These are the people you share a road with: Let's play "drunk or hyper-miler?"

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > These are the people you share a road with: Let's play "drunk or hyper-miler?"

«‹›2 »

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Seat Safety Switch posted:

What I'm taking away from this is that I can get anything wrong with my car fixed by paying for a tire rotation.

Yeah, I think I need a new engine, and a paint job. Time to get a tire rotation done

# ¿ Sep 6, 2013 05:49

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 16:31

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

To be fair, the manufacturers are not helping. Every time I pickup my rental for business travel, I have to spend 10 minutes finding the damned headlight switch since it seems like putting it on a stalk in a standard location has become passe.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2013 05:01

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Throatwarbler posted:

Really? You literally spend 10 minutes looking for the headlight switch on a new car? If that's true then its you, you are the guy in the op.

As an aside why should it be easy on cars for people to find stuff? Outside of a HMMWV or postal truck cars are generally not designed for random assholes on the street to jump into and immediately know how to do everything, because when you buy your car, you figure out how to do everything in the first day and the for the rest of your three year lease you know how to change the radio channel and turn on your loving headlights. It's basically a problem that only exists for magazine car reviewers.

loving seriously? Yes, I expect that the standard controls of a vehicle to be in standard places, especially since I've driven hundreds of vehicles in the past of varying makes, models, and years, and until recently they've all had the lights on a stalk within easy reach of my left hand. If its not where I expect it to be, then yes, I have to loving hunt for it, and sometime that does take time. If you hopped into a new car and found that the gas and brake pedals were reversed, wouldn't you be more than a little annoyed? What is there was a lever instead of a steering wheel? You want to distinguish your car from your competitors? Limit yourself to what the industry has been doing for decades to stand out. Body styling, paint colors, options, new tech, etc. Don't start loving with the controls that are considered vital to operating your product.

If I were the "guy in the OP", I wouldn't be looking for this poo poo, I'd hop in the rental car, drive off, and probably end up on the highway with my lights off. At least I'm actually trying to familiarize myself with the vehicle I'll be using for the next 1-5 days.

So far, I've found the headlight controls on the drivers door, practically under the dash, just below the arm rest, and mixed in with the radio/hvac controls.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2013 06:01

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

lazer_chicken posted:

This must be a common modification for many different makes because I see cars driving at night with fogs but no headlights all the time around here. I don't understand it. Also, for most people around here, fog lights = extra headlights and they just leave them on all the time.

I think its more likely that their headlights burned out and so they drive with the fogs thinking its good enough.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2013 20:07

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Snowdens Secret posted:

That being said, if you run daytime running lights, you're endangering motorcyclists. The whole point of bikes running lights in the day is so that car drivers give them the extra attention they need (because they're smaller). When cars run DRLs, it desensitizes drivers, and further tends to make them think oncoming bikes are just cars with a light out.

I'm pretty sure drivers thinking a bike is just a car with a burned out headlight has been an issue for decades, well before DRLs became common.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2013 20:31

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

I just saw a generic 90s econobox stop behind a new Honda CR-V at a stop light, wait 30 seconds, then gun it into the rear of the CR-V. The light didn't even turn green or anything. I can't figure out how this happens.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2013 20:10

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Doccers posted:

I couldn't even get the Jeep started this morning (battery cables need replacing), so I fired up the Volvo, and I'm damned glad I did. People actually slow down and pay attention when they get close to it for some reason.

Also the extra tire contact never hurts, didn't slide one bit even with cars in the ditch all along the commute.

I was actually a little surprised I didn't see some trucks in a ditch on my way to work. It was odd too, since half the folks couldn't keep to the cleared part of the lane and were driving on the snow when they didn't need to.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2013 04:21

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

8ender posted:

This isn't always bad. Packed snow is honest compared to black ice and slush. Its easy to establish your traction on snow and drive accordingly but the invisible stuff will gently caress up your day.

In general, maybe. We haven't been above freezing since the snow started falling, and the towns around me don't use salt so there's no slush.. I haven't seen a lick of black ice, and the snow still gets kicked up when you drive on it, so its not all that packed. Also, I imagine one side of the car on pavement and the other on snow isn't that great for traction, especially for all of those AWD vehicles that are so popular here.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2013 07:39

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

xzzy posted:

Snow chains for a half inch of snow? Please tell me there's a mountain pass 50 feet out of frame.

If I didn't see the Washington plate, I'd think that was Colorado. We've got idiots here who run studded tires year round.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2013 22:54

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Wow, and here I was thinking my driving test was a joke.

Lets see, from what I remember at the time, to take the written test, you could either A: wait until you were 18 and not take any classes, B: take an "accredited" class for $150 at 16, or C: pay the DMV $500 at 16 1/2. I took option B. Upon passing the written test, you got a learners permit where in you needed to wait 6 months and log 30+ hours of driving, with atleast 10 hours at night. All driving with the learners permit had to be done with someone 21 years or older ridding shotgun.

