Where is the blind spot & how do you check it when crossing a bike lane?

Larger modern cars, especially SUV's, are far worse. Corolla was probably a good choice, but all modern cars have worse visibility. During the summer, when I regularly drive old cars (right now is a 1969 Impala), I can parallel park with ease. Up to the 90's, most cars still had good visibility... not as much now.

You make damn sure there is no bike in a position to hit you before you enter into the bike lane. The bike has the right of way over turning traffic.

I don't know what the view of that camera is, but new ones are far better. My 2023 is better than my 2018 that was better than my 2013. You do know why cameras were mandated don't you? Quite a few people backed over their kids playing behind the car was a big one.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that on average, 210 people are killed in backover accidents each year. More than 7,000 are injured annually. Approximately half of all people killed in backover accidents each year are children.

Next time you are in the neighborhood you can drive my car and it will change your mind.

Nope. The rear seats were folded down the day I picked the car up at the dealer's and that limits how far the passenger seat will recline. it's a hatchback that I treat like a very small pickup.

I either back in or if in a parking lot find an empty slot where I can pull through to the other side. The problem is when you drive a Toyota Yaris you need xray vision to see through the two massive pickups flanking you. I very gingerly ease the nose out. That's better than having to pull most of the car out to see anything.

I won't go into finding the car in a sea of pickups and SUVs. Putting a flag on the stubby little antenna wouldn't buy me anything.

It's part of natural selection, a way of eliminating children who play behind cars, so they won't have children who do the same thing.

My rental car in 2022 for 4 months, a Citroen, had a backup camera, and I liked the camera, but it turned off the radio sound. And sometimes I was in the middle of an important news story. So I'd have to wait to backup.

Do they all turn off the radio sound? I suppose the add-ons don't but I wanted the next car to have it as original equipment.

I did it today, and on the left side of the road. When I started to go back, I saw in the mirror that the guy who would be parked behind me was pulling out. So I waited and by the time I parked, the 3 spots behind me were all empty.

It was nice that there was available parking. There used to be none in this n'hood near Johns Hopkins University, but they took a wide street and put parking on both sides of the median, plus next to the curb, 4 lanes.

To pay, 50 cents for 30 minutes, up to 2 hours, you had to put in your license plate, but didn't need to put anything on the windshield.

I had to return my GPS to Amazon.

I was just down there last weekend.

I went to Washington's Birthplace and Jamestown.

The next day to Yorktown Battle Museum and Yorktown Battlefield (the car tour includes the most beautiful woods I've ever seen.)

The next day to the Virginia War Museum and the Norfolk Zoo.

Still a lot of things to see on some future trip.

I was reading two Car and Driver reviews last week and it mentioned that one of the cars had bad visibility. At first I didn't know what they meant... Doesn't it depend on what color the car is? But they meant what you mean. It might have been between a Mustang and a Camaro, but I forget which one had bad visibility.

I have angle or drive-in parking where I live and almost every place I go, and eve where it's parallel, at the curb, there's no one else parking so I just drive in and drive out in Forward. But I'm still pretty good at parallel. You don't have to follow all the instructions if you make it so your front right corner just misses the left rear corner of the car in front, and you're at the right angle. I think that is it.

My 2017 VW Jetta has OEM radio and backup camera. When I shift to reverse, the backup camera displays on the radio's LCD touch screen, but the radio keeps going unfazed.

If yours turns off the radio, then maybe they want you to concentrate when you backup. You might miss some car honking at you if your radio is deafeningly loud.

Use a Garmin pocket GPS to mark the spot before you walk away, and then use the GPS to find your way back to the car.

Or get a car alarm system with extra long range remote, so you can use your remote to make your car chirp and then follow the sound to find your car.

We still have a ferry which goes between Surry and Jamestown across the James River. I often take that when out for a leisurely motorcycle ride. Then of course there's the Colonial Parkway which goes from Jamestown through Williamsburg to Yorktown right along the James River and has some very picturesque scenery. Next time you're here make sure to see the Jamestown Settlement too. Busch Gardens amusement park is worth the price of admission.

Blame the federal regulations for making cars "safer". There's more metal and less glass now. Notice how the windows are shorter and the door panels are higher now?

Last three cars it just lowed the volume

I have done that when I'm out hiking, particularly in the desert where I park randomly and go off cross country. I had a green car that was easy to lose in the saguaros and mesquites. It would be overkill around here. The parking lots don't cover acres like I've seen in more populous areas.

I truly hate cars that chirp and beep cars as I walk by because someone has activated their remote.

I have fond memories of Jamestown Settlement. The persimmons were ripe. I'd never seen a persimmon tree before but immediately recognized the fruit laying on the ground.

Old Sturbridge Village is similar without as much history. I used to go there to get away from the 20th century.

Mine doesn't but it's not a bad idea. When backing a semi into a tight spot I learned to turn off the CB. The idiot chatter can be distracting.

Sorry. 50 cents an hour, up to 4 hours.

Well, I've been on the Staten Island ferry, but never with a car iirc. But I've been on the White's Ferry at Poolesville Md. The Potomac is much narrower there than the James River is. I see here that White's Ferry has been open since 1786, but it closed in 2020 "following a long-running dispute over the fery's Virgian landing site on Rockland Farms." You'd think that would have gotten settled in over 200 years. After the new owner, 3 counties offered 1.1 million dollars to buy 1.4 acres but the owner wouldn't sell, and t he ferry is scheduled to be scrapped.

That's a story in itself. Driving through small towns from Maryland Rte

Later on that day I took another part of the Parkway to Yorktown. It's very pretty with tall old trees growing almost right up to the road. I would guess the Parkway dates to the 50's when they were trying to emphasize the first 2 or 3 tourist things, the only ones that existed then?

I dind't know about that until after I'd left, but one cannot do everything in one 3-day weekend.

Good to know.

I went back on the Bay Bridge Tunnel which I had never seen before. Across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Two consecutive tunnels actually. 15 or 20 miles across the water with no place to stop (unless you have an emergency). (You know this stuff but not all the readers.)