US Hwy 1 how things have changed

[Frankenkubota]

Where I live, big trucks are my fear. I have had to move over nearly into the ditch a couple of times because they came over the center line. Don't know if they are inattentive, or just poor drivers.

i've lived in the country on and off for a long time. if you are on a rural 2 lane 55 mph hwy and you come to a sweeping turn and you are on the outside of the curve.....


you better plan on a white f150 coming the other direction taking 1/3 of your lane, it's just the way it is.

 

[Oaktree]

I once saw a woman pulling on to Hwy 9 from a busy intersection (stop sign from her direction only), truck [newer diesel I think it was] pulling a medium-sized horse trailer and she had a cell phone in her left hand as she was cranking the steering wheel and pulling out on to that highway! How in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks does a new vehicle NOT come with Bluetooth?

Maybe she just didn't know how to use it, some of this techie stuff is not very intuitive.
Personally, I don't see a driver being absorbed in a phonecall behind the wheel is any less dangerous hands-free. What percentage of these calls are really all that important? Probably very small.

 

[Jchonline]

Maybe she just didn't know how to use it, some of this techie stuff is not very intuitive.
Personally, I don't see a driver being absorbed in a phonecall behind the wheel is any less dangerous hands-free. What percentage of these calls are really all that important? Probably very small.

I agree on the “presence” argument…no better hands free vs in hand if your mind isn’t focused on operating the vehicle. However, the issue with hands is your eyes. If you are looking at the phone for any reason, you arent looking at the road…and that is much more dangerous.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

i've lived in the country on and off for a long time. if you are on a rural 2 lane 55 mph hwy and you come to a sweeping turn and you are on the outside of the curve.....


you better plan on a white f150 coming the other direction taking 1/3 of your lane, it's just the way it is.

For some reason, the young hot rodders around here are driving Dodge pickups; right on you arse!

 

[kenmbz]

I have to drive in NJ all the time.
Passing on the right since police on the left/median is very common.
Cell phone, while eating (sometimes a bowl on lap, spork and phone!)
See them wandering lanes, so pretty obvious, but never pulled over. Fine is too small I guess vs. speeding.
I have had a phone since 94/95 and rarely use it in the car except for driving directions. Have a holder so I can see it easily without taking an eye off the road. and it's BT for calls.
Don;t know why people need to be holding them all the time.
another fatal accident on rt 1 near us this morning.

 

[Oaktree]

If you are looking at the phone for any reason, you arent looking at the road…and that is much more dangerous.

As little use as I have for cellphones, they get a bit of a bad rap here. Drivers have found ways to pay attention to everything but the road long before the cellphone was even invented.

Unfortunately, many newer vehicles (including most EVs) have most if not all functions on the center touchscreen. Who thought it was a good idea to make you go down several menu options to open the windows, adjust the heater, turn up the radio, etc? While more government regulation is rarely a good idea, IMHO they need to step in on this.

 

[Jchonline]

As little use as I have for cellphones, they get a bit of a bad rap here. Drivers have found ways to pay attention to everything but the road long before the cellphone was even invented.

Unfortunately, many newer vehicles (including most EVs) have most if not all functions on the center touchscreen. Who thought it was a good idea to make you go down several menu options to open the windows, adjust the heater, turn up the radio, etc? While more government regulation is rarely a good idea, IMHO they need to step in on this.

I agree. When I bought my 2018 F-250 I purposefully did not go with the "platinum" model because of all that computer stuff. I want KNOBS!

 

[dmccarty]

Maybe she just didn't know how to use it, some of this techie stuff is not very intuitive.
Personally, I don't see a driver being absorbed in a phonecall behind the wheel is any less dangerous hands-free. ....

I sure agree that the techie stuff is not intuitive and I work in the business! My truck is 20 years old and the thought of getting a new vehicle, if one could actually get a new vehicle today, is not a happy thought.

There is a difference between hand free cell calls and using one's hands. I have seen it over and over and over. Many people using their hand to hold the phone up to their head, do not move their head to look to see other traffic. They just stare straight ahead. The use of the hand limits head movement for some reason. I saw one ejit driving in fairly heavy traffic, while on the phone, doing 10-15 over the speed limit, changing lanes one after another, while he was hand holding his cell phone. What made this even worse, was that he had been on the phone long enough that his right arm was tired so he was leaning on the center console. As he changed lanes, multiple times, he NEVER lifted his head from the cell phone as he leaned on the center console. He never looked in a side view or review mirror. He just zoomed through traffic like it was a video game.

Now, that is the worst I have seen, but I have seen so many other drivers talking while holding the phone where they do not look at traffic because holding that phone just makes it hard to turn the head. It is odd how that happens.

Then there are the people texting or reading the cell phone.....

Hands free won't solve all of the problems with using a cell phone in a vehicle but it does help people look at other traffic. If they so desire.

Later,
Dan

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Ther passing car gained perhaps 1 second in that move. And then the same car passed a couple more cars as oncoming traffic had to veer off to the shoulder a bit.

