Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition
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I ran into a similar situation one time driving home when I was in high school. I was behind a school bus stopped at a stop sign. The bus went through, and just as he started to clear the intersection, I started through the intersection as well. Then the bus suddenly stopped, 6 feet past the intersection. No flashing lights, no extended stop sign. Furthermore, the cross street didn't have good visibility of the intersection, as it was just below the crest of a hill, so I didn't want to stop in the intersection, and the bus wasn't signalling a pickup/dropoff, so I began passing the bus. Just as I finished passing the bus's rear axle, the stop sign swing out. Since it was a two lane street, and I was in a wrong way passing situation, I decided to keep going. Apparently, the bus driver didn't like that, because a cop showed up at my door that evening. Fortunately, since the cop hadn't witnessed the event, he could only give me a warning. And, once I explained what happened, he said he would have done the same thing.
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I've often wondered why we treat loading and unloading a school bus the same way.
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What happens if the bus is stopped so close to the intersection, yet there's a fence or something such that a driver cannot see the flashers until he's halfway through the turn?
If you don't have room, that's either because the bus' ass is in the intersection (in which case you'd have seen the flashers), or you yourself are driving a bus.
Boy, I bet it must be nice to have never lived anywhere where there's a high fence, shrub, or something else that COMPLETELY blocks the view of anyone trying to turn until they've committed to the turn. I've seen several places where you wouldn't even be able to see a bus's flashers if it stopped, say, 6 feet forward. That's not enough room for a car.
Seriously, you can't go over to whoever owns the property on that corner and tell them to fix whatever's obstructing the sight triangle and/or get the city (or state) roads department on their rump for blocking the sight triangle at an intersection? That sort of crap is a SAFETY HAZARD...I ran into a similar situation one time driving home when I was in high school. I was behind a school bus stopped at a stop sign. The bus went through, and just as he started to clear the intersection, I started through the intersection as well. Then the bus suddenly stopped, 6 feet past the intersection. No flashing lights, no extended stop sign. Furthermore, the cross street didn't have good visibility of the intersection, as it was just below the crest of a hill, so I didn't want to stop in the intersection, and the bus wasn't signalling a pickup/dropoff, so I began passing the bus. Just as I finished passing the bus's rear axle, the stop sign swing out. Since it was a two lane street, and I was in a wrong way passing situation, I decided to keep going. Apparently, the bus driver didn't like that, because a cop showed up at my door that evening. Fortunately, since the cop hadn't witnessed the event, he could only give me a warning. And, once I explained what happened, he said he would have done the same thing.
What, no flashing yellow lights to warn you "hey, I'm about to stop and pick up a kid here?"
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What, no flashing yellow lights to warn you "hey, I'm about to stop and pick up a kid here?"
Not that I recall.Of course, it has been more than a decade, so my memory may be spotty there. But I do recall the cop saying he would have done the same thing, so I feel justified.
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Or we could admit that we're taking the wrong approach to the problem.
Oh, yeah, like that's going to happen.
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And, once I explained what happened, he said he would have done the same thing.
Yeah, that sounds like the bus driver's fault, since he didn't have his lights on[1].
These days you could record it on your phone to show the cop, and get off without the warning.
[1] cf. my comment above about asshole bus drivers.
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What, no flashing yellow lights to warn you "hey, I'm about to stop and pick up a kid here?"
Apparently (at least in Dallas) they've changed the meaning: red lights are for pickup/dropoff. On my street I regularly see drivers driving down the road with yellow flashers. WTF does that mean? "Precious cargo aboard, drive better than you would if it were only adults"?
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On my street I regularly see drivers driving down the road with yellow flashers. WTF does that mean?
Are you sure it isn't, "Bet you can't hit me!"
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Are you sure it isn't, "Bet you can't hit me!"
You say that like you don't think there's someone out there who secretly wants to get hit so she can retire on disability.
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You say that like you don't think there's someone out there who secretly wants to get hit so she can retire on disability.
I'm not sure why, but you reminded me of this song, "Drive it like you stole it." I had heard of if before I actually heard it, and it wasn't what I was expecting. I'm assuming these guys are driving slowly and carefully to avoid attracting attention.
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Apparently (at least in Dallas) they've changed the meaning: red lights are for pickup/dropoff. On my street I regularly see drivers driving down the road with yellow flashers. WTF does that mean? "Precious cargo aboard, drive better than you would if it were only adults"?
Reminds me of a comedian that had a skit about how he didn't care about hitting a car full of kids. They're not productive members of society yet, they're not as important as adults, etc...
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I've always assumed "drive it like you stole it" meant "don't worry about any damage you may cause because you didn't pay for the car so you're not hurting yourself."
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Yeah. But then maybe those guys steal more cars than I do. They can't be stealing fewer.
