Ok. Look people. When the light...

[Whiskeytide]

... at the intersection you are approaching is flashing red, that DOES NOT mean it's also flashing red for the traffic crossing in front of you! For them, it's probably flashing yellow, which means those vehicles should be driving cautiously and slowly, BUT NOT STOPPING!

Also, when you pull out in front of vehicles that have the right a way and almost cause a collision, it's bad form to yell and curse at the other drivers, and flip them the bird.

That is all.

[Buzz Clik]

1. In times of power failures or other disruptions, lights often flash red for everyone.

It's pretty tough to know what the color of the light is for the oncoming traffic.

I do agree, however, with paragraph 2. Bad form.

[Whiskeytide]

2. Agreed. And a power failure is what...

... I was dealing with this morning. Maybe I should have said "don't ASSUME" it's flashing red both ways.

Anyway, got my blood going. I suppose that's good for me.

[Buzz Clik]

5. Yeah, getting flipped off by someone who just broke a handful of traffic laws is hard to take.

Luckily no dents, no broken glass, and the only thing to talk about is bad behavior.

Props to you for being alert enough to avoid the accident!

[valerief]

3. And when you're tailgating someone and that car pulls over for

you to pass them (to prevent you from slamming into them at some point), it's bad form to beep angrily at them and flip them the bird.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. That Happens To Me ALL(!) The Time

I'm more interested in getting good mileage than i am in getting somewhere 1 or 3 or 5 minutes faster. So, i NEVER exceed the speed limit, but i definitely set my cruise right at the speed limit, and i accelerate slowly.

I can't tell you how many times i've had somebody driving in my trunk and when i finally turn, it's honk, honk, FU.

The temerity of someone (me) who thinks it's ok to go 55 mph in a 55 mph zone!

[upaloopa]

7. If you are driving in the left land of a two lane

hwy with your cruise set at 55 you deserve the bird. In CA doing that is against the law if 5 or more cars are piled up behind you.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Did I Say That?

No, i did not.

[LanternWaste]

18. It's fun to pretend we know who deserves what...

It's fun to pretend we know who deserves what. As long as we recognize it's little more than pretense...

[tech3149]

9. I also want to get the best mileage possible but,

adhering to a speed limit doesn't get you there. I can and do exceed the mileage listed for any vehicle I drive by using physics and driving skills that put me well above any posted speed limits and are far safer than any pedestrian driver.
My average speed may not be much better than adhering to some imaginary and arbitrary speed limit but I can easily save 30% while exceeding those limits and not affect the safety of others by a strict adherence to the philosophy of situational awareness.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. We Will Agree To Disagree

My car's gearing is such that the mileage max's out at around 56 mph.

[tech3149]

14. You may agree to disagree but I do not

Your reference to 56Mph is not so much related to gearing and efficiency as to aerodynamic load for most conventional designs. While exceeding that balance point might negatively impact performance it is a small percentage of the gains from avoiding a shift to a lower gear ratio to deal with grades that will require downshifts that will severely impact fuel consumption to maintain enough speed to even keep up to the speed limit.
I may be a bit out of the loop because the newest vehicle I own is 1998 vintage and manual everything but I have been in those newer vehicles with all the bells and whistles of monitoring and display of performance.
My driving style even with a less experienced driver could return at least 20% improvement on mileage.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Well I Crosscheck My Mileage Regularly, Against. . .

. . .what the mileage computer says. I generally agree to within a couple tenths of an MPG.

And, when i set the cruise where i set it, the instantaneous mileage setting almost always maxxes out at just under 40. At sixty, it's almost always lower and at 50, it's a little bit lower.

Since i'm averaging nearly 32 mpg, and i'm not doing any hypermiler stuff, i'm going to stick with my plan.

[tech3149]

19. No Problem! enjoy what you do and feel comfortable in that.

When I can get 48 mpg on a vehicle that's rated at 37, I don't think I'm doing too bad either.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

20. I very much hope you get caught and your license is taken away. N.T.

[tech3149]

22. Thanks for you concern

Guess what? I'm probably the safest driver you would ever encounter and I don't have a valid drivers license. That was revoked years ago based on a BS medical reporting requirement. I'd fight it and try to restore my privileges but how many thousands of $ should I pay to contest a revocation?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

24. I suppose it's too much to hope that you're trolling?

If so, you're doing it far more imaginatively and successfully than most.

[tech3149]

32. Sorry, no trolling here

What I say is what it is.

[Whiskeytide]

28. I'm not trying to be judgmental....

... but that post concerns me, tech3149.

1. You admit frequently driving substantially in excess of the speed limit - limits which are set based upon a general idea of what the safe speed is for a particular road. That's not based on an individual driver's skill, but on the expected interactions and behavior of ALL drivers that might be on that roadway. What that means is that if you are going 15 to 20 mph over the speed limit, and a vehicle pulls out in front of you based upon their expectation that you are traveling close to the posted speed (and we make such internal, experienced based calculations dozens of times when we drive, sometimes simultaneously and more often than not sub-consciously), you are going to plow that car and someone is likely to get hurt.

2. Then you admit that you do not have a driver's license because of a medical reporting condition that, again, based upon general population statistics, is deemed to impair your driving abilities. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Maybe you only think it doesn't. But in any event, you will be deemed at fault for almost any accident you're in - trust me on this. Maybe not in "every" case, and perhaps you've escaped fault in an accident in the past and it's given you a false sense of invulnerability - but a speeding, unlicensed driver with a medical condition that impairs driving skills sufficiently that the state has seen fit to revoke...? Give me that defendant in a lawsuit every time.

