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Disgruntled Bovine posted:Look up motorcycle crash compilation on youtube sometime. Motorcyclists are people, just like car drivers. Lots of people are stupid. some are well beyond stupid 
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Jul 22, 2015 09:26
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OPGZBQoE-k Also I drove through the centre of Paris during rush hour last Thursday. It's quite fun once you realise there are only two rules: stop at red lights, don't hit anyone else.
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Jul 22, 2015 12:43
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OPGZBQoE-k After seeing that Arc de Triomphe video I believe it. Fake edit: This one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2RCPpdmSVg
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Jul 22, 2015 14:17
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Speed that up and it brings me back to sitting in the front seat of a Spanish taxi, which might have been the most terrifying ride of my life.
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Jul 22, 2015 17:08
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Toaster Beef posted:Speed that up and it brings me back to sitting in the front seat of a Spanish taxi, which might have been the most terrifying ride of my life. What city? My rides in Madrid were about 50% terrifying, a few of my rides in the San Sebastian area were scary because those roads just weren't built for a car as wide as an E-Class, but my experiences in Seville and Logrono were very normal, even sedate compared to some places.
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Jul 22, 2015 17:24
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Scruff McGruff posted:After seeing that Arc de Triomphe video I believe it. Technically, the street around the Arc de Triomphe is not a roundabout, it's a circular one-way street. The difference is that in a roundabout, traffic inside the roundabout always has priority over traffic entering or exiting. On normal streets with no yield markings, traffic on the right always has priority, which is also the case around the Arc de Triomphe. That's why it seems so messed up compared to proper roundabouts.
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Jul 22, 2015 17:30
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KozmoNaut posted:Technically, the street around the Arc de Triomphe is not a roundabout, it's a hellish land of chaos FTFY
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Jul 22, 2015 17:41
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PT6A posted:What city? My rides in Madrid were about 50% terrifying, a few of my rides in the San Sebastian area were scary because those roads just weren't built for a car as wide as an E-Class, but my experiences in Seville and Logrono were very normal, even sedate compared to some places. Madrid, near the Prado, going to and from the IFEMA while covering a medical convention. It was bonkers. I've likened it to that shot in Star Wars when the Millenium Falcon jumps to light speed and everything just turns into streaks of color.
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Jul 22, 2015 17:46
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OPGZBQoE-k *sniff* That was beautiful.
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Jul 22, 2015 17:59
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Toaster Beef posted:Madrid, near the Prado, going to and from the IFEMA while covering a medical convention. It was bonkers. I've likened it to that shot in Star Wars when the Millenium Falcon jumps to light speed and everything just turns into streaks of color. Oh my, yeah, that probably would've been scary. I only took taxis to and from the airport, so I didn't really get the full experience, just the HOLY gently caress THE TRAFFIC AHEAD OF YOU IS ALREADY STOPPED, BRAKES NOT GAS!!! sphincter-clenching experience on the congested highway.
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Jul 22, 2015 18:08
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The Locator posted:The bus blocking the entire freeway to make his illegal turn is nice. I also like how many turn on their hazards, as if that makes it all cool. So last week there was a fatal wreck on my morning commute. The freeway was closed, and at one point about an hour in the police were directing cars to U-turn and drive back down on-ramps to allow stuck traffic to find another way to work. The very next day I poo poo you not, I go to turn on my normal on-ramp and there's an rear end in a top hat sitting there facing me with his signal on, because the freeway was a little backed up, as it normally is. He got to drive down the on-ramp one time for a very rare freeway closing, and now he thinks it's okay to do it any time he doesn't like what he sees.
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Jul 22, 2015 18:09
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sleepy.eyes posted:Saw a strange thing today. As I was going down the highway a van goes cruising by me in the left lane with its break lights lighting up for about half a second every 2 seconds. It never seemed to slow down at all and was keeping at about 80. What the hell? Could some faulty wiring do that? probably your standard left foot braker resting his foot on the loving brake pedal and toggling the brake lights every other second. Just stay well away from them as if they had no brake lights at all.
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Jul 22, 2015 18:25
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We got held up trying to exit a parking garage last night, behind a car with big Hertz stickers all over it. After a couple of minutes a cop comes up to my car asking if someone in my company spoke good English because they were having trouble getting through to a tourist. Turns out the guy in front of me insisted his "international drivers license" allowed him to drive a manual car over here. It doesn't, if you are a 17 year old from Alabama, your license barely allows you to ride a moped over here. The cops didn't want to go through the hassle of arresting the guy, but in the end had no choice. It didn't matter how often we told that kid a piece of paper printed by AAA is not a legal document, or that the driving age here is 18, and that on top of that he could only have driven an automatic. Nope this kid was so convinced of being right nothing or no one could talk him out of the drivers seat and get him to walk away with a warning instead of being arrested and locked up, pending trial for a felony offence. This kid was sober, capable of constructing a sentence, and even trying to argue his case. But for some reason still too stupid to understand it when a cop tells him he is wrong and he needs to comply with what he is being told. He got arrested for driving without a valid license. And will sit in jail until he can be arraigned, after which he will probably have to remain in jail pending trial. Good job son. You've managed to turn a walk away with a warning scenario into a spend the better part of a month in jail, have your visa revoked, and get deported scenario. Enjoy that hassle the next time you want to enter the Schengen area.
