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Good area for driving ...straight smooth roads, not a lot of speed traps, and when you encounter a slowpoke, you just pass.
There was a rumor going around a decade ago that you could package them up nicely and sell them on eBay to Japanese customers, who would use them for home decorations. Probably just an urban legend.
All of y'all in the deprived Eastern states, make me an offer. :shades:
I'm sure FedEx is quite aware that their large logos slamming into a mini-van with a family is probably not good for business - especially if the logo is splashed all over the nightly news.
link title
All I want for Christmas is for people to go at least 90% of the speed limit, and actually know how to drive.
America: "Land of the Free, Home of the Lowest Common Denominator." :sick:
I don't understand why people who come from less developed places where traffic is insane come here and then drive like they are scared of their own shadow.
I like "Land of the Free, Home of the Whopper"
I'm sure it's well into the future but I think you'll see the day that all vehicles manufactured after a certain date will have to be equipped with mandatory data recording and storage, even to the level of having small cheap pin-cams around the vehicle.
Of course there will be a document you sign (when you purchase the vehicle) stating that you understand that tampering with the VDR (vehicle data recorder) will have severe consequences involving hefty fines and possible prison time and even destruction of the vehicle..
In the best selling book "Traffic", author Tom Vanderbilt writes about a brave new world where nobody gets pulled over for speeding or other moving offenses anymore - police will not be actively involved in enforcement.... Your fellow motorist will!!!! When they see an offense they simply record it and press "SEND" and the infraction is recorded in a huge data base. When it's obvious that a motorist is consistently breaking traffic laws, the offender will get a massive fine/possible suspension on a quarterly or semi-annual basis. The motorists vehicle itself could be "turned off", probably through court order.
The obvious question comes up "What if a neighbor or somebody that knows you has a grudge or another motorist has been stalking you?".... The system would be able to throw out "pattern complaints" even to an extent of warning the "stalking motorist or neighbor" that they themselves could be possibly fined for false reporting.
ebay already employs simplistic systems like this today. Of course those systems in the future would have to be far more complex.
Seems like an Orwellian nightmare but unfortunately, the projections for vehicles increasing in numbers worldwide is staggering. At the end of this decade, the World Health Organization predicts that the third leading cause of death will be...Traffic fatalities!
In an informal way, "big brother" has happened to a relative of one of my friends. I think I may have already wrote about it in a previous post. He was pulled over by police after another motorist called 911. The police observed him for a few miles, pulled him over and inquired about it. Of course he acted completely innocent (wouldn't you?) but after the police left a passenger with him (relative) told him he had a road rage problem. He dismissed the idea until his family ganged up on him and told him, without question, he did indeed, have a serious problem.
I welcome the day that road-ragers will be observed and their sneaky snake-like behavior will NOT be be folded into the anonymous world of the highways we have now.... Already this is desperately required.
And knowing our defective and corrupt legal system, the big brother ideal you mention there and the unjust punishments added aren't outside the realm of possibility. Look for it in England first. I wouldn't trust those systems, the people who develop them, or the people who support them, any further than I could throw them.
Maybe that can be the straw that breaks the camels back and makes people dust off the guillotines and gallows again.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Nice cleanup of "litter" by the way.
A Detroit happening:
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/its_raining_cash_in_detroit_as.html
Another article says $160,000 missing from the Detroit stimulus operation.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I saw something considerate too...late last night I was drying up 405, which is an insane stretch of road as people drive so slow on it...there are no hazards on this other than volume at weekday rushour, but at any time of day, any day, people will be content to go 45 in a 60...must be some scenery I am missing. Anyway, I am headed north, and when I was blasting along earlier I picked up an Evo that would then kind of play with me...passing me quickly, then dropping back, then encouraging me to do the same...all in fun. As we were traveling tandem (probably no more than 10 over at this point), I see a slowpoke Explorer probably going 50 in the left lane. It sees us, and moves over! That's a very rare event in these parts.
SUV stopped at the corner decides to beat the cars going across the intersection on a green light and turns right at high speed ahead of them. It hits the icy slope and does a nice spin of more than 360 degrees. It then proceeds to go down the slope sideways, perfectly perpendicular to the road.
It is incredibly lucky that there were no cars parked on the side of the road or coming up the block in the other direction as it would have pinballed off of all of them on the narrow street. Sheepish driver - maybe minor heart attack happening - finally got the car under some control and pulled into a driveway.
There was plenty of traffic so no one was going to go more than half the speed limit under these conditions...maybe 15 mph...so what exactly was the rush?
I can make these up all night.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
We went out around 1 and someone pulled out in front of me and then proceeded to run the red light a block away. Then another driver must have been late for the movie as s/he was flinging around downtown driving too fast for conditions and cutting people off. Another truck decided to ease their two right tires over into my lane at one point too.
Usually the drivers around here are better than that.
