Driving habits of rural folk

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   / Driving habits of rural folk #21  
The real problem is people in a hurry moving into rural areas.

:D

Bruce

Oh yes, for sure.
I've seen a BMW pass uphill on blind corners well treed on all sides.
Simple accident looking when to happen.
And that was not the first time !

Same thing at my local Laurentian shopping mall, folks drive up north on the hi speed highway and enter the mall doing 50/60 and expecting you to cede the way as they want to park near the door.

Just too many folks want to be there B4 they leave!
 
   / Driving habits of rural folk
  • Thread Starter
#22  
Your descriptionof varying speeds is typical of two types of drivers. Those who refuse to use cruise control or somone more interested in their phone than driving. Sometimes it is a combination of the two. One of my pet peeves is people who do not use CC. There just is no excuse for not using it on the open road.
I've been chewing on what you said, and was reminded of Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

I've been taking it personally, these bad drivers; assuming that they're enforcing their dominion over other people by making them drive slow. Given a large enough sample size, I'm sure there's bound to be a few with those motives in the mix. But I think you hit it closer to the head. They're just idiots. They don't know what a cruise control is for, and they're facebooking or instagraming, or whatever, instead of driving. They probably do it more out here on the rural routes than in town, because they feel that the straight road demands less attention. But they're still inconsiderate idiots.
 
   / Driving habits of rural folk #23  
Our county road has a speed limit of 45. I drive 45. There are sure a lot of yahoos who can't read the speed signs and drive 65 and more. Fortunately, there are plenty of places to pass me. And they do.

In the winter time they still go the same speed. Many end up in the ditch. I just wonder if they got where they wanted to be and in time.
 
   / Driving habits of rural folk #24  
Your descriptionof varying speeds is typical of two types of drivers. Those who refuse to use cruise control or somone more interested in their phone than driving. Sometimes it is a combination of the two. One of my pet peeves is people who do not use CC. There just is no excuse for not using it on the open road.

You just hit on a peeve of mine. CC has improved over time but still doesn't always maintain a steady speed. There's nothing more frustrating than getting behind someone who slows w-a-y down on a hill, then the car finally downshifts and they're off like a shot... usually just as you pull out to pass them. Furthermore if you need it to maintain a steady speed you aren't paying enough attention to your driving; when I'm behind somebody I often shut it off when it's the only way to maintain a safe distance behind them.

I still can have a bit of a heavy foot, yet slow down in built up areas or places where there's apt to be traffic entering, or kids, pedestrians and animals on the side of the road. Often the people I just passed will then go blowing by me with no regard for reduced speed limits or possible hazards in the road.
One time I had to get home in a hurry, and was going way too fast with 3 cars right behind me. When I slowed down through town, all 3 went by me with no regard for the crossroad, crosswalk, or school zone.
 
   / Driving habits of rural folk #25  
I never use cruise control, hate it..........
 
   / Driving habits of rural folk #26  
I never use cruise control, hate it..........

Even now that I don't drive as fast as I used to, I believe that it saves me speeding tickets. My last one was in 2005, it was 5:30 AM the day after Thanksgiving and I didn't slow down soon enough when entering a speed trap- er, reduced speed zone. The fine was $135 or $185... I remember it every time people go by me as I slow down in a work zone, reading the signs which say "Fines Doubled."
 
   / Driving habits of rural folk #27  
There's nothing different about country drivers and city drivers. You just don't notice it in cities because there's multiple lanes and stop lights and you can go around them in the city, or on multi-lane highways. There's slowpokes and leadfoots in both locations. ;)

As far as wondering, at 34 years of age, if you'll ever flip the switch and be the slowpoke? I doubt it. You'll be aggressive and impatient as long as you want to be. :laughing: I was until this January. I made a New Year's resolution to not use my horn, and stop driving aggressively. That lasted for about 4 days. :rolleyes: So I reset my "Horn Meter" and I went for about 10 days. Then had to reset it again, and so on. I think I'm up to about 40 days with no horn usage right now. So that's the horn meter. Now for the aggressive resolution.... I just bite the bullet and sit there. Yep. Just sit there in the slow line and take it, just like everyone else in the line has to take it.

To make a 45 mile drive in 45 minutes means you have to average 60MPH. To average 60MPH, you have to drive well over 60MPH.

To make a 45 mile drive in 90 minutes, you have to average 30MPH. If you can only average 30MPH, chances are it's not just one or two cars going that slow in front of you the whole way. It's traffic congestion and pulsation that causes waves in the flow of traffic that keeps the speed varying from slow to fast for no apparent reason. If one person is driving the speed limit, and a line of speeding cars comes up behind him, the first one hits his brakes, then they all hit their brakes not in unison, but in succession, each one hitting them harder and slowing more than the car in front of them. The first guy gets to the speed of the car in front of him, but the 2nd guy takes longer, 3rd longer than that, etc.... The guy in front never varies from 55, but 10-20 cars back they're down to 30-40mph, then pulse back up, hit their brakes, slow down, speed up, etc... it creates waves in the traffic pattern each time someone brakes. Remember, the guy in front never did anything to cause this. He's still going 55. ;)

BTW, I'll be 60 in a few months and it took me that long to even attempt to grow out of it, and it's an ongoing process. Just realize that it's pretty much out of your control, and how you choose to deal with it either contributes to or diminishes your quality of life.

I suggest books on tape. Podcasts. Good music. It makes the drive much more relaxing.

Be careful about pushing for two lane roads being converted to 4 lane roads to better handle the traffic. That just brings more development and more people. Then you get Dollar General Stores, gas stations, speedy marts, smoke shops, and you end up moving out further again. :rolleyes:
 
   / Driving habits of rural folk #29  
All this talk of people driving to slow and the reasons for is funny to me,
no one has even come close to mentioning the reason some people slow down.
How can I see what shape the neighbors cows are in at 60mph.
Is that a new tractor beside the shed, wonder when they got that, I'll have to slow down more on th way back to see what model it is.
Who in the heck, plowed, planted, tilled, mowed those crooked rows.
Dang look at all the feed they missed in those corners.
Looks like the corn, beans or grain has sprouted in his field, I'll have to look closer at ours.
Wow look at that mower, baler, winrower, chopper or what ever is out working.
And I could go on and on :laughing:
 
   / Driving habits of rural folk
  • Thread Starter
#30  
I suggest books on tape. Podcasts. Good music. It makes the drive much more relaxing. :

Excellent suggestion. I listened to podcasts for a long time until a colleague told me about an app called Overdrive. With that app, if you have a library card (free & easy to get) you can enter the number on your card and be able to check out digital media from your county's public library system. Ebooks, audiobooks, etc. I check out audiobooks and listen to them as I commute. It definitely makes a big difference. I almost look forward to my commute, so long as it's at my normal off-hours transit time and I know I wont have contend with the masses. It's almost like binge watching Netflix.
 
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