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People already "know" the basic rules of the road for the most part. They know what a speed limit is, what a red light means, and there are certainly enough signs in most states that say "slower traffic keep right." They just don't care and put their OWN needs above everyone else's: "I'm late, so everyone outta my way!" Or, "I've got this important cell call to make!"
You all know the old saying about leading a horse to water....
Rocky
As far as just rehashing/reiterating the usual rules of the road, no, I don't think that would help much. But I don't think that's what this thread was meant to be about, either.
A speeding, out-of-control car driven by a naked woman fatally struck a pedestrian and collided with another vehicle before sailing over a fence and landing in a shopping center parking lot ... The driver, Taliyah Taylor, 24, of Staten Island, was pulled out of the car by police following the 10:50 p.m. Wednesday incident ... Taylor, who apparently was high on ecstasy and marijuana when she crashed, faced manslaughter charges and was being held without bail, police said.
And now the clincher:
Taylor was wearing a seat belt and was not hurt.
So she's driving around buck naked, stoned on E and pot, yet she remembers to buckle her seat belt???
Still, it's a very odd story...
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Thats the night I found out that there are some memories that no amount of beer can erase.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Absolutely agreed. The vast majority of drivers are on one end or the other of the spectrum, but both are equally clueless. By clueless, I mean that they either do not understand the limits of their vehicle or they do not respect them. Both are equally dangerous. Really, all it takes is some effort and attention, followed by a healthy does of inflection and application.
But honestly, who has time for that?! :P
Nice post, by the way, nightvzn.
After adjusting to the difference driving did not bother me at first. Now that it is dark between 1900 and 0800 (and still losing light quickly!), however, I am driving quite a bit during night hours. I do fine if the roads are vacant, but oncoming lights and street lights wreak havoc upon my ability to see any thing except light streaking. I feel like every vehicle coming at me has on brights. :mad:
Quite frustrating, as it has little effect on my ability to see at other times - just those direct points of light that are instead these huge blurs, as thought the intensity of the light source magnifies the ghosting effect. I have resorted to wearing polarized sunglasses (the polarization helps a *little*) when I am driving on lighted highways, though it makes things too dark when driving on non-lighted roads, so I just have to focus well away of oncoming lights to keep sufficient tabs on activity ahead. Maybe I should just keep my left eye closed... :sick:
Under these conditions, it has always seemed clear to me that the leftmost non-carpool lane (the lane directly to the right of the carpool lane) takes on the "role" of being the left lane during commute hours. I.e., people should use the second-from-the-left lane for passing, and otherwise yield to faster traffic (assuming it's not so congested you're barely moving anyway).
Unfortunately, people seem even more clueless about "implicit left lanes" than real ones.
The other side of this coin is that once carpool hours are over, carpooling dawdlers should get the heck out of that lane. All too often, I've seen people camping in the left lane well after 9am or 7pm, as though they have a right to just because they have 2+ people in the car.
Bottom line: during carpool hours, the #2 lane becomes the left lane. After carpool hours, the carpool lane becomes the regular left lane again, and even carpoolers should stay out of the lane except for passing.
This makes sense to me, anyway, but I think it's one of those "unwritten rules" many people don't think about. I don't know; to me, it's just simple courtesy.
But here is something I have thought about. Your on the expressway and there is construction in or near the left lane so it is closed off. But to keep two lanes or more lanes of traffic open they just shift traffic to the right so that the right shoulder is now the right lane. In doing this they post signs saying trucks keep left (as to minimize damage to the shoulder). Does this now reverse the lane rules to where its slower traffic keep left except while passing?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Interesting. I don't think they do that in the states I've lived in (NY and CA). That would certainly be hell if anybody got into an accident or broke down (not having a shoulder)!
Sounds like one of those situations where you have compelling arguments on both sides. If trucks are forced into what is temporarily the leftmost lane, people are going to have to do a lot of passing on the right. But treating the right lane as the passing lane introduces hazards near exits and onramps.
