ya - pretty cool. Glad the dude got a new car and Hyundai ended up with a marketing tool along with it... probably cost Hyundai less than doing an actual commercial.
As far as insurance coverage is concerned it is enough that a witness saw the car involved & identified it because Liability insurance follows the car, not the driver.
Logically it would seem so, but the judge here in VA didn't buy it. Maybe our laws differ from Oregon's?
On a similar note, my 2004 Camry was involved in a hit-and-run in the middle of the night (no witnesses) while my son had it for several months in Los Angeles. He had his own insurance policy, because my company wouldn't insure cars kept in California, even though we never transferred the title.
Long story short, his insurance company regarded the $4,000+ damage as a collision claim and wouldn't pay the $1,000 deductible. I thought it should have been covered as an uninsured motorist claim, but their defense is that because the perpetrator's identity was unknown ("ghost driver"), they don't know with 100% certainty that another driver was involved in the first place. :sick:
I am not sure how Alaska would handle it. It makes perfect intuitive sense that collision/comprehensive insurance follows the car. Liability insurance, I think, should follow the driver as it is drivers, not cars, that are liable. Alaska considers the liability insurance to follow the car (which is why I have to pay liability insurance for multiple vehicles even though I can only drive one at a time). In my opinion, any licensed driver should be required to have liability insurance, which is a single fee for that person and covers any collision caused by that individual, regardless of vehicle driven.
In this case, I think the coverage on the vehicle driven by the perpetrator should have covered the damages. If the owner was not driving, then it would be up to her and her insurance company to pursue damages from that individual independently of the restitution to the victim.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
Most up to date states require the Liability follow the car as there are non owner drivers who borrow vehicles.
As for the phantom car causing the damage, that's what the Underinsured Motorist Property Damage clause covers. However, the deductible is when the at fault, hit & run, phantom vehicle is eventually identified, the UMPD collision drops down to $100 from $500.
euphy, as far as i understand, the underinsured motorist coverage only kicks in when the other motorist is identified and does not have adequate insurance. also i understand that a car that gets crunched while parked, with no witness and no driver identified, it will be covered under insurance *comprehensive* claim just the same as random vandalism, fire, theft. and the comprehensive deductible would apply. caveat: i rarely have had to file insurance claims and it's been decades since i had to file one like that discussed here ( after my forensic analysis indicated that my 1985 Z28 was "nicked" or "kissed" by an MBTA bus, all the way down the drivers side. the bus had plastic side-panels but it was a big-$ bodywork/repaint. ) so my info could be way out of date and not apply to states other than MA, back when the MA insurance industry was state-controlled.
also i understand that a car that gets crunched while parked, with no witness and no driver identified, it will be covered under insurance *comprehensive* claim just the same as random vandalism, fire, theft. and the comprehensive deductible would apply.
That's what happened to my car in Los Angeles, but the insurance company covered it as a collision claim, so I was out $1000, not the $500 it would have been for comprehensive. (As you can guess, insurance for my then-24-year-old unmarried son was very high in L.A., so the high deductibles were chosen to lower the overall cost).
However, if you hit a deer (as I did a number of years ago) or other animal, the damage is covered under comprehensive.
210 ray, that is lame alright. sounds like your insurance company sux. there's one that is head and tails above the rest: amica . also in case you did not already consider it: maybe good idea to make all your deductibles be the same - 1000 sounds good - maxxing the deductible is a good idea - lots of tiny/small claims are an invitation for rate increases.
inconsiderate driver of the week , a leftlane gator, zigzaggers, "punish" the other driver type by intentionally cuting off - or drifting way into other person's lane. pickup truck guy intentionally drifted into my lane, would have occupied my TDI's hood's space but was so tall that he didn't PIT maneuver himself across 2 lanes of 65 mph traffic. it's amazing how aggressively those kind of aggressive drivers will act when I'm driving TDI compared to GTO, even when I drive exactly the same steady-state speed & with exact same consideration for other drivers. slightly different acceleration, of course.
Schuylkill Expressway (just outside Philly) yesterday cruising along at about 65-70 (55 zone) traffic bunches up around an entrance ramp... naturally everyone slams on their brakes. I had to stop fairly hard, but nothing too close (anti-lock didn't kick in) all of a sudden out of no where a gold Mitsu comes flying up on my right tires all locked up and almost side swiped me. Obviously following too close and had to swerve into the right lane to avoid hitting the guy behind me. My GF almost had a heart attack!
