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ReformedNiceGuy posted:Added maps goodness A mere stone's throw from my ancestral lands! Post pictures please. To me, the basic lesson is to slow down on B roads where you can't see through the corner so that you will be able to stop or slow adequately when someone is doing something stupid. That isn't "slow down you mad fool, you will kill us all doing 40mph on a national speed limit road" (said the Daily Mail reading Micra driver). It's simply that where you can't see through to the exit of the corner, B roads have a habit of featuring things like unexpected surface contamination, pedestrians and ramblists, ponies out for a hack, cyclists, the back of New Holland's finest ... or some dumb gently caress in a car or van who decides to overtake on a blind corner because he or she simply couldn't possibly wait behind a cyclist for 10 seconds. If you can see the exit, by all means go as mad as you want - but if you can't, it's best to back right off. There are no prizes for impaling yourself on a yummy mummy Mercedes.
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Jan 10, 2013 21:26
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Saga posted:A mere stone's throw from my ancestral lands! Post pictures please. All of this. You'll eventually get yourself killed overriding your sight lines, regardless of how good of a rider you are. Riding skill and luck can only compensate for poor judgement for a limited amount of time. Beyond that, slow in, fast out is the rule to live by on the street. Once you've confirmed the road is clean and clear, throttle out to your heart's content.
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Jan 10, 2013 23:45
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Forgot to do an up-to-date lifesaver while peeking around a lorry to overtake, found a Saab half a foot to the right that had gunned up the previously empty road. Good little reminder. Also, by the sound of things I'm not taking corners nearly leaned over enough, given that I'll slow from 60 to 40 on A- roads to take them. Hopefully I'll do that after my proper lessons.
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Jan 11, 2013 01:13
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I live in Seattle, and until recently we didn't have any ice on the roads despite it being January. I was riding home from work on Tuesday evening and I take a detour to hit up the Taco Del Mar near my house. I was westbound on NE Ravenna Blvd at around 6pm, and I was rolling up the right side of the line of cars stopped at the red light at 12th Ave NE. There aren't any cars in the parking lane, so I roll up to make a right from the red light onto 12th. That spot has a dedicated turn in lane from Ravenna to 12th, and none of the cars in the line had turn signals on or were giving any indication of wanting to turn. I roll up, do a California stop and start my right turn exactly as the light turns green. The Prius at the front of the line puts on her signals, turns hard right and runs up to me broadside. I felt my left leg compress her door panel, and my motorcycle seemed to slide a bit across the wet road as she made her turn into me. I kept it upright somehow, pulled away and zipped up a block and away from her. I stopped the bike to slow down my breathing and up drives a super panicked young looking girl who was terrified I'd been hurt. I told her I was fine and to have a good night, and skipped the burrito in favor of mac and cheese and beer. So far all I have is a light ache in my left leg where it compressed her door panel, and some Prius paint on my pegs. I wasn't sure if this was the thread to post this in, or if it belongs in the Crash Test thread. I didn't go down and didn't get hurt (I think, so far anyways) so I thought I'd put it here. http://goo.gl/maps/lOULq Here's the location, and http://goo.gl/maps/s3wnu here's a view of the intersection and dedicated merge/turn lane.
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Jan 14, 2013 08:27
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DJ_Ferret posted:I live in Seattle, and until recently we didn't have any ice on the roads despite it being January. I was riding home from work on Tuesday evening and I take a detour to hit up the Taco Del Mar near my house. Just goes to show that no matter how prepared or aware you are, people can still surprise you with their preternatural ability to be stupid. Glad you're ok. Shoulda gone with the burrito though.
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Jan 14, 2013 08:34
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:Just goes to show that no matter how prepared or aware you are, people can still surprise you with their preternatural ability to be stupid. I agree, I should have done the burrito. So I took the same route home the next day and got a burrito. It was delicious, and for some reason they didn't charge extra for the extra meat and guacamole I had them put on it.
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Jan 14, 2013 08:39
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DJ_Ferret posted:I live in Seattle Totally unrelated to the rest of the thread - I was going to move there, and at the time I lived in a big apartment building which I can't find for the life of me on google maps- do you know where the street-wide staircase down to the wharf with the little pools to the side of each step is? Just trying to find it for nostalgia's sake, I lived at the building on the right-hand side at the top.
