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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   3041 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 21, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I fall in a weird zone on how much I give a shit about cars/driving.

  • I give a lot of shits about driving. Driving is a coordination problem and one ought to:
    • Use only the leftmost lane for passing.
    • Not hog the left most lane. And move if a car is coming in faster, regardless of the fact if you are going at the limit or not.
    • Use the empty lanes to merge in instead of causing a traffic jam on the busy lane. You should not leave any part of the road unused! It's not "impolite" to cut in line, this is not a line !
    • Zipper merge.

Doing so, minimizes traffic and maximizes safety.

So you can understand how frsutrated I feel when driving, because a 100IQ average is simply not enough to expect the above to be the norm. But its mostly ignorance as well. Germany seems to pull it off.

I also don't care about what car I own. Speed limits ensure that I can't drive a fast car fast anyways... So might as well get the cheapest shitbox that gets me from point A to point B. The only reason I would get a good car is to not scare away the hoes.

I do love driving though. Not parking, not sitting in traffic, but driving. Fortunately for me I have a friend with a bunch of sports cars that I can borrow, so I get my fix for enjoyable driving when I really want to.

In short, I do love driving good cars, but don;t own one because I won't be able to use it the way its meant to be used for 99% of the time anyways.

Use the empty lanes to merge in instead of causing a traffic jam on the busy lane. You should not leave any part of the road unused! It's not "impolite" to cut in line, this is not a line !

Sometimes it is a line.

Here is an example. In this case, it got so bad that the city had to paint solid lines to prevent people from merging from all lanes, but imagine they were dotted instead to suit the example. The basic problem is: the bridge gets backed up - sometimes 30 minutes of traffic on either side to merge onto it. The right two lanes are "the line" for the bridge. The left lane is where you drive if you aren't getting on the bridge.

If everyone cooperates, you can have a clear left lane for the people who want to go straight, and traffic jammed right lanes for those that want to get on the bridge. However, if some of the bridge traffic defects and takes the left lane too to "not leave any part of the road unused", then merge right at the end, that screws over everyone who just wanted to go straight.

My thing is the coordination problem with lights turning green. Granted the issue is generally people on their phones, but even before that, I was really irritated by how long it takes a line of cars to start moving once the light changes. When it changes we could all start accelerating slightly and be on our way very quickly. Instead it's not uncommon for the last car in line to not even start moving before the light has turned red again, because each person waits for the person in front of them to get moving before they get around to it themselves.

Also reaction times in general.

And obliviousness to other traffic. Though that's at least as much of a problem in Costco. Why wouldn't you park your cart there? It's not like anyone else is in the store.

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