Do people switch off their brains when driving?

[ericschand]

Today, Sunday, I had to go from the NW (Hawkwood) down to Spruce
Meadows.

On the way down Crowchild, I'm driving along, when a minivan right
next to me starts moving over into my lane. I think for a second that
they're merely drifting, but nope, they want my lane. No signal, just
started moving over. So I lean on the horn, and they swerve back.

We end up at the 24th lights at McMahon, me in front, lady/minivan
behind me. She's waving her fist at me, and I could see she's yelling.
At me. Maybe it's because I warned her with my horn, thus avoiding
an accident? Where did her brain go?

On the way back, from 14th SW to get onto Glenmore, it goes from
2 lanes to 1, with reasonable warning. This huge pickup is right behind
me. I signal, left lane guy backs off, and I slide in. Thank you. This
guy though slows down to let the truck in too, as the 2nd lane is very
close to the end. However, Mr. Pickup decides he's going to race ahead.

Well, I know what's coming, and sure enough, he get right to the end
of the lane, and cuts right in, no brakes until he hits the left lane.
I'm already on my brakes, so no big deal, but the 2 cars in front are
slamming their brakes. It wasn't completely slick out there, but it wasn't
nice either.

Where did Mr. Pickup's brain go? All that, plus nearly creating a good
accident, over 2 car lengths, maybe a couple of seconds of driving?

Later, on Crowchild, some guy gets up behind who is all over the place.
Lane hopping, back and forth, not really making any progress. I can't
count the number of times he cut people off, only to be slowed down
in the lane he chose, and then cut more people off. Used all 4 lanes
in the one stretch. From McMahon Stadium to Sarcee Trail, he
went from a couple of cars behind me, all the way to one car ahead.
Where did his brain go? All that for saving maybe one or two seconds.
The couple of times he was behind me, I couldn't even see his headlights,
and I drive a small car.

On top of those, there were left turns from middle lanes, right turn
at the light instead of follwing the off-ramp (14th and Anderson),
I'm doing 90km/h and people going by me at least 30km/h over that
on 14th SW and MacLeod Trail, and others going well above 60km/h
through a construction zone with construction workers along the
edge, one of them holding a "slow" sign (does that humungous truck,
that hauls tons of rock, moving not give you an idea who will lose
any battle with it that you care to initiate? "right of weight")

Where have all the brains gone?

ers

[Dion]

Calgary drivers are always in a hurry to get somewhere fast.

They don't know how to use a turn signal.

They don't like to let other people merge in.

Want to make a lane change? The other driver speeds up so you can't change lanes.

If your doing the speed limit on Deerfoot you get homks and rude gestures from drivers for going too slow.

First snow fall driver forget how to drive and smash into each other.

I could go on.

[TurnedTheCorner]

I used to get much more upset when I was behind the whell - and don't get me wrong, I still curse out drivers and the like - but my aggressive driving habits are all but gone. My mentality has changed from "Why is everyone in my way, don't they know I have places to be?" to "Let's just work together to get where we're going in one piece."

[Jayems]

I don't know why the city insists on installing traffic circles... WTF is so hard to figure out about it? No one ever knows who has the right of way, or they just decide to go anyway.

I have been a staunch supporter that calgary drivers are terrible terrible drivers. No one has any idea. The 'thank you' wave is non-existant, people cut you off and then give you the finger... The baby on board mini-vans drive like they've just stolen the car... and have their kids in the front seat...

Anyway, I could rant all day about this.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Traffic circles are confusing when you never see them. C'mon, you're talking about a group of drivers who has great difficulty with 4 way stops...that's where you stop once, let one car pass, then close your eyes and stomp on the gas, right?

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

Traffic circles are confusing when you never see them. C'mon, you're talking about a group of drivers who has great difficulty with 4 way stops...that's where you stop once, let one car pass, then close your eyes and stomp on the gas, right?

Damn, you mean SUV's don't have the right of way 100% of the time? Thats why I keep getting nearly smoked by them...

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Jayems

Damn, you mean SUV's don't have the right of way 100% of the time? Thats why I keep getting nearly smoked by them...

This is an issue in any city. People in SUVs feel invincible, and so they drive like morons, expecting the rest of us to just get out of their way. If only they knew that SUVs are actually far more dangerous.... I can't stand those things--especially the ones that are nine feet wide and as tall as a double-decker bus. Sometimes I wonder if the reason they cut me off is because they actually can't see me from way up there. Like you--I could rant about this all day.

The sad thing is, my dad drives one.

[pope04]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

Traffic circles are confusing

So few people seem to know this traffic circle commandment:

Traffic entering into the circle must yield to traffic already in the circle.

Last year, I had to travel through a series of new traffic circles in Signal Hill to get my kids to school. It was an adventure, to say the least.