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Jan 14, 2013 09:28
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I'd guess you are thinking of Harbor Steps
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Jan 14, 2013 18:31
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I was going to guess the Harbor Steps as well. I do stair sprints there, it's a nice place.
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Jan 14, 2013 21:32
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Cheers guys! Had a nice wee slide on black ice yesterday pulling away from my house, you need to cross traffic in front of a blind summit uphill turning right. May have gunned it a little too much since it was at the end of rush hour and traffic was still coming out of nowhere on that hill, what a horrible sinking feeling when you feel the bike leaning way lower and the back tire doing a little shimmy! Glad it's been drilled into me to just keep throttle steady though, it's amazing how just doing that will have it stable in no time. Wootcannon fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Jan 16, 2013 |
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Jan 16, 2013 10:08
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:Just goes to show that no matter how prepared or aware you are, people can still surprise you with their preternatural ability to be stupid. I was coming home a couple of days ago and this quote reminded me of my "incident." It's a bit after 1800, and dark and very cold. New moon, low 30s. There's a newer BMW with those auto-leveling projector beams behind me. The line of traffic we're in is headed by someone slow in a minivan, and the BMW is riding my rear end and seems to be flashing his hi beams at me. I didn't see anyone directly behind the BMW, but his brights make it difficult. I pull over into the bike lane to let the rear end in a top hat by, and then speed back up behind him, nearly hitting something in the road. He's pulling an old Toyota truck with a lift kit using a 300' tow strap. There's 150' between the vehicles, and the Toyota doesn't have any lights on. It keeps surging the brakes trying to keep the strap somewhat taut, and that's jerking the hell out of this BMW. I took the next side street and went home another way. I hesitate to think what would have happened if I had ridden over that strap.
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Jan 16, 2013 15:44
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:I was coming home a couple of days ago and this quote reminded me of my "incident." It's a bit after 1800, and dark and very cold. New moon, low 30s. There's a newer BMW with those auto-leveling projector beams behind me. The line of traffic we're in is headed by someone slow in a minivan, and the BMW is riding my rear end and seems to be flashing his hi beams at me. I didn't see anyone directly behind the BMW, but his brights make it difficult. I pull over into the bike lane to let the rear end in a top hat by, and then speed back up behind him, nearly hitting something in the road. He's pulling an old Toyota truck with a lift kit using a 300' tow strap. There's 150' between the vehicles, and the Toyota doesn't have any lights on. It keeps surging the brakes trying to keep the strap somewhat taut, and that's jerking the hell out of this BMW. How the gently caress did he turn?!
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Jan 16, 2013 16:20
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There was a driver in the Toyota.
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Jan 16, 2013 17:35
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Rolling down a wide open Southern California highway with perfect temperatures and only one other car in sight.  Despite the fact there are three open lanes I am coming up behind this car and closing the gap. I lazily decide to merge over and as I begin my lean I see something in the road pop up that was completely obscured by the car until it passed. I was already leaning to change two lanes so I had no time to react and barely missed it. It happened so fast I couldn't tell you what it was but it looked like a diaper.  There was so much open road I got complacent and was on semi auto pilot enjoying the breeze and as such that road hazard could have got the best of me. Lesson learned, even if there is only one other car in sight stay as far away from it as possible.
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Jan 23, 2013 03:50
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Well, as long as you weren't totally leaned over and on the edge of traction, you probably would have kept it together. A diaper is soft; I've run over 2x4s and into four-inch potholes and while it sure shakes you up the bike usually sorts itself out pretty fast. The cleanup, on the other hand... 
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Jan 23, 2013 04:00
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Stugazi posted:Rolling down a wide open Southern California highway with perfect temperatures and only one other car in sight. Lies, such highways do not exist here. Also, glad you didn't eat poo poo 
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Jan 23, 2013 04:34
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Ponies ate my Bagel posted:I had a nasty one yesterday. Guy in a red Dodge Ram (what is it with red rams and me!?!) is sitting in the left most turn lane for a double left. I split up between him and some black SUV and he starts losing his poo poo. Literally jumping up and down on his seat flipping me the finger and then cranks his wheels over and pulls into me on purpose. He barely touched my front wheel and I was able to keep the bike upright without any real risk of going over. The guy in the black SUV to my right see's him do this and actually backed up to give me space. I rolled back a foot or two and pulled into the center of the right lane where the other SUV had been. Can someone explain this lane splitting to me? I mean, it makes sense on the highway when it's bumper to bumper, but what's the point of getting one car length ahead of someone at a stoplight? It seems like it just pisses people off. I know it made people mad when I bicycled a lot (so I just kept my place in line.)
