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Comments
I love Rain-X, it really helps in night driving too. I need to apply some to the new car today.
I can relate to your situation of watching a car come right at you. I know because it happened to me.
And I realize that this may give you all a chance to chip at me, however, being a retired CHP officer in Ca. I have been chipped one before and survived and even made it to retirement. I hope I don't offend anyone.
I remember driving thru the Caldcott (sp) Tunnel and coming out on the other side and meeting head on an elderly lady who had driving her car the wrong way for a distance of almost 10 miles!!!
Fortunately she stopped in time and missed my vehicle by about three feet.
I was able to drive her car to the right shoulder, get my car on the shoulder as cars went by me at 60+ mph.
She turned out to be 80 years old, and was confused. I suggested that the Dept Mtr Vehicles retest her. I also had a relative come to the scene and drive her home.
Two othe times I had wrong way drivers coming at me and my partner on the 12 AM shift. This occurred twice. Each on was alcohol related drivers, and they swerved and hit the center divider wall.
Point here for you to consider. What would you do if a driver came at you? You probably will say that the officer should have stopped the wrong way driver? Well it worked for me one time, and the others just kept on driving the wrong way and shortly thereafter crashed.
Fortunately no other cars were hit.
Good luck to all, and I wish all a peaceful and sacred Xmas for you and your loved ones. Its a blessing to be alive and retired!!
jensad
We are tired of your continued use of the above term you consistently try to apply to well educated law enforcement officers who are doing their work at a very high professional level. Hopefully you will never need to have one of them apply mouth to mouth recessitation, but in case you do, pray the officer has very big lips to cover your huge facial orifice. :P
150 x 20days = 3000 per month, 36000 a year as I worked mostly freeway.
Over 25 years, about 900,000 miles. And we usually did not drive for 8 hours, as we dealt with many accidents especially in the rain, ice, and once in a blue moon, snow on the road.
Lastly, the miles on a 10 PM shift were more than 150 most nights and if day shift, about 125 miles per shift.
Good luck to all
jensad
CHP management has even hit the news media, saying they spend TOO much time doing accident management, etc., and wish they had more time to do the more, how would you say discretionary portions. (aka revenue enhancement) Of course there is no mention of the so called fun stuff, such as; VIP duty, special events, and stuff like court time, sitting in a uniformed patrol car off the side of a highway during highway construction, making extra green on so called off time.
In CA anyway there is a push to hire 500 new officers due to retirements (like Jensad) etc.
I can't count how many times I have been in the left-hand lane going the speed limit or maybe 3 or 4mph over it, passing vehicles that are in the right-hand lane, and having some self-righteous, self-important nitwit tailgating me and flashing their headlights at me to move over, simply because I have chosen to obey the law and drive the speed limit.
Any driver in the left-hand lane who is passing vehicles that are in the right-hand lane is under absolutely no obligation whatsoever to speed up to the same unsafe speed as the impatient, senseless driver behind them.
Any driver in the left-hand lane who is travelling the speed limit and still passing the vehicles that are in the right hand lane is also under no obligation whatsoever to slow down and merge right just to suit a dangerous speeder and tailgater behind them.
I do not speed for, or yeild to, tailgaters. Once I have passed the vehicles to my right and have a large enough empty space in the right-hand lane to pull into, I will do so only at that time.
Get off of your soap box, stop being so self-important and selfish, and learn to drive correctly and safely.
I highly doubt fintail is applying that term to hard-working officers that are doing their best. The fact remains, however, that there are officers, of their own accord or by management directive, that dole out tickets with high revenue content, not in the name of safety. I speak from experience. I drive a road daily that has a high number of drivers that go 10-15 MPH over the speed limit of 65. Once a quarter, AZ DPS sticks 10 motorcycle cops out and issues speeding tickets left and right. Local citizens go out of their way to praise the officers, but have they made the road any safer? Every other day during the quarter, people go their normal speed and the road is comparatively safe to I-10, US 60, etc. Most of the accidents we have are not caused by speed, but instead impatient drivers. And yet, the 10 officers they put out once every 90 days do not target those going excessively slow, tailgating, weaving, turning out onto the highway at the wrong time, etc. Many offenses that are more severe in terms of the collisions that can occur, but do not net the same kind of ROI for DPS. Hence the term, "revenue collection officer."
