Driving along expressway, coming up on a group of cars, I end up
behind on the left. The right lane is not congested as far back as I
am, but is moving slower. So the left lane is the one that should end
up open soonest. I realize that the car on the right just seems to be
one that will move into my lane. Don’t ask me how, but most of you
know what I mean. You just know the blond is an idiot.
So, there is an SUV in front of me, and the blond in the black car to
the right. Just as soon as the SUV’s rear bumper is about five feet
in front of blondie’s front bumper, she moves over. Only problem is
that I am parked six feet behind Mr. SUV.
So, blondie gets about four feet into my lane before the loud honking
sound kicks in to her tiny brain. In the mean time I still have some
room to maneuver if I have to, but not much. She moves over just a
split second before I would have had to take evasive maneuvers such as
applying my brake. I had already, of course, released the gas pedal,
and had the foot hovering over the brake in case it became necessary
to stop. So in the end, she failed to have an accident because I saw
what she was going to do, and controlled the situation in such a way
that I barely had to slow down, and the chance of an accident was
reduced to a negligible amount.
What amazes me is that, before this, when I hooked up with the SUV,
she was still in front of him, and just blocked by the other cars. So
before I got there the SUV was the last car, but it HAD NOT BEEN the
last car for over a minute. What kind of idiot drives a car, checks
the left lane to see if it is clear, sees it will be some time in the
next five minutes, and then just moves over when what he remembers was
the last car goes by?
You could blame me, and say I drove in such a way as she could not see
me. However, when I am in situations like this, I make sure to ride
the center of both lanes as much as possible, and to move over as I
approach the car in the right lane. I make sure I can WATCH the other
driver’s face. (Hmmm, maybe that is what warned me…) Thus I KNOW
she could have seen me. She just never looked.
Think about it though. Never looked, and had so little peripheral
vision, that she could not see something maybe 30 to 50 degrees left
of center. How could any person without glasses make this mistake
even without looking? Yet this person is allowed to drive.
Driving along expressway, coming up on a group of cars, I end up
behind on the left. The right lane is not congested as far back as I
am, but is moving slower. So the left lane is the one that should end
up open soonest. I realize that the car on the right just seems to be
one that will move into my lane. Don’t ask me how, but most of you
know what I mean. You just know the blond is an idiot.
So, there is an SUV in front of me, and the blond in the black car to
the right. Just as soon as the SUV’s rear bumper is about five feet
in front of blondie’s front bumper, she moves over. Only problem is
that I am parked six feet behind Mr. SUV.
So, blondie gets about four feet into my lane before the loud honking
sound kicks in to her tiny brain. In the mean time I still have some
room to maneuver if I have to, but not much. She moves over just a
split second before I would have had to take evasive maneuvers such as
applying my brake. I had already, of course, released the gas pedal,
and had the foot hovering over the brake in case it became necessary
to stop. So in the end, she failed to have an accident because I saw
what she was going to do, and controlled the situation in such a way
that I barely had to slow down, and the chance of an accident was
reduced to a negligible amount.
What amazes me is that, before this, when I hooked up with the SUV,
she was still in front of him, and just blocked by the other cars. So
before I got there the SUV was the last car, but it HAD NOT BEEN the
last car for over a minute. What kind of idiot drives a car, checks
the left lane to see if it is clear, sees it will be some time in the
next five minutes, and then just moves over when what he remembers was
the last car goes by?
You could blame me, and say I drove in such a way as she could not see
me. However, when I am in situations like this, I make sure to ride
the center of both lanes as much as possible, and to move over as I
approach the car in the right lane. I make sure I can WATCH the other
driver’s face. (Hmmm, maybe that is what warned me…) Thus I KNOW
she could have seen me. She just never looked.
Think about it though. Never looked, and had so little peripheral
vision, that she could not see something maybe 30 to 50 degrees left
of center. How could any person without glasses make this mistake
even without looking? Yet this person is allowed to drive.
On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 21:53:39 -0500, DTJ <n…@nowhere.com> wrote:
>Driving along expressway, coming up on a group of cars, I end up
>behind on the left. The right lane is not congested as far back as I
>am, but is moving slower. So the left lane is the one that should end
>up open soonest. I realize that the car on the right just seems to be
>one that will move into my lane. Don’t ask me how, but most of you
>know what I mean. You just know the blond is an idiot.
>So, there is an SUV in front of me, and the blond in the black car to
>the right. Just as soon as the SUV’s rear bumper is about five feet
>in front of blondie’s front bumper, she moves over. Only problem is
>that I am parked six feet behind Mr. SUV.
