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Comments
Ouch!
I've also noticed the somewhat dodgy older Exploder/Suburban set are becoming more apt to dart around in traffic, while getting nowhere.
What fired me up this time was yesterdays being behind a brown Camry trying to enter a busy Cleveland Interstate, a downhill ramp which I usually roll onto about 75 in my SS if it can be done safely. Anyway, my friend ahead in the Camry came to a complete stop at the bottom of the ramp, sat awhile until I could have pushed a Greyhound Bus onto the freeway by hand, then shot off into the right lane at about 27MPH.
The older I get, the worse it gets. My friends tell me now I'm retired, I should relax. Right.
Several years ago I was merging onto a highway in my fintail, and a woman in an old Audi 90 decided she'd freak out and stop right where the ramp met the highway. It was pretty fun getting around her in a car that isn't exactly a Veyron when it comes to acceleration. Around here the average speed when a car hits a 60 mph road can't be above 40 - they just don't get it.
I wonder if any stats were ever done by the car companies as to what types of people purchase their vehicles?
I know I always watch how the driver holds their steering wheel. If I see some one in the "death grip". I.e. as if the driver had both hands on the wheel and was choking the steering wheel. Two hands on the wheel, locked in place maybe glued on with crazy glue = "stay away time".
When I see that, I change lanes, or stay far behind the car.
And where we live in Disneyland, i.e. California, there is an excellent retirement community about five minutes away. And I relate to you fintail, as I still see those Buicks, even a 53 Old trudging down the freeway in the fast lane at 45 mph.
Finally, I have an Acura 08 RL. And I still zip onto the freeway at about 65-70 after I checked my mirrors. And as I understand it, when my wife and I trudge to Yellowstone this next week end for four days, the speed limit outside Disneyland goes up to 65/75. That's why I got the RL.
Good luck to all and may your favorate football or baseball team win today. And stay safe.
jensad
I think Toyota products are becoming 21st century Buicks, in driving dynamics and demographics.
I'll give you your nightmare driver in front of you now, a beige Corolla, driver in late 70's furiously clutching the steering wheel, travelling at 22MPH in a 45 zone, wearing a 1950's Stetson hat firmly on his head, light traffic, dry weather, and 8 miles to go on a two lane with NO passing zones.
I've seen that hat guy before! But he drives an Avalon :P
And regarding no-passing zones, I look at those the Italian way - as a suggestion. If it is a hilly or winding road I mind them...but if there's no way to explain the rule being there, I will pop around the slowpoke. My car is fast enough where it takes no time.
The signals are for rush hour gridlock, to prevent backups at the end of ramps. The signals also seem to be based on timers rather than volume, and in many places do not have a huge effect. I rarely use these roads at peak traffic times, yet see people entering a highway at 20+ under the limit or flow of traffic probably half the time I drive. I believe most simply never learned that by the time you reach the end of the ramp, you should be matching the flow of traffic. The right lane is not an acceleration lane. Of course, these people probably forget as they are busy phone yapping, eating/drinking, smoking, playing with their headset (I saw that one last week), tending to kids and talking to passengers, etc.
Also today, at a traffic light, I pulled up next to a Land Rover with a big gray scratch down the side, like it had caught a car mirror. The driver was texting her little brains out. I guess it's a pretty safe bet that it was her own doing that put that scratch on her car!
It was his date that night, and then we put two and two together and after he passed our sobriety routine. He was sober and had not been drinking.
We told him and her to have a nice time but wait until you get home.
Nice man, nice lady, nice result, and no citation.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
It can be especially dangerous in a bigger vehicle often, to reach, the passenger has to take off their seatbelt. And I hate to imagine what would happen if there was an accident that deployed the airbag! :surprise:
I will agree with what is said just above - food (and drink) has to be the biggest distraction. I wonder how many crashes stem from dropped burgers and spilled soft drinks alone.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
And then I got behind a certain model of car in the left turn lane at a major intersection. I knew it would be fun when, about 10 seconds before our light turned green, the driver (probably new to both driving and driving in the US) hit her turn signal...as if she can go straight or turn right. When the light changed, we were off! I don't know if my car even hit 1000 rpm as we crawled up a hill. At the next light she did something that drives me nuts. She stopped a couple car lengths behind the car in front of her, and every few seconds would creep up a few feet. She did this for the duration of the red light. Luckily for my sanity, I had to turn off that road soon after. The car? A Corolla, of course,
I also saw a Camry with its windshield wipers going full speed in a very light sprinkle of rain.
That's a technique for preventing spotting of resin from hot brake pads onto the rotors due to sitting in one spot with the pads and rotors very hot. Creeping prevents it. :P Oh wait.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Fintail: that cop directing traffic in a congested traffic construction zone, boy that's a high risk job. Some years back I had a Rambler, at least 20 years old then with a very elderly woman drive over my right foot breaking two toes, she never knew what she did and of course never heard my howl.
I am sure I will offend someone, but it seems the slogan of Toyota and Lexus in this market should be "Motoring for the Oblivious".
