By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
I'll take the statements of a MB specialist with 25 years independent experience and clientele including 300SLs, a fleet of Porsche 356s, and a large personal car collection as worth something too.
She had come up on me with 20 or more speed differential. Lanes were hers; first time in decades I'd seen fewer than 10 cars (and trucks) behind and in front of me total on I70. Kind of nice at that hour. Usually there are 80% trucks and 20% cars at times on I70.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Speaking of tailgaters, we did have one incident. On Wednesday night in a blinding rain about 10pm, a big jacked up Chevy pickup with about 20 sets of foglights came up behind us (in the right lane) and got right on the bumper of my sister's little Focus. We were going about 60 in a 60 on a local highway in a kind of inbred part of WA where such vehicles are common. My sister starts up with a stream of profanity...I just tell her to slowly lower her speed and he'll go around. By the time she got down to 55 or so, he shot by, probably going about 80+ by the time he got around. Sadly, we didn't see an upside down truck out in a field or in a ditch a few miles ahead. It was really pouring out...the wipers on that car were going full speed and could hardly keep up.
LOL, we have some of those parts right here (central VA)! And then there are the cliches about West Virginia, which isn't very far from me!
Three years ago I was yelled at in Oregon for trying to pump my own fuel. With ignorant bliss, I hopped from the car, scanned my card, chose my fuel grade, and was just about to pull the trigger when someone yells, "Hey! You can't pump your own gas!" I said, "No? Why did you not tell me that earlier? I have pumped my own for years!" The fella explains to me that Oregon law requires station attendants pump the fuel (I do not recall it being that way when I lived there, but then I rarely filled up at public stations, so maybe I am just forgetting). Then later on, I could tell he took offense when I checked the oil and washed the windows myself. Eh, habit, though I hope he was not expecting a tip! It was like visiting a foreign culture unexpectedly....:surprise:
I never understood that law. Learned about it last year when I was in Oregon as well. The guy came over to pump gas into my Titan and I mentioned that it was hard to put gas in it and I'd rather do it myself. He shrugged and said "well, I don't see you pumping your own gas" then he walked off. It was hard to put gas in my truck, very fussy beast it was and I didn't want gas sprayed all over the side of it (major pet peeve). At least he was cool about it.
Wasn't so lucky the second time I went through Oregon, the guy started the pump going in my truck and walked away to do another car. It clicked off and got fussy, so I stared messing with it to get it to go in. He came running back over and said "you can't do that, you can't touch it" I simply said it wasn't working since the truck was fussy. He got it going and walked away, it filled up, I topped it off, and hung it back up. He wasn't very happy about that, but oh well, lol. :P
Anyway, other than a being held up at 45 (in a 65... 90% of the Parks Highway is 65) for about 3 miles heading into Nenana and then again for about a mile outside of Clear junction, the roads were tolerably empty. 346 miles in 6 hours, 10 minutes with 4 stops (brief). But, considering my fastest speed was 70 save the two times I had to pass the same vehicle that liked to cut curves and speed up when I passed by, making that time was due to clear highways. I missed the inclement weather for which I had hoped, but I sure appreciated that pillow at 0210 rather than 0510!!!
We will see how it is on the flip side. I plan to head out Sunday morning, so it will likely be a busier road. Plus, the little man will be awake and no doubt less thrilled about the prospect of a long trip. :sick:
Your lucky, I had to stay up late on turkey day and at 11:30 was taking my lovely bride to the local outlet mall that was opening at midnight :sick: At 1:00am this place was packed, at 2:00am there was a line of cars snaking into the parking lot. :confuse:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Guess what? The last car in that line of cars goes straight to the left lane, I had to almost stand on my brakes to keep from rear ending her. With a half dozen cars following me doing 80 MPH+ I am amazed that there wasn't an accident because when I settled in behind her we were doing 50 MPH or so.
