Life imitating Cantr?

[David]

I hate driving here at home (America). I don't know what it's like other places, but here you have people pass you only to get in front of you and then they drop there speed to about 10 mph less than you were going originally. Or the idiots going 50 mph in the left passing lane. Or the idiots who are going who speed way up just before they are turning off the road, what is the point of that?

And people don't even pay attention to the fact that the passing lane is the passing lane and the slow lane is the slow lane. And god, forget about four way right-of-way stops... without traffic lights that are busy. People don't even know what to do there someone will just pull out of no where and get stuck in the middle messing everyone else up, with no sense of a how the system is supposed to work. And this is at low speed, it's just retarded how that works out, no sense of organization or ability to accomodate the situation to everyone involved.

Half the time say... on a 4-lane road (I don't know Euro terminology but in America that means 2 lanes going one way and two the other) The passing-lane and the slow lane "floats", in other words depending on what a few idiots decide to do, sometimes the de facto passing lane is the right and sometimes the left. Then there are the fools who stay in tandum with the car next to them, effectively creating a wall, slowing down everyone. Or the fools that just stay in the passing lane at a constant speed with no sense of what is going on around them...

GAAAHHH! I am guilty of these things sometimes, but its only because of how chaotic it is...

I just LOVE the people in the huge SUVs who cruise along in the passing lane at 50mph completely oblivious to everyone else around them and how slow they are going, the thing is always shiny regardless of its year or model, showing that they never actually use the capacity or abilities of the SUV.

[David]

RKL, while that may have been an ancilliary reason, tearing up the highway system altogether would screw up the economy worse than most any attack. To a large degree the primary, secondary, and tertiary economies have all adapted to the current hiway system over time. That would be a silver bullet to destroy manufacturing, retail and service industry, as well as mining and other raw resource industries. Not to mention tourism.

On the other hand, if you gradually implemented a more robust mass transit system of trains and planes, then tear up the hiway system, that may work. Of course there is the whole propaganda element of re-reducating the populace of the previous propaganda of the linkage of individuality to automobile use, while before people where neutral either way, at the dawn of the automobile.

[jeslange]

Ahhh...how much Maryland and Georgia sound alike when we're talking about driving styles. You forgot the people who, when merging into traffic from a highway on-ramp, think it's the responsibility of the people on the highway to adjust their speed or get out of the way.

There was a topic around here once, but oh well.

[The Hunter]

Tailgating works!!!

Anyway, the problems you described are nearly just as bad here in the Netherlands. Only we maybe even have more traffic jams. (And I think driver here have a bit more notion of the traffic around them and know a lot more about the rulses).

Oh, we have a very dense public mass transport here. People won';t leave their car tho. I used to live near the4 hague, where ppl mainl;y stood still, taking up toi an hour to reach The hague, while I used the train, taking 10 minutes only. I would wave everytime, still, the jams only grew larger.

And whoever would decide to remove highways whatever Country their in, would probably be lynched by the whole car owning population.

[boomhaeur]

"Drive in some other countries and thou shall understand, my son."

hehe - actually I lived in Belgium for a time, and spent some time in Japan and mine and my families impression was always that Canada was one of the worst places to drive.

It's probably more perspective. In Toronto we (justifiably ) thing Quebecers (maing Montreal folks) are insane drivers... but they think we're horrible drivers...

The biggest pet peeve in Canada is getting people out of the left lane -- so many left lane hogs. I've found in the states and Europe people are far more likely to move over when you approach - in Canada forget about it....

Other than that it's not so bad...

[new.vogue.nightmare]

That's why we have drive-by shootings, people. Cleans the scum off the road quite nicely.

[west]

I just LOVE the people in the huge SUVs who cruise along in the passing lane at 50mph completely oblivious to everyone else around them and how slow they are going, the thing is always shiny regardless of its year or model, showing that they never actually use the capacity or abilities of the SUV.

My family owns a 1996 Suburban. Shiny? Heh...maybe under the dirt. We use it to cart around our 9-member family (it's the only thing besides a van that can do that), and get up our 400yd gravel driveway in the winter. It also tows our Hobie Cat when we visit my grandma on the Cape.

Cod.

[new.vogue.nightmare]

Mmm... cod...not as good as salmon though. *salivates nonetheless*

[Pirate Lass]

I will not even get into California driving......... and the freeway I travel daily has a legal speed limit of 75 - of course no one EVER travels that slow, even in the right lane.



And don't you know - people with huge pickup trucks and SUV's have a different set of road rules cause they are bigger than everyone else. dur! (note sarcasm)

[new.vogue.nightmare]

They still follow the rule where if you hit them with a high explosive rocket, they'll become scrap. Remember that.

[Pirate Lass]

Can ya mount a launcher somewhere on my car....

I shouldn't talk - we have a big ass Dodge Ram too. But at least it has a purpose in life and not just for looks.

[Chrissy]

Driving on the highway is like a very slow paced video game for me. I'm very fast, and very efficient. If I want someone to move that's infront of me I politely maintain my distance behind them then they think, oh she's nice, I'll move over, then i take off. It works 99% of the time. If there's a pack of cars all fighting to get ahead, I just stay back a bit, analyze the situation, plan my move, and end up in the lead everytime. I was sharing my theory's and explaining my strategy to my sister and her boyfriend on the way to the airport, and he said,"It is a slowpace video game..!"

I taught myself how to drive when I was 12. I'd be a racecar driver if I didn't have the fear of God in me.

In town driving is a different story. I live in a fairly small slow town. Driving isn't fun, it's just driving. One time, on a residential street, I had to slow to a halt, in this long line of cars, on this street that is never backed up with traffic. I waited, and waited, after awhile, I opened the door, got out of my car, threw my hand up in the air and yelled,"What the hell is going on..!?" I looked up the street and realized that there was a school bus stopped letting hadicap children off.

Since then I'm a lot more patient.

Chrissy

[David]

I just LOVE the people in the huge SUVs who cruise along in the passing lane at 50mph completely oblivious to everyone else around them and how slow they are going, the thing is always shiny regardless of its year or model, showing that they never actually use the capacity or abilities of the SUV.

My family owns a 1996 Suburban. Shiny? Heh...maybe under the dirt. We use it to cart around our 9-member family (it's the only thing besides a van that can do that), and get up our 400yd gravel driveway in the winter. It also tows our Hobie Cat when we visit my grandma on the Cape.

Cod.

Yah... my uncle has the same year and model too... and numerous trucks over the years, huge diesels and smaller ones (Construction Family) but do you do all those rude things with it? See its the people that do the retarded driving with it that have the shiny ones...

[Chrissy]

I believe it's the people, not the car. That 1% I speak of that doesn't get out of the way regardless if they're in a nicer car, or a hoopty with all the pieces falling off it, is because they're just inconsiderate people. I wasn't going to admit it but I'm moving to the world of SUV at the end of the month. My lease is up. (3 year) I currently drive a black 2001 focus, and am upgrading. The focus was the first new car I've ever had. Up until then it was hoopties. (I have a great family, but not one that hands out cars. Regardless if they can afford to or not. lol.)

I think it's the indignate people, and people with poor driving abilities that cause the rest of us grief, no matter what car they're in.

If you see someone in a nice car, driving recklessly amoungst others, it's just because their an asshole in general.

Chrissy

[Camino]

Didn't we have a conspiracies thread for posts like that one?