Automotive peeves

People who drive down the highway with their hazard lights on.

Ian F wrote:

marktmv wrote: My problem with DRLs is if all cars have them, then the vechicles the need to stand out - motorcycles and emergency vehicles - don't as much. That said, my car has them and while they're easy to defeat I'm hesitant to disable any "external safety" feature on my car regardless of my personal opinion of it.

With the greatest respect -- I don't buy that argument at all. Headlights on make a huge difference to me (and I am sure many others). We've had DRLs in Canada for 25 plus years -- that means almost every car has them that I encounter each day. Bikes and emergency vehicles don't get lost in a "sea of headlights". Trust me.

In reply to Woody:

Were you on 75 this morning? I saw him too. (Thanks, but I know it's raining and crappy already. I'm in it too.)

ZOO wrote: With the greatest respect -- I don't buy that argument at all. Headlights on make a huge difference to me (and I am sure many others). We've had DRLs in Canada for 25 plus years -- that means almost every car has them that I encounter each day. Bikes and emergency vehicles don't get lost in a "sea of headlights". Trust me.

I'm sorry, in my experience they DO get lost. This is especially true at night - which of course is when the area organ donors like to do their kamikaze runs up and down I-95 at 100+ lane-splitting and passing on the shoulder...

shifty wrote: "For sell" and "must sale"

HAHA!

Ian F wrote:

ZOO wrote: With the greatest respect -- I don't buy that argument at all. Headlights on make a huge difference to me (and I am sure many others). We've had DRLs in Canada for 25 plus years -- that means almost every car has them that I encounter each day. Bikes and emergency vehicles don't get lost in a "sea of headlights". Trust me.

I'm sorry, in my experience they DO get lost. This is especially true at night - which of course is when the area organ donors like to do their kamikaze runs up and down I-95 at 100+ lane-splitting and passing on the shoulder...

Ummm, I think that's an apples to oranges comparison. Shouldn't we all be running headlights at night?

Adrian_Thompson wrote: On bicyclists. The thing is they ride as a block 3-4-5 bikes wide10-15 bikes long with stragglers behind.

That's called pelotoning and is illegal. The laws regarding bikes very so much from state to state it isn't funny. What makes the most sense is a bike is entitled to 3 ft as far right as the road conditions allow and cars must treat the bike as a slow moving car and give the bike 3 ft on the left when passing. My biggest problem I have on my bike is I ride so fast the average half wit with their head up their ass doesn't realize how fast I'm actually going. They pull out to pass way before they should and take longer than they think because they're only passing me at ~25mph when you factor in my speed. On a down hill I can be going as fast as 30-40mph...I've even passed cars in 30mph zones. I've been almost hit more from cars misjudging speed than not seeing me. My closest call was a redneck threading the needle in his truck with an oncoming car. I got brushed by his side mirror. I also laugh at the yuppies in jerseys. I ride in a yellow T shirt and have a 10yr old Trek US Postal bike and could spank 95% of them for fun.

Just to chime in on the tailgating, I work a lot with body shops. The two biggest causes of accidents I can tell are tailgating and pulling out infront of a car. I'd say the tailgating could be reduced if police actually enforced the law BEFORE the accident happens. I don't know a single person or cop (I've asked) that got or gave a tailgating ticket that didn't involve an accident. A lot of what we're complaining about could be resolved if police enforced actual safety laws instead of using them to generate revenue for towns. They sure to love to write tickets for tint and no front plates.

ZOO wrote: Ummm, I think that's an apples to oranges comparison. Shouldn't we all be running headlights at night?

That's my point - motorcycles don't stand out as much at night when everyone on the road has their lights on.

Ian F wrote:

ZOO wrote: Ummm, I think that's an apples to oranges comparison. Shouldn't we all be running headlights at night?

That's my point - motorcycles don't stand out as much at night when everyone on the road has their lights on.

I still reject the argument -- nothing stands out as well at night. Pedestrians, people on bicycles, cars with only parking lights, street signs. In daylight, running DRLs makes a huge difference in visibility for all cars, especially in "murky" weather. As a driver and a rider, I want to see every car, bike, or truck as soon as possible.

Visibility is key. If DRLs make bikes more visible, the same logic applies for all other vehicles. Sadly, DRLs or not, what really needs to happen is to have all drivers, riders, and any other person who interacts with a roadway simply pay greater attention.

On people riding bikes:

Fixies. I hate them. Had one hit my passenger mirror in my Jeep when I lived in Denver. I was stopped at a redlight behind a couple of cars in rush hour traffic. He flipped me off. He would've been road fodder if I could've caught him. Saw him a few times riding his craptastic bike after that, almost got the chance to assimilate him with the road. If I see a fixie now, I aim for them out of principal.

Said mirror:

Said fixie that deserves tire punishment:

I have no issues with any other 'bikers' out there.