Next thing was on the way home. Pretty much the same situation, me doing around 80 MPH, clear road a head of me and a whole lot of traffic following me about 1/8 mile back. All of a sudden I noticed one car making a few lane changes and gets past all that traffic then passes me. No real problem, but as soon as he passes me all the traffic that was pacing me for the that 3 or 4 miles started pacing the car that passed me. :confuse:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
This Black Friday stuff is becoming all night affairs. How soon till they will be opening at 5 am on Thanksgiving for the same shopping?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My trip is only about 280 miles since I'm down south of Anderson. Usually takes us about 4 1/2 to 5 hrs depending on the roads. Hopefully they hold. However, history tells us that Cantwell will get a HUGE snow storm the day we head down......that's the norm for us, lol.
I've seen a number of these cases where people just habitually go straight to the left lane when getting on the highway, sometimes with NOBODY else on the road (in which case there's no good reason for them to be in the left lane). It's almost a "I don't want to have to think at all, so I'll just hang out over on the far left" sort of thing. I wonder what qualified them for such special privileges?
I thought I was the only one with such luck, lol. We went down in February of 2005 with a rented 2003 Ford Escape (my Titan was in the shop with a busted front end), no snow tires, and it was the year of the drifts in Cantwell. I don't know how many times we had to go into the other lane just to avoid the 4-6 ft drifts. Amazed me there was no accidents. That little Escape did great even though it had summer tires.......I have a snow tire obession......can't stand to drive without them, lol.
We have snow tires on all 3 trucks.......TDS LOVES us, lol. We had to buy 14 winter tires this year.....4 for my truck, 4 for the Ford, and 6 for hubby's dually.....can you say OUCH??? Hopefully we have an uneventful trip, although I'm sure we'll see plenty of driving acts of stupidity, always do.
Rocky
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Rocky
Actually, it doesn't cost much more to run a full service station. Lots of the normal size stations (2 islands) only have 2 attendants on duty, sometimes one, and the self service places have at least one. SO maybe you are paying an extra $10/$20 hr for attendants? If you do enough volume, you don't have to charge much more per gallon to pay that.
Besides, there are very few attendants in my area that I would let near my engine compartment. It's not like the old days where the mechanic came out wiping his hands on a rag!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
"You're a quart low, I'll put in that quart, sir."
"Oooops."
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I'm sitting at the left turn onto the expressway, waiting for a green arrow. It arrives. We start moving veeeeryy sloooowly. I look ahead and see the cause: a Contour turning left onto the expressway at an absolute snail's pace.
We finally all got moving and most of us got in the right lane to pass this person. I confirmed that yes, he was very old, and yes, he was driving down the road with his wipers on with the sun shining and no rain. :confuse:
A little while later on 101, I'm only a few miles from my exit, and things are moving well as usual (I don't usually get on the road until about 9:30-9:45). And then we hit a pocket of mild rain. Aaaand the traffic grinds to a halt. :mad: :sick: I have to wonder, do the majority of these people just stand on their brakes the moment they see a drop of precipitation? That's the going joke in the bay area, where rain is seen as a horrific threat, but I'm really thinking it's more reality than allegory.
Two people made unsignaled lane changes directly into my path today. Both got the horn treatment. I go back and forth on using the horn on these dingbats. I believe the horn is best used to notify a driver that (s)he is doing something dangerous (rather than just venting anger), and unsignaled lane changes certainly qualify as highly dangerous, in my mind. But if I beeped at every unsignaled lane change I saw around here, I'd wear out my horn!
Plus I ride with people here sometimes and apparently the bay area non-signaling trend is infectious, because a lot of them fail to signal as well. I find myself sitting in the passenger seat gritting my teeth and wanting to be invisible to any competent drivers who happen to be witnessing the spectacle. :sick:
Sigh, it's not going to be a good day...
on the [non-permissible content removed] end of a tow truck.
I came back from Anchorage yesterday with no problems. Amazingly, I actually made slightly better time than the trip down: 6 hours flat this time, but only made 3 stops. Once again, the roads between Anchorage and Nenana were great, save for intermittent frost on the road that did not slick it up much.