Why must people follow so darn close to one another at highway speed? The best part of this... a few miles later a 4 or 5 car pile up happened behind us. All this for a day of Christmas shopping at the Lancaster outlets
It was such a beautiful day yesterday that I loaded up my hybrid bike to take to the trails. Getting about a block or two from my home still on the side streets I came on someone backing out of their driveway not looking. I had to stop as this guy backed all the way into the street without seeing me.
Second is when I got on the the expressway and got in the left lane following someone going a bit slow. When they merged over and I went to pass they speed up, I guess I wasn't supposed to pass them.
Final one was on the way home. Driving down a secondary street near my house that opened up to two lanes in each direction for a couple of blocks when the right lane becomes a right turn only lane. I was in the left lane and there was a car in front of me in the right lane going to make a right turn. Well I noticed some clown in an SUV running in the right lane real fast. He got next to me (and a little in front) and tried to merge. Of course almost hitting me, the car making the right turn and the car in front of me (I was rather close simply because traffic was going about 20 MPH).
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Yes, it wasn't a good insurance company, but I was shopping for the lowest possible premiums, as L.A. may very well be the second highest cost city for insurance after NYC. I guess I found out why!
Back home in VA, I have Erie Insurance. Their premiums are low, and even if someone could beat them on price, I wouldn't switch because of the outstanding service I've received over the last 30 years. Unfortunately, Erie doesn't do business out west, only in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states.
I used it everyday when I commuted from the south Jersey area to King of Prussia. It was horrible, probably the worst road in the Philly region (although the Roosevelt Blvd is no picnic either) I don't miss it at all.
I just spent a few weeks in Germany and Switzerland.
I saw no LLCs. Zero. Never had to pass on the right, not once. I had no problem cruising along on unlimited roads at 120+ mph, and on roads with limits, those who didn't want to speed simply kept right or moved over for speeders, then back in their lanes. No wannabe traffic deputies. The "keep right" ideal works, no way around it.
Also a huge difference regarding lane positioning and paying attention. Few stop signs - mainly yield signs or even unposted intersections, yet I only saw one fender bender in many days of driving.
I saw exactly two phone yappers. I saw more than that in my first 5 minutes back home.
I saw nobody eating while driving - which I also saw endless times within my first few minutes driving here.
I'm going to feel suicidal having to drive back in the land of the lowest common denominator :shades:
Oh, gotcha. I was thinking "loaded up" as in slinging your gear, getting it ready, etc. As you stated it was a hybrid, I figured you were riding to the trails.
I have only ridden a road bike once, but it was quite an experience. I never thought I could travel highway speeds (I was going ~50 for a short while) on a bicycle. On my bike, a pseudo-mountain bike, it was all I could do to push it up to about 35 unless I had a lot of help from gravity....
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
Yep with a road bike an in shape trained biker can hit speeds up to 55 MPH sprinting (but only for short periods of times. IIRC the world record for a kilometer from a standstill is right around one minute (around 37.5 MPH) and the overall record is just over 127 MPH (using the slipstream of a car).
On the hybrid I can hit sprints of the low 30's and maintain around 14-15.
I do a training ride (that's about a mile long loop) that climbs a very steep paved bike trail then onto a side street that goes down the hill. Part of the training is to bike as fast as you can going down the hill just after the climb. Doing this I have actually passed cars. :shades:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I agree with the law. On this stretch of highway however there are NO signs to indicate that there is this type of law. Yes, we should all be aware of emergency vehicles and work crews, etc, and common sense should play a part, but again a simple reminder is always helpful....
This morning I saw an articulated metro bus run a red light and then dawdle down a road, holding up several cars. Must be nice...it's not like they'd ever get a ticket or be reprimanded.
After being in a place with more developed infrastructure, it is also painful to drive here again, on the Beirut quality roads, with ridiculously unsynchronized traffic controls, and drivers who are too often either hilariously aggressive or sickeningly oblivious. I just didn't see much of that.
On residential or single-lane streets, drivers must slow to 10 mph below the speed limit while passing an emergency vehicle.
We have a "move over" law too in VA (most states now do), but I don't know if we have this rather draconian provision. I slow down, but I don't necessarily look at the speedo to see how much I've slowed.
