I am a school bus driver and what I really hate is people who pass me on the
right shoulder as I am trying to make a left hand turn. I am afraid of killing
someone doing that.
Or they use a left turning lane to pass me. What is the rush?
What about the people who think the acceleration lane on the highway is actually a “keep going at a constant 35 mph until the lane ends and force someone to slam on thier brakes as I finally merge” lane?
“who would they place blame on if you happen to catch their front bumper with your trailer and it was found that they were well past the stop line for the light?”
They would blame the driver of the moving vehicle who had the last clear chance to avoid a collision with a known stationary vehicle, and rightly so. Still doesn’t make it right to stop ahead of the line.
"who would they place blame on if you happen to catch their front bumper with your trailer and it was found that they were well past the stop line for the light?"They would blame the driver of the moving vehicle who had the last clear chance to avoid a collision with a known stationary vehicle, and rightly so. Still doesn’t make it right to stop ahead of the line.
Yes they would. And rightfully so. Having said that, I’ve seen cops do that very thing, and look at the truck driver like he’s an idiot. Still, I see people do a lot of stupid Sh!& in front of a loaded truck that takes 1/4 mile to come to a full stop from 75. Like pull in front of them, with almost no room, and then slam on the brakes because they don’t pay any attention except to get the one car length “in front”…
The car that races to the end of the on-ramp, when traffic is at a standstill, and try to force themselves into traffic when there’s no room, often using the breakdown lane to get that last additional car position…
The car that sits in the left hand lane, speed limit or not, when there’s a line of traffic sitting behind them…then, when people give up and try to pass on the right, they get pissed off and speed up…
Use cruise control at 65.05mph when passing another vehicle also on cruise…one doing 65.0, so it takes him/her over a mile to do this simple operation…then proceed to sit in that left lane…
But hey, I already know I’m the only good driver out there, right?? I’ve never screwed up a simple operation and pissed someone off.
Chase
Piter, (Ha, Ha, Hee, Hee) . . . Stop It, You’re Killing Me !
No, Don’t Stop It. I Always Look Forward To Your Comments (Although Not Everybody Appreciates Your Humor And Sharp Wit - Too Bad).
That, “Nothing makes me happier than seeing a pill box hat” and the photo (it was perfect) cracked me up !
Most of the blokes here are too serious and dry (gets boring). I remember Meadow Lark Lemon as the “Clown Prince Of Basketball” when he was with the Harlem Globetrotters. You are the Car Talk Community jester, but I’m not sure of your title.
Seriously, keep doing what you’re doing and don’t get discouraged if people get ticked at your comments. Hey, if you can’t laugh at other people, who can you laugh at ?
CSA
“Well, considering the Toyota Crown was here in '57, and Datsun was here in '58, I’d say that was probably fairly likely, yes.”
I can recall Datsun’s first advertising campaign on the east coast, in 1959. Their advertising consisted of 30-second radio commercials that included their slogan of that era, “Datsun–runs on a key and small change”.
I used to hear that commercial every morning as I ate my breakfast before departing for elementary school. At the time, I had not yet seen a Datsun, but the commercials had informed me that these cars were cheap, and supposedly very economical. What the buyers of these cars sadly found out was that they also were not very good quality.
@JRMan13, yeah I know what you mean. In PA, it’s state law, if you go below 45MPH your flashers must be on. And, I live in Iowa, but I do that anyway (well, I also don’t go 15MPH on the highway, but even if I get to the back of a line of very slow traffic, I hit the flashers). These 15MPH drivers absolutely should get a ticket for not doing that.
@Larry Miller (not saying you do this for sure) but re: “Drivers who won’t “let you in,” especially when a lane has narrowed to the point where you must move into their adjacent lane.”, MY pet peeve is people who see their lane is blocked (in town usually by a UPS or beer truck), or have ample warnings that their lane is ending (either naturally ending or due to construction), then they barrel down that lane until it ends (passing dozens and dozens of people who got out of the lane when they were supposed to) and then expects to be able to veer over at the last second. Guess what, I WON’T let them in, you’re going to have to stop! I’m serious too, I had someone in Chicago (road construction of course…) blast past like a mile of cars (with NUMEROUS gaps to pull into), then think if they just kept creeping into my lane I’d stop for them, they realized it wasn’t happening when the hood on their giant pickup was under my side mirror. On the other hand, if someone is being civil about (not blasting past dozens of cars, but actually trying to move over, and nobody is letting them in) then absolutely I’m civil in return, I’ll leave them a space and let them in wherever I am (merge point or “in line” still.)
@Kendall148, I coined a term for that here in Iowa City. We now call it “hood chicken”. A “T” intersection, the left turner stops a bit long, usually with blacked out windows. The person wanting to turn right can’t make the right turn, because they can’t see the traffic coming from the left (partially due to the black windows), so they pull forward a little so they can see. The left turner then decides to pull forward a inch or two. The right turner pulls forward a bit. This goes on like 4 or 5 times, until one person or the other realizes the cars in the intersection are about 1/2" from their hood and “chickens out.”
In my town, sometimes they don’t put ANY warning about road construction ahead until like 5 feet from where they’re working. They also have a “Bumps ahead” sign on a street that obviously needs repaved, but they put it AFTER the worst part of the street; the street actually gets BETTER after the sign.
