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"No one argues with your current right to make a right turn on red." -- Huh? You yourself just advocated making right turns on red illegal: “I'm in favor of abolishing ‘right turn on red.’” Sound familiar?
Good lord, townha11, Get your story straight.
You seem to see every intersection and crosswalk overflowing with pedestrians, I rarely encounter anywhere there is a pedestrian whose path I could possibly block. If there are no pedestrians around, I cannot possibly be said to be blocking their path, period. If there are some around, I avoid blocking their legitimate path (by that I mean a pedestrian has no right to cross the street against a red light at all, let alone in front of my car turning right on red. But even then I will endeavor to not hit them if they choose to do so).
And if you want to call me a self-centered, selfish jackass, go right ahead.
No right turn on red? We ain't never getting home, people. Be sitting there for days, waiting for naught more'n air to pass by...
Sometimes they would wait and wait(while I am approaching) and suddenly pull out when I am about one car length behind.
It should be noted that the same idiotic-right-turn-cutting-off-traffic scenario can and often does occur where there is an intersection with a Stop sign, so this is really not a No Turn On Red issue at all, it is a driver competence issue.
Now that I think about it, the only thing about smoking that bothers me is that most smokers throw their butts anywhere they are (when outdoors). No wonder people want to ban smoking in public places.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Sometimes I like the way cigarette butts look at night as they shower sparks when flung from the car in front of me...
I generally have no objection to pouring out liquid from coffee cup, soft drink, etc; it'll evaporate soon enough. (maybe it doesn't bother me because I'll do it myself, but I try to do it where it won't be a nuisance).
I think that Chicago, with many more pedestrians crossing intersections, was less subject to this.
Or maybe it's just a function of the number of people walking across the street, where there's a bunch of people, like in core downtown centers, drivers HAVE to stop before the crosswalk or they'll get a psycho pedestrian on them. Now, what happens when a psycho pedestrian and a psycho driver (stopped) meet up?
There is NOTHING I hate more in winter (besides the cold) than brushing snow and scraping ice off my Explorer. Last winter I had the lifted Suburban, I couldn't get the snow off of it, it was too high (I used to climb on the front tire to check the oil).
If my husband is home he usually gets my vehicle ready for me....hehehe.
I have auto start on the Explorer, so I just set the heater at night and then hit a button in the morning in my jammies, its nice and toasty when I get in it.
Thankfully in the past few years we haven't had much snow, here it is October 11th in Alaska and its still in the 40's during the day.
Sigh. Perhaps you have heard of something called an Amber Alert? A now federal law allows local authorities to use numerous resources to alert the public of an abduction in the hopes the sooner the information is disseminated, the better the chance of apprehending the abductor.
The use of highway signs is particularly important since most abductions...wait for it...involve vehicles. Yes! I bet it's easier to be on the lookout for a particular vehicle WHILE I'M IN MY CAR than sitting in my La-z-boy watching the evening news.
At any rate, since you are apparently more concerned about the people that might be in an accident, I'll be sure to ignore any notice given if or when your child/neice/nephew/whatever is abducted. Especially since I have to avoid all the other accident-causing concerned citizens out there.
Sounds like the original purpose of said signs is a huge waste of money, then. Aside from that, what does the RV driver have to do with an Amber Alert. Oh, right, I'm betting you're making an unfounded generalization with the only consequence of very little concern--the perception of your character.
Come to the DC beltway. We don't have message boards alerting us of lost / abducted children.
We put their pictures on milk cartons.
So I grabbed the rake from the tool shed and proceeded to muck the drains out. Just as I am doing this, a minivan sped through the puddle and soaked me. OK.
So I cross the street to get the other drain and, of course, same thing happens again. I doubt either driver did it intentionally, but I was certainly visible to them so it wasn't accidental, either. Mainly thoughtless.
Guess next time I'll park the truck in front of the drains or let the DPW worry about it.
But to cut to the nexus of this thread. It can work the other way. Like when a car ahead of me in the passing lane moves out of the way to let me pass, I almost always make it a point to thank the person doing the behavior by waving etc. I also show him I would have done the same for him by when safe moving over to the right hand lane/lanes. So in effect if he wanted to overtake me in that instance he can. Does it really help work? I truly don't know in the grand scheme of things but I definitely would like to think so.
But, since the signs aren't going away, why not do something useful with them? After all, bad drivers are going to be bad regardless...and even if they become a little worse, the Alerts at least *attempt* to do some good. Now, if the signs starting saying: "It's now 30 mins to the Marquette, you can use the shoulder and it's ok", then that would be something.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Sometimes I simply cannot yield to someone's request in a safe or reasonable manner and pass them by, but then there are those rare situations when I know the driver will likely execute a desperate and dangerous maneuver and cause us both a lot of pain if I don't let them in (such as where a major highway splits into two), so I go out of my way to let them in.
Except in the last mentioned situations, I will never let someone in who is not using their turn signal, even if I see their head wagging around looking for room in front of me. If you don't care enough to use your signal, you can burn in hell for the rest of eternity for all I care.
Oh, that's right. They don't have Drivers Ed in high schools anymore.
There were weekly in-car lessons, which were the only useful part of the course. And it cost a few hundred dollars to take too.
I swear that most people, if asked, don't know common traffic law questions such as if you turn onto a 2 lane highway, you must turn into the closest lane.
How about people that don't wear seat belts? Man, they obviously never took a physics class....
As for the endless left lane discussions... I gotta argue for some understanding here. Very few people that I've talked to learned about lane courtesy when learning to drive. Driver's Ed said "slower traffic keep right" but it came across as "stay to the right because we're expecting you to listen to us and never drive above 55." So we got the idea that the left lane was for driving 70-75 in.
