Speed Limits Are Too Low

[wmenorr67]

I've noticed that since I've been riding by motorcycle more often, when I do get in a cage I've changed my driving habits some to look further ahead.  I've always done so but just seems like I've become even more aware.

[Tallpine]

Trouble is you can look too far ahead and miss seeing the brake lights on the car in front 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I've noticed that since I've been riding by motorcycle more often, when I do get in a cage I've changed my driving habits some to look further ahead.  I've always done so but just seems like I've become even more aware.

The self preservation instinct is strong in this one.

Riding a bike in traffic improves driving either by the riders effort or Darwin's . Either works Darwin is quicker


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[KD5NRH]

Trouble is you can look too far ahead and miss seeing the brake lights on the car in front

That's always in peripheral vision, and the reason I tend to be that picky bastard who will call DPS in a heartbeat when I see a trailer with the light connector dangling loose...or the safety chains.  If you can't take ten more seconds to hook it up right, it ain't worth hauling.

[griz]

You're assuming the lead vehicle is capable of instantaneous deceleration from 75-0MPH.

No I am not.  I'm not saying you will have a physics defying car stopped in 2 tenths of a second.  I'm just saying that's too close for ordinary people on real roads.  You can drive how you want to, but I don't think decreasing your following distance to zero will get you there any faster.

[Boomhauer]

No I am not.  I'm not saying you will have a physics defying car stopped in 2 tenths of a second.  I'm just saying that's too close for ordinary people on real roads.  You can drive how you want to, but I don't think decreasing your following distance to zero will get you there any faster.

+1. Not to mention, even if your vehicle's braking is the best ever made, you are still depending on your reaction time to start the braking.

If someone thinks that they are "good enough" to follow extremely closely, then they are probably overestimating their skill.

[MechAg94]

I generally wouldn't tail gate someone, but some idiots on the road, that is the only way to get their attention.  If I follow at a reasonable distance, they just keep blocking the lane. 

The difference is I don't do it very much or for very long.  In my truck I can generally see beyond most vehicles for threats that would cause the person in front to slam on the brakes.  And people who would slam on the brakes just because generally give away signs that they would do so.  They are generally more agressive and less likely to clog traffic anyway. 

[HankB]

Tailgaters

Decades ago, when I was still in high school, there was an incident where a semi was tailgating a car with some teens in it, for no good reason, at night. With his high beams on.

Did you know when the person in the back seat suddenly turns around and shines the "million candlepower" beam from a Q-Beam spotlight in the semi driver's eyes, he tends to hit the brakes? 

Or so I heard.

[Tallpine]

^^^ You know how at airshows the planes have these oil injectors into the exhaust to create a smoke trail ...?  I've often wanted one of those on my vehicle - just push a button and send a smoke cloud into the tailgaters face 

Or more simply, I'm about ready to screw the gas mileage and travel in a big pickup again.  You want to tailgate, I tap the brakes and you have a trailer hitch through your radiator 

[41magsnub]

^^^ You know how at airshows the planes have these oil injectors into the exhaust to create a smoke trail ...?  I've often wanted one of those on my vehicle - just push a button and send a smoke cloud into the tailgaters face 

Or more simply, I'm about ready to screw the gas mileage and travel in a big pickup again.  You want to tailgate, I tap the brakes and you have a trailer hitch through your radiator 

You too could be a coal rolling bro!

[Tallpine]

You too could be a coal rolling bro!

Chan eil mi a tuigsinn .... 

[KD5NRH]

Decades ago, when I was still in high school, there was an incident where a semi was tailgating a car with some teens in it, for no good reason, at night. With his high beams on.

It's a pretty popular way for jerks around here to indicate their frustration at not being able to pass a car that's only going 10 over the limit on a hilly, winding two-lane.

Did you know when the person in the back seat suddenly turns around and shines the "million candlepower" beam from a Q-Beam spotlight in the semi driver's eyes, he tends to hit the brakes?

