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Post by crowschmo on Nov 23, 2019 18:55:26 GMT -5
How long does it take to TURN A FRIGGIN' CORNER?
JUST!! TURN!!
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Post by mylungswereaching on Nov 23, 2019 21:50:25 GMT -5
Put down your cell phone. The light is green, Its green, IT'S GREEN.
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Post by sol-survivor on Nov 23, 2019 22:21:39 GMT -5
Yeah, if the way is clear, the weather is good, THE PEOPLE BEHIND YOU CAN'T GO UNTIL YOU DO!!!!!
That doesn't mean peel around the corner on two wheels like a stunt driver, but it does mean GO! And don't keep going after the light turns red, either. All that does is perturb off the people who now have the green and can't go because of the line of cars going on red. In other words, GO WHEN YOU SHOULD AND DON'T GO WHEN YOU SHOULDN'T!!!
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Post by crowschmo on Nov 24, 2019 14:53:04 GMT -5
^^^^ I was at an intersection once with one guy in front of me at a light. Our light turned green and the guy in front of me went, and the guy going perpendicularly to us KEPT GOING through his red light and had to slow down for the guy in front of me, - and that didn't make him stop, he almost went when I was going, I was looking at him like, uh dude, what are you doing? Then he DID go. I swear, it's like he wasn't even aware he was AT a light. How can one not see there's a traffic light over one's head? We were coming out of a side street and he was on a main street, and he was acting like we were going out of turn at a stop sign or something - it was like he was thinking, wow, look at these two idiots coming out of a street without stopping. !!!
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Post by sol-survivor on Nov 24, 2019 15:30:12 GMT -5
And how about frontage roads? I swear the people driving on them think they have the right-of-way over everyone on the main road, or at the very least they seem to be under the impression that it's a 4-way stop. Guess what. IT ISN'T!!! At a certain intersection near my workplace there have been a lot of accidents caused by someone leaving the frontage road and pulling out without first looking both ways, right in front of the people on the main road WHO HAVE THE RIGHT-OF-WAY!!! Honestly, people LOOK before you pull out. I know this happens because I've see it happen to others, and it's happened to me at least twice. I could see the driver on the frontage road start to pull out and not turn their head to look and see if there was oncoming traffic. The only reason I didn't become a statistic was because I had the feeling the idiot was going to pull out and I guessed right. Then they get this look on their face that says they're insulted that you on the main road have the gall to actually cut THEM off. Jackasses.
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Post by mylungswereaching on Nov 24, 2019 15:43:04 GMT -5
One thing that drives me crazy is badly timed lights.
Like a light on a major two lane road and a minor side road. The light is two minutes on, two minutes off even though the side road usually has either one or no cars waiting. Stopping at a red light and watching one car go through and then sitting there for the next minute and 50 seconds waiting for the light to change. All the time the traffic behind you is backing up to the point that it interferes with the light 6 blocks back. While the road in front of you is empty of cars. There's several lights near me that are there because of a large factory. They are only necessary during shift changes. The rest of the time the light on the main road turns red when there is no one waiting on the other road which does nothing but slow down traffic.
There's one place I drive through fairly often. There is a main road that has lights on every intersection for about 8 short city blocks. Once you get past these 8 blocks the road is pretty open most of the time except rush hour. Most of the side roads are no where near as full as the main road. But at the first light there is an exit off of the highway. All of the lights on the main road turn red at the same time. Then the highway exit gets the green light. But since the main road also is red, there is space on the main road for maybe three cars coming off the highway each time the light changes. The light stays green for the highway exit for about 2 minutes but all the cars that can get off the highway are off in the first 20 seconds. Frequently the 4th, 5th, and 6th cars get off the exit assuming that they'll be able to merge. What actually happens is they block up the intersection when the light finally changes a minute and a half later. The traffic on the highway exit backs up onto the highway so the highway is partially blocked.
They need to keep the main roads lights on that side of the road green after that point so that the people on the highway can clear the intersection. Then change the lights in order. Change light one to red but keep 2-8 open to allow the traffic to clear. Then 2,3,4... so that each intersection can merge into the main road and actually have a place to go through. Then keep the main road open for a few minutes.