Even though the DMV hands out log books, I was never asked for mine when I went for the driving test. I failed the first time for two reasons: I started the car before putting on my seatbelt (to get the heat going, it was a cold day in fall), and when I coasted down hill on a street that looked like a 35 mph zone, the speedo hit 30 which was technically speeding because it was actually a 25 zone. The actual test consisted of checking all the lights and signals worked before leaving the DMV, puttering around on surface streets between speeds of 25-45, stopping correctly at stop signs and stop lights, "parallel parking" behind a single parked car, putting the car in the "mode" for hill parking (pointing the wheels at the curb to stop the vehicle from rolling far), and backing up for some distance along a straight curb (can you back up straight).

Had to wait 3 months to retest. Second time around, the tester clearly wanted to get back inside since it was the middle of a cold winter. He asked if I could start the car right away and put the heat on. We skipped the hill parking stuff, the straight backing, and didn't find a car to use for parallel parking, so I ended up parking in 3 different empty spots at the DMV.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2013 22:05

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Kill-9 posted:

There's no driving school like that near me for my son but I do take him to local parking lots and let him hoon the ride a bit. He also started driving my Defender with a manual transmission at age 8 so he had a bit of a head start over most kids.

Tire rack street survival course? Probably not the same as Bounderant, but it atleast something...

# ¿ Dec 26, 2013 19:26

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

CannonFodder posted:

In 'share the road' news, Connecticut just enacted a law that makes leaving snow all over the car into a ticketable offense.
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Ice-missile-law-launches-Wednesday-5103217.php

So this may mean far fewer tank commanders out there.

Eh, I doubt it. I've yet to see someone pulled over for it in other states.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2014 05:27

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Tha Chodesweller posted:

Police pulled over two tank commanders

I don't believe it. Please submit evidence to back up your outlandish claim

# ¿ Jan 6, 2014 19:26

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

I was coming out of a store tonight and saw a cop turn on the lights behind a newer VW Beetle. For some reason the Beetle driver decided it would be a good idea to pull into the turn lane between the two directions of traffic, and stop there. I'm sure the cop was thrilled with that.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2014 07:18

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Elwood P. Dowd posted:

Well there's having a mildly inconvenient layer of snow on the roof of your car and there's having three inches of ice. The former is hardly worth raging over and the latter is dangerous. I feel like there's not a lot of gray area in this thread, though.

And I suppose I don't really have a lot of comparison to make because during my commute it's pretty rare for me to be closer than 500 yards to any cars even though I take a four lane most of the way in.

Having lived in the snow belt, the former can easily cause white out conditions for the car behind, and what doesn't blow off quickly turns into that 3 inches of ice. There really is no excuse to leave 5 minutes early to brush your poo poo off.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2014 06:05

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

IOwnCalculus posted:

These exist - they're called HAWK signals. They're loving awesome for both pedestrians and drivers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReNk2T5ay1c

I lived in Tucson when they first started putting them in a bit over 10 years ago, and now they're putting them in some areas of Phoenix. Amazingly enough everyone behaves properly! Seriously, I've never been almost mowed down by someone when walking in one, and only once can I recall a driver not starting to move once it went flashing instead of solid red (assuming their side was clear).

Huh, that seems like a better solution than what we have around here: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.023813,-105.258449,3a,75y,171.02h,80.56t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sofd28DpRWxzm1ezgVPn_dw!2e0

Basically its a cross walk in the middle of the road. Pedestrian hits a button, and the yield signs start flashing. Cars stop until the pedestrians clear the road. No pedestrians around means you can zoom on through.

Problem is, pedestrians like to hit the button and just enter the street without waiting or allowing traffic to clear, and expect traffic to instantly stop, which may or may not happen in a 40mph zone.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2014 00:45

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Sir Tonk posted:

So how long until all cars come will cell blocking tech built in?

Probably never. Its going to be impossible to limit the "blocking" to just the interior of the vehicle. Its also typically illegal for a private citizen to possess a cell jammer in the US. Besides, its probably a bad idea from the stand point of what happens if you get into an accident and need to call 911?

# ¿ Mar 7, 2014 21:59

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Frinkahedron posted:

If you just want to limit the cell signal reaching an interior, a Faraday cage won't touch anything outside of it. Probably can't block it completely because, you know, you need to be able to see through the windows...