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Jul 22, 2015 19:37
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Driving home I noticed an early 90s Toyota (Tercel maybe?) driving erratically and about 5 under the limit in the left lane. Not just typical inattentive driver, we're talking half the car's width into the center lane, followed by an overcorrection by the same amount onto the shoulder, repeating this cycle every 10-15 seconds. Went around when I could pass on the far right, then about half a mile later I noticed a police cruiser pull up behind the swerving driver - who continued the ping-pong maneuvering right in front of the cop. For about two miles. I figured the cop would pull the erratic driver over, but after tailgating for another mile he pulled into the center lane and floored it. These are the cops you share a road with.
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Jul 22, 2015 19:44
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Deedle posted:We got held up trying to exit a parking garage last night, behind a car with big Hertz stickers all over it. Out of curiosity, where was this? Apart from the driving age thing (how did he even rent a car at 17?) , I didn't know that you could only drive automatics with a North American license (although I do understand why). I've driven a manual since 2010, it would significantly piss me off if I couldn't drive a manual overseas just because our licenses don't note what sort of car you took your test in.
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Jul 22, 2015 20:16
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:Also I drove through the centre of Paris during rush hour last Thursday. It's quite fun once you realise there are only two rules: stop at red lights, don't hit anyone else. Driving through Paris is a hilarious nightmare. The whole place is crazy and people generally do whatever they want. Stop at red lights and do hit anyone else are guidelines, as you'll see both happen quite frequently. Boulevard Périphérique is a free for all; crazy lane changes, speeds all over the place, plenty of bumps and accidents. I took my car around it on the way to Spain last year, and it was nice to go on there in something with enough poke to get out of trouble. Paris bikers are great, they have sirens on their bikes, and just run with the hazard lights on and filter through all the traffic, no fucks given. Scruff McGruff posted:After seeing that Arc de Triomphe video I believe it. That's an insane roundabout. I've done it a few times in my (right hand drive) van, which was fun. You're supposed to stop for traffic joining the roundabout, but a lot of people don't, so just aim for your exit, gun it and hope for the best. General rule: watch out for what's in front of you, gently caress everyone else.
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Jul 22, 2015 21:23
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PT6A posted:Out of curiosity, where was this? Apart from the driving age thing (how did he even rent a car at 17?) , I didn't know that you could only drive automatics with a North American license (although I do understand why). I've driven a manual since 2010, it would significantly piss me off if I couldn't drive a manual overseas just because our licenses don't note what sort of car you took your test in. I doubt he rented the car, he apparently was the designated driver as everyone else in that car was beyond hammered. My guess is he can't drink at home under 21. And one of the others was over 23 and rented the car. Mind you it is the week of the four day marches and summer fest. 45000 civilians and soldiers from around the world come to participate in the marches, and 2.1 million tourists come to the festivities that surround it for the week. The entire inner city is closed off to traffic and all the squares and parks are turned into open air stages. Beer is piped through the inner city via a special bit of infrastructure to which the beer stands are hooked up. Like a mini water mains, except for beer. So the cops run an extremely tight ship when it comes to 100% dui checking. Zero tolerance and well they are the cops, they do take prisoners. And just in case you want to be a smartass, during this week cops don't patrol in pairs. Instead each cop is paired with a marechaussee officer, so there is always both civilian and military police present. The kid should have walked away and let a cop take the car to impound for the night, sure that would be a 450 euro expense, but it beats a felony conviction and being taken to jail. The whole you can only drive an automatic stems from the fact that over here it is the norm to take the test in a manual, if you take it in an automatic you get a code 96 (iirc) on your license, which restricts it to auto only. North American licences are generally considered restricted, unless it's a special snowflake like a Quebec class 5 (iirc) or one of the other select few. Mind you in the past it was much more simple, US license == moped license and nothing more. Cops tend to not make a big deal of it, but legally speaking they can. And if you act like a stubborn oval office they will.
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Jul 22, 2015 21:44
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Deedle posted:Nijmegen, NL. There was a dui checkpoint at the exit ramp from the Keizer Karelplein parking. There are actually a bunch of international treaties regarding this. The newest revision of the convention, which the netherlands is a signatory to, doesn't recognize manual restrictions. It does recognize age limits though.
