OT Idiot lights-out drivers

[rbowman]

No, but if you're a soccer mom putting on your lipstick, you might hit it. The more lights the better was the rationale for the extra stop light.

[rbowman]

I've seen that a lot on the five lanes here. Someone sees a clear spot in the two lanes on their side and crosses them, hanging out in the suicide lane waiting for a break so they can merge in. As you say, there's no real definition. We have a lot of four way stops. Most drivers have figured out the etiquette and they work well. Conflicts in the suicide lanes don't occur regularly enough for there to be an etiquette.

I thought Grant or one of those had a fifth center lane that was westbound in the afternoon and eastbound in the morning.

[rbowman]

Some bike riders install aftermarket headlight modulators that sort of makes them warble, if that's a word to apply to a visual effect. That may be illegal in some jurisdictions and certainly isn't wide spread.

I don't know how effective they are. After having people pull out in front of me when I was driving a 13' 6" high, 65' vehicle with a bright red cab and the headlights on. I find it safer just to consider my fellow motorists as escapees from a sheltered workshop.

[Ed Pawlowski]

WTF does that have to do with closing speed? He never said anything about damage, but closing speed has a lot to do with time to evade an accident. I thought you were smarter than that Harry.

[rbowman]

I drove OTR for about 7 years in the '90s. In my case it was a Volvo White. Trust me when I say people can ignore 75,000 pounds of dried beans bearing down on them. They also have the quaint idea they can play chicken with a truck and win.

[clare]

Different safety requirements. Who is to say the USA is right???? Canadian safety standards tend to be higher than USA standards for many things. We are 2 different countries - with 2 different legal systems, 2 different sets of laws,

[rbowman]

She's better than most. You can make eye contact, or at least think you've made contact, and still be ignored. You're not a SUV, you're not a threat, so it just doesn't register.

[Muggles]

My husband did OTR for a while, and then drove locally for a while. He said a lot of people had that same quaint idea about playing chicken with trucks!

[Muggles]

I've come close to pulling out in front of a motor cycle at dusk time - right before people turn their headlights on.

[Mr Macaw]

But it's very childish/pedantic not to accept similar laws from another country.

[clare]

I never said the police officer was BEING ignorant - I said he WAS ignorant of how DRLs work. VERY different

Here in North America - either Canada or the USA, you also get a fine if you forget to put your lights on and get stopped. (or drive without seat belts) But here you can also be charged with operating an unsafe vehicle for driving on a bald tire or with defective lighting equipment. The officer MAY give you a "grace period" if it is not a commercial vehicle, but he doesn't have to. You are usually charged on the spot - with the priveledge of explaining in court why you should not be found guilty and why you should not be fined.

[clare]

Yes - but the sales tax will have been paid in any province except Alberta (and that will likely be changing real soon)

[rbowman]

Any vehicle I've had since my '62 Lincoln has had a little crank that caused the window to go up and down. The Lincoln was a great car until the gadgets started failing, leaving me with a dislike for power this and that.

[clare]

You seem to to have an opinion that everything done by the auto companies in Canada and the USA, and the laws controlling what is done are stupid, just because it's different than what is done in the UK. You have strong opinions not supportable by facts.

You are entitled to your opinions - but you have to be ready to be called on them when you keep spouting them off. You say you smell BS - I tell you where it is coming from.

You don't like it? Too bad...

[rbowman]

How absurd is it that I have two motorcycles that are only legal in 49 states? That doesn't mean I can't ride through California but I couldn't register them in the state.

[rbowman]

do you know how many vehicles cannot be imported into the US that are considered perfectly adequate in the rest of the world?

[clare]

They are hollogen bulbs, same as have been standard equipment on North American automobiles for over 30 years.

In the last 4 years and 33000km I have changed ONE tail light bulb on this vehicle.. In the 7 years we owned my wife's Mystique we never changed a headlight In the 12 years we owned the Chrysler before that I changed most of the sealed beam lamps once...

I've had good luck with headlights.

[Mr Macaw]

Those are the same thing. He doesn't know how DRLs work, so he is ignorant of that particular piece of knowledge.

Ouch, glad I don't live there. Here in the UK I was stopped for going 95mph in a 70mph limit, driving with half my exhaust missing, one bald tyre, one soft tyre, one tyre with a split in the side, and a non-functional handbrake. I got a "pink slip" to get the defects fixed in 2 weeks then stamped by a mechanic, and they forgot the speeding offence.

[Mr Macaw]

I wasn't referring to Canada and the USA, I was referring to the so called statistics about DRLs increasing safety, when it's bloody obvious they don't. Read this (DaDRL is a worldwide voluntary group of experienced motorists including Scientists, Engineers, Mathematicians, Lawyers and Ophthalmological experts who are supported by the leading Pedestrian, Cyclist and Motorcyclist organisations):

[clare]

When we are driving in real world conditions - not looking through the viefinder of a high end professional camera.

You say "shut up untill you have a clue" then tell me to "grow up" when I tell you the BS you smell is coming from your own posts.

3 words.

Pot

Kettle

Black