Driving peeves

[Moraff]

#3.Truckers who "ride your tail" in order to make you move over.Sre not trucks supposed to drive in the RIGHT lane on a highway?

Actually they are prohibited from the left lane, if the highway has more than 2 lanes and a speed limit of at least 80 km/h

 

[burt-oh-my!]

And now back to the not dead-yet-horse: Which is why moving into the intersection and stopping is foolish. You've gained at most a trivial dozen yards over staying at the line, and you don't get to move any sooner than if you had. But if the guy behind, or the guys facing, or the ones in either of the cross street lanes aren't good, careful drivers you're the one stuck outout there. So you've made a jam, and nobody moves 'til it gets sorted. The point is to drive defensively, never give the bozos a chance at you, and keep moving. Not rush thirty feet to where you know you'll be stopping.

How can you make a jam out there? If you are prevented from making the turn by other cars there already is a jam. You can't cause the jam.

Secondly, I still don't see how in busy, continuous traffic ciming the other way you will EVER get through if you don't even start to go through until it is entirely clear? That moment will happen to coincide with a red light.

 

[burt-oh-my!]

Ahah! I just remembered another one.

You are driving straight down a road, there is someone coming the other way who wants to turn to his left i.e. in front of you . Fair enough, he has lots of time, but then when he gets to the curb, maybe there is a little bump, so he exists the road incredibly slowly, making you slow down. Funny thing is, I find often it is a young guy with a big tough 4wd that is meant to do all kinds of offroading shit, at least in the commercials, but he wont even go over a little bump, like he has a bad case of hemmorhoids.

 

[oldjones]

And you must have met his brother, who signals a turn—say a right hand one—but his first move is to veer in the opposite direction—out to the left— because he's either not given himself enough room to begin with. Or, more commonly, because he hasn't the faintest idea how big a turning circle his car really needs.

If you are gonna crank the wheel in that direction SIGNAL THE MOVE! If you think you need a two direction turn, go to an empty parking lot and learn you don't.

And if you do need all that road room? Get someone smarter to buy your next car for you.

 

[oldjones]

How can you make a jam out there? If you are prevented from making the turn by other cars there already is a jam. You can't cause the jam.

But you'd be dead stupid to drive into and add to it, wouldn't you? And if bozo behind you did what you did, then the cross traffic started, 'cause they too were dumb enough to enter an intersection they couldn't clear, then where do you go?

Secondly, I still don't see how in busy, continuous traffic ciming the other way you will EVER get through if you don't even start to go through until it is entirely clear? That moment will happen to coincide with a red light.

If that moment when the way is clear happens after the red, you have no business moving, and should not already be blocking the intersection. If that moment comes before the red, just how much difference do you think it made to be a mere thirty feet ahead?

By all means, if you can see traffic will permit you to clear that intersection, go ahead and enter it, if you cannot make that judgement call, stay stopped. Eventually the boys from Guild Electric will come along and install an advanced green.

Heh, heh. Bit of drollery to lighten the strain of driving our overburdened streets, the only ones I've driven in Canada where I've seen intersections clogged by four guys, all in the midst of left turns.

 

[burt-oh-my!]

But you'd be dead stupid to drive into and add to it, wouldn't you? And if bozo behind you did what you did, then the cross traffic started, 'cause they too were dumb enough to enter an intersection they couldn't clear, then where do you go?If that moment when the way is clear happens after the red, you have no business moving, and should not already be blocking the intersection. If that moment comes before the red, just how much difference do you think it made to be a mere thirty feet ahead?

By all means, if you can see traffic will permit you to clear that intersection, go ahead and enter it, if you cannot make that judgement call, stay stopped. Eventually the boys from Guild Electric will come along and install an advanced green.

Heh, heh. Bit of drollery to lighten the strain of driving our overburdened streets, the only ones I've driven in Canada where I've seen intersections clogged by four guys, all in the midst of left turns.