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Jul 22, 2015 22:07
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Deedle posted:Nijmegen, NL. There was a dui checkpoint at the exit ramp from the Keizer Karelplein parking. Class 5 is the "normal" license for cars across Canada, you can get it by taking the test in an automatic or manual, and it's not restricted based on that. There's no way to get a "manual" license in Canada, although I believe you can have an automatic-only license due to medical conditions or something. I can understand restrictions on license exchange for people actually living there (in which case, it's normal to disallow certain country's licenses), but it seems unnecessarily harsh to basically forbid tourists from driving. No one's going to get a NL license just so they can rent a car for a few days.
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Jul 22, 2015 22:36
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PT6A posted:Class 5 is the "normal" license for cars across Canada, you can get it by taking the test in an automatic or manual, and it's not restricted based on that. There's no way to get a "manual" license in Canada, although I believe you can have an automatic-only license due to medical conditions or something. It also isn't the law. Per the Vienna Convention on road traffic of 1968 [amended 2011], chapter iv, subd. 2 contracting parties SHALL recognize a conforming permit for driving all motor vehicles within a class. Technically you don't need a permit, but a translation for non english speaking countries. If dude has an international class c or d (which is issued by the home country and cannot be questioned by the visited country), he can drive any vehxil under 3500kg gvw or 8 passengers (depending on class.) There is no class for automatics only. They can restrict age under 21, which is good because illegally arresting (white) foriegn nationals can be a black mark on one's career. Cops over here don't know this either but generally stick to only arresting Mexican nationals here for under 1 year driving on legal mexican licenses, so they don't get any complaints. Treaties trump all laws when ratified and Netherlands and the US are both signatories. It is why germans can run thier giant offroad unimogs all over the US on german plates.
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Jul 22, 2015 22:47
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Got stuck behind a short bus that decided it was best to come to a complete stop at the freeway entrance in light traffic.
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Jul 23, 2015 01:32
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nm posted:It also isn't the law. Per the Vienna Convention on road traffic of 1968 [amended 2011], chapter iv, subd. 2 contracting parties SHALL recognize a conforming permit for driving all motor vehicles within a class. Technically you don't need a permit, but a translation for non english speaking countries. And to me the explanation the cop gave made sense, we do restrict licences if the exam was taken in an automatic. The entire EU does. That part I know for sure, because I have a restricted licence due to my handicap. Also if you register your unimog correctly here, it counts as an agricultural vehicle and needs no plates, no road tax, and you can run it on red diesel. Does need third-party liability insurance though. Deedle fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 23, 2015 03:41
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The cop was wrong, the treaty trumps other laws - any legally issued license is valid.
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Jul 23, 2015 04:05
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Got my OG driver's license in the US 14 years ago, which consisted of passing a written test, a vision test, 4 turns around a neighborhood with streets under 45mph, and backing through an offset cones course 20' long. The vehicle was an automatic Pontiac Sunfire. I'd taken a driver's safety course with maybe 10 hours of classroom instruction and 10-15 hours of supervised driving with a probationary license (regardless of what was actually required, parents just had to sign a form). The safety course and probationary license were only necessary because I was under 18 at the time. The only requirement to have your license renewed here for another 4 years is to have $120 and a face to take a picture of. This was enough qualification to drive 140+mph on the autobahn. Fortunately, cross-continental travel is seen as a fantastic luxury for most of us here in the US.
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Jul 23, 2015 05:43
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Was having a discussion with some of my co-workers on Monday about the insane amount of people you see using their mobiles while driving, and the number of completely avoidable rear-end collisions that occur because of it. Rear-ended on Wednesday at a stoplight by someone I'm sure was on their phone, there's no other explanation for how she could have hit me since we were just in a big group of cars slowly approaching a red light. No sudden braking or anything to explain it, literally the most avoidable accident on the planet. Oh well, I get a new bumper out of the deal, which is nice because it was already creased by someone hitting it in a parking lot a while back.
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Jul 23, 2015 08:33
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JBark posted:Was having a discussion with some of my co-workers on Monday about the insane amount of people you see using their mobiles while driving, and the number of completely avoidable rear-end collisions that occur because of it. Driving around LA, i couldn't believe how many people were completely involved in their phones, giving complete 100% focus to the phone while driving down the highway.. At one point the car next to me on an off-ramp almost hit the barrier a few times because the chick driving was absolutely staring at her phone driving with her peripheral. like, not looking down and typing a word every few seconds. staring at the phone while trying to use a curved offramp. Most people were reasonable, courteous, polite drivers. With 3-4 lanes it was never hard to find one to do 80 in. It just seems like 95% of the traffic problems were cause mainly by the 5% of people locked onto their phones. If it takes completely phone driving bans to correct that behaviour, i'm 100% for it.
