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But on another note...if you have a natural tendency to piss people off, as you admit, you shouldn't be upset when you do piss people off. And watch out...the strange concepts of military rank aren't worth a lot outside of the military. I pick and choose my fights, as far too many people are packin heat.
You're probably correct on the guy being pissed that he couldn't beat a Civic sedan.
I like to show people their error by not giving in to them unless it's a situation where someone could get hurt. In this situation the redneck didn't have the power to pass someone doing the speed limit but he expected me to slow down to let him cut in front of me. I could have, but then, he, as the initiator, seeing the pass couldn't be done, should have backed off, which he eventually had to do.
Yeah...I could get into trouble with people. It's amazing how angry someone will get with someone who is obeying the law (okay...well I was 5mph over the limit but...) and is somehow preventing them from breaking it. You have to let it go...I've mellowed quite a lot since my divorce. My ex was a major source of stress...nag, nag, nag. I'm older, wiser, and don't do that too much anymore, but I get angry sometimes and it comes out. I don't yell or give them the one-finger salute...I just drive as I am allowed to by law and, in the case mentioned above, they hate it.
Not that I'm such a great driver or anything, but I've never had an accident in 19 years of driving. A lot of it is luck, of course, but maybe there is something in obeying the law that keeps you safer from accidents. What do you think? Driving is dangerous whether you obey or don't, but if you obey you can keep the cops off your back. I think no matter how you drive someone will not approve.
Pick your fights wisely. Be sure you can get away from the person who is getting riled up. People aren't becoming more sane as time goes on. Personally, I could have just popped around you and then brake checked you. But you hopefully wouldn't play that game against more capable vehicles to begin with.
I don't give the finger anymore either, unless some vacuous teenaged girl or irresponsible trophy wife in the ubiquitious Denali or Rover or Escalade (we have plenty of all here) cuts me off - and it's not a rare occurrence. Otherwise, I just shake my head and mutter profanities to myself. If they insist on eye contact, I'll usually roll my eyes and give a goofy look, or shake my head again. I only use the horn to wake people up at lights if my high beams don't get them going, or to avoid being hit.
I can't say the idea that laws are just because they are laws is going to help anyone. I don't obey speed limits...I'm usually 5-10 over, which with the majority of slow wits in my area puts me as a speed demon. I've never had a ticket either. Speeding isn't bad in and of itself, you just have to know where and when to do it. And if someone doesn't approve of going 77 in a 70 etc...I can tell them where to take their concerns.
The speed limit is the law, but that doesn't make it infallable, just enforceable. So we need to speak up when we can and make the roads work for us.
And remember how long it took for 55 to be discarded.
I was going 7 over the limit on an interstate and because of merging traffic causing slowdown after construction, I ended up in the left lane. The speed limit dropped to 55. A pickup truck came up behind (wasn't a ram truck with the biggggg grill this time) and tailgated then swerved over to middle lane and blew horn and zoomed around (probably a city cop on his way to work in Dayton) and a semi behind him pulled into middle lane and sped around at about 70 and then swerved back over into my lane with his trailer coming close to the front of my car. The interstate becomes two lanes shortly ahead so 3rd lane wasn't big deal.
The trucking company's safety direction seemed interested in my description of incident, the truck's continued speed through center city traffic, and the exit onto a certain road.
Trucker was doing fine until he tried the wag-my-trailer-close-to-your-car.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Service personnel whose vehicle sports a Red ID are always submissive and respectful of the personnel whose vehicle wears a Blue ID
Curious, how did you know you outranked him as you had a Red sticker?
But I knew he was in the military at my base and technically with what he yelled at me in the parking lot of the store he followed me to, he was threatening a non-commissioned officer with violence. That could have gotten him in a heap of trouble. I don't pull rank unless I have to and you never threaten anyone with violence, especially if they outrank you. I think I phoned base police, gave his tag number and asked if they could have his 1st Sergeant kindly explain to him about chasing people in traffic and then threatening them in public (I had witnesses), especially if they have an Air Force sticker on their car. If I'd been someone important he'd be out of the service and maybe even doing time in Leavenworth...it's that serious.