Yeah the fixie crowd is by and large a bunch of dolts. They are everywhere in Milwaukee too.

ZOO wrote: Visibility is key. If DRLs make bikes more visible, the same logic applies for all other vehicles. Sadly, DRLs or not, what really needs to happen is to have all drivers, riders, and any other person who interacts with a roadway simply pay greater attention.

Yes and no. I think part of the issue is how quickly an object is noticed. An interesting aside:

When the new MINI first hit the roads, there was a rash of cars getting rear-ended - especially the S models. Why? A number of reasons were tossed around and MINI eventually changed the tail light assembly in '05 to make the lights brighter. An interesting point worth noting is the rear roof spoiler on the S models somewhat shades the 3rd brake light. When veiwed from a tall vehicle like a truck or SUV, the 3rd light can be partially or even totally obscured.

Right or wrong, people are creatures of habit. We simply get used to seeing something and subconciously reacting to it, and the 3rd brake light is a case of this. A driver will still react to seeing the normal brake lights, but it may be a split-second difference in reaction time and soemtimes that can be the difference between an accident and a near miss. Especially when a good portion of the driving snopes are barely paying attention to begin with.

To me, DRLs are the same thing - we become accustomed to them and everything blurs together. Plus, some cars have annoying bright lights - I've had to flip the mirror in my car to the night mode because of them. Awesome. Now NOBODY behind me is visible...

marktmv wrote: People who don't believe in Daylight Running Lights. You may not like the look of your car with them on, but it sure as heck makes it easier for me to spot your "blend with the road" gray/silver/beige POS on the road..

DRLs mean that I have my side mirrors pointed down so that I don't get blinded by the guy quarter-wheeling me.

Seems pretty safe to me... make your car obnoxious so that people deliberately DON'T look in your direction.

Ashyukun wrote: - Cars tailgating me in the left lane when I'm 1. already going solidly faster than the cars in the right lane 2. already nominally over the speed limit and 3. there is not a big enough opening for me to safely move out of the way into the right lane. This is trebly retarded given I am will make every effort to move out of the way of someone who wants to go faster than me- I just won't cut someone off or scoot over and have to slam on my brakes to not rear-end a car in the other lane.

So while you are faster than the people in right lanes (passing) AND are going over the limit (good in the pasing lane) AND there's no space for you to go to the right anway.....

You are missing one more thing. 4) there's no space in front of you ANYWAY. The traffic is 12 cars deep in the left lane, so even if the tailgater gets by, they gain all of one car length. What's the point?

The other passers that bug me- the ones that cut right in front of you so now you are tailgating them. I want space, for crying out loud. The ones that tailgate so close, and when you get out of thier precious way, they end up going 1-2mph faster- so they are not in a hurry, just rude. And then there are the people who pass, and slow down. duh.

Weavers that bug me- when traffic gets tight, they are constantly going in and out of open spaces to move ahead. All of that moves them ahead 10-20 seconds in real time. Once traffic clears, they are actually going 5 under. You know, you got mad at me holding you up, pretending that you are the most important person in the world- what about the rest of us?

Maybe I should shoot for 5 under in the right lane and be happy.

alfadriver wrote: .... pretending that you are the most important person in the world-

This is basically the root of the issue.

I've basically reached a point in my life where I don't care if I get to my destination 5, 10 or even 15 minutes earlier. If I really need to be somewhere at a specific time, I leave substantially early for my estimated travel time.

Ian F wrote:

alfadriver wrote: .... pretending that you are the most important person in the world-

This is basically the root of the issue. I've basically reached a point in my life where I don't care if I get to my destination 5, 10 or even 15 minutes earlier. If I really need to be somewhere at a specific time, I leave substantially early for my estimated travel time.

What do the internet kids say these days? +1? QFT? Me too? Preach on, brother? This?

When it comes to traffic, I know it's going to suck so I leave with plenty of time, try to either beat the traffic home or work late enough to let it burn off a little, or just smile, suck it up, get in the lane I'll need to be in eventually, and just deal with it.

It's actually quite relaxing when I have an appointment that's in another city (Dayton, Indy, Louisville, Lexington, or something like that) -- I'll see how long it takes to get there in traffic, assume that I'll want to be there 10-15 minutes early to park and such, add in about 20-30 minutes to that to figure out when to leave, and then just plan on parking myself at a close-by McDonalds or something to have some coffee and get a little work done. On a 100 mile trip, it's very unusual to run into enough traffic that a 30 minute buffer won't fix. Knowing I've got all that time baked in, I can have a relaxing and safe drive.

I was driving with a gravel truck behind me looking like he wanted to push the mercedes out of the way, I came up to two bicyclist and one of them starts weaving in and out of the road. This was a busy two lane road with oncoming traffic with a bicyclist weaving in and out of my lane with a gravel truck bearing down on me. I almost pulled over and beat the E36 M3 out of the guy. The weekend warrior types are the worst. If you want to commit suicide go for it just don't involve me.

