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Comments
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
For those who see the light turn red as they approach, the light may have a priority setting. We have some around here that drive me nuts. They are designed to change to green when you trip the sensor while driving on the "non-priority" street and then (if no other cars drive over the sensor) they switch back to green for the "priority" street.
We have one of those at the end of the highway off ramp I take. The priority is for the street I turn onto so I almost always have to stop after exiting, even if there are no cars coming on the cross street. It is frustrating to see a car take off at that light just as it turns green while I'm exiting. By the time I get there, it switches to red, even though no car is coming the other way. Then I have to sit until enough time passes for the thing to switch back.
Of course, if I drove the other street, I'd love the priority setting.
Hahah... I hear you! I would take sensor-managed lights over time-set lights any day. I just have a hard time stomaching the foolishness of lights in areas where traffic density is highly prone to the time of day. I think those intersections should be set to flashing and then switch to stop-go regulation with the sensors during times of day when density warrants. In the event there are folks incapable of making good entry decisions... well, they will get weeded out before too long.
People just get lulled into a false sense of confidence when everything is "controlled" around them. A little decision-making is good for people. :P
I think that 90% of the time, these people do it on purpose, thinking they can easily out-accelerate the other car, or they feel that the sheer size of their vehicle is it's own justification..(you don't have to get out of my way, but...).
Last week, I traded my '02 Dakota for a Saturn Ion. (Save the crap you want to spit out for another forum!) Anyway, I immediately noticed that almost everyone, no matter what they drive, but again mostly Very Large Trucks & SUV's think that they can just swing into the other lane and just blast right on by. They just don't get that while that Hemi or billion litre Chevy/Caddy have a butt load of power,the 3 tons they are pushing is a poor match to 175 hp & 2800 lbs.
Another popular annoyance is people who evidently have some sort of control on their brakes (NOT BREAKS!!) that are applied whenever the steering wheel wheel is moved more than a couple of degrees off center. " My God! I am driving the safest Volvo in the world! If I don't brake for this gentle curve, the car will flip!!
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that it is a good thng I don't carry automatic weapons with me.
Yeah, don't be an #$%^.
I don't like tailgaters either but why intentionally make a bad situation a thousand times worse?
Why take a chance on a lifetime of pain from the accident just because you wanted to teach the guy behind you a lesson?
Not to mention that since there is now an accident you are inconvenicing all the other drivers.
While tailgating is bad, (unless its outside a football game) intentionally causing an accident is worse.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Well one guy was driving his new Impala through this yard, driving nice and slow and being great with regards to the people walking in the yard. But this guy drove in such a manner that he ended up getting scraped by a couple of carts sitting in they yard. Not only that but be was getting bags of rocks (for use like mulch) that eventually weighed down his car so low it had to have damaged his suspension.
The second was going home. There is this left turn with a real long left turn lane. Near the beginning of this left turn lane was a cute ute that had broken down and had its hazard flashers on. well there was this one guy behind him with his left turn signal on, This guy most likely didn't see the hazard flashers and the fact that nobody was a head of this cute ute.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Both the sickly moan and the "Voice Of God."
Maybe she thought you were an unmarked cop. Talk about stealth! A cop driving a decrepit old van with a flakey horn...
Just like I sometimes have the urge to smack somebody but never actually act on it, I -- too -- sometimes have to urge to slam on the brakes and let a tailgater f*ck him/herself. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to do it. But there's a certain satisfaction in the fantasy.
THANK YOU!!!
Yes, not only is this annoying, but it causes major backups on crowded highways wherever there's a gentle curve or slight downhill slope. 1000 people braking slightly amplifies synergistically into gridlock.
Funny that many people drive like they're on ice when taking curves, yet you still see lots of accidents when the weather does turn bad.
Not that this is a realistic proposal, but I think we'd all be better off if people took race driving courses along with regular driving courses in order to get their licenses. It's just that these curve-brakers grossly underestimate their cars' capabilities.
It's all about knowing where the safety limits lie, and being smart enough not to exceed them in any given kind of conditions.
I guess that puts too much faith in people, though
The slow down / speed up brakers are far worse though. Ugh. I rode with one of those once and I felt like reaching across the seat and strangling the lady. :mad: Not that I *would* though.... (see nightvzn's post above)
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part2/part2b2.htm#section2B31
No, it is not OK to disobey.
----------
Which means very little if the police do not enforce it.
