RE: Driving

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Zonie63 -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 6:44:44 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: OsideGirl In the older sections of the cities of MA, there are no left turn lanes. In the intersections with lights, there is 5 seconds between when the cross traffic light turns red and your light turns green. You put on your blinker, so oncoming traffic knows what you're doing, count to 5 and then throw it out there. Otherwise, there is not a chance in hell that you will make a left turn. What about making the left turn at the end of the cycle, just as your light turns yellow then red? That's what I usually do at intersections without arrows. I move out into the middle of the intersection before actually turning, so if oncoming traffic is too heavy, then I wait until the light turns red so that they finally stop, then I can make the turn.

OsideGirl -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 6:47:27 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Zonie63 quote: ORIGINAL: OsideGirl In the older sections of the cities of MA, there are no left turn lanes. In the intersections with lights, there is 5 seconds between when the cross traffic light turns red and your light turns green. You put on your blinker, so oncoming traffic knows what you're doing, count to 5 and then throw it out there. Otherwise, there is not a chance in hell that you will make a left turn. What about making the left turn at the end of the cycle, just as your light turns yellow then red? That's what I usually do at intersections without arrows. I move out into the middle of the intersection before actually turning, so if oncoming traffic is too heavy, then I wait until the light turns red so that they finally stop, then I can make the turn. That's acceptable if you're not the first person in line. Basically, you can expect two left turns per cycle. But, if you're the first person in line and wait until the light turns red again, the people behind you will be very upset. Truly, when you live there, the "banging a left" is just expected.

Zonie63 -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 7:02:04 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: OsideGirl quote: ORIGINAL: Zonie63 quote: ORIGINAL: OsideGirl In the older sections of the cities of MA, there are no left turn lanes. In the intersections with lights, there is 5 seconds between when the cross traffic light turns red and your light turns green. You put on your blinker, so oncoming traffic knows what you're doing, count to 5 and then throw it out there. Otherwise, there is not a chance in hell that you will make a left turn. What about making the left turn at the end of the cycle, just as your light turns yellow then red? That's what I usually do at intersections without arrows. I move out into the middle of the intersection before actually turning, so if oncoming traffic is too heavy, then I wait until the light turns red so that they finally stop, then I can make the turn. That's acceptable if you're not the first person in line. Basically, you can expect two left turns per cycle. But, if you're the first person in line and wait until the light turns red again, the people behind you will be very upset. Truly, when you live there, the "banging a left" is just expected. That's interesting. I'll have to remember that if I ever drive in Massachusetts. They would have a real hoot driving around here, as there are some people who won't even bother moving out into the intersection in situations like that.

LizDeluxe -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 7:13:31 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Zonie63 Does anyone have any suggestions on how to maintain one's sanity and composure while driving? I have none. If there existed a test to identify a road rage gene I am certain I would test positive. My patience level has worn microscopically thin over the years. The thing is that while I am not an aggressive driver myself by nature my ability to keep calm and carry on has really diminished behind the wheel regarding the stupidity of those around me. Thankfully I have a short daily commute of about 15 minutes. The trip to work is after hours and a breeze. The trip home is against traffic on a relatively open road. I do frequent road trips on the weekend. That's the problem. My issue is tailgaters. Driving slow in the left hand lane? I can deal with it. Cutting across six lanes of traffic? I can deal with it. No turn signals? I can deal with it. Zipping in and out of lanes? I can deal with it. Tailgate me and my blood starts to boil. There's no build up - it's like an M80 going off. It's the only thing that sets me off and it really sets me off.

TheHeretic -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 7:29:27 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Zonie63 What about making the left turn at the end of the cycle, just as your light turns yellow then red? That's what I usually do at intersections without arrows. I move out into the middle of the intersection before actually turning, so if oncoming traffic is too heavy, then I wait until the light turns red so that they finally stop, then I can make the turn. I met a guy once, whose method of making a left was to count to three when the light turned yellow, then gun it. Unfortunately, at the moment we met, I was running 55 (legal limit) in an old Ford pick-up with shitty brakes, and had made the determination that I couldn't safely stop for the light, but could clear the intersection before the light turned red. It wasn't a good moment for either of us.

