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Women. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em.

Post by Keavy »

So I made the biggest mistake of my life: I lent my car to a very pretty yet not very bright young lady who happens to be my new girlfriend.

I say "not very bright" because she drove around all day Tuesday with the parking brake on. No, I am not kidding. Apparently the smell of burnt brake pads, the sluggish acceleration, and the incredible amount of heat emanating from the back of the car didn't tip her off that something was horribly wrong.

Because I'm a nice guy I agreed to ask my dad to do the needed work and in return I would only ask that she buy the parts needed. The nearby tire shop wanted $600 for the parts and labor and the service and parts lady who works at the dealership I bought the car from said "You don't wanna know." See, growing up we never had a new car. We always had some used junker and my dad spent most of his time fixing our family car and he can fix anything on any car.

So we assess the damage (Rotors were shot and the pads were nonexistent) and after making some calls to see who had the needed parts she heads off to the auto parts store with the needed info and returns with the wrong parts. See, my car has disc brakes. She got pads and rotors for drum brakes and the rotors she came back with were bigger than my tires! My dad and I head off to the parts store and learn she wasn't the problem: the auto parts store clerk was. He asked us five times for the year, make, and model and five times we told him. Each time, after we responded, he asked "So, is that a Ford, Chevy, or a GMC truck?" we responded "Its a Hyundai and its not a truck, its a sedan."

After fifteen minutes it seems like he finally got it through his head what kind of car I own and we find out that the parts we needed (well, we hoped they were the right parts) were in the distribution center and we'd have to wait because he had to special order them. We asked if we could just pick them up because the car was not in a drivable condition and we couldn't leave it where it was over the weekend. He makes some calls and we got the OK to pick them up at the distribution center.

Now comes the fun of finding the place because his directions suck. We eventually got there and yes, we finally got the right parts and best of all, we got a discount!

The problems didn't end there. The new rotors went on no problem but the new pads were a problem. The brake piston would not release and with the pistons in their current position we couldn't get the new pads on. We were worried that the heat from the friction that ruined the old brakes and rotors had seized them because after an hour of yelling, cursing, breaking many wrenches trying to get the pistons to retract, and bleeding the brake lines with the hope that that would release the pistons (it didn't) we were both near homicidal. Then, an angel appeared. Actually, he was a guy whose car had broken down nearby who was looking for a phone to use. He leaned over my shoulder and said "Oh, yeah. Just turn the piston head like a screw." :oops:

It worked. Yes, it was just that simple. Ten minutes later, we had one side completely done. Other side took us another fifteen minutes and we replaced the brake fluid and then bled the air out of the lines. Finally, I have a working car again!

All in all, it was a fun day. My knuckles are bloody, my back and arms are killing me, and I'm sunburnt from spending most of the day fighting with that damn piston but I did get to hang out with my dad, which was fun, and the newest love of my life learned an expensive lesson she won't soon forget.
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Post by Sugami »

Amen brother.

Women drivers, huh? Not sure what's worse, a woman behind the driver's seat or one navigating with a map :lol: (okay enough of the sexist jokes :P).

I did the same thing only it didn't screw up the car. I learnt on a Nissan Micra and the hand break would spring down once you push in the button and pull it up so don't really need any force. After passing I drove a bit in my mum's car, Vauxhall Corsa, and when disengaging the hand breaks you need to push it all the way down. So one day when driving with my mum I noticed the was a kinda burning smell and the hand break light was still on, whoops.
No damage done (I think) since we still use that car today, the hand break was have only been partially engaged and must have only been driving with it on for 10 minutes or so.
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Post by Kahvi »

Men are only women with a mutant chromosome so homo sapiens can breed without resorting to asexual reproduction
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Post by ScarlettPheonix »

Sugami wrote:Amen brother.