[Ford Prefect]

I lived in Calgary for 20 years, and fled about six years ago, partly to escape the maniacal drivers. An incident about two weeks before we moved involving my wife epitomized the problem. She had an encounter with a guy in a truck who cut her off much like the lady in the mini van cut off ericshand. She also honked her horn to alert him. At the next set of lights he stopped beside her and starts yelling f-bomb laced obscenties at her and telling her to get off the f'ing road. Nice, especially with our then six-year-old son in the vehicle with my wife. In Drumheller, where we moved to, this incident would never occur. It's not because Drumhellians are nicer people or anything. It has more to do with personal accountability. In a small town like Drum, if you act like a complete jerkoff, people know who you are and word gets around. In Calgary, anonimity removes the neccessity for people to be accountable for their behaviour. If you act like a jerkoff in public, so what. The odds of anybody knowing who you are are pretty slim. Calgary is great city, as far as cities go. It's not necessarily the best place to live though.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by pope04

So few people seem to know this traffic circle commandment:

Traffic entering into the circle must yield to traffic already in the circle.

Last year, I had to travel through a series of new traffic circles in Signal Hill to get my kids to school. It was an adventure, to say the least.

I know the ones you're talking of..

I know I trash people who can't drive in them, but its partly the fault of the size of them...

People don't understand that (in a situation where 2 people stop at the same time) unlike a 4-way-stop, the person who stops first does not have the right of way.. its always the person who would have the right of way if they were in the circle...

Problem is, that some of the circles (suchs as those new ones behind west hills, and the one by my house) are so tiny that people either don't have time to indicate their intentions or leave their indicator on for too long and fool others. Then, people have no idea who goes first, and it always seems that the person in front of you (who you know full well has right of way) decides to improperly give way to the wrong person who just happen to be coming off the highway, and now everyone and their dog is going and getting the wrong message that they always have the right of way...

bah!

Drives me craaaaaazy!!!!

The new one in Valley Ridge is a prime example... if you come off east bound #1 and go under the bridge, when you get to the circle, there are 2 entrances. Yours and the traffic coming from Westbound #1. They are 2 feet from one another... East bound guys have right of way... but west bound guys ALWAYS go.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Jayems

Problem is, that some of the circles (suchs as those new ones behind west hills, and the one by my house) are so tiny that people either don't have time to indicate their intentions or leave their indicator on for too long and fool others.

I live by the Westhills ones and you're completely right. They're small and people have no idea how to deal with them. I'd say 90% of people just don't signal there at all and it ****es me off every time.

[Ironhorse]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Half of Calgary's driving population would absolutely get murdered driving on European roads. I would love to send the worst of them on a little driving adventure in France or Germany...

[tussery]

Originally Posted by ericschand

Do people switch off their brains when driving?

Simple answer: Yes.

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

This is an issue in any city. People in SUVs feel invincible, and so they drive like morons, expecting the rest of us to just get out of their way.

I drive a lifted Wrangler and know first hand about how unsafe tall short wheelbase vehicles are and have learned my lesson without injuring anyone or damaging anything else other than my Jeep and since I have become very cautious driving. Now I am trying to see if I can get something safer to drive on the street.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by tussery

Simple answer: No.


I drive a lifted Wrangler and know first hand about how unsafe tall short wheelbase vehicles are and have learned my lesson without injuring anyone or damaging anything else other than my Jeep and since I have become very cautious driving. Now I am trying to see if I can get something safer to drive on the street.

I see you're in corpus, and I have no idea if you've been to Calgary in the winter or not, so I mean no offence.

Problem here is that during the winter time, people in SUV's drive LIKE MAD in terrible winter conditions that end up causing chaos for them and those around them. Fortunately, they usually blow by going 120km/hr on the deerfoot in a white out/black ice induced skating rink and nothing happens to them or the others... you just shake your head and say "you ****ing idiot"

But every snowstorm, there is a handful of these idiots that get into bad accidents because they think they're invincible...

It would seem no one here has any idea how to drive safely or cautiously... well, obviously there are, but there sure are a lot who don't care because it happens every day on the roads when i'm driving to college or just around.

(excuse my spelling, im tired and don't care).

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Jayems

I see you're in corpus, and I have no idea if you've been to Calgary in the winter or not, so I mean no offence.

Problem here is that during the winter time, people in SUV's drive LIKE MAD in terrible winter conditions that end up causing chaos for them and those around them. Fortunately, they usually blow by going 120km/hr on the deerfoot in a white out/black ice induced skating rink and nothing happens to them or the others... you just shake your head and say "you ****ing idiot"

But every snowstorm, there is a handful of these idiots that get into bad accidents because they think they're invincible...

It would seem no one here has any idea how to drive safely or cautiously... well, obviously there are, but there sure are a lot who don't care because it happens every day on the roads when i'm driving to college or just around.

(excuse my spelling, im tired and don't care).

I happen to drive a SUV and don't drive like the rest of those drivers. I also know i'm in the minority as I see what you talk about often.

[Thunderball]

I really have no idea why drivers in Calgary are so bad. Its not like driver training is really lax... at least it wasn't with AMA, when I took it years ago.