In my case, when DPS starts getting out on the highway on a regular basis and starts enforcing all of the traffic laws, then I will drop the term "revenue collection officer."
You gotta love these statements:
"I can't count how many times I have been in the left-hand lane going the speed limit or maybe 3 or 4mph over it..."
"I do not speed for, or yeild to, tailgaters."
What do you call 3 or 4 MPH over the speed limit? Yes, that's right! Speeding! Pick up 5 MPH, it won't kill or harm anyone and complete your pass!
Get off of your soapbox, you are the one who is being selfish. Notice the "I" content in your post. "I" won't do this, "I" won't do that. Recognize that safe driving is more than just what the law tells you to do. Recognize that you'll be helping out a lot of other drivers if you'll just complete your pass a little bit faster.
Oh, let me tell you, I could start a whole new forum documenting the moronic lunacy they put me through on another occasion.
I figured Jiffy Lube simply did a poor application. What scared me was that I could not clean that Rain-X off my windshield for a year and a half, no matter what I did. Car washes, or isopropyl alcohol or glass cleaning solvents with paper towels, it didn't matter -- that bad application of Rain-X just would NOT come off, and I endured the resulting streaking for way too long. It scared me into thinking if you mess up Rain-X, it's permanent.
Step 1) Make sure you have full glass coverage on your insurance policy.
Step 2) Load up a small rock and a baseball pitching machine into your car.
Step 3) Drive to a deserted area.
Step 4) Fire the rock into your windsheild.
Step 5) Get a new windshield.
Or if you are in AZ:
Step 1) Same as above.
Step 2) Drive behind a semi on our highways outside of the city for a little while.
Step 3) Get a new windshield.
.."Lastly, the miles on a 10 PM shift were more than 150 most nights and if day shift, about 125 miles per shift."..
This is interesting for if we look at one officers' time over 25 years, I would have swagged from the highway and insurance data and so called "common knowledge," the night is less safe than the day.
Well educated eh...not the guys I knew in school who became squad car drivers. I have all the respect in the world for the good cops (like the guy who was gunned down in White Center last week...makes me ill to think about it), but like with every other profession, not all cops are good.
I'm not worried about the mouth to mouth thing, it rains too much here and the revenue collection guys apparently don't like getting wet. Looks like I'm on my own... :sick:
And on the thread topic...it stopped raining here and is pretty nice, and I swear people are going slower than ever! I got behind an old guy in a Corolla going 24 in a 35 for no reason in the world.
Sometimes laws transcend the bounds of practicality and exist for their own sake, and revenue collection seems to fill the void left by the absence of any real justification.
In other words, do we turn on the wipers so we can see, or so we can please the law, and pay up otherwise? What if you can see just fine with Rain-X?
If the law told us to train a cat to balance on its tail on top of our heads while singing happy birthday when it's raining, we'd be subject to penalties if we disregarded that law, but we'd certainly be within reason to question it
I would avoid use of the word "we" in this case because you certainly don't speak for everybody here (for example, me).
You personally take exception to fintail's use of the term. Okay, fine. That's your right
I think any of us here who disparage the attitudes and motives of some cops do NOT have a problem with those who take the commitment to safety, and serving the public, seriously. I essentially am a law-abiding citizen (minus horrendous grievances like speeding by a couple mph), but I've had (or witnessed, as a third party) enough bad experience with police that I tend not to trust them at first.
It's unfortunate, because I've also known and seen some truly courageous officers who really believe in what they do, and don't just go around abusing their power and collecting revenue. I truly respect what they do. I'd like to think this henceforth goes without saying.
Yes and no. Your duty, as a private member of the driving community, is to obey the law and be considerate to your fellow drivers. Forcing others to obey the law, or your interpretation of it, isn't included, and is generally (and justifiably, I would say) seen as inconsiderate.
