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Old 12-18-2008, 01:09 AM   #13 (permalink)
Christ
Moderate your Moderation.
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Troy, Pa.
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Pasta - '96 Volkswagen Passat TDi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wagonman76 View Post
Just watch for headlights and keep going if you can.
This is affectionately referred to as a "stoptional maneuver" around here.

I used to do this out of my driveway when I lived in the MH park, b/c of the steep hill you had to start on.. I found it very wearing on my clutch, and didn't like it, so at night, or early in the morning, as I was coming to the intersection, I'd slow down to first gear speeds, and turn my headlights off for a brief instant, just long enough to see if there were any headlights near the intersection. If I saw no other lights, accelerate and go.

Obviously, this didn't work during the day, so during the day, you just slowed down and looked as you came up on the intersection slowly, you could see to the left, and there was 35FT at the intersection itself, b/c my driveway widened from the normal 24FT of a back road, to ~35FT at the top, so you had plenty of room to move around if necessary to get the best angle to see to the right and be able to pull out safely without stopping.

On many of the back roads around here, I often do this, when there is a plain sight through/around the intersection, and it's obvious that no one is around. (Field on either side.) Although I don't find it necessary to flash my lights anymore, since I never go to that park.

I've been stopped ONCE for using this maneuver. I responded to the officer with an explanation of exactly how much energy it takes to start a 3000lb car from a dead stop, vs accelerating from 5-10mph. He let me go with a "warning". He basically told me to keep doing it, but not to make it blatant.
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