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Post by sol-survivor on Nov 24, 2019 17:33:58 GMT -5
^ Yes. The worst timed one I have to go through on the way home is the same one where I had the satisfaction of seeing a car being pulled over after running the red light. I described that incident a few posts back. I can understand lights being on a fixed time during the day with more traffic, but most nights it really isn't necessary. Before my hours changed a few years ago I was coming home at around midnight (now it's at 8:30), and there wasn't nearly the traffic at that time as during the day. I can't count the number of times I was the ONLY one at that intersection, waiting not so patiently. I could see the cross lights, and they were all red. Still I sat there. Yes, I was pulled up to the white line so the sensor knew I was there. Then another car that was not even in sight when I stopped would come the other way, and that car GOT TO GO THROUGH WITHOUT EVEN HAVING TO SLOW DOWN!!!!!!!!! And still I sat there. Having to sit at a red light for 3 or 4 minutes when no one else is there is just plain annoying.
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Post by sol-survivor on Nov 24, 2019 22:34:46 GMT -5
People also have to remember to CLEAN OFF YOUR HEADLIGHTS AND TAILLIGHTS DURING THE WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!! And the rest of your car while you're at it, too. The snow doesn't always blow off while you're driving, and if it is blowing off you are a hazard to all the other drivers on the road. For some drivers clearing off their car just amounts to a quick swipe of the wipers on the windshield and maybe having the rear window defroster turned on. THIS IS NOT ADEQUATE!!! In some cases maybe, but not in all. I have seen so many cars and trucks here in Wisconsin with just a little hole cleared for both the front and back. If the headlights are snow covered they don't do any good for visibility for either the driver or the oncoming traffic. If the taillights are covered anyone behind them can't see when they brake or signal a turn. I know it's true because I've been behind some. If I hadn't been paying attention when I saw a faint pink through the snow I would have rear-ended someone at least a couple times.
And also, TURN YOUR LIGHTS ON IN THE FOG DURING THE DAYTIME!!!!!!!!!!! Not only is it common sense but in some places it's the law. The idiots who don't turn them on either don't know or don't care that other vehicles can't usually see them until a collision is about to happen.
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Post by sol-survivor on Dec 4, 2019 0:13:40 GMT -5
Just thought I would tell how my car got totaled in 2012. As usual, there was road construction going on. It happened to be the same highway that has the traffic lights that I mentioned in a couple other posts, only this happened going in to the city where I work instead of leaving to go home. I was, in fact on my way to work when it happened. The two southbound lanes were down to one because of the construction going on at the time (and there's more in the same area now with the interstate being widened which won't be done for at least two more years. GRRR), and of course the speed limit was lowered. I was coming in to town when there was a gap in traffic ahead of me. The construction crew took that opportunity to move a Bobcat into the only open lane, which was fine. I stopped and waited for him to move out of the way. He was almost out of my way when suddenly I got hit from behind by an SUV. My car at the time was a Cavalier coupe, no match for an SUV. I was busy watching the Bobcat and had no clue I was going to be hit until it happened. Oddly enough, the only things in my car that went flying were my eyeglasses and my garage door opener. Even my lunch and purse stayed on the seat. My car was still driveable, or so I thought, so the SUV followed me to the next corner where we turned into a gas station parking lot and exchanged information. We didn't call the police at all, or at least I didn't. She might have reported it later. It was while we were exchanging information that I noticed my only injury, a torn cuticle which was healed in a few days. Could have been much worse. No one in the SUV was hurt, either, not even the toddler in the backseat. The story I got from the driver was her SUV had been having brake issues after hitting a deer a few weeks before (Hey, it's Wisconsin. It happens). It had been fixed but was still having problems. She knew she was going to hit me but couldn't stop. I suppose if I hadn't been stopped for the Bobcat she might have hit me if we had to stop for the light at the next corner or she could have hit someone else or been hit herself. I still went to work although I was a little shaken up. Drove home that night and found I already had a message from the other driver's insurance company asking me to call, which I did the next morning. Called my own insurance agent only to find out they wouldn't be getting involved at all because it had already been determined I wasn't at fault and the other company would be taking care of everything. At least that meant my insurance wouldn't be going up. I then called a garage to make arrangements for my car to be checked out, and when I drove it over the guy took one look at it and