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Comments
ROFL yeah.
And hey, at least that minivan woman said sorry! Most inconsiderate drivers are 100x worse simply due to their oblivion.
Why? To what end is this a means? Very few crashes/fatalities occur due to mechanical failure, so the expense would hardly justify the predicted results.
Many people DO push the envelope. A large 55mph road with many uncontrolled side access streets is definitely not a candidate for higher speed limits, yet folks routinely drive 65-70+ on them as if there is no possibility in the world that someone will actually access the roadway from those side routes. Sure, vehicles are getting better, but reaction times are still the same... :surprise:
During the winter months, I drive 55-60ish unless conditions warrant a slower speed. I rarely come across vehicles driving significantly faster. During the summer, I drive 55-60ish on these same roads unless conditions warrant a slower speed. 6/10s of traffic passes me by an easy 10 mph, even though people routinely access from these side roads and collisions/near hits are commonplace simply due to excess speeds and short LOS. :sick:
How about parking lots for oblivious drivers?????
My favorite is being parked between two full-size pickups (in my Subaru) and having to back out blindly. I go slowly, to ensure that I do not clip anyone already in the "danger zone" behind me and allowing anyone outside of that area ample time to stop. Then, HOOOOOOONNNNNK!, as a little Civic/SUV et. al. zooms by at probably 25 mph. ? In a busy parking lot??? Wow. :surprise:
Yet, over the last weekend, I found that within 5 seconds of me parking, someone would park right next to my car (on the driver's side)... Right as I was opening the door.
Why... why... WHY do so many people find it imperative to park next to me?
I make sure to park farther away from the everyday mass of parked cars so other drivers can park closer (and yet still not be near my car).
Yet they still park next to me, ignoring all the closer spots.
What is it about having to park next to someone that is right in the process of exiting his car that is so utterly compelling to so many Maryland drivers?
:confuse:
(Ever single time I would park on Saturday, on Sunday, on Monday, and today!!!)
:mad: :mad: :mad:
My Guess :confuse: :P
Or...it may be because you own such a nice car :shades:
They want to check out your ride
Conclusion: When the volume of traffic is so high and concentrated, it's O K to be a LLC.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Heathkit
Anybody who knows "Heathkit" is a geriatric. My first SW radio was Heathkit. It was replaced by a Hallicrafter Sky Buddy. Big tubes, high antenna = Radio Moscow, WWL, & KSL.
Rocky
Yeah, this is irritating, maybe inconsiderate. Many times, if I am still in car when this happens, I will start engine and drive away to another part of lot. I will always do this if vehicle is big van, suv, jacked up pu and has one or more passengers.
Why? To what end is this a means? Very few crashes/fatalities occur due to mechanical failure, so the expense would hardly justify the predicted results.
Don't know what part of US you are in. There are some states that have a lot of "undocumented" persons driving clapped-out beaters. There are also lots of people driving "modified", jacked up pus and other stuff that should not be on the road. Required testing, and appropriate markings on license tags, will help reduce the amount of these beaters, and maybe even help mitigate the "undocumented" problem with good police procedures.
Even poorly modified cars are dangerous. Cutting or heating springs instead of buying a nice set of Eibachs.
Even I'll admit safetly, training, speed limits, and maintenance all go hand in hand. It'll make driving a little more expensive but it'll be worth it in the long run. It would make driving safer on ALL roads.
I agree, wholeheartedly. But carefully done studies show that the vast majority of crashes are caused by driver error, not mechanical failure, as someone noted above.
Also, studies of periodic inspections show them to be ineffective in keeping crash rates down in comparison to states that don't have such inspections.
Why? We don't know for sure, but probably because of driver error being the main cause of crashes. Also, in many states like mine (VA), you can always find a "mechanic" who'll give you an "inspection" without looking at the car. And some people will cheat, for example, by taking off worn tires and borrowing a buddy's good tires just to get their vehicle through inspection.
Make a decent penalty for "cheating" and increase it greatly if that "cheating" can be linked to a wreck. And seriously punish any inspector caught providing illegal stickers.
Additionally, the inspections are only part of the whole equation. All of the improvement go hand in hand. And it has to be nationwide or it'll be ineffective.
There is no bias involved in stating a fact as long as slurs are not used. Better term would be illegal alien. There is nothing wrong with US citizens wanting safer roads to drive on, whether the issue is people (illegals and citizens) driving unsafe cars or non-citizens driving without paperwork or auto insurance. They are the ones being "inconsiderate".
Appears that DOT of Virginia has problems in administering its inspection program. Some regions of country have auto emissions tests that are run very strictly. It is possible to have competent and fraud-free auto tests.
Really, if one life is saved, or even one set of injuries are avoided, it is worth it.
Education is certainly the key. People should be required to know much more about what they drive than just how to turn the key, start the engine, and operate the wheel & pedals. If not, find public transit.
If studies showed "whatever you want," we'd still be living in the Dark Ages, and modern science would never have happened. We'd still be consulting astrologers, fortune tellers, and witch doctors.
No use arguing the point any further, and the host said to cool it as well, so I'm done.