Tailgating, eh?
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
>So, blondie gets about four feet into my lane before the loud honking
>sound kicks in to her tiny brain. In the mean time I still have some
>room to maneuver if I have to, but not much. She moves over just a
>split second before I would have had to take evasive maneuvers such as
>applying my brake. I had already, of course, released the gas pedal,
>and had the foot hovering over the brake in case it became necessary
>to stop. So in the end, she failed to have an accident because I saw
>what she was going to do, and controlled the situation in such a way
>that I barely had to slow down, and the chance of an accident was
>reduced to a negligible amount.
>What amazes me is that, before this, when I hooked up with the SUV,
>she was still in front of him, and just blocked by the other cars. So
>before I got there the SUV was the last car, but it HAD NOT BEEN the
>last car for over a minute. What kind of idiot drives a car, checks
>the left lane to see if it is clear, sees it will be some time in the
>next five minutes, and then just moves over when what he remembers was
>the last car goes by?
>You could blame me, and say I drove in such a way as she could not see
>me. However, when I am in situations like this, I make sure to ride
>the center of both lanes as much as possible, and to move over as I
>approach the car in the right lane. I make sure I can WATCH the other
>driver’s face. (Hmmm, maybe that is what warned me…) Thus I KNOW
>she could have seen me. She just never looked.
>Think about it though. Never looked, and had so little peripheral
>vision, that she could not see something maybe 30 to 50 degrees left
>of center. How could any person without glasses make this mistake
>even without looking? Yet this person is allowed to drive.
On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 21:53:39 -0500, DTJ <n…@nowhere.com> wrote:
>Driving along expressway, coming up on a group of cars, I end up
>behind on the left. The right lane is not congested as far back as I
>am, but is moving slower. So the left lane is the one that should end
>up open soonest. I realize that the car on the right just seems to be
>one that will move into my lane. Don’t ask me how, but most of you
>know what I mean.
Yeah – cars have "body language" just like people. Drivers may not use
turn signals, but they telegraph their impending lane change just the
same. They slow down next to a gap in the desired lane instead of
keeping pace with the vehicles ahead of them. Their car begins to
drift towards the desired lane. They turn their heads and check their
mirror and/or do a shoulder check. And then they turn on their signal
and wait for someone to "let them in."
The signs are subtle, but eventually the better drivers learn to
recognize them.
Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> Yeah – cars have "body language" just like people.
(…)
> The signs are subtle, but eventually the better drivers learn to
> recognize them.
EXACTLY! (But it’s nigh impossible to explain to someone who doesn’t
"get it"!
On 22 Sep 2005 06:17:54 -0700, df…@gwm.sc.edu wrote:
>> Yeah – cars have "body language" just like people.
>(…)
>> The signs are subtle, but eventually the better drivers learn to
>> recognize them.
>EXACTLY! (But it’s nigh impossible to explain to someone who doesn’t
>"get it"!
Anyone who doesn’t get it after 2 years of driving should have their
license revoked.
df…@gwm.sc.edu wrote in
news:1127395074.040214.44610@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
> Scott en Aztlán wrote:
>> Yeah – cars have "body language" just like people.
> (…)
>> The signs are subtle, but eventually the better drivers learn to
>> recognize them.
> EXACTLY! (But it’s nigh impossible to explain to someone who doesn’t
> "get it"!
Well,there’s a lot of clueless people driving on the roads.
–
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net
> So, there is an SUV in front of me, and the blond in the black car to
> the right. Just as soon as the SUV’s rear bumper is about five feet
> in front of blondie’s front bumper, she moves over. Only problem is
> that I am parked six feet behind Mr. SUV.
You’re leaving just 6 feet of space on the freeway?
Larry Bud wrote:
>>So, there is an SUV in front of me, and the blond in the black car to
>>the right. Just as soon as the SUV’s rear bumper is about five feet
>>in front of blondie’s front bumper, she moves over. Only problem is
>>that I am parked six feet behind Mr. SUV.
> You’re leaving just 6 feet of space on the freeway?
He was actually advocating tailgating in older posts.
On 22 Sep 2005 14:21:01 -0700, "Larry Bud" <larrybud2…@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>> So, there is an SUV in front of me, and the blond in the black car to
>> the right. Just as soon as the SUV’s rear bumper is about five feet
>> in front of blondie’s front bumper, she moves over. Only problem is
>> that I am parked six feet behind Mr. SUV.
>You’re leaving just 6 feet of space on the freeway?
Yeah, I know, I am a lot more generous than most people in Illinois.
The typical space is more like a foot or two.