said it wasn't safe to drive because the frame had been bent. Great. That dealership has a shuttle service, so I was driven home where I waited for the rental car that was also being arranged for by the other insurance company. Don't know about other rental places, but it was nice that Enterprise came and picked me up in this huge SUV and drove me back into the city to their office not far from where I work. I assumed I would have a different car waiting there for me, but I ended up with the huge SUV when I was used to driving my Cavalier. I had the SUV free for four days while the insurance settlement was worked out and I could make arrangements to get a different car since mine was done for. Of course, this was just a few months after I had $2000 worth of engine work done to it for which I had taken out a loan on my 401k, so at least my settlement also paid that off. I told the insurance adjuster about that engine work when she called me. I had already scanned the bill before she called, just in case. When I told her about it she said that would increase my settlement if I could send it to her so since I had it all ready I emailed it to her while we were talking. It did raise my settlement quite a bit. The dealership where I got my present car was where I had purchased the dead Cavalier, and they were nice enough to let me take it home and just let them know when the down payment check I wrote out wouldn't bounce once I got my settlement check, which was about a week later. Got another check shortly afterwards reimbursing me for the sales tax on the new (used) car. This car is even smaller than my Cavalier but it gets me where I want to go.
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47
Nanite
I'm weird — which results in creativity!
Posts: 48
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Post by 47 on Dec 6, 2019 1:09:22 GMT -5
She didn't notice that two cars back in the right turn lane there was a cop. He just pulled out and pulled her over. And, how good for her that nothing worse happened … there is a reason why turning left at a red on to a two-way road is prohibited. Always wait for a clear lane before you cross it. Let's see … there is this woman who drives up to a stop sign and waits there for the bus with her child, rather than thirty feet from it at the very least, obstructing traffic at the stop sign … people who ride your bumper when you drive slowly on an unmarked backwoods road at twilight during deer season … watching someone pull out in front of a school bus with its red lights on, and seeing a child come darting out in front of the bus barely a second after the vehicle passed it. Oh, and so this child is walking on the other side of the (unpaved, backwoods) road to the bus stop. I see another vehicle oncoming, on the side of the road with the child, so I come to a stop some ways back. Giving the other vehicle room to cross on my side. In hindsight, I forgot to flash my headlights, but … so, the other vehicle cruises along and swerves around the child — like a cone in an obstacle course. Speaking of swerving off topic: only one of those children carries a light, and none of them have reflective attire. Having right–of–way doesn't help you if you've been smushed by a giant bullet. A pertinent Penny Arcade (safe for work): www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2019/10/11/drive-time
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Post by sol-survivor on Dec 8, 2019 21:55:32 GMT -5
Is there some sort of driving game I'm not aware of that involves constantly changing lanes for no apparent reason? I swear this keeps happening on that same highway where most of the other incidents I have mentioned took place. Someone will be behind me, suddenly pull into the other lane (and may or may not signal), and is followed by another vehicle doing the same thing. Then they will switch back to the other lane and keep going back and forth every few hundred years, both in the city and in the country, and half the time they aren't going around anyone except each other. I don't think it's always the same vehicles because it's happened at different times of the day or evening. There's also always some idiot who can't stop changing lanes just to get ahead of someone, and then get ahead of the next one, and so on. It always makes me laugh when they work so hard to get in front of everyone else when all they accomplish is getting to stop at the red light first.
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Post by crowschmo on Dec 9, 2019 18:49:02 GMT -5
^^^^ Probably a couple of idiots trying to outdo the other. If one person passes another, and that person takes offense, because maybe the first person cut them off or something, then the second person feels the need to now pass the first. Then they just play a game of "oh, yeah? I can do that, too!" And then they just race each other like jerks and keep passing each other. If someone speeds past me when I'm going at a decent clip and they pull in front of me and cut me off, I'll get mad too and think they're an a$$hole. But I won't risk my life and others by then trying to pass that person like we're on a raceway. I'll just be like, "fine, you passed me, doofus, are you happy now? Got far, didn't you?"
I hate people like that. Or people that are so in a hurry to get to a red light.
