What If/Bad Drivers

[WittyAspie]

What bothers me the most is going down the interstate and a semi does that along side another semi. Gets everything backed up with tail-gaters. Sometimes I'll just take a little break at the first available exit when that happens. I drive slower than most (speed limit) but I always stay on the right on the highway unless passing.

Side by side semis drive me nuts. I can have patient if one is passing the other, but not when they clog up traffic for miles and miles. If soap still came in a box this would be one of the issues that caused me to stand on it.

 

[Judge]

Snow and ice are two completely different elements. (I see my fallacy concerning H2O and I’m leaving it.) One of the winters I spent in upstate NY the roads stayed white for months. You get used to driving on snow after awhile. Ice, on the other hand, offers zero traction and is always unsafe.

Conversely here snow is sporadic. Happening anytime between November and May. Compounded by hoards of inexperienced drivers coming from California who seldom even experience real winters.

I won't even consider crossing Donner Pass until April. The locals know the terrain, but quite often the tourists outnumber them ten to one.

 

[WittyAspie]

I try to stay the hell away from large trucks all the time. If they aren't throwing stones, they're usually ripe for a jacknife, and I don't want to be anywhere near when it happens. Where "time is money", with safety as a lost cause.

I can't stand riding right beside a large truck for any length of time. It only takes being run off the road at 70 mph one time to realize just how dangerous a quick lane change can be. I was passing a semi one time when he moved over into my lane so he was farther away from something on the side of the road. I appreciate his desire to be considerate to people stopped on the side of the highway, but he changed lanes too quickly and almost killed me.

One thing that has perplexed me for a long time is why large vehicles don't have more mirrors. It is well known that semis have blind spots. Why not mandate that they are more/better mirrors to eliminate that hazard. The same idea goes for all vehicles. Think about how many mirrors pay for themselves through the prevention of one accident.

My new Subaru has an indicator light so I know someone is in my blind spot. I hope a similar technology makes its way into the manufacturing of big rigs.

 

[Judge]

I can't stand riding right beside a large truck for any length of time. It only takes being run off the road at 70 mph one time to realize just how dangerous a quick lane change can be. I was passing a semi one time when he moved over into my lane so he was farther away from something on the side of the road. I appreciate his desire to be considerate to people stopped on the side of the highway, but he changed lanes too quickly and almost killed me.

One thing that has perplexed me for a long time is why large vehicles don't have more mirrors. It is well known that semis have blind spots. Why not mandate that they are more/better mirrors to eliminate that hazard. The same idea goes for all vehicles. Think about how many mirrors pay for themselves through the prevention of one accident.

My new Subaru has an indicator light so I know someone is in my blind spot. I hope a similar technology makes its way into the manufacturing of big rigs.

Couldn't agree more. Yeah, the latest automotive technology is truly amazing with my new Mazda 3 GT having a plethora of such features. It senses other adjacent cars and objects faster than I can in all four directions.

 

[WittyAspie]

Couldn't agree more. Yeah, the latest automotive technology is truly amazing with my new Mazda 3 GT having a plethora of such features. It senses other adjacent cars and objects faster than I can in all four directions.

What year is your Mazda? My Impreza is a 2018, though I think all the safety features are the same from the previous model year.

One of the coolest new safety features is that my car will literally stop itself from rear ending another car. After having been rear ended twice in the past I think it's a great feature. I get a warning if I am approaching another vehicle too quickly and my car will reduce the throttle and/or apply the brakes to assist me in stopping if necessary. My cruise control is also amazing. I can set it at my desired speed and if I come up on another vehicle going slower than that it will follow along at exactly that vehicle's speed without me having to adjust anything. If that vehicle was to come to a stop my car would go from 70 MPH to a complete halt without me touching anything.

 

[Judge]

What year is your Mazda? My Impreza is a 2018, though I think all the safety features are the same from the previous model year.

One of the coolest new safety features is that my car will literally stop itself from rear ending another car. After having been rear ended twice in the past I think it's a great feature. I get a warning if I am approaching another vehicle too quickly and my car will reduce the throttle and/or apply the brakes to assist me in stopping if necessary. My cruise control is also amazing. I can set it at my desired speed and if I come up on another vehicle going slower than that it will follow along at exactly that vehicle's speed without me having to adjust anything. If that vehicle was to come to a stop my car would go from 70 MPH to a complete halt without me touching anything.

