Burn Headlights When Wipers are Engaged, Please.
I hate tractor trailers, big rigs, 18 wheelers, whatever you want to call them.
First of all, they are tall and block out the sun. Or sightlines, whichever.
Second of all, they can be extremely dangorous to cars in lanes beside them. Don't know if it's the lack of sleep, the alcohol, or the high winds, but it's scary passing next to one. And don't even get me started when you have to pass one and there is an extra high Jersey Wall right next to you. It's a terrifying moment when you're driving in a car that's only as tall as one of those 18 wheels.
And third, although this doesn't affect me as much, each tractor trailer driving on the highway produces as much stress on the road's surface as something like 900 (or was it 9ooo) cars.
But factor in the terrifying drive next to a tractor trailer with the fact it's raining really hard and the tires are spraying water on your windshield, it's almost enough to lose a nerve. BUT... if there is someone driving in your lane ahead of the big rig without their lights on, then BAM! you're in for a treat.
Today I got a chance to deal with this situation on the way back to school on PA 15.
I, for one, speed up as I approach an 18 wheeler in the lane beside me, especially when it is raining. My plan is to travel through the water blast as quickly as possible, for it isn't considered smart to chug along inside the blast. So as I am passing the back tires, I speed up to make it through the other side relatively unscathed before the road dips or turns while I am in the temporary blindness that is this water blast.
And wouldn't you know, as soon as I am about to clear this blast, I notice a faint object ahead of me. Is it a deer, a racoon, a cardboard box? Nope, it's a car without it's lights on.
I think there is a state law against this sort of monstrosity. Had this car been closer to the water blast I may have hit them. Not because I was speeding too fast to avoid collision (this isn't the case, I know how my car handles the water - not too well), but instead because some pre-occuppied yuppie decided it was more important to change the radio than to turn on their lights. And had this car been closer, and I had seen them, I would have been stuck in the one place I was trying to aviod, the water blast. Oh sure, I could have backed off, but had I done that I would never had known when this car left my lane for some more coffee.
The situation could have turned bad, but luckily this person was a decent ways away so I could continue through the water blast freely and emerge on the other side safely.
Further down the road, I saw more cars, trucks, and SUV's without lights on. It's raining hard, the sun isn't out, and other people have their lights on, how come these people don't?
Seriously, I believe there is a state law against this, the only problem is when the situation arises it's raining, and how many police officers would want to get out of their car to explain to these people their lights need to be on? I wouldn't, then I would be all wet and soggy when I get back to the car - and that would not make for a very pleasant rest of the day.
So please, when driving through rainstorms, please use common sense and turn your lights on, please.
And now, to this week's list, in the -ishy theme of questions:
1.Which is better: You are not. You're not. You aren't. or You'ren't. I personally like the last one, it sorta rolls off the tongue - in a southern sorta way.
2.Can you really be pulled over on a road that has a suggested speed limit? Apparently, a van was pulled over on an entrance ramp.
3.But since the road doesn't really have a speed limit, can I go as fast as I want? As long as I decelerate to the road's posted speed limit, shouldn't I be alright?
4.Speaking of suggested speed limits, should a Sharp Turn sign with a suggested speed limit of the road's posted limit really be there? Either the suggested speed limit sign should go, or the turn really isn't that sharp and the sharp turn sign can go and the suggested speed limit sign could be replaced with a 'Same Speed Idiot' sign.
5.Or is it in the best intrest in traffic flow? What that combination of signs is really saying then, is there is a sharp turn, but it really isn't sharp enough to warrent any application of the brake pedal, therefore keeping traffic flow at a constant rate.
6.Is this another PA bashing post? Nope, all these (minus the van pulled over on the entrance ramp) happened in MD. Our roads may be smooth, but the signs will confuse the hell out of you.
7.How come the only banks with branches in one county have 'national' in the title? Wishful thinking, or Napoleon complex?
8.How come speed limits always decrease at the bottom of hills? Either the laws of physics are scewed in a car, or brake mechanics and the road crews have made a deal.
9.Speaking of something fishy, do the Cardinal Points not apply to road crews also? Riddle me this, how can you make a left turn from 97 south to 32 south?
10.If I come to the stop bar at a 4 way stop sign, do I always have to wait for the car in front of me to go, then have 3 other cars go, thus making it my turn to go? Really? What if the person in front of me pulls in front of the stop bar to make his stop, thus allowing me the right of way to stop just behind the stop bar. Since I technically came to a complete stop behind the stop bar, shouldn't I really have the right to follow the car in front of me through the intersection instead of waiting for the three other suckers to go before continuing my journey?
11.Why didn't you just write that out in a seperate post? Yeah, probably should have done that. Oops.
12.What has he been doing with his time, I see no SimCity5 for sale... Apparently Will Wright is creating a game that will change the way games are made (or something to that effect. All I know is mathmeticians, like Bob (the racist) actually have a job that can affect people, unlike say, teaching.)
