Bad Drivers

[LubeOiler]

The worst thing they ever did was not make drivers ed mandatory for all in school. By now close to 100 % don't know the rules of the road and because of that alone they can't drive.Example: The power in south Fla has been out since Wilma most everywhere as far as the lights go. So the cops wait and see if your going to stop at every piece of dangling wire where there used to be a light.The tickets are going very well by the way.So if there was a flashing yellow light by a firehouse and it is now fixed everybody still pulls up and stops. The road rage is so bad I can get places faster by bicycle.By the way for all those who don't know a flashing yellow is a caution light not a stop sign.

 

[Palut]

Driver training in this country is truly pathetic. If you can see, and have the most basic car control skills, you get a license.

Combine that with dumbed down traffic laws designed to allow the imcompetent to drive, and you have a dumbed down driving public, that is slower, less efficient, and more dangerous than they need to be.

All drivers need to be good at driving, not just be passable. If you're not good, you don't pass the test.

I don't understand why the eco-freaks aren't all over this issue, as it would force some people off the roads and onto their precious transit systems.

 

[tom slick]

I think it's funny that every time a stoplight is blinking instead of functioning normally nobody knows how a 4 way stop works. all of a sudden the people turning have the right of way. people hesitate and wait until someone else goes.

cars kill more people than almost anything else does, but we give our drivers licenses like they are playing cards. it ougt to be difficult to get a license and difficult to keep a license. we also need to break the idea that driving is a right.

 

[JHZR2]

the idiocy of most drivers is absolutely ridiculous. I cant stand it.

JMH

 

[PandaBear]

I think a video game like driving simulator should be used for periodic skill test, and for insurance rate calculation purposes.

Too bad it is still too expensive, hopefully one day every insurance company and driving school can afford a few.

 

[wander2039]

JHZR2... sounds like you've drove in Kansas City, KS a few times. This area is the worse i've ever experienced. They don't know who should go when when four cars pull up to a four-way stop sign at the same time, didn't know if I wanted to cuss or laugh my head off. I'm too aggressive from what people say but I haven't got into a wreck that was my fault since I was 16, the last wreck I was 18. And no tickets since then either. I pay too close attention and I hate it when someone endangers my life because they can't read a clock and figure out how long it takes to go somewhere. And another thing they should remove blinkers and horns, they use the horns in excess and never use the blinkers around here. There I feel better. I never took drivers ed, but my dad did a pretty good beating into my head how to drive, even though he thinks i'm a bad driver.. he's the one that got the speeding ticket a year ago. Instead of making cars safer we need to make safer drivers... unfornately like everything in america it will only get worse.

 

[brianl703]

How about the idiots who blow through stop signs but stop at yield signs?

 

[Jimbo]

Come to Los Angeles and you will be amazed at how we can cram so many cars and trucks into the available space, and for the most part, arrive at our destination safely. This is against all odds. Traffic laws are mostly ignored by both the public and police. Unlicensed illegal immigrants are everywhere and the legal ones had zero driving experience before they got here. Out of what appears to be total disorder, there is a common survival instinct that seems to work. When a traffic signal is out, most everyone just seems to figure out who goes next. Just watch out for what that white Camry is going to do next!

 

[brianl703]

So how often are traffic signals out in LA?

Barring power outages, traffic signals are just about never out around here, and during power outages they're pretty good about bringing portable generators to power the lights. (I believe the cabinets are even wired to make connecting a generator a simple operation).

 

[TheTanSedan]

The number of cars on the road has doubled since 1970, but not miles of roadway. Plus, even a used car has tires, shocks, brakes and engine controls that keep it in far better shape than the ones of that date. Which means that even the poor have cars . . . and have to commute a great deal farther than in 1970. But many have grown up without any semblance of respect for the rules of the road. And think that they know how to drive. I "love" the ghetto seating position for drivers . . can't see, can't react, can't hear.

Courtesy won't come back unless stereos, telephones and AC are somehow magically disabled in all cars at all times so that drivers concentrate, and start to learn to take the opportunity to visit.

Same with cruise control. Nothing worse out on the Interstate than the SUV moron with cruise set at 5 mph above posted limit; or the one towing a boat or trailer above 62 mph. Neither has a vehicle he can control.

 

[Gary Allan]

or the one towing a boat or trailer above 62 mph.


Can you expand on the physics there, TS? Is this something like the sound barrier or the speed of light (escape, or orbital velocity,

)??

