Robert’s Rants & Rationalizations

You look for a parking slot and find SOMEONE just doesn’t have a clue what those white lines mean!
 

I took a few days off from the ‘net and spent time on the California coast in the town of Santa Cruz, just a block off the cliffs. NICE.

On my way back into Silicon Valley, the route commonly taken is Highway 17 (also known as Highway 880 once in Santa Clara County and north into Oakland). What commonly happens is that the cars get into a grouping in the left, or ‘fast’ lane. A white Ford Escort wagon came up from behind, got in the right lane when the opportunity arose and proceeded to pass me and almost the next car when the right lane, as it always does, slows due to larger vehicles like 18-wheeler rigs, RVs, mobile homes, etc. The Escort driver signaled (last time I write that to explain what he did!) to change into my lane and in front of me. Fine.

At his next opportunity, he went into the right lane and began to accerlate past the car that was now in front of me. Again, he was met with slower traffic, and as we all approached a bend, my lane and his, slowed…I late-braked and closed up the space which he wanted to get into, although he did not use his turn indicators or the alternate arm signal. He did motion his arm straight out and turned his palm upward and then bent is elbow to lift the arm just a bit like to gesture, ‘What’s the deal?’. Hehehe.

I just hate these type of drivers, especially in four-bangers (okay, I have a four-banger, but mine has a turbo and is factory lowered with stiffer suspension and matched spring rates and shocks! Compare to an “Escort wagon” setup.)

Successive attempts to get into my lane were successful because I wasn’t really in the mood to make it real tough for him as he didn’t have a great grasp of his car’s excessive rear-end weight shifting through turns as he made last second course corrections (understeer turns into oversteer!). My SPG doens’t shift that much when I make that type of quick adjustment. It is much smoother and predictable. Plus, the steering is a close-ratio steering box which has saved me several times in surface traffic situations where people don’t signal or don’t notice the person in front of them are stopping or deciding to turn into a parking lot!

Yes, not a very eventful time, but worth expressing myself on this situation. thx.

A double-right (or left, for that matter) means both lanes are allowed to turn right! The inside lane of the off-ramp gets pissed-off because she could not get into my lane immediately after (or during) the turn! Drivers like her just piss me off, but I always try to stay just on the legal side of the law while pissing them off.

Situation: Double-right turn off freeway, but no turn on a red light. I’m positioned about half-dozen cars from the light in the outside of the turn of the two lanes (second land from the right). I look over and a late-20′s female is checking my car. I now figure she’s probably sizing up the cars which she will cut-off during the turn.

My car is setup to handle well, especially at very speeds (below 25 MPH).

I have the hunch she, or some other car will make a dart for my lane since there is an intersection immediately entering the surface street which the off-ramp dumps us onto. The street we enter is three lanes…repeat, three lanes, which means that my lane has a choice of the middle or the far left lane. The female has only one choice, the far right, legally.

My signal is on (did I mention that it’s a T intersection, and my lane can go left, straight or right…I’m going right) to indicate my intentions to make the right turn.

Okay, I start to make the right and floor-it after the vehicle in front of me is far enough to allow me to start my turn. I make the turn into the far left, I check my outside right mirror and the female is trying to merge into my lane several cars back. At the next light (I’m there within seconds, she gets into the far left lane of the double-left lane. I happen to be aligned between two cars in that lane and her turn light goes green and as she goes past, I’m looking over and she extends her arm, fashions her hand to emulate a cocked gun and fires (so it appeared), and then I see that she has children in the back seat. She was will to try to save a few seconds and car lengths with kids in the car, and for signaling a gunshot at me, she could have been asking for me because in my area, that isn’t taken too kindly.

So, as you can figure, I ride and drive just on the legal side of the traffic code, but in my state, if I was found to be quilty of contributing to the accident or whatever happens, I would have to pay or be sentenced for my part in the accident.

This doesn’t stop me from doing this daily as I have to use a double-left turn lane when I come home from work. I’ve been in very close calls on my motorcycle and in my car. One day, I’ll have the video footage of vehicles nearly taking paint of my fender of my car or bumping me right to the ground when I’m on my motorcycle.

Years ago, maybe on the older high/freeways, these signs (“Slower Traffic Stay Right”) were as evident as the speed limit signs. Although they are not on a few highways, the sign states the rule-of-thumb, slower traffic should stay to the right of the faster traffic.

It’s common to see tailgaters in the fast lane, and that usually means that the vehicle tailgating wants to go faster than the one in front! Move over and let the driver pass, and then you can resume your position and speed until the next vehicle come up on your tail.

When I drive and come up on slower traffic in the fast lane, usually, I can see a convoy of vehicles behind the slow vehicle in the front or lead position, and that person isn’t aware of all the vehicles behind them as the empty lane in front increases.