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Jan 23, 2013 15:59
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thylacine posted:Can someone explain this lane splitting to me? I mean, it makes sense on the highway when it's bumper to bumper, but what's the point of getting one car length ahead of someone at a stoplight? It seems like it just pisses people off. I know it made people mad when I bicycled a lot (so I just kept my place in line.) When traffic is flowing, a motorcycle takes up roughly one car worth of space on the road. Where lane splitting is common, motorcycles go from taking up one carspace to 0 carspace when traffic stops. If you're #6 in line for the green light, you get to start moving again sooner if the motorcycle in front of you splits to the front. A study in Denmark revealed that if 10% more commuters chose motorcycles over cars, their peak congestion would be reduced 40% by lane splitting. e: When a bicycle splits in front of you, you have to pass him again later which is dangerous for both you and the bicyclist. When a motorcycle splits in front of you, he's gone when the light turns green unless you're driving a supercar.
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Jan 23, 2013 16:09
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Yeah, it really is win/win for the most part. I don't really know why people get mad, especially when the car is turning and you're not. I'm lucky here (southern UK). Motorbikes are pretty accepted by drivers, and lane splitting is legal. I do think the people who DO get mad are mostly motivated by jealousy.
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Jan 23, 2013 18:37
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Thumbquat posted:Yeah, it really is win/win for the most part. I don't really know why people get mad, especially when the car is turning and you're not. It's great, white van men will tend to pull over a little and give you a bit more room, or at the very least make a lovely supportive wanking gesture at the Chelsea tractor driver who's casually in three lanes.
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Jan 24, 2013 12:08
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Had a near-highside this morning. What Happened: Hit a large patch of dirt mid-corner in the twisties, lost the front, lost the rear, violently regained traction on both. It was the dirt's fault. Stupid dirt. How dare it be there!? What Really Happened: Basically, I made ALL the mistakes. We've had storms recently, and the twisties were covered in sticks, leaves, and actual tree branches. Mistake #1: I wasn't paying full and proper attention to the road surface, mostly looking for branches and stuff, so I didn't see the patch of dirt till it was "too late". Mistake #2: It wasn't too late. I was travelling at a very conservative pace, and I could easily have gone around it on either side. Instead, I panicked, froze, and target-fixated. Mistake #3: Putting a foot down and forward once I lost the front. What the hell. I've been riding for ~5 years, and had a bit of advanced training (at least once a year). Me not paying attention caused this; and lead to the reactions from my lizard brain overriding the smart things I would probably otherwise have done. I guess I should just be glad I didn't chop the throttle or grab the brake as well. Edit: Also there were cyclists - going in our direction, and the opposite direction (with cars overtaking them around blind corners etc), so it's also likely that my hazard perception was overwhelmed/biased and I should actually have been going even slower than I was. gently caress. Jaco fucked around with this message at 08:23 on Feb 23, 2013 |
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Feb 23, 2013 06:32
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Another of those nights tonight, this time with suicidal pedestrians. First one - literally 30 seconds after leaving work, still trying to get all my bits to sit properly in my jeans while filtering up the centre of the road. Van coming on with misaligned headlights pointing directly into my eyes - I do the proper trick and keep myself from staring into them and see a gap in the traffic on the left which I duck into - *just* missing the all-black-dressed pedestrian standing on the centreline of the road. He was literally invisible thanks to the glare from the van and it was pure coincidence I didn't hit him (on reflection I'm fairly sure I missed him by a fair distance but he seemed to literally appear next to me). Second one - crossing controlled by lights, my lights green, I and three other bikes are leading a fairly long line of traffic from the previous lights - bloke runs out into the road dragging two kids, one a toddler who could barely walk, the other about six or seven - along behind him. The bike on the right *just* missed clipping him (we'd all braked and hit our horns at about the same time and we down below walking pace by the time we'd got to the lights). Fucker had the cheek to turn round and start shouting at us, the bike on the right stopped to have a word... Third one - not strictly speaking my almost-crash but it still made me jump. Crossing controlled by lights with a bus stop just past it, two lanes in each direction. I'm between the lanes at the front, stopped at the red light. There's a bus stopped at the stop and I know that peds love to run out across the road from that stop ("behind" the bus from my POV but in front of the bus itself IYSWIM) despite the presence of the crossing I'm stopped at so I've already decided to take the right-hand-side of the right-hand lane when the lights changed to give myself time if anyone does. Sure enough there's an oldish woman sticking her head round the front of the bus as I pull away so I ease off the throttle just in case - and a scooter shoots from the far-left of the road, between me and the bus, doing about 30mph, and just about missed decapitating the woman standing there. Finally - zebra crossing that's well dodgy just near my house. There's lights at the crossing itself but bushes and trees against the building next to the crossing on the opposite side of the road to me obscure the streetlights and people can literally disappear in the shadows. I get fixated because i think I've seen someone in those shadows and come off the throttle - and fortunately notice the woman with a pushchair on the left hand side of the road who's mistaken my deceleration for stopping to let her across the crossing just in time to stop. Eek. She didn't even notice (she was looking at the other lane) so I think that doesn't count as a gently caress up for me, does it?
