[1SweetRide]

Don’t want to turn this into a rant thread about all the behaviours we experience but am getting annoyed over this.

On winding two way road, a driver waiting to enter this lightly trafficed street, doesn’t wait for me to go by, they pull out in front forcing me to brake and then they proceed to drive the next 5km (until the road ends) at 5-10km below the speed limit. Why?

There’s no one behind me, no long line of traffic, they could have waited two more seconds but they don’t. I drive this route both ways every single day so I experience this every single day.

Is it because they are careless, stupid, inattentive? I put it down to they just don’t care but who knows. Maybe they even do it on purpose.

 

[davetcan]

Stupid or self ordained traffic warden.

 

[jdto]

I believe that if you look between the right cheek and the left cheek, you’ll find an asshole.

 

[Hammerhands]

Cars today display a speed 10% below the actual speed.

[Ooops, I mean 10% above the actual speed]

 

[Mooh]

Sure, why don't you just push my buttons before I have my coffee! Where's my blood pressure cuff?

I drive a lot of the same two lane 80 or 90 kph roads. 21 from Goderich to Southampton, 8 and others to Stratford, 4 and others to London. I use the cruise a lot, 85-88 in an 80 zone, or 95 in a 90. I'm not in a particular hurry.

Clowns on the road all the time.

Clowns who tailgate, pass, then slow down to less than I had my cruise control set. (Ontario's highway 21 is famous for this.)

Clowns who tailgate, pass, then hammer the brakes to take the next turn, usually making me slow down or stop.

Clowns with a death wish using blind spots to test it. When they're not passing me in these places, they're oncoming.

Clowns who can't stay in their lane. What's so fucking hard about keeping your car in its lane? And stay the hell out of the bicycle lane.

Clowns who pass several cars at the same time without regard for oncoming.

Highway 6 north of Wiarton to Tobermory has become a speedway. Lots of stunt driving charges lately, and the traffic is heavy sometimes especially when the ferry traffic is heading south.

Being cut off like the OP by some clown who won't wait a car length is a pain in the posterior.

 

[bw66]

Sure, why don't you just push my buttons before I have my coffee! Where's my blood pressure cuff?

I drive a lot of the same two lane 80 or 90 kph roads. 21 from Goderich to Southampton, 8 and others to Stratford, 4 and others to London. I use the cruise a lot, 85-88 in an 80 zone, or 95 in a 90. I'm not in a particular hurry.

Clowns on the road all the time.

Clowns who tailgate, pass, then slow down to less than I had my cruise control set. (Ontario's highway 21 is famous for this.)

Clowns who tailgate, pass, then hammer the brakes to take the next turn, usually making me slow down or stop.

Clowns with a death wish using blind spots to test it. When they're not passing me in these places, they're oncoming.

Clowns who can't stay in their lane. What's so fucking hard about keeping your car in its lane? And stay the hell out of the bicycle lane.

Clowns who pass several cars at the same time without regard for oncoming.

Highway 6 north of Wiarton to Tobermory has become a speedway. Lots of stunt driving charges lately, and the traffic is heavy sometimes especially when the ferry traffic is heading south.

Being cut off like the OP by some clown who won't wait a car length is a pain in the posterior.

So it's not just me?

And may I add "Clowns who tailgate, but won't pass despite several opportunities."

 

[mhammer]

Said it before and I'll say it again: we live in a culture/time when impatience is exalted and encouraged in just about every facet of life.

If I had a nickel for every shmuck who tailgated me then passed me, only to wind up waiting at the exact same red light as me, but in front of me, rather than behind, I could have retired years ago.

 

[Granny Gremlin]

I don't think it's impatience; it's self-centeredness and self-importance. I gotta be first sorta thing. Nobody else matters, only I am real. At this point I would also have to say that part of it is also ignorance of the concept of right of way, nevermind understanding the rules thereof.

It happens to me all the time both when driving and on my bike. On my bike it pisses me off especially because it looks like they're waiting, but then at the last second they go and I have to hammer my breaks (nobody behind me, as well as usually a red up ahead; makes no sense). Hurry up and wait. Even better is when they start to go, but then stop , blocking me and I don't have enough time to shoulder check to see if it's safe to veer around them, so have to stop anyway (they might have made it out in front of me if they didn't change their stupid mind).

Last weekend I was going downhill into a green light. Empty road aside from 3 cars; me on my green, oncomer waiting for a left, and another car waiting to make a right into the lane next to me. Left turner pulls a u turn as the right turner is turning, freaks out and STOPS blocking my lane. Had to hammer my breaks. long honk, but the lady looks away as if I don't exist. I get you're embarrassed, but pretending this didn't happen means you will learn nothing. She turned into a plaza parking lot after the U (median in the way) so I suspect this is a manouver she performs often.