All too often, people in the left lane are dawdling along, either barely passing those to their right, or keeping pace with them. This creates an impassable block of traffic, and it would be far more courteous to yield to faster-moving vehicles.
If you are, in fact, passing traffic to the right, and somebody appears behind you, I would hope you would merge right as soon as safely/practically possible. You can then resume your passing after yielding to the faster-moving vehicle.
Tailgaiting and other aggressive driving are not okay, but neither is self-righteous "volunteer law enforcement." The key question is, what is the courteous thing to do? If I can change lanes to the right for a moment to let a faster-moving car pass, and it doesn't massively inconvenience me to do so, why shouldn't I? I would want the same done for me.
Notice that "keep right except to pass" is often also phrased as "slower traffic keep right." There is no mention of the speed limit in such a sign. It simply directs one to yield to faster-moving traffic.
But if it's okay to speed then it's okay for another drive also not to follow a law such as keeping to the right and out of the fast drivers' lane.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Reminds me of an argument I got into once with a guy on another forum. His standpoint was that the law can't possibly apply that to you if you are going the speed limit, after all, from the law's standpoint, there is no faster moving traffic. For that one you'd have to forget about ambulances and police cars. And the other argument he made was that if those signs applied to drivers going at the speed limit and made them yield to faster drivers, then the law as condoning speeding. Neither argument makes sense, but there was no convincing him.
Was not my point ... he said people are misinterpreting the "keep right except to pass" sign, from a legal standpoint. I was pointing out that the same law is often phrased differently ("slower traffic keep right"), in a way that clearly invalidates his interpretation that "as long as I'm passing people, I can clog the left lane as much as I want."
His argument was that he is acting in compliance with the law, according to the "keep right except to pass" sign. I was pointing out the discrepancy.
Or, to put it more simply like redmaxx said, it's a straw man argument to imply I was condoning any illegal behavior, or comparing one form to another. (Thanks for reminding me of the term -- it was on the tip of my tongue.)
The night shift was much more dangerous than days. I used to work Oakland Nimitz Freeway and Eastshore Freeway. Both are dangerous for everyone. And it was not always the accidents, but also the armed robberys, stolen cars and fill in here.
I did not intend to start a controversy. The real key to not getting tickets and driving safely without accidents is obviously the drivers themselves.
Indeed, there everyone did not disobey the speed limits and the rest of the code, etc, I would not have had a job.
I will now zip my lip and fingers.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
P.S. I never had the opportunity to THANK all of the truckers that stopped behind me to keep me from getting run over, while working an accident on the freeways. This CHP officer always appreciated your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While this is nothing to brag about, Highway 880 runs through Oakland Nimitz Freeway is RATED one of the NATIONS' worst in terms of congestion and maintenance(among other things)! I would have to agree! The lanes in a lot of areas (particularly in the Oakland area) have very very tight spacing. I am sure as a former CHP you have your STORIES!
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
But if you are actively passing someone (even if its 2-3 MPH faster) then you are by definition not the slower traffic.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
You are the slower traffic if somebody is coming up faster behind you...
By that definition all but one car is the slower traffic. But even though you are not the slower traffic if you are passing someone.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Ohhhhhhh my goodness, c'mon guys! That post about taking care of my Rain-X problem by smashing the window was clearly not meant to be taken seriously. I got a good laugh out of it, and no, of course I would never do such a thing -- nor do I think redmaxx was advocating such behavior.
Plus it was funny to imply that in the right area, all you need to do is drive behind a truck and you'll need a new windshield in no time...
Can we not get up on each other's cases where it's obvious somebody is kidding, or where it would be reasonable to give the benefit of the doubt?
