Wow! Every day a lot of things that tell me I'm older. But the worst reminder in a while came in the mail yesterday. I just got my AAA card for this year. It says I'm a 43 year member!!?? And that doesn't even include the time I belonged to Cal Club in California.
Holy crap!!!
43 years of driving in the left lane of Interstates at 45mph, with your left turn-signal on???
grafmiata wrote: Holy crap!!! 43 years of driving in the left lane of Interstates at 45mph, with your left turn-signal on???
You're half right! 43+ years of driving in the left lane of interstates at posted speed +15mph! And my hand is on the horn because the young buck blocking the left lane is texting, not driving!
45+ years for me, not counting farm driving before I had a license. What's "old" mean?
What IS it with Old Farts and the left blinker ? ! ? ! ?
Always the left . . .
Because that is the one used for merging or changing lanes.
I must be an old fart to because sometimes I forget I turned on the blinker and didn't turn the wheel enough to self-cancel the turn signal.
Fortunately usually only a minute or two then I notice the blinking light.
I sometimes use my left turn signal when I want the car in front of me to move to the right so I can pass. In Europe that's considered common courtesy. In North America it's not even noticed.
Actually, even though it may be illegal, it is now often safer to pass on the right. Drivers typically hold the phone to their ear with their left hand. Many a time I've seen someone freak out as I passed them on the left because they didn't see me coming. Their hand and phone were in the way.
Old guy with a Jetta here, tap it once and it blinks only three times. Lane change, on ramp novelty, I like it.
Dan
Yes, that's a cool feature. One of my cars has that too. Short pull equals 2 blinks longer pull equals stay on till cancelled.
Old guy / old car. What if your vehicle only has trafficators?
In reply to Gary: They're cool!
My buddy has them on his '55 VW Beetle. If I'm in the car with him, every time he signals for a right turn I think that we hit something . . . they're LOUD !
I hate that "touch the turn signal once and get multiple flashes" feature. My wife's car has this. Sometimes when I want to change lanes I'll touch the turn signal just as I do the final checks in the mirror, etc., to make sure its clear. When I see its not, I still get a few flashes, which freak out the guy who I saw coming up too fast...
Of course, I have little good to say about cars that make decisions for you anyway. Lock the doors when you start moving, so that you have to unlock them to get things out of the back when you stop. Leaving the headlights and radio on after you turn the car off. Annoying. Being an engineer, I have to check a couple minutes later to be sure the lights went off, and a relay didn't stick or something...
Stu, watching the blizzard in MA (20 inches at 9 AM, more to come)
In reply to stu67tiger:Yes, this old engineer is the same way about verifying. I don't trust too much stuff on autos because I've designed some of that stuff myself.
Last Sunday a guy I knew had a heart attack in his almost new car. Which has all the auto lock door features. He froze up with his foot on the brake and the car in drive. We couldn't rouse him enough for him to unlock a door.
It took at least a half-hour for the fire department to get there and get his car doors open to transport him to the hospital without getting broken glass all over him. By the time they got inside, he was dead. 
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