Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition


  • :belt_onion:

    @antiquarian said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Americans.

    As long as it's "Americans" and not just "USAians", probably accurate. What I've seen of South American driving has been terrifying. I swore I'd never complain about traffic in my homeland again (and then promptly broke that oath, obviously, as that's one of the most popular regional pastimes).

    I've also heard driving in the Middle East is insane.



  • @blek said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Who the hell changes lanes like that?!

    Many years ago I knew a guy who lived in an unincorporated area at the edge of Orlando(1), and he told me about one of the exits from I-4 to go to Disneyworld. See, this exit was unexpectedly on the left rather than on the right like all sane USian highway exits, and people from outside the area (that is, pretty much everyone taking that exit) would frequently find themselves on the wrong side shortly before reaching the exit, so they'd abruptly cross the entire width (4 lanes if memory serves) to get off the highway.

    (1) The street he lived on was unpaved. Not exactly a dirt track, but not far from it.



  • @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @antiquarian said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Americans.

    As long as it's "Americans" and not just "USAians", probably accurate. What I've seen of South American driving has been terrifying. I swore I'd never complain about traffic in my homeland again (and then promptly broke that oath, obviously, as that's one of the most popular regional pastimes).

    I've also heard driving in the Middle East is insane.

    I recall riding in taxis in Tel Aviv about 20 years ago. Not catastrophically bad, but not an experience I'm keen to repeat either.

    Then again, my dad made the mistake of telling a New York cabbie he was in a hurry one time. He noted the speedo pointing at "70" as the cab went past a 30 mph speed limit sign. And when I took my own car into Manhattan one time...

    We were going to see the British consulate there to do paperwork for my wife to get a visa to be able to stay in the UK, so we drove down from Nashua (New Hampshire side of the border with Massachusetts) to New York. I had, of course, NH plates on the car, complete with the "Live Free or Die" state motto, and there was this sort of ... bubble ... around my car. Anyway, at one point I ran a red light on one of the five-lanes-of-one-way-traffic "avenues", and I sure am glad I did, because two yellow cabs behind me in the same lane also ran it...


  • :belt_onion:

    @pleegwat said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @antiquarian said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    I found this on reddit:

    https://imgur.com/CIhYAiv

    And after that happened at 7am, the traffic jam will remain until noon.

    That's from that one guy's video on YouTube. It's the same guy who did the "you're using SSNs wrong" video.

    EDIT: fuck, responded to the wrong post...


  • 🚽 Regular

    @steve_the_cynic said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    speedo pointing

    I assume you meant speedo as an abbreviation of speedometer, but that was not my mental image.



  • @zecc said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @steve_the_cynic said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    speedo pointing

    I assume you meant speedo as an abbreviation of speedometer, but that was not my mental image.

    Oh dear, sorry. Yes, speedometer. Sigh.



  • @steve_the_cynic said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Then again, my dad made the mistake of telling a New York cabbie he was in a hurry one time. He noted the speedo pointing at "70" as the cab went past a 30 mph speed limit sign.

    Yeah, NYC cabbies are aggressive in a way that shocks piranha.

    And when I took my own car into Manhattan one time...

    That's always a mistake. I did it a number of times back in the 1980s and 1990s, and every time I swore never again.

    And I won't even talk about the times I rode into Manhattan when my father was the one driving. I want to keep those memories safely repressed.

    Though Boston was, if anything, worse. No, just... no.

    Driving in San Francisco is... interesting, but not really bad except in the financial district; the main problem there is lack of parking, and the way pedestrians tend to see cars as an intrusion rather than a threat. Still, it's the sort of city where driving is strongly discouraged, and for good reason. Actually, driving pretty much anywhere in the SF Bay area isn't wise; the traffic on I-880 is legendary (it's parent route, I-80, manages to be legendary on both sides of the country, and I'm not sure if it is worse in Joisey or Tokeland).



  • Today was the worst day I've seen in a while for aggressive behavior here in Tampa. People cutting in through crowded lanes, switching lanes (at speed) multiple times within a few car lengths trying to get ahead, tailgating, etc.