One thing is certain -- this would confuse people even more than the carpool lane situation I described.
Shoulders?! Hahahahha... I never thought about that too much! 90% of the roads I drive either have no shoulder or an inadequate one, so the unspoken rules are: 1, if you break down, etc., "GET OFF THE ROADWAY!", and 2, for those still moving, "Watch out for stopped vehicles."
Most of the mid-west roads where I have had to use a shoulder during construction are fairly flat and/or wide so a car could easily use the ground beyond the paved road; just have to be careful to not cause a grass fire. :P
the rant? Why don't people learn how to merge. Last night, modest traffic on I295 in NJ, I'm in the right lane beacuse I am getting off the next exit (this is a road where most of the entrance ramps turn into the next exit ramp). A Taurii wagon is merging, and is a bit ahead of me, with plenty of clear lane beyond that. Lots of room to merge.
Well, of course this person can't be bothered to accelerate (and this is a long, flat on ramp). I even back off a bit, but they don't take the hint. I probably get down below 50 and finally the ramp opens up so I pull in behind them. Well, that finally convinces them to get onto the highway, but they are still doing about a whopping 45!
Why don't people use that funny long pedal on the right to make the car go faster, and actually get up to highway speed as they merge on? This ramp is so long that I can get the 24' Ryder trucks I drive soemtimes up to 60 if I want to!
I guess merging is a lost art. Anyone else notice that you get nasty looks if you actually get up to cruising speed on the on rampso you are at the flow of traffic speed when you merge in?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Unless you habitually abuse alcohol you will most likely pass out at a .3 BAL.
I guess merging is a lost art. Anyone else notice that you get nasty looks if you actually get up to cruising speed on the on rampso you are at the flow of traffic speed when you merge in?
Way to many times while I am merging and up to highway speeds there will be a car behind me on the highway that will instead of maintaining speed and letting me in nice and easy they will accelerate to get past me. No I am not sure if they have a "me first how dare you get ahead of me mentality" or they just thing I am going real slow.
Then there are times I will do that and at then end of the ramp there is some idiot going real slow or just stopped looking for a chance to get on. :sick:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I got to drive a few hundred miles on nearly abandoned 60mph country highways...fun stuff. Now and then I'd come up behind some old cowboy in a big old truck going 50...passing was easy due to the lack of traffic, and I could do some fun acceleration sprints while I was at it.
I've heard that some people do this, although I'm not sure if I've witnessed it, because when a car looks empty aside from the driver, there could still be a baby in a child seat or something (which I think counts? dunno, I don't have a kid).
One person literally claimed that the fines he pays for being caught periodically are totally worth it considering the time he saves. Some people have money to burn, I guess.
Some people will actually use blow-up dolls in the passenger seat to throw off police who might be looking for 1-occupant cars in the carpool lane. When they get caught doing this, the punishments tend to be fairly embarrassing...
I think, as a whole, most people respect the carpool lanes. What they don't respect is the implicit left lane it creates to its right, or the fact that it becomes a regular left lane during non-carpool hours.
Needless to say, this was one of the stupidest tickets I'd ever heard of, and my long battle against it was quite an epic tale (for the whole story, see http://nightvzn.livejournal.com/25966.html). Every once in a while, the traffic court system actually works.
Anyway, not to go too far off-topic, but it relates to your question. Sometimes the police can be really picky about the carpool thing.
So you could say this post relates to inconsiderate police, who are drivers as well, so they're still inconsiderate drivers in that case.
I've never heard of an age limit for carpool-lane passengers. Obviously the intent is that one's passenger should be someone who's also on his or her way to work, but that's not enforced.
On the other hand, there have been a couple of cases involving pregnant women who've tried to argue that they're really not alone in their vehicles. As far as I know claims like that haven't actually worked - though a traffic court judge who is a militant right-to-life advocate would have to dismiss the ticket unless he wants to be a total hypocrite :P
Some people will actually use blow-up dolls in the passenger seat to throw off police who might be looking for 1-occupant cars in the carpool lane. When they get caught doing this, the punishments tend to be fairly embarrassing...
