Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition
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People that are driving slower than other traffic, and are being passed left and right, move into a faster lane —
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This morning, my father sent me a craigslist ad for a VW bus located where I live.
I had to respond with the point that I hate those things, the drivers don't realize that with 12 horsepower and a top speed of 50, they do not belong on the highway. If I'm going 65, a legal speed, and I pass you with a variance of more than 15 mph, you shouldn't be on the highway.
I wish we had minimum speeds, but then again, they wouldn't be enforced.
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Could you see if he had a phone and/or was trying to text?
I remember people doing that before cell phones were a widespread thing.
People who do that are assholes, pure and simple.
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Could you see if he had a phone and/or was trying to text? Granted, if he was trying to text, he'd probably have hit the semi or something.
Couldn't tell, since I was behind him.
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People suck when it comes to maintaining speed.
True, but if you can't even maintain speed long enough to pass a Bming semi, you need to get the Bm off the road.
And If you're getting passed, then let the other car pass you. You can match their speed once they are in front of you.
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So yeah. This.
All You Need To Do On Your Commute Is Drive, If Slate Will Let You
I don't really have a commute anymore, thanks to Jalopnik's advanced system of live/work containment pods, but almost every other job I've had bookended the days with drives. Slate seems to think we need to do more on our way to and from work. They're wrong.
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I wish we had minimum speeds, but then again, they wouldn't be enforced.
We have a 55mph minimum on (70mph) highways where I live, but I've never seen it enforced.
For whatever reason, people are so bad at merging on my drive home... if I leave at 5pm. Part of this is because East I-496 (2 lanes) and South US-127 (2 lanes) merge into a single (2 lane) highway for 3-4 miles. However, the other thing is that after merging I've seen people continue to drive like 20-40mph until the I-96 junction (I-496 "ends" there). Note that all the highways involved in this are all 70mph with a 55mph minimum.
This is why I leave at either 4:30pm or 5:30pm, to avoid this idiocy.
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This morning, I learned that I would do well driving in England. I'm in the fast lane doing 75-80, and there's a Ford Transit ahead of me doing 65.......in the fast lane of a 4-lane highway. So I move one lane to the right, pass him, then move back into the fast lane to pass other cars that actually know where they belong.
I'm convinced there is a significant ego factor in people's lane choice. I.e. The fast lane is the "cool" lane, so I'm going to drive in the fast lane even if my chosen speed is totally inappropriate for the fast lane.
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I'm convinced there is a significant ego factor in people's lane choice. I.e. The fast lane is the "cool" lane, so I'm going to drive in the fast lane even if my chosen speed is totally inappropriate for the fast lane.
You're probably right. Which is why I weave around those assholes.
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I'm convinced there is a significant ego factor in people's lane choice. I.e. The fast lane is the "cool" lane, so I'm going to drive in the fast lane even if my chosen speed is totally inappropriate for the fast lane.
The worst part here (I-5 in Socal) is that it's 4 lanes wide in most places, but people think that the lane to the right of the fast lane is the traveling lane. So they end up going 65 next to traffic going 80 on the left, and 70-75 on the right.
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We have a 55mph minimum on (70mph) highways where I live, but I've never seen it enforced.
For whatever reason, people are so bad at merging on my drive home... if I leave at 5pm. Part of this is because East I-496 (2 lanes) and South US-127 (2 lanes) merge into a single (2 lane) highway for 3-4 miles. However, the other thing is that after merging I've seen people continue to drive like 20-40mph until the I-96 junction (I-496 "ends" there). Note that all the highways involved in this are all 70mph with a 55mph minimum.
This is why I leave at either 4:30pm or 5:30pm, to avoid this idiocy.
To be fair, they're probably MSU students, so they're not all that bright to begin with.
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That's what you get for living in Michigan, the B*****m of the USA.
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To be fair, they're probably MSU students, so they're not all that bright to begin with.
I hope you weren't expecting me to argue against that!
But yeah, I think most of the stupid people are coming from the downtown Lansing area, meaning that they're probably state or city employees...
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I hope you weren't expecting me to argue against that!
But yeah, I think most of the stupid people are coming from the downtown Lansing area, meaning that they're probably state or city employees...
