80 in a 70 is speeding, it needs to stop.

Not a fan of DRL's either, but I guess the genie is already out of the bottle on that one.  I'm sure they help in certain situations, but the overall effect is a wash IMO.  Gains at the expense of others (motorcycles and non DRL cars).  Some of the super bright DRLs out there, those are the worst.

Now high mount brake lights are wonderful.   I think I see at least one car per drive where its the only functioning bulb of the three.   Also, all the stupidly designed cars where the turn signals are the SAME two bulbs as the brake lights, the 3rd brake light is the only way to tell whats really going on.

I think motorcycles should all run Enduro style one white, one yellow duals.  Or the side lamps yellows on single headlight bikes.  Dual whites look like a distant car because of the close distance between the two lamps. Or a single white can look like a really distant car.  Then you get guys turning left in front of you, or pulling out of driveways.  With the yellows its easier to tell you're a motorcycle.

8valve said:  Also, all the stupidly designed cars where the turn signals are the SAME two bulbs as the brake lights, the 3rd brake light is the only way to tell whats really going on.

You can thank the American automakers for that one... they lobbied to allow rear turn signals to be red instead of amber like on the front.  So you don't know if that vehicle ahead of you is braking with a bulb out or signaling to change into your lane without watching for a bit.

I have had exactly two cars without amber rear turns, and I refuse to own another.  Greatly prefer cars with side repeaters, too, which mostly limits me to European.

Wait.  Crud.  The RX-3 might have red bulbs all around.  I wonder how hard J-spec taillights would be to find...

red rear turn signals are ok, as long as they are separate lamps. I do agree with those that link turn, brake, and driving lamp chores onto one lamp though. Seems a silly idea just to save a few cents in wiring. I also like side repeaters, though I am not sure everyone knows that they do,

Also, I won't do 80. In the disco any speed over 70 impacts a serious MPG hit. at 70 mph I am sitting at 12 mpg, once I get above that speed, it drops to single digits.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson :

And I have driven cars in the last 10 yrs. that didn't have them.   Also when out in the real world, I would say that there are more that don't .

Not to get into the DRL portion of the show, but I think lights in general have gotten way too bright.  And that includes head and tail lights.  Once you cruise past 40 years old, they start to look like a sea of massive blobs.  I was behind an Audi the other day and once it hit the brake lights, all depth perception went out the window.  Even my wife looked at it and said wtf.  Not to pick on Audi as there are plenty of new cars with insane bright lights.  I personally think they creating more of a hazard.   

There is no missing me in your mirror when I ride.  I'm going to get yellow film for the two driving lights under the stock headlights just to differentiate more.  I figure a bright triangle of lights makes sure they know it's a bike.  As a Californian who lane splits I need to make sure I look like a bike in the mirror, not just a car drifting over in a lane.

In reply to racerdave600 :

Much as I’d like it to the clock isn’t going to turn back.  Bright lights, daylight running lights. Crowded highways with mindless drivers who don’t see motorcycles, Well it seems like I’ve heard all this my whole life. 

Me?  I do what I can,   try to see motorcycles.  Try to obey the rules of the road like stay right except to pass,  and hope for the day when driverless cars controlled by computer get here before I lose my license

Knurled. said:

8valve said:  Also, all the stupidly designed cars where the turn signals are the SAME two bulbs as the brake lights, the 3rd brake light is the only way to tell whats really going on.

 

You can thank the American automakers for that one... they lobbied to allow rear turn signals to be red instead of amber like on the front.  So you don't know if that vehicle ahead of you is braking with a bulb out or signaling to change into your lane without watching for a bit.

 

I have had exactly two cars without amber rear turns, and I refuse to own another.  Greatly prefer cars with side repeaters, too, which mostly limits me to European.

 

Wait.  Crud.  The RX-3 might have red bulbs all around.  I wonder how hard J-spec taillights would be to find...

I think my only one is the truck, and I get really nervous when I have to brake hard. 

akylekoz said:

Don't even think of driving through Wisconsin.  I had to caution my wife before switching drivers, beware there will be cars in both lanes next to each other for 50 miles at a time going 54 mph, you will want to push them or shoot your self.  She was swearing within five minutes.

I think they see a car without a front plate and block it!!?  Does Wisconsin even have front plates?  A good rant anyway.

Yes we have front plates. And the rule here is not " STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS " but it's "SLOW TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT". So the derpy driver that thinks there is at least one slower person in the right lane than themselves, will sit in the left lane. berkeley. It's annoying. This is also the reason I don't go on the highway during the morning/evening commute. I don't think I've regularly done that in 10 years. I'll give myself an extra 5 minutes to drive through the countryside  in exchange for not pulling my hair out and boiling my blood out of my ears behind the left lane moron driving the same speed as the semi in the slow lane for the next 5 miles.

I find that 5 mph over is completely acceptable and the police will let you pass them without even batting an eye. (I'd probably try to only go the speed limit in an active school zone, however).

Duke said:

Toebra said:

Duke said:

Did I say that?  No.  What I said was that the "solution" creates a worse problem without actually fixing the original issue.

