Quote:
Originally Posted by elhigh
Unfortunately in the States it seems the vast majority of Americans forget everything they're taught in Driver's Ed just as soon as they get their mitts on their first Driver's License and just take whichever lane suits them. So we get folks tooling along on the leftmost lane at 10mph under the limit, crazyass riceracers flying down the rightmost lane at 20mph over the limit, and everybody passing on whatever side suits them. Last week some kind in a souped-up Mitsu flew by me on the shoulder.
American drivers are stuck with a "me first" kind of mentality, and it reduces the safety for everyone. I think it's a large part of why we have so many gigantic, hugely powerful vehicles on the road that have only one person in them.
Think about it: a lot of those sales are justified as being for the safety of the driver, in that the larger vehicle is probably safer in a crash. Well, what about the poor ******* in the little econobox just squashed in a hypothetical accident. Let's listen:
"What about him?"
"Well, you squashed him with your Excursion."
"He should've driven something bigger. And in the meantime, I'm not hurt. That's what matters." This is an excerpt from an actual conversation I had with an Excursion owner. Ouch.
I'm not saying all SUV owners are as shallow as that, but I think it's representative of a lot of the attitudes behind much American vehicle ownership.
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Unfortunate it is true. When I take my drivers tests to renew my license, I get them all right because I know drivers ed taught me, but Im always tempted to put down the real answers. Like at a 4 way stop, who goes first? Not the one there first or the one on your right like its supposed to be. Usually its the ones with the fancier car or the bigger truck that will run right through it. If you follow the laws of right of way youre going to get hit. And when other traffic is merging onto the freeway, the law says to stay in the right lane at a constant speed. Wrong. The mergers usually expect you to move over, and if you dont then youre going to get hit. And they tell you to drive "a safe, prudent speed for the conditions, which is never over the posted speed limit". You do that and youre a safety hazard since everyone else is speeding. Many times around here Ive gotta drive 10-15 mph over the posted speed limit just to merge from 2 lanes to one.