pet peeve thread

[barmar]

Getting back to the sub-thread about traffic, I wonder what people think about this situation:

 

There are two travel lanes in your direction. When nearing an intersection, the left lane is also the left-turn lane, as there's no separate turn lane. If someone is trying to make a left turn, and there's no let-up in the traffic in the other direction, everyone behind them in the left lane is stuck waiting.

 

You wisely got yourself into the right lane early, to avoid getting stuck. When you see cars with their right-turn signal on, because they want to get out of that logjam, do you ever slow down to let one of them in? Or is it every man for himself, they have to wait for a natural gap in the traffic that will let them pull over (or for the left-turner to succeed -- but often there's more than one of them).

[kenberg]

Getting back to the sub-thread about traffic, I wonder what people think about this situation:

 

There are two travel lanes in your direction. When nearing an intersection, the left lane is also the left-turn lane, as there's no separate turn lane. If someone is trying to make a left turn, and there's no let-up in the traffic in the other direction, everyone behind them in the left lane is stuck waiting.

 

You wisely got yourself into the right lane early, to avoid getting stuck. When you see cars with their right-turn signal on, because they want to get out of that logjam, do you ever slow down to let one of them in? Or is it every man for himself, they have to wait for a natural gap in the traffic that will let them pull over (or for the left-turner to succeed -- but often there's more than one of them).

 

It depends a little on the circumstances (doesn't everything?) but mostly I think that they are just stuck.Let's take a fairly typical situation. Traffic in the right lane, the one you are in, is going maybe 35 or 40. How do I let him in? Practically speaking, I can't. Let's vary it a little. Traffic still going 35 or 40, but not dense. There is enough room between me and the guy in fromt so that if the guy in the left lane is alert and pushes it, he can get in.. Well, I definitely don't speed up to close the gap and keep him out.Possibly I ease off just a bit if it seems practical but usually I think it is best for everyone if I just keep moving. maybe even for leftie, at least my car will be gone.

 

Here is a version that just happened today. I am one of the left laners. We are all, left and right, stopped but now ready to go. Oops. The guy in front of me is not a left turner, he is stalled, going nowhere. I see this as the guy who was in front of me edges right. allowed to do so by the right laners. And then, shortly, someone lets me move over.

 

But in the basic situation that I think you are describing, I expect to be stuck if I am in the left lane and I think that's the way it has to be.

 

We live in Maryland but Becky and I were recently in Lincoln City OR, right on the beach on the Pacific Coast. It was terrific, lots of nice beach walking and trails and so on. But the traffic was often quite a problem. Very much of every man for himself. I thought a bit about this thread. I think what was going on was that many, probably most, were out of towners just as we were, and were not ready for this. Back home, I know where the problem spots are. most others do also, I accept that there will be problems,. so does everyone else, we figure we are all in this together and we slack off a bit with our aggressiveness. We know there will be delays but we slip some Ellington into the player and relax, we will get there. I repeat that we had a great time on the Oregon coast, I like the Pacific a lot, and we enjoyed the people we met. But the coastal traffic was not part of the enjoyment. For anyone, I think.

[Antrax]

Whenever I try to let a left laner in, it's inevitably someone dense who takes forever to figure out what's going on so I either stall the people behind me or just end up driving slowly past them. Good drivers can merge without being helped, bad ones take too long even with a clear signal that I expect them to.

[kenberg]

Whenever I try to let a left laner in, it's inevitably someone dense who takes forever to figure out what's going on so I either stall the people behind me or just end up driving slowly past them. Good drivers can merge without being helped, bad ones take too long even with a clear signal that I expect them to.

 

Yes, this pretty much matches my experience. Someone has to go or we all lose, and some people just can't seize an opportunity when it is laid in front of them. I have now been driving for sixty years. Somewhere along the road I learned to take it easy. Yesterday I had someone cur from the right lane to the left, right in front of me, without signaling and then he slowed so he could get into the left turn lane to my left. I just applied the brakes, rather sharply, and let it go. If he doesn't realize he is an idiot, honking at him probably wouldn't help.

[barmar]

In the case where I did let someone in last week, my lane was only moving about 15-20 MPH; it's a main road with stop lights every few blocks, so none of the lanes move very fast during busy periods. So all I had to do was slow down for a few seconds to open up a gap that someone could slip into. If they don't slip in, I just get moving again, and the "harm" to my lane is minimal or nonexistent (since we probably would have all been stopped at the next light anyway).