Bad tires, both OEM and the replacements. Like a Mercedes SLK230 AMG that has Primewell tires that someone at my office drives.

Also, as someone who uses a bicycle for my primary transportation, I go out of my way to not inconvenience drivers, because I know how I feel when I have to deal with various bikes on busy roads. Luckily for me there is a bike trail for 80% of my commute.

What are these tug boat bicycle videos?

Two more pet peeves:

Somebody crawling in the left hand lane looking for the street they have to make a left hand turn on. is it so hard to turn around if you pass it?

People who miss an exit and then BACK UP on the shoulder to get back to the exit they missed. I've seen this one far too much.

wbjones wrote:

AverageH wrote: People that swerve their car left to make a right hand turn. I know lots of people do it because they feel HUGE in their SUV or stomper truck and they like to do it, but it's totally unnecessary and highly annoying to the person behind you! Especially if they don't use a signal and they're just driving a car. As far as cyclists go, I was a bike messenger for a period of time so my biking methods were drastically different than anyone else's; I ran red lights and went the wrong way up a one way street all day every day. This was just a normal method for me to maximize my profits. I will admit that I was young and a total jerk to other drivers. I intentionally kicked car doors with my spiked bike shoes when they offended me in any way. Being older now, I realize how dumb I was, BUT, I still ride that way. Old habits die hard.... -Hamid

if you're actually still riding like that .... I feel for you ... sooner or later someone is going to catch up with you and put you in a ditch .... or worse

Sorry, I should state that I still run red lights and I can still get the red haze when riding, but I'm way beyond being aggressive like that any more! That was when I was 20 years old; I'm 38 now with two little kids below the age of 5! I miss the feeling of zooming between cars at 40mph bursts, but I'm no longer a risk taker. I'm a wuss now, so I avoid confrontation whenever I can. I was such an idiot that I would wear all black while riding at night so that I knew that I was truly invisible. Effing ninja riding or something, I don't know what I was doing. This was in Seattle btw, for a visual reference. I'm not the jerk I once was....

-Hamid

(Canadian content, eh?) My DRL complaint comes when I'm driving something that doesn't have them. People no longer look for an oncoming vehicle- they look for lights. I have to try to remember to turn the lights on in my craptastic old junk, so I don't t-bone people.

All in all, I think they work quite well for their intended purpose.

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

Meh... I'll admit I wanted to install roof lights on my conversion van so that people might be less likely to pull out in front of the big, heavy thing that doesn't like to stop...

Bababooey wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: On bicyclists. The thing is they ride as a block 3-4-5 bikes wide10-15 bikes long with stragglers behind.

That's called pelotoning and is illegal. The laws regarding bikes very so much from state to state it isn't funny. What makes the most sense is a bike is entitled to 3 ft as far right as the road conditions allow and cars must treat the bike as a slow moving car and give the bike 3 ft on the left when passing. My biggest problem I have on my bike is I ride so fast the average half wit with their head up their ass doesn't realize how fast I'm actually going. They pull out to pass way before they should and take longer than they think because they're only passing me at ~25mph when you factor in my speed. On a down hill I can be going as fast as 30-40mph...I've even passed cars in 30mph zones. I've been almost hit more from cars misjudging speed than not seeing me. My closest call was a redneck threading the needle in his truck with an oncoming car. I got brushed by his side mirror. I also laugh at the yuppies in jerseys. I ride in a yellow T shirt and have a 10yr old Trek US Postal bike and could spank 95% of them for fun. Just to chime in on the tailgating, I work a lot with body shops. The two biggest causes of accidents I can tell are tailgating and pulling out infront of a car. I'd say the tailgating could be reduced if police actually enforced the law BEFORE the accident happens. I don't know a single person or cop (I've asked) that got or gave a tailgating ticket that didn't involve an accident. A lot of what we're complaining about could be resolved if police enforced actual safety laws instead of using them to generate revenue for towns. They sure to love to write tickets for tint and no front plates.

FWIW ... I got a warning ticket for a: going to fast (aka speeding) and b: following too close

warning ticket... state highway patrol ...go figure

Brett_Murphy wrote: What are these tug boat bicycle videos?

Videos of different guys that installed those huge 3' boat horns in the back of their pick up and cruise by pedestrians. Just as they pass they blow that thing and most people either E36 M3 their pants or hits the deck or both. Those neon-wearing cyclist gangs need a dose of this: (train horn, not boat horn I guess)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=in8oEkfhKP0

Could be foul language in the video It'd be funny to get the cyclists with this thing. Some of these other victims (like the younger kids, not so much).

This afternoon's commute home reminded me of this one:

People who don't know how to treat a traffic-light intersection when the power is out.