Women drivers, huh? Not sure what's worse, a woman behind the driver's seat or one navigating with a map :lol: (okay enough of the sexist jokes :P).
My husband's and my driving records would argue differently~ and unlike my husband, I passed Land Nav as a first time go :lol:
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Post by Rishutlaw »

:lol: :lol: :lol: hahahaha, wow that would suck. I don't have my driver's license yet, but I'm smarter than that. Doesn't a light come on if the park brake is on? (for newer cars).
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Post by Keavy »

Rishutlaw wrote::lol: :lol: :lol: hahahaha, wow that would suck. I don't have my driver's license yet, but I'm smarter than that. Doesn't a light come on if the park brake is on? (for newer cars).
Yes, but apparently it wasn't bright enough?

Anyways, I'm gonna have that fixed. I'll slap a headlight bulb in that thing.
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Post by Alya Mizar (Tsybil) »

Keavy wrote:
Rishutlaw wrote::lol: :lol: :lol: hahahaha, wow that would suck. I don't have my driver's license yet, but I'm smarter than that. Doesn't a light come on if the park brake is on? (for newer cars).
Yes, but apparently it wasn't bright enough?
Perhaps she wasn't bright enough.
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Post by Sugami »

ScarlettPheonix wrote:My husband's and my driving records would argue differently~ and unlike my husband, I passed Land Nav as a first time go :lol:
Well there are exceptions of course :P You're an (ex-)military girl so you kinda need(ed) those skills :P
Tsybil wrote:Perhaps she wasn't bright enough.
:lol: :rofl:

Think you hit the nail bang on the head :lol:
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Post by Keavy »

Tsybil wrote:
Keavy wrote:
Rishutlaw wrote::lol: :lol: :lol: hahahaha, wow that would suck. I don't have my driver's license yet, but I'm smarter than that. Doesn't a light come on if the park brake is on? (for newer cars).
Yes, but apparently it wasn't bright enough?
Perhaps she wasn't bright enough.
In her defense she's only 19
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Post by Fiye »

Keavy wrote: In her defense she's only 19
I show sh*t about cars, but I know enough that if something is burning. Somethings happening that shouldn't.

I mean, Driving for several hours with that burn smell. There has got to be more than just a few problems with her sense of thinking.

Though, I know quite a bit about computers, so some things do translate over. Mostly smelling the burning of metal.
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Post by Tianshii »

I'm a woman and I have a perfect driving record. :x
Not only that but I drive stick... I would imagine THAT would render this 19 year old who doesn't understand the e-break should be down/off when driving into such a confused state she might forget how to get out of the car... :roll:
I never let my boyfriend, friends or family members (except my brother who is a mechanic) drive my car EVER. Reason being... stupid crap like what Keavy's GF did.
If something is going to happen, I'm going to be the one driving it, nobody else. Cars (and the freakin' gas these days *hisss*) cost WAY too much to let anyone else behind the wheel, in my opinion.

The worst drivers I have ever seen are... well 2 kinds... men behind the wheel of some kind of truck or SUV (oh and what's up w/ the ones who like... sit on the center consol when they drive a sedan??) and elderly people who can barely see over the steering wheel :(

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I'm currently paying off a very sexy black on black subaru impreza RS2.0 Weeee~~~~ :D + new tires that tear through snow & rain. I never thought I could "love" a car so much lol <3
The bad thing: 80mph (or so) feels EXACTLY like 55mph :oops: (so does 60 on a bend w/ a suggested speed of 30 >.> )
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Post by ScarlettPheonix »

Warning signs I've known my husband to ignore: burning metal, rubber or oil. Smoke coming from places that shouldn't smoke, that funny screeching that sounds like that stray cat that likes to seranade outside my bedroom window after midnight...
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Post by Alya Mizar (Tsybil) »

Keavy wrote:
Tsybil wrote:
Keavy wrote: Yes, but apparently it wasn't bright enough?
Perhaps she wasn't bright enough.
In her defense she's only 19
No excuse. 19 is an excuse for things that you learn with experience. At 19 I learned not to drink without eating something, but I already knew how to rebuild a Volkswagen engine, cook elegant meals, and sew complex garments.