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Feb 25, 2013 19:50
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Reminder, to never ever relax: Commuting home from work just now, a real easy 4 mile trip on side streets, do it every day, etc. Split past 2-2 cars up to a stoplight, waited for green and was about to gas it, but remembered to look both ways because it's kind of a lovely intersection. I looked left straight at a black Mercedes that had ran the red super late, and brought another car along behind him to his left. The cars on either side of me who hadn't looked all had to slam on their brakes. I was so angry that I reflexively mashed both my horn and my engine kill switch  If I had accidentally timed the split perfectly with the light, I probably would have rolled straight into the intersection and been creamed like a goddamn fool.
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Feb 26, 2013 02:48
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The Royal Nonesuch posted:Reminder, to never ever relax: I tend to mash my starter... Apparently I need to practice panic honking.
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Feb 26, 2013 02:55
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Go kickstart-only, like me, and replace your starter button with one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Pit-Bull-CHIH310-12V-Horn/dp/B001CS6C9M
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Feb 26, 2013 03:38
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Bondematt posted:I tend to mash my starter... Haha! I thought I was the only one! 
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Feb 26, 2013 14:52
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The Royal Nonesuch posted:Reminder, to never ever relax: Kind of similar, had a fun ride home yesterday afternoon. Left work early feeling like poo poo so I got to deal with school traffic. Some idiot had been following close for a few miles, backing off for a 1/2 mile or so whenever I turned around or pointed at them. Getting close to the school it goes to 25 zone so I slow down, idiot comes within a couple feet of my rear wheel. I planned on splitting to the front of the light by the school but someone decided they were in the wrong lane at the last minute and blocked my path. Sitting at light and the idiot keeps inching closer and closer. By this point I feel like I'm about to vomit and am really pissed off at the idiot behind me. Then he loving bumps my rear wheel so I let the bike fall over (slowly). He's boxed in, a cop saw the whole thing and I'm pissed off so I blow up. Storm up to his window, he's talking on his phone staring at me with the most confused look on his face. After screaming at him for what felt like five minutes the cop walks over to make sure I'm alright. Guy got a couple tickets and a scuff on his front bumper, SV got another little scratch on the handlebar ends. After it was all done took off my helmet, threw up, put my helmet back on, picked up the bike and went home where I passed out until this morning. TLDR:I got "rear ended" sitting at a light and flipped the gently caress out.
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Feb 26, 2013 16:09
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NitroSpazzz posted:Kind of similar, had a fun ride home yesterday afternoon. Left work early feeling like poo poo so I got to deal with school traffic. Some idiot had been following close for a few miles, backing off for a 1/2 mile or so whenever I turned around or pointed at them. Getting close to the school it goes to 25 zone so I slow down, idiot comes within a couple feet of my rear wheel. I planned on splitting to the front of the light by the school but someone decided they were in the wrong lane at the last minute and blocked my path. I haven't been hit yet, but I can't even imagine the meltdown I would have after that. Especially with armored gloves on, I'd be beating the gently caress out of that car.
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Feb 26, 2013 18:38
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NitroSpazzz posted:Kind of similar, had a fun ride home yesterday afternoon. Left work early feeling like poo poo so I got to deal with school traffic. Some idiot had been following close for a few miles, backing off for a 1/2 mile or so whenever I turned around or pointed at them. Getting close to the school it goes to 25 zone so I slow down, idiot comes within a couple feet of my rear wheel. I planned on splitting to the front of the light by the school but someone decided they were in the wrong lane at the last minute and blocked my path. You should have thrown up on his car!