DesFIP -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 7:33:43 PM)
Left turns here are like those in MA. The first car makes the immediate left, the second car in line waits till the end of the cycle. If you tailgate me, I will slow down. Because tailgaters eventually rear end you and I would rather they do that at 20 mph than 60. I'll be much less injured by it. But you have to bite your tongue when they do hit you because it's not uncommon to know the person who did it. The worst accident I've been in was caused by a tractor trailor who drove through a 40 mph zone, with a steep downhill grade going 70. He came up on me and never used his brakes. I was driven off the road with bad ditches either side and hit the only safe place in a mile and a half. The car went up a little embankment, flipped and was totaled. I walked away without a scratch. He never stopped. If he had, I would have made sure he was hit with a chargeable. Beyond that, around here what you need first to learn is how to deal with deer in the road. If you swerve, you die. You hit ditches and telephone poles and trees. Hit them straight and they should slide over the roof of the car allowing you to live through it with the car totaled. And yes, we had some idiot weekender come to a town meeting demanding the town move the deer crossing signs because too many deer were crossing at them.

LookieNoNookie -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 7:43:15 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Zonie63 Does anyone have any suggestions on how to maintain one's sanity and composure while driving? Yes....chill....be rational. There's a dangerous mix of drivers who never really learned how to drive in the first place, along with those who view driving as some kind of gladiatorial combat and think the public roads are their own personal raceway. (See above). A lot of people clearly don't even bother to plan their route, as evidenced by people who zip across three lanes to make their exit in time. I see that a lot. Many drivers don't even use their turn signals. I seriously think you should track them down and kill them or, alternatively....chill the fuck out. I'm probably speaking of a minority of drivers, as I think most drivers are courteous and obey the traffic laws. But there are some people who are enough to drive you nuts. Don't get me wrong, I'm not on the edge of road rage, but I'm just trying to gauge whether anyone else gets frustrated with traffic, bad drivers, etc. and how they generally handle it. Uhmmmmm....we uhhhhh.....handle it.

Hillwilliam -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 8:00:14 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: OsideGirl quote: ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam Drive in miami and you can drive anywhere. I did it for 18 years. I think SoCal is worse than Miami. We have a large population of immigrants that come from places where the traffic moves much slower, traffic is much less, or they didn't own a car. One of my friends is from Moloka'i. When she first moved here, she kept getting tickets for going too slow...because top speed on the island is 45MPH. She would freak out on the freeway. Miami is basically all immigrants. We had the worst of everything. We had refugees who had never been in a car until 2 months ago and now they drive a taxi. We had little old blue haired ladies driving their caddy in the left lane at 45 We had Brazillians (nuff said) We had Europeans of all stripe We had people who could not read the road signs because they were only in English. Annnnnnnnnnnd last but not least..........Canadians. Not to mention the usual rush hour mixture of make up applying, shaving, paper reading, coffee drinking, sandwich eating idots

TheHeretic -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 8:02:14 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DesFIP The worst accident I've been in was caused by a tractor trailor who drove through a 40 mph zone, with a steep downhill grade going 70. He came up on me and never used his brakes. I was driven off the road with bad ditches either side and hit the only safe place in a mile and a half. The car went up a little embankment, flipped and was totaled. I walked away without a scratch. He never stopped. If he had, I would have made sure he was hit with a chargeable. Holy crap. Whatever God/s there may be were looking out for you there. So you never knew if he had lost his brakes, or was in a meth rage, with you in path, huh?