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Jul 23, 2015 09:13
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I really really wish phones were banned in cars. If you need to look at facebook or whatever, be a passenger or take the loving bus, don't put other people at risk because you're a self-important cock hole. People's driving these days is bad enough without being distracted by a screen at the same time.
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Jul 23, 2015 09:28
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88h88 posted:I really really wish phones were banned in cars. they are
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Jul 23, 2015 11:41
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atomicthumbs posted:they are Seems like it. I guess what I mean is I guess more could be done to stop use of phones in cars whilst the engine is on?
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Jul 23, 2015 12:21
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88h88 posted:Seems like it. the police
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Jul 23, 2015 12:27
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88h88 posted:Seems like it. Unless you want to allow the police to treat it like DUI (where you're automatically guilty if they catch you miles away from your car, drunk with keys in your pocket) there really isn't much more that can realistically be done. It's just too hard to enforce unless merely having a phone within reach while operating a motor vehicle is an offense, and I don't think you'll ever get that codified into law.
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Jul 23, 2015 14:25
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We do have laws against it, and tickets are issued to violators. It's not hard to find them, because people are largely oblivious. The problem is that it's a small fine with no demerits, but heaven forfend you go 11 km/h over the limit, that's seriously dangerous!
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Jul 23, 2015 15:05
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It would also require police to actually enforce it. When the cops themselves are blazing down the road with a phone glued to the ear, why would they ever pull over someone else for doing it unless there was some other pretense (read: racial profiling)? Illinois implemented a hands-free only law this year and it hasn't done poo poo.
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Jul 23, 2015 15:20
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xzzy posted:It would also require police to actually enforce it This is also a big deal. We have a lot of traffic laws in the US, but the vast majority of police only enforce a selective handful - DUI, speeding and reckless driving in my experience. Everything else pretty much gets a blind eye from the authorities unless they're fishing for a reason to pull you over or if you piss them off and they do it just to be vindictive. Profit also comes into play - police departments get a cut of the revenue generated by writing tickets, so as a result officers are regularly reprimanded for not writing enough of the right kind of tickets. The deck is pretty much stacked against cell phone bans being an effective deterrent.
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Jul 23, 2015 15:30
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEmgK5apXvw&feature=youtu.be When you see the skid marks you really understand why stance is dumb.
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Jul 23, 2015 16:00
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PT6A posted:We do have laws against it, and tickets are issued to violators. It's not hard to find them, because people are largely oblivious. The problem is that it's a small fine with no demerits, but heaven forfend you go 11 km/h over the limit, that's seriously dangerous! It has demerits now. I am looking forward to paying less in insurance now that the bottom 25% of drivers will be on facility insurance.
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Jul 23, 2015 16:06
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NoWake posted:Got my OG driver's license in the US 14 years ago, which consisted of passing a written test, a vision test, 4 turns around a neighborhood with streets under 45mph, and backing through an offset cones course 20' long. The vehicle was an automatic Pontiac Sunfire. I'd taken a driver's safety course with maybe 10 hours of classroom instruction and 10-15 hours of supervised driving with a probationary license (regardless of what was actually required, parents just had to sign a form). The safety course and probationary license were only necessary because I was under 18 at the time. I got a restricted licence after about 35 hours of drivers ed, passing a medical and psychological exam, passing a written theory exam, and driving for an hour during the practical exam. The practical exam included motorway driving, parallel parking, reversing around a corner, a three point turn, stopping and starting up a 15% incline without rolling backwards. And quite a few more things where they purposely look for difficult situations and you have to show you know how to get out of them. Getting my licence renewed once every decade is just a matter of 75 euro and a photo. Given that my handicap is considered a stable condition, I don't have to pass a medical to renew my licence.
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Jul 23, 2015 16:11
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xzzy posted:It would also require police to actually enforce it. Cops here got a small fleet of unmarked F-150s with a bit of lift so they can look down into the laps of drivers. They are making bank off the distracted driving citations.
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Jul 23, 2015 16:12
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xzzy posted:It would also require police to actually enforce it. When the cops themselves are blazing down the road with a phone glued to the ear, why would they ever pull over someone else for doing it unless there was some other pretense (read: racial profiling)? NJ has a hands-free law with written in exemptions for cops. Also there are tons of morons driving around with the phone in their hand 3 inches in front of their face on speakerphone because of some urban legend that it is legal vs holding it against your ear.
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Jul 23, 2015 16:13
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antisodachrist posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEmgK5apXvw&feature=youtu.be I didn't need to see the skid marks to understand that reducing your tire contact patch to a tiny part of the shoulder is stupid.
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Jul 23, 2015 16:41
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