 

[mhammer]

I'll still vote for impatience. The thing is that when people make snap decisions - often, but not only, out of impatience - they are less inclined to be considerate, and more inclined to think about only their own immediate wants and requirements. Considerateness requires incorporation of more information, and that not only requires greater cognitive resources than acting impulsively, but takes more time.

Being able to take another's perspective is one of those cognitive skills that requires much developmental time and experience to acquire. There are reams and reams of research on how difficult a task it is for many to master, and the many obstacles that can occur along the way to acquiring it. The corollary is that inconsiderateness is a result of reverting back to more basic, and less developmentally advanced thinking.

I don't think we disagree here. I'm just saying that the urge to act impulsively and instantly is the cognitive basis for the self-centredness. Folks need to slow down a bit, and let themselves be better people. Of course, I think we'd both agree that there are some folks in the world who, given all the time they need to take, would still have a hard time thinking of others. It's just that speedy action - something one is more likely to engage in on a highway at higher speed - tends to discourage the conditions that support considerateness.

 

[boyscout]

Cars today display a speed 10% below the actual speed.

That's the opposite of my experience, and I've driven a whole lot of vehicles while using various GPS devices that should be pretty-accurate for comparison.

My wife's old Toyota Highlander is one of the minority of vehicles I've driven that indicates speed very accurately. I don't remember if I've *ever* driven a vehicle that indicated less than the correct speed while most of the dozens of vehicles I've driven - owned or rented - have indicated HIGHER than the correct speed by a just a few kilometers. For example vehicle says 120, actual speed 117 (my "precision engineered" BMW did exactly that).

It's been so common I've wondered if it was deliberate. If a vehicle manufacturer's warranty ends at 60K kilometers and the vehicle indicates 60K when it has only actually traveled 58K or 59K kilometers, on millions of vehicles, how much does that save in warranty repair costs?

 

[JBFairthorne]

I've always assumed a vehicle's out of calibration speedometer was a result of varying tire wear. If a mm of tread depth is missing, each revolution covers less distance, resulting in a lower speed than a tire with more tread depth. I imagine inflation might play a role here as well.

The computer only knows what the size tire should be, not what it actually is. This can also become a huge factor if tires are changed to a different size and the computer is not recalibrated for the change.

 

[jb welder]

The idea that they could wait for you to go by before they pull out is an expectation of drivers being courteous. That's not a thing anymore, culturally.

 

[High/Deaf]

Don’t want to turn this into a rant thread about all the behaviours we experience but am getting annoyed over this.

On winding two way road, a driver waiting to enter this lightly trafficed street, doesn’t wait for me to go by, they pull out in front forcing me to brake and then they proceed to drive the next 5km (until the road ends) at 5-10km below the speed limit. Why?

There’s no one behind me, no long line of traffic, they could have waited two more seconds but they don’t. I drive this route both ways every single day so I experience this every single day.

Is it because they are careless, stupid, inattentive? I put it down to they just don’t care but who knows. Maybe they even do it on purpose.

I have a theory on this.

I think there's a lot of powerless individuals out there, lots of them middle aged men. Their wife tells them what to do, their kids tell them what to do, their boss tells them what to do, their customers tell them what to do. So when they get in traffic and can exercise a tiny pathetic little bit of power, they do. Quite on purpose.

I have no proof of this, but it makes me feel better while I judge the dink that just pulled in front of me and drove 10kph below the limit.


I've nearly been creamed a couple times in the last few months in traffic circles. I was already in it when boys with big pickup trucks just roared through, regardless of right of way. I guess their instructors told them that the biggest, not the first, has the right of way. Or again, these guys have no power except while commuting in their 5000 lb sledgehammer.

 

[Ship of fools]

Or they wait till you are almost right on top of the intersection and then pull out or the idiots even though they had room 20 seconds ago orwho pass you on the right and then pull in front of you and then proceed to drive 45 KM in a 50 KM zone according to ICBC they paid out 4.3 billion in claims last year and I can tell you why our wonderful new Asians can get a license here without going for an initial road test if they come from a certain country and have a drivers license there ( even though most have bought ( $ ) there's and have never driven a car there supposedly { far to expensive } you don't need to drive to get one ) but when they come here they can afford to drive Mercedes or better yet McLearen's or whatever high end car you want mucho cheaper here and when they freak out they do so in a very big way instead of hitting the brakes they often just turn the wheels and don't be there in front of them or else its scary.
I can remember a time when we use to wave our hands at other drivers now I just sit and fume and try my damndest not to blast my horn wife says I need to be more patient and to try to anticipate they driving problems but how do you anticipate some idiot running reds and big problem on the Westcoast late runners

 

[10409]

cruise control was invented for people who have a hard time maintaining the speed limit. or just maintaining a speed period. people that always speed up/slow down bug me more than people who drive consistently slow. i use cruise all the time that way i can sing along to the radio while keeping time with my feet. if you angle your steering wheel down so it touches your knees that also frees up your hands for the air guitar. haven't figured out how to incorporate headbanging yet but i'm working on it.

