quote:

The one's that really piss me off are the cars that stop two to three car lengths behind the car in front of them.

12 feet, thats as close as I get,
in this day and age,
"always leave yourself a way out"

does not only apply to vehicles on the move

Today I was second in line at a stop sign with cross traffic not required to stop. College girl in front was waiting and also texting. She had a very good break in traffic but was looking down. Since we had been there for a good 2 minutes waiting to go and she was doing something other than paying attention, I hit my Ram's horn.
Man, it is a great horn, not like my wife's horn on her Kia. She almost jumped out of her seat then she got pissed and opened her door and shot me the finger after putting it in park. Then she got back in and proceeded to almost get hit by the car that had made up 200 yards while she was jacking around.
I caught up with her at the next light and smiled at her and got the finger again. Kinda made me feel like I got her attention. What an idiot.

If I piss you off because I don't hit the "tree" like a professional drag racer too bad.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:

quote:

The one's that really piss me off are the cars that stop two to three car lengths behind the car in front of them.

12 feet, thats as close as I get,
in this day and age,
"always leave yourself a way out"

does not only apply to vehicles on the move

Especially at RR crossings, too. I always stop a good 50-100 feet back. Have you never seen a picture of a derailment, and how far from the tracks those heavy-ass train cars scatter? I can still be at the tracks by the time the gates are lifted.
 
For Hwy intersections, for me, it is glance L-R-L, and then go. The final L is because that's the lane more likely to cream you.
 

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I used to give a polite little tap.

Now, if I see that somebody's head is buried in a cell phone, completely oblivious to a light that has turned green, it is no polite little tap: it is a loud, continuous, obnoxious, blast.

They come with a horn for a reason. Use it unreservedly and routinely.

Around here if you aren't moving within 30 milliseconds of the light going green, the guy behind you is laying on the horn, hard.

Northeasterners are an impatient lot.

I agree with Palehorse. A red light isn't the time to catch up on texting. If the driver is paying attention there's no need to wait and see if any vehicles might be running the red light because it should already be determined if it's safe or not to proceed.

When I lived in Iceland the yellow light would come on a few seconds before the green and first couple of vehicles would start moving forward when it turned green. It really helped the flow.

When I drove across the Dominican Republic most lights had a countdown timer. It would work for both red to green and green to red.

It's puzzling why America makes the drivers "guess" or "wait and see" when the light changes, especially with all the traffic we have.

quote:

Originally posted by Ricardokid1:
The one's that really piss me off are the cars that stop two to three car lengths behind the car in front of them. You get two or three cars doing this and when the light turns green only a few cars get through on that cycle. What's the purpose of that, except to make me mad?

I'll stop way back if there is a sensor in the road to trigger the green arrow, at least until someone pulls in behind me.

Yeah, it is a great idea to make sure people are stopping for the light the other way.

But, I think for most people they are either daydreaming or texting, not looking for someone not stopping.

I was driving yesterday. Light turns green. Nobody moves. Then first car turns left second car still not moving. Then I followed him through the light, the rest get caught with red light. Normally 6 cars can easily make light.

A few years ago, while coming home from work at 10:30pm. I come to a red light on my Motorcycle. I was turning left. Light turns green for me and I start letting clutch out as I look left then right then left, I see a car from the left going at least 50 in 45 nearing the intersection. He is in the curb lane. I grab the clutch and brake lever as he zooms by. Had I pulled out, well Sig would have lost a good customer.

quote:

Originally posted by RogB:

So I make it a point to be prepared to sound the horn in event no one moves. Not at the split second the light turns (I'm not one of those) but only when it's obvious the driver's head is looking down, no doubt texting or reading email, oblivious to the surroundings.

Didn't use to be, but now I am 'one of those'.

Back in the day, when the light turned green and the driver ahead of me didn't move, I'd give him a bit to realize it was time to go. If he still didn't move, I'd give him a polite tap of the horn.

Not anymore. As you said, these days it's almost the norm that they are glued to their phone doing a FB status check. I am sick and tired of sitting there waiting. So, after about .003 seconds, I lay on the horn like a New York cabbie .