It does not create a worse problem and it mitigates the issue it addresses

I comprehensively disagree with both halves of your statement.  But I've said my piece, and I won't belabor it further.

...And most of the studies utilizing actual data would seem to disagree with your opinion.

Driving on i35 in my excursion has made me the slow guy. While the rest of Texas is doing 80-90mph, I'm here doing 65 and often that is under the speed limit. But, at 70mph aerodynamics and gearing kills my mpg's so I rather just cruise in the right lane. Sometimes, I drive my wife's 180hp Fusion and feel like the car is super fast. I find myself in the left lane feeling like I'm going stupid fast!

In reply to RossD :

Hey, fellow Wisconsinite here. SLOW TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT means those people that are driving under the speed limit. So, when I'm doing 72 in the left lane of a 70 zone, just back the berk off, m'kay. I'm speeding. 

Arrrgh, that verbiage annoys the hell out of me. But, imagine the uproar over the cost to taxpayers, if the state decided to change all the signs to proper KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS.

80 in a 70 is the norm in MI, but there are places that 75 is the limit and guess what 80 is still the norm.  Now speedway out of Detroit is another story 90 is the norm.  I have yet to head west without getting passed no matter how fast I go.  Just to prove it I cruised at around 95-100 in the old Volvo and got passed by two girls in a Ford, I tried to keep up but after 100 to 115 for 15 miles barely keeping them in my sights.

I feel like as you leave the city crawling along at 45-55 people just slowly go faster as they get further out of the city, then it's like you are escaping a magnetic field or there is less atmosphere to push and speed just happens.

We used to joke that I-285 around ATL meant you had 2 drive 85.

I was coming around on the SW loop late one night (tired) and a freaking cop was hugged up against the median running radar.  His car was sticking out in the lane I was in.  This was way before cell phones or I would have been blowing up *HP or whatever they call it there.    

I was stopped by a Sheriff's deputy for doing 80 in a 65 zone.  Not much of a defense, but I thought I was in a 70 zone. 

Normally I don't drive that fast, but having driven several times through Virginia and been frustrated by the long "trains" of cars that stay in the left lane, when I saw a chance to get out from behind a slow moving line in the right lane... I took it.  I sped up to 80 to get beyond that rolling roadblock as quickly as possible.  Just my luck that the other drivers were going slowly on that particular stretch of road because it was a speed trap of sorts. 

I don't weave in and out of traffic, but will be honest and say I have in the past. I stopped, mostly because I found it caused me to feel more frustrated and I realized that I usually didn't get to my destination appreciably faster. 

In reply to Carsandbikes :

Let’s be honest,  Highway deaths are down massively all over the country even though cars are going faster and faster.  

Once driverless cars become the norm speeds will increase dramatically while deaths will be reduced.  It’s the only way our present sized infrastructure will be able to handle future population growth. 

While it’s true we can plow over farm land and tear down homes to build ever wider roads to deal with traffic  there comes a point where concrete wastelands dramatically decreases the quality of our lives.  

Why would speeds increase dramatically?  

I like 2 wheelers, but would never want to ride on the street.  It is bad enough in an invisible Miata.

Peak speeds will likely not increase, certainly as long as any human operated vehicles remain on the road.  Hopefully, average speeds will increase.  In a truly information sharing autonomous car universe, a single lane blockage three miles up the interstate will be accounted for in the movement of traffic unable to see it for several minutes.   Cars will simply zipper over and maintain their current speeds, unlike now when truly inattentive drivers run right up to the back of the blockage, stop, and try to merge into a forest of looky-lous...

In reply to Toebra :

Human reaction times will be no longer a factor so cars can be bumper to bumper at the speed limit set by a computer not some government committee.  Human caused accidents will be a thing of the past. Lane discipline will dramatically improve to the point where 3 lanes will become 4 or even 5 lanes.  

In reply to frenchyd :

Bumper to bumper is incredibly dangerous.  How do you change lanes?

Part of the reason you want a 2-3 second gap is so people can change lanes.

(largest irritation on the road: people driving NEXT to other people.  That's way dangerous)

if it is all computer controlled, the car you are in will signal the ones next to it and they will imperceptively slow enough to open a gap just big enough for your car, which will then slide over to fill said gap.

Computer controlled highways will also increase MPGs simply due to drafting

In reply to mad_machine :

It’s fun to try to think of all the things that will change once that happens.  I for one won’t miss driving in rush hour traffic.  I’ll save my driving for the track. 

I drive the PA Turnpike everyday to work and with a speed limit of 70 even though you'll get your doors blown off if you are not doing 80. I just try to stay with traffic and not get fun off the road.

Sucks/sad state of society where we have to spend all this money, brain power, time, and resources to save dumb un-attentive people from themselves.

Would be alot different if it were legal to punch idiots doing idiotic things in the face.  They wouldn't do that dumb thing again.

If you know your turn/exit is coming up on the right in 1 mile, get over in time, instead of waiting until the last second and causing havoc and a dangerous situation for everyone driving near you.

In reply to onemanarmy :

Too many people worry about others short comings and fail to understand we are all less than perfect.  Even great race car drivers make mistakes the good ones even admit it and try not to do it again.