A lot of drivers perform dangerous actions they should not. You really shouldn’t wave someone on into an intersection when you’re the one with the right-of-way. It’s okay, that person won’t be delayed too long! It’s better than waving them out, just to cause a crash.
Lewin wrote about this phenomenon this weekend and our readers have their own suggestions.
Here’s Mechjaz:
I have been teaching my daughter this to the word as she comes up on driving age.
Leave yourself time and space to respond.
Always have an out, even if that out is just a space buffer ahead of you.
It’s better to be predictable than nice, and the roundabout corollary
Look how people panic and almost cause accidents at this roundabout because people know how to use to right-of-way
Never, ever, ever dive across lanes to make an exit. “Take the L” is what we call it. Circle back.
The actual meaning of red lights, which is not “if you had eyes on the yellow beforehand you’re still allowed to blast through.”
Get away from bad drivers: ahead, behind, out of the way. If they’re drifting, making large and frequent changes to speed, driving with Big Altima energy, un-involve yourself with their driving.
Plus Jack Trade:
Just last night, I saw something that always takes my breath away, even as it’s become way more common – a guy reversing on the shoulder of a high-speed controlled access highway to get back to the exit he’d missed.
When I was in drivers ed in the ’80s, this was reviled as nobody is this stupid but just to be super clear don’t ever do it. Times change for sure.
David is back in Michigan and he’s driving a 300,000-mile Toyota 4Runner. It looks great like many Midwest cars, but hides a rusty secret. Cheap Bastard’s comment is perfect:
Damnit I TOLD you to get the Trucoat!!!
This morning, Matt wrote about how Europe’s automakers are in a bit of a panic right now trying to prepare for a high-tech future. Reader Davey has some harsh, but true words about automakers:
I’m a Toyota fan, but I also understand that I’m a customer. Nothing more. No matter what brand you prefer, you are a customer and they are selling you a product. If the product doesn’t interest buyers in whatever way, they won’t sell.
I don’t feel bad for any automaker. From bailouts, questionable reliability, warranties that haven’t increased since the 90’s, to napping on hybrid or the Maverick-sized truck segment, they’ve all shown time and time again how disconnected they are.
Vote with your wallet (when you can) and stop with the blind brand loyalty. I’m the first one to chirp Toyota on all the issues I mentioned above. I get there are a lot of government regulations that all play part in what automakers can and cannot build, but the only thing we can do as customers is vote with our wallets and either buy, or not buy a product.
Sink or swim, simple as.
Something my wife/lawyer would be quick to remind me is that the legal obligation of a for-profit business is to make money. Remember that the next time a car insurance company wants to lowball you or a health insurance company doesn’t want to pay for a drug that would prevent you from dying sooner than you should.
Have a great evening [Ed note: Morning], everyone!
(Top shot: California DMV)
Btw, businesses are under no legal obligation to maximize, or even make, a profit. Many businesses, especially startups, go years in the red. See: Amazon, OpenAI.
It’s an important distinction because many businesses claim they are legally obligated to maximize profits in order to justify doing horrible things (ex: Pinto memo), and it’s imperative we not let them get away with such bullshit excuses.
“Just last night, I saw something that always takes my breath away, even as it’s become way more common – a guy reversing on the shoulder of a high-speed controlled access highway to get back to the exit he’d missed.”
This made me laugh because it is so Latin American. Was fairly normal in Caracas in the 70s and 80s. Last time I saw it was, of course, in Puerto Rico.
Waving people through intersections. I see this all the time on bike trails, you ride up to the road crossing, cars are stopped to let you go, but someone else on a bike is on the other side who starts waving cars to go while you’re already into the road.
Maybe the other person knows you and has an imaginary bone to pick; like Sheldon considering Wil Wheaton his nemesis until they made nice.
Cars being overly deferential to bikes is a personal pet peeve of mine. Goal #1 when biking is not to get killed, but goal #2 is not to stop, because then I need to spend energy getting up to speed again. I keep a close eye on intersections and will time my approach so if the cars are behaving normally, I don’t need to stop (by which I mean they’ve got plenty of time to get through the intersection and I’m nowhere near them when they do). Nothing is more annoying than a driver trying to be overly solicitous or pausing for too long at the intersection, because I absolutely cannot trust what they’re doing at that point and it basically requires I come to a stop to figure it out, because rule #1. If it’s your turn, and you’ve got time to get across the intersection, for the love of god, just go. You’re not doing me a favor trying to wave me through while your deathmobile idles in my path.
This is the bane of my existence. I have had a car trying to waive me through when another vehicle in oncoming traffic ran the intersection, and on another occasion a car that stopped after they entered the 4-way stop to waive me across. The worst part is they both probably think they were doing the right thing.
I missed a word on my original post, don’t* know how to use a roundabout, but yay COTD!
I got to enjoy a nice smoky sliding stop on my non-ABS bike the other day coming around a hill/curve combo. I’d just started leaning as I saw on the other side of the crest/apex a pickup in my lane, in reverse, backing up to the drive he’d missed into a trailer park. On the back side of a hill/curve. In reverse. On a busy county road. IN REVERSE. ON THE ROAD. ON THE BACK SIDE OF A HILL AND A CURVE. I stopped and just stared at him, stunned by the epic levels of stupidity and adrenaline dump, trying to figure out what he was going to do and how I was going to give this homicidal moron as much clearance as I could. He just sat there pointing wildly at the trailer park, like I was the idiot for not understanding he wanted in that trailer park and I needed to move so he could continue reversing up the road.
Hope you wore the brown pants that day.
Warranty? Maverick segment? Hyundai has the best warranty in the business. Mavericks are a sad, pathetic caricature of a truck. Hyundai is very clear that it’s Santa Cruz is not a truck. But in reality, neither is a Maverick.
What makes a truck? Is it body on frame? Is it bed size? Is the Honda Ridgeline a truck or the Chevy SSR?
I’ve always considered a truck to be a cab with an open bed for hauling.
If it’s got a bed, its a truck! Trucks come in all shapes and sizes, and we should love them all. I have my preferences, and agree that teeny little beds with giant cabs are a little sad, but I think things like the maverick have a totally legitimate use case. When I was a parts salesman, I used to drive a Ranger to deliver stuff. Was pretty stupid to run around town getting 17 MPG to deliver a single oil filter. Even worse in our other store, I drove a Silverado! The Maverick has enough bed to take care of 85% of what we would need to bring out, they would be perfect for small fleet & delivery usage.
My Nissan Altima with rear end damage that causes the trunk not to close is a pickup truck. A better pickup truck than most others too, because of the superior choice of transmission.
Hyundai needs the warranty cause the engines explode if you look at them wrong. I say that, having owned a totall of 3 Kia/Hyundai products. My Genesis had 3 engines, my spouse’s Optima is on it’s second, and the V6 in my sorento has timing chain issues.
They can keep their warranty. Especially since they give a lesser warranty to us Canadians.
The Maverick absolutely is a truck, if you don’t need a truck to be part of your personality.
What I will remember from this article: Mercedes switched “Morning” and “Evening” by accident.