Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:35:53 -0400
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: Drafting (was Re: Engine to auto-tranny match and the Indy 500
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Have you actually driven in Houston, The Dallas-Ft. Worth to San Antonio
corridor, or in the "Metroplex"? I do regularly, and I guarantee, no
one can compare LA to it for idiocy behind the wheel. And each time
I've driven in the metro areas in California, I have remarked at the
comparatively sane behavior of the drivers compared to those in this
part of the country. Dense traffic, at any time of day or night? LA is
awful. But drivers are more respectful of others than here -- at least
in my experience.
On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 4:40 PM , Robert Fisher wrote:
> Uh.... this is some _other_ California you to which you are referring?
> Perhaps another planet you call California?
> I'm being flip, of course, but I live in a pretty small 'burg way out
> in the desert and people here drive like stuntmen in Deathrace 2000. I
> could tell you some stories, but as I wasn't in my Vanagon for most of
> them I won't. I have no idea how things are these days in OK or TX but
> I think I could count on one hand the times a driver has 'made space'
> for me in 20 years of living here.
> My wife can happily go to sleep when I'm driving on the highways
> around here but if she tries to drive she gets what amounts to anxiety
> attack. I've never personally driven anywhere quite like it, although
> Japan was close.
>
> Cya,
> Robert
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of Dave Mcneely
> Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 1:59 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Drafting (was Re: Engine to auto-tranny match and the
> Indy 500
>
> Don, When in California, southern or otherwise, I've found the drivers
> remarkably polite compared to those in my home environs of Oklahoma
> and
> Texas. Here, a lane change signal seems to be notice to the driver
> behind that (s)he should jump lanes into the space you signaled your
> intent to occupy. some sort of a primal urge to conquer, I suppose.
> In
> California, folks actually make space for you, if you signal. So far
> as
> the speed limit and tailgating -- required practice hereabouts, it
> seems, and the speed limit gives notice of a minimum, not a maximum.
>
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 3:46 PM , Don Hanson wrote:
>
>
>> The 3-second rule? Following at a safe distance? You ever drive a
>> freeway in So. Cal? Crap, those folks rip along at 85+ within a few
>> feet of
>> the car ahead..If you leave even close to one car length some one
>> will
>> try
>> to squeeze into that hole ahead of you. All the while, talking or
>> texting,
>> putting on makeup, drinking a Latte, or driving a huge over loaded
>> truck
>> with 6 more lanes of traffic going the same speed...Makes drafting a
>> semi
>> out on the highways seem like a child's pre-nap relaxation game..If
>> you dare
>> drive at a mere 70mph...they give you "The Stink-Eye" as they speed
>> past...
>> Don Hanson
>>
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