The base cop on the phone mentioned he was an Airman at a certain squadron on base. What disturbed me more than anything was the fact he chased me and threatened me in public...that's a bit over the top. The whole thing about trying to pass in a zone where the speed limit increased and then not being able to make the pass and all that was not something I would have ever mentioned to anyone, just like you wouldn't report if someone hurt you in a football game and you outranked them. But if they threaten you then it isn't a game anymore, it's a UCMJ offense.
how about this, you're on the on-ramp and beginning to merge and someone from lane 2 moves to the right into lane one where you're supposed to end up. i see this all the time.
When I'm in the older car, it's their problem. I leave the cruise control on. It's amazing how many people are so dumb they don't look at the speed of existing cars in the right lane BEFORE they get up to the physical lane merge. Then they start checking. Even people without cellphones glued to their ear do this!!! When they discover you're not their mother and going to make room for them at their will, they usually floor the gas pedal and then glare at you. I sometimes wave at them with part of my fingers.
Others will slow down then floor it and pass on the left like they've had a bad day. I just assume these poor drivers slept through driver's ed like they did high school and they're not happy with their job level now.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It makes absolutely no sense for the person already on the interstate to try to adjust their speed to a merging car which is probably still accelerating. How can you adjust your speed to a car that isn't traveling at a constant speed? You can't. Was any of that covered in driver's ed?
In this area many are upset I don't slow down to get out of their way when they're on the ramp. They look over with that glare.
If merge traffic's heavy I'll slow down or speed up slightly to make a hole.
Otherwise if I'm in the right lane I'm usually not in a hurry and I'm not hitting 65. They are welcome to zoom in front of me like you do.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I get looks from cyclists sometimes too (although I am one...they don't know that). When I pass a cyclist I generally gun it because I don't want to be caught passing with a car approaching...it's a very good safety practice. But some cyclists think I'm being belligerent. I don't want to have to chose between hitting an oncoming car or pushing them off the road. I seem to remember in driver's ed that we are supposed to finish the pass as soon as possible.
It's a little different on the interstate though. If I punch my accerator at 65 miles an hour I'll be doing 100 by the time I get around.
Another reason I keep out of the right lane, aside from sparing myself the misery of semis and seniors. I don't have to worry about mergers.
I hate that because it discourages people from safely signaling their intentions.
even at zero speed, you're a danger to other drivers doing that crazy stuff.
but seriously, anyone who believes speed isn't an important part of the safety equation hasn't considered the human element of the system...even if mechanically a system is capable of stopping in the distance one is following at the current speed you're travelling, the human element (reaction time) must be considered. i think to come up with a good model, you'd also have to consider how speed would modify the scanning / detection / processing and avoidance manuver task, i.e. you could lump the detection, processing and control actuation times together and call then "reaction time" or seperate them them out.
Yep, Phoenix does this. Once you get used to it its not that difficult. I attempt to judge based on:
Relative traffic speed as I come down the ramp. I usually get up to 30MPH going down the ramp so I can get at least a vague idea.Watching the car in front of me as it merges. Often this is the best indicator. If traffic is moving at 70MPH and the guy in front is only going 50MPH then that is all I can go.Learning what traffic looks like at 50MPH, 60MPH, 70MPH, etc. As I speed up I get a feel for if I am speeding up quickly enough or if I need to give it more gas.
I've noticed that this has improved traffic conditions on the sections of freeway I drive. The only time it doesn't is when you have some OLD car that can't speed up or someone who doesn't want to. Then everyone on the highway brakes hard for the clueless driver in front.
how about this, you're on the on-ramp and beginning to merge and someone from lane 2 moves to the right into lane one where you're supposed to end up. i see this all the time.
Oh yeah, I hate this. This one just happened today. Unfortunately I didn't have the room to speed up. So, I just dropped in right on his bumper. Don't like to do that, but that was really my only option at the time. Luckily though, I usually have the more powerful car and room to speed up. :P
My wife drove me to work this morning. I was a bit bummed, but hopefully she'll relinquish the driver seat on the way home.
Unfortuantely, she was (in my opinion) an inconsiderate driver at one point this morning. She was driving at about 42 mph on a 55 mph road. There was a pickup in front of her driving at 41.5 or so...... so she pulls into the left lane to pass.... at 43 mph. After we were over there for about 2 miles, having really not made any gains on this other vehicle but driving almost next to it, I finally could not stand it any longer and asked her to pull back into the right lane so she would not be clogging the road. She said that there was nobody behind her. I looked back, and sure enough, there was NOT anyone behind her... because they'd all moved to the right lane expecting the truck to pass her! Oy.... She then asked me to stop telling her how to drive, so I explained to her the extreme amount of inconsideration she was showing toward other drivers by not speeding up to pass or pulling back over. She told me that it was not safe to drive faster than 45 anyway, so why should she care?