3. And, perhaps most importantly, the fact that you're unlicensed and driving while revoked means you do not have liability insurance, or even if you do, the carrier will deny coverage for any accident you're in because, well - you're an unlicensed driver and insurers tend to frown on that. That means that if the unthinkable happens, and you DO cause an accident (and it probably will eventually - even thought you're really, really good, and you're really, really careful), you're going to leave some injured driver or passenger swinging in the wind. And in most states, liability insurance is mandatory - which means you're actually violating the law there as well. The fines for that, coupled by a potential judgment against you personally for any damage you might cause, is likely to greatly exceed whatever amount you might spend restoring your license.

Please reconsider what you're doing. It's not just you on the road. We all sometimes exceed the speed limit by 5 to 7 mph (I do often), but what you're describing is way too close to the edge of reasonable behavior. I really fear one day it's going to bite you. Maybe you're pulling our legs and I'm not getting the joke - but if not, you really need to think about what you're doing.

[tech3149]

33. I'll try and focus my functioning brain cells to respond to your points

With regard to #1
I pride myself on situational awareness and that attitude promotes developing my skill to the point that the failures of others are something I expect and plan for. There is virtually nothing that can cross my path that I haven't identified long before it could be a hazard to my safety. That is a skill set that any pedestrian driver could and should be capable of achieving.
I expect that everyone I see on the road is a threat and my decades of experience have shown me that driving skills or the understanding of the risk involved has deteriorated drastically. Even people I know and love drive me to distraction for their lack of attention to the job at hand when behind the wheel.
I have been able to avoid harm in many situations over the years. I never felt that it made me some infallible being. You might be able to qualify it as luck and that may be right. I wouldn't discount my love of driving and developing my skills as being inconsequential.
#2 The revocation of my DL was based on a single incident that was mandated to be reported by health care professionals under penalty of law that put them at risk should anything that I did could have been avoided. They had no choice and the bureaucracy of state government left me one of two options. Either spend thousands of dollars I do not have to restore my privilege or play the odds and bet on my skills to keep driving without legal sanction.
The better bet was to rely on my skills and tell the government to piss off.
#3 You are correct, I have no liability coverage that does not come from my own wallet. You know what? That scares me almost as much as those other fools out on the road. Those fears influence everything I do. I understand the risk I take and only do it based on a risk/benefit analysis.
I would gladly reconsider my choice and be a legal driver but there is pretty much zero chance of that being possible.

[Tipperary]

15. I hate tail gaters and I completely agree with you.

I pull over the second I see someone on my tail. I just don't get it at all. Usually then, they roar on by and I pull up to them at the next stoplight. Why don't they realize how stupid it is?

[valerief]

23. Mmm, because they're stupid?

[Tipperary]

25. Sometimes I wave at them at the stop light.

But that level of stupid probably does not even get what I'm saying lol!

[valerief]

26. I'm afraid of being shot at. You're braver than me. nt

[Tipperary]

27. I don't do it as much as I used too. I feel the same way.

Sometimes my inner asshat gets the better of me however.

[MineralMan]

6. Not in Minnesota.

Flashing red signals mean that the intersection should be treated as a four-way stop. Every state's traffic laws are different. Drivers should understand how their state handles this.

If you're traveling through a state that is not where you live, the laws there may differ from your own. Use common sense and caution at all times.

[Whiskeytide]

16. You're right MM, and if my light...

... had been flashing red as well, it certainly would have been a 4 way stop. But I was on a 5 lane primary street, and the gentleman with the expertise in hand signaling was coming out of a side street.

He pulled out in front of me from the right and then stopped. I was only going about 20, so I stopped easily enough (although in the dead center of the intersection). He the did a series of stop and go jerks as he fouled traffic in the three other travel lanes. It was these drivers he seemed to most want to communicate with. Then he shot across the last lane when he was blinded by a stopped vehicle - causing another vehicle to slide - horn blowing. And between the two of them, suddenly "Hand Jive" was playing on my head.

Oh well. Someone up thread said to be thankful no one was hurt, and I suppose that's the right mind set. However, I do practice some personal injury law, so I guess I should appreciate his endeavor to create some clients for me.

[fishwax]

29. it should be treated as a stop sign, but not necessarily a four-way stop sign

[admonish]

8. proper execution

since you can't see what the lights are doing outside of your lane...the intersection should be treated as a 4 way...everybody stops and then takes turns...and yes..road rage is useless

[ProdigalJunkMail]

21. that is not true in GA

flashing red = stop
flashing yellow = proceed with caution

you are responsible for doing the right thing. if someone runs the flashing red and you hit them from a flashing yellow, the red will get the citation... but hopefully you're going slowly enogh that there isn't too much damage.

sP

[Nye Bevan]

12. Roundabouts are so much better.

Safer and more efficient. Just saying.

[kentauros]

30. I get lost in roundabouts.

I find them far less safe, at least for me, and probably less safe the other drivers as I get disoriented as to which road is mine to take.

Just saying

[Maedhros]

13. While we're ranting: BICYCLISTS! YES, YOU! STAY OFF THE SIDEWALK!

And ride with traffic, not against it.

Riding against traffic on the sidewalk? You're going to cause injury to yourself or a pedestrian, so don't even think it.

[B Calm]

31. Some are afraid to ride with traffic, can you blame them?

I'm pedaling down the highway I want to see the car that's about to run over me.