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On my street I regularly see drivers driving down the road with yellow flashers. WTF does that mean? "Precious cargo aboard, drive better than you would if it were only adults"?
Are they the yellow flashers next to the red flashers, or the turn-signal-turned-hazard-warning-flashers?
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Makes me glad we don't have school buses. We only have ordinary buses, which have right-of-way when they have the left blinker on to leave a stop. And trams, which you cannot pass on the right-hand side if there may be people exiting onto the road.
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Are they the yellow flashers next to the red flashers, or the turn-signal-turned-hazard-warning-flashers?
I think those are the same thing on these buses, which is even more of a WTF.
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What, do you want kids to get run over and have their bones broken and organs smashed and brains spread all over the pavement?!
Why do you hate children, you monster?!
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What, do you want kids to get run over and have their bones broken and organs smashed and brains spread all over the pavement?!
Why do you hate children, you monster?!
Still a better system than the Common Core.
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Still a better system than the Common Core.
One of the reasons my daughter is currently being home-schooled.
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What, do you want kids to get run over and have their bones broken and organs smashed and brains spread all over the pavement?!
Eerily relevant avatar.
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schoolkids ... shouldn't be left unattended.
That's absolutely true. But not everyone can afford to take their kids right to the schoolhouse door, hence why there are buses, despite the fact that no matter how many precautions we take; how many stopsigns and flashing lights, bells and whistles we use, the fact remains that a moment of inattention on the part of the child or a passing motorist could kill. It's a ‘calculated’ risk.
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I've always assumed "drive it like you stole it" meant "don't worry about any damage you may cause because you didn't pay for the car so you're not hurting yourself."
I think it's like the general rule: don't break more than one law at once.
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@PleegWat said:
Makes me glad we don't have school buses.
Yeah! Fuck students!
Budget cuts - now everyone drives their kids to school. School zones have to be the scariest places to drive through.
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I honestly need a train horn for people that pull out in front of me, it's like they have no regard for anyone but themselves, but they don't care about getting to their destination.
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School zones have to be the scariest places to drive through.
Parents dropping of their kids are the wurst of the wurst. To fucking lazy to walk 5 meters from a legal parking spot to the gate. The silly school ignorant to organize it's entrance in a sane way is of course the real WTF.
When I drop off my kid by car I always park on a legal spot and then we walk the last bit to the entrance.
The first two weeks when school starts there usually is a cop hanging around the school entrance to help everybody remind the parking and speed rules. This has a positive effect that maybe lasts another week.
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The first two weeks when school starts there usually is a cop hanging around the school entrance to help everybody remind the parking and speed rules. This has a positive effect that maybe lasts another week.
So one month later you're back to the level shown in Mad Max?
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So one month later you're back to the level shown in Mad Max?
Less then a month.
I live in a dead-end street, there is a school at the beginning of the street at the corner. Coming out of the street in the morning is an accident waiting to happen.
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Speaking of schools, I was on the UCSD campus last night, at the top of a parking garage, so I had a bird's eye view of this event. A student came up to a 4-way intersection (stop signs, no lights) with his high beams on (this was around dusk). After being very confused by the one other car at the intersection and the students walking around for a while, they proceeded to make a left turn and somehow ended up on the left side of the road, going the wrong way. They were lucky that there was no oncoming traffic. How do these people get a license?
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How do these people get a license?
They were sober during their driving test? The long pause and bad coordination on the turn really does sound like someone shouldn't have been driving.
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They were sober during their driving test? The long pause and bad coordination on the turn really does sound like someone shouldn't have been driving.
Based on the location, I doubt that lack of sobriety was an issue.
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Based on the location, I doubt that lack of sobriety wasn't an issue.
Can anyone report if this sentence makes more sense without sobriety?
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Can anyone report if this sentence makes more sense without sobriety?
Caffeine 23% downloaded
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Can anyone report if this sentence makes more sense without sobriety?
Lets try and break it down to make it more clear:
Based on the location,
So due to where it was seen the following makes sense.
@chubertdev said:I doubt that
He finds it unlikely that:
@chubertdev said:lack of sobriety
Not being sober:
@chubertdev said:wasn't an issue.
was not the issue.So some double negatives, but sensible enough. Though now that he edited it to remove the last negative it reads very differently.
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This AM - dude goes from lane #1 (L->R) through lane#4 and onto the ramp in less than - say, 1/4 mile.
At 65mph+.
In traffic.
Probably 30 cars between me and him.
Not. A. Single. Brake. Light.
So, should I be more scared of HIM or Everybody Else?
Or, scared of ME, since I'm not finding these things utterly terrifying any more?
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You've just described every commute in Dallas.
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Not. A. Single. Brake. Light.
I have a coworker who used to use the "slug" system from the Pentagon out to Reston, or something. Anyways, there were a couple of guys who regularly drove. They were both fighter pilots, and their game was to get from the toll booth to whatever exit they were headed for without touching the brakes. The non-driver would typically watch the other's feet very closely to make sure no braking happened.
