So I read this article on Autoblog about Roundabouts the other day and thought I would talk about it. Here is a link to the article:
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/28/report-roundabouts-proliferating-in-america-drivers-confused/
Roundabouts are supposed to keep traffic flowing smoothly through intersecting roads by lessening speed but maintaining a consistent flow. My Dad has been advocating for one in my hometown for years so I've heard all kinds of benefits. I personally think they are a good idea BUT I think the fact that people can't wrap their heads around the concept is what is making them dangerous. You just slow down and yield to those in the circle. Its not hard...
There have been tons popping up all around Northern Colorado. The problems I see with them is just the fact that people have a huge brain fart when they come up to them. Some people don't yield and others don't slow down and then freak out when its a tighter turn than expected. Everyone just needs to slow down and pay attention when they are driving...your car doesn't run on autopilot...
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
It's quote time...
Well in the spirit of chillin' out this fine Thanksgiving weekend I shall share with you a quote that I heard while having a chill conversation with a very cool/genius professor of mine. This quote is mostly about life but it is in a driving state of mind...so here goes!
"Some people anticipate the turns, some people never see them coming, and some don't know how to react."
I think I really need to learn to anticipate the turns in life hehe I do when I am driving...
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
"Some people anticipate the turns, some people never see them coming, and some don't know how to react."
I think I really need to learn to anticipate the turns in life hehe I do when I am driving...
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Top 5 things I HATE about traffic...continued!
Okay so I am going to start this off by saying, I am one of those people who starts relaxing after work the minute I get into my car. I am not one of those people who trip out because they have to make a tedious drive home before they can relax. I like to turn up my music, sing obnoxiously, and drive home, its totally relaxing to me. SO this being said...here is my #1 thing I HATE about traffic...pretty much because this is a huge reason we sit in traffic from what I have observed...
The people who think they are more important than everyone else on the road. PICK A LANE AND STICK WITH IT! (unless of course the lane is closed for construction of course) When people change lanes all the time they are forcing the line to slow down behind them BECAUSE most drivers are only paying attention to the 10 feet in front of them and aren't aware of everyone else (don't ask me why...but its totally dangerous and stupid) SO when you cut someone off in traffic they apply brakes slightly and then that slow down grows exponentially until someone 20 cars back is now at a complete stop. I like to put it in 2nd gear and cruise because otherwise my left foot might fall off but when this stupid slow down to a stop happens I now have to downshift -.- AND YOU MESSED UP MY GLORIOUS SINGING! :) Just kidding...but in all seriousness here is what I have learned...
Pick a lane and stick with it, just sit through the traffic. If we all just get through traffic with some patience it will be over faster and we can be with our families quicker. I drive the speed limit and pick a lane, I have watched those cars who cut through traffic, cause slow downs, drive dangerously, etc. and they haven't gotten out of traffic any faster than me. I end up at the same place about 1 minute later. When driving to class and people drive radically they aren't even out of their car by the time I have parked in the same lot. Therefore the rushing doesn't help you! Just cruise!
The people who think they are more important than everyone else on the road. PICK A LANE AND STICK WITH IT! (unless of course the lane is closed for construction of course) When people change lanes all the time they are forcing the line to slow down behind them BECAUSE most drivers are only paying attention to the 10 feet in front of them and aren't aware of everyone else (don't ask me why...but its totally dangerous and stupid) SO when you cut someone off in traffic they apply brakes slightly and then that slow down grows exponentially until someone 20 cars back is now at a complete stop. I like to put it in 2nd gear and cruise because otherwise my left foot might fall off but when this stupid slow down to a stop happens I now have to downshift -.- AND YOU MESSED UP MY GLORIOUS SINGING! :) Just kidding...but in all seriousness here is what I have learned...
Pick a lane and stick with it, just sit through the traffic. If we all just get through traffic with some patience it will be over faster and we can be with our families quicker. I drive the speed limit and pick a lane, I have watched those cars who cut through traffic, cause slow downs, drive dangerously, etc. and they haven't gotten out of traffic any faster than me. I end up at the same place about 1 minute later. When driving to class and people drive radically they aren't even out of their car by the time I have parked in the same lot. Therefore the rushing doesn't help you! Just cruise!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Top 5 things I HATE about traffic...
