Has everyone become blind?

BBsGarage wrote: Backing out of parking spots from between SUV's and mini vans, you really can not see what is coming until your almost past them. I usually back out pretty slow and still have had some close encounters. People just dont get, that if you can not see me(the person not the car) I more then likely can not see your car.

This. I can't see around the massive mother berkeleying stupid piece of E36 M3 SUVs that everyone decides that they have drive for some stupid reason. I will park way out from the doors by no one and still when I come out I swear I am always surround by the stupid things.

You back into someone, and you will be found at fault if the police are called. If you're out of the parking spot, and they hit you in the side, then they're at fault. Generally speaking, of course.

MA$$hole wrote: Always give the truckers room, I'm even that guy that will hold up a lane of traffic to let them merge.

A couple of years ago I was on 422 heading out of reading PA. I was coming up on a construction zone and sitting in the lane that ended was a Semi. By the time I was able to get up to him.. he had been sitting there ten minutes and nobody had let him in... so I did the decent thing and stopped traffic for all of 10 seconds to let him pull into the lane.

The guy behind me lost his mind. He started laying on the horn, flashing his lights and shouting and waving at me.

The contruction zone was only a 1/10 of a mile before it opened up into two lanes again. This entire time the guy behind me is on my bumper and not getting any happier.. so I followed the semi into the right "slow" lane and Mr Happy pulls up next to me and lets loose a tirade at me while doing 50mph

I smile, waved, and if my bmw had not had anti-locks.. would have locked them up. I was not going to play and I certainly was not going to find out if the guy had a gun or not.. because he was pissed enough to use if it he had.

All because I held him up ten seconds to let a truck out..

Yes, they are.

dean1484 wrote: See and accident involving a tractor trailer and you will gain respect. People just don't understand the laws of physics. 80,000 lbs does not stop or change direction like a 3,000 lb car.

OMG physics is all about MATH and MAaath is HAAAaaarrdd.

best one I saw was a girl in a honda civic who tried to make a left inside of a semi making left..

Of course the semi had to run wide to make the intersection, that is when she tried to get through.. the rear carriage ran right over the hood of her honda as she tried to sneak through

As said above, I back into every parking space that i use, every single time I go anywhere. Back in or pull through, pulling in is a last last last resort. I developed this habit through working for the cable company and driving an E350 with no back window, and kept it when, at UPS, all employees were required to back into spaces.
It really makes a world of difference.

It does. I rarely, if ever, nose into a spot. I even back into my driveway

I started reading this thread, and was thinking - THIS is why I back into EVERY parking stall I park in.

If someone is following me through a parking lot, and I stop to back into a stall, they ~have~ to stop to let me back in. NOBODY stops to let me back out.

SkinnyG wrote: ... If someone is following me through a parking lot, and I stop to back into a stall, they ~have~ to stop to let me back in. NOBODY stops to let me back out.

this! plus visibility is a lot better moving forwards

The best one I had happen was some girl talking on the phone pull out of a parking lot,across three lanes of roadway and stop sideways in front of me looking the other way at oncoming traffic.Im loaded with two cars on a deck truck,flashing lights and all.stopped about 1 inch from her door.I hopped out to see if i had made contact,she is still looking the other way talking on the phone! I tap on the window of her car,she jumps! looks at the headlight 1 inch away,winds the window down and starts yelling,at me .You should have stopped quicker,you have more tires!!!I I said to her, good thing god made you pretty ,cause he sure didnt make you smart!

Years ago I was driving a '87 full size blazer, no doubt easy to see, traveling at 45 miles per hour in quite a bit of traffic. 16 year old girl in a 2 week old Geo Metro convertible slowly pulls straight out (I mean straight out, not even turning into the lane) in front of me from a parking lot. There was traffic in the lane next to me, traveling in the same direction, so I could not change lanes. I slammed on the brakes and moved over as much as I could, but my front passenger tire hit and rolled over the front drivers corner of her car. No real damage to mine except small paint smudges on the wheel center cap and tire. My tire though did a number on her front fender corner, bumper and hood. Had I not seen her when she first started to pull out, I would have surely t-boned and killed her. She said she never saw me. She must have missed the other 20 or so cars around me at the time as well.

just witnessed an accident last night...big 3 lane each way intersection. Light turns, traffic heading east/west stops, north/south begins to go. Some idgit heading east in a teensy lil Accent PILES at about 50 mph into the drivers door of a minivan taking off northbound ...I mean literally tried to drive thru the passenger compartment. It was a pretty violent wreck....she stood on the brakes maybe 20' before impact...barely a fraction of a second, locking all 4 up, smoke pouring out, fishtailing, nearly standing on its nose...the whole 9. My guess is she was trying to beat the red light, and realized waaay too late it wasnt gonna happen. How that driver in that minivan simply got out to brush the glass off his pants is beyond me...god bless engineers I guess. Both were ok, but i think about 11 or so bags popped in that Accent, her makeup was smeared all over the steering wheel bag...prolly saved her life. She claimed she never saw them - unreal

You know, the second vehicle I ever owned was a MASSIVE Dodge Ram 4x4. I learned in my first week of ownership that backing out of a parking space in that thing was simply a bear, so I started backing into spaces instead. Then I could just pull right out.