Speeding is really not that big of a deal though, I think people need to relax a little about someone doing 110-120 on Deerfoot in good conditions... I mean, there's a lot of morons out there that do it in the snow, and tailgate people doing over the limit, or do 160, and that's crap. European roads have much more liberal speed limits, and they seem to do alright... I think here in Calgary, speed limits = opportunity to fundraise on tickets, moreso than safety. There's a few places (Glenmore in the industrial area) where the speed limit is too high... but there's a lot more where it isn't.

A lot of the refusal to let people in, I think, is really a reflection of our bad road system. People understandably lose patience in gridlock, and that needs to be addressed by new roads, and building these new roads right the first time, so we don't need to gut roads later and cause chaos. People wait and wait, and then some jerk tries to cut in from the lane that ends, and I think a lot of people simply refuse to let them in, and its hard to fault them. Either, there's a gap and you take it, or there isn't and you wait... people need to learn the difference.

I really hate when people think that just because their signal is on, people in other lanes have to stop and let them in. My most loathed scenario is doing 70-75 on 14th, and having absolutely no one behind me, and some clown doing 60-65 thinking they can just slide on in, cause they and their minivan own the road. Of course they aren't being let in... they're impeding the flow of traffic by being under the limit, let alone flow arguments, and there's ample room behind. Drivers need to think and be aware... and that doesn't happen.

I love traffic circles, they're very efficient and easy. People here need to learn to drive... and learn to plan their trips... and when its cold... take care of your car and easy tip... don't let your gas tank get under 1/4 tank... fuel lines can freeze when that happens.... I couldn't believe all the stalls this last week... simply stunning.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Half of Calgary's driving population would absolutely get murdered driving on European roads. I would love to send the worst of them on a little driving adventure in France or Germany...

Most drivers in Northern North America lack the knowledge and skill to drive an automobile and it is a largely due to the poor driver education systems and the low testing standards. The driver education system leaves a lot to be desired, they don't properly educate the driver nor do they teach them basic skills. Point and case in the fact that probably less than 5% of the licensed population know how to navigate a roundabout, or traffic circle, and worse yet less than 1% know that there is a difference between a them! My dad learnt how to drive in England and when he did his road test in Calgary he only drove a block before the examiner told him that he clearly knew how to drive and to head back to the parking lot as he had passed the exam. Students over here need more hours in class actually learning how to drive, and in the car learning basic and advanced skills. I'd say students need at least 50 hours split between in-class and in-car training. Yeah it would be a pain in the ass and an expensive one at that but it would help save lives and increase the efficiency of our roads.

[FlamingLonghorn]

Originally Posted by Addick

Most drivers in Northern North America lack the knowledge and skill to drive an automobile and it is a largely due to the poor driver education systems and the low testing standards. The driver education system leaves a lot to be desired, they don't properly educate the driver nor do they teach them basic skills. Point and case in the fact that probably less than 5% of the licensed population know how to navigate a roundabout, or traffic circle, and worse yet less than 1% know that there is a difference between a them! My dad learnt how to drive in England and when he did his road test in Calgary he only drove a block before the examiner told him that he clearly knew how to drive and to head back to the parking lot as he had passed the exam. Students over here need more hours in class actually learning how to drive, and in the car learning basic and advanced skills. I'd say students need at least 50 hours split between in-class and in-car training. Yeah it would be a pain in the ass and an expensive one at that but it would help save lives and increase the efficiency of our roads.

I agree. I live in Austin, Tx which has had a population and growth boom much like Calgary and the people here just don't know how to drive. People here think that New Yorkers are bad drivers. It's far from the truth it's just they get up there and don't know what they are doing and they think everyone else is the problem. New York (at least the city and Long Island) has a tiered licensing system based on age and has much more rigorous tests than here and driving up there is like being in heaven compared to this crap. Oh and the one day every two years we get ice theres about 5000 accidents because people are morons.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by Sowa

I agree. I live in Austin, Tx which has had a population and growth boom much like Calgary and the people here just don't know how to drive. People here think that New Yorkers are bad drivers. It's far from the truth it's just they get up there and don't know what they are doing and they think everyone else is the problem. New York (at least the city and Long Island) has a tiered licensing system based on age and has much more rigorous tests than here and driving up there is like being in heaven compared to this crap. Oh and the one day every two years we get ice theres about 5000 accidents because people are morons.

eheh,

I always seem to chuckle when I read or see on the news that "Dallas, TX got some ice today, 1,000's of accidents and peoplea are being told to stay home"

always get a chuckle, but thats abnormal weather, so its somewhat understandable..

[llama64]

I can't wait till I can move out of the 'burbs and into a decent place somewhere in the inner core. The day I can stop driving everywhere will be a great day in deed. Seriously, driving around Calgary these days is a nightmare.

I tend to stay well away from SUV's and any pickup truck. Seems to me that the trucks are the worst offenders on the road. They accellerate way to fast for their size and tend to be driven by revved up 20 year old single guys who think its fun to swerved around slower moving traffic (read, going the speed limit). Way too many close calls for me regarding trucks.