    I swear, it was like I was in an action movie or something. I was just praying no one got in a wreck and slowed down traffic.

    I'm of the "find the lane I'm going to have to be in well ahead of time and sit there" school of thought--I'm too timid to force my way in at the last moment. Even if that means I'm going slightly slower than otherwise, I don't move over unless I'm passing a truck or one of those fun people who don't have anywhere to go and so tootle along at 5 mph under the speed limit on a road where the traffic flows at 10 mpg over the speed limit.



  • @scholrlea said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Driving in San Francisco is... interesting, but not really bad except in the financial district; the main problem there is lack of parking, and the way pedestrians tend to see cars as an intrusion rather than a threat.

    Two problems.

    And the one-way streets and no-turn signs, such that you have to drive in ever-widening circles for a half-hour trying to get to someplace one block away, if that someplace happens to be in the wrong direction.

    Ok, three problems. Um, I'll come in again.


  • :belt_onion:





  • @benjamin-hall said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Oops. 10 mpgh

    Oh, that reminds me. There is a car I see frequently that belongs to somebody my son calls a "dude-bro." I don't think I really want to know the definition of that term, but the car is notable for a few things. Lowered, extra-stiff racing suspension. Custom stickers with the dude-bro's Instagram handle on the windows. And an oversize spoiler at the back of the roof that is angled perpendicular to the airflow; that must cut at least 10 mpg off his gas mileage at highway speeds.

    0_1508466042717_e7bb8d5e-580d-479a-a309-77cd044ced6a-image.png


  • 🚽 Regular

    Parking anti-pattern:

    If you're going to double park (right side of the street), turn your hazard lights on.

    If you're not going to turn on your hazards, at least turn your right turn signal on.

    If you're not going to turn on your hazards or your right turn signal, whatever you do don't turn on your left turn signal.  ?%&!#

    And just before a left junction too. For maximal confusion. FUUUU—


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @blek said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Who the hell changes lanes like that?!

    Everyone in my area except they do it much more quickly :rolleyes:. And usually exit immediately afterward. Meaning they knew where they were supposed to be, but just had to be in the "fast lane" as long as possible, apparently.

    ...or they were trapped there because they tried to get out of the fast lane at a reasonably early time but then, no matter how long they had their signal on, no one in the lane to the right of them would defer and let them in so they could reach the exit reasonably, eventually leaving them no choice but to cut out quickly and aggressively. (I don't even know how many times that's happened to me.)



  • @zecc said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Parking anti-pattern:

    If you're going to double park (right side of the street), turn your hazard lights on.

    That one is always fun to watch. Because using the hazard light in a non-hazard situation (say, to indicate that you double parked) will increase the fine you'll get.



  • @rhywden said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @zecc said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Parking anti-pattern:

    If you're going to double park (right side of the street), turn your hazard lights on.

    That one is always fun to watch. Because using the hazard light in a non-hazard situation (say, to indicate that you double parked) will increase the fine you'll get.

    But there is a hazard situation present. The driver who decided to double park is a hazard to the other drivers. Whether I'm serious or not is an exercise for the reader.



  • @benjamin-hall One thing I'll say about Seattle cops: double-parkers get ticketed in a matter of milliseconds. I've seen it several times.


  • :belt_onion:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    ...or they were trapped there because they tried to get out of the fast lane at a reasonably early time but then, no matter how long they had their signal on, no one in the lane to the right of them would defer and let them in so they could reach the exit reasonably, eventually leaving them no choice but to cut out quickly and aggressively. (I don't even know how many times that's happened to me.)

    I had a longer response to this but it started to largely repeat what one should have learned in driving school, so I'll just replace it with this: No.



  • @hardwaregeek said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @benjamin-hall said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Oops. 10 mpgh

    an oversize spoiler at the back of the roof that is angled perpendicular to the airflow; that must cut at least 10 mpg off his gas mileage at highway speeds.

    It always amazes me how many people who think they know cars have no fucking clue about them. I at least am aware that I know very little about cars, but most of the ones who think they are experts at them seem to know even less. Dunning-Kruger Effect to maximum, Mr. Sot!