A high-end pro flash head out the sunroof works about the same, especially when it's set to multi-strobe on a ~25ms cycle, so the first couple of pops trigger the reflex to look right at the source, with several good pops left to maximize the effect.  A little testing in a safer environment resulted in a whole bunch of purple spots in something of a sawed off shotgun pattern sticking around for a couple minutes instead of the single spot of a normal flash.

I've considered getting a bunch of used disposable cameras and cannibalizing their flashes to rig a large array on the back of a car for this situation.

[Boomhauer]

Chan eil mi a tuigsinn .... 

You don't know what rolling coal is?

It's when dumbshit hicks who *expletive deleted*ck their cousins and/or siblings turn up the fuel pump on their diesel trucks to pump more fuel into the cylinder, which is not burnt properly, then it blows black smoke out the exhaust pipe. They think they are cool for doing it, but in reality, are stupid mother *expletive deleted*ers.

[Tallpine]

[Tailgating is] a pretty popular way for jerks around here to indicate their frustration at not being able to pass a car that's only going 10 over the limit on a hilly, winding two-lane....

You live in Colorado?   

You don't know what rolling coal is?

I guess I'm not a dumbshit hick 

[KD5NRH]

You don't know what rolling coal is?

It's when dumbshit hicks who *expletive deleted* their cousins and/or siblings turn up the fuel pump on their diesel trucks to pump more fuel into the cylinder, which is not burnt properly, then it blows black smoke out the exhaust pipe. They think they are cool for doing it, but in reality, are stupid mother *expletive deleted*ers.

No, those are usually the ones too busy frying eggs or digging ditches so they can pay for their diesel.  The ones rolling coal can't even get their family in the sack, so they settle for farm animals.

[MechAg94]

Tailgaters

Decades ago, when I was still in high school, there was an incident where a semi was tailgating a car with some teens in it, for no good reason, at night. With his high beams on.

Did you know when the person in the back seat suddenly turns around and shines the "million candlepower" beam from a Q-Beam spotlight in the semi driver's eyes, he tends to hit the brakes? 

Or so I heard.

I was driving on a very straight 4 lane highway one evening after dark.  I as on cruise control and a little car came up behind me and got so close I could no longer see his headlights behind my tail gate.  We were the only two cars in sight and he had a lane to pass.  I was afraid to hit the brakes not knowing if he would hit me.  I ended up flashing the brake lights and just letting off the gas.  He finally passed me when I got down to 45 after going 75.  I ended up passing him again but he didn't follow me again.  That car was so small it might have taken my hitch through the windshield. 

That was pretty unusual though.

[MechAg94]

You don't know what rolling coal is?

It's when dumbshit hicks who *expletive deleted* their cousins and/or siblings turn up the fuel pump on their diesel trucks to pump more fuel into the cylinder, which is not burnt properly, then it blows black smoke out the exhaust pipe. They think they are cool for doing it, but in reality, are stupid mother *expletive deleted*ers.

there are one or two of those down here.  Since the overpasses through town were completed, I don't have to worry about them. 

[Tallpine]

I was driving on a very straight 4 lane highway one evening after dark.  I as on cruise control and a little car came up behind me and got so close I could no longer see his headlights behind my tail gate.  We were the only two cars in sight and he had a lane to pass.  I was afraid to hit the brakes not knowing if he would hit me.  I ended up flashing the brake lights and just letting off the gas.  He finally passed me when I got down to 45 after going 75.  I ended up passing him again but he didn't follow me again.  That car was so small it might have taken my hitch through the windshield. 

I've actually pulled over on the shoulder to let people pass and they pull off the road behind me 

[sanglant]

^^^ You know how at airshows the planes have these oil injectors into the exhaust to create a smoke trail ...?  I've often wanted one of those on my vehicle - just push a button and send a smoke cloud into the tailgaters face 

Or more simply, I'm about ready to screw the gas mileage and travel in a big pickup again.  You want to tailgate, I tap the brakes and you have a trailer hitch through your radiator 

sulfer could be fun as well, and no pesky smoke causing legal trouble.

