You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[81MC]

Ah the ole ‘Im a great driver so physics don’t apply and anyone who does anything unexpected in a residential area is going to bare witness to my incredible science defying ability to stop or perform evasive maneuvers on ice’ argument.

It’s a residential road. Covered in ice. You’re not the stig, and you’re not clairvoyant. #### happens.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by GGG

Learn physics.

How much does your emergency stopping distance change due to the conditions?

Do you even winter tires, bro?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Ah the ole ‘Im a great driver so physics don’t apply and anyone who does anything unexpected in a residential area is going to bare witness to my incredible science defying ability to stop or perform evasive maneuvers on ice’ argument.

It’s a residential road. Covered in ice. You’re not the stig, and you’re not clairvoyant. #### happens.

Not stig. Just a competent driver who can safely drive 50kmph.

[btimbit]

I do have a "I am the stig" t-shirt, does that count?

[DoubleF]

Oh, remember when we argued whether to allow the fuel tank to get to empty? I remember another reason my AMA instruction said why not to let the tank get below empty. The extra weight of the fuel helps in the winter.

I looked it up. 10 litres of fuel is around 15 pounds. So half a tank at 20-30L is around 30-50 pounds of extra weight. I guess that's basically the weight of an extra bag of sand or road salt.

I also keep a steel spreader shovel in my trunk in the winter to help dig out vehicles if needed. Plastic ones are useless if someone is dumb enough to get stuck on an iced over snowbank (has happened a few times). Aluminum ones can work, but you might hurt your hands. A steel spreader moves more material and can break through around half an inch of ice without much difficulty.

[mrkajz44]

The problem with those driving to conditions in a residential area is even a smaller slowdown can feel like you are crawling. Yesterday as I was leaving my community someone was going about 30 down the residential road that is normally 50. Now, once they turned off at the school I was able to go about 40 or so and feel safe so you definitely had to reduce your speed a bit, but having to go 30 when 40 was fine felt like agony.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Yesterday as I was leaving my community someone was going about 30 down the residential road that is normally 50. Now, once they turned off at the school I was able to go about 40 or so and feel safe so you definitely had to reduce your speed a bit, but having to go 30 when 40 was fine felt like agony.

Hah! I've got a bunch of strugglers in my neighborhood who always do 30, no matter the fact that the limit is 50. Even on good weather/condition days (and in summer!). So annoying.

We really, really need to reassess how we give driver's license, and look into retests every 10 years or so.

[DownInFlames]

Even if Pepsi is exaggerating his ability to drive 50 in bad conditions I’d rather have him on the road than those who know the slightest loss of traction is beyond their ability to handle and drive half the speed limit. I am done tolerating people who don’t take their lack of driving skill seriously. They need to either take some lessons or get off the road.

Go to an empty parking lot and practice breaking traction and dealing with it. The first day I got behind the wheel the AMA instructor would pull the e-brake and make me correct the skid. I’ve never seriously lost control even in the worst conditions. I laugh at black ice. It’s my bitch.

[Knut]

I like the people that go 40 in the 50 zone and 40 in the school zone too. Those are special people.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

Go to an empty parking lot and practice breaking traction and dealing with it. The first day I got behind the wheel the AMA instructor would pull the e-brake and make me correct the skid. I’ve never seriously lost control even in the worst conditions. I laugh at black ice. It’s my bitch.

Hell yeah. Winter is my favourite time to drive of the year, especially on the big snow days. Now, I absolutely despise commuting in it because of the sheer amount of strugglers (nervous drivers, poor drivers, drivers without winters), but those moments where the roads are actually quiet and you can rip around (in a safe, legal manner) are the best. But I didn’t get that way out of ignorance, I got that way out of a pure enjoyment of driving and caring about knowing my vehicle. I know exactly what a loss of traction feels like right from the start and know how to correct it or lean into it (in case you ever feel like drifting around a corner like you’re in a rally car). I know what vehicles I can safely do that in and what vehicles I can’t. There’s actually a vehicle that’s always parked on one of the streets I exit onto that annoys me, because it’s parked just so that I know there are two scenarios where if conditions are particularly icy and I don’t hit traction where I usually hit, I could slide into it… so when it’s parked there I take the corner differently that I would if it wasn’t (and when it isn’t and the snow is right, I give it a little juice so I can drift around that turn). Which is why the “learn physics” comment is so funny to me. Knowing how to drive is knowing how physics actually apply when you’re driving. It’s not just knowing how to make the car go, it’s knowing how to make the car do what you want and knowing what it can’t do and what it will try to do if you’re not careful (and how to correct it).