In January 2010 the law will be extended to include road crews, tow trucks and litter crews.
This seems a little much too, especially if these guys aren't wearing bright-colored clothing. My general rule though, is to slow down and give anyone on the side of the road wide berth. Still if the shoulder is wide and the people are right on the edge along the grass, I won't necessarily slow down.
I have always done this even before there was a law for it. To me it always seemed to be the considerate thing to do. I also always move over or slow down when there is someone changing a tire, etc.
As for the "education" well, like others said definately a revenue exercise. Kinda like when the local police near my office stand out in the middle of the road at lunchtime and stop every car checking for seat belt use.
Well, in the days before highway safety became a scientific endeavor, there were the three E's: Education, Enforcement, and Engineering.
Looks like we have more Enforcement than Education in this case! By the way, Engineering referred to the roads, not to the cars. It was believed cars were only as safe as their drivers could make them.
It was believed cars were only as safe as their drivers could make them
That is still true today even with all the airbags, crumple zones, stability control, lane departure warnings, brake assist.... whatever. It still has everything to do with guy behind the wheel!
Hogwash. It sounds nothing like what "they" would do in [non-permissible content removed] Germany. But it sounds like some folks needs to review historical facts!
Personally i try to be considerate to underpowered air-cooled cars designed under [non-permissible content removed] regime - there are still a few on the road.
I remember giving a ticket to a Brinks Armored Car driver who was quite upset. And I noticed that my old employer saturated the Bay Bridge after that unfortunate truck accident with the driver dying as the entire rig went over from the top deck. The CHP I think wrote about 50 tickets on that curving roadway at the tunnel.
That section was just put in over Labor Day and I guess the drivers heading to SF still go too fast. I thought it was tragic that the truck and driver crashed due to driving too fast.
I know I don't miss working the Bridge/Oakland freeways anymore. Sorry to hear about the tickets being given out without any notice. Not posting signs seems to me an unfair way but then I've been gone awhile now.
Did you ever pull over a bus driver? Or are they more skilled down there? I won't say I would want to drive a bendy bus...but I didn't make that my career, either.
The [non-permissible content removed] probably wouldn't even bother setting up a cash grab like that, if present day Germany is any indicator. Didn't see a single speed trap on any kind of road while I was there. Almost no speed cameras, either. Didn't see a single car pulled over the entire time I was there, and I only saw one fender bender. People drive fast on unlimited sections, and they exceed the limit on posted sections...and nobody camps out in the left lane and plays wannabe speed deputy because of their size issues :shades: :lemon:
I heard somewhere that the German authorities take a very dim view of following to closely and that they have cameras mounted on some overpasses to monitor following distances and cite offenders. They also have signs warning of the cameras presence.
The Germans were the first to use cameras to enforce traffic laws.. A grade school friend of mine & his family moved to Germany back in the 60s when his dad's employer transferred him there. Within a couple of months of their arrival, Dad received a summons for speeding in the mail. That was over 40 years ago.
I never said they didn't have cameras. But they are uncommon compared to what some want to see, and they have signs.
It's not a complete Orwellian surveillance grid like the silly self destructive rotten island of Great Britain, at least not yet.
I like some of the ways to get a ticket, such as passing too slowly or "hindering" another vehicle. We need that here instead of the cherry-picking garbage we see currently.
Oh, and another thing...they've done a lot more to get their traffic lights sequenced than our esteemed and well-paid "traffic engineers" seem to be able to do.
my experience on the autobahn was that we had to tailgate/draft folks at 100,110,120,130 mph to get them to move right s we could get to our desired cruising speed of 140mph. the lane discipline was not at all what i thought it would have been.
I didn't have that problem where I drove. Was irked now and then by people who would pass too slowly, but nobody camped out. If someone is passing a row of cars, they won't interrupt their pass to let the person behind them through. The lane discipline was from another planet compared to the dumbed down hole where I live.
I did see a big BMW flash someone to get them out of the way.
Speaking of discipline, I today saw something I hadn't seen since I last drove in this area.
I was on a 4 lane suburban road, posted at 30, I was probably going 30 on the nose, in the left lane. Came up behind a Honda Pilot going about 25 (I won't stereotype the driver, but I will say it was typical), and passed on the right. Surprise surprise, as I was passing, it sped up. I got up to about 40 by the time he gave up. What's with that? I was half tempted to brake check him and then end up owning his house.