It's best summed up in the quote from President Andrew Jackson, "(Chief Justice) John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!"
It doesn't matter the circumstances, either. The 'brake-tapper' could be tailgating, be tailgated, be in heavy traffic, or be in absolutely no traffic whatsoever.
I don't understand it myself, but it's really annoying. Mainly because I actually pay attention to my surroundings while on the road, so if I see a someone's brakelights activate 600 yards ahead, I notice and think that there must actually BE a situation ahead that requires a slower speed.
Heck, I've even seen the 'brake-tappers' ACCELERATE while tapping their brakes.
Anybody else seen this phenomenon... or have any insight as to why anyone would do this?
:confuse:
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
If someone had pulled the pedal up with the top of their foot, they may have raised the sliding brake switch so that their pedal is normally riding very close to the on contact position.
I think many of the brake light twinklers are using both feet and driving on alert ready to push the brake at any sign of impending doom like a slight curve, an oncoming car, a bug on the road, a chicken, sundown, etc.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
His speech stutters most of the time and he frequently erupts with "Uhh, Uhhh, Uhh and You knows". I'm of the opinion his frequent braking for no reason is a physical and/or nervous condition. He has done this for over thirty years, but lately is getting more pronounced.
It would seem there are quite a few 'nervous Neds' out there.
This created a disconcerting moment of pseudo-crisis until I was able to free the stuck accelerator with a few swift kicks. I suppose if all else failed I could have killed the engine and drifted to the shoulder.
But can you imagine explaining that to a cop? "Sorry, Officer, I didn't mean to be going over 100 ... it was my car's idea...!"
That Buick had many interesting quirks, and the stuck accelerator had to rank among the best.
Sorry, slightly off-topic since you were talking about a brake pedal sticking, but I couldn't help it.
1) the two-footed drivers (as already mentioned).
2) those who are using cruise control and tap the brakes as they come up on someone who is going slower. That way they just have to hit the re-accelerate button to get back to their previous speed.
In city traffic the vast majority would be those with their left foot resting on the brake pedal.... which is pretty much the only way you could accelerate while tapping the brakes. Unless you have hand controls or very long arms.
I also spotted a clapped out old Exploder going about 60 on my 30mph street...of course local revenue enforcement camps out on higher volume streets (although mine is hardly deserted) - more yield, more money...no, what I mean by that is more safety!
Just about every car I ever had with cruise has a cancel button which disengages the cruise without resetting it so you can just hit resume to get back to your old speed.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
For one, I do not step on the brakes SOLELY to "deactive" the cruise control. However, I am getting the feeling I may be among a minority group.
And I'm not too sure about the two-foot drivers, either. I might consider it if the phenomenon occurred only during high-traffic times. But it happens regardless of road conditions. I've seen completely empty highways on early Sunday mornings, with only myself and one other car, and that other car will merrily tap-tap-tappy-tap their brakes for miles and miles.
Somedays, it just makes me want to get in front of them and then do the same back at them.
(And no, I'm not tailgating. Heck, I'm not even in the same lane.)
I used to think that it involved a loose brake pedal, but I don't think that would really cause this to happen.
I also saw a lot of cops out for Labor Day making sure we all followed our "nothing happened on May 1, 1886, nothing at all... let's pick an innocuous day to celebrate Labor Day by taking it totally easy" indoctrination. On 880, with a natural flow of 75mph at the time, a Mercedes took a flyover ramp at 85 (harmlessly) and got nabbed right away. I was very close from taking the same ramp at 80mph on a whim... got kinda lucky.
Then taking the reverse course, there is a 50 MPH sign in the middle of all the switch backs heading down the mountain. Not 1000 feet later is a squiggly road sign stating 35 MPH. So I clear those and start speeding up to 50, not a 1/2 mile later, guess what? Speed reduced to 35. WTH is up with putting a 50 where it obviously can't be used? :sick:
I also took I-17 from Phoenix to Flagstaff. I was watching and saw an umarked cop in the median, at night watching traffic coming the other direction. It was at the bottom of the small hill, where one's cruise control could easily get overzealous trying to hold the 75 MPH SL.
The only other issue is AZ's penchant for setting highways with two lanes in each direction and a generous median to a SL of 65 when it could easily be 75.
Not that those situations are funny at the time, but if they end well and after the problem is fixed, then one can take time out to chuckle.