Knowing that something was burning by the smell and identifying that as something wrong, I think I learned that at 5.

Rishutlaw, cars had that light in the '50s.
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Post by Okuza »

Driving all day with the parking break on is damn blonde. Tell her that it's OK to think now and then.

--

Scariest drivers on the road are, imho, women driving an SUV. Paritcularly, but not exclusively, women driving an SUV with brats in the back. It's never a guy in those things. I almost got hit by one a while ago on my bicycle. I was going a little over 30mph (limit is 30, but most folks drive 40 in this spot) and taking up the entire lane to make sure people didn't hit me. Didn't help.

This woman in a huge SUV approaches the road from a side street. She doesn't even slow down for the stop sign and proceeds to drive right into me. Fortunately, I had two lanes and no cars to my left, so I move over to avoid being creamed. Now, being the totally clueless idiot that she is, what does she do?

She decides she needs to change lanes. No signal. Right into me. I'm right next to the driver's side window and there's nowhere else for me to go. So, I turn to her and yell at the very top of my lungs (this is *really* loud) "WATCH OUT!".

Oh, lucky day. Her window was *open*. My yell was 2 inches from her ear. She turns white as a sheet, slams on the brakes and hauls the car to the right, almost crashing into a light post. It was like she was totally unaware that there might be other people on the road at all. I wonder how many people she's killed? :roll:
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Post by Sugami »

Scary, this is why I only ride my bike on the pavements.

If she had killed anyone by reckless driving she'd have her license taken away and probably stayed in jail for a duration of time.
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Post by Kahvi »

Sugami wrote:Scary, this is why I only ride my bike on the pavements.

If she had killed anyone by reckless driving she'd have her license taken away and probably stayed in jail for a duration of time.
Unless she happened to be a member of a state or federal congress... >.> we had a big stink about something like that in my state before and the "murderer" only got a slap on the wrists because he was a senator.

Also, (although it isnt enforced in my area or prolly many other places) according to the vehicle code in my state, bikes are supposed to be on the street only.
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Post by Alya Mizar (Tsybil) »

Okuza, I call those kinds of drivers Frogs.

Frogs only use their eyes to hunt. They LITERALLY do not see anything that is isn't food sized, moving, and in tongue range.

Frog drivers only look for cars. If it isn't a car, they don't see it. They slam into bikes, motorcycles, trucks, pedestrians, and buses. Standard frog quote: "I didn't see it".

Motorcyclists have been known to shout "you wouldn't have done that if I was a semi" (That's an articulated lorry to you Brits.) But the frogs on the road would.

For decades the standard car was described as three boxes. Hood, passenger compartment, trunk. When the two box cars (Austin Minis, VW Rabbits, etc.) first got onto the road, they were involved in accidents far out of proportion to their numbers. The frogs behind the wheels didn't see them, they weren't cars in those myopic frog eyes.

Just understand that no mater what you drive or ride, every other driver on the road should be considered homicidal maniacs. And they have all just declared open season to you.
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Post by ScarlettPheonix »

Tsybil wrote:Just understand that no mater what you drive or ride, every other driver on the road should be considered homicidal maniacs. And they have all just declared open season to you.
Especially if you happen to find yourself driving up here in New England.
Native drivers up here are freaking insane. I never thought I'd prefer driving in ATL- home to Spaghetti Junction and the 2nd worst commute in the country.
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Post by Sugami »

Kahvi wrote:Also, (although it isnt enforced in my area or prolly many other places) according to the vehicle code in my state, bikes are supposed to be on the street only.
That's technically correct over here too. Unless you're basically a child you're meant to ride on the road or cycle path but I value my life too much.
Tsybil wrote:(That's an articulated lorry to you Brits.)
Articu-what? :lol:

