What is it with all the distracted driver lately.

[bcp]

Stand on the side of the road and shake your fist at careless or speeding drivers. If you don't do something no one else will.

Stand on the side of the road, wearing a high visibility vest, and point your hair dryer at oncoming traffic.



Bruce

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Seems to me to be a plus for self driving cars.

From my personal experience I really see how Full Self Driving will be default to get insurance discounts by 2035.

Two years ago on my way to Austin TX I reached Little rock AR right after dark. FSD was iffy in general but okay on Interstates for the most part so I engaged FSD and lived to tell about it. Today I would not want to do a cross-country road trip without totally depending on FSD to do the routing for charging and travel.

FSD is amazing for drivers with limitations. I am following the Tesla Robo Taxi Austin TX trials with no human in the driver's seat. The last account that I heard about there has been no deaths so far.

 

[Jstpssng]

Would the world end if you couldn't?

What's it going to hurt if I do? It's a convenience, and a good utilization of time sitting watching the road go by.

Before cellphones became ubiquitous we seemed to get along just fine not being able to do so.

Do you really want to go down this rabbit hole? The same can be said of computers, the internet, microwave ovens, water heaters...

If the lane next to you is clear then you need to move over for vehicles entering the interstate. We like to joke about vehicles entering the interstate has the right of way, which in the quirky way the law is written basically gives them right of way.

The driver in the video above in IL could be found at fault for the accident for failing to yield to vehicles entering the interstate, and following too closing to avoid the accident.

That must vary by state. In Maine traffic entering the interstate has a yield sign.
It's a courtesy but not mandatory to move over for them if you can do so safely.

I gave up riding motorcycles due to cell phones

I gave up long before they became widespread. I almost T-boned a pickup who pulled out of a parking lot in front of me... I managed to kick the rear out and slide in front of her, stopping with my face just inches from the plow frame on front.
As I worked down through the gears so that I could start it she sat there screaming at me to get the **** out of her way. I took the bike home, put a sign on it and sold it.

Also the zipper method is codified into law for merging laws in construction zones.

That's when you go flying past all of the courteous drivers so that you can be in front, right?

 

[Jstpssng]

I got my first bag phone in 1996. I quickly learned that just the sight of me using it would drive people insane. On more than one occasion I'd be pulled over on the shoulder completely off the road, and still have people blowing their horns and giving me one finger waves. On one occasion I was in a parking space down in Berlin NH talking to a client and the din was so bad that he asked me what was going on.

I've always found that if I pay attention to my own driving I don't have time to notice what other people are doing.

 

[RandyT]

That must vary by state. In Maine traffic entering the interstate has a yield sign.
It's a courtesy but not mandatory to move over for them if you can do so safely.

In IL it is mandatory to move over if it can be done safely. Here is the actual IL law

Sec. 11-905. Merging traffic. Notwithstanding the right-of-way provision in Section 11-901 of this Act, at an intersection where traffic lanes are provided for merging traffic the driver of each vehicle on the converging roadways is required to adjust his vehicular speed and lateral position so as to avoid a collision with another vehicle.

Read More: Illinois State Police Explain the Merge Sign and Its Law | Illinois State Police Explain the Merge Sign and Its Law

 

[Eagle1]

In IL it is mandatory to move over if it can be done safely. Here is the actual IL law

Sec. 11-905. Merging traffic. Notwithstanding the right-of-way provision in Section 11-901 of this Act, at an intersection where traffic lanes are provided for merging traffic the driver of each vehicle on the converging roadways is required to adjust his vehicular speed and lateral position so as to avoid a collision with another vehicle.

Read More: Illinois State Police Explain the Merge Sign and Its Law | Illinois State Police Explain the Merge Sign and Its Law

Now how does that affect IL drivers when the cross state lines and now are required to yield when merging? I'm thinking that explains the aggressive merge tactics I've noticed from IL tagged vehicles on this side of the river.

 

[RandyT]

Now how does that affect IL drivers when the cross state lines and now are required to yield when merging? I'm thinking that explains the aggressive merge tactics I've noticed from IL tagged vehicles on this side of the river.

I think most tend to merge like all the other states require without being aggressive about it. Major urban area are a different animal but the rural interstate highways tend to operate like other states.

I think it has more of a negative effect on people from other states that don't know about the IL merge law. People from other states assume that vehicles entering the interstate have to yield to vehicles already on the interstate where the law says you need to treat it like a zipper merge.

 

[Eagle1]

I think most tend to merge like all the other states require without being aggressive about it. Major urban area are a different animal but the rural interstate highways tend to operate like other states.