No, you are correct there. Loose pedals (that do not come all the way up) can cause the lights to illuminate, but it would typically manifest itself as more of a flicker than a lengthy on or off. I had a problem with my '69 Econoline and never noticed it until someone was nice enough to mention it to me at a fueling station. It was an easy fix, but not so easy to see it when it only happens while in motion!
On my van, the switch has a plunger that is "on" when the plunger is fully extended (pedal moves away from the switch toward the floorboard) and "off" when the plunger is depressed (pedal is not depressed). In my case the bracket holding the switch was loose (rather than the pedal) and thus the plunger was depressed just far enough to turn the lights off, but would jiggle on momentarily when driving over uneven surfaces like gravel, etc.
Somewhat embarrassing, but I guess people probably expect that sort of quirk with ugly old vehicles.
You know I can't recall seeing one single cop this weekend outside the big end of summer bash that a nearby town had.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I always considered myself a two-footed driver, but I never have both feet touching the pedals at the same time.
(though, the left foot's for the brake... and the right's for the gas).
:P
Navigating Seattle was a real chore, as I had to drop my brother off in some subdivision nestled atop a hill. Bleah. Not a trip I would care to repeat, but better than the return journey to Alaska a couple months later! :surprise:
Only time I'd do the two-footed thing would be if I wanted to "power brake" my Dart or Catalina, and make a lot of noise and send smoke billowing up into the air.
We used to have a problem with trains hitting cars here around Chicago until the started installing cameras at crossings and even started stationing police at rail road stations. Lots of people started paying big fines and the problem has gone down a lot.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Today while driving home from work I was tailgated for about 2 miles by a youngish blond in a pimped out somewhat ragged 95-99 Eclipse. I was in the left lane, going 40 in a 35, the same speed as the car in front of me, and the car in front of it, etc. She came out from a side street and planted herself so close to my butt I went a long time without being able to see her lights. She was also smoking, which worries me as much as people yapping on the phone...but to her credit she didn't panic or get excited when I occasionally let off the gas to test her. I was hoping she'd try to thread the needle by cutting right and going between the slowpokes gawking at such exotic sights as buildings and trees, so I could just tap the gas and not let her get away with it...but she turned off the road.
While the highway experience was decent, once I got off the highway, I found myself in dense city-street traffic... side-by-side to a Chevy truck. That truck could not stay in it's own lane, it weaved back and forth moving in and out of the lane I was in.
Eventually, I had to honk my horn in order to focus his attention on the road. However, the person in front of me was probably scratching his head... wondering why I was honking at him. I probably appeared to be quite the inconsiderate driver to that fellow.
And if we had horns on all four sides of our cars, we could target our horns at the proper offenders.
:shades:
I was on my way home today, minding my own business, when all of a sudden the guy behind me blasted the horn. What the... oh it was you?
j/k j/k
I've sometimes dealt with this problem by slowing down so the person passes, peering in through their side window to confirm that yes, that little blue light on the dashboard IS on, then getting behind them and bringing them back to reality with a few quick flashes. But sometimes even that doesn't work ... I speed back up and get in front of them, and their high beams are still blasting away...
Now if I could just shine a spotlight rearward, maybe they'd get the hint.
Also, a late-model looking school bus that belched a lot of awful black smoke on its way up the minor hill where I live. It's awesome that large/commercial vehicles can operate in a vacuum of responsibility when it comes to such matters.
Oh, and rear facing fog lights were once a common option on Euro cars, at least in the home market. I want not just horns going in every direction, but flamethrowers. Take that, Tucson!
Reminds me when a driver was being kidnapped in Oregon and heading West on US30 with the gunman in the backseat. The driver calmly and discreetly tapped SOS in Morse code with his brake pedal until another motorist caught on, phoned the police with a complete description of the car. The OR police stopped the car and arrested the kidnapper.
Cigarette smokers are the most inconsiderate drivers. They have bad breath, tarnished teeth, horrible body odor, quickly eliminate that new car smell, cause cancer with their 2nd hand smoke, and create forest fires by not using their ash trays. (She said,"If I use the ash tray, it will stink up the car.") :mad:
i turn off my lights, wait a second and turn them back on.
generally that is enough to get people to realize there is an issue with their high/low beam setting. sometimes it is necessary to do this twice.
i have not had it fail yet, but i'm sure now that i've mentioned it, the next time it won't work.
another thing i have done is cycle my rear-view mirror a few times.