My pet peeve is when traffic gets funneled down to one lane and a long line shoots down to the end then merges, slowing the whole process down. What I usually do is pull into the closed lane and go the speed of the lane that is staying open. This also helps with my vocabulary skills. I have heard words yelled out windows that I have never heard before. Perhaps I am learning a foreign language and don’t even realize it. Either way, thank you to everyone who has helped me improve my language skills. You might even help me pass my SAT orals.
sean…I’m not positive, but in some states, that is in fact illegal. It’s called obstructing traffic, and while I absolutely, whole-heartedly agree with you, I stopped doing that once I was pulled over for it (no ticket, just a warning, as he was pissed off at them too). I just let those a$$hats be what they are.
hwertz: You’re doing it wrong.
That said, everybody who does it your way thinks they’re being a more considerate driver and everything by getting over into the one open lane at the earliest possible opportunity, but they’re wrong, and they need a lick of educatin’.
Studies, simulations, actual live-traffic experiments and observations have all shown that the best thing for all drivers (not just the ones doing it but everyone on the road) is to use all the lanes available and then merge at the point where the obstruction occurs. Everybody takes turns, one car from this lane, then one car from that lane, etc. The overall flow and capacity of traffic is greatest when the restriction is limited to just that one point.
People who cram into one lane half a mile back and then refuse to let anyone merge at the choke point are actually making things worse for everyone. Including themselves. It’s like some politicians I’ve been keeping an eye on who have moved beyond “I’ll take this money from some poor slob and have it for myself” to “I’ll make sure this poor slob loses his money even if I don’t get any of it”. It’s just rude.
dadoctah: I don’t quite buy it, and I hate to spend a lot of my life looking into all those
"studies, simulations, actual live-traffic experiments and observations". Many that I find online require a subscription to the site where they reside. A free PDF I was able to look at, talked about unambiguously better flow when drivers are instructed to take turns merging at a single point. Big surprise!
If an infantry company is on a long march from here to there, each man is supposed to keep 5 yards from the man in front of him – so that a single piece of ordnance takes out as few men as possible. Someone will let it go to seven or ten yards and, because of reaction times, when he tries to close the gap, twenty and thirty yard gaps form somewhere far behind him. Consequently, if you’re unlucky enough to be somewhere near the end of this line, you’ll find yourself alternately running at top speed or halted, waiting for something you can’t see.
What you can’t see is the same thing you can’t see when you’re stopped in heavy traffic on a freeway: Not much – just a knot of cars that have caught up with one another because someone slowed down, and the reaction times behind him added up to a screeching halt.
I think a variant of the same thing happens when two lanes are forced to merge to one in an area of roadwork. Everything would be fine if people who recognized the squeeze early got over when they could. Instead, dadoctah, who shall remain nameless and believes unreservedly in the economic theory of the invisible hand (as in, “why don’t we just sell cocaine?”), sees the vast empty space ahead of him as his opportunity for advancement. When he and a few others manage to pull in in front of someone keeping a reasonable distance, the invisible (and visible) finger comes into play, and people in the merge-to lane tighten up the spaces with the result you describe: a big knot that takes time to undo. Interestingly, if sean44998 has his way, drivers are “instructed” to take turns merging at a point behind him.
If someone in a semi takes Sean’s role, and I’m in the unobstructed lane next to him, I let a lot of space develop between me and the car in front of me so that I might not have to put on the brakes when I see that car stop. I think that helps, and the guy in the semi seems to see it the same way.
Left Lane Louies! People who refuse to get out of left lane and forces everyone to pass on the right and cause back up after backup cause he got the cruise control on and takes a minute plus to pass someone , Then of course since he refuses to get out of the left lane the 10 Plus cars who stacked up behind him while he was passing another vehicle all have to pass him on the right
People who pass without hitting the Gas Pedal, or the 5 Minute pass. The Guy/Gal who seem to take forever to pass you, cruise control on, in your blind spot for a minute plus cause they are barely going fast enough to pass you. Hit The Gas and pass already, get away from me.
The Guy that Passes you, Cuts right back over in front of you and proceeds to drive slower than you.
Passing on the right is one of the more boneheaded behaviors that US drivers are imperfecting. Why it is legal is beyond me.
Technically, in most states it isn’t legal…but it’s not worth them chasing anyone down for. Ask a cop, he/she’ll tell you. Guy I knew didn’t believe me…he does now.
Bitburg–
In every state with which I am familiar, the rules of the road include the proviso, “Keep to the right”. If there is an empty lane to your right, then you are not driving as you should. When I pass a vehicle, I move back to the right lane as soon as there is sufficient room to do so.
If you frequently observe that people are passing you on the right, that situation indicates that you should not be in the left lane.
In Colorado Have left Lane Pass only law, It’s rarely enforced Hence people are forced to pass on the right.
dadoctah
I completely disagree with that. If you have those studies I want to see them…
It is one thing I’m still not use to here in NH and MA…where people drive that way…They wait until the obstruction and then move over…And I’ve driven in other states where people move over a mile or so before the lane closure or obstruction (if they know it’s there)…and by far it’s MUCH MUCH MUCH faster going if people moved over sooner…What happens when people wait until the last minute…it causes everyone to slow down or stop which causes a ripple effect for MILES…Sorry, but I don’t buy it…
You want studies? For starters, here’s a press release from the Minnesota Department of Transportation on that very topic: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/04/08/31merge.html
Notice that it refers to those who think it’s their role in life to prevent others from employing the “zipper approach” as “aggressive”. I have a slightly shorter word for them, anatomical in nature, that also begins with the letter “a”.
The dog lovers… You’re driving down the expressway and see the vehicle next to you, drivers window open, Fido’s front paws on top of the door, standing on the knucklehead drivers lap and sticking his little head out the window taking in the air. These folks are almost as bird brained as mothers who breast feed while driving.
transman