My wife grew up near Ann Arbor, so I adopted the preference.
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people think that the lane to the right of the fast lane is the traveling lane. So they end up going 65 next to traffic going 80 on the left, and 70-75 on the right.
Don't know about I-5, but a lot of places implicitly encourage that by having some version of "All trucks two right lanes".
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Don't know about I-5, but a lot of places implicitly encourage that by having some version of "All trucks two right lanes".
We have these:
http://www.crosscountryroads.com/Images/CA I 40 W/DSC03787.JPG
But nothing to keep them in the proper lane.
Although, in that post, it includes all types of vehicles. The driver is usually an elderly woman.
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So yeah. This.
All You Need To Do On Your Commute Is Drive, If Slate Will Let You
I don't really have a commute anymore, thanks to Jalopnik's advanced system of live/work containment pods, but almost every other job I've had bookended the days with drives. Slate seems to think we need to do more on our way to and from work. They're wrong.
There's a reason the Ace of Spades blog calls Slate an amateur zine.
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B*****m off the road.
No please don't sent those wankers to my roads, we have enough of those already
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I wish we had minimum speeds, but then again, they wouldn't be enforced.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/UAE_Minimum_Speed_Limit_-60_kmh.svg/120px-UAE_Minimum_Speed_Limit-_60_kmh.svg.png
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I can't think of any response that isn't culturally insensitive.
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I'm convinced there is a significant ego factor in people's lane choice. I.e. The fast lane is the "cool" lane, so I'm going to drive in the fast lane even if my chosen speed is totally inappropriate for the fast lane.
I wish those people would realize how cool it is to actually go fast.
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Gotta go fast!
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/_cb20101018071754/sonic/images/3/31/Sonic_Art_Assets_DVD-Sonic_The_Hedgehog-_6.png
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@tarunik said:
The only thing worse than people who pick fights with buses are those who pick fights with trains. Train is to car as car is to soda can, TYVM.
This. So much this. 20000 tons moving at 50 mph does not stop suddenly.
For the USA:
- Typical max gross: 142,822 kg
- Typical max speed at a crossing: 177 km/h
Comes out to about 172 MJ of kinetic energy. Or about 0.04 tons of TNT.
Using one of the largest US trains at the same crossing speed:
- 22500 tons (assuming short tons: 20,411,657 kg)
Comes out to about 24.7 GJ, or about 5.9 tons of TNT.
A typical US car or truck:
- ~2000 kg
- at 96.6 kph (60 mph)
Only comes out to about 719 kJ. In other words, within the error of the kinetic energy in the calculation of the smaller train.
As an aside, ever want to play with 450 tonnes of Legos made out of TNT? Someone did (of course):
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the most memorable was coming up to what looked like a white sheet hung across the freeway, due entirely to the rain band falling there.
Having grown up in Florida, it was terribly fun to walk home from the bus and see one of those coming right at you, faster than you could get to your door.
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Uh, excuse me! But Sega has quite clearly shown that Sonic has bandages on his gloves and shoes now. I don't know what that character is, but it's certainly not Sonic-- not CANON Sonic.
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I approve of this pendantry.
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I didn't find a link to the vid directly. So have a Dutch 'news' site (it's more a tabloid actually). The clip speaks for itself. There is a traffic jam, every single day on that specific freeway exit. Additional signaling actually indicates if this situation occurs a few km before the exit.
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The video at your link didn't work, but this is it from what I can tell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-0E2Nxtm6o
And don't forget http://11foot8.com/; the newest video (complete with a nice touch at the end):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whMCjUV4Ciw
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Indeed that's the one my 30 second search didn't result in any yt results.
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I was even tempted to misuse the HOV lane. Anyway, I come up on this guy in the fast lane, he's doing 5 over. Not the typical speed for the fast lane, but good for rush hour. Starts passing a semi. Just as he pulls ahead of the semi, he slows to five under. ...so I have no idea what this moron is thinking.
He's thinking "AAAAAAAAH!!!! driving next to a semi is Dangerous!!"
Yes, it is. It's just as dangerous for the guy behind you, too. THINK!
D.A.P.: people driving slower in the HOV lane than the folks in the fast-lane of the main lanes.
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And If you're getting passed, then let the other car pass you. You can match their speed once they are in front of you.
Yeah, I'll occasionally find that I've let my speed drop and someone is going around me. So I try not to be an asshole and only get back up to speed once they're by.
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I've also been honked at for not making a right turn on red. I was like, STFU, it's not fucking mandatory, I don't feel like I have enough time to turn so I won't risk it. Your judgement call is not a substitute for my own.
What's even more fun is getting honked at when it's a three way stop and the oncoming lane is free flowing.
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What's even more fun is getting honked at when it's a three way stop and the oncoming lane is free flowing.
What? They'll get out of your way, and if they don't it's not his problem.
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Yeah, I'll occasionally find that I've let my speed drop and someone is going around me. So I try not to be an asshole and only get back up to speed once they're by.
Do you own a car without cruise control, or are you just an asshole who refuses to use it?
Because I haven't seen a car without it in... decades at this point. So I'm going with asshole.
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Because I haven't seen a car without it in... decades at this point.
I have a friend that has a relatively recent (i.e. pretty sure under the median on-the-road car age) with no cruise control, and the lowest price tier or two of rental cars sometimes don't come with cruise control. It's uncommon, but certainly not unheard of. Besides, it's not appropriate for all situations.
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Not all cars have good or consistent cruise controls. My pickup truck likes to speed uphill with the cruise set, it's a side effect of being turbocharged.
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Do you own a car without cruise control, or are you just an asshole who refuses to use it?
I can't speak for @boomzilla, but I rarely drive in traffic sufficiently light to warrant using it. It doesn't make sense when all the other traffic is speeding up and slowing down.
@blakeyrat said:Because I haven't seen a car without it in... decades at this point.
My former economy commute car, which would now be 7 or 8 years old, if my ex-wife hadn't totaled it, did not have it.
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It's uncommon, but certainly not unheard of. Besides, it's not appropriate for all situations.
Right; but Boomzilla was like "oh I noticed I wasn't controlling my own speed", and that sounds to me like a situation it's appropriate in. If it was stop-and-go traffic, then it wouldn't have come up.
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Do you own a car without cruise control, or are you just an asshole who refuses to use it?
I like using it, but most of the times / places I drive it doesn't work well. Sometimes I forget to turn it on, especially as traffic conditions change for the better.
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Right; but Boomzilla was like "oh I noticed I wasn't controlling my own speed", and that sounds to me like a situation it's appropriate in. If it was stop-and-go traffic, then it wouldn't have come up.
Yes, we know you can't relate to other beings with varied experiences.
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+1
Also, I find that all cruise control has a level of variability that makes it unsuitable for any traffic situation. Even if all cars run off of their cruise control, they will always vary a little bit from set speed and as all cars vary a little differently they will tend towards collisions on a long enough timeline.
I rarely, if ever, use cruise control. Unless I am driving in very flat and open areas, with no other traffic in sight, you may as well just control your own speed. Mercedes-Benz improved upon this with their radar controlled cruise control, but then you would have to be the sort of cock that drives a Mercedes-Benz.
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I'm close enough to the city where I just about never use cruise control, too much traffic.
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@Intercourse said:
Unless I am driving in very flat and open areas, with no other traffic in sight, you may as well just control your own speed. Mercedes-Benz improved upon this with their radar controlled cruise control, but then you would have to be the sort of cock that drives a Mercedes-Benz.
I have that in my Ford.
It works great, except in rush hour where the "speed of traffic" in the Seattle area frequently reaches zero. The radar cruise control turns itself off around 10 MPH or so. Kind of pissed me off.
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It works great, except in rush hour where the "speed of traffic" in the Seattle area frequently reaches zero. The radar cruise control turns itself off around 10 MPH or so. Kind of pissed me off.
Which is why I specifically brought up Mercedes-Benz. Theirs will bring you to a complete stop and never shut off. The way others do it seems like a good way to cause a wreck when you put an idiot behind the wheel.
