Random Thought Thread

Cap’n Smudge said:
Ohio drivers suck!
Not that they are bad drivers, they are just selfish sacks of… something. I had to drive 3 miles to the next exit, turn around and come back to my exit because I used my signal prior to a lane change. There was enough room for me to get over before I signaled. I’m driving a box truck full of tools. It’s heavy. So I try to drive responsibly because I can’t stop as quick as a typical car.
In Ohio, if you signal to change lanes the overwhelming response (has to be over 90% of the time) of the driver in the next lane over and behind you is to accelerate and close the gap so you can’t get over. If I hadn’t signaled yesterday I could have made my exit.
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I agree I try to always give people room to get into a lane.... then some one on a cell phone takes that space out of nowhere and leave the person with the signal on stranded
 
Cap’n Smudge said:
Ohio drivers suck!
Not that they are bad drivers, they are just selfish sacks of… something. I had to drive 3 miles to the next exit, turn around and come back to my exit because I used my signal prior to a lane change. There was enough room for me to get over before I signaled. I’m driving a box truck full of tools. It’s heavy. So I try to drive responsibly because I can’t stop as quick as a typical car.
In Ohio, if you signal to change lanes the overwhelming response (has to be over 90% of the time) of the driver in the next lane over and behind you is to accelerate and close the gap so you can’t get over. If I hadn’t signaled yesterday I could have made my exit.
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Can confirm.

Drivers in OH also don't comprehend (or care about) the concept of moving over for vehicles merging onto the highway.

In MI, most vehicles in the right lane, will move over to the left lane if it's clear, when they see a vehicle on an onramp about to merge onto the highway.

In OH, 90% off the drivers will just stay in the right lane, even when there are no other vehicles within a 1/2 mile.
 
oldmanwilly said:
Boy, Ohio sure sounds an awful lot like Houston. As an added bonus, a terrifying number of Houstonites are seemingly oblivious to the concept of separate lanes; they'll just drift over, regardless of whether you're in the way or not.
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Houston seems to have bigger issues than just the traffic. A buddy of mine just retired from Houston P.D. recently and the videos I've seen are not encouraging.
 
I enjoyed driving in Raleigh NC. There was an intersection on my commute (Hillsborough and Blue Ridge) where folks would stay in the left lane in order to keep the right lane open so people could turn right on red there because a lot of folks would turn there. Very conscientious.

Contrasted to Burlington NC where folks would choose what lane to drive in much the same way a cow chooses what part of a pasture to graze.

Mooresville is pretty bananas. Very aggressive, everybody thinks it's a race.
 
carnifex knifeworks said:
You'd all love Utah drivers lol
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ferider said:
As a German driver, I feel almost at home driving in Utah. Predictable and fast. Clean freeways, too. :) Passing on the left lane and consistent signaling, at 80+ mls/h, not like in CA where the DMV apparently disables turn signals.
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As a Utah-trained driver I can confirm that I love driving in Germany. The obsession with laws that are all safety based, a people who are socially conditioned to be rule followers, and the allowance of driving like a bat out of hell because the autobahn and the cars on it are all properly maintained... All that said: I couldn't disagree with you more on the similarities with driving in Utah vs Germany.
 
ferider said:
As a German driver, I feel almost at home driving in Utah. Predictable and fast. Clean freeways, too. :) Passing on the left lane and consistent signaling, at 80+ mls/h, not like in CA where the DMV apparently disables turn signals.
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I drove a Ford Sierra XR4i around Germany for a couple of weeks way back when it was called West Germany. VERY good and considerate drivers, IMO. I could tell that they would see the plates on my rental car and tell I was from somewhere else and they went out of their way to give me extra time and space to prepare for and make turns. It made a real positive impression on me.

My first day, I was on the autobahn driving north from Hamburg to Kiel, and waaaaaaaaaaay back behind me I see a tiny light flash on and then off. I was going about 150 kph, and didn't think much of it. Maybe a minute later I see a BIG light flashing much closer behind me and I got the hint and moved the hell over. The dude blew past me in a Lamborghini like i was standing still. He easily had to be going 200 kph - maybe 220 kph or more. First day and it kind of scared me. But I never saw anything like that again the rest of the fortnight.

I also really liked getting a yellow warning before the light turned green. I believe that was because they had so many manual trannies and it would tell the drivers to get ready to put it in gear. We need that here now to tell drivers to get the hell off their phones and get ready to drive again.
 
The Amazing Virginian said:
I drove a Ford Sierra XR4i around Germany for a couple of weeks way back when it was called West Germany. VERY good and considerate drivers, IMO. I could tell that they would see the plates on my rental car and tell I was from somewhere else and they went out of their way to give me extra time and space to prepare for and make turns. It made a real positive impression on me.

My first day, I was on the autobahn driving north from Hamburg to Kiel, and waaaaaaaaaaay back behind me I see a tiny light flash on and then off. I was going about 150 kph, and didn't think much of it. Maybe a minute later I see a BIG light flashing much closer behind me and I got the hint and moved the hell over. The dude blew past me in a Lamborghini like i was standing still. He easily had to be going 200 kph - maybe 220 kph or more. First day and it kind of scared me. But I never saw anything like that again the rest of the fortnight.

I also really liked getting a yellow warning before the light turned green. I believe that was because they had so many manual trannies and it would tell the drivers to get ready to put it in gear. We need that here now to tell drivers to get the hell off their phones and get ready to drive again.
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That was one of the coolest things about the autobahn; German drivers are well aware that no matter what speed they're driving at, there may be someone going WAY faster. As such, they stay to the right, and make sure to check for fast approaching vehicles, before moving to the left lane.

Over here (especially in Winter), I'll see cars from 3/4 of a mile off, all following a semi in the right lane at ~45 - 50mph.

The whole time I'm approaching this line of vehicles, they're all in a slow conga line behind the semi... right until some moron notices me in the left lane, passing them, THEN the stupid asshat inevitably goes, "Huh... that guy's passing in the left lane... hurr durr... imma do that, too", and pulls out right in front of me, forcing me to hit the brakes, so they can slowly crawl by the semi at 0.3mph faster.

You were following the semi, for AT LEAST the 3 minutes from when I first saw all of you, and who knows how long before that... but couldn't wait 2 more seconds for me to pass all of you, before moving over to the left lane?
 
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