[mycroft]

well, if I saw the guy pull out and run all the way up the left lane, past me, and then wants back in because the left lane's blocked by left-turners, I may be a little less generous than if they didn't know or couldn't avoid it.

 

What, me, passive-aggressive? That Can't Be!

[Winstonm]

My sister-in-law lived in a section of St. Louis where this lane contraction occurred everyday on her way home - she would ride the bumper of the care in front of her to make certain that no one could merge. I sympathized with her pov.

[barmar]

well, if I saw the guy pull out and run all the way up the left lane, past me, and then wants back in because the left lane's blocked by left-turners, I may be a little less generous than if they didn't know or couldn't avoid it.

 

What, me, passive-aggressive? That Can't Be!

I agree that I have no sympathy for the people who jump into the left lane, thinking they can use it to pass, and then try to get out when they discover the backlog. I'm just talking about people who were in the left lane normally for several blocks, and then got stuck in the logjam. While I try to think ahead and avoid that lane for most of the trip on streets I know, I also recognize that if everyone did that it would clog the right line. So a reasonable compromise is to occasionally slow down to let a car merge. And I hope that some day someone will pay it back to me when I get stuck in an unfamiliar area.

[kenberg]

So a reasonable compromise is to occasionally slow down to let a car merge. And I hope that some day someone will pay it back to me when I get stuck in an unfamiliar area.

 

This is pretty much an all purpose description of my view on several different formulations of the problem. I think it does get paid back. Maybe directly to someone else, but as more people take this view, driving becomes a more peaceful activity. And if a strict accounting would show that I gave way more than I got back, I don't mind. I might even take some pleasure in it..

[mycroft]

I'm actually one of the most generous drivers on the road - unless "the regular rules of courtesy don't apply to me". Then it's different. I think we're violently agreeing, barmar.

 

Of course, my favourite was what I said to my family after my first month in Waterloo, ON: "If you're driving along, and all of a sudden, everybody is leaving your lane, join them. It's about to become a turn only lane - and by the time they tell you, it's too late." I will freely admit I looked like one of those "someone will let me in, *I'm* too important to wait" types; and frequently, I took my lumps, and the turn, and figured out how to get back on the road.

[Vampyr]

My sister-in-law lived in a section of St. Louis where this lane contraction occurred everyday on her way home - she would ride the bumper of the care in front of her to make certain that no one could merge. I sympathized with her pov.

 

While it's her right to cause herself high levels of stress and risk of an accident, it is very wrong to subject the driver in front to the same.

[mike777]

Pet peeve millions if not hundreds of millions die from virus and yet we worry about merge into lane closure and the stress.... :(

 

wow you posters must love to drive.

 

 

1) you think about this stuff

2) you create all sorts of rules to deal with it

 

I hate to drive. I basically grew up without a car in my family or for myself.

 

If something like this happens my rule is:

1) avoid it

2) if I cant void then get through fast very fast

3) don't drive here again

4) 99% of you think you are good drivers

5) you are all horrible....U I am worse since I hate to drive :)

6) When I interviewed for my job my boss asked my if I love to travel.. I told him yes as long as I don't drive. I travel often ...I fly.

 

 

millions die and many more millions are injured while driving.

[Antrax]

For the record, I've had a license for 15 years now, and in both accidents I was involved in my car was not moving at all (once someone backed into me, another time a drunk rammed into me while I was standing at a stoplight)

[mike777]

It said anywhere from 25=50% of the drivers on the road late night, every night, are intoxicated.

 

People seem to forget the millions that have died and tens of millions that have been injured in auto related incidents.

 

---------------

 

 

For the record one more thing I hate about driving are people are who are not moving when they should be moving. They just sit at light or in the middle of the lane and never move. People seem to forget that a stoplight is also a move your car light at times. In fact that happened twice just today. They forget a stoplight is also a go light. But people do indeed love to sit and not move their car.

[Antrax]

Perhaps I should clarify the light was red and I wasn't even first in line.

[kenberg]

For the record, I've had a license for 15 years now, and in both accidents I was involved in my car was not moving at all (once someone backed into me, another time a drunk rammed into me while I was standing at a stoplight)

 

I can relate. Many years back I was driving a VW bug. I was at a red light and in the mirror I saw this car coming up behind me. Nothing to be done. A young woman was driving her boy friend's stick shift, she put on the clutch instead of the brake, and bam.

