It's a bit different here... One thing that's different is that when you put your left turn signal on, we gringos think you're going to turn left, but Mexican driving law says that's a signal to drivers behind you that it's safe to pass..
Makes it really interesting sometimes when you're slowing for a left turn off the highway.. lol
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
ahh... Texas drivers... I remember getting warned by my brother-in-law on my first visit to him in Dallas that "Texans don't drive well in the elements, and air is an element"..
Spending most of my life driving in "a sign for everything" Calif., I had a little trouble getting used to lanes ending in TX without merge signs and a line of cars that were NOT going to let you in...and most of those drivers probably were armed..
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
I like the one that says "Don't bother me, I'm busy reloading"..
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
Statistically, there are damn few "Texas drivers" in Texas ... except for the armed ones, most are transplants from the North East, Florida, and California, and points South.
That's why the armed ones are armed. :)
It used to be that Texas drivers were quite courteous and in many places they still are. It's where the cultures get blended in that the variations of driving techniques gets added. As for not letting some in on a long line, typically in Houston you have been setting in line for 5-15 minutes to take an exit ramp in rush hour traffic and you get those "special" drivers that feel that they are entitled to cut in at the front for the line, and of course they tie up traffic in their lane.
Bad idea. Very bad. You DON'T want to disable emergency calls, under any circumstances.
So prosecute people, or sue them, as applicable, when their irresponsible use of cell phones causes damage or injury.
You said a mouthful. There are VERY few Canadian drivers in GTA (Greater Toronto Area.). Hence the joke (and you may insert your own choice of ethnicity here): "How do you blind a Belgian?" (this is the one they use in Holland) Answer: "You put a windshield in front of their eyes."
I know, I know... that was bad...I don't make 'm up, I just tell 'm.
Q: How do you make a Venetian blind?" A: "By poking one in the eyes."
Q: " What's a Grecian urn?" A: " U*sually minimum wage plus tips."
*barumpbump-crash*...somebody stop me....
NZ special: you're going down a windy highway with the odd bit of straight. (There are few straight straight highways in this country). And going along in front of you is a heavily laden truck and trailer cattle truck, or a logging truck (brings us half way back on topic), or a Japanese tourist in a 'camper van' (basically a very small Winnebago) - which is fair enough, only they're being tail-gated by half a dozen little old ladies (of either gender) who have no fscking intention to overtake, ever, yet they all tailgate the slowpoke and each other. So you're looking at trying to overtake 50 - 100m of slowpokes with nary a chance to cut in should something come hurtling around the corner from the other direction, on roads that are mostly windy. Fun. Not a matter of a single light-change, but often a matter of 15 - 25 km before you can get past the bozos. And that often only because I drive a 200-ish hp Volvo that accelerates like a bat out of hell... Yeah, I like to hit the speedlimit from time to time. I don't go over much, because it's too expensive, but I hate sitting there at 70km/h for 20 minutes even when I don't have to be some place at a set hour.
By the same token, we now have an up-and-coming generation of teenage 'boy- racers' whose favourite trick, lately, seems to be to hit the accelerator the minute they see a cop cruiser with flashing lights (because they're afraid they'll get the car impounded or the license revoked or told off for having passengers they're not supposed to have on a limited license or because the car is stolen anyways) and so they go and pile into a bridge some place or hurtle over a cliff or whatever. We seem to have about 1 or 2 of these a month at the moment, in a country of 4 million. I can't feel too sorry for the idiots - as someone said: Darwin's Law in action. But they tend to have passengers ... and there's other people on that road.
-P.
Perhaps the operative word is "moving". I suspect that an emergency call from a moving car, especially one made by the driver, is even more dangerous to other parties on the road than one of the "Whatcadoing? I'm bored." variety.
If the phone call is important, why not pull off the road at a safe spot, stop the car, and make the call safely.
I've found that when I'm driving, even phone calls made by other passengers are distracting.
Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
On Sep 25, 12:41 pm, Tom Veatch wrote: .
My bet would be that the bulk of those emergency calls would, by default, be made from the side of the road.
Yessir. On my way back from my daughter's wedding, last Saturnday night my other two sweet daughters both flipped open their cell-phones and set the entire backseat aglow in fluorescent blue light... As we were on a dark country road, that startled me. Them little suckers really light up! If they're talking on them in the day-time, and I'm driving...that doesn't bother me so much.
Because if it is truly an emergency there may not be a safe stop and stopping at the time the emergency is in progress may be the most unsafe action you can possibly take, maybe???
It's a two-edged sword--the casual usage is bad, but there are valid reasons for not disabling the facility entirely.
--
"J. Clarke" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com:
Actually the multiple calls in to the 911 switchboard do "jam" it with repeated reports of traffic accidents where none of the passerbys stop to see if there are injuries, medical emergencies, entrapment, or other serious conditions that you just can't tell by cruising by at 65 mph. So, yes, cell phones can be a lifesaver but also can be an impediment to efficient dispatch of emergency services.
Jerry
Peter Huebner wrote: ...
But there's nothing unique in any of that (or any of the other "special" places or actions to NZ or any other place where there are moving vehicles on public thoroughfares.
--
OK, fine, don't jam 911.
But the jamming of all 911 isn't an ideal solution, either...
As said, it's a mixed blessing as is virtually any technology.
--
Just got back from Ireland, where they have those same roundabouts. Even the Irish don't like them. But, with my sense of humor, I decided that they have an advantage in that you don't have to commit to an exit until you are good and ready ... once in the circle, you have right of way so you can just keep circling until you see an exit you like.
And circling and circling.
'U' turns are a piece of cake. I got plenty of practice, too.
It took me three hours to get from Shannon airport to my hotel in Limerick -- a 20 minute drive. That is WITH a map and three stops for assistance from humans -- the first of whom should have simply told me to turn back around and look to my left at the bridge coming into town. That would have done it.
Bill
"J. Clarke" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com:
*trim*
Actually, keeping only 911 open could be a bad thing too. Let's say your passenger has a special medical condition and starts acting up. If you call 911, you might get someone who's only able to operate the switchboard and read first reponse cards. However, if you call their doctor (yes, special cases are indeed special) you can get instructions on what to do.
Before you respond with how unlikely it is, remember that 1 in 1,000,000 means that it should happen once. Godwin's law is a Usenet specific example of this.
Puckdropper
The ideal solution is for God to alter the human race so that nobody natters on a cell phone while driving unless they have a bonafide emergency to report. But that's not gonna happen so we do the best we can with what we've got.
Then there's the folks who have no idea where on the road they actually are and don't realize that had they stopped at the scene we'd have a valid location. Not a lot of good when they're five miles down the road and clueless on landmarks. Snowmobilers were another pet peeve. We'd pull the sled in five-six miles before we found the accident, when we could have accessed it from a half mile if they'd had some idea where the were.
Not that dispatchers are blameless. I've had mine delay sending us because they weren't sure we were the responsible agency or the closest to the call. Turf!
It's a lot better than it was in the analog days where you just got a tower as a position on your console. Drove up and down a lot of empty highway because for some reason the tower farther away captured the call.
Bluetooth is a good idea. I use it rather than the radio to talk to the hospital, because I can keep both hands on the wheel.
[[.. munch ..]]
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.