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In my attempt to be a realist, I am going to surmise that we're about five years out from rollout of self-driving modes on *some* car models in some instances. Most likely relegation of these early roll-outs will be in luxury lines. In twenty years, self-driving modes will be widespread to the point that human driving will account for the minority of driving miles. Forty years (TOPS), human driving BANNED in this country except on controlled courses.
Damn; I just depressed myself big time.
Winners today - beaky Acura TL proudly displaying its "SH" badges, merging onto a fairly wide open highway, hit a whopping 38mph or so at the end of the ramp, before finally picking up the pace. I don't know what it is with the Bellevue-Seattle area and slow merging. Then was driving down an open 35mph 4 lane artertial, speeding along at maybe 36 - old Cherokee with a passenger mirror hanging from a thread, towing a junk hauling trailer, pulls up from a side street, makes a "free" turn in front of me, and straddles the lane divider. I come up behind him and flash, he moves left (of course), going about 20, I pass on the right, as I was going by I thought I saw him throw up his hands like I was being crazy. Freedom.
Turn signals were scarce today, as usual. I don't recall seeing any enforcement. Must be out ensuring safety otherwise.
Three guys on bicycles riding abreast as they love to do so one guy is blocking the lane I'm in.
There was oncoming traffic so I had to slow to about 15 MPH. I had three or four cars behind me. Finally I saw a break and I eased into the opposite lane to allow for clearance.
The guy was a bit wobbly on his bike to I gently tapped on my horn to let him know I was there.
I thought he was raising his hand to give me a wave of thanks but, instead, he flipped me off!
Nice!
I was kind of hoping some pranky teenagers would see it and put it in the cart return bay. Or a typical oblivious local driver would just plow into it and keep driving. I never saw the driver.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Bring up the topic of bicycle registration...I dare you...
In Eugene, it's considered a right to ride with no consequences or cost.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
We have the Cascade Bicycle Club up here that is a pretty powerful lobby group.
We can spend millions catering to them by paving trails, painting bike lanes and putting up signs but perish the thought that they might be asked to pay maybe a 25.00 yearly license fee!
Does ANYONE (besides them) that would consider that unreasonable?
Oh, the HUMANITY!
The shrieking would almost be unbearable!
Their self-entitled attitude has really pissed off a lot of people, but I see nothing ever happening...
:@
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
I'm still waiting to get hit by a cyclist in a crosswalk while I am on foot. That or one of the local Stepford wives (isell will know what I mean) in a high end CUV/SUV. Those are the most likely options. Then maybe I'll have the fintail restored
Drove a short time ago - lots of slow people out today. Got behind a dawdly GL that slowly weaved into a turn lane, no signal - I had to honk. Also saw a woman in a CX5 who I am pretty sure was texting or reading something, looking down, going 15-20 in a 30, slowly moved into a turn lane, honked then too. Zero cops.
Most residential stop signs should be taken down anyway. Better for everyone if you have to stop texting and actually look for traffic instead of assuming you have the right of way because the cross street has a stop sign.
I agree about 4 way stops, and don't get me started about the negligent maintenance of lowest common denominator traffic controls via our beloved accountable responsible "traffic engineers" (sarcastic quotes).
Proceeding at red lights after stopping in empty intersections should also be OK for cars. The fuel wasted by negligent traffic planning has to be mind-boggling, not to mention the value of the time. Cities which refuse to optimize traffic controls should lose federal funding. That's a "green" initiative the guilted eco-weenies somehow refuse to touch.
I always enjoy my rare trips to the home office in Santa Monica; it's an open plan kind of office and as you wander around, lots of people have their bikes parked at their desks. And lots of the long term road trips involve hauling mountain bikes out of town. And there was this activity last month for employees:
Motorcyclists and pedestrians get ran down all the time, too.
And it'd work in Seattle just fine. The cars don't stop for stop signs, much less the bikers, so you may as well make it legal, lol.
The powers that be in Boise managed to mostly avoid urban renewal back in the day and they stopped the Interstate from going right downtown. They do have two one way four-lanes (I-184 changes into Highway 26) that are idiotic and divide the capital side from easy access to the river. It's worse near the courthouse close to where the newish Whole Foods is. Speeders, turners and bikers/foot traffic don't mix well.
Many residential areas in Seattle actually do have uncontrolled intersections. But it wouldn't work on streets that see 100 cars per minute, which probably isn't an issue anywhere in Idaho.
100 cars a minute would be 144,000 a day. Alaskan Way was up to 110,000 five years ago (what do y'all call that road - the Viaduct?). Better get Bertha boring again.