Could also be people who know each other and are playing "speedway". Thinking it's cool to act like they're in the Indy 500 or something. Yeah, just risk accidents so you can go 80 miles an hour. Good on ya, Bubba.
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Post by mylungswereaching on Dec 9, 2019 22:13:16 GMT -5
Another one I hate is people who stop on the entrance ramp of a 65 mile per hour freeway and wait for an opening to merge.
There's one highway near my house that was built just terribly. Its a two lane in each direction 65 mph divided highway. Entrance ramps are short and on a curve. There is almost no breakdown lane at some on ramps. There a very short 3rd lane to merge. By the time you get to the end of the entrance ramp, you've got maybe 5 seconds to merge, slam on the breaks or hit the jersey barrier on your right or the car on your left.
I drive up the ramp at around 35 looking for an opening. Then time it so I'm up to highway speed near an opening in the traffic. But many others don't bother to look back. They stop at the end of the ramp and wait and wait and wait until the traffics clear and they can merge into a 65 mile per hour road from a dead stop. During rush hour traffic can back up for over an hour if a timid or new driver on this road stops.
These entrances are not for a timid driver. I'm just used to roads with 18 inches of clearance between me and parked cars on the right and 18 inches of clearance of the cars coming at me on the other side of the road with both drivers going 40 mph. I really don't see how a two trucks with extended mirrors could pass each other safely at some points. There just isn't enough room.
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Post by sol-survivor on Dec 9, 2019 23:09:51 GMT -5
Just remembered something kind of funny that happened to me several years ago with regards to roadkill. Yes, roadkill isn't all that funny, for the critter anyway, but other humans have laughed when I told them this story.
When that highway I keep mentioning was being widened from two lanes to four back in the early to mid 00s I had to take a different way to and from the city. One night I was driving home around midnight when all of a sudden there was a raccoon in front of me. There was no way to avoid it so I ended up hitting it. It did kind of upset me because I had never hit an animal before. The next day I passed the dead raccoon with its feet up in the air on the side of the road. (As an aside, I have always thought that animals keep wandering out in the roads because the ones that find out it's not a good idea to do so can't exactly tell any of the others).
Fast forward about two or three months. I was living with both my parents at the time and still live with my Dad after my mother passed away a few years ago. One morning I was awakened about 6am by voices in the room next to my bedroom. I recognized my Dad's voice but not the other voice as they were rummaging abound in my Dad's gun cabinet which at the time was on the other side of the wall from my headboard. The noise stopped, I heard them go outside, heard a couple popping noises, and then they came back in and rummaged around the guns a little more. A couple more popping noises outside again and everything was quiet after a little more noise from the gun cabinet. I didn't get up to investigate because if it was someone I didn't know I didn't want to go out in my nightgown, plus I had only had about 4 hours of sleep by that time, so I just went back to sleep. When I got up a couple hours later Mom and Dad told me that when they got up they saw a raccoon that obviously had something wrong with it stumbling around in the front yard. It was near where my car was parked in the street. They called the police because they thought it might be rabid. When the officer came he agreed, but didn't want to use his service revolver on it in a neighborhood that early because it would make too much noise. Dad offered the use of one of his hunting rifles, so that's why they were rummaging around in the gun cabinet. The first one didn't do the job for some reason, but the second one did, and the officer took the dead raccoon away for testing. We later learned that it really was rabid. That raccoon died just a few feet away from the tire that killed the other raccoon. I like to tell the story that the first raccoon was resurrected as a zombie raccoon and took a few months to go the three or four miles and find the car that killed it.
With a few exceptions the average car only needs one parking space. PLEASE QUIT TAKING UP MORE THAN ONE!!!!
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Dec 9, 2019 23:24:24 GMT -5
I'm sympathetic to people who go to a bifurcated drive-thru line, and see both lanes currently busy. I get it. And hey, it's cool to want to take your time before deciding which lane you wanna go in, it's a real time saver.
But if someone drives up behind you, I'd really appreciate it if you bit the bullet and chose. There's limited driving space in most fast food parking lots, and sure you might pick wrong and get into the lane that ultimately moves slower, but it's more courteous to the person behind you.
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