I was hauling a load of hay from Arlington over North Cascades pass about 6 weeks ago. I saw what you describe a good half dozen or more times. A sports car club had apparently decided to use hwy. 20, a road full of families in motorhomes and other RVs, as their rally course. I was surprised that there weren't any accidents. My thought was if they wanted to have a rally/race, rent a race track, not a public road. Many of the cars I saw were in the $100K+ range, except for the one "impoverished" guy who drove a new or nearly new Corvette. The point of hwy.20 in the north Cascades in the scenery.

 

[kenmbz]

I have been on a few road rally's, they are not about speed, but about scenery and fun.
Usually we would pick some roads that were less busy, but that can be hard to do.

 

[arto98607]

Only good or excellent drivers on this forum eh

 

[Redlands Okie]

Obviously

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I have been on a few road rally's, they are not about speed, but about scenery and fun.
Usually we would pick some roads that were less busy, but that can be hard to do.

There were quite a few cars, probably a Seattle area club, but a significant number of them chose to turn it into a race. I had 3 tons of hay behind a gasser pickup, I would slow down on the straights and use as much paved shoulder as I felt safe to let them pass. Many other drivers weren't so courteous.

 

[kenmbz]

being discourteous should get them thrown out, supposed to follow rules 100%
Sorry this happened to you, why a lot of rage happens out there, when people skirt the rules and aggravate others.

We have one town around here where people think they can cross anywhere, at any time, when they get hit the driver gets shamed.
Hard to avoid a person jumping out and running across, even if doing 20mph.
We don't like driving in that town, nerve wracking.

 

[Oaktree]

There were quite a few cars, probably a Seattle area club, but a significant number of them chose to turn it into a race. I had 3 tons of hay behind a gasser pickup, I would slow down on the straights and use as much paved shoulder as I felt safe to let them pass. Many other drivers weren't so courteous.

I haven't been out that way since the mid 70s, but if I'm not mistaken the road you're talking about is 2 lane and winds along a river? One thing that stood out to me was that there was no solid line (ie-no passing) along this road, but broken lines everywhere indicating it was safe to pass. I thought that odd, since very little of that road had many places to pass that I'd consider safe. I do recall there being periodic pullouts so if you're holding up a line you could pull over and let them by. Not many seemed to take advantage of them though.

BTW, some pretty country out your way.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Other people and their use of phones is why I'm now a serious seat belt wearer. Used to only slip it on in town and actually had a dummy belt. Now I put it on when I shut the gate on driveway.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

One thing that stood out to me was that there was no solid line (ie-no passing) along this road, but broken lines everywhere indicating it was safe to pass.

All very true. Some of the areas deemed safe for passing would require a very slow vehicle and a very fast passing car. There are numerous slow vehicle lanes i.e. wide shoulders where one can pull over without stopping tp let traffic by and one passing lane that is about 1.25 miles long on the ascents on either side of Washington Pass, It climbs from about 2000" to 5400" west bound and from about 500' east bound but over a much greater distance.

In Washington St. the law requires one to pull over and let traffic by if there are 5 or more vehicles behind you. I've seen trains of 30 vehicles but not all that often.

It closes for winter in a couple of weeks so if I wanted to go west, it would add 90 miles each way to my trip.

 

[DieselBound]

Maybe she just didn't know how to use it, some of this techie stuff is not very intuitive.
Personally, I don't see a driver being absorbed in a phonecall behind the wheel is any less dangerous hands-free. What percentage of these calls are really all that important? Probably very small.

Driving in a straight line I suppose, but pulling out from a dead stop and turning, on to a busy highway? The LAW says "hands-free." Not only is it stupid but it's illegal!

I get it that inattentiveness is BAD, but it's hard to do anything about: other than force insurance to charge based on driver and not a pool- crappy drivers should be forced to pay MORE (and prove they've cleaned up their act).

A call is little more different than talking to passengers, and, if we're honest about it, probably safer! Passengers have moving parts that can flail about in the very vehicle you're driving (fumbling for crap etc.): and then there's the times when our dog wants to strain on her leash (harnessed for safety) and just manage to stick her nose to my wife's head- I have to shout at both to knock it off (spending time to glance at the progress of it all)!

 

[DieselBound]

I was hauling a load of hay from Arlington over North Cascades pass about 6 weeks ago. I saw what you describe a good half dozen or more times. A sports car club had apparently decided to use hwy. 20, a road full of families in motorhomes and other RVs, as their rally course. I was surprised that there weren't any accidents. My thought was if they wanted to have a rally/race, rent a race track, not a public road. Many of the cars I saw were in the $100K+ range, except for the one "impoverished" guy who drove a new or nearly new Corvette. The point of hwy.20 in the north Cascades in the scenery.

And one really needs to watch the road as it can be a LONG way DOWN if you f-up!

$100k range, LOL. There are POV rigs and their cargo that are likely $500k combined running along my highway: mega, new diesel trucks pulling fancy, mamoth horse trailers with a stable full of horse (all likely "pure breds"); I think that the term "horse sense" is all backwards- I find cattle people to be a lot smarter!

Car club folks, I've found, aren't all too bad. It's the younger guys on crotch rockets (or the folks who dress up all funny and ride Harleys) that are the biggest threats.

 

[DieselBound]

FYI - Here's a picture just off of Hwy 20 (Diablo Dam - wife and I, and the mutt, took a trip through here a couple years back and I snapped this pic):

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