Driving, parking, traveling

[Lamb]

Do you get apprehensive when driving to a new place or if there is a change in your normal route?

I have an upcoming appointment today and learned that there is a closure of a ramp I need to take when coming home so I'm really dreading having to add even more time to my hour travel.

I also hate parking! LOL I used to be able to parallel a full size pick up truck and now I can't parallel park with my smaller SUV.

 

[tango]

I don't care for driving on busy interstates, usually because there are so many knuckleheads on the road who clearly aren't paying attention. It's remarkable how many people drive with one hand on the wheel and the other clearly typing something on their phone, spending as much time looking at their phone as at the road, in heavy traffic.

Beyond that, as long as parking is available, it doesn't bother me too much.

 

[mailmandan]

I don't care for driving on busy interstates, usually because there are so many knuckleheads on the road who clearly aren't paying attention. It's remarkable how many people drive with one hand on the wheel and the other clearly typing something on their phone, spending as much time looking at their phone as at the road, in heavy traffic.

Beyond that, as long as parking is available, it doesn't bother me too much.

The other day my wife and I were driving down the interstate and we noticed an 18 wheeler in fromt of us swerving all over the place. As we went around him we noticed that he was on his cell phone, probably texting. On my mail route, I notice about once a week someone at a traffic light in the same busy intersection in the left turn lane (while I'm beside them in the right lane) texting on their phone and when the light turns green, they don't move until the car behind them finally honks and by then, sometimes it's too late. About half the time the light is already changing red again by the time the other car honks and they both get stuck!

 

[Lamb]

I wish all vehicles would come equipped with software to stop drivers from texting. The thing with truck drivers is that they aren't always texting, they could be looking up an alternate route for their drive.

 

[tango]

I wish all vehicles would come equipped with software to stop drivers from texting. The thing with truck drivers is that they aren't always texting, they could be looking up an alternate route for their drive.

If they are looking at something other than the road for long enough that they can't drive in a straight line it doesn't really matter what they are doing.

It's not possible for a car to have technology to stop drivers from texting unless it also stops passengers from texting. And of course the eternal trouble is that sometimes an emergency might warrant making a call or text from a moving vehicle - if someone is trying to run you off the road the chances are you'll want to call 911 without having to come to a complete stop and turn off the engine first.

 

[NewCreation435]

One of my previous jobs I had four different ways to get to work. I rarely went the same way twice in a row

 

[mailmandan]

The thing with truck drivers is that they aren't always texting, they could be looking up an alternate route for their drive.

Good point!

 

[tango]

Good point!

Not really, if a honking great truck is all over the road, or runs full speed into the back of something because the driver wasn't looking at the road, I don't suppose it makes much difference whether they were fiddling with a phone or a GPS.

The extra momentum of a truck means truck drivers should be held to a much higher standard than the driver of a regular car. A friend of mine's child was horribly injured when someone drove a pickup into the back of his car at full speed - traffic stopped on an expressway and the pickup driver was too busy texting to notice. The injuries required multiple surgeries and several months off work. I can only imagine the results had it been a honking great truck rather than a pickup. Chances are the injured person would be dead and the occupant of the vehicle in front would be seriously injured instead.

 

[Stephen]

Do you get apprehensive when driving to a new place or if there is a change in your normal route?

I have an upcoming appointment today and learned that there is a closure of a ramp I need to take when coming home so I'm really dreading having to add even more time to my hour travel.

I also hate parking! LOL I used to be able to parallel a full size pick up truck and now I can't parallel park with my smaller SUV.

I don't mind driving on unknown routes but as I've got old I don't like driving at night, at least on roads I'm not familiar with.

 

[Lamb]

I don't mind driving on unknown routes but as I've got old I don't like driving at night, at least on roads I'm not familiar with.

I've gotten the same way about driving at night. It could also be that I didn't choose for the reflective coating on my glasses so every headlight coming at me just glares!

 

[Stephen]

I've gotten the same way about driving at night. It could also be that I didn't choose for the reflective coating on my glasses so every headlight coming at me just glares!

That's one factor. Another is that car headlight are much brighter than they used to be.

 

[tango]

I've gotten the same way about driving at night. It could also be that I didn't choose for the reflective coating on my glasses so every headlight coming at me just glares!

I found antireflective coating to be a mixed blessing. It's great not having reflections but I found myself having to endlessly clean the lenses, to the point I seriously considered just getting rid of my glasses completely.

Curiously I don't need them any more, which suits me just fine.

 

[Forgiven1]

We have street construction going all the time around here. Last Dr. appointment I had across the city, I ran into a road closure on my route that I didn't know about. Got around it and barely made it in time.