If you guys think drivers are nuts where you live you should try driving in Cyprus. The one place where cats only have one life (yes I'm aware they don't actually have 9 lives :P), seriously you drive down a stretch of road and there are dead cats everywhere :cry: If you ever go on holiday to Cyprus don't take your cat with you :oops:

I have a bone to pick with you yanks and your highway laws or whatever. Drivers are allowed to go through red lights if they're making a right as long as it's "safe", ne? I remember when I was over there and we were waiting for the light to change to "WALK" (because it's too hard to associate a green man walking with walking apparently), took bloody ages... when it finally did change all the drivers kept driving through the red light so we couldn't cross and then it changed back to "DON'T WALK"... how bloody useless is that crossing?!
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Post by ScarlettPheonix »

Drivers are supposed to yield to pedestrians in cross walks, so you honestly could've just started walking when the WALK sign came on if the crosswalk was clear.

You didn't mention where you were in the states, but I'm guessing it was a large city? In my experience, most drivers won't wait for you to start walking so they'll just go regardless of what the crosswalk sign is saying.

None of which is worse than Korean drivers- they've been ranked in the top Ten of World's Worst Drivers in the past. I think the report that I read said that out of 1000 crashes- 12% ended up in fatalities or serious injuries? Compared to America or Japan which were like 3 and 4% fatalities or serious injuries for every 1000 crashes. It was awhile ago so I may be wrong on the numbers, but it was a big difference.

The traffic laws there are based on US traffic laws, but they ignore them. 40 kmh reads to them 80 mph I swear. Stop signs, red lights and other traffic lights are ignored willfully, pedestrians walk across even the busiest streets in Soeul without looking (a bad habit I still catch myself doing), double parking on a major throughfare is common, and driving behind over-loaded delivery trucks and cargo trucks is taking your life in your hands.

Even after I moved from Soeul into the more rural town next to Camp Humphries, it was the same just on narrower streets. Every ten days from March until Dec there would be a Farmer's Market in town- in a town of maybe 10 major streets (re: paved) 7 of them would be closed off for the market and the other 3 would be reduced to single lane traffic because everyone would have double parked on both sides of the street.

After 9-11 and security being heightened on post, my husband and I started riding bikes into work- it was quicker. Immediatly after the attacks, it'd take hours to get onto post sometimes with cars backed up for miles :roll:
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Post by Keavy »

The absolute worst area for driving is Downtown Sacramento. One-way streets, roundabouts, and a ton of pedestrian traffic make navigating through the area a nightmare. If you ever have a court case downtown or get Jury duty and arrive in downtown fifteen minutes before you're due there, you're screwed. Parking is non-existent thanks to the sheer volume of businesses and state offices in the area and if you can get a parking space in one of our lovely $4 an hour poorly lit parking garages which are conveniently located by the shopping plaza (about fifteen blocks from the courthouse) you then have to fight the mass of humanity and pissed-off drivers who are trying to figure out how to get from where they are to where they want to go and no matter where you are or where you're headed you eventually discover that you took the wrong way to get there and your stress just melts away when you see a tourist go the wrong way on a one-way street and get yelled at by a pissed-off courier who was supposed to have delivered a package fifteen minutes before they (the courier) received it. :lol:

Up where I live its gotten pretty bad, too. We have three major shopping plazas all connected by one road. Go left for the one with Wal-Mart and the cineplex, go right for the one with Target and Best Buy, go straight for the one with the restaurants and pity the poor fool who ventured out here at seven on a saturday night for an extension cord and a box of microwave popcorn because no matter which way he goes he's going to circle the parking lot five times, fight for a spot, then fight through the mass of humanity to find that the store he chose is out of extension cords and microwave popcorn and by the time he makes it to the other store he discovers that they too are victims of the extension cord and microwave popcorn shortage.