 

[Granny Gremlin]

That's the opposite of my experience, and I've driven a whole lot of vehicles while using various GPS devices that should be pretty-accurate for comparison.

My wife's old Toyota Highlander is one of the minority of vehicles I've driven that indicates speed very accurately. I don't remember if I've *ever* driven a vehicle that indicated less than the correct speed while most of the dozens of vehicles I've driven - owned or rented - have indicated HIGHER than the correct speed by a just a few kilometers. For example vehicle says 120, actual speed 117 (my "precision engineered" BMW did exactly that).

It's been so common I've wondered if it was deliberate. If a vehicle manufacturer's warranty ends at 60K kilometers and the vehicle indicates 60K when it has only actually traveled 58K or 59K kilometers, on millions of vehicles, how much does that save in warranty repair costs?

Remember that part of the inaccuracy (which ever way it goes; I dunno) is related to not adjusting the speedo (and therefore the odometer as well) for the type of tires on your car. This is especially important when changing tire type ( all season vs snows in general but especially in modern times where the all seasons might be low profile and the snows regular). Rental companies are notorious for not doing this while also changing the stock tire type. Most cars have a dash menu function for this adjustment that you can perform, but hardly anyone ever does (including pro tire change places).

 

[Wardo]

Coming back from Sauga this morning on hurontario and there’s three cars stopped in traffic. The cars look like they’ve had an awful lot of birdshit tossed on them and there’s three obese women standing in traffic screaming at each other. So one of them must’ve thrown something at the other two on their cars. And they are picking the stuff of their cars and throwing it back at each other. Then some people on the sidewalk get involved and they are all shouting at each other too. So I’m stuck waiting for the red light to change laughing my fuckin ass off wondering when they’re going to start shooting each other. Great stuff it was like a Springer episode with the baby mamas all screamin and throwin shit at each other .

 

[Hammerhands]

That's the opposite of my experience, and I've driven a whole lot of vehicles while using various GPS devices that should be pretty-accurate for comparison.

Right, that is what I meant to say!

They show you are travelling the speed limit when you are well below the speed limit.

And this is done on purpose, to comply with EU rules, and also US rules. US cars need to be within 4% of the speed limit, EU cars need to show no more than 110% plus 4 to 6 km/h and never below the speed limit. Then you can add in your tire variations.

Why Your Car's Speedometer Is Wrong

If you plug an ODBII reader into the port, if you check the vehicle speed sensor, the car knows exactly what speed it is going, especially if it has any high performance characteristics.

So the guy in front of you is asking, ”Why is this asshole tailgating me, I’m doing the speed limit?”

 

[mhammer]

The question that may need asking is why the very same people who would likely say "Oops, sorry, s'cuse me" if their cart bumped into yours at the supermarket, or show many of the other earmarks of civility and courtesy in a variety of social/group situations, whether it be waiting for the printer at work, or standing in line at the theatre/club, or what not, can display the very depths of humanity when behind the wheel.

Some of it has to do with frequent unpleasantness of driving on major thoroughfares. I know that every time I'm forced to ascend the on-ramp to the 401, anywhere within 20km of Toronto, I find myself close to possessed by evil spirits as soon as my front wheel touch the on-ramp. But I imagine another part is somewhat related to the internet. After all, one has much the same degree of anonymity on the internet that one has on the highway. And anonymity tends to bring out the inconsiderateness in people; something they would not display if they were face-to-face with you in front of the salad vegetables at Loblaw's/Sobey's.

 

[Steadfastly]

Don’t want to turn this into a rant thread about all the behaviours we experience but am getting annoyed over this.

On winding two way road, a driver waiting to enter this lightly trafficed street, doesn’t wait for me to go by, they pull out in front forcing me to brake and then they proceed to drive the next 5km (until the road ends) at 5-10km below the speed limit. Why?

There’s no one behind me, no long line of traffic, they could have waited two more seconds but they don’t. I drive this route both ways every single day so I experience this every single day.

Is it because they are careless, stupid, inattentive? I put it down to they just don’t care but who knows. Maybe they even do it on purpose.

It is lack of manners. People inside cars do things they would often not do if they were not inside of a vehicle.