http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/08/california.runaway.prius/index.html?hpt=T2

More of the same nonsense, with another Prius driver who doesn't know how to turn off his washing machine when it's in the spin cycle.  It's funny that Ford F150's have had just as much trouble with stuck accelerators, but nowhere near the media trouble.  Why?  Because Ford customers know how to drive, and because the Prius and other Toyotas are designed to resemble washing machines, and are purchased by "drivers" that don't understand the first thing about how to drive.  All electronic!  Along with the other dumbed down features provided, they have eliminated that pesky key.  Several Prius drivers have commented that they don't even know what the "N" on the transmission is for. 

This tool rode that out of control EZ-Bake oven for 20 minutes and couldn't figure out how to slow down and stop until a cop came along with a bullhorn to yell at him:

Cop: "Press down on the big one at the left!"
Prius driver:  "I set it in the drive cycle and pushed start!"
Cop:  "Pull the emergency brake!"
Prius driver:  "I can't take my hands off from 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock!"
Cop:  "Just do it!  Pull the emergency brake!"
Prius driver:  "You mean that lever with the button?  That's for parking!"
Cop:  "Just do it you moron!  Who taught you how to drive!!??"
Prius driver:  "Quit being cross with me!  I'm saving the planet!!!!"
Cop:  "Put in in Neutral!"
Prius driver:  "What's that?"
Cop:  "Put the thingamabob next to the letter N!"

 Here's food for thought: http://trafficcopstories.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-8th-2010.html Read the poem at the end. Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

 I don't really have a specific flag to post but more and more I am noticing hesitant and scared drivers merging onto expressways going WAY under the speed limits.  I was behind one car the other night that merged at 30 MPH!  Don't you slow mergers understand that the on ramp of expressways are called acceleration lanes for a reason??  And that the people traveling in the right lane are not doing 30, they're doing 55-60?  Get some balls or get off the expressways!

1. Daytime Headlights required on all two lane highways where the speed limit is 46 mph or more.

2. ANY vehicle, (no matter who the owner is, commercial or otherwise) is involved in a felony, that vehicle will eventually become the property of the state. 

3. If you are convicted of a DUI, the vehicle you are driving, at the time, becomes the property of the state.

4. All states will post a toll free number, for that state, for drivers to report other drivers. After the fifth complain the registered owner gets a letter. After the tenth complaint, The plates are suspended for 30 days, after a required court appearance. Complainants must be able to go to court to testify if needed.

5. Driving or fog lights come under the same ruling as bright lights. Failure to do so, will result in musicmanhah
or michaelknight  dimming then for you with a ball peen hammer!

Sheila

 WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THIS SITE........THERE USED TO BE VERY INSIGHTFUL CONTRIBUTIONS AND INTELLIGENT CONVERSATIONS AND IMPUT ON THE PRO'S AND CON'S OF EVERYDAY DRIVING AND VERY USEFUL AND INFORMATIONAL CONTENT TO GLEEN........CERTAINLY THE ROADS AREN'T ANY SAFER AND THERE IS STILL THE NUMEROUS DAILY KNUCKLEHEADS WHO PERMIATE THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS..........HAVE WE BECOME JADED!? I WOULD HOPE NOT.........

 Well we got two more feet of snow.....

Well, since my two Hondas quit on me, I decided to change tactics and buy (Oddjob, forgive me LOL)....a TOYOTA. But surprisingly, since I got the 30 mpg-getting, easy-to-park, reliable, smooth-on-the-highway contraption, I don't get irritated with other Toyotas on the road as I used to. Yesterday, I made so many lane changes without signaling it was pathetic--mind you, I didn't cut anyone off. Am I morphing into a menace to the highway with my Yota, or was yesterday just a one-day episode? In my Hondas, Mercury, Ford, Toyota Camry I had 2 years ago, Hyundai, and Chrysler, I was always used my signals.

