Bad Drivers Suck.
And they make everything worse for all of us good drivers.
This is a great example of why we should increase the requirements for a driver's license. Limit the number of cars on the road and severely limit the number of people who drive like ass.
Anyone here a really bad driver that hangs out in the left lane? You make me sad.
Sorry, I wish this would become a political issue rather than Thanksgiving dinner in Iraq. Increase public transportation so people can rely less on their own cars. Actually make people earn the right to use an automobile.
Anyone else feel like this is the better direction to go? Anyone think we should just let everyone do what they want with less government restrictions?
This is a great example of why we should increase the requirements for a driver's license. Limit the number of cars on the road and severely limit the number of people who drive like ass.
Anyone here a really bad driver that hangs out in the left lane? You make me sad.
Sorry, I wish this would become a political issue rather than Thanksgiving dinner in Iraq. Increase public transportation so people can rely less on their own cars. Actually make people earn the right to use an automobile.
Anyone else feel like this is the better direction to go? Anyone think we should just let everyone do what they want with less government restrictions?
Comments
unlike germany, we have crappy public transportation. therefore to hold a job, odds are you need to be able to drive. make it harder to get a license and you'll literally be putting millions out of work.
second, if you wanted to charge $2,000 for driver's ed to make it worthwhile, that's fine. but then you'll have folks bleating about how you're just trying to price minorities and poor people out of their right to drive.
I think a lot of the bad driving in America boils down to most people thinking they 'own' the road. Hell, try making a lane change with your blinker on and 50% of the time the car behind you will speed up to make you pull 'behind' them. I don't get it.
Nevermind the first huge snowfall. Highway driving is insane. Huge SUVs barreling past you at 90 miles an hour...only to be ass end in the median when you pass them 10 minutes later. That's the best thing about winter for me.
And they think that the people who drive the speed limit, use their blinkers, etc., are the bad drivers.
Originally posted by alcimedes
their right to drive.
It's a right? I always thought it was deemed a privlege.
Better driver education can be had at little more cost IMO. Also I think real/better enforcement would help.
I heard in Illinois they were passing (or did pass) a law against sitting in the left lane.
My big gripe is people who just don't "go with the flow". In heavy traffic with a mixture of tractor trailers and cars they want to go 80 and are pissed off they can't.
Originally posted by Scott
Like alcimedes alluded to, any move to tighten up the driving requirements and instruction would be seen a "racist" thing to do.
Better driver education can be had at little more cost IMO. Also I think real/better enforcement would help.
I heard in Illinois they were passing (or did pass) a law against sitting in the left lane.
My big gripe is people who just don't "go with the flow". In heavy traffic with a mixture of tractor trailers and cars they want to go 80 and are pissed off they can't.
This is my feeling too. I'm not in favor of arbitrarily increasing costs for licenses, that doesn't really do anything. I am in favor of more and cheaper public transportation though.
I'll be really happy if Illinois enforces this rule. I really hate it when someone parks in the left lane and blocks hundreds of cars.
BRussel, I consider myself a good driver because I do use signals and I do keep a safe distance even if I do go over 55. I also pay attention to the drivers behind me as well as those in front. So, if I'm in the left lane passing but someone is behind me waiting to go even faster, I let 'em go first. Things like that.
Half the time I speed it's to get out of a 'wolf pack,' a huge clump of cars bunched up, just so I can be in front of them and not surrounded by idiots who aren't paying attention.
Originally posted by bunge
...This is a great example of why we should increase the requirements for a driver's license.
This article was funny to read from a german's point of view. I cannot comment on the road competence of the average U.S. driver, but from my visits to the U.S., I found driving there a much more relaxing experience than here in Germany. (But I spent more time on scenic routes to NPs than in LA traffic...).
But the article gives us more credit than we deserve. Often I thought, why do so many people switch off their brain when they turn the ignition key. Wee too have idiots crawling on a left lane, we also have retards that nearly drive into your trunk when you are too slow (say 100 mph) on the left lane.
In my opinion, if we would have easier "Fahrschule"-tests, our roads would be a battlefield and we would have probably been extinct by now, as our whole youth would have died on the roads... Especially in more rural areas, "Disco accidents" where a handful of young people die in one car crash on weekends coming back from a party or disco are quite common (Drinking alcohol is legal at the age of 18 here, drinking stuff with low alcohol values, like beer is allowed at 16)
Originally posted by GSpotter
"Disco accidents"
Never have I seen so many roadside crosses marking accidental death-sites (you know the ones) as when I was doing a motorbike tour through Germany...
Originally posted by sammi jo
And...tailgating doesn't get you to your destination any faster.
Well, unfortunately it might, if the person in front of you gets the idea and moves out of the way. Personally I might flash my lights, toot my horn or just pass on the right before I'd tailgate. Maybe flash a bird as I pass on the right to try and wake up the driver....
I saw a commercial yesterday about a van (not a SUV) that has a computer controlled airbag along the sides of both rear seats to protect the passengers in the event of a rollover. Hypothetically, if such a rollover were to happen to a van, they would have to be 1: speeding faster than the car can handle (Bad driver!) 2: not paying attention to the road shorting their reaction time (Bad driver!) 3: swerving at the last second and loosing control of the car (Bad driver!). Yet if anyone in the car were hurt, who's doorstep would the resulting lawsuit rest on.
California make me stüpid.
Originally posted by bunge
...if the person in front of you gets the idea and moves out of the way.
That would require a conscious decision. The person in front of you is driving, don't count on it.
...I might flash my lights, toot my horn or just pass on the right before I'd tailgate.
People now drive with their headlights on all the time. Turning on headlights has lost all meaning now. The horn is concidered rude and offensive and can lead to "road rage."
Maybe flash a bird as I pass on the right to try and wake up the driver....
This is "road rage."
BTW, I totally agree with you.
slow drivers in the fast lane? wtf.
in most instances, the lanes should be going from fastest to slowest [left to right].
that's utterly annoying. I don't get how ppl drive so unconsciously and not understand they are in the incorrect lane for their driving speeds.
What's even more annoying is when there's four other lanes to their right that are empty for them to drive in!
Originally posted by Paul
we need an easy way to (politely) communicate with other cars... something like rendezvous/bluetooth for the road
Thats the best freaking idea I have ever seen on these boards. Even better than the 20" powerbook.
Something that convey the message "from Blue Volvo: I want to pass you" , "From white toyota: Something is wrong with your car" etc. Perhaps ten preinstalled messsages, all informative so they are not misused like horns (basically to yell "idiot" at eachother.
The bluetooth/rendevouz combo is brilliant. Short range but cheap and the car can present itself with model and colour and you can pick from the list and send the message to the right car and identify the car that is sending you the message.
Brilliant Paul. You get the royalties for US and I take it for the rest of the world, okay?
Originally posted by badtz
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What's even more annoying is when there's four other lanes to their right that are empty for them to drive in!
I drive 94 in Michigan and when it goes from 2 to 3 lanes it slows down
In the right lane there's fscking nothing because there's a 0.5 miles gap between the group of trucks.
The truckers are the only ones that know what the fsck is going on.
Here's something else which is most irritating, although not necessarily bad driving.On a 4 lane highway (2 in each direction), one semi-truck overtakes another, with the overtaker going perhaps 0.5mph faster than the overtakee, often travelling around 50 mph....then they just stick together for a bit...like a moving roadblock...until finally, several minutes later, the overtaker has got far enough ahead so he can move back into the slow lane.