A couple of them did have Oregon and Washington plates. :shades:
Years ago, I was riding my motorcycle on IS 80 and my wife was behind me in our old Merc 4-dr "tank". I observed in my rear mirror a "Safeway" truck turn right into the side of the Merc. My wife kept control of the car and got to the right shoulder. I stopped to help her and the truck jus kept going. There was a truck tire mark on the driver's side door which was still on it when I sold it to our neighbor.
This all took place just in early Jan, just afterthe holidays. When I thought about it, I rationalized it as the "Xmas driver hangover" that seems to last with bad drivers for two to three months. But then we live in the Bay Area which has tremendous amounts of driving variations.
I guess Steve, this 'disease" has swept northward to your neck of the woods.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
You would think it would be great not to have to pump your own gas and it is to a certain extent. No more smelly hands, no more having to get out in the bitter cold or sweltering heat, sometimes you get your windshield washed, etc, but often I would much rather be able to do it myself. Especially if I have gas cans to fill. I would spend less time at the station too. I think I could cut the time I spend in half if I could pump my own gas. Sometimes you get a flunky who doesn't seem to know his gas cap from his pen cap, but I have narrowed my station choices down to a couple where I know the guys that work there but if I am ever out of town or happen to be in a different part of town away from my usual places, it's a crap shoot as to if the guy is going to be able to know what to do...
Not a fan of the law, but I guess it does provide jobs. Then again so does McDonalds.
Here in Illinois, we have had self-service for decades I think. The most stupid drivers at gas stations are those who leave their engines running while filling up. Seems like more often than not, they have old pickup trucks. So, far, have not seen a running pickup driver smoking a cigarette, on cell phone and filling up. If, when I do, I will run.
I despise the gas attendants in Oregon. It takes two-to-three times as long to fill up there as anywhere else in the US. A few years ago I pulled into a station at about 0300 in Pendleton on our way to Portland to catch a flight. I sat there for about five minutes without any sign of life. I finally got out of the car and pressed the call button. A voice came on and said, "I will be right out!" So, I waited exactly one minute, then filled my own gas. As I was pulling out of the drive, the attendant came out of the store. :mad:
Also, with pay-at-the-pump nearly universal now, your credit card is always in sight and back in your hands immediately.
Mostly, I can't stand having my time wasted by their inefficiency. Usually the stations are all backed up because you have one or two attendants covering six or more pumps. Each car sits at the pump for 4-5 minutes as the employee makes the rounds. It really highlights the pointlessness of it all. If it were a matter of safety (which it should be, if it is mandated by law), they would not be allowed to start the pump and walk away. If something were to happen, I suspect reaction time would be far slower than the majority of owners who would be only a few paces from the nozzle. So, really, why is it that I should tolerate them wasting my time? Because it's law? Hahah; I don't think so.
I don't want someone dripping gas down the side of my car or messing up something else.
Most places wont even try to fill if you park on the wrong side. They make you turn around.
There is a downside. I always pay cash (not wanting to give them my Cc), and yes, they will jam as much as they have to to get up to an even $ amount. Not quite as big a deal when the prices are high, but sometiems it can end up bieng 2/10 or 3/10, if you don't yell at them to stop. Even then, it usally happens, sicne they don't speak english (usually).
But, at least I don't have to freeze my tail off!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Of course, this morning at 0530 I got to just slow down for a red light because a car making a free turn triggered the negligently maintained sensor.
Yeah, I hate those errant sensor-triggerings. One lazy turn and it costs me a couple minutes of my life - that is definitely inconsiderate.
The light in question probably shouldn't be turned on until 0600-0700, and should be a blinking red/yellow at night. The small town where my mother lives does it like that, from 11-7 the lights just blink. Here, the lights are on 24/7, which is lame as the place is very dead from 11-7, I go to work early and rarely see more than a couple of other cars on my commute.
Is this question in the wrong thread?
Please discuss.
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0f6321/3907
There's no excuse to be forced to sit at a long light with no cross traffic. It is extraordinarly wasteful of both time and fuel.
Then do you support a ban on drivers talking to someone in their car?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I'd be for a ban on passengers talking to the driver. That would have driven my MIL nuts.
I am about 10 cars back waiting to make a right turn. Because there is no right turn lane, you must stay in the through lane until the intersection. So I am there and all of a sudden on my right comes an F-250 pulling a trailer and holding his shin nipper in his lap. Barely scraping by. I'll bet his tires were hitting the curb as he tried to pass all the cars in the right lane so he could make a right.
As he started to pass me the line started moving and as such he was right where I needed if I wanted to turn right. I hung out trying to figure out what he was doing and then deciding whether to punch it and get in front of him, but that wasn't possible because of the cars in front of me or hang back to get behind him and essentially let him "cut" in line. I tooted my horn at him to let him know he was a moron and I watched his little nipper jump up and start yapping. The only thing I decided I could do is slow down, holding up traffic behind me and get behind him so I could make my turn.... :sick: