Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition
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Might at well add my own anecdote while I'm here: last weekend a friend and I carpooled up to LA in his car. We get on the 5 north, which has 4 lanes, and he immediately goes into the left lane. He stays there until we need to exit 2 hours later. There were cars directly ahead of us the whole way, and there was no reason or advantage to him being in the outside lane. In fact, we could have made better time had he picked a line through traffic to use the vast swaths of open spaces in other lanes at various times during the trip. I don't believe he ever considered the left lane might not be the ideal place for him to be.
I think that I've figured this one out. People get over to the left lane for longer distances. So if you're driving up to LA, you get in the left lane. Commuting? Lane next to it. A few miles down the road? Traveling lane. Hopping on for one exit? 80 mph in the merge lane.
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But I also never have to worry about turning on my headlights:
Auto headlights on mine are a $20,000 option. The wife did not approve. She didn't really approve of what I got either, so I didn't want to press it further.
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Deliberately oversimplified for effect.
Auto headlights are not an option on the model I bought. They are standard on the next model up in the range, which comes with a bunch of other extras like satnav, reversing camera, leather seats, rain sensors, more bling, etc. Some of those things (satnav) are options on mine, some (rain sensors) are not.
The $20,000 isn't all that accurate either. I'm comparing the sale price of the vehicle I started looking at (one down from what I ended up buying) with the list price of the next model up from what I bought. So I guess the auto headlights are really only a $10,000 option.
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My car is over a decade old, and wasn't that much when I bought it....but then again, it definitely was when it was new. $35k new, even got the sticker from the original owner.
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You're like me when I say that "I'd like to be able to try Keynote, but I don't want to spend $1000 on presentation software even if it does come with a free computer." ;-)
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I think that I've figured this one out. People get over to the left lane for longer distances. So if you're driving up to LA, you get in the left lane. Commuting? Lane next to it. A few miles down the road? Traveling lane. Hopping on for one exit? 80 mph in the merge lane.
Round here, especially coming to highway-splits (forks) I stay mostly in the outer lane (left* or right) to avoid the folks playing chicken with how close they can get to the end of the pavement before swerving from one highway to the other.
making sure I'm not that guy*
** I know once I was sort of that guy, but honestly, we were doing 80 uphill on a sharp bend, the second lane was packed, and I was doing the best I could. I got over when I could... ;)
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Do all of those motorized excavators come from Belgium, or what??
@Polygeekery I believe you have expertise around this area... can those stupid things actually not exceed 50 mph??
Why are they on the highway??
Also: street sweepers. (The vehicles.)
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I think that I've figured this one out. People get over to the left lane for longer distances.
When on a highway that only has exits on the right, it's a good idea to stay out of the right lane(s) if you are not exiting soon. There's a lot of lane-changing in the right most lane and that it where accidents happen.Taking "only move left when passing" to an extreme is what causes people to try a last minute pass and go two lanes left to drive around a car in the right lane and then cut several cars off while darting for the exit. You can avoid that insanity by not being there. BTW, this is most likely to happen to a car moving slower than traffic in the right-most lane, exactly where some people say they should be.
Roads like the 271 through Cleveland even split the left two lanes off to their own divided section of road that has no city exits so that through traffic doesn't have to deal with all of the lane-changers.
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Do all of those motorized excavators come from ■■■■■■■, or what??
Que? I am going to need a few more details if you want me to know WTF you are talking about. ;-)
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Que? I am going to need a few more details if you want me to know WTF you are talking about.
Those excavators [and cranes now that I think about it] on road-tires. Seems like they've got 6'-8' tires, usually 2+2 on each side.
Also, with telescoping-booms.
boogle: like this, but BIGGER...
http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/docviewer/aucdoc/008.jpg?auc=934302&docid=7513048
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Taking "only move left when passing" to an extreme is what causes people to try a last minute pass and go two lanes left to drive around a car in the right lane and then cut several cars off while darting for the exit. You can avoid that insanity by not being there. BTW, this is most likely to happen to a car moving slower than traffic in the right-most lane, exactly where some people say they should be.
Slower traffic keep right: it's not just a good idea, it's the law.
You're basically advocating increasing general congestion to account for a few fuckwits who will just do something else stupid to make up for the fact that the car moving slower than traffic is now in the center lane if they follow your advice.
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So I guess the auto headlights are really only a $10,000 option.
Surely you could hack something into the electrical/lighting system, or hire someone to do that for you, for less than that.
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Slower traffic keep right: it's not just a good idea, it's the law.
Not in New York. More than one judge has publicly stated that he will throw out a failure to keep right ticket if the driver is doing at least the speed limit. Since going exactly the speed limit is slower than traffic almost moves, that makes the law moot.You're basically advocating increasing general congestion to account for a few fuckwits who will just do something else stupid to make up for the fact that the car moving slower than traffic is now in the center lane if they follow your advice.
Nope. If through traffic stays out of the right lane, there will be fewer lane changes overall and fewer accidents. Accidents cause a lot more congestion than a slow person.The "fast lane" concept has been flawed since day one. There are always fewer lanes than travelling speeds, so traffic way generally ends up with the handful of truly slow cars in the right, the (SpeedLimit + 0) in the middle, and (SpeedLimit + 5 ) cars on the left. The guy travelling (SpeedLimit + 10) thinks everyone his blocking his way, and if he has a fourth lane, then (SpeedLimit + 15) thinks he's a lane hog. The only time it doesn't work that way is when traffic is light. But if traffic is light, it doesn't really matter that much.
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There are always fewer lanes than travelling speeds, so traffic way generally ends up with the handful of truly slow cars in the right, the (SpeedLimit + 0) in the middle, and (SpeedLimit + 5 ) cars on the left. The guy travelling (SpeedLimit + 10) thinks everyone his blocking his way, and if he has a fourth lane, then (SpeedLimit + 15) thinks he's a lane hog
I don't know where you live, but everywhere I've driven (mostly MI and TX) this is actually a best case scenario. What I usually see happen on a daily basis during rush hour is cars driving (SpeedLimit - 5) in the right and middle lanes, and everyone who wants to go faster lined up behind someone in the left lane at SpeedLimit. I see this happen every day. I don't see accidents every day.
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@Another Sam said:
So I guess the auto headlights are really only a $10,000 option.
Ooooohhhh! auto matic headlights
Filed under: my auto has headlights. I didn't think they were optional.
Also: Discourse. Sigh.
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OTOH I love making right turns on red from the left-hand right-turn lane, which is a thing in Texas.
If I'm parsing correctly, these do exist in Phoenix as well.
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Something they've implemented here near some cities, and are adding near some others, is the '4x2 lanes' concept.
There will be 2 lanes in each direction for 'local' traffic, which has many exits, and 2 lanes for 'long-distance' traffic, which has no direct exits, and maybe one location where they can switch to the 'local' lanes. Apart from that the local and long-distance lanes are separated by a raised barrier.
I don't have frequent experience with it in practice. I'd expect 130 km/h in the long-distance lanes, but with trucks at 90 in the right long-distance lane, which is an annoyance in highways which only have 2 lanes to begin with.
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When on a highway that only has exits on the right, it's a good idea to stay out of the right lane(s) if you are not exiting soon. There's a lot of lane-changing in the right most lane and that it where accidents happen.
Taking "only move left when passing" to an extreme is what causes people to try a last minute pass and go two lanes left to drive around a car in the right lane and then cut several cars off while darting for the exit. You can avoid that insanity by not being there. BTW, this is most likely to happen to a car moving slower than traffic in the right-most lane, exactly where some people say they should be.
Roads like the 271 through Cleveland even split the left two lanes off to their own divided section of road that has no city exits so that through traffic doesn't have to deal with all of the lane-changers.
Yeah, but on a four lane highway, if you're on for a while and only doing 60 mph, you shouldn't be in the left-most lane. Many people do not understand this.
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If I'm parsing correctly, these do exist in Phoenix as well.
Same here in Cali. It's illegal to go right on red from the outside lane, but that doesn't stop people.
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right on red from the outside lane
The leftmost of two-right-turn lanes?
aka "puzzled"
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Yeah, but on a four lane highway
I live in the second most populous region of the third most populous state and I would need to drive three hours to get to the nearest four lane highway. I suspect this concern isn't an issue for a lot of people.
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Yup.
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I live in the second most populous region of the third most populous state and I would need to drive three hours to get to the nearest four lane highway. I suspect this concern isn't an issue for a lot of people.
I live in the second most populous city of the most populous state, so even smaller bypass highways are four lanes.
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I live in the second most populous city of the most populous state, so even smaller bypass highways are four lanes.
My area is down on those lists, though I'm sure I'm in the most populous area in the state. We have lots of 4 lane highways. I don't think that many people live near @Jaime. What's the second most populous place in Florida, anyways?
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Florida overtaking New York is recent, and I forget sometimes. I'm in the Buffalo, NY area. About a million people live in the county.
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If I'm parsing correctly, these do exist in Phoenix as well.
If you parsed "some intersections have two right-turn lanes", then you are correct.
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Florida overtaking New York is recent, and I forget sometimes. I'm in the Buffalo, NY area. About a million people live in the county.
So about a third of what we have.
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The northbound car is in left-hand right-turn lane (in this particular intersection, that's actually a "right or left-turn lane". It's mildly entertaining to make a right turn from that lane when you're to the left of someone who doesn't realize right-turn on red applies to BOTH lanes.
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So about a third of what we have
We have nearly 6 times that amount in the metro area (which is across 2 states+).
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Same here in Cali. It's illegal to go right on red from the outside lane
Well, given California, it's probably for the best. Most of y'all probably can't be trusted.
Here in Texas, it's legal.
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We have the largest bi-national conurbation shared between the United States and Mexico and the fourth largest in the world.
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conurbation
Not a word I encounter often. It took me a few tries to parse it correctly. I was just about to look it up when I got it.
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Not a word I encounter often. It took me a few tries to parse it correctly. I was just about to look it up when I got it.
Tell-tale sign of copypasta.
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Those excavators [and cranes now that I think about it] on road-tires. Seems like they've got 6'-8' tires, usually 2+2 on each side.
Also, with telescoping-booms.
boogle: like this, but BIGGER...
Yeah, they max out at around 50mph. The thing is, everything is relative. I got my CDLs when I was ~20 so that I could help move machinery when necessary, etc. Let me tell you, if you are driving one of those giant wheeled cranes at 50mph through traffic when it barely fits in your lane...it feels like you are doing 150mph. It is not exactly a relaxing sunday drive.
Even worse than that though, in most (all?) states, it is legal to drive heavy off-road machinery on public roads to transport it. For long trips, you could do it but it is much more efficient and cheaper to load them on a low-boy or beam trailer and haul them as they travel even slower than those cranes and use a shitload of fuel. For short trips, between job sites in the same general area, it is cheaper to just get the permits (or not, and hope you do not get pulled over...) and drive them. The scariest trip I ever made in a piece of machinery is when we moved a half dozen Cat 637 scrapers about 20 miles by roading them.
Nearly 800HP, almost 50 feet long, top speed of ~35mph, empty weight of over 120,000lbs and the steering at speed is...horrible. I always said that they did not have steering wheels, they had "suggestion wheels". You could suggest where it would go and it might go there or not.
We had to travel down a divided highway and we were humming along at top speed when the front engine (there are two engines, two throttle pedals, etc) exploded. I don't mean that figuratively. It scattered parts and 8 gallons of oil down the highway.
Fun fact, no front engine means no hydraulics and no hydraulics means no steering. The brakes on this machine were pretty much non-existent so the only thing I could do was drop the bowl (and cutting edge) to the pavement to stop before it careened off the road. Massive amounts of sparks started flying and the cutting edge took out 4 inches of asphalt roughly 10' wide and well over 100' long before it came to a halt. Almost none of the asphalt ended up in the bowl. I was traveling fast enough that most of it shot up over the back of the machine and landed behind me. If there had been cars around us at the time...it would have been ugly.