This got me riled up.... so I said, when was the last time you remember me driving at 45mph on these roads? She could not recall a time..... When was the last time I wrecked the car because i was going faster than 45? She could not recall. Uhuh. She received the "just because you do not have the ability..." speech.
She was rather annoyed with me.... :sick:
I could not help it, though. It's one thing when the person doing this is in the vehicle behind you and all you can do is wonder why they'd be so inconsiderate. It is quite another when the person doing it is in YOUR car and you have the opportunity to say something (and hopefully affect a difference).
What is the deal with people and odd speeds? Can't people just stick to nice even numbers like 40, 45, 50, 55? What is the point in cruising at 42 or 43 MPH? 45 is not that much less safe!
We humans are a strange group.
I like 9's and 1's.... personal preference. :P
"I hate to point it out, but "45" and "55" are nice, odd numbers. On the other hand, 42 is absolutely even."
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Does that make sense? Has anyone else tried that?
Heck why not drive at color speeds.
"excuse me Sir do you realize that you were doing green over the limit?"
"But officer my speedometer said I was doing purple."
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
If the outside mirrors are set right a vehicle passing you on either side will start appearing in your side mirror as it disappears from your rearview mirror and it should be entering your side vision as it leaves the view of your side mirror.
I have been setting my mirrors that way since the 70's and it works great.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
If I had to choose between them, I would take a set of convex over a set of flat mirrors anyday. When objects get close to the vehicle, all you really need to know is that they are there. The rearview works fine for scanning the road behind.
The last collision in which I was involved was a blind-spot issue (I was at fault). In my early college years I would work as a delivery driver for a small company. I drove an Econoline cargo van that had standard side mirrors. I would usually make a point to scan the road around me very frequently in order to not be surprised by someone driving in my blind spots, but this one day I must have been in la-la land, because I signaled to change lanes to my left, looked in the mirror (and saw nothing), and changed lanes.... CRUNCH! This little 80s-vintage SAAB was passing on that side and I basically turned right in front of him. His bumper smacked my front wheel, bending the tie rod and pushing the wheel the other direction (the van was now pigeon-toed!). Once that happened, the van started slowing quickly, and the wheel rode UP onto his fender then came off just before the door. It was a real bummer, but even though traffic was relatively heavy (~30-35 mph), everyone was fine and nobody creamed us while we were working to get our rigs out of the road.
After that, I put a set of convex mirrors on there. The only way I could have seen that car was if I had rolled down the window and stuck my head out - not a very safe option either. The funny thing was that he said he saw me put the blinker on and sped up to get out of the way. Had he not done that, we either would not have collided or the collision would have been minor. Not his fault, just saying that it is ironic how simple traffic maneuvers can be so dangerous......
I started driving late in life and had forgotten much of what I learned in driver's ed. But I've been very blessed so far with my driving record.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Sorry, I didn't say what I meant...Why don't people drive at speeds divisible by 5?
I still don't get the 9MPH thing. At 69MPH, the error in the speedometer could mean you are actually going more than 71MPH, well into 70MPH territory.
Another way is to pay attention to those "Your speed is __ " radar-based digital warning signs.
driver B, 1 1/3. The difference is 1/3 hour, 20 minutes.
But besides costing driver B $18 per hour, the driver B is aggravated by others who are going the speed limit in his lane or are only going 5 over the limit in his lane. His frustration level is much higher than driver A who is sipping coffee and watching the left lane dominators duke it out over the left lane rights or left two lanes rights.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
same vehicle example:
30 mpg at 60 would be 18.75 mpg at 75 (not likely)
20 mpg at 60 would be 14.3 at 75 (also not likely)
10 mpg at 60 would be 8.33 at 75 (possible, I guess)
So my question is, does the driver of a 10 mpg vehicle give a rip about an extra 2 gallons? :P
james
Hmm. That's why I use my GPS receiver as a speedometer too. Don't need faith ...
Drinking anything, especially something hot, while driving is pretty inconsiderate. Along with smoking...
And yeah, that mpg thing has some flaws, is that based on a 68 Caddy for a test car?