Also almost got hit by a similar driver in a MDX who ran a stop sign. Leaving a Starbucks, naturally.
I never stopped a school bus driver, however, I did cite a muni bus driver who believed he owned the street and almost ran over a pedestrian in the crosswalk.
I believe that bus drivers have a difficult job at least in CA. Even when the school bus drivers put out their stop sign to tell following cars to wait for the kids to walk across the street to stop and let the kids cross, SOME drivers ignore them and try to go around the bus.
What I do see here in Ca where I live, is school crossing guards holding up their sign, standing in the middle of the street, as the kids cross, driver "sneaking" around and many times the guard has to dodge the car. Very unfortuate situation when drivers cannot be a bit more courteous.
And fintail, I understand the slow driver frustration as I still today in my car, get frustrated with the slow freeway driver plodding along at 40 in a 65 mph in the fast lane.
Bus drivers are human and sometimes make mistakes (hopefully few). Here in NY there are phone numbers on the back of all school buses that you can call for complaints of a serious nature. The supervisor will call the driver in for an explaination.
Unfortunately, every joker with a cell phone calls to make bogus complaints which dilutes the impact of the real ones. Once a call came in that a driver was driving down the road with "a knife, a gun and a bottle of booze". Another driver, a farmer who had an old injury on his hand was called in to explain the multiple complaints about him "giving the finger" to motorists who didn't like his broken knuckle.
You mention cars running stop signs. That is our number 1 problem. It's so bad that we have the kids stand on the bottom step and look right down the side of the bus before they get off in case someone is trying to run the reds on the shoulder.
The other day I was signaling for a left turn. the car coming the other way was also signaling for a left. She slowed down and I started to make my left also. Suddenly she turned off her directional and gunned it right at me. I barely got out her way in time.
When I finished my run she had called in to my supervisor and said I was speeding, driving recklessly and tried to run her off the road. She of course refused to leave her name. :confuse:
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Yeah, the dope I saw was driving a municipal (county) bus, I've never seen any really bad school bus drivers. I'm willing to bet local revenue enforcement officers don't keep an eye on how their fellow public servants drive these massive vehicles.
>Here in NY there are phone numbers on the back of all school buses
As long as the supervisor has a sense of reasonable and right and wrong, that's a great idea.
I was behind our local district's bus after dropping something off at school for my kid. I got behind the bus and it stopped to drop kid and no flashing lights on rear. The stop sign on left side of driver came out with flashing lights on it.
I knew the local school board office number since my wife used to work for them. They transferred me to the bus barn supervisor. Meanwhile the driver made another stop and lights didn't work either. Bus guy said the driver had to be activating the lights or the stop sign wouldn't have come out. He was going to call the driver to let him/her know.
I knew the local number. I saw the missing red lights flashing as a safety hazard. I also knew the bus was going to be running the rest of that route of dropoffs and go to an elementary after a few minutes and pick up another full bus of elementary kids. I suspect the bus got switched for one of the spares after completing the high school route using emergency flashers to flash brake lights on rear.
We have had many accidents in the area with people crashing into school buses during the last 3 years. Usually they have kids on board when it happens.
That's the kind of thing the phone # was ment for. I have to check 161 items every time I take the bus out. If something doesn't work I have to get it fixed. Still, a fuse can blow any time and make the bus unsafe. I for one would not mind a call like you made.
"...people crashing into school buses..."
We have that too. Usually they say they "didn't see" the 30 foot long bright yellow bus with all the lights flashing. :confuse: Most often the police find a cell-phone still turned on in their cars.
Once we had a bus going through a trailer park with speed bumps every 50 feet so you know the bus was going pretty slow. Some clown in a suped-up beater was showing off for his girlfriend who was on the bus. He hit one of the bumps so hard he launched his car into the air and jammed it all the way under the rear axle of the bus.
When the police arrived this joker claimed that the bus was doing 60 and had slammed on it's brakes. :sick:
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Although I am retired, at least I did not give breaks for school bus drivers, but then I only worked the freeways and once in a while the uncorporated roads in the County.
But I do remember other officers who mentioned citing school bus drivers for speed, and not following red light protocol when escorting children across the streets ect.
And if there was an school bus accident, the CHP investigated the t/c. But I am sure it is different in other states.