So I drive a 6-speed manual BUT that has NOTHING to do with what really annoys me about traffic...so here goes...
5. That guy who sits on/up your ass...like that is gonna help anything? THERE ARE 30 CARS IN FRONT OF ME ALL SITTING AS WELL!! THE MORE YOU INCH CLOSER TO ME IS NOT GOING TO HELP! -.- and yet it happens...and if we are on a hill...I wanna roll back just to piss you off more!
4. The girl texting...OH. MY. GOD. nothing freaks me out more than when we are in the kind of traffic that speeds up to 40 then everyone slams on their brakes suddenly (I will explain this phenomenon later) AND there is that girl sitting in her car not paying attention. I am just WAITING for her to slam into somebody...if shes behind me all I do is sit in pure panic.
3. Rushers. The people who ram their foot into the ground when the traffic starts moving and they rush to close the gap AND then they SLAM on their brakes suddenly because they are now going too fast...um...do you have ANY clue as to how much gas you are wasting? And its always some tool in a Prius -.- the stupidest car on the road -.- well most DIRTY thats for sure...
2. The guys who move up one car at a time -.-...now this is connected to my number one issue but I think of it as kind of separate. This is mostly in that moving traffic, the one where people are going like 20 under still but moving steadily. I hate when I am driving on the highway and we are all going as fast as traffic will allow and then some tool RUSHES up behind you and weaves a bit to show his frustration...uh dude...do you not see the 5 cars in front of me who are all going the same speed and the guys on the side of us who are also stuck this speed...you cant put pressure on me and somehow get the guy at the front of the line to speed up...no matter how hard you try! SO his answer is to cut off the guy in the right lane then speed up and muscle his way between me and the car in front of me...THANKS -.- AND HEEE is what causes my number 1 issue...which I will post Monday!
5. That guy who sits on/up your ass...like that is gonna help anything? THERE ARE 30 CARS IN FRONT OF ME ALL SITTING AS WELL!! THE MORE YOU INCH CLOSER TO ME IS NOT GOING TO HELP! -.- and yet it happens...and if we are on a hill...I wanna roll back just to piss you off more!
4. The girl texting...OH. MY. GOD. nothing freaks me out more than when we are in the kind of traffic that speeds up to 40 then everyone slams on their brakes suddenly (I will explain this phenomenon later) AND there is that girl sitting in her car not paying attention. I am just WAITING for her to slam into somebody...if shes behind me all I do is sit in pure panic.
3. Rushers. The people who ram their foot into the ground when the traffic starts moving and they rush to close the gap AND then they SLAM on their brakes suddenly because they are now going too fast...um...do you have ANY clue as to how much gas you are wasting? And its always some tool in a Prius -.- the stupidest car on the road -.- well most DIRTY thats for sure...
2. The guys who move up one car at a time -.-...now this is connected to my number one issue but I think of it as kind of separate. This is mostly in that moving traffic, the one where people are going like 20 under still but moving steadily. I hate when I am driving on the highway and we are all going as fast as traffic will allow and then some tool RUSHES up behind you and weaves a bit to show his frustration...uh dude...do you not see the 5 cars in front of me who are all going the same speed and the guys on the side of us who are also stuck this speed...you cant put pressure on me and somehow get the guy at the front of the line to speed up...no matter how hard you try! SO his answer is to cut off the guy in the right lane then speed up and muscle his way between me and the car in front of me...THANKS -.- AND HEEE is what causes my number 1 issue...which I will post Monday!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
SRT Driving Experience
So a couple of weekends ago I participated in the SRT Driving experience. It was probably one of the funnest things I have done with cars! Basically these people from the Richard Petty Driving Experience drive around the country from race track to race track putting on this excellent one day driving experience. Anyone can do it for $500 BUT if you bought or leased an SRT within the last year you can go for free. I was lucky enough that I heard about it just in time to get in for free which was awesome.