[erictank]

^^^ You know how at airshows the planes have these oil injectors into the exhaust to create a smoke trail ...?  I've often wanted one of those on my vehicle - just push a button and send a smoke cloud into the tailgaters face 

Or more simply, I'm about ready to screw the gas mileage and travel in a big pickup again.  You want to tailgate, I tap the brakes and you have a trailer hitch through your radiator 

Oooo, I get to haul out my favorite stock-issue Tailgate Discouragement Installed Device story! 

In the Navy, mid-90s (1994, IIRC), I bought my buddy's Dodge Daytona Pacifica. Nice little car. Peppy 2.2L turbo engine, sporty suspension, pretty nice cockpit gauge layout (including a trip computer, which I'd never seen before), and the nicest seats I've had before or since. Recaros. Being stationed in the Hampton Roads area of SE VA, I naturally encountered other young men on the roads and highways around the base and stores and malls. Being young men, the tendency to drive... aggressively... was strong. There was a *LOT* of tailgating, often for no better reason than "Just because," (either because one or more alternate lanes was open for passing, or because no one was going any faster ANYWHERE no matter what).

The shift lever on the manual transmission had a Reverse function I'd never seen before. You lift up on this little slip ring with the transmission in Neutral, and you can pull the lever all the way over to the left (*NOT* the right, which was weird), and push it up into Reverse. Well, with that ring pull up and the lever all the way over to the left, but not pushed up yet, the switch for the reverse lights is made up. Instant anti-tailgate mechanism - someone riding your bumper? Come off the gas, go to N and pull up on that ring, pull the shift lever hard left but to not push up. Reverse lights come on, and like magic, the tailgater instantly decides he'd rather be anywhere else in the WORLD than right on my bumper, *RFN*.

I've often thought I'd like to have that function again in my vehicles, over the years. Even just a manual switch to make them come on as needed, in situations like that.

[KD5NRH]

The shift lever on the manual transmission had a Reverse function I'd never seen before. You lift up on this little slip ring with the transmission in Neutral, and you can pull the lever all the way over to the left (*NOT* the right, which was weird), and push it up into Reverse. Well, with that ring pull up and the lever all the way over to the left, but not pushed up yet, the switch for the reverse lights is made up. Instant anti-tailgate mechanism - someone riding your bumper? Come off the gas, go to N and pull up on that ring, pull the shift lever hard left but to not push up. Reverse lights come on, and like magic, the tailgater instantly decides he'd rather be anywhere else in the WORLD than right on my bumper, *RFN*.

My Datsun 720 had an even better anti-tailgating feature on the shifter; a missing boot.  A handful of gravel, old AA batteries, or road-found lugnuts down the hole, and tailgaters disappear.  Bonus; I could stick the tire iron through the front U-joint when the parking brake was acting up.

[charby]

My Datsun 720 had an even better anti-tailgating feature on the shifter; a missing boot.  A handful of gravel, old AA batteries, or road-found lugnuts down the hole, and tailgaters disappear.  Bonus; I could stick the tire iron through the front U-joint when the parking brake was acting up.

All I can think of is

[Ben]

My Datsun 720 had an even better anti-tailgating feature on the shifter; a missing boot.  A handful of gravel, old AA batteries, or road-found lugnuts down the hole, and tailgaters disappear.  Bonus; I could stick the tire iron through the front U-joint when the parking brake was acting up.

Between that post and KD5NRH's old avatar, all I could think of was this:





http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0639620/?ref_=ttep_ep13

[KD5NRH]

Between that post and KD5NRH's old avatar, all I could think of was this:

Darn.  Couldn't even get one of the episodes with Julia Nickson in it.

[Ben]

Darn.  Couldn't even get one of the episodes with Julia Nickson in it.