Most of the heavy collector streets in Boise run 25,000 to 35,000 cars a day, with one or two hitting 50k.
The worst offenders are bicyclists dressed up like Italian candy bars. Somehow, you put someone in a uniform and they can, if not properly led by trained officers, plunge into mob mentality.
I find most recreational bicyclists here in California courteous and respectful of the laws. We in the north are heavy on mountain bikers, so they don't get in the way of anything except big rocks and the occasional tree leaping out in front of them.
If we had more of this, then we'd have less conflicts, rage, 'accidents', etc.
I see it all from the viewpoint of a driver, cyclist, and pedestrian. Unfortunately some only see it as US vs THEM from whichever camp they're in. This leads to conflict, rage, and 'accidents'.
And the need for this forum.
Yesterday, I was driving through a small town downtown area. The street is one lane in each direction with parallel parking on both sides and has a 25 mph SL. I was the only car at a stop light and across the crossroad I noticed a 4x4 F250 w/long bed backing into a parking spot. Apparently didn't have a good line because he pulled out and tried again. And again. On the fourth try my light turned green and I moved slowly forward, not crowding him as I didn't want to be inconsiderate. He gave up on that one and pulled out and kept driving about three blocks to where there was a whole block of empty parking spots. He was able to successfully pull straight in and park.
By the way, his original spot was a double (two spots together) about 40 feet long!
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
My average speed on the way home this evening was 8 mph, per the car's computer. Love it. Slow drivers, timid drivers, and negligent traffic controls combine for a fun stew.
This morning, I saw the young woman in a red Focus wagon I see now and then, who just flies down the road - I estimate 55-60 in a 35. I'm waiting to see her on her roof one of these days.
Inclement weather (primarily snow/ice) may pose more significant obstacles to the technology, however, as well as sub-par maintenance (e.g., Alaskans are not familiar with the concept of road striping - LOL) and other challenges.
Honestly, though, it's coming - and sooner than we might think or prefer.
Shouldn't be any reason why you couldn't turn it on and off, just like cruise or traction control. I can imagine that your insurance rates would be less if you left the driving to the computers though. And I'm sure that the companies will track how often you turn it off and adjust your premium accordingly.
Saw a typical PNW thing today - car gets into a turn only lane, no signal, then hits the signal after the light turns green. I have to wonder about the thought process involved, why bother?
Got behind a Bellevue wife in a nice Volvo wagon spacing off and playing with her hair at a blinking yellow turn light, no oncoming traffic. I flashed my lights, and I could visibly see her wake up. She eventually slowly got moving.
Stopped by a highly rated automotive electonics place to check on dashcams today. I can get a top of the line setup and have installed for a grand even - not cheap. But it is a good unit and their work is top notch. I am considering it. New Youtube channel - baddriversofbellevue.
Oh, how I SO MUCH would have liked to speed up and "brake check" that tailgater!
There was a time....
Regarding tailgaters, last time I had one, I turned on the rear fog light. He got the point. It's irksome to be tailgated when there are 10 cars in front of me crawling - I can't go through them, no matter how much I wish I could.
Here the habit is to use the turn signal power steering assist. They seem to think it's a power assist and they turn on the turn signal as they start turning the wheel, say to the right. If you're behind, it's a surprise; if you're waiting to turn left and they're the oncoming traffic, it means you don't get notice that you could have turned left and been gone down the street. Instead their turn signal pops on as the front wheel start turning.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
$65 dashcam.
$150 installation.
Free YouTube channel.
Profit.
(we'll overlook the denial of warranty claims....)
We'll see if I go through with it - I also have an old radio or two I've thought of having restored, along with an aging laptop, so that might eat my gadgetry fund for the year.
Out on the roads today, I will just say it was a "diverse" experience, and I don't mean that in a good way. And on top of it, the usual - slow, no signal use, bad lane positioning - people complain about low information voters, I think the low information drivers are worse.
Cars everywhere with nowhere to go! Luckily, I was pinned in on four sides.
The fireman leaned on his air horn causing indecision and panic. One guy ran a red light right in front of the fire truck. An elderly woman appeared to be frozen in fear as the fire truck threaded it's way around her. They FINALLY got through but it wasn't easy for them.
Of course it was pouring rain at the time.
I can't say anyone did anything wrong here. Just horrible timing during Christmas shopping traffic!
Not to be too critical of local emergency responders, who do a fine job, but I see the ladder trucks out an awful lot - I wonder if they send them out more often just to keep them maintained, sending them to the scene every time Mrs. Elkins cat is stuck in a tree.