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Feb 26, 2013 19:19
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Or better yet, throw up on the guy's window then faint right in front of the cop.
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Feb 26, 2013 19:32
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Sucks to hear that story. So the guy wasn't being belligerent, he was just on the phone not paying attention?
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Feb 26, 2013 19:48
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Angryboot posted:Or better yet, throw up on the guy's window then faint right in front of the cop. I second this idea. gently caress people who text while driving. Many a time on my bicycle I've had a car slam to a stop just a few feet away, about to T-bone me or cut me off or just outright run me over, and as I stare the driver down I see that their face is illuminated blue from the glow of the screen in their lap. gently caress gently caress gently caress gently caress gently caress those people. I tried texting while driving once when I was young and stupid and had just gotten a cell phone, and immediately ran a stop sign and nearly drove off the road. Never again.
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Feb 26, 2013 22:32
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Snowdens Secret posted:Sucks to hear that story. So the guy wasn't being belligerent, he was just on the phone not paying attention? Story of 9/10 of dangerous drivers in my experience.
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Feb 26, 2013 22:40
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This is the main reason why I split lanes whenever I can. That one rear-end crash in Dallas on the toll way a few years back really scared that into me. At least the poor guy lived but man I like my spleen.
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Feb 26, 2013 22:50
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Sagebrush posted:I second this idea. Is the conspiracy theory I've heard - that some states have banned talking on the phone but deliberately left off texting under pressure from the phone companies - true, or what? Because both talking (without a headet) and texting while driving are illegal in the UK and while I still occasionally see people talking on the phone (and more than once using a laptop in the passenger seat) I almost never see people texting and we're mad for texting over here.
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Feb 26, 2013 22:52
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In California the law is "no handheld electronic devices", which does help with the texting somewhat (NOT, people just hold it between their legs and glance up every few seconds) but doesn't remove the general problem of distraction caused by trying to do something else while you are operating a motor vehicle. "Handheld" kind of misses the point -- drinking from your big gulp shouldn't affect your driving abilities, but you bet that if you're yelling at your deadbeat brother-in-law on your hands-free phone you're going to miss things on the road even with both hands on the wheel. Not that I have a good idea of a solution to it all, of course. People need to stop talking about multitasking like it's a good thing, I think. Teach kids that it's better to focus on one task and do it really well than to half-rear end a bunch simultaneously and maybe we'll quit having these stupid problems. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Feb 26, 2013 |
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Feb 26, 2013 22:58
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Is the conspiracy theory I've heard - that some states have banned talking on the phone but deliberately left off texting under pressure from the phone companies - true, or what? Because both talking (without a headet) and texting while driving are illegal in the UK and while I still occasionally see people talking on the phone (and more than once using a laptop in the passenger seat) I almost never see people texting and we're mad for texting over here. While I can see the conspiracy theory making sense with SMS's being basically pure profit, haven't most folk switched to social media or BBM? Actually, what would you get done for if caught doing that, driving without due care and attention or one of the phone laws?
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Feb 26, 2013 22:59
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Im in Cali and work for a court. My boss has an odd job being the head of Traffic and IT. Almost every day he comes into work talking on his phone, texting or sending an email. It seems like nobody here pays attention to the laws. The cops that sit in front of the courthouse write over 30 cell phone tickets a day at $285 a pop. It boggles my mind.
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Feb 26, 2013 23:22
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Here they're doing some public awareness campaign called "Crotches Kill." http://ca.shine.yahoo.com/blogs/shine-on/alberta-distracted-driving-anti-text-ads-feature-glowing-184451121.html The local plod are asking to be able to add license demerits to our newly introduced fines for distracted driving as well.
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Feb 26, 2013 23:50
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Wootcannon posted:That might be a regional thing, I've never seen anyone chatting on the phone but I've seen lots of the tell-tale crotch gaze. Course, that might just say more about where I'm focusing. The offence is always driving without due care and attention, they just expanded the definition (talking on a phone while driving has always been illegal because of the strangely-specific provision in the Road Traffic Act against operating a hand-held microphone while driving).
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Feb 26, 2013 23:54
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