The wind was picking up at Healy (about 106 miles from Fairbanks) - probably gusting to 30 or 40 mph. By Nenana, though, whoa! The wind was out of control - gusting to who-knows-what, but bending the trees enough that I could occasionally see the tops of spruce in my headlights (bent like sideways "L"s along the roadside). The hills were slick again, but it was graveled this time which made it a little unpredictable. I will never understand why they dump gravel or salt on the roads - it seems so unncessary.
I ended up passing probably 30 vehicles in the 45 miles through the hills, but luckily I hit the "clumps" almost precisely when there was a 3rd (passing) lane and most everyone was obligingly disciplined in their lane use. There was one driver of a Suburban (complete with rear-seat DVD in operation!) who did not feel he needed to use the right lane. I had to weave between him and other vehicle in the right lane who was slowly overtaking him, so he received a healthy dose of my top-mounted driving lights though I do hope they did not miss too much of their movie. :sick: Another driver was slow to figure out that he was, indeed, "slower traffic," and started to take to the right lane as I was passing on that side - but he figured out to wait a few moments before completing the (sans signal) move. With a little 4-banger in my old car (220,000 miles!), I cannot wait around for other drivers to get a clue when trying to pull a hill. There was an obliterated SUV along the side of the road that failed to take a downhill curve on a particularly slippery section of road (next to Skinny Dick's, for akangl). No ambulance on the scene, so either the Trooper was waiting for a tow truck at that point and the ambulance had gone, or the occupant(s) somehow managed to escape injury. The vehicle was a goner, though! Ironically, I thought as I was headed into that hill, "I better take it easy on this one - I do not want to get into a skid going down this hill." It has a couple of fairly decent, non-banked curves that can catch drivers by surprise - especially going down, since it is a fairly steep grade. I ended up going 60 around that particular curve (the one on which the SUV crashed) with no problems.
Regarding snow tires, I have decided I will get a set + winter rims for my next vehicle. Right now I use Goodyear Assurance Tripletred. They are the best all-season (on ice) I have ever used, but I think I take about a 5-10% hit to my fuel economy.
It's pretty damp here now, and expected to freeze tonight...I am glad I don't have to go out in the morning. It's going to be messy. I've never had any problems, but in a 300+hp car with RWD and low profile tires, I am sure you can only do so much.
Naw, I am with you on that one. Considering the general amount of driver ineptitude that comes to light on such days, it is better to avoid the roads altogether. A shame, really.
May I just emphasize, for the record, that although I currently live in California? I am NOT a California driver?
Right now I use Goodyear Assurance Tripletred.
I got those for my last set of tires on my Maxima. They were supposedly better performers (dry weather, even) than whatever pieces of poo I had on there previously. I was reasonably happy with them too, and the tread looks really aggressive.
I used to try to take the fintail out in the snow when I could, but now it sleeps in a garage in an even hillier area, so it will stay in too. If it gets bad maybe I'll walk down to the bottom of the hill and watch some carnage.
That must be this one:
Location: Fairbanks
Case number: ---------
Type: MVC-I
Text: On 11-26-06 at 0842 hrs. AST received a report of a single
vehicle rollover on the Parks Highway near MP 321. Investigation
revealed that a 1998 Land Rover driven by a -------, 18, of Barrow,
lost control and rolled the vehicle onto its roof. Two passengers were
ejected and received injuries. ---------, 18, of Barrow, was a
rear seat passenger who complained of back and neck pain. ---------, 18, of Barrow, was the front seat passenger and had several
teeth knocked out and a broken arm. No one was utilizing their safety
belts. The vehicle was totaled.
Author: ENC0
Received and posted Sunday, November 26, 2006 4:22 PM
Figured I'd take the names out even though it is on the trooper report.
