Mildly satisfying things you do while driving.

I like being able to merge without causing disruption, but sometimes there are anxious drivers who slow down and mess up my plan.

 

Nothing worse than being stuck being the snail mentality who doesn't understand the concept of matching their speed to the traffic that they need to merge with. They get to the end of the on ramp and come to a dead stop thereby screwing things up for everyone else behind them.

 

Apart from the odd one, I don't think there are many drivers who would do that unless there were a very good reason. There are times when it's impossible to merge safely, so there no cause to become dogmatic.

 

i drive around those idiots, advantage of driving a 2500 series diesel 4x4 pickup

 

try driving the long island expressway, it happens daily, all day. the vast majority do not know how to merge/blend, most don't even go to the end of the run-up lane, they actually stop at the beginning

 

I don't know who is educating the learner drivers these days, but I think it might be Simple Jack.

 

If it was up to me merging on to a freeway would be part of the driving test and anyone who stopped would automatically fail.

 

When I gave my daughter driving lessons I deliberately choose an on ramp that was it's own lane for the next exit. This gave her more time to learn how to match speeds and then move over. Once she had that figured out I took her to an on ramp without it's own lane but did it on a Sunday morning. After a couple of tries we did it in normal traffic and then at rush hour. She subsequently ended up commuting along one of the busiest highways without any problems.

 

I learned to drive in the bush. It was a big adjustment to drive in the city- admittedly 45 years ago, and having to do "hook turns" on the roads with trams!

 

I learned to drive on the side of a mountain with a stick shift. Pulling away from a stop sign uphill into traffic juggling the pedals and the handbrake is a skill that appears to have become virtually obsolete nowadays.

 

Reading a book

 

Driving is primarily an unpleasant chore that has the redeeming quality of getting people from point A to point B.

Sometime the landscape is beautiful, and that decreases the unpleasantness of driving, but still my eyes are always scanning the mirrors and watching for the unexpected.

The football coach who screamed at me in the school district's learner car was very effective. Parents loved the way he hard ass coached and hard ass taught.

 

Yep. You don't have to drive so much now as just steer. You don't require skill at judging time for a gear change and using engine braking.

 

And now a tach is almost standard equipment.

 

Notice that everyone thinks he is a good driver and everyone else on the road is an idiot?

 

When I had a hybrid it was interesting to observe how they have engineered the wheel braking into recharging the batteries.

Since I now drive a diesel automatic I still use engine braking. It literally astounds some of my passengers how I can drive for miles without ever touching the brake pedal while maintaining full control of the vehicle at all times.

FTR I am getting the same mileage out of the diesel as I was in the hybrid even though the diesel is a considerably larger vehicle. To be fair the driving conditions are very different. The hybrid was mostly in suburban traffic whereas the diesel is primarily rural driving now. There is no way the diesel could achieve the same mileage in suburban traffic.

 

As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on 280. Please be careful!" "Heck," said Herman, "It's not just one car. It's hundreds of them!"

 

It is damn scary when you see a car approaching you head on with a combined speed of over 100+ mph!

Since the other lanes had traffic I just slammed on my brakes and my headlights at the same time and then activated my warning flashers.

Fortunately the other moron...er, driver stopped before hitting me and then the cars in the other lanes also stopped alongside me. The moron/driver then did a u-turn while we kept the traffic backed up behind us.

What could have been a fatal accident was avoided thanks to the other drivers doing the right thing.

 

In 55 years of driving I haven't caused an accident. I got two tickets in 1966, speeding and running a stop sign (wheels didn't lock), none before or since. Maybe that ain't good driving, but it's not too shabby.

I'm still scared of guns, airplanes, and automobiles.

 

hahaha... stolen so i can share

 

It is quite terrifying for the motorist who happens to be in that space at the time, but some do move quickly.

 

We have those overhead reader boards that tell you there is x number of miles to Y destination, taking approximately 8-10 minutes.

I take it as a personal challenge.

 

Filling up the petrol tank at £1.20 a litre, did I mention my other passion is for 5.7l and 6.6l V8's

 

"Ever been infuriated by the sight of cars passing you in the outside lane while you wait patiently in the queue for a lane-closure ahead?
You’re not alone, but that doesn’t necessarily make you right.

Indeed, many argue those ‘queue-jumpers’ are actually helping the flow of traffic by zip-merging, even if that might not be their intention..."

I think they should be tarred and feathered!