Driving pet peeves

Guess I’d better not drive on the turnpike with the lights on then...

The local cops don’t seem to care!

 

@81shark

Are you a state trooper too? Or are you just friends with one?

 

Neither. I just know how to click on contact us

 

When I was a kid riding shotgun in my granddad's old bronco, we were discussing ancient insults. He brought up the word ninnyhammer just as we happened to pass by a cyclist. He pointed out the window and said "that, son, is a ninnyhammer."

From then on that word and it's made up definition always stuck. Years later we were watching some old western on TV, grandad wandered into the kitchen to scrounge up some sodas and snacks. (If you ever asked him about his choice of movies, he'd reply that he wasn't interested unless he could smell gunpowder and horseshit, but that's a different story.) I was really getting into bike racing then, so while he was up I flipped over to the Tour to see who was wearing the king of the mountain jersey that day. From the doorway came a deep, grizzly bellow "Get them damn NINNYHAMMERS off my TV!"

Good times, good times.

 

Why exactly is it unlawful...

Someone made a comment about how nobody is gonna mistake an orange Taco with Christmas lights on it for an emergency vehicle. I think a silver Taco is the same way; I also think this is one of those situations where the cop won’t write you a ticket if you are polite and haven’t committed any other violations...

 

What's with the leather outfit? Is that some sort of edible gimp mask?

 

I'm not sure on the personal vehicle level... but for semis and Commercial vehicles operating interstate commerce its perfectly legal.

Catch is... every light that is out counts as a separate equipment failure violation. And... you can be shut down if only ONE Christmas light bulb is out.


Oh and random sidenote... you can get a DUI on a bicycle. Ask me how I know......

 

I was in Rural King and damn near stepped in a pile of dog shit, it was about the size of a small loaf of bread...

 

Can't they ride on the tracks? ?

I am kidding!!



.. or am i?

 

How bout when you pay tags, title, vehicle tax (if your state is lovely enough to have such a thing like mine is), fuel tax, etc. That being said, I like that bike lanes are becoming more common. Keeps them safer and out of the way.

 

When they use them...

We have a county near us that invested millions of dollars creating specific bike paths for them to use. I'm talking fancy asphalt roads seperate from the main highway... just for them... annnnd the cyclists still choose to use the right of way.

This is what I find very annoying.

 

below the speed limit in the left lane is worse!

 

Why? Because bike paths suck. Seriously. Try using one sometime. I commuted by bike for nearly a decade before getting a job that I don't have to commute for. Most bike paths are about 6' wide. Want to guess how wide two venti latte drinking Karen's with strollers are? Just over 6' wide. Are they going to move? Hell no. Then you've got joggers with earbuds that can't hear you, people walking dogs with those damn near invisible retractable leashes and then having to stop every single time the bike path crosses a road, which, btw, means that the drivers have to also stop for the cyclist to cross with the crosswalk, so everyone gets hosed. Then there's the safety side of things. I remember an NHTSA report that had statistics for bicycle fatalities. You were 4x more likely to die riding on a bike path than the road and you were 8x more likely to die riding on a sidewalk than a road. It's way faster and easier for me to just to mix in with the cars. Granted, I was fit. It was probably the best shape I've ever been in, and I was fast. Sure, there are lots of ass hat bike riders out there. Y'know what though? There are far, far more ass hat car drivers out there. I've been hit twice while riding. One was a right hook. The car pulled up alongside me approaching an intersection, matched my speed (approx 20mph) and then made a right turn. The second time I was hit by a woman running a red light as I went straight through an intersection with the green. She had gotten tired of waiting for the light to change and there was a large truck blocking her view of me. Somehow, in her mind, she decided that it was ok to go.

I hear the tax/license/registration argument alot. I actually don't have an issue with licensing or registration, though you probably don't want to hear about what I think we should do for vehicle licensing reform. The tax argument isn't going to fly with me. There isn't a county in the United States where fuel taxes and vehicle registrations alone are enough to pay for roads. We just don't tax fuel high enough. Roads have always been heavily subsidized and paid for out of the general fund, which everyone pays into via sales, income (in most states) and property tax.

As for my driving pet peeve? Cell phone use. It should seriously be treated similar to DUI but with harsher consequences. Everyone knows that drunk people make bad decisions and look how we treat DUI (not saying we should be easy on drunk drivers). Using a cell phone has been shown to be as bad as DUI, but what makes it worse IMO is that the phone user is making a conscious decision to use their phone and I think that should be result in a much harsher penalty.

 

Bike lanes?

You mean like in one local community where they just spent several million dollars to repaint "bike lane" lines on the road. Basically they took 1/3 of a lane and "made" it a bike lane. Lance Armstrong wannabe's still ride like phuctards.

 

….you seriously live in WA and think the fuel tax is too low? Don't tell me you're on the tax-by-mile train.

 

I like the bikes that bike the wrong way on one way streets and bike the wrong way on one way streets with one way bike lanes

 

I don't get why everybody you see riding a bicycle on a major road looks like they don't need to be riding. The ones that need to be riding are sitting in the drive thru ordering a double 1/4 pounder with a diet coke thinking somehow they offset each other.

 

I think you misunderstood If you want all of road maintenance to be paid for by fuel tax, then yes, they are too low. Fuel taxes, at their current rates, are not enough by themselves to fully pay for road maintenance and upkeep. Every state/county/city has to pull from the general tax fund in order to pay road maintenance and there is a lot of that money comes from the federal govt, so the argument that bikes don't pay taxes is kind of moot unless the bike rider somehow never manages to pay taxes where they live. You would literally have to go case by case to see who is paying more taxes based off an individuals income tax, property tax, sales tax in order to prove that someone is paying more tax and is therefore more entitled to road use. Personally, I'm not saying that I want higher gas taxes. I do think it's important to realize and acknowledge that the gas tax by itself is not enough to cover the costs without outside funding.

Drive by mile makes the most sense if you want to charge by use, but IMO has too many flaws, loopholes and grey areas for me to support it. How do you determine the mileage without compromising privacy? Am I going to have to pay for miles that I drive outside of the state? Am I going to have to pay for miles that are driven offroad or on National Forest roads? I currently drive approx 5k miles a year. I commute maybe six times a year but that's by taxi and airplane. Most of my driving miles are out of state (road trips) or exploring my local national forest. A small percentage, relatively, is around town.

 

We have a rail-trail within a 1/2 mile where I live. It's about 17 miles long and follows the river. It's a multi-use trail. Bikers, walkers, joggers all supposed to share the trail. Bike rules are clearly marked. Watch your speed, announce when passing, single file going thru areas with poor visibility or blind turns. Does not stop those that think it's a circuit to train for the Tour-de-France. They don't announce when passing, I'll be cruising around 11-12mph, they will fly by, two, three abreast, even on blind turns. My wife and I have been forced off the trail numerous times.

The one road I take home from work is a twisty, turny, hilly road. The shoulders are about 2' wide if that and are in horrendous condition. Not a road for bikes. Ya, right. Round a bend or crest a hill, there's a pack strung out across the road, taking a chug from their water bottles, tooling along. They'll look back, see a vehicle, and just maintain their pace, not tighten up or go single file. No, they'll force the driver to go 10-15mph until one of the few passable straights comes up.