OsideGirl -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 8:14:33 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam We had little old blue haired ladies driving their caddy in the left lane at 45 I remember when I was in college, walking past a Caddy in the parking lot at grocery store, looking in and seeing the Yellow Pages phone book on the front seat!

tj444 -> RE: Driving (4/9/2013 8:18:23 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam Annnnnnnnnnnd last but not least..........Canadians. look at the positive, Hilly.. at least the Canadians arent armed!!! [;)] imo, how well you drive can depend on how good yer gps is.. I always would look up the addresses I was going to on my computer before I left so I would have a good idea how to get there, what exits to get on and off the fwy, etc and I found that would help me with the gps.. cuz the maps on the gps can sometimes be a tad outta date..

DesFIP -> RE: Driving (4/10/2013 9:17:28 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TheHeretic Holy crap. Whatever God/s there may be were looking out for you there. So you never knew if he had lost his brakes, or was in a meth rage, with you in path, huh? Probably just running late and hoped that there wouldn't be anyone else on the road ahead of him. God forbid you miss a delivery time.

kalikshama -> RE: Driving (4/10/2013 10:25:35 AM)
I am back in Massachusetts after 2 years in NY and 7 years in South Florida and agree that Miami is the worst. I banged a left this AM and had a chuckle.

OsideGirl -> RE: Driving (4/10/2013 10:46:10 AM)
Clearly, I need this: [image]http://image.spreadshirt.com/image-server/v1/products/20548819/views/1,width=280,height=280,appearanceId=121.png/keep-calm-and-bang-a-left-621.png[/image]

theshytype -> RE: Driving (4/10/2013 12:10:49 PM)
I had a chuckle with the Canadians comment. Any time I saw a slow car in the left lane here in the states, I always assumed they were Canadian and I was almost always right about it. The only guess I had was perhaps they didn't have MPH on their speedometer, but why chill out in the left lane? I rarely see Canadian drivers where I'm at now, but the locals make up for it.

Zonie63 -> RE: Driving (4/10/2013 12:32:08 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TheHeretic quote: ORIGINAL: Zonie63 What about making the left turn at the end of the cycle, just as your light turns yellow then red? That's what I usually do at intersections without arrows. I move out into the middle of the intersection before actually turning, so if oncoming traffic is too heavy, then I wait until the light turns red so that they finally stop, then I can make the turn. I met a guy once, whose method of making a left was to count to three when the light turned yellow, then gun it. Unfortunately, at the moment we met, I was running 55 (legal limit) in an old Ford pick-up with shitty brakes, and had made the determination that I couldn't safely stop for the light, but could clear the intersection before the light turned red. It wasn't a good moment for either of us. I usually wait until I'm sure that oncoming traffic is stopping. I've seen some nasty accidents in intersections when people take chances making left turns like that.

TallullahHk -> RE: Driving (4/10/2013 9:21:11 PM)
I've been here for 20 plus years and still hate this. Unless, of course, I need to do it :)

MistressDarkArt -> RE: Driving (4/10/2013 9:43:23 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Zonie63 Does anyone have any suggestions on how to maintain one's sanity and composure while driving? Yes. Have someone else do it. Car/van pool, bus, bicycle...whatever it takes. Despite living in a lightly populated scenic coastal town, I still hate to drive. It's a given that one of my boys will drive where we need to go. When car pooling to out-of-area contra dances, I offer my car in exchange for another dancer doing the driving.

absolutchocolat -> RE: Driving (4/10/2013 10:37:26 PM)
FR I can totally relate. I have the worst anxiety when I drive. I just practice driving at night so I feel comfortable. Blasting some Rascal Flatts helps too. [;)]

Aswad -> RE: Driving (4/11/2013 3:29:04 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MasterCaneman When I'm driving, I KNOW I am better than 90% of the other drivers out there, simply because I've done more of it. That, right there, is what accounts for most of the accidents and general aggravation in traffic. It's an attitude about 90% of the drivers out there share. How's the math of that work out? IWYW, — Aswad.

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