Ok so I head out one nice crisp Saturday morning. I get on the interstate with very light traffic and set my cruise control and head down the road in the far right lane of a three lane interstate. Well I slowly ,very slowly, approach a pickup truck in front of me. Now mind you traffic is very light and we are the only two cars for some distance before or after us. So I signal and merge into the center lane to pass this guy (admittedly slowly). While I am in the middle of this pass some guy flies up behind us rather fast and tailgates me. Still no traffic for at least a quarter mile in front of us and none for almost a half mile behind us, just us three. But this clown just sits on my rear end looking frustrated that I am holding him up. Now I have to wonder if he was in such a hurry why didn't he use the left lane and pass us as it was completely empty. :sick:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Comments
On a similar note, my 2004 Camry was involved in a hit-and-run in the middle of the night (no witnesses) while my son had it for several months in Los Angeles. He had his own insurance policy, because my company wouldn't insure cars kept in California, even though we never transferred the title.
Long story short, his insurance company regarded the $4,000+ damage as a collision claim and wouldn't pay the $1,000 deductible. I thought it should have been covered as an uninsured motorist claim, but their defense is that because the perpetrator's identity was unknown ("ghost driver"), they don't know with 100% certainty that another driver was involved in the first place. :sick:
In this case, I think the coverage on the vehicle driven by the perpetrator should have covered the damages. If the owner was not driving, then it would be up to her and her insurance company to pursue damages from that individual independently of the restitution to the victim.
As for the phantom car causing the damage, that's what the Underinsured Motorist Property Damage clause covers. However, the deductible is when the at fault, hit & run, phantom vehicle is eventually identified, the UMPD collision drops down to $100 from $500.
UM Bodily Injury does NOT cover the vehicle.
That's true, but if it were required that all licensed drivers carry liability insurance, that would be a non-issue.
also i understand that a car that gets crunched while parked, with no witness and no driver identified, it will be covered under insurance *comprehensive* claim just the same as random vandalism, fire, theft. and the comprehensive deductible would apply.
caveat: i rarely have had to file insurance claims and it's been decades since i had to file one like that discussed here ( after my forensic analysis indicated that my 1985 Z28 was "nicked" or "kissed" by an MBTA bus, all the way down the drivers side. the bus had plastic side-panels but it was a big-$ bodywork/repaint. ) so my info could be way out of date and not apply to states other than MA, back when the MA insurance industry was state-controlled.
That's what happened to my car in Los Angeles, but the insurance company covered it as a collision claim, so I was out $1000, not the $500 it would have been for comprehensive. (As you can guess, insurance for my then-24-year-old unmarried son was very high in L.A., so the high deductibles were chosen to lower the overall cost).
However, if you hit a deer (as I did a number of years ago) or other animal, the damage is covered under comprehensive.
inconsiderate driver of the week , a leftlane gator, zigzaggers, "punish" the other driver type by intentionally cuting off - or drifting way into other person's lane.
pickup truck guy intentionally drifted into my lane, would have occupied my TDI's hood's space but was so tall that he didn't PIT maneuver himself across 2 lanes of 65 mph traffic.
it's amazing how aggressively those kind of aggressive drivers will act when I'm driving TDI compared to GTO, even when I drive exactly the same steady-state speed & with exact same consideration for other drivers. slightly different acceleration, of course.
Why must people follow so darn close to one another at highway speed? The best part of this... a few miles later a 4 or 5 car pile up happened behind us. All this for a day of Christmas shopping at the Lancaster outlets
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Second is when I got on the the expressway and got in the left lane following someone going a bit slow. When they merged over and I went to pass they speed up, I guess I wasn't supposed to pass them.
Final one was on the way home. Driving down a secondary street near my house that opened up to two lanes in each direction for a couple of blocks when the right lane becomes a right turn only lane. I was in the left lane and there was a car in front of me in the right lane going to make a right turn. Well I noticed some clown in an SUV running in the right lane real fast. He got next to me (and a little in front) and tried to merge. Of course almost hitting me, the car making the right turn and the car in front of me (I was rather close simply because traffic was going about 20 MPH).
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Back home in VA, I have Erie Insurance. Their premiums are low, and even if someone could beat them on price, I wouldn't switch because of the outstanding service I've received over the last 30 years. Unfortunately, Erie doesn't do business out west, only in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states.
