no driving SOBs

steve remchak · **Posted:** Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:59 pm

i was appalled at the utter lack of driving ability i witnessed today while piloting a wounded vehicle. my rearview mirror was damn scary.

the wife's car had a runflat tire failure (pothole jumped out at her apparently) so i had to limp it to Chapel Hill at 55 mph up 540 and 40 this morning.

i feared for my life for most of the trip. even with Hazard flashers going, people would wait until the absolute last minute to change lanes to go around me. several morons actually rode my bumper for a minute or two before deciding to pass. i even had a Semi ride up my ass which concerned me because i thought these guys were supposed to have some training.

i did however notice several BMW drivers react very early on to the sight of my slow moving vehicle in the right lane.

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:27 pm

steve remchak wrote:

i did however notice several BMW drivers react very early on to the sight of my slow moving vehicle in the right lane.

That's because they were the only ones either 1) worried about being rear ended if they stayed behind you. 2) Happened to NOT be on the phone at that moment. 3) Didn't get their view of you blocked by some "box" until it was too late to change lanes (i.e. they got lucky), or 4) Were lane changing crazies who actually look ahead. (i.e. like me) :lol:

FYI. My wife frequently drives at or close to the speed limit with at least one lane open to her left. She finds that even when people have tons of opportunity to change lanes to get around her they just tailgate (frequently while on the phone). She just slows down until they finally get the idea. :twisted:

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

steve remchak wrote:

i was appalled at the utter lack of driving ability i witnessed today while piloting a wounded vehicle. my rearview mirror was damn scary.

the wife's car had a runflat tire failure (pothole jumped out at her apparently) so i had to limp it to Chapel Hill at 55 mph up 540 and 40 this morning.

i feared for my life for most of the trip. even with Hazard flashers going, people would wait until the absolute last minute to change lanes to go around me. several morons actually rode my bumper for a minute or two before deciding to pass. i even had a Semi ride up my ass which concerned me because i thought these guys were supposed to have some training.

i did however notice several BMW drivers react very early on to the sight of my slow moving vehicle in the right lane.

I can only imagine what the other drivers thought of the guy poking along mile after mile with his flashers on, unable to find an off ramp. If a problem with your car prevents you from keeping up with Interstate highway traffic, you should select a lower-speed route, for example, NC 54. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but causing an unnecessary speed differential on a busy highway is dangerous.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:43 pm

agreed Art. but i had to go from Leith to Performance and it was the most direct route. plus i wasn't poking so much as driving slightly below the posted speed limit in the far right lane. and i was judicious with the flashers, applying them as i saw oncoming traffic close on me. if a car or semi can't change lanes with a quarter mile notice given, they aren't paying attention to what they are doing.

my excuse next time i get pulled doing 85+ in a 65 will be....... just trying to stay away from the idiots.

clinehall · **Posted:** Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:24 pm

Runflats are stupid.

RobLupella · **Posted:** Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:29 pm

steve remchak wrote:

agreed Art. but i had to go from Leith to Performance and it was the most direct route. plus i wasn't poking so much as driving slightly below the posted speed limit in the far right lane. and i was judicious with the flashers, applying them as i saw oncoming traffic close on me. if a car or semi can't change lanes with a quarter mile notice given, they aren't paying attention to what they are doing.

my excuse next time i get pulled doing 85+ in a 65 will be....... just trying to stay away from the idiots.

So it was for convenience since there are backroads that should actually connect the two points seeing as 540 has not been in existence that long

Speaking of slow moving vehicles, the empty school busses doing 45 on 440 always annoy me too as they block traffic.

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

RobLupella wrote:

Speaking of slow moving vehicles, the empty school busses doing 45 on 440 always annoy me too as they block traffic.

Rob, you're not allowed to complain about that. Even when the buses are empty, their drivers can claim the universal justification: "It's for the kids".

