But to give y’all an idea of the race to the bottom in trying to get away with hiring the least competent drivers to exploit, if you put your right blinker on in any (non-owner-operator. Real owner operator, not fLease purchase scams) tractor trailer truck these days, and it thinks there’s a vehicle beside you, it mutes the stero and lets out a fucking blood curdling squeal.
They apparently figured this thing that completely ruins my focus for a split second, that I still can’t get used to after YEARS, is worth the tradeoff since it slaps the morons in the face any time they want to turn or switch lanes
Also the automated manual transmissions now in all (non owner operator) big rigs are actually fucking incredible pieces of engineering that (would) work great, but every big fleet has tuned the soft(firm?)ware to make them way less safe than me on an old fashioned manual transmission.
They shift to neutral going downhill. Extemely unsafe. I refuse to drive them on slick surfaces that I know I’m fine with on an old manual, or even an automated manual that you can force to be stay in the gear you assign. They all come with “manual mode” but all the fleets disable it
I can’t see complaining about this when the batshit insanity of the Challenger SRT/Charger HEMI models are still in production. Those things are a scourge in every way.
Mom picked up her car last weekend. It’s been great so far. She’s still getting used to it having less cargo space, but I think she’s way over estimating how often that will actually be an issue. As for her thoughts on it, I’ve gotten a couple texts like this:
And she regularly tells me how much fun it is to drive, how much she loves one pedal driving, how happy she is that I steered her towards this as opposed to buying a used ICE car for almost the same price, etc. Overall I’d say this was a pretty massive win.
Thanks again @Fatboy8 and @otatop for helping me convince her to trust the blind purchase.
So. Had a slightly near miss this morning on the way to work.
Trying to do some analysis to understand what I could do differently to avoid it.
Situation.
I’m on the motorway. Outside lane. I indicate and move slowly into the lane further inside.
As I do that. A truck two lanes inside indicates and instantly moves into the same lane.
I’m watching for this exact scenario, so I quickly move back into my original lane, but we come closer together than I would like.
So.
Initial thoughts.
I need to understand blind spots better, especially for larger vehicles and predict when I am in one.
I need to be more conservative with my lane changes and plan further ahead. If I give myself an extra KM or half mile to change lanes, I will be able to pick my spots better. I’ll spend more time in the slower lanes, but trade off for slightly lower risk.
That’s a pretty tame near miss lol. In my city you never have the luxury of planning your lane changes like that. Sometimes you need to move 4 lanes and you’ve got a mile to do it, and there are cars everywhere all on each other’s asses.
Don’t change lanes into someone’s blind spot is standard defensive driving. Otherwise, you’ve just gotta be aware of all traffic within two lanes as you change lanes.
In an electric car with regenerative breaking, it’s easier to manage since you don’t have to switch between gas and brake pedals to adjust your speed. A lot of nervousness about changing lanes is actually worrying that the person in front of you will slow down suddenly, but also you can’t let off speed or you’ll lose your opening. Electric cars mitigate this.
It’s military jargon because nobody in the military rarely hit what was intended so anything close became labeled as a quasi success or a near miss - stating that it was a close hit! Yes, I’m being serious.
I think the blind spot is the main one. And you can’t always avoid changing lanes in tight circumstances, but it’s about minimising. This is my usual commute, so I can plan the idea trip a little more.
Always expect other drivers to do the dumbest possible thing. Always assume they are on their phone or otherwise distracted. Plan accordingly.
When I’m driving I’m continually monitoring the cars ahead of me, the cars ahead of the cars ahead of me, the cars to my sides, and traffic behind me. Stay one step ahead of everyone else on the road and you will be in a much better spot to avoid any issues. And don’t lane change into peoples blindspot, slow down or speed up to position yourself where you can be seen.