    Putting spoilers on street legal cars is one of two things that drive me up the wall about such people. The purpose of spoilers is to increase drag (or rather, to reduce lift by interrupting the airflow) something a car would only need if it is generating so much lift that it runs the risk of the tires leaving the roadway. Even with an extreme light and streamlined vehicle, this would require it to be going much faster than most cars are capable of, and (IIUC) faster than would even be feasible at all on most roadways regardless of engine power output. This means that they are at best a decoration that costs some drag, at worst a significant source of drag that both ruins performance and shoots fuel efficiency in the head.

    The other is the morons who think that the louder the engine is, the more performance it is getting - which is pretty much the opposite of the truth without substantial engine and power train modifications (more noise == more waste energy dissipation, so unless they've increased performance beyond the amount of increased noise, then the 'tuning' they did is probably robbing performance).


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @heterodox And what, pray tell, do they teach in driving school about long lines of aggressive morons that will not let you in?


  • :belt_onion:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @heterodox And what, pray tell, do they teach in driving school about long lines of aggressive morons that will not let you in?

    Fine, since you asked, I'll summarize. The #1 rule that was drilled into me is you don't make sudden movements on the road. No matter what. I commute through some of the most aggressive traffic in the nation. If I've left my blinker on for five or six seconds, I know I'm not getting over because the people next to me are being douchebags. I turn it off, accelerate or decelerate as appropriate, and find another prospective gap. I require more of a gap than most drivers before I'm comfortable changing lanes (I wait until I can see the headlights of the car next to me in my rearview) and somehow I manage.

    You just have to know where you're going and start the process early enough. You're not encountering a conga line two miles long of drivers riding each other's bumpers; traffic mechanics just don't work that way. In a strange city, I may make a mistake and not realize I'm in the wrong lane until too late. That's fine. I missed my exit. I'll take the next one and loop back.

    If you cut across lanes (especially multiple lanes as is most often the case in my area), you're the one being aggressive. You're as bad as whoever wasn't letting you in. Knock it off; that shit is catching and just makes the problem worse.



  • @benjamin-hall said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @rhywden said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @zecc said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Parking anti-pattern:

    If you're going to double park (right side of the street), turn your hazard lights on.

    That one is always fun to watch. Because using the hazard light in a non-hazard situation (say, to indicate that you double parked) will increase the fine you'll get.

    But there is a hazard situation present. The driver who decided to double park is a hazard to the other drivers. Whether I'm serious or not is an exercise for the reader.

    The law actually explicitly states that this is not a hazard situation requiring the hazard lights. Those are reserved for accidents and other serious incidents.


  • kills Dumbledore

    @heterodox yeah, this. Sounds like @masonwheeler is not being assertive enough under the guise of not being aggressive.



  • @scholrlea said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    The other is the morons who think that the louder the engine is, the more performance it is getting - which is pretty much the opposite of the truth without substantial engine and power train modifications (more noise == more waste energy dissipation, so unless they've increased performance beyond the amount of increased noise, then the 'tuning' they did is probably robbing performance).

    Loud engine or loud exhaust? Installing a different exhaust system may or may not improve performance.

    Because you do realise inside an internal combustion engine there are thousands of explosions per minute so a muffler reduces that noise and reduces the work the engine has to do to push the air through it instead of putting energy down the drive shaft.

    I'm only speaking from minimal experience, from fitting a "sport exhaust" to my car that was manufactured in 1980: replacing one of the mufflers with a bit of pipe! I don't have hard data on performance difference but it "felt" better.



  • @rhywden said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @benjamin-hall said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @rhywden said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @zecc said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Parking anti-pattern:

    If you're going to double park (right side of the street), turn your hazard lights on.

    That one is always fun to watch. Because using the hazard light in a non-hazard situation (say, to indicate that you double parked) will increase the fine you'll get.

    But there is a hazard situation present. The driver who decided to double park is a hazard to the other drivers. Whether I'm serious or not is an exercise for the reader.