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Yeah I'm starting to wonder where car companies design cars. From my Ford Fusion, I can tell:
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It's not somewhere with lots of hill climbing (the Hybrid is so stupid about switching to gas when I hit the pedal while on a 10% grade. Gee, you think maybe when the car's basically aimed at the moon, you might need more power? Idiot computer?)
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It's not somewhere with a lot of 90 degree turns, because the automatic brights can't cope with that at all, and I have to turn that feature off or I end up blinding drivers like an asshole. They seemed to have designed it with the assumption that the only time a car would be turning 90 degrees is at an intersection...
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It's certainly nowhere where a heater is required often, I've bitched about that one recently on this forum.
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Judging by the performance of the automatic wipers (another feature I usually have to override) it's also not somewhere which gets a lot of rain.
I can only assume they just design the cars in New Mexico and declare them fit for Washington State.
(Don't get me wrong, I love my Fusion.)
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@Intercourse said:
Also, I find that all cruise control has a level of variability that makes it unsuitable for any traffic situation. Even if all cars run off of their cruise control, they will always vary a little bit from set speed and as all cars vary a little differently they will tend towards collisions on a long enough timeline.
So? I figure it does a much better job than I can at keeping a constant speed, especially-mountainous terrain excepted. And when you're drifting a little too far apart or close together from another car, it's not that hard to change speed slightly (or pass if you're going faster and traffic isn't heavy enough that a slow passing job would block people).I mean, to each their own of course, and I have no business saying you're wrong, but I don't really see the problem. Then again, I use cruise pretty incessantly...
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I think I would agree with all of the above. Automatic brights and wipers never work right. I never use them because they annoy me. Automatic wipers are the worst of the worst. Bluetooth integration is usually shit also. I was in Austin on business a while back and had a Fusion rental. I had to manually clear a warning, every single time I got in the car that warned something about 911. Just warn me once, or once a week, even once per 24-hours would be sufficient. Nope, every time I started the fucking car.
Cruise control in my SUV was shit when driving through Pennsylvania a couple of years ago. The steep grades made it useless. It never could compensate for the grades. You would come to a hill and it would lose 5-10mph, downshift a couple of gears and pull at near full throttle to make it up. Then when you topped the hill it would accelerate 5-10mph over set speed and never recover. That part was unsettling, it felt like you shifted in to neutral after you topped the hill.
This is with a 4.7l V8 in a mid-size SUV, so it was not lacking power. If I drove it manually, I could avoid all that nonsense.
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I mean, to each their own of course, and I have no business saying you're wrong, but I don't really see the problem. Then again, I use cruise pretty incessantly...
I never use it. I prefer to pay attention to my driving and to actually know how to drive.
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I wonder how many people I tick off when I'm on the interstate on my motorcycle. It's only a 250cc, so depending on wind and grade my top speed is anywhere from 65mph to 80mph. It's not bad on flat ground, but if there are hills, winds, or lots of semi traffic (they leave massive wakes behind them) my speed is all over the freaking place.
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@Intercourse said:
Automatic wipers are the worst of the worst.
Mine's not that bad. When it's actual rain it actually does ok. When I have to touch is it with the micro-drop rain we get around here, which builds up on the windshield over the course of minutes instead of seconds, whatever sensor the automatic wipers use never detects that.
But you don't get rain like that in New Mexico, so.
@Intercourse said:
Bluetooth integration is usually shit also.
Really? I'm really happy with mine. And Ford Sync is supposed to be like the worst car computer. At least it gets that right.
@Intercourse said:
I had to manually clear a warning, every single time I got in the car that warned something about 911.
Was it a warning? It was probably asking for permission to dial 911 on your behalf if you're in an accident. Just hit yes and move on with your life.
@Intercourse said:
I never use it. I prefer to pay attention to my driving and to actually know how to drive.
WTF is wrong with you people that you can type things like that.
I wonder how many people I tick off when I'm on the interstate on my motorcycle.
Most people buy motorcycles specifically to tick people off.
Are you in the "loud pipes save lives" group of bikers? If so, you're pissing everybody off. And you like it. Because people look at you and you can think, "oh I'm sooo cool, people are looking at me on my bike" but you don't realize it's human instinct to look towards loud noises and all those people hate you.