Mine's a 2018. Purchased only 22 days after it rolled off the assembly line in Hiroshima. Had I purchased a 2017 model, it would have had less of such features, particularly the front collision/braking monitoring system.

Essentially my car has all that stuff, with the notable exception of Ford's ability to parallel park automatically. The same technology that Toyota is now advertising, which is entirely from Mazda. I have quickly come to the conclusion that the cost of this technology and its performance was worth it.

 

[Mia]

Did refusing to ride with those friends hurt your friendship?

Did you mention their driving while in the car or just wait until it was over and refuse to repeat the experience?

Only in one situation, with the extreme tailgater. She didn't seem to notice other drivers, when I screamed 'watch out' as someone in a Humvee drifted into our lane and clipped us, taking out the mirror. She just kept driving, as if nothing had happened. The friendship ended for other reasons, unrelated to her driving.

Didn't mention their driving abilities to either of them.

Refusing to ride with them, didn't seem to hurt the one friendship, but then again I haven't put myself in situations where I would have to outright refuse. The tailgater had other more evident difficulties.

 

[Judge]

Oddly enough, both my brother and mother were "white knuckle" drivers. Not any better or worse drivers than I am...but they just have an irrational fear of not being the one behind the wheel. Though sometimes I wonder how much of my perception is based on having a friend at 7 years old I used to ride with occasionally who was a part time race car driver. He drove like a maniac in his souped up '63 Impala...but at that age I thought it was funny more than scary. But then I always enjoyed speed or wild amusement park rides. Go figure.

 

[WittyAspie]

Only in one situation, with the extreme tailgater. She didn't seem to notice other drivers, when I screamed 'watch out' as someone in a Humvee drifted into our lane and clipped us, taking out the mirror. She just kept driving, as if nothing had happened. The friendship ended for other reasons, unrelated to her driving.

Didn't mention their driving abilities to either of them.

Refusing to ride with them, didn't seem to hurt the one friendship, but then again I haven't put myself in situations where I would have to outright refuse. The tailgater had other more evident difficulties.

I am a pretty confident driver, but your friend sounds scary.

 

[WittyAspie]

Oddly enough, both my brother and mother were "white knuckle" drivers. Not any better or worse drivers than I am...but they just have an irrational fear of not being the one behind the wheel. Though sometimes I wonder how much of my perception is based on having a friend at 7 years old I used to ride with occasionally who was a part time race car driver. He drove like a maniac in his souped up '63 Impala...but at that age I thought it was funny more than scary. But then I always enjoyed speed or wild amusement park rides. Go figure.

I love driving fast. On a lonely country road I can even be a bit reckless, though I do my best to minimize the possibility of being a danger to anyone but myself. My mother, though, used to scare the crap out of me. Morning rides to school frequently became near death experiences due to her aggressive behavior. Even as a kid who had never driven I knew that she was being too reckless. I even called her out on it a number of times, which went over just splendidly.

 

[Mia]

Snow and ice are two completely different elements. (I see my fallacy concerning H2O and I’m leaving it.) One of the winters I spent in upstate NY the roads stayed white for months. You get used to driving on snow after awhile. Ice, on the other hand, offers zero traction and is always unsafe.

Drive on ice and snow six months out of the year. It's absolutely something you learn, and my husband's more experienced and calmer than I am. Was once in cape cod for some reason that I forget. It began to snow profusely, on our return trip, lots of snow in a very short time.

State troopers began to set up road blocks, and were stopping and turning cars around. When we reached the highway stop, it was blowing snow and semi-blizzard conditions. State trooper stopped us, we rolled down our window and he told us, they were closing the highway.

Were canadians, we said. He waved us through, as we were about to move on, I heard him tell the car in back of us to follow the canadians and keep an eye on our tailights. We led a group of cars, for about two hundred miles, through a semi-blizzard (not too bad) storm, after we were past it, several cars honked at us and went on their way. Glad my husband was driving, it's difficult to not be able to see the sides of the road in a snowstorm, or to know what's underneath the snow on the road. It was nearly impossible to take an exit, as they hadn't been plowed. We stayed within sight of a truck in front of us, using it as a guide.