    The law actually explicitly states that this is not a hazard situation requiring the hazard lights. Those are reserved for accidents and other serious incidents.

    Beware of generalizing--in Florida, trucks are supposed to use the hazard lights when parked in traffic lanes (for deliveries in cities, for example). I see it almost daily on my commute to work through downtown.

    But I was mostly not serious in my original statement. It bugs me too.


  • BINNED

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    ...or they were trapped there because they tried to get out of the fast lane at a reasonably early time but then, no matter how long they had their signal on, no one in the lane to the right of them would defer and let them in so they could reach the exit reasonably

    Here in Dallas, a turn signal is generally interpreted as a challenge to the other drivers to get there first.


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @antiquarian said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Here in Dallas, a turn signal is generally interpreted as a challenge to the other drivers to get there first.

    Exactly. That's all too common in too many places.



  • @antiquarian said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    ...or they were trapped there because they tried to get out of the fast lane at a reasonably early time but then, no matter how long they had their signal on, no one in the lane to the right of them would defer and let them in so they could reach the exit reasonably

    Here in Dallas, a turn signal is generally interpreted as a challenge to the other drivers to get there first.

    It's why I make my lane-changes at the first uncontested opportunity--if I know I'm going to have to turn right up ahead, I'll try to find a natural gap in the traffic flow and get over early so I don't have to try to get in late and get blocked by morons. Because Tampa is full of moronic drivers.



  • @benjamin-hall said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:
    uncontested opportunity ... natural gap in the traffic

    What do these words mean? 😕


  • :belt_onion:

    @hardwaregeek said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    What do these words mean?

    As I said above, you don't really get conga lines miles long of cars riding each other's bumpers. Traffic dynamics don't work that way.

    That's not to say it doesn't feel that way sometimes; damn straight it feels that way sometimes. :P But you'll find one.



  • @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @heterodox And what, pray tell, do they teach in driving school about long lines of aggressive morons that will not let you in?

    The #1 rule that was drilled into me is you don't make sudden movements on the road. No matter what.

    I wish my father had known that, in light of the number of times I ended up with a face full of side window (fortunately, the glass never broke) - either because he did the drift-then-correct bullshit I mentioned earlier, or because he was trying to pass by threading the car through a gap two lanes over, or because he suddenly noticed he was approaching an exit he needed to take while in the far left lane, or... you get the idea.


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    As I said above, you don't really get conga lines miles long of cars riding each other's bumpers. Traffic dynamics don't work that way.

    They don't need to. All you need is traffic that's dense enough, and drivers who are stupid enough.

    You're coming up on your exit in 3/4 mile. You need to get over 3 lanes to make it. But there's no room to your right. There's a gap ahead, but there's a car in front of you in your own lane, just far enough that you can't get through by speeding up, and going exactly the same speed as the car to your right, natch.

    There's a gap behind you about 3 cars back. So you slow down a little to let them catch up, and put on your turn signal. Of course, as soon as the guy 4 cars back sees that turn signal, he speeds up to try to close the gap so you can't pull in front of him.

    You're now coming uncomfortably close to your exit, and you're still 3 lanes over. If you keep going at this pace, you'll overshoot it, so you slow down a little more. The gap has now shifted back a little, but because you're slowing him down, the guy behind you pulls into it, heedless of your turn signal. And so on. That absolutely can persist for miles.



  • @masonwheeler You know that traffic and drivers are dense. :wtf: are you in the left lane in the first place?


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @coderpatsy Because it's been the best place to be for the last 30 miles?



  • @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    I require more of a gap than most drivers before I'm comfortable changing lanes (I wait until I can see the headlights of the car next to me in my rearview) and somehow I manage.

    I prefer to just play chicken. My vehicle is older and shittier than theirs is anyhow.



  • @zemm said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    inside an internal combustion engine there are thousands of explosions per minute so a muffler reduces that noise and reducesincreases the work the engine has to do to push the air through it instead of putting energy down the drive shaft.

    FTFY.



  • @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @antiquarian said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Here in Dallas, a turn signal is generally interpreted as a challenge to the other drivers to get there first.

    Exactly. That's all too common in too many places.

