A Few Rants.......

[rick_ingram]

On the light thing, I think the newer cars and trucks have lights on the front that come on when you start it up. At least it seems that way. I think that the driving light thing started in Canada many years ago by placing a clear light in the center of the grill for daytime driving, but was illegal here until recently.

Back about 1964, Illinois was going to make that a law (didn't pass)....but my dad installed exactly what you are describing onto the grille of his 1962 Buick LeSabre (and covered up that great tri-shield emblem). There were a lot of cars with that single daytime running light

He also installed front seatbelts in that car about 1963, if memory serves me correctly.

Thanks for jogging that memory chip for me!

 

[rick_ingram]

Here's another one....people who do not turn on their lights when it's raining like all get-out - you can't see them until you run up on them or try to turn in front of them!

It's been a law in Illinois for about 10 years that you must turn your headlights on when it's raining....gotta use the wipers?, turn on the lights!

A rather non-enforced law that has the potential of savings hundreds, if not thousands of live each year.

Aggravates me when I see the "dim-wits" driving dark.

 

[aerog]

Why is it that people drive around in the daytime
with driving lights on?

Someone already said it: daylight running lights. Plus, there's one 55mph road here that is very lightly traveled yet I can never seem to use it without someone pulling right out in front of me. Nobody within a mile in either direction, yet these jokers pull out without warning - bad enough that I have to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting them. I finally decided that maybe, since there are a lot of uh, "older" folks out and about during the day when I'm there that maybe they can't see my Miata very well. Policy for me now is to have the lights on whenever I'm on that road.

Seems to help.


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]
And have to drive 45,in a 25 zone?[/QUOTE]

Got a better one for you: my main route to work is a scenic road through a canopy forest. It's a favorite for the bikers. The speed limit is 45 yet inevitably I'll get behind someone doing 30-35.

The 45mph zone (about 6-7 miles long) changes to 35mph when it hits a park and gets to a more congested area. That stretch is another 5-6 miles. Those same people that do 30-35 in the 45 <span style="font-style: italic">speed up</span> when they get to the 35mph zone.

I thought it was just an illusion or something, but then my mom told me a friend of hers has several speeding tickets from that 35mph zone for doing 45-50mph...yet she usually won't even do 35 on the other road.

Weird.

 

[DrEntropy]

Sooo many morons, so little time... :hammer:

 

[martx-5]

My Saturn has daytime running lights. They go on when the ignition is turned on, unless the handbrake is activated. You can shut them off if you just pull up on the brake to the first click. The brake isn't activated, but the lights go off. I don't bother. The DRLs are low wattage, so they don't use much 'lectricty.

It's also a law in NY to put on your lights when it's raining. Most people comply. I see very few without the lights on. I just turn on the parking lights, as the DRLs are already on.

 

[aerog]

Drive down the interstate matching the speed of the car behind you. Move to the right lane and speed up slightly, enough that you should, all things being equal, pull away from the following car.

9 times out of 10, the following car will speed up and pass you. Guess it's just something they have to do. Is there a rule?

Wellllll yeah, in theory the only reason they should be in a lane left of you is if they're passing :wink:

Here's a twist on that though: you're in the right lane (where you should be) doing a reasonable speed with cruise-control on. You come up behind someone doing a good 5mph under you so you signal, move into the left lane, pass, and 5 or so car-lengths ahead of the car you passed you signal and move back to the right lane.

Whew.

A mile or two goes by and you notice that slower car accelerate and move up behind you, quickly pass, then with less than a car-length between you they quickly move back into the right lane in front of you.

Hmm.

After a few minutes that same car starts to slow down to their original pace, 5mph or so under you - and the process continues.

I drove a long distance on I95 doing that once. It wasn't by accident either, the guy I kept passing would wait until I was a couple miles away then he'd come flying past me, cut in front, and slow down. If I sped up to build a gap he'd just race faster. If I slowed down to build a gap he'd slow down more. I finally got off the road and sat for a few minutes to let him get away.

 

[rick_ingram]

<snip> I finally got off the road and sat for a few minutes to let him get away.

Stalker? :wink:

 

[70herald]

My hot button is pushed by people who drive cars that are so unmaintained that they're a danger to everyone around. Last week we helped an elderly woman stop her minivan that was rolling through a parking lot at a slow walking pace. There were balls from one of her CV joints rolling all over the place. We got it stopped but I then had to guide it to a curb to hold it on the slope. The parking brake was inoperable and of course putting the transmission in "park" did nothing because of the broken CV joint.

She said it'd been making funny noises for a few days.

Which is why I am willing to put up with the inconvenience of an annual safety / emissions inspection. They may not be perfect but the really dangerous stuff gets caught.

 

[Basil]

Which is why I am willing to put up with the inconvenience of an annual safety / emissions inspection. They may not be perfect but the really dangerous stuff gets caught.

Some of the cars in my state are in such ill-repair they are just accidents waiting to happen! Also, I can't tell you how many times I've seen cars, for example at the mall, that have tires that are almost completely bald and often severely under-inflated (I sometimes leave a note to let them know)

 

[coldplugs]

Which is why I am willing to put up with the inconvenience of an annual safety / emissions inspection. They may not be perfect but the really dangerous stuff gets caught.

We have an annual safety (not emissions) inspection. It would have caught her inop parking brake but probably not the CV joint. I agree with having them, though.