 

Another time I was stopped at a traffic circle in D.C.. A lane to my left a guy was coming around, his right rear tire was flat, he was concentrating on that and ran into my car. it got a little amusing, if you can call it that. A cop was there and took down insurance information and I presume saw what should have been a driver's license but I am not sure just what he saw. Later it rurned out that the guy's insurance was canceleed and his license had been suspended for not having insurance. Anyway, I don't much have accidents so I only carry liability and uninsured motorist coverage (you save a lot over sixty years). But I found that uninsured motorist coverage is a bit tricky. The insurance company called the guy and he said that I ran into him.I explained that it was the back of my car that was damaged and anyway maybe they should take my story as the correct one rather than the story of a guy who was driving without a license or insurance and had already lied about that. They siad that they only have to pay if they are 100% certain that i was 0% at fault and since he said that I ran into him that cleared them of having to pay. It went to whatever it's called, not court but one of those things where everyone sits in a room, and they had to pay. But it took a while. Why amusing? Well, I got my money and I got to watch insurance people try to explain with a straight face why they shouldn't have to pay. Not a job that I would like to have.

[Antrax]

Hey, I know a couple of friends who went driving drunk and entered the wrong direction in a roundabout. Figuring out their mistake, they did the only reasonable thing (if you're drunk), and shifted to reverse, so now they were going backwards but in technically the right direction. Naturally they ran into someone and THEIR insurance company refused to believe that damage to their car's rear could be their fault.

So you never know.

[Winstonm]

It said anywhere from 25=50% of the drivers on the road late night, every night, are intoxicated.

 

People seem to forget the millions that have died and tens of millions that have been injured in auto related incidents.

 

---------------

 

 

For the record one more thing I hate about driving are people are who are not moving when they should be moving. They just sit at light or in the middle of the lane and never move. People seem to forget that a stoplight is also a move your car light at times. In fact that happened twice just today. They forget a stoplight is also a go light. But people do indeed love to sit and not move their car.

The green light should be renamed the "stop texting" light.

[Vampyr]

I can relate. Many years back I was driving a VW bug. I was at a red light and in the mirror I saw this car coming up behind me. Nothing to be done. A young woman was driving her boy friend's stick shift, she put on the clutch instead of the brake, and bam.

 

This happened to me once too. The impact of the car behind sent me right across the intersection, luckily the light had just turned red, so there were no cars coming across yet. It was raining, and I think that probably the car behind didn't give themselves enough time to stop.

 

Later it rurned out that the guy's insurance was canceleed and his license had been suspended for not having insurance. Anyway, I don't much have accidents so I only carry liability and uninsured motorist coverage (you save a lot over sixty years). But I found that uninsured motorist coverage is a bit tricky.

 

When my car was totalled by an uninsured and unlicensed driver, it was parked, so there was never a question of it having been my fault. But the uninsured motorist coverage in New Jersey was a joke; after months of calling and writing I never got any money, and eventually gave up.

[mycroft]

Mike: others have given the response to your rhetorical "but what about <other, to me bigger, problem?>" tactic before. No different here - that's either "your priorities must be my priorities" (no, actually, they don't) or strictly a derailing tactic, because there's *always* a bigger problem to solve, until at least the big problem is unsolvable (at least by us).

 

But specifically in this case - Unclear on the concept, much? A pet peeve, by definition, isn't a big problem - it's admitted, by the peeved, as a "tiny little thing" that is irritating way out of proportion to its actual severity.

[blackshoe]

If he doesn't realize he is an idiot, honking at him probably wouldn't help.

The word is "obliviot" (thanks to Randy Cassingham, I think).

 

Alternatively, you could mount twin .50s behind your grill, and light him up. :P

[barmar]

Anyone else getting sick of the phrase "boots on the ground"?

[kenberg]

Anyone else getting sick of the phrase "boots on the ground"?

 

Good God Yes. I think that I was tired of it the first time I heard it!

[Trinidad]

Anyone else getting sick of the phrase "boots on the ground"?

Yes. I prefer "wellies in the mud" or "sandals in the sand". At least that will give you an idea of the local circumstances.

 

Rik

[Trinidad]

I just noticed that we haven't had any peeves in the month of October. Anyone else find that disturbing?

 

Rik