Oh hush, you're just trying to bust my rear and you're not even doing a good job of it
This car was a soccer mom waiting with their kid in the car for the bus (it was raining). Well with plenty of road to park along she parks blocking my driveway. I pull up behind her tap my horn a few times the blow my horn a few times trying to get her to move. :confuse:
Some people are just clueless.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Thats because you're all rea..... well you know.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
If that had been my house and I'd come home I would have parked in front of them to block them and called the police.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
A typical drive to work for me involves several miles on a three lane each way divided highway. The first on/off ramp is the road coming/going to the land fill. The next is an exit/entrance from some warehouse type places, i.e. Fed-Ex and the like. Past that is an entrance/exit from the dirt bag part of town.
The next "intersection" is a relatively minor road without much traffic.
Now you come up on I-70, with a fair amount of exiting & entering onto my highway. Past that, lots of on/off traffic due to local shopping & business traffic.
From my point of view, the far right lane is useless because of the frequent on/off traffic flow. This leaves the middle and left lanes for through traffic.
Anyway, if I am going to work, what is wrong with setting the cruise control at 75,SL 70. and cruising in the middle lane? When (and not if..) I come up on slower traffic, I pass on the left.
Kay, now if faster traffic comes up behind me, I'll move over as soon as possible, and let the faster traffic pass.
BUT, if the right lane is slow, due to entering/exiting traffic, and the middle lane isn't even going the speed limit, I'll get into the left lane, and pass all the traffic.
Kay, now I am passing all the middle lane traffic. Everyone in the middle lane is passing the right lane traffic.
Now some clown comes up from the left lane travelling considerably faster than me. Do I move over? Yes, but only when I can do so without slowing down.
When you come up behind me in the left lane, I am doing more than the speed limit. I am passing people on my right. The people on my right are passing people on their right.
Who is the inconsiderate driver here??
I will get out of your way, but not at the expense of slowing down.
You can't expect to travel faster than all the traffic on the road without being the "inconsiderate driver"!!!
Because exceeding the speed limit on a limited access highway does not cause problems.
Failure to yield to faster traffic by failing to keep to the right when possible does cause problems with traffic flow.
Perhaps a field trip to Germany, with extensive time on the Autobahn, to see how lane discipline really works would be beneficial for come posters...
..."Perhaps a field trip to Germany, with extensive time on the Autobahn, to see how lane discipline really works would be beneficial for come posters..."
People who are using a lane and are passing others in the right or far right lanes are not causing problems. So I have to agree with you. Good point.
As already said the person passing in the leftmost lane is using the lane to pass or is passing the slower traffic which is to keep right in some states.
We don't have the autobahn in the US. I makes no sense to say that people should drive as if on the autobahn unless you're making a Mustang commercial.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
We are so loosy goosy about this that we now see 45 passenger diesel buses CRUISING in the #2 lane out of 4/5 lanes. I have even seen them cruising in the #1 lane. If one can not articulate the consequences of something like that, then why not fully loaded tractor trailer rigs in the #1 or fast lane??
A truly excellent point - if you're the only person within a metro area who insists on going 85, then you're probably the inconsiderate driver.
It's kinda like the old saying... if you don't gripe with other family members about that one crazy, annoying relative that everyone avoids, then chances are that YOU'RE the crazy, annoying relative.
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2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
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A few years ago, one of these supposedly well-educated professionals damn near got me in a wreck, trying to direct traffic. Sometimes they just get too much of an "I am a cop, you do as I tell you" attitude and don't respect a more permanent law...that of physics.
I had a cop walk out in front of me to make me stop so he could let traffic leaving a church leave. Now normally, if the cop had any sense, he would wait for a break in traffic, so that he could SAFELY slow down traffic. But no, he walked out close enough that I had to slam on my brakes. The car behind me had to slam as well, and the Astro in back actually locked up its brakes and screeched to a halt.
Naturally, I told the cop he needed to be more careful and use better judgement, because he almost caused an accident. His only response was the typical "that guy shouldn't have been following so close". Yeah, but still, when you walk out in front of traffic and expect it to suddenly stop like that, you're partially responsible for the end result.