I just got back from Fairbanks a bit ago, roads seemed pretty good. Did 65-70 in the hills but once across the bridge in Nenana I was hauling tail averaging 80 mph. Passed one guy before Nenana, he was doing 65 (speed limit) but I wanted to go a bit faster. Started to pass him and he punched it, I had to jump up to almost 90 to get around him. After I was past he slowed back down. Good thing my truck has some get up and go.
Got nailed by one semi for having my low beams on......heaven forbid!! He decided that my low beams were too bright and nailed me with his offroad lights. He's lucky I was tired or I would have been on the CB telling him exactly what I thought. As it was I nailed him back with my brights.
My street is bare and dry, and I drove down to the post office, about 1.5 miles away maybe. I had no problems, even in the icy shaded spots. Lots of people going painfully slow on the dry streets though. There's black ice, not grey ice. I got behind a white trade/box van that was crawling, like 5mph on a bare street. These are the same guys who will go 20 over in the rain...
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I'm dreading the snow that will come.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
And this morning
Pretty unusual for this area. People here can't deal with it.
This trooper was delusional when he said this:
"It's unbelievable. It's like I'm driving in Alaska out here," said Trooper Jeff Merrill of the Washington State Patrol, from directing drivers near I-405 and State Route 527 in Bothell.
Not even Anchorage drivers are that bad in winter conditions! :P
Considering the rarity of these conditions in the area, this is a serious weather front so I do hope you stay safe through it! I bet my friend Pete is tearing his hair out over the lunacy he is seeing on the roads. Hehehe... serves him right for leaving in the first place!
I was going to ask this question of folks who live in more snow-enabled regions. I was travelling on the Tacoma Narrows bridge the other day and some snow/ice came off an SUV heading in the other direction. It hit my car on the lower windshield/hood right in front of me.... scared the __ out of me. No damage but it sounded like it came through the windshield. :surprise:
Is that the norm in other areas? Do people clean off their cars? I think some don't do it here because they want others to look at them... as I said, we don't get much snow. Nasty drive today though.
I live in the Chicago area and there are way to many people who don't. Sometimes they are driving with just a little area cleaned on their windshield :confuse:
What I really hate is getting behind people who don't clean off their back bumper. You can't see their tail lights. I have also seen the driving down the street with snow covering their headlights :confuse:
So to answer your question there are plenty of people in snowy areas that don't completely clean off their cars. I attribute it to laziness.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I think the snow-leavers-on people here are just clueless. Not even lazy...they just don't get it.
Re stealing licence plates, this is a problem here, not just to steal fuel, although it is so expensive that it must be tempting, but especially to avoid speed cameras which we have by the thousand, and in London for the congestion charge etc, which is going to become worse when it develops - inevitably - into full road pricing. It is not just that people steal plates, they just get a set of fake ones made, and can drive round running up tickets everywhere. All they need is to find a car that is same model and colour, and then pay a few quid to a garage who make plates (they are bought from motor factors or garages here, not made in the local prison etc...) but if you need a new plate (they are plastic so the front one in particular is always getting cracked by stones) then you have to show your registration document but no doubt villains are willing to turn a blind eye if they are given a few pounds...
Are the truckers using CB's in AK? I was once advised that due to large distances between trucks, most use a short wave band. Don't doubt you, just checking.
I saw that. She had her wheels turned to the left but her foot was on the brake. He was yelling at her to take her foot off the brake so the car would go left. Instead she slid off to the right. They had done all the work of pushing her to get her going and then she lost it.... and damaged another car besides hers. Sigh.
It's especially bad when the ground is relatively warm and a snowfall covers things. The underlayer melts and forms a slick icy mixture under the pressure of the tires.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I am very curious to see how tomorrow night pans out.
Yup, they do sometimes. They have some sort of a new radio out that a lot of them are using. We have CBs in all the trucks for running the logging roads, the one in my truck is rarely on.
Me too!!! Me too!!! We haven't had snow in forever!! I love watching people with no snow tires try to drive on bad roads, makes for a good show.