They were amazingly not very popular to ride with.
EDIT: fixed typo
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My first reaction was unprintable.
Then I read "tool booth" - and I'm now I'm down to mere terror. Like "Poseidon Adventure" in real-life terror.
66 to Reston, no way. Not happening.
Tool Road to Reston. Intriguing, but no, I would not ride with them either.
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Parents dropping of their kids are the wurst of the wurst. To fucking lazy to walk 5 meters from a legal parking spot to the gate. The silly school ignorant to organize it's entrance in a sane way is of course the real WTF. When I drop off my kid by car I always park on a legal spot and then we walk the last bit to the entrance. The first two weeks when school starts there usually is a cop hanging around the school entrance to help everybody remind the parking and speed rules. This has a positive effect that maybe lasts another week.
My brother's high school probably has the worst pick-up/drop off traffic pattern I have ever seen.
There is one street, about 4.2 car-lengths wide, that generally splits into 3 lanes. 2 of the lanes are parking/drop-off lanes (that aren't actually legal to park/drop off in, but nobody even cares), and the middle lane is the "I'm impatient so I'm gonna cut through here and pray I don't smash into someone else doing the same thing going the other way".
To make it worse, there is a 90 degree turn in the middle of the road, meaning if you're in the middle, you're making a blind turn and praying nobody's coming the other way.
Add to that the 3 lots in the general area, being parked in by high school students, and the fact that they actually blocked off the middle of one of the lots because of people using it as a shortcut, thus increasing the traffic load even more, this is easily the most stressful place I have ever driven.As a family, we currently have 2 fender-benders under our belts, and we've successfully hit 2 kids stupidly crossing the street without looking. One even walked INTO my car. This is with 3 years of drop-offs/pick ups. I'm surprised we haven't had someone killed here. It's ridiculous...
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You guys make me feel good about my kids' schools' pick up / drop off set up.
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You guys make me feel good about my kids' schools' pick up / drop off set up.
It makes my college parking garage feel stress-free and painless. This whole cluster-fail is caused by the school's opinion of "Improve traffic pattern=randomly remove streets and hope it makes it better". While I was going there, we had 2 more streets than there are now. Not surprisingly, it's gotten progressively worse...
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I really hate this one road. The southwest-bound side has a lane that's wide enough for parked cars, and two tractor trailers. Idiots don't know how to handle this, so you'll commonly see cars driving side by each in that lane.
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The detail you're missing is, when you did see the flashing red lights, did you stop? Or pass him anyway?
I was turning left and the bus was stopped going the opposite way on the street that I was turning onto. I really don't remember if I saw any lights. I think this was my first encounter with a school bus that was loading/unloading. Normally I take public transit to work, so when I drive it's not around the time that kids are going to/coming from school. I only vaguely remembered that you're supposed to stop for the bus when they're loading/unloading, and didn't think it applied when you're going the opposite way of the bus. I definitely did not see his arm with the stop signal until I completed the turn, at which point I guess I was supposed to stop and wait.
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My brother's high school probably has the worst pick-up/drop off traffic pattern I have ever seen.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time when I moved to Dallas trying out all sorts of routes on my 20-mile commute until I found several that didn't cross any schools and almost no school zones.
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This one gets me. I sometimes get honked at for not making a right turn on red here.
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And, of course, Discourse messes up the link.
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@chubertdev - Days Since Last Discourse Bug: 0
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Just remembered a couple things I forgot to post to this thread.
- People who refuse to let you pass. So you're driving down the freeway, in the right lane because you're supposed to, and you come up on a car doing 10 under the limit. In order to avoid a collision, you get over in the left lane and start passing them. Just as you pull even, the asshole speeds up. Not trying to get ahead of you, but just keeping even. Why?!
- People in the fast lane who can't pick a speed. I got caught behind one driving to work this morning. 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. I can see that he has about 200 yards of open freeway ahead of him, so I have no idea what this moron is thinking. Anyway, since he slowed down, the semi is now passing us. Then Just as I'm about to be able to pull behind the semi, the idiot accelerates again. This goes on for the next 5 minutes. Due to heavy traffic, and being next to the HOV lane, I'm stuck without an escape.
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People in the fast lane who can't pick a speed. I got caught behind one driving to work this morning. 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. I can see that he has about 200 yards of open freeway ahead of him, so I have no idea what this moron is thinking. Anyway, since he slowed down, the semi is now passing us. Then Just as I'm about to be able to pull behind the semi, the idiot accelerates again. This goes on for the next 5 minutes. Due to heavy traffic, and being next to the HOV lane, I'm stuck without an escape.
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.
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People suck when it comes to maintaining speed.
Another addition:
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.