    While we were (my wife was) driving through a rather large city in a different state I had to explain to her that simply signalling that you wish to change lanes is not enough. Even though there's not space for you to drive there, if there's enough space for you to wedge yourself in, you must proceed to do so, or the other driver will simply advance to close it.

    Apparently the other drivers take your blinker to mean that there's space in front of them that's free for the taking. Regardless of your signal indicating your wish to take it, if you don't actually take it, they will. Oh, and you have approximately 0.2 seconds to begin doing so.

    If you just force your way in they're remarkably calm about it. Compared to other parts of the country, where they'd be rather pissed off to have you rudely force your way in front of them, but would willingly make extra space for you to do so safely if you just signaled and waited a moment.


  • 🚽 Regular

    @scholrlea said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    The other is the morons who think that the louder the engine is, the more performance it is getting

    It's from the same school of thought as "I need to keep revving up the engine while in neutral at a red light"



  • @anotherusername quote out of context. A louder exhaust reduces the muffling, giving more power to the rest of the system


  • :belt_onion:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    You're coming up on your exit in 3/4 mile. You need to get over 3 lanes to make it.

    Your problem is that 3/4 mile is way too short to get over 3 lanes. That is exactly what your problem is. It's remarkable that it's so hard for you to see that.

    Just get out of the fast lane a little earlier. You had (apparently) thirty miles to do so and doing so means you won't miss your exit or get in a fucking accident. Either of which tends to take a considerable amount of time to resolve.


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Your problem is that 3/4 mile is way too short to get over 3 lanes. That is exactly what your problem is. It's remarkable that it's so hard for you to see that.

    I could have made it 2 miles and the substance of the story would not have changed. When people behind you, both in your own lane and in the lane you're trying to get into, see your turn signal as an invitation to move into the gap themselves, you can get stuck for arbitrary amounts of time, through no fault of your own, unless you decide to get aggressive too. How is this difficult to understand?


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @zemm said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @anotherusername quote out of context. A louder exhaust reduces the muffling, giving more power to the rest of the system

    That makes no sense. The exhaust being muffled is what's coming out of the engine, after all the gas has already been burned and the power generated.



  • @zemm oh, ok...

    @zemm said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    inside an internal combustion engine there are thousands of explosions per minute so a louder muffler reducesincreases that noise and reduces the work the engine has to do to push the air through it instead of putting energy down the drive shaft.

    FTFY.

    I liked the first way better, but that works too I suppose. It was backward either way, the way that you said it.


  • :belt_onion:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    I could have made it 2 miles and the substance of the story would not have changed. When people behind you, both in your own lane and in the lane you're trying to get into, see your turn signal as an invitation to move into the gap themselves, you can get stuck for arbitrary amounts of time, through no fault of your own, unless you decide to get aggressive too. How is this difficult to understand?

    As @Jaloopa said, I think this is a failure of you being assertive enough; as I said above you just have to "fucking go". And if you fail to fucking go, people are going to close the gap because they're going to think you left your turn signal on or that you're a dangerous driver and they don't want you in front of them (I absolutely do this if someone is acting erratically on the road, though I'll more commonly try to speed up to get past them rather than have them next to me).

    If you found a gap, signal, wait a tick, then move into the gap; don't let the other driver move up. It's not the job of the other driver to slow down for you; that was made clear in my driving class as well. So if that's what you're waiting for, it's never going to happen. The difference is being assertive vs. "cutting out quickly and aggressively" (your words). You move into the gap, wait a tick for the traffic to readjust, find another gap. If you try for multiple lanes at once (three lanes in 3/4 miles seems probable that you'd have to try), I hope your car blows up.

    In any case, I don't think we're going to have any more fruitful discussion here on this topic. If you want to do another round of "No, really, but when I put my turn signal on they just fucking FLOOR it!', then congratulations; your traffic is worse than the Capital Beltway. I don't believe you, but I'll concede it to you.