Being in there wanting to turn left does not add to it. If it si blocked, it is blocked because the guys coming the other way going straight are preventing me from turning left. Its the guys going straight th atmustn't enter until the way is clear. If they do that, then you will always be able to make the left turn.

Being thirty feet ahead makes about 2 - 3 seconds difgfernece, which is actually quite considerable thank you very much.

Now I've had enough of this being told I am DEAD STUPID for turning left the way everyone always successfully does it. Carry on with your last word on the subject, I can tell you are the sort who feels that endless repetition somehow clinches arguments.

But you still haven't told me how you EVER make the turn then when traffic is busy and the ONLY time the traffic clears is after a red.

 

[needinit]

People who don't indicate lane changes or turns at all....and worse people who do indicate then think they are able to just change lanes...the turn signal is meant to indicate I wish to change lanes when SAFE to do so'

 

[tboy]

People who don't indicate lane changes or turns at all....and worse people who do indicate then think they are able to just change lanes...the turn signal is meant to indicate I wish to change lanes when SAFE to do so'

You can count me in for doing that. I don't typically signal lane changes because when I do, people in the lane I want to get into speed up to block me from doing it. This goes back to my previous post about how when you indicate you want to go somewhere, others react like where YOU want to be is THE place to be and BETTER than where they're at now.....

I always make sure there's plenty of room for me to move over but only signal if traffic it tight. Sometimes people let you in, sometimes not. I try to as much as possible to let people over though.

 

[oldjones]

Being in there wanting to turn left does not add to it. If it si blocked, it is blocked because the guys coming the other way going straight are preventing me from turning left. Its the guys going straight th atmustn't enter until the way is clear. If they do that, then you will always be able to make the left turn.

Being thirty feet ahead makes about 2 - 3 seconds difgfernece, which is actually quite considerable thank you very much.

Now I've had enough of this being told I am DEAD STUPID for turning left the way everyone always successfully does it. Carry on with your last word on the subject, I can tell you are the sort who feels that endless repetition somehow clinches arguments.

But you still haven't told me how you EVER make the turn then when traffic is busy and the ONLY time the traffic clears is after a red.

I wait until I can safely turn w/o danger of blocking traffic. Since you say you never do, you wouldn't have any idea how easy it is, and although I haven't called you DEAD STUPID for the way you turn—only someone who drove into a jammed intersection where they could not turn— it's certainly a foolish overstatement to claim yours is the way everybody does it when arguing who's told you he doesn't. Try turning properly, it works.

Now someone whose calculus is less rusty than mine could give you better numbers, but you've also foolishly overstated the importance of your 30 or so feet headstart. If you're driving an average car you should be right up to 50kph by 3-4 seconds,which would be plenty fast enough to be going in mid-intersection, and would get you through the remaining 30 feet in under a second. About .6 seconds, that's all your pushing ahead actually saves when you start from a stop in the middle and get to 50kph just as you exit the turn.

So far all you've done is repeat that "everybody does it that way", which isn't even true of TO, where it's more common than anywhere else I've driven. But even here the statement's untrue and the action unwise. Not having to read the same 'defence' of it again is a kindness.

 

[Moraff]

Thanks to the snow today I have one to add:

People who shovel the snow on their driveways/walks out into the street.

 

[oldjones]

people who pull up to a red light. wait. and then turn on their left turn indicator after you become boxed in behind them. give the guy behind you a chance to adjust lanes by turning on the indicator a couple hundred yards earlier.

Because, "You can say that again!"
The turn signal is supposed to inform other motorists of what you're going to do. It is not a steering wheel unlock.

 

[Blue-Spheroid]

One thing this thread has done is explained why it's such a hassle to drive in Toronto at times.

Half of the 'expert' advice in this thread is completely (and often moronically) wrong. It's no wonder that this city is so full of really bad drivers who have no clue that they don't know what they are doing.