Passing lane? Like the lanes in between two yellow lines that you stay out of unless you're passing? OK.
But passing lane on a normal freeway? There aren't enough lanes as it is... they all fill up here in the Bay Area, so when I heard that one lane was supposed to stay pretty much open I was like... woah, I've been driving for a few years and never noticed that the left lane was treated any differently from the one next to it.
I only learned about all this when I got into cars and joined forums with experienced drivers in them. Now I help spread the knowledge, but expecting people on the road to know this... is unrealistic. Complaining to us who know won't help. You have to complain to those who don't. And to those who are supposed to teach it in the first place.
These days, when that happens, I just pass them right back and get back on cruise control.
Well, here on the east coast (NJ and PA) the stay right issue is law and on the driving test, so people should know. Then again, many drivers here in NJ can't read anyway... go figure.
oh, treehumpindog, I did appreciate you warming your hands up first....sorry about giving you the bird......
First of all, those with 4-wheel drive who feel the need to tailgate, then pass me, then cut back in front of me, while showering me with clouds of snow...just because your vehicle is twice as big as mine, doesn't mean that you have the right to drive like an idiot. And if its windy and snowy, I'm not going to go any faster just so you can get to your destination 30 seconds faster.
Although sometimes I see something that makes me feel better...like the time i saw three SUV's and a police car pulled over into a lot at the bottom of a hill - apparently the three hit each another...sorry, but I got a chuckle out of it.
Second is the idiot who can't be bothered to remove all the snow from the top of their car, so there's a foot-high pile right in the center, which then proceeds to blow and throw chunks of snow and sometimes ice into me as I drive behind them. I saw one today; someone in truck with about 2/3 of their windshield obscured by a big chunk of snow...not sure how they were able to see around that! And then there was the minivan I followed for about 6 miles on the highway, while his snow fell off so I had to keep way back of him.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I was at this intersection on Friday that usually has 2 lanes. People were making it a 3 lane intersection. This person in their Lincoln Navigator would not move. People were trying to get around him(pass them to the left or the right)They were holding up the intersection. I don't get people sometimes in the snow. Then you get the people in their rear wheel drive cars. I saw this guy in his Lincoln trying to make a turn. He got stuck in the ice and was spinning his wheels heavily to try to get out of the ice. Then this person going up a little hill in their 03 Cadillac CTS got stuck a little bit(he faired better than the guy in the Lincoln.) It took the person a little while in the Cadillac to get out of the ice but they did it. I went around him but the Cadillac held up the traffic some. To the Cadillac drivers credit that little hill was icy. I have FWD and even I was slipping and sliding.
Just what we needed, more inconsiderate trucker wannabes.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
This is a pet peeve of mine ever since I got LASIK surgery. A 4x4 truck with fog lights and headlights blazing hurts just as bad as a passenger car with its high beams on.
The worst are high end sport utes - think LX470, Range Rover, G wagen, etc - with Xenon lights. Yes, I know they're supposed to be self leveling but when the idiot driver is 6" from your rear bumper it doesn't help much.
Inconsiderate indeed.
-Jason
It might be far better to have passed them on the right about 9-14 miles back!
I would agree with you! However, if you are coming up behind a LLC and are within 2 mississippi seconds behind him and he does not look like he will move over right when safe, chances are he is not looking to move for love nor money, then discretion is the better part of valor. Just because the one in front of you is a CAD, that declaration will not wash if he slows down and you rear end him.
into the rear mirrors and passenger compartment. For many weak egos that the
feeling of power that they need to be fulfilled, for a few seconds at least.
Forcing someone to do what you want is easy satisfaction. Passing on the
right and getting on down the road wouldn't leave that power surge in the blood.
It's the reptilian brain needs that the psychologist talked about in a CBS program about
designing cars. He consults with car makers in their designs to make the cars (trucks)
appeal to certain people's needs. Those people do not get fulfillment the usual ways
through a spouse, children, and their work success. They buy a vehicle that
allows them to feel they are something different than their own original insufficient self.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
So since you are talking safety in the left lane, you are a full 3 mississipi seconds behind the LLC?
AND... tailgating them and blinding them with high lights and fog lights intentionally misaimed to be obnoxious IS safe! LOL
Good driving is a characteristic of a secure person.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Semi trailers are bad about having ice on top that melts and then blows off.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
finally, FINALLY, after what seemed an eternity, the Ram flashed its lights and the Rodeo got over. But then, just as I'm about to pass, and mind you, I'm fairly close to the Ram, the Rodeo just cuts right back over in front of me, so close that I could read the number L93DOT92lxh33439a on one of the taillights! ;-) And then he slows down in front of me!
So I shoot past him on the right, and he tries to speed up to cut me off, but he's no match for the rev-happy 2.7 in my Intrepid. I cut back over in front of him, as my buddy screams in terror, wetting himself.
Trooper driver panics, swerves onto the shoulder, and rolls it better than Consumer Reports ever could have. Ends up in oncoming traffic, in front of a logging truck. Logging truck jacknifes, drops its load, and one of the result is so gruesome that I'd better just stop right there.
Okay, time to roll back a bit here...it's all true, up to the point of my buddy wetting himself, and me causing an accident. Just thought I'd throw in a little artistic license ;-)
Anyway, I did cut back in front of the guy, and he did try to speed up to cut me off, but I got back in front of him with room to spare. After that, he slowed back down, holding up traffic again.
Traffic then started to slow in general, so I never got so far ahead that he was out of my sight. A red light slowed us all down, too. Just as I was making my left turn to go into the dealership, this piece-of-work suddenly dives off (if you can use "dives off" to describe someone going so slow) into the right lane, making people over there slam on their brakes.
Where do these people get their licenses?