    All I'm trying to suggest here is that aggression is catching on the road and it should be avoided. When we have the chances like these to discuss driving techniques while off the road, we should take them because they may make for a less stressful drive. When other people drive aggressively near me, I absolutely have found myself driving more aggressively. And I think there's a longitudinal effect too, as while you may never see those drivers you cut off again, those drivers are probably more likely to drive aggressively "because people are morons!", it turns out, other drivers see that and drive more aggressively, they tell their friends how bad the road is and they drive aggressively... I think some roads just "become" aggressive, and it's due to the actions of relatively few drivers. I think it's fascinating.



  • @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @zemm said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    @anotherusername quote out of context. A louder exhaust reduces the muffling, giving more power to the rest of the system

    That makes no sense. The exhaust being muffled is what's coming out of the engine, after all the gas has already been burned and the power generated.

    The muffler creates back pressure. Some of the power that the combustion produces has to push the exhaust out; the amount of useful energy it produces is a function of the ratio between the pressure created by the explosions and that pushing back from the exhaust. Back pressure results in more of the engine's power being wasted just pushing against its own exhaust gases.

    The muffler isn't just about reducing the noise output; it also has a catalytic converter -- which has to get the exhaust gas to cross as much surface area as possible to maximize its contact with the platinum catalyst inside. Slowing the exhaust down and raising its pressure will also help the catalytic converter to work more efficiently, but has the side effect of directly stealing energy from the engine.


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    As @Jaloopa said, I think this is a failure of you being assertive enough; as I said above you just have to "fucking go".

    It's not about "being assertive enough," it's about there not being space. If I can't see the driver's headlights in my rear view, I don't have room to get in safely.

    And if you fail to fucking go, people are going to close the gap because they're going to think you left your turn signal on or that you're a dangerous driver and they don't want you in front of them (I absolutely do this if someone is acting erratically on the road, though I'll more commonly try to speed up to get past them rather than have them next to me).

    Congratulations, you're part of the problem. I hope a cop sees you doing that and pulls you over.

    It's not the job of the other driver to slow down for you; that was made clear in my driving class as well.

    What sort of idiot ran that driving class? If someone is ahead of you and they have a signal on, you need to defer to them. Even if that's not a legal requirement, it absolutely is a requirement of basic human decency!

    In any case, I don't think we're going to have any more fruitful discussion here on this topic. If you want to do another round of "No, really, but when I put my turn signal on they just fucking FLOOR it!', then congratulations; your traffic is worse than the Capital Beltway. I don't believe you, but I'll concede it to you.

    I've been on the Beltway. Only a couple times, but I've seen the traffic there. It tended to be too slow and dense for those sorts of problems to build up. When you're in a traffic jam, getting over is easy--you just slowly drift over and the guy behind you has to let you in. That doesn't really work in moderately heavy traffic, where it's heavy enough to be full of cars but not so full that everyone can't still be doing 70.


  • :belt_onion:

    Since this is on a topic other than changing lanes, which has been talked to death by now:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Congratulations, you're part of the problem. I hope a cop sees you doing that and pulls you over.

    Pulls me over for accelerating in my lane? I mean, the cops around here are pretty retarded but they're not that retarded. What do you do when you're next to eighteen-wheelers?


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    What do you do when you're next to eighteen-wheelers?

    Avoid being next to them whenever possible. :P


  • :belt_onion:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Avoid being next to them whenever possible. :P

    And I avoid being next to dangerous drivers as much as possible... if you interpreted my post to mean I passed them on the right, that's an incorrect interpretation. I wouldn't want to be in front of them either.


  • Fake News

    @heterodox said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Since this is on a topic other than changing lanes, which has been talked to death by now:

    @masonwheeler said in Driving Anti-Patterns - Necro Edition:

    Congratulations, you're part of the problem. I hope a cop sees you doing that and pulls you over.

    Pulls me over for accelerating in my lane? I mean, the cops around here are pretty retarded but they're not that retarded. What do you do when you're next to eighteen-wheelers?

    On this side of the atlantic we do have a rule that you can't accelerate if you're being overtaken, but then there's also a rule that a car which is changing lanes doesn't have priority unless that lane ends.

    Traffic law sure can get complicated...


Log in to reply