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Old 09-02-2010, 10:42 PM   #14 (permalink)
Frank Lee
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: up north
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Blue - '93 Ford Tempo
Last 3: 27.29 mpg (US)

F150 - '94 Ford F150 XLT 4x4
90 day: 18.5 mpg (US)

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Last 3: 69.62 mpg (US)

ShWing! - '82 honda gold wing Interstate
90 day: 33.65 mpg (US)

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Oh God I could write a book on this.

There is the classic blow-my-doors-off on the freeway only to brake 30 feet in front of me and zoom over to just barely catch that exit they could have easily gotten had they stayed behind me.

The madness starts before the thing even gets on the road! Here in the frozen north, running to the office window and pointing the autostart to the lot half an hour before quitting time is common. Wouldn't want to have to actually use a window scraper or put on gloves now would we???

You should see how screwed up the "rows" of cars get in parking lots when the lines are covered with snow. It's nothing short of astonishing.

On a similar note, there is a line at intersections that you are supposed to pull up to with your front bumper. No, not halfway through the crosswalk and no, not 30 feet back from the line. Bumper over line. Yeah. I guess that's too much to ask... or, there is a widespread depth perception problem.

Oh yeah- stoplights. In my state, it is legal to take a right on red. Has been for probably 100 years. How many times have I been trapped behind someone that is sitting in the right turn lane at a light, waiting for the green, and no cross traffic? MANY.

See someone ya know? By all means, stop right in the middle of the road and have a lil conference. Oh noooooo- don't mind us, don't pull over or anything; we'll all go around.

Do that in parking lots too. Oh, and don't forget to leave the engine running, even when your vital conference runs 40 minutes.

If you see a small animal on the road, aim for it. That'll learn 'em. Bwwwahahahaha.

First snow of the season, or rain: Nooooo, don't slow down any, don't drive for conditions. What is that anyway? Nature must conform to our desires, and our desire is to have the equivalent of a perfectly dry paved surface at all times, so that we never have to slow down, and we can still approach stop signs at full speed and only start braking 30 feet in front of them.

Rainy roads: well it is necessary after all to commute on smooth level roads in a lifted PU or SUV with aggressive tires (can 90% of the people be wrong???); it's also necessary to pass everyone else on the road in order to "win", and it's also necessary to pull back into the right lane about 7 inches in front of the passee, in order for the passee to get the maximum benefit of all that road slop being stirred up and thrown onto the windshield.

Cell phones are practically worthy of a whole nother rant.

I will say that the Californians are much better than the Midwesterners in just about every respect. They have much higher traffic density so they have to be. I could bicycle all over out there and not feel that my life was in danger the way I do out here in the middle of Bum****, Egypt. (See above re: aiming for things in the road instead of avoiding them)
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Last edited by Frank Lee; 09-02-2010 at 10:50 PM.. Reason: fix my smilie
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