I think it has more of a negative effect on people from other states that don't know about the IL merge law. People from other states assume that vehicles entering the interstate have to yield to vehicles already on the interstate where the law says you need to treat it like a zipper merge.

Yeah you are about as far NE of STL as I am SW. We get miss most of the citods. I did pick up a cow in way south IL and it was lot like here just not as high a hills. But all gravel and natural creek crossings.

 

[RB5]

Every time I drive to Dallas I usually have multiple times where I have to dodge someone coming in my lane on the freeway. Most of the time I can see the driver on the phone or messing with a touch screen. Touch screens look cool and give you many more options, but they are terrible for us when driving. I guess voice activated would be better, but how many of the distracted drivers would be able to set that up without serious help? I don't recall it being like this when I used to go tot the office every day years ago.

 

[RB5]

You can get up to speed as fast as you want. It's going over that speed that will get you a ticket.

A friend of mine once got a ticket for excessive exceleration. He spun his tires when he was leaving on gravel and when he popped the clutch. I happened to be going around the curve next to them spinning my tires a he was getting a ticket. yeah..high school days years ago. Point is in some places the police can write tickets for all sorts of stuff.

 

[RB5]

So if I'm riding in the passenger seat I shouldn't be able to make calls?


+1.
In addition, just because you passed your test in a pickup doesn't mean that you are qualified to hook onto a 12,000 lb trailer and go with it.

You are giving me flashbacks. One weekend we went to Dallas a little later in the day than usual. We like to go get our shopping done before the idiots wake up. I saw quite a few badly loaded trailers that were either overloaded or not being towed level. What good is a 4" drop hitch when you have a 6" or more lift and 35s or bigger on the truck? A few of them were all over the road as the trailer tried to remain balanced. I saw a couple tandem axles trailers with most of the weight on the rear axle. That trip was scary. Of course none of them were pulled over when I saw them. One trailer had an axle so out of line that it was crossing the line into the lane next to it.

 

[Dftodd]

A friend of mine once got a ticket for excessive exceleration. He spun his tires when he was leaving on gravel and when he popped the clutch. I happened to be going around the curve next to them spinning my tires a he was getting a ticket. yeah..high school days years ago. Point is in some places the police can write tickets for all sorts of stuff.

Excessive show of horsepower

 

[Dftodd]

Every time I drive to Dallas I usually have multiple times where I have to dodge someone coming in my lane on the freeway. Most of the time I can see the driver on the phone or messing with a touch screen. Touch screens look cool and give you many more options, but they are terrible for us when driving. I guess voice activated would be better, but how many of the distracted drivers would be able to set that up without serious help? I don't recall it being like this when I used to go tot the office every day years ago.

I was getting close to San Antonio once and had some dude pass me on the turnpike (I had the cruise set at 80). He was pulling a 40ft trailer loaded to the gills and doing at least 90mph. My big issue with him was the large tablet he had in front of his face.

He was reading a flipping E-book

 

[KennyG]

If you don't move over to allow merging, you end up with timid drivers stopped on entrance ramps, which seems to me a dangerous situation. I've seen that more than and few times and it's very uncomfortable to come up behind a stopped car on an interstate entrance ramp.

 

[BravoXray]

Back before cell phone and dash tv. While on my way to work I used to pass a man on I-81 that was driving along 50 MPH reading his newspaper. Amazing people think they can do anything while driving.

When I drove truck back in the 70s, several times I saw people on the Dan Ryan expressway in Chicago reading books while driving.
You can see a lot of interesting things going on in cars from a cabover Peterbilt. Several times I saw guys getting what Ron White referred to as a highway delight. Even saw a girl changing her outfit while cruising down I-40, outside Albuquerque, NM.

 

[RandyT]

When I drove truck back in the 70s, several times I saw people on the Dan Ryan expressway in Chicago reading books while driving.
You can see a lot of interesting things going on in cars from a cabover Peterbilt. Several times I saw guys getting what Ron White referred to as a highway delight. Even saw a girl changing her outfit while cruising down I-40, outside Albuquerque, NM.

And they didn't cause accidents, or crash into people headon. The people doing those things were probably the 10% of people that can walk and chew gum at the same time. Now the other 90% have touchscreens and smart phones that are neurolinked to their only brain cell they are sitting on.

 

[mikester]

 

[Jstpssng]

And they didn't cause accidents, or crash into people headon. The people doing those things were probably the 10% of people that can walk and chew gum at the same time. Now the other 90% have touchscreens and smart phones that are neurolinked to their only brain cell they are sitting on.

Wow! This is quite an assumption. There were no crashes before cell phones?

 

[Jstpssng]

View attachment 3832033

I'm still trying to figure out what he expected you to say. "Free kittens" maybe?