A faraday cage won't work - windows being the top issue, but not the only one. With todays multipath cell technology (ie LTE), you need to block the entire signal. Source: I spend atleast 10 hours a week in faraday cages testing cell phones

# ¿ Mar 7, 2014 22:16

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Wiggly posted:

Denver area drivers are weird. I drive 36 from Broomfield to Boulder for my commute. At the onramp from Foothills to 36 east in Boulder there is a 1/2 mile lane that allows drivers to get on the highway and then have time to easily merge onto the travel lanes. So many people try to immediately jam themselves into the travel lane instead of using the merge lane to pick up speed causing the highway to come to a full stop. Get up to speed people!!

No one gets up to speed around here. For that particular on ramp, I try passing any traffic and getting up to speed in the two lane bend before you get next to 36 otherwise you get stuck behind traffic doing 30 merging into a 65 zone.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2014 00:33

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

EightBit posted:

There are laws for "left for passing only" in many states, and it's considered a common loving courtesy regardless.

The description mentioned that she was afraid to spin out, but you aren't going to do that just changing lanes.

Bro-douche shouldn't tailgate and should learn his vehicle's limits, but she shouldn't drive with a stick up her rear end.

Edit: of course she disabled comments

In addition to this, most states have laws against being an impediment to traffic flow. These are generally what prohibit your 30mpg top speed moped from being allowed on a 60mph freeway, since the slow moped will be an impediment to others on the freeway. These laws also imply that if someone is crawling up your rear end, you should pull over to let them by, since they are now defining the flow of traffic.

I forget exactly where, but somewhere out on or near the East coast, there was a huge traffic pileup recently, and as a result, it became state law that you must pull over if someone comes up behind you traveling faster than you are, even if you are doing the speed limit. The maximum fine for violating this was something insane like $1000 and/or a year in jail.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2014 04:26

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

IOwnCalculus posted:

My daughter's sweet 16 is gonna be at Bondurant.

Father of the year?

# ¿ Mar 28, 2014 05:59

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Meter maids in Denver will give a ticket for no front plate. Other than that, I've not heard of anyone being hassled except for the one time I was riding in a friend's Evo X, and cop pulled up next to us at a stop light. When it turned green, he flicked on the lights and pulled us over for a missing front plate. Turns out the cop couldn't see it because the front plate was mounted at an offset. That ended up being a nice waste of 20 minutes.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2014 05:04

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Decided to go for a walk during lunch to see what the hours of the nearby mustang museum are. Half way there, I ended up at a controlled intersection, and had to wait to cross. On the other side of the intersection was a beat to poo poo Neon (dents, faded paint, replaced panels with different colors, quite a loud exhaust leak), with its left turn blinker on. Light turns green, I have a walk signal, and the Neon decides to play chicken with me (blocking the through traffic, he raced into the intersection), missing me by about a foot. Fucker.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2014 20:26

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Alleric posted:

Finally the gentleman in front of me found a hole, pulled out. I pulled up...

Please tell me you pulled up as slowly as you could manage without stalling...

# ¿ May 5, 2014 23:02

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Yeah, flashing seem to have little effect here in Colorado. In my experience, most folks ignore it. I've had one person point to the right lane in a "hey dumb gently caress, you can pass me on the right" immediately after a "keep right except to pass" sign

# ¿ May 20, 2014 23:26

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Sudo Echo posted:

Get in the car and move it for him, duh.

Yeah, be careful with that. Someone blocked me in once in high school by parking in a no parking zone (The sign marking the end of the zone was right behind my bumper), preventing me from backing up and leaving (I was the first one parked, so it wasn't like I could "leave room" in front of me). Having already waited 5 minutes, and having the main office make a PA announcement, I noticed the vehicle was unlocked, so I put it in neutral and pushed it back enough for me to back up and pull out. Of course, that's when the owner showed up, pissed that I was touching his shitbox. I was in my vehicle and starting to pull out by the time he was able to "confront me", so he did the smart thing and broke his hand on my passenger window.

These days I'd expect a similar situation to get quite violent.

# ¿ May 24, 2014 00:51

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Solkanar512 posted:

Can someone explain to me what is so loving difficult to understand about the following sign?

I can't tell you how many times I'm entering the added lane and someone in front of me stops for traffic in the next lane. There's no need to stop, you have your own drat lane!

Huh, I haven't seen that sign before, but it looks pretty close to the "right lane merges into your lane" sign. Maybe that's the problem? (yeah I release that assumes people actually look at the signs...)

# ¿ Jun 3, 2014 18:30

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Today on my lunch break, I saw someone speed through a stop sign so that they didn't have to wait for me to cross in-front of them as a pedestrian (I was on the sidewalk approaching the intersection).

# ¿ Jun 5, 2014 22:30

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Before moving, there were a lot of coasties and fibs. I haven't heard any inventive names after moving.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2014 22:18

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

IOwnCalculus posted:

I'm wondering what they neglected to show at the beginning of the video since the guy is already brake-checking like mad when the video starts.