I cannot remember what the bill ended up being for all of that, but it was up there. Repaving a section of highway, oil spill cleanup, fines, etc.
You might get annoyed at those large cranes on the road, but I can assure you that to the guy driving it feels like he is driving a rocket ship even though he is only traveling 50mph.
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Well, given California, it's probably for the best. Most of y'all probably can't be trusted.
Of course, they're also the crazies who allow lane sharing/splitting/whatever-the-belgium-you-want-to-call-it.
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Of course, they're also the crazies who allow lane sharing/splitting/whatever-the-■■■■■■■-you-want-to-call-it.
Suicide. I call it suicide. Or maybe Russian Roulette with two wheels?
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Let me tell you, if you are driving one of those giant wheeled cranes at 50mph through traffic when it barely fits in your lane...it feels like you are doing 150mph. It is not exactly a relaxing sunday drive.
I've maxed out at 135 mph, but it felt pretty easy. Although, it wasn't Sunday.
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Same here in Cali. It's illegal to go right on red from the outside lane, but that doesn't stop people.
Not true (source). But there are some intersections where it is posted that r-o-r can only be done from the right lane.
Of course, they're also the crazies who allow lane sharing/splitting/whatever-the-■■■■■■■-you-want-to-call-it.
Oh, I just love them... Especially when pulling my trailer and only have 6 inches on either side. (I hate going through SF.)
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Not true (source). But there are some intersections where it is posted that r-o-r can only be done from the right lane.
heh
Street Smart When the Light is Red, Two Rights Don't Make a Wrong **January 13, 1997**
But based on more research, it seems like it's changed over the years, and it's currently legal.
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But based on more research, it seems like it's changed over the years, and it's currently legal.
I've only been here since 95, so I wouldn't know about earlier :)
(I did notice the article's date, but was fairly confident that the law was still the same.)The thing that no one here seems to understand is what a red-arrow means. (No right on red.)
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I've only been here since 95, so I wouldn't know about earlier :)
(I did notice the article's date, but was fairly confident that the law was still the same.)The thing that no one here seems to understand is what a red-arrow means. (No right on red.)
TIL...
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The thing that no one here seems to understand is what a red-arrow means. (No right on red.)
We have a couple lights with right arrows around here. I literally don't know for sure if it's legal to turn on them. I think it is and it's just advisory in the sense that the same lights have separate green/yellow arrows that can be active separately from the straights, but I'm not sure.Or... wasn't sure. I just decided I would see if I can look it up, and from our drivers' handbook:
So yay, I haven't been breaking that particular law at least.
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We have a couple lights with right arrows around here. I literally don't know for sure if it's legal to turn on them.
We've had this discussion before. I remember because I had the same uncertainty you did after moving from CA to WA; it might even have been earlier in this topic.It's generally legal; CA and NY seem to be the exceptions. CA, right turn on red circle is legal unless a sign says it's not; right turn on red arrow is never legal (at least it wasn't when I learned to drive there). NY, right turn on red anything is not legal unless a sign explicitly says it is.
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Surely you could hack something into the electrical/lighting system, or hire someone to do that for you, for less than that.
I could definitely do that, I'm pretty handy with electronics and such. I've already installed a UHF radio and reversing light and wired in a phone charger near the cradle. Not that any of those things are a challenge.
But the feature is worth approximately $0 to me, so I don't even want to pay for the parts, and it's not one of the features I'm interested in doing myself so I get $0 entertainment value too.
For $10,000 for the next model up I'd get other features that I really would value such as leather seats. But like I said I was already extending the top end of the budget to get what I got, so compromises were made.
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There will be 2 lanes in each direction for 'local' traffic, which has many exits, and 2 lanes for 'long-distance' traffic, which has no direct exits, and maybe one location where they can switch to the 'local' lanes. Apart from that the local and long-distance lanes are separated by a raised barrier.
You forgot the self-tuning variable-priced tolls.
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