So basically they had food there for us and SRT merchandise which was cool. After they did a brief intro they split us into two teams, Team Hammer and my team, Team Shake-n-Bake. We basically rotated through 4 different driving exercises. The first I did was the driving basics. We followed behind an instructor around a track which was really fun. You didn't go slowly thats for sure. It was nice because you got to see they wanted you to push their cars. We circulated through 4 cars, the Jeep SRT8, Chrysler SRT8, Charger SRT8, and the Challenger SRT8. They were all incredible. I think my fave as a daily driver would be the Jeep for sure but the Challenger was a lot of fun to push around the track and in the autocross we did next. For the autocross they had a a little track set up and you couldn't touch the cones. It was challenging and would have been nice if we had more opportunities to practice but in the time frame we had that wasn't possible. The autocross was by far my fave! It feels a lot faster than it is and is incredibly fun. We drove 2 runs in the Challenger and one in the Jeep. Here is a video of my second run in the Challenger:
After lunch we got to race around the track like crazy people like we did in the first exercise but a bit faster this time :). After that we did a head 2 head challenge with the Challengers out on a new autocross track. It looked hard because you had to drive in a tight circle but was actually not as ridiculous as it looked and was INSANE amounts of fun. I did hit a couple cones tho :( Anyway we had a really good time competing with our fellow team members. Here is a video of my first run:
In the end we got to ride along with an instructor in either a Challenger or a Viper!! around the track, pushing the vehicle to pretty much the limit. I was one of the lucky people who got to ride in the Viper! It was the MOST INSANE feeling ever, SO fast and the G-forces were AMAZING. I haven't experienced anything like that, drifting around corners in that thing was so fun.
They put cameras in the cars so you can watch yourself. They are going to send those videos here in the coming weeks. I can't wait to see!!! I would highly recommend that you try a track experience like this. It is insane amounts of fun!! The SRT marketing people are definitely doing something right.
Check out more about the SRT Driving Experience at www.drivesrt.com
So basically they had food there for us and SRT merchandise which was cool. After they did a brief intro they split us into two teams, Team Hammer and my team, Team Shake-n-Bake. We basically rotated through 4 different driving exercises. The first I did was the driving basics. We followed behind an instructor around a track which was really fun. You didn't go slowly thats for sure. It was nice because you got to see they wanted you to push their cars. We circulated through 4 cars, the Jeep SRT8, Chrysler SRT8, Charger SRT8, and the Challenger SRT8. They were all incredible. I think my fave as a daily driver would be the Jeep for sure but the Challenger was a lot of fun to push around the track and in the autocross we did next. For the autocross they had a a little track set up and you couldn't touch the cones. It was challenging and would have been nice if we had more opportunities to practice but in the time frame we had that wasn't possible. The autocross was by far my fave! It feels a lot faster than it is and is incredibly fun. We drove 2 runs in the Challenger and one in the Jeep. Here is a video of my second run in the Challenger:
After lunch we got to race around the track like crazy people like we did in the first exercise but a bit faster this time :). After that we did a head 2 head challenge with the Challengers out on a new autocross track. It looked hard because you had to drive in a tight circle but was actually not as ridiculous as it looked and was INSANE amounts of fun. I did hit a couple cones tho :( Anyway we had a really good time competing with our fellow team members. Here is a video of my first run:
In the end we got to ride along with an instructor in either a Challenger or a Viper!! around the track, pushing the vehicle to pretty much the limit. I was one of the lucky people who got to ride in the Viper! It was the MOST INSANE feeling ever, SO fast and the G-forces were AMAZING. I haven't experienced anything like that, drifting around corners in that thing was so fun.
They put cameras in the cars so you can watch yourself. They are going to send those videos here in the coming weeks. I can't wait to see!!! I would highly recommend that you try a track experience like this. It is insane amounts of fun!! The SRT marketing people are definitely doing something right.
Check out more about the SRT Driving Experience at www.drivesrt.com
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Driving Word of the Month: Commit
Well I decided that I would be writing each month about one word to help you remember a little tip about driving. SO the first ever word of the month is "commit".
The #1 place I see this is entering the highway, but of course it also happens with lane changes and other aspects of driving. I will only talk about the biggest issue though...