 

[Flinty]

I choose to live a lifestyle that doesn't involve driving, no matter how hard the provincial and city governments try to keep people from doing that.

Unfortunately, virtually all North American metropolitan areas are set up strictly for the benefit of drivers. Didn't the Detroit-based Ponzi scheme fail about eight, nine years ago? (Or at least try to?)

 

[Gritches]

I can't stand riding as a passenger with someone else. I don't trust anyone's driving. If I need to go somewhere with someone I'll just insist on taking my own car, never becomes an issue.

 

[WittyAspie]

I choose to live a lifestyle that doesn't involve driving, no matter how hard the provincial and city governments try to keep people from doing that.

Unfortunately, virtually all North American metropolitan areas are set up strictly for the benefit of drivers. Didn't the Detroit-based Ponzi scheme fail about eight, nine years ago? (Or at least try to?)

I survived for a few months relying on my feet and the occasional uber, but it sucked. I’m pretty convinced my city hates pedestrians.

 

[Mia]

Unfortunately, virtually all North American metropolitan areas are set up strictly for the benefit of drivers. Didn't the Detroit-based Ponzi scheme fail about eight, nine years ago? (Or at least try to?)

Not downtown Montreal or old Montreal. It's actually easier to get around by metro and bus (but slower), which I did for most of my adult life. The suburbs are different though, and although there are commuter trains, they run only during peak hours. Really only started driving again, regularly when I moved to a rural area.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Not downtown Montreal or old Montreal. It's actually easier to get around by metro and bus, which I did for most of my adult life. The suburbs are different though, and although there are commuter trains, they run only during peak hours. Really only started driving again, regularly when I moved to a rural area.

When i read the history of oil, it was a deliberate tactic to destroy transportation systems within american cities (san fran survived)
Someveryone had to buy a car and use gas.
Thanks mr getty.

 

[WildCat]

No wrecks and only 2 tickets - one of which could have easily been avoided - for the 9 years I've been behind the wheel says I'm either extremely lucky or a better driver than most. OK, so I had a close call with another driver while the roads were slick, literally an inch away from his bumper, but aside from that, nothing.

I know all too well about the hazards of aggressive driving and not following the rules of the road, seen things that I shouldn't be seeing. Flipped SUV in the middle of the highway? How about a t-bone? I'm not going to lie here and say that I don't break the rules because I do from time to time, but some drivers take it way too far and get out of hand.

 

[WittyAspie]

When i read the history of oil, it was a deliberate tactic to destroy transportation systems within american cities (san fran survived)
Someveryone had to buy a car and use gas.
Thanks mr getty.

One of the New Deal tactics to end the Great Depression was to construct suburbs in a way that encouraged car purchases. From that initiative came our modern urban sprawl and the major issues that go along with it.

 

[WittyAspie]

No wrecks and only 2 tickets - one of which could have easily been avoided - for the 9 years I've been behind the wheel says I'm either extremely lucky or a better driver than most. OK, so I had a close call with another driver while the roads were slick, literally an inch away from his bumper, but aside from that, nothing.

I know all too well about the hazards of aggressive driving and not following the rules of the road, seen things that I shouldn't be seeing. Flipped SUV in the middle of the highway? How about a t-bone? I'm not going to lie here and say that I don't break the rules because I do from time to time, but some drivers take it way too far and get out of hand.

I would say wrecks are a better indicator of driving ability than tickets, but maybe my opinion is biased. I got quite a few tickets when I first started driving, but the only wreck I have been was clearly the other person’s fault. I got rear ended after stopping at a red light.

 

[WildCat]

I would say wrecks are a better indicator of driving ability than tickets, but maybe my opinion is biased. I got quite a few tickets when I first started driving, but the only wreck I have been was clearly the other person’s fault. I got rear ended after stopping at a red light.

Agreed...and I'll also add the ability to handle congestion. I'm not kidding when I say that is a nightmare - morning, evening, special event, doesn't matter - but once you've gotten the rhythm down and can do it without excessively violating others, only then can you say you're a good driver or at least on the path to becoming one.

It takes a lot of practice to be able to juggle all that's going on around you and to exercise "preventive maintenance" as I call it. Funny how it only takes one troublemaker to ruin your day though. My opinions, of course, plenty of others out there...