There is a link in the description that shows the dashcam-driver passing the brake-checker on the right when the brake-checker was in the middle lane. Still seems like there is a bit of a gap between that and this video.

I was kinda wondering why the dashcam driver didn't just pull over to the shoulder for a few minutes after the 2nd or 3rd brake check.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2014 19:25

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

I kinda wish I got a picture of this. I pulled out of a shopping center and reached a red light where I wanted to turn right. Three lanes over in the left turn lane waiting for the turn signal is a built drag strip car (parachute, massive wing, wheelie bar, top fuel style intake on the hood) on non-DOT legal slicks and no plates with two bros sitting in the front seats. The nearest drag strip is an hour and a half away and in the opposite direction of where they were headed.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2014 21:27

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

DEAR RICHARD posted:

These are people I share the road with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWzkpCr0F0M

I have watched pretty much all of this dudes videos, and I have personally experienced the type of driving Portland has to offer. I really need to get my own dashcam. I'm getting sick of telling stories. I'm the first to admit that I am not a perfect driver by any means, but some of the poo poo I see is completely mental.

This was quite entertaining. I'm surprised half of those weren't accidents.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2014 20:38

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

xzzy posted:

Parents, only let your kids drive beaters.

Funny enough, someone pointed me to an article last week arguing that parents should not give their kids a beater because it is likely to lack modern safety features, which a teen will most likely require, and may save their life. It felt like it was sponsored by ford or something as a way to convince parents they need to buy little Johnnie a brand new 2014 sedan.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 03:27

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

The Midniter posted:

I think that after seeing a video like this, Infiniti is likely to engineer in some sort of safeguard to ensure people can't do this. I can't imagine what it'd do if it detected someone getting out of the driver's seat, though...typically if you're using CC you're on the highway, and it couldn't very well instruct the car to quickly brake to a dead stop...

Maybe they know that and that's why you CAN get out of the driver's seat while this driving aid is enabled.

It already has a mechanism to detect when your hands are off the wheel. Its easily defeated by taping a beer can to the wheel.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 19:26

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

I'm out for a bike ride and come up to two morons blocking the road in a residential area. Some GM sedan is parked against the curb with their driver door fully open. Two feet next to them is a stopped SUV, straddling the yellow line. The morons were having a discussion, so I slowed down, made sure it was safe to proceed past, and yelled at them to stop blocking the road. About a minute later there was a lot of honking coming from behind me.

If you want to have a discussion, how loving hard is it to pull up 10 feet, pull over, park, and get out?

# ¿ Sep 13, 2014 22:32

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

PT6A posted:

Jesus Christ, people, how do you spin your wheels so much over and over again on snow? Don't press the gas so much, or don't let out the clutch so fast, or get loving winter tires. You'd think the road was sheer ice by the way people gently caress this up, but, nope, it turns out an idiot like myself in a RWD car can handle it just fine.

The more I see, the more winter driving freaks me out. Not because I'm worried about my driving, but because I'm worried about everyone else's driving. I'm not God's gift to driving, I don't drive many miles compared to average, and I have some bad habits; everyone should be able to drive at least as well as me, frankly.

I'm pretty sure the thought process is just "I'm not going anywhere, better press on the gas (for once)"

# ¿ Nov 13, 2014 04:25

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

I wish they used salt here. They cover the ground with sand for every little sprinkling of snow, and never sweep it up so the road is still slick in August.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2014 04:11

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Siochain posted:

No. No you don't.
Sand works infinitely better. Salt is loving terrible. And it ruins your vehicles. Salt is the loving devil. Or just up here in NE Ontario where they don't know how to plow roads and just dump a fuckton of salt on 3 inches of snow and call it "good". I grew up in Manitoba, where's its primarily sand, and the roads are, for the most part, great. Up here? Deathhell.

Yes, actually I do. Around here the other towns only salt when its really needed. My town dumps enough sand to make a castle in every intersection every time it snows, even if the snow doesn't stick. They also use the wrong kind of sand which actually reduces traction.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2014 19:33

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

I expected today to be a total shitshow, being Black Friday and all, but it turned out to be some kind of weird opposite day. I had five cars notice I was coming up on them and they moved over well ahead of me. This never happens.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2014 23:02

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 16:31

Brigdh: Nov 23, 2007; That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Shifty Pony posted:

I wish someone would make a non action-cam/gopro front bicycle camera. The poo poo I run into is crazy because as far as most drivers are concerned I don't exist and they don't have any reason to hide their awful behavior.

Like the Fly12? http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/01/cycliq-mounted-camera.html

# ¿ Jan 31, 2015 06:16

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > These are the people you share a road with: Let's play "drunk or hyper-miler?"

«‹›2 »