 Here's an article I found about those "blue headlights" you see on so many "ricers" these days. I agree with the author; I friggin' HATE those blue lights and the glare they cause! http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/bad/bad.html

 Here is a clarification of a earlier blog

A bill moving through the Georgia House is intended to increase safety on highways by cutting down on traffic congestion and driver frustration. The House Transportation Committee voted unanimously to advance a bill to the House Rules Committee that would allow law enforcement to crack down on slowpokes that clog traffic by driving in the left lanes.

HB1047 could soon come up for consideration on the House floor.

At least 20 states have similar left-lane restriction rules, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In recent months, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kansas have enacted laws to limit left-lane use.

The Georgia statehouse action is welcome news to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. The Association says it is common sense to have rules in place to encourage slower vehicles to yield to faster traffic.

Georgia law already makes it a misdemeanor to impede traffic by driving slower than the speed limit in the left-hand lane of multilane highways “once such person knows or should reasonably know that he is being overtaken in such lane from the rear.” Sponsored by Rep. Mark Butler, R-Carrollton, the bill would impose a minimum fine of $75.

High-occupancy vehicle and high-occupancy toll lanes would be excluded. In addition, anyone traveling the speed limit in the left lane would not be required to make way for another vehicle exceeding the speed limit.

 This is the latest from Tom vanderbilt: http://www.howwedrive.com/2010/02/25/a-driving-problem-not-a-texting-problem/

I was walking back to work after getting a sandwich, and came up to where I needed to cross Central Expressway.  There is a crosswalk across the right turn lane, after which you get to the spot where the walk button is, and a crosswalk across the road.

This woman, preparing to turn right, was stopped completely dead center in the crosswalk.  She wasn't moving, so I made a big production out of starting to walk through the crosswalk, almost bumped into her car, looked surprised, shook my head in disgust, and walked up, around, and then back past the driver door back into the crosswalk, and then walked the rest of the way.  She just sat there.  I pointed down, and back and forth, and mouthed "crosswalk."  Maybe she understood, hard to say.

Next, I notice that about 6 cars are piled up behind her, and at least 2 are honking at her, and that this is a right turn into an added lane.  There was NO hazard, but she just sat there and wouldn't go, still fully in the crosswalk.  I looked her in the face, pointed down the road, and mouthed "you can go" and "added lane," and tried to get her to move it, but she wasn't budging.  She waited it out until the green light, which was at least another full minute after I gave up.

This driver is typical, and fully expected around here.

Another reason NOT to park in a fire zone:

 http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/epic-fail-parking-fail.jpg

http://jalopnik.com/cars/prius-goes-poop/toyota-prius-owner-thinks-hes-a-train-blocks-san-fran-muni-tunnel-269987.php

Really, should somebody who does this just drive away, license in hand?  Evidently, if you operate your Toyota washing machine in an absolutely over the top incompetent manner, the cops will feel sorry for you.  Delay thousands of people and demonstrate without any doubt at all that you shouldn't have a license, and you get fined $55.  Go 79 on the flat stretch of 17 and you get fined $350.

Didn't get the info.. had a CAB with dinner and was a bit sleepy (kid was driving) but this pair of idjits in a maroon Mustang were whipping around in traffic and cheering when-ever they got in front of anyone... last I saw they were turning onto a road (Cliffdale) that cops love to patrol because of other idjits like them. Even though Fayetteville is full of idiot drivers, drawing more attention to yourself by cheering and waving your arms out the top of a convertible goes beyond stupid and straight into asking for it.

Did you hear about the 83 year old woman who talked herself out of a speeding ticket by telling the young officer that she had to get there.... before she forgot where she was going?

 what is up with the formatting. the spaces I put in between sentences are not showing up so everything is all scrunched into one paragraph? then every once in a while, it works correctly and I get all happy that it's working, until the next time I write something... AO

Pa and Wy want to turn I 80 into a toll road.
That means "we the people" the "consumers" are going to pay for this in the end. So, a truck load of cheerios going from the midwest to Salt Lake City will cost more than if it was going to Butte Montana because the trucking company has to charge more to cover the Wyoming tolls....Same goes for all you folks on the Eastern side, if PA gets there way.