Oh, and the best part of all? There's only one way in and out of the two larger shopping centers (on the left and right) and backups are common with people merging at the last second. :roll:

When it comes to the thing I hate the most in California its definitely the drive through the mountains to Santa Cruz. My only surviving grandparent lives there (she appreciates it when her grandchildren who can't afford to live there come and visit. I can't afford Sacramento on my own so how in the hell could I ever hope to afford to live in a coastal town?) and the Boardwalk seriously kicks ass and has the only arcade in all of Northern California to feature the four-player cabinets for all of Konami's excellent early-to-mid 90's beat-em-up arcade games so its totally worth it. The road is narrow, its on the edge of a cliff, the area is prone to rockslides in the winter and there's lots of tight corners and lots of natives who are so comfortable driving through the area they'll fly past you at 70MPH while honking and flipping you off if you dare go the speed limit and brake for the tight corners.

So I think its safe to assume that everywhere in the world has godawful drivers. The ones where we live just take precedence with us because they could someday kill us with their stupidity.
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Post by Tivia »

ScarlettPheonix wrote:
Tsybil wrote:Just understand that no mater what you drive or ride, every other driver on the road should be considered homicidal maniacs. And they have all just declared open season to you.
Especially if you happen to find yourself driving up here in New England.
Native drivers up here are freaking insane. I never thought I'd prefer driving in ATL- home to Spaghetti Junction and the 2nd worst commute in the country.
I live and work in Atl, we are slightly insane drivers yes. New England however...Psychotic is the word that comes to mind.

My personal experience here has taught me this.
-Woman in SUV + Cell phone = You move or she runs you over, I drive a Midsized car, which happens to be Bright red and they just do not ever see me. I have been literally Run off the road and into the median at least two dozen times in the past 3 years, every single time it was a woman in an SUV on a damned cellphone. Add insult to injury this group makes up 40% of the drivers on the road easily.
-Men in a Pickup truck on a Cell Phone = Plan on them drifting into you at some point. While they do not necesarly drive like they own the road, they just seem to forget they are on it at all. Fortunately they are kind of rare.
-Old People..in any form of motorized vehicle. Ok seriously Can we pass a law please that forces anyone over 60 to take a Mandatory driver awareness test to Validate they are Capable of driving safe? If they are capable fine, but there are far too many who are simply incapable of operating a car within the boundries of safety. God help us if they are attempting to use a Cell Phone in addition.

The sad part is I consider most teenage drivers safer then the above three groups. Usually anytime I see a teen in an accident they only took themselves out, which I am just fine with (Natural selection at its best). I follow the rule that every other driver is a frickin lunatic, I have avoided countless accidents because of this.

Back OT.
No offence, but as Tsybil said. 19 is not an excuse, that is straight up obliviousness. I would ordinarly use a different term, but I am being nice today. Do yourself a favor if she is the love of your life. Do the driving for her unless absolute necessity dictates otherwise, you will save yourself alot of stress.
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Post by Kahvi »

from personal experience from working in the DMV, right turns on red are allowed but it can be different from state to state. same thing with left turns on occasion, but once more certain conditions must be met. (in my area, left turns on red are only allowed from a one-way road onto another one-way road)

Also, when turns on red are not allowed, its usually posted. Drivers are supposed to yeild to pedestrians... but half the drivers out there are idiots that I didn't give the license test to. The other half are prolly okay drivers, but live no where near me.
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Post by Igihstehr »

Tivia wrote:Especially if you happen to find yourself driving up here in New England.
Native drivers up here are freaking insane. I never thought I'd prefer driving in ATL- home to Spaghetti Junction and the 2nd worst commute in the country.
OMG! So very true. RI and MA drivers are the worst I've seen anywhere in the country. If you're not hauling @$$ at 80MPH on I-95 in those states you're practiaclly inviting someone to ride on your bumper and flash their lights at you. ...Or on the other extreme, if you're stuck in the gridlock from Bridgeport to Darien at 8 A.M. and 5 P.M. and don't wedge yourself in front of other drivers, you could find yourself sitting in one spot for a ridiculously long time.