I used it everyday when I commuted from the south Jersey area to King of Prussia. It was horrible, probably the worst road in the Philly region (although the Roosevelt Blvd is no picnic either) I don't miss it at all.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
I saw no LLCs. Zero. Never had to pass on the right, not once. I had no problem cruising along on unlimited roads at 120+ mph, and on roads with limits, those who didn't want to speed simply kept right or moved over for speeders, then back in their lanes. No wannabe traffic deputies. The "keep right" ideal works, no way around it.
Also a huge difference regarding lane positioning and paying attention. Few stop signs - mainly yield signs or even unposted intersections, yet I only saw one fender bender in many days of driving.
I saw exactly two phone yappers. I saw more than that in my first 5 minutes back home.
I saw nobody eating while driving - which I also saw endless times within my first few minutes driving here.
I'm going to feel suicidal having to drive back in the land of the lowest common denominator :shades:
If I was going to be on the road I would have taken a road bike. Its rather fun chasing down cars on a bike. :shades:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I have only ridden a road bike once, but it was quite an experience. I never thought I could travel highway speeds (I was going ~50 for a short while) on a bicycle. On my bike, a pseudo-mountain bike, it was all I could do to push it up to about 35 unless I had a lot of help from gravity....
On the hybrid I can hit sprints of the low 30's and maintain around 14-15.
I do a training ride (that's about a mile long loop) that climbs a very steep paved bike trail then onto a side street that goes down the hill. Part of the training is to bike as fast as you can going down the hill just after the climb. Doing this I have actually passed cars. :shades:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091113/NEWS/911130323.
I agree with the law. On this stretch of highway however there are NO signs to indicate that there is this type of law. Yes, we should all be aware of emergency vehicles and work crews, etc, and common sense should play a part, but again a simple reminder is always helpful....
After being in a place with more developed infrastructure, it is also painful to drive here again, on the Beirut quality roads, with ridiculously unsynchronized traffic controls, and drivers who are too often either hilariously aggressive or sickeningly oblivious. I just didn't see much of that.
We have a "move over" law too in VA (most states now do), but I don't know if we have this rather draconian provision. I slow down, but I don't necessarily look at the speedo to see how much I've slowed.
In January 2010 the law will be extended to include road crews, tow trucks and litter crews.
This seems a little much too, especially if these guys aren't wearing bright-colored clothing. My general rule though, is to slow down and give anyone on the side of the road wide berth. Still if the shoulder is wide and the people are right on the edge along the grass, I won't necessarily slow down.
As for the "education" well, like others said definately a revenue exercise. Kinda like when the local police near my office stand out in the middle of the road at lunchtime and stop every car checking for seat belt use.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Looks like we have more Enforcement than Education in this case! By the way, Engineering referred to the roads, not to the cars. It was believed cars were only as safe as their drivers could make them.
That is still true today even with all the airbags, crumple zones, stability control, lane departure warnings, brake assist.... whatever. It still has everything to do with guy behind the wheel!
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Yep.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Personally i try to be considerate to underpowered air-cooled cars designed under [non-permissible content removed] regime - there are still a few on the road.
cheers...
That section was just put in over Labor Day and I guess the drivers heading to SF still go too fast. I thought it was tragic that the truck and driver crashed due to driving too fast.
I know I don't miss working the Bridge/Oakland freeways anymore. Sorry to hear about the tickets being given out without any notice. Not posting signs seems to me an unfair way but then I've been gone awhile now.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
I did notice that in many cases people follow closer there...of course, they are more alert than the average driver here and can likely do it safer.
You still have a couple of months to get "lucky" Fin.
Driving in Germany
The Germans were the first to use cameras to enforce traffic laws.. A grade school friend of mine & his family moved to Germany back in the 60s when his dad's employer transferred him there. Within a couple of months of their arrival, Dad received a summons for speeding in the mail. That was over 40 years ago.
It's not a complete Orwellian surveillance grid like the silly self destructive rotten island of Great Britain, at least not yet.
I like some of the ways to get a ticket, such as passing too slowly or "hindering" another vehicle. We need that here instead of the cherry-picking garbage we see currently.
Oh, and another thing...they've done a lot more to get their traffic lights sequenced than our esteemed and well-paid "traffic engineers" seem to be able to do.
Tell us it isn't true!
