I looked in the mirror & saw the police following

johnday · Aug 12, 2004

I almost think it's a Toledo to Bay City thing this side of the state. North of Bay City and south of Toledo it seems "almost" normal.

Yeah, I forgot about the center lane being used as an acceleration lane. Depends are a wonderful thing. Don't leave home without them! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Yes, Custer only lived in Monroe for a few years before they finally got him. I may be wrong, but I think he was a native of the Buckeye. Must have been his riding the Sioux didn't like. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

srs · Aug 12, 2004

( (the local Cheif of Police was kicked out because he has never EVER taken 1 course of police training or certification!!! he said he was grandfatherd in! lol lieing bastage is what he is! glad he ain't a cop no more. He was involved in Police Harrasement with at least 20 people 3 of them in my family including myself! he had his boys arrest me while I was washing my car @ local carwash; said he had a warrent for my arrest (yet couldn't produce one) & said I was letting unlicenced drivers drive my truck, at the time I hadn't owned a truck in 15 years! still cost me over 1500 in lawer fees and I'm sure it is still on my driving record toboot. THIS SOUNDS LIKE A SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE.

also several druggie types told me best stuff in town was bought straight form the cops right on duty! SPIKER, YOU HANG AROUND DRUGGIES???? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

it seems that where there are MORE cops there are MORE BAD cops because they want to STICK together and COVER for each other. (my GF's Sister was a cop for 6 yrs, when she told truth about an abusive cop she was beaten up and thrown down a flight of stairs by inmates that were MYSTERIUSLY let into the wrong place! messed up her back, later one of the guys involved said other gaurds told them to do it but refused to ID the gaurds as they were still behind bars... (she was a gaurd @ Mansy (Mansfield State Pen in Mansfield oh)) /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif ANOTHER GOOD SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE!
)

Alan L. · Aug 12, 2004

Sounds like a good idea. Maybe the next time I don't speed I'll get a grab bag!!

SPIKER · Aug 13, 2004

SRS: nope no movie: just the way it happened, I can send you photo copies of hte tickets and the info the police gave me and told me I had to find out who owned the truck to prove that it wasn't ME...

Markm /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Bird · Aug 13, 2004

My wife and I attended one of AARP's safe driving courses this past Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons (defensive driving school). Of course, the only real reason we did it was to save nearly $100 a year for 3 years on our insurance premiums. But in that program, the instructor mentioned "roundabouts" (a word I had not heard used for what we always called traffic circles). He mentioned a city that spent a lot of money putting one in, then a lot of money changing it back to the 4-way stop signs they'd had before. Dallas did away with its traffic circles quite a few years ago, but I noticed an article this morning in the Dallas Morning News about a new roundabout in one of the suburbs that cost $121,000 and a lot of people are not happy with it.

hazmat · Aug 13, 2004

Up here we call them rotaries. MA is kind enough to post yield signs for the traffic entering the rotary - as in yield to those already in the circle. When overloaded with vehicles, they cause a bunch of congestion. They tend to handle traffic during the off hours well, but at rush hour - forget it.

Jersey, on the otherhand, is an absolute disaster. I (loosely) quote from the drivers manual. "There is no hard and fast rule regarding who has the right of way at a traffic circle. Historical traffic patterns prevail." Translated - traffic on the "major" road can go straight thru, while the "minor" road is supposed to yield. I came with in inches of being hit a couple times untill someone told me how it works.

OkeeDon · Aug 13, 2004

I don't know how it is now, but when I lived in Massachusetts (which, I think, was before you were born /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif), there was a definite unwritten rule regarding navigation of the rotaries. The key factor was eye contact. If you made eye contact with another driver, you gave them the right of way, regardless of whether you were already in the rotary or entering it.

Therefore, two things were needed to get through the rotaries ahead of everyone else -- a poker face in which you stared straight ahead, and excellent peripheral vision so you could detect who had looked at you, and therefore given you right of way.

Of course, while you were charging into the rotaries at full speed while looking at no one, occasionally there was someone else who was doing the same thing at the same time in the same spot, so that's probably why there were no undented cars in Boston.

Docsknotinn · Aug 13, 2004

Bird, Here each entry point to the circle has a yield sign....not that it means much. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I think the theory here is that accidents are less likely to be fatal and hopefully it will keep congestion down. It sure was fun at first. Just pull up a chair, pop a soda and watch the fun ! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Currmudgeon · Aug 13, 2004

( The autobahn has many high speed drivers and few accidents, but their people pay attention to driving not foolishness.


Is this fact or just opinion? I have a hard time believing people are not just people in every country. Also and I may be completley wrong isn't the autobon alot of lanes? Most highways are usually only a couple lanes. Maybe more around big cities for awhile. )

Having driven the Autobahnen, and other high speed roads in Europe, they have a few advantages over their US counterparts. The biggest is lane discipline. The Euros tend to drive fast, often too fast, but they stay the hell out of the passing lane unless they need it. And they tend to get out of the way of faster traffic.

The Gerrmans are fanatics about lane discipline, almost taking off your left fender when passing, to get out of the dreaded left lane. But if you're in the left lane and you see that Mercedes come over the hill flashing his lights, you get the hell outta the way. He's going 200 and when he gets to where you are, he expects you to be gone.

Truck traffic is resiticted to the right lanes and is usually restricted in speed to about 90 KpH. They must enforce it severely, because you seldom see speeding trucks.

Euros aren't saints by any means. In the UK, people tend to pass on two lane roads in the face of oncoming traffic. I guess you're expected to pull over when someone crosses over into your lane.

Italian drivers all seem to think they're Mario Andretti. In city traffic.

God help you if you get between a Frenchman and a beach on a weekend. Bumper to bumper at 110 KpH. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Then, if you drive in funny countries, like the Mid East, it's almost as bad as Boston!

IMX, the European driver tends to be a little more skillful and attentive than the US driver. The US Driver tends to be much more courteous.

EastTexFrank · Aug 13, 2004

( IMX, the European driver tends to be a little more skillful and attentive than the US driver. )

I think that's because getting a driver's license in Europe is a lot more difficult than in the U.S. The failure rate in the U.K. for someone taking their driving test for the first time is about 70%. Most people have to take the test 3 or 4 times before they pass, 10 to 20 times isn't unheard of and they have to wait months before being retested. So, it's not that they are necessarily better drivers, it's just that they have a higher skill level before they are let loose on their own. I suppose that means that they are better drivers, at least initially. When I took my test in Texas in '85, after years of driving in the U.K. and Europe, I thought it was a laughable exercise compared to what I had been used to.

Also, with less violent crime, the cops are much stricter about enforcing the "Rules of the Road". Three speeding tickets within a certain period means a 1 year ban. A DUI (or DWI) means an automatic 1 year ban ... no excuses or exceptions. A second offence means jail and a third offense means jail for a long time. A DUI conviction makes it almost impossible for a mere mortal to get car insurance. You can't even hire a car for 10 years after a conviction. It's not that it is illegal, it's just that most companies don't want to know.

So the whole attitude to driving and the law in Europe is very different from the U.S.

By the way, I still believe that speed kills.