The only thing worse is the condition of the roads - they get so much wear and tear and then you have the 90º humid hell in the summer and the bone-chilling winters and sometimes quite a bit of snow. Road repair is a constant ever-present nuisance.

I used to have to commute from Norwich to Norwalk which is 2 hours of driving on a good day... I am so glad I don't have to do that anymore.
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Okuza
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Post by Okuza »

Kahvi wrote:Also, (although it isnt enforced in my area or prolly many other places) according to the vehicle code in my state, bikes are supposed to be on the street only.
Yeah, street only. Another pet peeve of mine are bikers that don't ride in the street and/or don't follow the traffic rules; eg. they run stop signs and lights. Personally, I've found that the more you behave *exactly* like a car when you're biking, the better the traffic will treat you. Always stop at signs, always signal turns, take the ENTIRE lane when you're traveling the speed limit, etc. etc..

I do that to build up a habit for following the regs, too. In a race when you're tired and not thinking as clearly as you might, you really don't want to have a habit of doing something that will get you DQ'd (or killed).
Sugami wrote:I have a bone to pick with you yanks and your highway laws or whatever. Drivers are allowed to go through red lights if they're making a right as long as it's "safe", ne? I remember when I was over there and we were waiting for the light to change to "WALK" (because it's too hard to associate a green man walking with walking apparently), took bloody ages... when it finally did change all the drivers kept driving through the red light so we couldn't cross and then it changed back to "DON'T WALK"... how bloody useless is that crossing?!
Heh. One thing to remember is that the laws of physics are greater than the laws of man. A 1200lb car making a right turn illegally (when pedestrian has one foot in crosswalk, it's illegal) always wins over a 150lb person insisting on his rights.

Oh, and enforcement is soooo fickle, too. There's this one crosswalk where a cop has set up shop. All he does all day is wait for a pedestrian to step on the walk, then he writes a ticket for anyone that doesn't stop. Ped in walk = all cars must stop and let ped cross. Like all laws, it's silly when taken to extremes, but it's certainly keeping this cop in donuts.

BTW, here's another trick I use for keeping the cars in line: slam your hand onto the hood or bonnet if it looks like the driver isn't paying attention. I usually only do this while running and car looks like it's about to turn into me (usually at those stop-signs that some cars seem to think mean "pause for 0.2s" instead of "stop"), but have done it a couple times on a bike, too. It *really* wakes 'em up.

Cars are the enemy. They really are out to get you.
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Post by Alya Mizar (Tsybil) »

Keavy wrote:When it comes to the thing I hate the most in California its definitely the drive through the mountains to Santa Cruz..... The road is narrow, its on the edge of a cliff, the area is prone to rockslides in the winter and there's lots of tight corners and lots of natives who are so comfortable driving through the area they'll fly past you at 70MPH while honking and flipping you off if you dare go the speed limit and brake for the tight corners.
Those are some of my all time favorite roads Keavy. You can blast along at trans warp speeds, the roads are in fine condition, very scenic, lots of fun, and the California drivers who notice you coming up fast behind them (not near all of them notice anything, true) will pull to the right to let you by.
Tivia wrote:Ok seriously Can we pass a law please that forces anyone over 60 to take a Mandatory driver awareness test to Validate they are Capable of driving safe?
Not just old people please. Everyone should have to re take the driving test every 5 - 10 years. With critiques on the part they were poor on even if they passed the whole thing. Kinda like the Biannual Flight Review that all pilots have to go through. People get into bad habits easily.
Okuza wrote:BTW, here's another trick I use for keeping the cars in line: slam your hand onto the hood or bonnet if it looks like the driver isn't paying attention. I usually only do this while running and car looks like it's about to turn into me (usually at those stop-signs that some cars seem to think mean "pause for 0.2s" instead of "stop"), but have done it a couple times on a bike, too. It *really* wakes 'em up.

