Learned a couple of new ones yesterday

[dasnake]

Wow

Everything all of you are saying is bang on, except for a couple of states I bin everywhere, the bug for me is all the idiot computer **** they put in now so peeps drive safer, bull! Then they expound on their commercials the driver who doesnt shoulder check a lane change and is saved by a bell, or missing the stopped vehicle in front and your saved by a self braking manufactured install, how did forest gump say it, stoopid is made with boxed chocolate, or something like dat.

 

[hemiram]

A couple behaviors I have never figured out.

Riding the brakes. No one ahead of him. Road is straight. Brake lights keep flashing on intermittently. Not sure if he is left foot braking, lost, or what. I pass as soon as I can.

A corollary: the guy pootling along on a highway and hits the brakes every single time the road deviates even slightly from laser straight. Yeah, he is usually driving an older American car, but still...

Then there is the guy who pulls to the right to make a left turn (or left for a right turn), preventing anyone from passing. Of course he inches through the turn as slowly as possible.

Oh, then there is the guy who comes to a complete stop at the empty round-about.

They have put a whole bunch of roundabouts in locally, a couple of them solely to reduce the number of bad wrecks that used to happen. I don't know why, but a lot of people are still, after over a year later, as how they work. The busiest one, a 4 lane one, is, IMHO, the worst designed of them, and people get totally confused going through it, even though there are signs telling them what lane to be in to go whatever direction they want to go. One night at about 1110pm, I was going to work and a car went against the roundabout(AKA the wrong side of the road) without even slowing down, and some woman in a tiny car almost hit them head on. The guy going the wrong way slammed on his brakes, made a Uturn and chased her back to the next light, where he got out of his car and started screaming at her. I was behind him and as I started to yell something not so nice, he got lit up by a OSP trooper who saw the whole thing.
I asked him if he needed me for a witness or anything, and he said, "Nope, I got him on my dash camera. He gets my stupid prize for tonight!". I ran into the trooper a couple of days later, and asked him what that guy said about going the wrong direction. "He says the roundabouts confused him, and he didn't know which way to go!". I just said, "Then he shouldn't be driving!". He just smiled and said, "I'm hoping to make that come true, it's not the first time he's messed up. I've written him up like 4 times myself!". Scary.

 

[steelslaver]

Here it is some out of state plate going 60 miles an hour on a 2 lane highway. The speed limit here is 70mph on 2 lane and we cruise at 75mph. The interstate is 80mph and that means 85. You have to be above that for an HP to even just flash his lights on you. I left my home town at 10 am yesterday and was home before 1pm. 213 miles of 2 lane with 1 stop sign. I only passed a couple trucks and pickups pulling fairly big trailers and 2 out of state cars. I never caught up to another Montana car or pickup other than rancher in a tonner with a bale bed on it. I probably didn't meet 50 rigs the whole trip. I saw no law enforcement except a Motor Transport enforcement pick up running a temporary scale set up near the stop signed intersection 30 miles from home. Unless I am driving near one of the larger cities I bet I don't see an HP every 500 miles

 

[Greyman50]

Well, here goes...Driving is a Privilege, not a Right . Sooner than later all of the " non drivers" on the roads will be involved in a crash or cause one, hopefully not fatal. Have No Idea what the answer is other than more Testing with actual driving for more than " around the block". Time and $$$ would most likely prohibit that, so whats the answer? Discovered that some states actually allow license renewal by mail. I am getting up in age and have told my kids and grandkids what to do if I cant drive anymore. Seems problems are worse in the young and very old. With society as it is all people need to " get around" but bus service is not everywhere but there are several new ride services in most areas. So again, whats the answer????

 

[Llew Taranau]

Heading south on Lamar Blvd in Austin, there are three SB lanes, a middle turn lane, and a couple more NB lanes. Guy in the middle of the three SB lanes comes to a dead stop in moving traffic and turns on his turn signal bc he wants to get to a store parking lot on the other side of the street. Cars are streaming past him on both sides, not to mention the NB traffic ain't stopping either.


You may know that Austin came up with the "Keep Austin Weird" slogan. Here's my response:

 

[steelslaver]

We have some of the most lack driver licensing requirements of any first world country. We also have the highest accident rate. Imagine that.. In Germany it cost thousands to get a license. You have to go to a real driving school. When they drive they drive, not eat, drink, put on make up. You get a real DUI there (they have minor ones at .05) and you might be done forever. If you do get it back it will take at least a year and about $20,000 after schools physiologist visits and you will need top pass a physiological test. In the UK, it is about $7,000 US and a year with no permit. In Italy it will cost thousand of EU and 6 months in the pokey.

Per 100,000 vehicles the US has 14.2 deaths. The UK, 5.7, Switzerland 3.7, Sweden 4.6, Spain 5.8, Norway 3, Japan 5.7, Italy 6.3, Germany with the autobahn 6.4, France 8.5, Canada 8.9. CHINA a whooping 104.5.

Yes, Americans tend to drive more miles we also have far and away more vehicles. Very few other countries have more than 1 vehicle per family.

 

[LVSteve]

Heading south on Lamar Blvd in Austin, there are three SB lanes, a middle turn lane, and a couple more NB lanes. Guy in the middle of the three SB lanes comes to a dead stop in moving traffic and turns on his turn signal bc he wants to get to a store parking lot on the other side of the street. Cars are streaming past him on both sides, not to mention the NB traffic ain't stopping either.