Back when I was married, my then-wife almost turned a cop into a smear on a local highway. She was speeding, so she WAS at fault. But the cop walked out RIGHT in front of her, and she literally had to swerve to avoid hitting him! I'm sorry, but only an idiot is going to walk out in front of a '68 Dart doing 80 mph. Okay yeah, my wife shouldn't have been going 80 in a 65 zone, although everybody else was, so she really wasn't doing anything un-safe. Going with the flow of traffic is never as dangerous as travelling at a speed considerably above or below it.
That cop endangered his own life and the life of my wife, and other motorists. If he had any sense about him, he would have simply clocked her speed and then gone after her. Which he had to do anyway, and finally caught her, about 3 miles later!
Oh, and you guys will be happy to know that the judge gave the cop a good reaming out for walking out in front of her, too! Sometimes there is justice in the world of law enforcement. And not just Buford T. :shades:
Oh, as for the mouth to mouth thing, I think I'd rather have a paramedic for that than a cop. Cops around here would probably put a second bullet in you or sic the german shepherd on you just to make sure you're dead! :P Just kidding on that one...just like any group of people, the bad cops are in the minority. But it's always the bad few that that cast the whole group in a bad light.
Besides, can you really blame the cops themselves? After all, in many cases, they're just doing what the higher-ups ordered them to do. They were just doing their job. Hmmm, where have I heard those words before? :surprise:
I think the practical difference between walking out in front of a vehicle going 65 mph, and walking out in front of one going 80 mph, is negligible. I don't think you need to "excuse" your wife for speeding in this case, because that's pretty foolish on the cop's part either way.
Whew... that sounds extreme! I thought Alaska was the worst place for chips/cracks. In fact, most rental companies have highly restrictive usage agreements that limit where people can take their vehicles (and this eliminates about, oh, 75% of the roads!). I've been quite lucky so far with my Subaru. Still the original windshield in it, but I do have 22 rock chips. Unless the thing actually cracks or starts to web, I have no intention of replacing it.
Probably from me
If you're seriously injured or killed, or seriously injure or kill someone else as a result of actions that are dumb/inconsiderate, yet are legally still within your rights, then knowing that your legal position was correct is, at best, small consolation.
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Hahahahah... Andre, you come up with the most obscure references. Cracks me up.
I'd venture to say part of the reason we can't/don't have something like the autobahn in the USA is that drivers here simply couldn't handle that kind of disciplined intensity. I haven't driven in Europe, but a friend from Germany who has lived here for the past decade or so expressed constant shock at how clueless, detached, and self-absorbed so many American drivers seem to be.
Some people have brought up the scenario of traveling in the left lane, passing vehicles to the right, who are in turn passing vehicles to their right. This "perfect lane stratification" scenario is exceedingly rare, in my experience. People are often being passed on their right by people who are being passed on their right, or passing those people to their right. Sometimes it's one big lateral clump. There's no rhyme or reason to it, and I would rarely call it "smooth traffic flow." The ideal model isn't exactly working.
If I'm the lead car in the leftmost lane and somebody comes up behind me, I will make an effort to let the person pass, even if I have to slow down momentarily. It's not a big deal to me. Maybe he's just selfishly blasting along at 100 in crowded traffic when everybody's going 70, or maybe he's in a hurry for some reason. It could even be a really bad reason. It's not my place to judge or impede.
And sure, sometimes it's not possible or practical to get out of somebody's way at the precise moment they appear behind you, but that's partly because everybody drives so close on each other's tails, not leaving room for lane changes. I'll do it as soon as I reasonably can.
Actually this is another consequence/ spin off, though main reason for the keep right except to pass and slower traffic keep right. IF and that is a BIG IF, it makes things MORE orderly.
It is indeed almost a COMMON occurence on the multiple lane freeways, that some LLC er takes a far right off ramp from the far LEFT or #1 lane!!!! Of course if there is NOBODY behind you, they absolutely have to cut 18 in OFF the front of your nose to make the right hand offramp from the EXTREME left hand lane!!! No signals of course, usually on the cell phone, almost missing the turn off, flipping you the bird.....:(