moved in 5 years so that got rid of that dilemma.

jmonroe

Painting a vaulted ceiling seemed easy compared to putting the sheetrock up for one.😢

————————————————
I agree. I saw the sheet rockers doing some of that job. They really moved while doing it too. They probably had 6 or 7 scaffolds set up with planks to walk back and forth from each of them. They moved around like they were on the floor. It was obvious they did that before. But the real fun was watching the crew that did the taping and finishing dancing around on the planks and scaffolds. Mrs. j had to walk out because it made her nervous. I thought it was amazing. I could barely stop watching them. The things some folks do for a buck.

jmonroe

That’s nothing compared to a bunch of amateurs rocking around on ladders with deadmen made out of 2x4s.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

still not as bad as the high iron workers walking around on skyscraper beams with no safety gear.

————————————————-
That’s a whole different field.

I heard years ago the majority of those high iron workers were American Indians (and most of them Mohawks) were chosen because of their great balance and coordination.

I’m not afraid of heights but you can count me out of that profession.

jmonroe

It’s the first 20 feet you have to be afraid of. Falling from anywhere higher makes no difference.😥

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

Sorry to break up the discussion about decorating, but.......

Yesterday I came out of our community and I was going to go left. The road was clear on the right, so I checked left....the speed limit is 35 mph but everyone goes 40 or 45. I can only see so far because of the bend in the road, I got out and across the road fine, but a guy in a red Camaro came around the bend going at least 60 mph.....I wasn't in his way but he had to lean on his horn to show he had the right of way I suppose. I guess he thinks that if he is going twice as fast as the speed limit he still has the right of way and I should be able to see around the bend in the road.
btw, it was an ugly red newer type Camaro.

I have the same situation by me. Due to a bend in the road you can't see to far to the left. SL is 30 and allows enough time to cross if someone is doing 30. The problem is that people do closer to 40 and that's going to fast for that intersection due to sight limitations.

oldfarmer50

The street in front of my house takes a sharp turn which results in some surprises for drivers who aren’t expecting it.

snakeweasel

ab348 said:

venture said:

The intersection right by my house is quite similar to the one Driver described except the speed limit is 25. They have done about as much as can be done to slow down traffic. Everything from putting up displays showing the speed, to having police cars chasing people all day handing out tickets. I have noticed that the overall speed seems to have decreased. Hopefully it satisfies those in control before stop signs start appearing or, heaven forbid, speed bumps.

My street has already been afflicted with a bumper crop of speed bumps, or as they call them here, "speed tables". They differ from the typical parking lot speed bump in that they don't seem to be quite as tall and have a nearly flat section in the center. I don't have to slow down to go over them because I rarely get up to 30mph on the street since it is narrow and has parking on either side. But no matter, the neighborhood nervous nellies often appear on FB complaining about speeding and traffic. There is virtually no traffic here except around 8 in the AM when it is still sparse, and when the high school lets out after 3PM. The rest of the time you could fire a cannon down the street and be at risk of hitting a parked car but nothing else. I almost never see anyone speeding except occasionally on a nice summer day when one of the local yahoos appears.

Unfortunately our Councillor is a pencil-necked member of the cycling class and hates motor vehicles, so he spent about 6 figures worth of tax money on these things and the signs to go with them to no appreciable effect. Grrrr.

We have a road near me that has 9 of those in a 0.60 mile stretch. It seems excessive but if you look at a map you would see that the first part of the road is a frontage road for an interstate until that interstate has a junction with another interstate. Then the road turns and goes parallel with the other interstate. During rush hour those interstates would get backed up, especially getting off one and getting on the other. So people would follow this road to bypass the backup and do excessive speeds along it, so the city put up all those speed tables in the residential area that the road runs through to 1.) slow down those cars and 2.) discourage people from using the road to avoid backups on the interstates.

If you simply go down that road you would wonder why they did it but if you know the reason it makes sense.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

still not as bad as the high iron workers walking around on skyscraper beams with no safety gear.

————————————————-
That’s a whole different field.

I heard years ago the majority of those high iron workers were American Indians (and most of them Mohawks) were chosen because of their great balance and coordination.

I’m not afraid of heights but you can count me out of that profession.

jmonroe

It’s the first 20 feet you have to be afraid of. Falling from anywhere higher makes no difference.😥

————————————————-
Everyone seems to be afraid of falling. Falling never bothered me it was the sudden stop afterwards.

jmonroe