I've always backed into spaces since then, and I've never had an issue of not seeing someone when I pull out of my space. Don't people realize that it takes the same amount of time to back into a space as it does to back out of it? The difference is it is much easier to know what is behind you when you back into the space, since you can be pretty sure there's not a car or kid there as you pass it to line up the park.

4eyes wrote:

dean1484 wrote: See and accident involving a tractor trailer and you will gain respect. People just don't understand the laws of physics. 80,000 lbs does not stop or change direction like a 3,000 lb car.

OMG physics is all about MATH and MAaath is HAAAaaarrdd.

I nearly saw one like that just the other day. Following a Forester who is following a loaded semi car carrier along a local highway, one lane each direction, yellow line, fairly heavily travelled.

We come to an upgrade and a truck lane appears; Mr. Semi courteously moves into it. Forester promptly moves about halfway up the trailer length and dithers there for a while, then moves up the rest of the way. About 5 feet in front of the semi (and just at the end of the truck lane, when the guy was probably driving in his mirror to see if it was clear to move back over) the idiot in the Forester MAKES A RIGHT DIRECTLY ACROSS THE TRUCK LANE in order to turn into some McMansion neighborhood.

The truck driver promptly locked up about 16 of his 18 tires and slewed off to the left, narrowly missing the Forester. If I hadn't already been hanging back to let the semi over, he probably would have hit me. I felt like following the idiot in the Subaru and using my tire iron to make sure (s)he never drove again, purely out of support for the poor trucker.

Duke wrote: *I* felt like following the idiot in the [insert any car/truck/van/suv here] and using my tire iron to make sure (s)he never drove again, purely out of support for the poor everyone else on the road.

a thought that enters my mind daily...

slantvaliant wrote:

TRoglodyte wrote: This is why I always try to back in to a a parking spot when I arrive. Got in the habit at little league ball games.

In the Army, we called that "Combat Parking". Park so the first motion to get out is forward. It's also common practice in the oil field, presumably for "jump and run" emergencies. I use it when practical, especially when I can just pull through one space into another. Reversing is just so gauche ... There is no dignified way to do it.

It was also corporate policy in the paving company where I worked - at all their world wide affiliates. Backing in supposedly cut their minor accidents by like 75% company wide.

Of course, most people can't pull into a space straight, much less back in. If most of the stupid motherberkeleyers around here tried to back in there wouldn't be a car in the county with undented sides

mad_machine wrote: It's not so much cell phones.. but the "me me me!" generation that can;t see the world beyond the edge of their nose

My friend calls it "The Mr. Rogers Generation."

+1 to backing into spots. I rarely pull into a spot that isn't a pull-through spot or has no obstructions in front of it, so I can pull right out. Still doesn't do any good if Suzie and Sarah Soccer Mom park their Expeditions on either side of you, but that's another rant altogether

MA$$hole wrote: I have no sympathy for people in cars that get run over by trucks. They are bigger than you & can not react in the same way as your Prius. Always give the truckers room, I'm even that guy that will hold up a lane of traffic to let them merge. Heck my lifted Cherokee was totaled because some woman "didn't see me" & turned into my rear door as she was pulling into a market. I drove over her hood but the whole rear suspension of the Jeep got tweaked or snapped as well as tearing the driveshaft out of the yoke. How she did not see a lifted "clean" white Jeep with chrome wheels in bright daylight still confuses me.

You live in MA-She didn't see you because she didn't look, most likely because she's one of the 90% of Boston-area MA residents who are so incompetent behind the wheel that they should never have been given a license in the first place.

Also plus 1 on the ME ME ME generation comment.

It is a lot eaiser to maneuver my car (and trucks, I have found) backwards, because the vehicle pivots around the inside rear wheel.

I have noticed a lot of close-calls in lots with angled spaces. If people are looking, they look straight back, but not to the other side of the lane, where someone else may be backing out as well.

slantvaliant wrote: Reversing is just so gauche ... There is no dignified way to do it.

At speed, linked to a backwards J-turn. Just sayin' .

whenever I read a thread like this about horrid driving Im reminded about 2 comments made on this forum in the past...

1. that the NHTSA claims that increasing the ammount and quality of driver training has no impact on the number/severity of accidents in the US, so we all need nanny-fied cars and bubble wrapped everything

2. In many states, the legal jargon surrounding the term "Licensing" of drivers basically constitutes the state guaranteeing that you are a safe driver, and puts them on the hook to cover your accidents since they deemed you safe for the streets. If you have an at-fault accident, having been approved by the state, its the state that is liable...but good luck using that in front of a judge

Having said these points, they really dont add anything of value to the conversation. I just like to remind myself (and everyone else reading along) that the driver aptitude in America will never get better. We should all just concede that we will need to up-armor our vehicles in the future.

...I like to stir the pot

Problem I find with backing in at your typical big box store is the people behind you are so close, when you stop to back up they are in the way of you getting into the spot. Too close to go around you and cant/wont backup cause the person behind them is too close as well. So backing in is not always an option.

BBsGarage wrote: Problem I find with backing in at your typical big box store is the people behind you are so close, when you stop to back up they are in the way of you getting into the spot. Too close to go around you and cant/wont backup cause the person behind them is too close as well. So backing in is not always an option.

Then you're parking too close to the entrance.