Now consider this. All vehicles still must pay the state and federal tax on the fuel they use if they use the toll roads or not. Commercial trucks have to pay a "road use tax", different in every state, whether they use the toll road or not.

This will divert enough truck traffic off of the toll road and onto two lane roads. This will make it more dangerous and an increase of traffic, two or three fold, through small towns along that road.  Pa has already indicated that the toll revenue, from tolling I 80, will be used for other purposes other than maintenance  and improvements of that road. I would rather see an increase in fuel taxes in these states, and do away with this nonsense. The cost of turning any road into a toll road is a huge waste of money! Money we don't have...

What are your thoughts?
 

I am a proud resident of California, Los Angeles, to be exact, and I believe we have the best drivers around.  We also have the best road system ever.  It's clear and not confusing unlike some other states.  At the moment, I am in New York on vacation and the drivers here are extremely rude and inexperienced.  The New York road system is also poorly designed.  Yesterday I was driving on a major road, two lanes going straight, and on the other side, two lanes going back.  Suddenly, the red light comes on.  Everyone stopped liked they should right behind the crosswalk.  Then, the little green arrow appeared indicating the driver that he or she could turn right safely.  The problem is that there was NO third lane.  The first vehicle at the right lane whose goal was to drive straight ahead ended up turning right so the cars behind him can turn right.  The poor driver was honked at and cursed at by the immature mob.  That's when I realize that they should have created a third lane so that those cars can turn right on the green arrow.  I decided to get lunch at a local deli and asked the cashier if she knew anything about that odd road design.  She replied "yes", and that it has always been there and people in the area were taught to avoid it or ignore it.  I immediately replied "That's weird.  Why would anyone designed something like that?"  She answered, "Then again, this is New York. Anything goes here!"  She made my lunch break a pleasure.   

Real soon you will be able to go (legally) five miles per hour faster. Wow....that's going to cut your travel time by 20 - 30 seconds?

i happened to go to the store today and what happens in the parking lot a 80 year old man driving a  small car and bumps
my car that was parked and takes off. his license plate was bb9186 from Illinois.

 Here's the latest column from Tom Vanderbilt: http://www.slate.com/id/2244929/

Georgia just passed a bill for left lane bandits who refuse to move their asses when 12 cars pile up behind them waiting to pass. The funny thing is, Georgia just passed a "Super Speeder Law" that tacks on $200 extra for traffic citations given to drivers who are giving 75+ on two lane roads and 85+ on multilane roads. If you need clarification on what exactly are two-lane roads (I know I did, the wording confused me at first):

Two-lane roads are those in which there is one lane of traffic flow in each direction. Examples of this would be roadways where the speed limit is on average 35 or 40. When I first heard the term in regards to the SSL, I was thinking "Well, DAMN! There are portions of I-20 in Covington (a town 30 miles E of ATL) and beyond where the speed limit is 70. So I'll get a speeding ticket plus $200 for going FIVE OVER THE LIMIT?"

Well back to the LLBL....how can I put this? So if I'm going 85 in the left lane on I-285 (speed limit is 55 ALL THE WAY AROUND) and the guy, guy, girl, guy, and don't-know-yet want to pass because they're going 86-90 and I don't get over, will I get a ticket for excessive speed (the $200 plus fine), impeding traffic flow, or both?

Platewire, talk to me.

 To whom it may concern:

First off, I would like to thank whoever started Platewire. Thanks for an outlet through which me and other frustrated drivers can express our "pissedoffness" about bad drivers. But I have a small request to the editors: change the look of the latest Georgia license plate design.

The new GA license plate design is similar to that was discontinued sometime in 2007 with a few noted changes. I'll start at the top of the plate and work my way down:

1. The grey portion up top is now white, thus making the entire background of the plate white.

2. The "www" part has been dropped.

3. "GEORGIA.gov" remains, however, this portion has been shifted so that it centers at the top of the plate and the letters have become BLACK.

4. The standard plate for passenger vehicles still uses the ABC1234 format, however, the letters/numbers have become narrower.

These changes apply to plates approximately AVS0000 and beyond.

Thank you.

 This is from Fark.com: http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5027097