Yeah, imagine trying to explain to your wife that you really only wanted the doll so you could drive in the carpool lane
Winter has arrived.... finally.... and we now have my favorite type of road surfaces: slick!
I feel like a kid in a candy store, so I will definitely have to take a foray at lunch today. Speaking of inconsiderates though, I went to Sam's Club this morning for a moment and there was a huge line of people at the tire shop! Hahah... the first real snowfall of the winter comes almost a month late on 10/21/06, and there are still drivers who want winter tires, but have not changed over to them. Oh well, I would rather have them stuck in a line waiting than cluttering up the roadway. :P
I think thats on the top ten phrases rarely heard list.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
That case was right here, in Phoenix, AZ. What I really don't understand is that if a drunk driver hits and kills a pregnant woman and her baby, the drunk driver will be charged with two deaths. Yet, the unborn baby doesn't count for HOV lanes?
I did make a point to head out onto the road at lunch today and enjoyed every minute of it! Regrettably, most of the road surfaces had melted off again, but I still saw more than enough foolish behavior to make me think it must somehow be slippery.
The best was a Cadillac CTS just in front of me at an uncontrolled intersection. We were both waiting to turn left onto a 4-lane-with-center-turn road. There was a decent line of cars coming from the left in both lanes. As they approached, the first two vehicles in the rightmost lane signaled their intent to turn onto the road we were exiting, so the CTS goes..... VERY SLOWLY.... right into the path of the Chevy Blazer in the left lane who was not turning! The Blazer had to come to nearly a complete stop to avoid hitting the CTS. The CTS driver made no indication he was at all phased by the near-collision that would likely have killed him, and continued taking his merry time across the road. Oy. I literally cringed and yelled, "What are you doing?!", though I felt rather foolish about it afterward.
Well the right turn signal on the truck starts blinking so I gave it a little gas to close the gap between me and the car in front of me to a more respectable distance. Now as I start to pass him he starts to merge left. :surprise: The this guy blew his horn at me.
Here's a hint if your going to merge left don't turn on your right turn signal.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Ahh ... that's a very good point. A legal inconsistency, it would seem, unless the definition of "person" for murder is somehow different from the definition of "person" for car occupancy.
Maybe HOV laws could be more accurately stated as requiring that at least two of a car's seats be occupied by separate people.
So conjoined twins couldn't use the HOV lane?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Okay, now you're just being difficult
I'm sure it would make a great (i.e. overhyped) story if such twins actually got ticketed. Followed by Letterman/Leno appearances and such.
Oh, and well-placed pun. :P
I don't think they'd be able to fit in the car...
:P
Oh, and yesterday at the same time in the morning, a highline Chrysler 300 pulled right out in front of me from a parking lot, as I was going about 40. I had to hit my brakes relatively hard...then he noticed me and I could tell he floored it. I only flashed him. These people should pull their stunts in LA or the Bronx etc...
I am driving in to the university for a broomball game at about 2300 last night, through a very light snowfall. I am tooling along at 60 on a 55 SL expressway, when an older white coupe - I think it was a Honda Accord, but I could not tell because of the snow dusting behind it - flys by me going about 80. While being overtaken during dry road conditions is a common experience, I could probably count, on one hand, the number of times that happens during the winter on an open highway (and that is over 5-6 months!). Being passed with a 20 mph differential while I am going 60 on ice and snow-glazed roads? Rare.
The driver looked to be controlling the car well enough and would purposefully slow at curves and whatnot, so other than being able to react and retain control in an emergency situation, no complaints about overall behavior. At the other end of the expressway it pulled into a bar's parking lot, so I sure hope the driver was not going that fast on the way home.... :surprise:
Then I got behind a NY plated Accord going 30. In a 40. Amusing to see every single vehicle fly by it. The car eventually turned onto a side street, without signalling.