So here is what happens:
You know how most places have these long leisurely quarter-mile on-ramps? Okay maybe this is only on the mainland, BUT the people on the mainland have no clue how to use them. You have HAVE H A V E to COMMIT! Just get up to speed and you will have NO problem squeezing in!! There is nothing more irritating than when I turn around the corner to get on the on-ramp and I look over my shoulder then back in front of me and BOOM there is some dingleberry just sitting there in the middle of the on-ramp...stopped...or going slowly...HELLOOOOO!!! You are gonna cause an ACCIDENT!! and I have seen that happen!! Remember, the people rocketing onto the on-ramp are LIKELY looking over their shoulder for a place to squeeze in. If you STOP -.- well you are going to have a serious case of whiplash and a really angry person yelling at you. Getting onto the highway IS NOT HARD! Especially when you have a quarter mile to get up to speed...anyone can do that it doesn't matter what car you have! Just commit to it!
Get your little blinker on
Look over your shoulder and make sure you aren't gonna lane change into somebody
Look forward for the morons I am writing this about -.- who brake or stop -.- idiots
AND ACCELERATE! Just get up to speed and get over! E A S Y!
So COMMIT to it!
The #1 place I see this is entering the highway, but of course it also happens with lane changes and other aspects of driving. I will only talk about the biggest issue though...
So here is what happens:
You know how most places have these long leisurely quarter-mile on-ramps? Okay maybe this is only on the mainland, BUT the people on the mainland have no clue how to use them. You have HAVE H A V E to COMMIT! Just get up to speed and you will have NO problem squeezing in!! There is nothing more irritating than when I turn around the corner to get on the on-ramp and I look over my shoulder then back in front of me and BOOM there is some dingleberry just sitting there in the middle of the on-ramp...stopped...or going slowly...HELLOOOOO!!! You are gonna cause an ACCIDENT!! and I have seen that happen!! Remember, the people rocketing onto the on-ramp are LIKELY looking over their shoulder for a place to squeeze in. If you STOP -.- well you are going to have a serious case of whiplash and a really angry person yelling at you. Getting onto the highway IS NOT HARD! Especially when you have a quarter mile to get up to speed...anyone can do that it doesn't matter what car you have! Just commit to it!
Get your little blinker on
Look over your shoulder and make sure you aren't gonna lane change into somebody
Look forward for the morons I am writing this about -.- who brake or stop -.- idiots
AND ACCELERATE! Just get up to speed and get over! E A S Y!
So COMMIT to it!
Monday, September 20, 2010
What is life without automobiles?
Well...I had tried my hand at blogging in the past and then ran out of things to talk about...BUT I was going on my semi-traditional (well two weeks in a row doesn't really make it tradition yet BUT I'M WORKING ON IT!) drive through the various mountains and canyons of the Northern Colorado Front Range, when I decided "hey! why don't I blog about driving?". I LOVE cars, and I love driving them :) SO I guess hey this could be fun right? So here goes...
I will be sharing my little Friday drives as they come and also things I notice about other drivers. I hope to be able to share pictures as often as possible...maybe even some videos...oooOOOOOooo :) I hope to have some fun with this and I hope you have some fun reading it!
For future reference...
Brian aka Lovebird, Bird, Muggins, or just The Boy: My driving/life partner and best friend who drives a lovable 04 Mini Cooper S that we lovingly call "The Coops" and also an 05 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R (as of now shes got no name :( sad days).
Shyla (Me): Bird's co-Pilot in The Coops, I drive the best 1st car anyone could have...an 08 Caliber SRT-4. She's a beauty!
Here is a picture of us getting ready to go to Mini Takes the States 2010 :)
I will be sharing my little Friday drives as they come and also things I notice about other drivers. I hope to be able to share pictures as often as possible...maybe even some videos...oooOOOOOooo :) I hope to have some fun with this and I hope you have some fun reading it!
For future reference...
Brian aka Lovebird, Bird, Muggins, or just The Boy: My driving/life partner and best friend who drives a lovable 04 Mini Cooper S that we lovingly call "The Coops" and also an 05 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R (as of now shes got no name :( sad days).
Shyla (Me): Bird's co-Pilot in The Coops, I drive the best 1st car anyone could have...an 08 Caliber SRT-4. She's a beauty!
Here is a picture of us getting ready to go to Mini Takes the States 2010 :)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)