13 14.Can you really lose something that isn't there? 'Right Shoulder Closed Ahead' when really, there isn't any paved surface to the right of white line.
First of all, they are tall and block out the sun. Or sightlines, whichever.
Second of all, they can be extremely dangorous to cars in lanes beside them. Don't know if it's the lack of sleep, the alcohol, or the high winds, but it's scary passing next to one. And don't even get me started when you have to pass one and there is an extra high Jersey Wall right next to you. It's a terrifying moment when you're driving in a car that's only as tall as one of those 18 wheels.
And third, although this doesn't affect me as much, each tractor trailer driving on the highway produces as much stress on the road's surface as something like 900 (or was it 9ooo) cars.
But factor in the terrifying drive next to a tractor trailer with the fact it's raining really hard and the tires are spraying water on your windshield, it's almost enough to lose a nerve. BUT... if there is someone driving in your lane ahead of the big rig without their lights on, then BAM! you're in for a treat.
Today I got a chance to deal with this situation on the way back to school on PA 15.
I, for one, speed up as I approach an 18 wheeler in the lane beside me, especially when it is raining. My plan is to travel through the water blast as quickly as possible, for it isn't considered smart to chug along inside the blast. So as I am passing the back tires, I speed up to make it through the other side relatively unscathed before the road dips or turns while I am in the temporary blindness that is this water blast.
And wouldn't you know, as soon as I am about to clear this blast, I notice a faint object ahead of me. Is it a deer, a racoon, a cardboard box? Nope, it's a car without it's lights on.
I think there is a state law against this sort of monstrosity. Had this car been closer to the water blast I may have hit them. Not because I was speeding too fast to avoid collision (this isn't the case, I know how my car handles the water - not too well), but instead because some pre-occuppied yuppie decided it was more important to change the radio than to turn on their lights. And had this car been closer, and I had seen them, I would have been stuck in the one place I was trying to aviod, the water blast. Oh sure, I could have backed off, but had I done that I would never had known when this car left my lane for some more coffee.
The situation could have turned bad, but luckily this person was a decent ways away so I could continue through the water blast freely and emerge on the other side safely.
Further down the road, I saw more cars, trucks, and SUV's without lights on. It's raining hard, the sun isn't out, and other people have their lights on, how come these people don't?
Seriously, I believe there is a state law against this, the only problem is when the situation arises it's raining, and how many police officers would want to get out of their car to explain to these people their lights need to be on? I wouldn't, then I would be all wet and soggy when I get back to the car - and that would not make for a very pleasant rest of the day.
So please, when driving through rainstorms, please use common sense and turn your lights on, please.
And now, to this week's list, in the -ishy theme of questions:
1.Which is better: You are not. You're not. You aren't. or You'ren't. I personally like the last one, it sorta rolls off the tongue - in a southern sorta way.
2.Can you really be pulled over on a road that has a suggested speed limit? Apparently, a van was pulled over on an entrance ramp.
3.But since the road doesn't really have a speed limit, can I go as fast as I want? As long as I decelerate to the road's posted speed limit, shouldn't I be alright?
4.Speaking of suggested speed limits, should a Sharp Turn sign with a suggested speed limit of the road's posted limit really be there? Either the suggested speed limit sign should go, or the turn really isn't that sharp and the sharp turn sign can go and the suggested speed limit sign could be replaced with a 'Same Speed Idiot' sign.
5.Or is it in the best intrest in traffic flow? What that combination of signs is really saying then, is there is a sharp turn, but it really isn't sharp enough to warrent any application of the brake pedal, therefore keeping traffic flow at a constant rate.
6.Is this another PA bashing post? Nope, all these (minus the van pulled over on the entrance ramp) happened in MD. Our roads may be smooth, but the signs will confuse the hell out of you.
7.How come the only banks with branches in one county have 'national' in the title? Wishful thinking, or Napoleon complex?
8.How come speed limits always decrease at the bottom of hills? Either the laws of physics are scewed in a car, or brake mechanics and the road crews have made a deal.
9.Speaking of something fishy, do the Cardinal Points not apply to road crews also? Riddle me this, how can you make a left turn from 97 south to 32 south?
10.If I come to the stop bar at a 4 way stop sign, do I always have to wait for the car in front of me to go, then have 3 other cars go, thus making it my turn to go? Really? What if the person in front of me pulls in front of the stop bar to make his stop, thus allowing me the right of way to stop just behind the stop bar. Since I technically came to a complete stop behind the stop bar, shouldn't I really have the right to follow the car in front of me through the intersection instead of waiting for the three other suckers to go before continuing my journey?
11.Why didn't you just write that out in a seperate post? Yeah, probably should have done that. Oops.
12.What has he been doing with his time, I see no SimCity5 for sale... Apparently Will Wright is creating a game that will change the way games are made (or something to that effect. All I know is mathmeticians, like Bob (the racist) actually have a job that can affect people, unlike say, teaching.)
posted by Timchula at 15:22
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