Actually it's VDOT, but they don't run the safety inspection program. The VA state police administer it instead, and as you can imagine, their understaffing makes it hard for effective enforcement. But locally, "Drunken Dave" lost his inspection license because apparently someone reported him.
I think the problem with having any service station or car repair shop apply for inspection licenses opens the door wide to shady operators. OTOH, having the state government run the program would severely limit the number of places offering the inspections, which would lead to long waits.
DC's system was like that, and it was a nightmare. (You couldn't make appointments ahead of time -- you just showed up and waited -- forever.)
We can't even educate our public school students adequately in far too many places.
I have learned that the sharper the car looks, especially in red, the more dangerous the teenage driver is.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I've removed a couple of off topic posts to keep us from going completely off in a non-automotive directions.
Well to be honest buy the number of fortune tellers and astrologers out there many still do. Even John Edwards makes a small fortune convincing people he talks to dead people.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
What do you mean by that ?
Rocky
I mean he goes around and convinces people he is talking to dead friends and/or relatives and he makes good money off of it. He even had a TV show on cable where he did that.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Rocky
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I am seriously considering voting for this guy
(Sen. Edwards) next election.
Rocky
And Georgia is thinking of abolishing the vehicle tax next year. Maybe they ought to use the money to bring back driver education and inspections or something useful like that.
Rocky
Rocky
It's a national phenomenon I guess. The cigarette and base ball cap depends on what part of town they live in.
BTW- I agree with you 210delray
Rocky
Plus there some other psychic tricks I pulled on him that he wasn't happy about when we came clean.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Just look in the mirror. Many of you have boasted right here of driving at insane speeds, road raging, and purposely damaging others' cars (keying). You know better of course, but you do it anyway.
It's attitude more than knowledge that counts, IMO. Sure there are some truly clueless or incompetent drivers out there, but my guess is their numbers are small in comparison to those whose number one priority is ME ME ME, so get out of my way or let me alone in the left lane while I yak on my cell phone!
So...we put our bucks where they would do the most good. Every year, some 17 million new vehicles are sold in the US. Why not continue to equip them with the latest safety features that are shown to be effective, such as electronic stability control?
As far as enforcement, we can't afford to have more police on the roads, so why not use red-light cameras and speed cameras? They've been shown to be effective as well. And before you scream "Big Brother," why is it okay to be videotaped when you're in a bank, Wal-Mart, or 7-Eleven but not on a public street? (And if you obey the law on the street, you won't be videotaped, unlike the private businesses.)
Because those are private property. Different rules apply. The government isn't supposed to turn into "Big Brother". Even if we allow such surveillance who's to say it won't be abused. We have such a system in place on our inner city highway in Atlanta, but it can't be used for speed inforcement.
We already have GPS and cell-phone tracking. if you are willing to give up that much freedom, you might as well do away with freedom of speech too.
in this area the red light speed and red light cameras are used to replace cops who could easily be observant at intersections as they drive around and give out tickets that are more effective.
The red light and speed cameras are at locations where locals know them and slow down for them. The ones who get caught are those who won't pay or out-of-towners who don't know the trick!!!
The cameras are being sold by a company out of Arizona that makes most of the money!!! The local governments get llike 15$ out of 85$ of the money, on the ones they are able to collect-mostly the good people; the bad, don't pay.
City of Dayton has millions outstanding in uncollected fees for their cameras. They even short-lighted one (or more) to collect even more money from those who didn't know it was there (out-of-towners) until it was in a letter to the editor.
Just put a little more money into a policeman giving tickets at the same intersections for 1 hour per day randomly picked around the clock. That would mean less time at the donut shop and talking to the "girls" on the corners back in the alleys.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Well I will say this, the greatest safety feature for any car is the person driving it. Thats where Driver education comes in. If you want to equip a car with the best safety equipment put a properly trained driver behind the wheel.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Tickets for swerving to avoid animals or potholes. Or tickets for not coming to a COMPLETE stop at stop signs or throwing ice out of your window. I don't think so.
I gues that's why the laws are the way they are. Compromises. Set the laws at a certain level to keep the safety loonies at bay, but inforce them with enough slack to let most of us normal people get where we need to go how we like to get there. I guess the system is just fine.
I still don't see why you should expect more privacy on public property than on private property.
But please, let's get back to my core point, that driver's education isn't what it's cracked up to be.
Red light cameras are kinda OK. You know they are there and in GA they have signage advertising them. And they have been know to cause more "rear enders" here. I guess those are better than being T-boned though. We are also passing a bill allowing speed camera in school zones. I actually support that too. But I don't support random "hidden" enforcement. If I get a ticket, I don't want to know about 2 weeks later.
Nothing says you have to go outside. Face it simply by going outside you give your consent to be photographed videotaped.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Oh yeah, that's us. In fact we have one of the first (the first?) speed camera sections of highway. The Loop 101 in Scottsdale (where people are routinely caught going 80-90 and as high as 130 in a 65) has a section with speed cameras. Go at or faster than 76MPH and you will be caught.
Why not just wear brain implants?