Cars are the enemy. They really are out to get you.
I do that one too. Highly effective.

The sad part is they are not really out to get you, most of them don't even know you exist. Or care it seems.
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Post by Okuza »

The problem with driving tests is that they're a lot more concerned with how precisely you follow the laws than with how safe you are.

For instance, do you put your turn signal on for 3s BEFORE you change lanes? That would be suicide in today's highway traffic, but it's what you're supposed to do.

A lot of people change lanes while slowing down, too, which is just awful. They're basically changing lanes into their blind spot. To be safe, you have to accelerate into any change -- gotta leave your blind spot behind and only drive into areas that you can see (or more exactly, are most recently aware of seeing).

I like your Frog analogy. Way too many french drivers out there.
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Post by Keavy »

Tsybil wrote:
Keavy wrote:When it comes to the thing I hate the most in California its definitely the drive through the mountains to Santa Cruz..... The road is narrow, its on the edge of a cliff, the area is prone to rockslides in the winter and there's lots of tight corners and lots of natives who are so comfortable driving through the area they'll fly past you at 70MPH while honking and flipping you off if you dare go the speed limit and brake for the tight corners.
Those are some of my all time favorite roads Keavy. You can blast along at trans warp speeds, the roads are in fine condition, very scenic, lots of fun, and the California drivers who notice you coming up fast behind them (not near all of them notice anything, true) will pull to the right to let you by.
I really really do not like dealing with police officers so I always do the speed limit and the drivers I have an issue with are the ones who seem to think that the speed limit is a "suggestion" not the law. Sorry if you don't like how I drive, but I don't have the extra money to pay for a traffic ticket and my insurance is bad enough as it is.
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Post by Alya Mizar (Tsybil) »

I don't mind how you drive Keavy, and as long as you let the police handle your objections about how I drive we will get along fine.

I am proud of my driving skills, not my record, and my insurance rates seem enough punishment. My only defense is that my lead foot has genetic origins. My mom still gets tickets.

I remind myself of a retired race horse. Example. When on a long straight road, when I see a car appear way in front of me, my foot automatically goes down 1/4 inch on the loud pedal. It is not at all logical, I am already overtaking, there is no need to increase my speed, but I do. OK, then I back off, but that it is an automatic response irritates the **** out of me.

Without cruse control I probably wouldn't have a license. Again.
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Post by Sugami »

ScarlettPheonix wrote:Drivers are supposed to yield to pedestrians in cross walks, so you honestly could've just started walking when the WALK sign came on if the crosswalk was clear.

You didn't mention where you were in the states, but I'm guessing it was a large city? In my experience, most drivers won't wait for you to start walking so they'll just go regardless of what the crosswalk sign is saying.
Well where I come from people stop at red lights and pedestrian crossings. Pelican crossings (the one with lights) cars MUST stop even if the pedestrian ran across before the lights turned red and zebra crossings (black and white painted across the road) cars MUST stop if someone is waiting to cross or has a foot on it and 99.9% of the time they will.

BTW I was in Orlando Florida and cars seemed to be going to fast to stop in time for a pedestrian to walk across.
Okuza wrote:Heh. One thing to remember is that the laws of physics are greater than the laws of man. A 1200lb car making a right turn illegally (when pedestrian has one foot in crosswalk, it's illegal) always wins over a 150lb person insisting on his rights.
Exactly, I barely trust UK drivers I sure as hell don't trust you yanks, not gonna walk out onto the road and hope they'll stop :oops:
I like your Frog analogy. Way too many french drivers out there.
:lol: God damn Frenchies! :lol: :rofl:
Tysbil wrote:Without cruse control I probably wouldn't have a license. Again.
We don't have cruse control 'cause we barely have any straight roads :P "Again"? :oops: :?
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