And hey, I get it, there are things beyond my skill level or at least beyond my risk tolerance level, too. I don’t mess around on roads where the speed limit is 80+ if the weather is extremely bad. I keep it buttoned up. But I genuinely feel that if you’re struggling on a 50kmph road, that’s a skill, confidence, or equipment issue, not a conditions issue. The former three put together can easily (and safely) overcome the latter at that speed.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Speed limits are actually well below what is reasonable for ideal conditions - at least 20-30% below. They're about right if there's inconsistent winter conditions (mix of snow and ice) and a bit too high for severe conditions (deep snow / poor vis). In normal winter conditions, 10 over is totally fine. All of this assumes, of course, that you have the correct tires. A manual transmission doesn't hurt, either.

[OutOfTheCube]

How many at-fault collisions have you guys been involved in?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

How many at-fault collisions have you guys been involved in?

One, when I was 16. I was stopped behind a big ol' sedan. I looked left, clear, looked right, clear, and she started going in front of me. I looked left, still clear, took my foot off the brake...thud! as I look back right. She had stopped.


"Oh, I don't know why I decided to stop again, I just did!" Gee, thanks lady. Still my fault, and lesson learned, but damn, the "I don't know why I did something I had no reason to do, but I did!" kinda bit my $600 lighter wallet.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

in case you ever feel like drifting around a corner like you’re in a rally car

<.< >.>

It is a lot of fun. I also highly recommend taking the vehicle you use most frequently, going to a parking lot and 'practicing emergency loss of traction recovery events'.

It's fun, and will prove useful. You want to know how to deal with a slide or something similar BEFORE you have to deal with it.

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

How many at-fault collisions have you guys been involved in?

Zero.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

How many at-fault collisions have you guys been involved in?

Heh, proud to say zero. One on the other side of the coin.

I get a kick out of people with more accidents to their record critiquing my driving style. Yeah, I take my time merging and don't like to make sudden deviations on a dime. At least I keep to an acceptable speed. In my mind, you can always pull a U-y and circle back if you miss your turn. At the end of the day they're far safer riding in my car than I would be riding in theirs.

[flamesfever]

I'm sure you guys are aware of the Event Data Recorder (EDR) which is standard for most passenger vehicles in the past 10 years. It's the equivalent to the black box in an airplane. It's amazing how much data can be attained from your car to help prove fault in car accident cases.

[Geraldsh]

Today I honed my winter driving skills by crisscrossing the city numerous times in 2-wheel drive with an empty truck box. The traffic was well behaved and cautious, the roads looked wintery but we’re not slippery at all - boring.

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Heh, proud to say zero. One on the other side of the coin.

I get a kick out of people with more accidents to their record critiquing my driving style. Yeah, I take my time merging and don't like to make sudden deviations on a dime. At least I keep to an acceptable speed. In my mind, you can always pull a U-y and circle back if you miss your turn. At the end of the day they're far safer riding in my car than I would be riding in theirs.

Ultimately, safety is the most important factor on determining a "good" driver. It is entirely possible to be a highly skilled driver, but if you're operating a vehicle in an unsafe manner, you're a bad driver.

I've worked in transportation and now moving for over a decade and there is always such an enormous focus on safety and safe practices -- like if someone was performing tasks or driving professionally in an unsafe manner there would be huge investigations, potential fines, people let go, etc. But the reality is, just driving to work is by far the highest risk thing any of us do in a day (unless you're something crazy like a saturation diver, or whatever). But then people like to brag about how they like to drive so fast, all the rules are just suggestions for them, they don't have to adjust for conditions because they're so amazing, bully other drivers on the road -- all while participating in the activity that's most likely to kill them that day (usually by a risk factor of several hundred times to the next one).

Yes, of course there's room for 'fun' driving, like on tracks or in recreational vehicles, where that increased risk is intended and managed and understood by everyone participating. But for just people driving to work, or the grocery store, or to pick up your kids -- you're just a danger to yourself and others, and it's not worth it.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

But then people like to brag about how they like to drive so fast, all the rules are just suggestions for them,

This is what going 50 in a 50 is to you? Yikes.

When did you first put winter tires on your car?

[Sainters7]

When you're hanging out with someone for only an hour or two (lunch, etc), and they keep taking calls and having chats.

I don't mean if it's important/work-related and just a quick question for like a 3-5 minute call, that's understandable. But once it progresses past that to a "so how's life / what's new?" type conversation. Like should I just leave? I find it disrespectful.

I've got a newer buddy like this and my sister can do that too, but they're very social outgoing people, much more than myself. Maybe I'll just never understand true extroverts..