We need to believe that the autobahn is a driver's nirvana.
I did see a big BMW flash someone to get them out of the way.
I was on a 4 lane suburban road, posted at 30, I was probably going 30 on the nose, in the left lane. Came up behind a Honda Pilot going about 25 (I won't stereotype the driver, but I will say it was typical), and passed on the right. Surprise surprise, as I was passing, it sped up. I got up to about 40 by the time he gave up. What's with that? I was half tempted to brake check him and then end up owning his house.
Also almost got hit by a similar driver in a MDX who ran a stop sign. Leaving a Starbucks, naturally.
I believe that bus drivers have a difficult job at least in CA. Even when the school bus drivers put out their stop sign to tell following cars to wait for the kids to walk across the street to stop and let the kids cross, SOME drivers ignore them and try to go around the bus.
What I do see here in Ca where I live, is school crossing guards holding up their sign, standing in the middle of the street, as the kids cross, driver "sneaking" around and many times the guard has to dodge the car. Very unfortuate situation when drivers cannot be a bit more courteous.
And fintail, I understand the slow driver frustration as I still today in my car, get frustrated with the slow freeway driver plodding along at 40 in a 65 mph in the fast lane.
But then this is Disneyland, er CA.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
Bus drivers are human and sometimes make mistakes (hopefully few). Here in NY there are phone numbers on the back of all school buses that you can call for complaints of a serious nature. The supervisor will call the driver in for an explaination.
Unfortunately, every joker with a cell phone calls to make bogus complaints which dilutes the impact of the real ones. Once a call came in that a driver was driving down the road with "a knife, a gun and a bottle of booze". Another driver, a farmer who had an old injury on his hand was called in to explain the multiple complaints about him "giving the finger" to motorists who didn't like his broken knuckle.
You mention cars running stop signs. That is our number 1 problem. It's so bad that we have the kids stand on the bottom step and look right down the side of the bus before they get off in case someone is trying to run the reds on the shoulder.
The other day I was signaling for a left turn. the car coming the other way was also signaling for a left. She slowed down and I started to make my left also. Suddenly she turned off her directional and gunned it right at me. I barely got out her way in time.
When I finished my run she had called in to my supervisor and said I was speeding, driving recklessly and tried to run her off the road. She of course refused to leave her name. :confuse:
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
40 in a 65, sounds like home :sick:
As long as the supervisor has a sense of reasonable and right and wrong, that's a great idea.
I was behind our local district's bus after dropping something off at school for my kid. I got behind the bus and it stopped to drop kid and no flashing lights on rear. The stop sign on left side of driver came out with flashing lights on it.
I knew the local school board office number since my wife used to work for them. They transferred me to the bus barn supervisor. Meanwhile the driver made another stop and lights didn't work either. Bus guy said the driver had to be activating the lights or the stop sign wouldn't have come out. He was going to call the driver to let him/her know.
I knew the local number. I saw the missing red lights flashing as a safety hazard. I also knew the bus was going to be running the rest of that route of dropoffs and go to an elementary after a few minutes and pick up another full bus of elementary kids. I suspect the bus got switched for one of the spares after completing the high school route using emergency flashers to flash brake lights on rear.
We have had many accidents in the area with people crashing into school buses during the last 3 years. Usually they have kids on board when it happens.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
That's the kind of thing the phone # was ment for. I have to check 161 items every time I take the bus out. If something doesn't work I have to get it fixed. Still, a fuse can blow any time and make the bus unsafe. I for one would not mind a call like you made.
"...people crashing into school buses..."
We have that too. Usually they say they "didn't see" the 30 foot long bright yellow bus with all the lights flashing. :confuse: Most often the police find a cell-phone still turned on in their cars.
Once we had a bus going through a trailer park with speed bumps every 50 feet so you know the bus was going pretty slow. Some clown in a suped-up beater was showing off for his girlfriend who was on the bus. He hit one of the bumps so hard he launched his car into the air and jammed it all the way under the rear axle of the bus.
When the police arrived this joker claimed that the bus was doing 60 and had slammed on it's brakes. :sick:
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
But I do remember other officers who mentioned citing school bus drivers for speed, and not following red light protocol when escorting children across the streets ect.
And if there was an school bus accident, the CHP investigated the t/c. But I am sure it is different in other states.
Good luck to all and have a wonderful week end.
jensad
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D