You may know that Austin came up with the "Keep Austin Weird" slogan. Here's my response:

Ahh yes, but to actually move on to a sensible place to turn around and come back would threaten his sense of control to the degree he could no longer sire children. Remember, it's that important to many drivers.

 

[hoosierone]

What constantly comes home to me is that you can't take your eyes off the road. Too much going on, people cutting me off, hitting the brakes for no reason (this is a big one). Driving is truly a full time job. Sadly, many of the poor drivers I pass end up to be young.

 

[Gamecock]

Why is it so hard for people to use cruise control? I know their cars have it.

I come up behind people on country roads on my motorcycle. I think, "I'd rather go a little faster, but this speed is okay, so I'll stay here behind them."

Almost EVERY time, within 30 seconds, they slow down. Wut? Why aren't they using cruise control? Where can I pass . . . .

People may not be using cruise control on the interstates, either.

 

[AJ]

People may not be using cruise control on the interstates, either.

They use it, however, it is set on 90 or better.

 

[Absalom]

What constantly comes home to me is that you can't take your eyes off the road. Too much going on, people cutting me off, hitting the brakes for no reason (this is a big one).....

I'm sort of hoping that supposedly bad drivers aren't the only reason preventing you from taking your eyes off the road.

Lack of situational awareness tends to be a big issue especially for old people who think they're still good drivers.

I've generally found that keeping my eyes on the road extends my life expectancy even when driving through the Nevada and California desert without seeing another driver for hours

 

[LVSteve]

Why is it so hard for people to use cruise control? I know their cars have it.

I come up behind people on country roads on my motorcycle. I think, "I'd rather go a little faster, but this speed is okay, so I'll stay here behind them."

Almost EVERY time, within 30 seconds, they slow down. Wut? Why aren't they using cruise control? Where can I pass . . . .

People may not be using cruise control on the interstates, either.

Non-use of cruise control drives me nuts, too.

I also come across a lot of folk who cannot use high beams. Come up behind somebody on a deserted 2-lane in NV or AZ doing barely 50 mph and sure enough, no high beams. Mind you, with the hopeless lights on many older US cars (thanks, USDoT) it can be hard to tell the difference sometimes.

 

[hemiram]

What constantly comes home to me is that you can't take your eyes off the road. Too much going on, people cutting me off, hitting the brakes for no reason (this is a big one). Driving is truly a full time job. Sadly, many of the poor drivers I pass end up to be young.

My mother was kind of a scary driver. It was almost like she had blinders on, only able to look straight ahead. She used to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid when she would be taking me to school and would stop at a red light on a 50MPH road just past a blind turn, start messing with her hair until the light was long past green, and cars would be coming up behind us and slamming on their brakes. I would start yelling, "It's green!" and she would be totally unaware that a car had just managed to stop in time. She only used her rearview mirror for hair or makeup adjustments. When she stopped driving at 66, she continued to look only forward. One time, it was her, her best friend, and our 3 dogs in my truck and a huge buck deer came out from along the road and we almost hit it. Her friend and I saw it and I slammed the brakes on and mom yelled, "What was that for?". I said, "The deer we almost hit!". "What deer?" Her friend said, "I guess it's good that you stopped driving if you didn't see it!". She missed a lot of stuff when we were traveling down to FL one time. I started laughing, a truck full of red licorice flavoring had rolled over, and it was all over the road. On our side of the road, you mostly smelled it, but on the other side, cars were spinning out in it. She asked me what was so funny, and I said, "The red licorice stuff all over the road!". She had never seen it! She could smell it though, "Is that what that smell is?". Yeah mom, that's what it was.

 

[hemiram]

Saw on Wed:

Several people driving alone wearing masks? Why?

Train was crossing the road at a crawl, there was no place for a guy stopped at an intersection right before the tracks in a Chevy Silverado to go, except to block the intersection for me, I was exiting a park. What does he do? He blocks me, of course. He made eye contact with me, and I said, "What are you doing?". By that time, he couldn't back up, as the cars behind him had pulled up. So I sat there for about 10 minutes while the gigantic train crawled past.

A woman stopped in the middle of a rundabout. There is nobody there, except me behind her. I honk, she gets angry. I pulled up next to her at a light and said, "Why did you stop on the roundabout?". She said "I got mixed up, and wasn't sure where to go!". It's a single lane!!! You either go left and head north, or go right and get on the E/W road. I just shook my head. I really think they should put ads on TV explaining basics of driving to people. Green arrows are a mystery to some people and have been for the almost 50 years I've been driving.

 

[Gamecock]

Kid ran into the back of my motorcycle last weekend. Light turns green, traffic in right lane goes, woman in front of me just sits there. After a couple seconds, she starts out. I start going, and pickup behind me hits me.

I had seen the truck pulling out from a side street I passed. So I knew it was a kid, I knew it was an old truck. Have insurance? Do I really want to talk with this kid?

I kept going. Got home, checked rear. No visible damage. I guess he goosed me more than hitting me.

No doubt in my mind that the kid is one of the millions who think they can text and drive at the same time.