Then I got behind a filty previous generation Civic with dark tinted windows. This car would vary its speed between 25-45, in a 35, variances coming at random. Then, going up a hill, it stopped to let a car out of an alley...with no traffic behind it! Courtesy meets supidity. I suspect some kind of substance abuse was present.
Turns out a ConEd (steam/electric co) truck had caught fire. It was extinguished when I got there, and the truck was toast. There was still a lot of activity, though, centered around a manhole next to where the burnt truck was.
So here's the inconsiderate part -- the cops had closed the street at the 7th Ave end by blocking its mouth with a squad car and a Con Ed truck. They left enough of a space between the two so that the numerous cop cars, Con Ed vehicles, etc. could leave (and by going the wrong way down the one-way street). A traffic cop was at the intersection diverting traffic coming eastbound down 7th Ave.
Well, some master-of-the-universe type in a flawless, glossy black, showroom condition G-wagen wasn't having any of it. He nearly clips the traffic agent and barrels straight through the intersection. He gets the nose of his car in between the blockading cop car and Con Ed truck and ends up facing off bumper-to-bumper with a civilian car that has left a parking garage down the block. The traffic agent and cop are screaming at the guy, who is, astonishingly, screaming right back at them and seems to genuinely feel he has a right to go where he was going. Just to reiterate -- there is a huge, impassable clot of vehicles halfway down the block and an active emergency response situation.
I didn't see the end result. they backed the guy out of there and turned him around and pulled him over on the side of 7th Ave. He was still screaming at the cops (who were surrounding the vehicle) when I left.
Hopefully he was carrying a joint or an open container. You forfeit your vehicle forever if you get caught with that stuff in NYC.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,226208,00.html
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
(Yes, I know it's still grand theft...er, bus, and driving without a license, but still...)
Earlier today I had a Hyundai Accent not yield to oncoming traffic (me) as it was turning left. My horn works.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I was coming out of a side street and turned my lights off and on to try to warn him, but no good.
I then thought I could catch up to him (going the same direction), but the next traffic light turned red (after he made it through and I didn't). Oh well.
I pull in behind him and he's a ways ahead of me now as I had to slow down behind other cars. He then slows way down as he comes beside a box truck a little ways ahead, so I briefly rode up close behind him, then went around him on the right again when he cleared the truck. Of course he sped up again to play games some more, but this time I was expecting it and there was less traffic so he couldn't box me in again.
A couple miles ahead he gets off the highway with a last high beam salute. I've asked this before, but what the heck goes on in these peoples heads?
A darn good question, but I think at least part of the time, it's people who have appointed themselves enforcers of the speed limit. One standout experience was when I was behind somebody in the leftmost lane who was tooling along at 65 (in a 65 zone) with nobody in front of him, but plenty of traffic in all the other lanes. I wanted to go 75, though. He very easily could have stepped aside momentarily to let me pass, but he just wouldn't budge.
I hovered for a minute (not riding right up on his butt, but close enough to indicate my desire to pass), but he didn't seem to notice, so I gave a few VERY quick flashes of my high beams (it was daytime, mind you, so I wasn't blinding him at all).
His reaction was one for the books. He angrily thrust his hands into the upper-middle part of the cabin and displayed six fingers, then five. Oh, I get it. I'm so dumb, I didn't REALIZE the speed limit was 65 and you were in charge of enforcing that!
It was so amusing I flashed my high beams again, only to get the same aggressive SIX-FIVE reaction. This repeated a few more times until a lane opened up and I blew by him.
You have to assume that somebody so incredibly safety-conscious as to be strictly bound to the posted limit must have three arms, in that case, because certainly he wouldn't take all his hands off the wheel to thrust 6's and 5's for my viewing enjoyment. That would be too dangerous!
Didn't you know? That was the most important person in this or any parallel universe. How dare you try to get in front of him.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
What kind of cars do you have? I have a Pontiac Vibe (4 cyl) so it usually takes some planning when I want to pass someone who is playing games. I've got to be able to wring every last bit of power out of it to pass some people.
So, does it sound like he might have been drunk?