Or is it more like what happens when you yank the tag off of your matress or pillow? :^)

 

[kenw]

"Nothing worse out on the Interstate than the SUV moron with cruise set at 5 mph above posted limit"


going with the flow is much more important. An SUV in good condition should have no issue with control at 75. In fact (at least in the Texas I've driven in) +5 is the default standard and if people would go a constant and uniform spped (yes, even +5) traffic would flow significantly better.

And if he has the cruise control set, he's doing every one a favor. (as long as he's in the right lane while not passing)

I see as much if not more problems caused by r1cers thinking they have a "fast" car.

It is not the raw speed that poses a problem, it's the difference in speed amongst the various drivers.

and personally, i would prefer people not "visit" while driving.

 

[John K]

I haven't heard it called the "ghetto" seating position but I knew right away what you meant! How did that ever get started I wonder....

 

[kenw]

image is everything.

i prefer to call it slug seating....

 

[slugsgomoo]

kenw is exactly right about "visiting" whilst driving.

AAA had a study a few years back reporting on the top list of things resulting in distracted driving accidents:

1) Talking to passengers/kids in vehicle
2) eating
3) Climate controls
4) stereo
5) Cellular phones

Funny that only the last one has been banned so far (in some locales).

Frankly, what's going on inside the car isn't the issue, the issue is that we aren't trained as drivers, we're trained as "get there-ers"

People don't get into a car because they are driving, they are going from A to B, and as long as they feel that they will get there, that's enough. Part of my vehement dislike of automatic transmissions is because it contributes to this feeling of complacency.

If people were more interested in driving, they would simply do that. If I am in my car, I might talk to you, assuming that driving did not require 100% of my attention. As soon as that changes, I will tune you out. Same goes with stereo, phone, food, etc. Sure, crusing the highway at 5mph over with the cruise set (in the right lane) I might have a phone going. Stop & go traffic, or spirited cornering? **** no.

In my opinion, people should learn how to drive in RWD cars, no power steering, no traction control, or ABS, no automatic transmission- and they should do it in the rain.

If you can get good at doing that, most everything else will become a snap. Plus it conditions you to know what the car is doing ALL THE TIME.

One thing I did, was taught my sister the "awareness game". Essentially, your passenger will ask at any given time if you know what color the cars around you are, and where they are. It makes you much more attentive to what is going on around you, without being too distracting. ****, I even do it with myself to keep my attention focused.

 

[brianl703]

Another way to play the awareness game is to always be on the lookout for cops.

 

[Palut]

That's how I play the awareness game Brianl703. Its very effective!

I find that people in my area pay so little attention to their driving that, when on the freeway, when you start up a hill traffic will slow down. Nobody anticipates at all, and noone will give it more gas until they notice they've dropped 5 mph because of the hill. **** cruise control!

 

[kanling]

Gravity drivers. Slow up the hill, fast on the way down.

 

[TheTanSedan]

"going with the flow is much more important. An SUV in good condition should have no issue with control at 75"

Statistics say otherwise. A high center of gravity is always detrimental. 5 mph over means that a lesser vehicle -- in terms of handling and braking -- is above "reasonable and prudent" operational speed.

+5 is hardly a "norm" as most commercial vehicles are likely to be traveling at, or under the posted limit on the Interstate.

Cruise control only exacerbates the problem as the same SUV/pickemup-morons also tend to be in the too-closely spaced packs that develop in trying to get around slower-moving vehicles. Few are anything but reluctant to cut off the cruise control except at the last minute, making the problem worse. Texas has plenty of crowded highways, including nearly every mile of Interstate east of a north-south line 60-miles west of I-35.

http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=175&did=779

http://www.aceee.org/pubs/t021full.pdf

Fatalities occuring above the posted the speed limit are more likely, and the chances of a multi-vehicle wreck are also increased by the improper distances maintained by the majority of todays highway travelers. That SUVs and pickups are even more likely to roll over -- or, a total loss of vehicle control -- has severe consequences for everyone on or near the roadway.

5+ is fine. Under perfect climactic conditions, very light traffic, and an attentive driver. On that all would likely agree.

However, "going with the flow" isn't a rational decision for the driver of a vehicle which is demonstrably inferior to standard passenger cars. It is risk-taking, aggressive behavior despite anecdote.

 

[Master ACiD]

you obviously dont drive in florida. commercal vehicles travel around 10mph over the limit here. well atleast anywhere there is more than 1 lane to get around the slow tourists and old people.

infact, i was losely tailing a semi on the way down to the keys tonight that was doing 90 through some parts of the 20 mile stretch.