The cop I saw was just at an intersection where a light was disconnected, to let cars off the side street, so he wasn't in danger...it's rare to see a cop try to get a driver to speed up! But I wouldn't want to be in tight quarters either, knowing the skill level of so many people on the road. Same for working on a highway crew...it's Russian roulette. :sick:
I used to direct traffic when the lights were out as a Berkeley officer in 1965/66. That is ONE DANGEROUS situation. Drivers seem lost when I would motion them to speed up and get their cars through the intersection and stop gaucking (sp) at me.
And I had to watch my back as the high speeders came off the freeway and were "late for work".
Then there was the driver that just had stop and talk with me as I directed traffic. One stopped his car in the middle of Ashby and San Pable blvd. and I had to order him to leave or get cited.
I bet some posters here had similar experiences, either as law enforcement or as citizens who stopped to help. (Never had a chance to say thank you to you.)
My wife and myself are driving to Yellowstone tomorrow to enjoy each other and see the beauty of our country.
Good luck to all and stay safe. See you in eight days.
jensad
And directing traffic at 6:30 am January was rather cold.
Here, if a cop has someone pulled over on the other side of an 8 lane divided highway, the opposing lane will still slow way down. Like the cop is going to speed off, find a turnaround, and come get you!
As it does in noreasters and hurricanes the bay was growing in size and swallowing up low lying land, much of which had buildings on it. Loads of them. He's directing people out of the flood area. One woman absolutely refused to listen. The rain is pouring down, the wind is howling and she's yelling "I have to get in there!" He tries responding with "You can't" and she proceeds to drive around him into what is essentially at that point the bay. She very quickly ends up in a car that is floating rather than driving.
I have to remember to ask him what happened to her. I just remember that it wasn't his problem because he still had traffic to direct.
I loved your story! I had to hold my tongue so many times!
For the past few days I have been driving through an area with a 4 lane road, the middle lanes closed due to road work. Today the idiots decided to close three lanes and have alternating traffic (this is a major arterial and to not do this work at night is gross negligence). I was waiting for my direction to go, second car in the long line. We finally got to go, and the flagger waved us down a line of cones. Then another flagger started screaming at him and us, and we stopped. Had we gone forward, we would have eventually driven into a hole. The flagger directed us into the wrong lane. So traffic behind us had to stop so we could back up and get into the correct lane. It was pretty dumb.
Today a woman in a Monte Carlo pulled out of a parking lot directly in front of me, no matter that I was going the limit on a 40mph road with nobody behind me for a quarter mile. It should be up to me to stop and let those of lesser capability in front of me! She had that "death grip" on the wheel too.
In addition to the death grip, I am leery of the folks who have no legs... they are so close to the wheel that I can't believe they have legs reaching the pedals - I guess they must.... and of course, the opposite; young, usually male, backwards baseball cap, driving in as close to fully reclined as they can get.
If you see a Buick, especially in gold, ignore whichever turn signal is stuck on... If you are rolling along and you see the "CHURCH BUS" know that they are quite confident in the good Lord's willingness to intervene, so they don't bother to look, signal, etc.,
I'm seeing the same problem with Camry and Accords in the Midwest.
And I had a lady may 35-40 in an Accord pull out of a stop sign road in front of me on a 55 mph two lane. She sped up slowly to 43. New York license plates.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I saw a stuck turn signal on a Caravan today, the guy went at least half a mile without turning right.
Regarding Buicks, around here Camcords are quickly replacing them as vehicular pylons - especially the Toyota products.
Today I got behind an old [non-permissible content removed] in a Lincoln LS. It was on a 30mph road, and we maybe hit 24 mph...or 26mph when going downhill. He had poor lane positioning and was often over the line into the adjoining bike lane. Going up a hill he was way over, and was going maybe 18mph (by this time 3 or 4 other cars were also stuck behind him). At the next light, of course he just sat there when it turned green, so I briefly tapped my horn. He then got up to about 3mph, so I beeped him again, and he gets insulted, and honks back. So, as I am in the fintail with its menacing loud horn, I just lay on it
I was driving on the left lane (which was left turn or straight) I'm stopped at a red light. The car next to me on the middle lane has his right-turn blinker on. Since it was a go straight only lane, I decided to watch this idiot and prepare for the worst. As soon as the light turns green he proceeds to floor it to turn ... yes, you guessed it, to the LEFT!! :sick: He missed me by a hair.
It's bad enough when people don't use their signals, but signal one way and turn in the opposite direction sure makes for a nice jolt of adrenaline for all drives around! aargh!!
What is an E46? Is that some kind of Korean car?
Other than dopey and dangerous drivers holding a cell phone to their ear, the usual oblivious drivers to everything around and behind them are those with small mini-type pickup trucks.
They have sharp handling and seem to encourage a little sharp driving.
Another gripe of mine is when I'm driving down the road in my BRT (Big Red Truck - the one with all the pretty red lights & noisemakers)
Cheers!
Paul
Today I saw something that really irked me. Very young woman in a late model 3er was smoking while driving - window open of course, as if that somehow masks the smell. When she was done with her cig, she simply threw it out the window. Litterbugs are bad enough, but tossing the lit butt out of the car should carry a severe fine and maybe a crack over the head with a nightstick, even in an urban area.
One of the problems is that some people can be deaf just to a specific tone or range of tones. If the siren just happens to be in that range that person would not hear it. To prevent this from happening they will either use a two tone siren or two different sirens.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D