By your description I figured you live in MD, @wesw. I do too. But I do wish they would repave I-95 between Baltimore and Washington. Not the whole thing, just the southbound lanes between MD216 and MD 200. The road was paved a very few years ago and has been disintegrating since the paving was finished. It sounds like you are driving on rumble strips for 10 miles or so. It would be great if the paving company that did such a poor job would fix it at their expense, but I doubt that will ever happen.
By the way, we dug up this crappy 12 inch culvert but put it in a low flow area 100 yards away and installed it correctly by sealing the ends with fabric and rip rap and using the appropriate coverage while grading the area yearly. That was 15 years ago and it hasn’t failed at all and will out last my lifetime while completely eliminating lost gravel in the run off problem in that area. We generally use 24 inch culverts on most of the others and way oversize them. Generally, initially cheaper "guaranteed employment " contractors undersized them and don’t seal the ends so they can come back and redo the job, over and over again. The same with using poor quality gravel.
VDCdriver - A driver is not to “roll” a vehicle into the interesection. More often than not, the wise course is to stay the heck out of the intersection until it is clear to turn given that the driver is familiar with the timing on the signal lights, etc.
Stay off my bumper, thank you. I’m tired of seeing nose hairs in the rear view mirror.
I shave my nose, thank you by much.
because it’s FUN! got a problem wit that?
what do you do for fun?
@Whereisthebus–Re: “A driver is not to ‘roll’ a vehicle into the intersection”
That may well be true in the state where you live, but it is not illegal to do so in other jurisdictions.
I can tell you that it is legal to “roll into the intersection” while waiting to make a left turn in NJ, NY, California, Michigan, and Alabama, but I have to admit that I am not sure about its status in other states.
Here are some sites for you to peruse, regarding this issue:
http://www.realpolice.net/forums/ask-cop-112/87231-entering-intersection-green-light.html
In which state do you reside?
I LIKE having a car that can get out of its own way. Just because my car will go fast doesn’t mean I drive like an ass all the time. It’s fun driving a fast car. That doesn’t mean that you have to tailgate, cut people off, speed through residential areas, etc.
I do admit that I don’t understand people that take 30 seconds to get up to the speed limit. Often the speed limit doesn’t seem to have any effect on their speed–they just keep accelerating at a leisurely pace until they reach some random top speed, only limited by an obstruction in front of them, a red light, etc. I sometimes wonder how conscious they are.
@jtsanders cr whatever I think the hairs jump off the the top of my head, then grow on my nose, ears, eyebrows and the back of my neck!
@vdcdriver it seems a new rule kids are taught not to pull into an intersection to make a turn into oncoming traffic. (based on my daughters experience in WI driving school) now knowing what I do, I do it anyway. Sure I have sat a few cycles behind a driver that will not pull into the intersection to turn left, unless it is totally totally clear, but my god man use it or loose it. I have even had to wait a bit for the oncoming traffic that thinks red is close enough to yelow to blow through the intersection before making my turn. Wild west mentality lives on!
@MikeInNH
Bodybuilders . . . the ones that install the bodies and equipment on incomplete trucks and vans . . . refer to a “Best Practices” manual. It shows them where to tee into wiring, where to cut and extend a frame, etc.
Too much information, @Barkydog. LoL
VDCdriver. “Roll” is not “pull forward into the intersection with signal lights on, keeping wheels straight.” Doesn’t matter. Driver anarchy is the name of the game anyway.
Driving into an intersection on green when oncoming traffic precludes making a left turn is SOP for many people all over the country. And although I don’t make it a habit if the alternative is sitting while the lights keeps cycling I will push my way through. It seems like the most sensible thing to do. But I often drive through red lights when it is apparent that the motion sensor hasn’t recognized me and fails to give me a green. When mindless adherence to the letter of the law causes deadlock because of malfunctions, defaulting to the intent of the law and moving on just seems practical.
Here in Mayberry II a main crossroads is intersected diagonally by a busy railroad and I often approach that intersection turning left. If a train is on the track and all the lights are red and the gate through the intersection is down there is nothing to interfere with my turning left and continuing on but doing so seems to upset many drivers who must expect me to sit mindlessly until the lights allow me to turn. I just drive on. Traffic laws aren’t a game of Simon Says.
@MikeInNH
"Best practice " policies are important which ever field you are in. At least in construction, they evolve and tend not to stay the same. What worked years ago, doesn’t work today. I would say that applies to “best practices” in building automobiles. They are getting faster (acceleration wise) but for good reason. Cars that can’t accelerate well have a more difficult time on today’s highways IMO.
So, if there is a “downfall besetting any of us”; it’s within our lack of ability to see changing times and adapt. So, an average car that accelerates from 0 to 60 today as it did 30 years ago, isn’t going to feel safe when it’s at the mercy of a semi on a hill he can’t pass or a car he must before a corner; or worse still merge in traffic that is traveling faster.
We talk a lot about absolute speed limits but what we don’t talk about is the proliferation of two lane 55 mph roads with uncontrolled access. I routinely drive a stretch of 1A with entrances to businesses and private drives next to 55 mph stretches with passing lanes. Tell me you wouldn’t want a car that did 0 to 60 in 5 seconds at times. Bet your life !
@Whereisthebus–Re:“Roll” is not “pull forward into the intersection with signal lights on, keeping wheels straight.”
Now, it appears that you want to split hairs.
Pulling into the intersection with my directional signal on, and with my wheels straight is exactly what I do, and exactly what I expect other drivers to do in order to facilitate traffic flow.
Of course, it is only legal for one car to do this, so the second car in line is supposed to stay behind the stop line–and that is what I do when I am second in line.
What–exactly–did you think I meant by “rolling” into the intersection?
I agree that driver anarchy is–sadly–all too common on the roads nowadays, but if you are looking at me as one of those anarchists, you are very much mistaken. How else could I have driven for the past 43 years with no accidents whatsoever, and with no traffic tickets for the past 19 years?