Carlton Whitehead · **Posted:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:37 am

I have this same problem almost every time I get on the highway. Rarely do I ever drive more than 60mph in my Altima anymore for fuel economy reasons. I find I can get around 40mpg if I do that, compared to "only" 30mpg if I go with the flow of traffic. It's amazing how much less frustrating it is to go slow and be tailgated than to go with the speed of traffic and have to deal with changing lanes. I just get in the right-most lane and set the cruise control.

If someone gets on my tail for very long, I slow down to 55. If after 30 seconds they're still on my tail (this is rare), I either slow down another 5mph, or they get a windshield-full of my wiper fluid. yes it goes up and over at 55mph :lol:

and no, i haven't gotten shot or even honked at yet.

People seem to forget that the posted speed limit is the *maximum* speed limit. It's not a *minimum* speed limit. It's not a required exact speed.

Frank Catena · **Joined:** Wed Aug 27, 2003 1:08 pm **Posts:** 418

FWIW - NC Statutes do have speed minimums. 40MPH in a 55 MPH zone and 45 MPH in a 60 MPH zone with a slew of exceptions including towing.

Sometimes folks drop below 45MPH that just trying to get up the Harrison Ave hill on I-40.

Frank

RobLupella · **Posted:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:40 pm

Arthur McDonald wrote:

RobLupella wrote:

quote]

"It's for the kids".

This is my pet peeve. Kids are the excuse for raising taxes, providing more cops, for road accidents, for more trash being generated and subsidized by society and people think that there should be no additional cost p/kid. It should be borne by society. That sounds like Progressivism and Socialism and that is what has started the downfall of our society. People need to bear the brunt of their increased costs on society for their actions and not make the rest of us pick up after them

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Amen Rob

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:54 pm

RobLupella wrote:

Arthur McDonald wrote:

RobLupella wrote:

quote]

"It's for the kids".

This is my pet peeve. Kids are the excuse for raising taxes, providing more cops, for road accidents, for more trash being generated and subsidized by society and people think that there should be no additional cost p/kid. It should be borne by society. That sounds like Progressivism and Socialism and that is what has started the downfall of our society. People need to bear the brunt of their increased costs on society for their actions and not make the rest of us pick up after them

Rob, you do realize that the little kids that you're paying for an education for will eventually be paying your SSN, Medicare, etc...

Just consider them an investment.

If they weren't using kids to justify raising taxes, they'd just pick something else. like healthcare. They always find a way to get people to sign up for a tax increase.

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

+1 rob. although there are plenty of other things to blame for the downfall of our society. personally i put the increasing dearth of manual transmissions near the top of that list

i listen to npr semi-regularly, and quite a bit of it the last month or two as i've spent lots of time driving to/from the track. several times, all different days/times/programs, i've heard people mention "the downfall of america" or words to that effect. "we're a great country, but not as great as we once were", etc. i don't recall hearing that sentiment much at all in the past, yet now it's becoming ubiquitous. interesting/sad/unsurprising/whatever...

steve remchak · **Posted:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 2:43 pm

Jason Tower wrote:

+1 rob. although there are plenty of other things to blame for the downfall of our society. personally i put the increasing dearth of manual transmissions near the top of that list

i listen to npr semi-regularly, and quite a bit of it the last month or two as i've spent lots of time driving to/from the track. several times, all different days/times/programs, i've heard people mention "the downfall of america" or words to that effect. "we're a great country, but not as great as we once were", etc. i don't recall hearing that sentiment much at all in the past, yet now it's becoming ubiquitous. interesting/sad/unsurprising/whatever...

so basically we are becoming just like the rest of the world then? all except that pesky heavily armed civilians part. :twisted:

FWIW, i plan to buy a six speed manual eventually. and my reason is "it's for The Kid".

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 6:49 pm

Jason Mauldin wrote:

Rob, you do realize that the little kids that you're paying for an education for will eventually be paying your SSN, Medicare, etc..

You must be talking about different kids than I've seen.

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