I brake for tailgaters.

Jan 28 04:01 UTC 1993

   Why is there an amazing incidence of out-of-order turn signals on
tailgating cars/vans/trucks?  I suppose it's possible that people might
just not use them, but who in their right mind would risk their lives so
greatly as to *both* tailgate and fial to signal when they finally 
realize they can go around easier than through??

response 2 of 30:

Jan 28 20:22 UTC 1993

  The best solution is to pay attention when ever the car is started
or running. I personally worry about the driving all the time andf I treat
EVERYONE like they are just plain out of thier minds, Including those
I know. 
  There are basically 3 things to worry about when you drive a taxi.
1. the traffic
2. the person in the money seat
3. the meter.

 I deal with traffic as a first priority then when I arrive at a dstination
anonly then do I worry about the meter. I am always trying to keep
an eye to the person in the money seat to see that he/she is not trying
to rob/run out or do me great injury. There is a level of trust that you
have to give to the person, but I try to engage him in conversation so
that I can worry more about the traffic and the police and allay some
of my personal fears about that perso
  Intuition plays a large factor too.

response 6 of 30:

Feb 5 18:41 UTC 1993

This is a good place to gripe about other drivers, so I will.
I get very bothered by the MANY inconsiderate drivers who are causing tose
long traffic jams at road construction sites where one or more lanes merge.
Instead of merging immediely upon seein th"lane ends" sign, the RUSH
to the end of the lane and barge out in front of moving (however slowly)
traffic.  This SEVERELY impedes the flow of traffic.  What bothers me 
most about this behavior is that the offending drivers are the sole cause
of the problem that they are trying to avoid by racing to the lane's end.
If everyone merged as soon as they could, traffic would flow through the
bottleneck relatively quickly.  If you are one of those drivers who do this,
I urge you to make yourself part of the solution and not the problem.
One method that I and others I know have of dealing with this is to take up 
both lanes until it's necessary to merge.  Once the jam is clear ahead of
me, the traffic moves freely through the merge.Sometimes other drivers 
will take my lead and occupy both lanes too - that really clears things up.

response 8 of 30:

Feb 11 01:10 UTC 1993

In Germany, the suggestion is to go to the area where the lanes really
merge, and merge safely, without using the last feet.  The merging is done
in a zipper fashion, one car from each lane. It works much better, since the
upsetting effect of waiting longer than others does not exist.  One might
argue that this would reduce the speed of the traffic that passes thru the
bottleneck, however, since people never merge that much ahead completely,
and really, that case does not matter since it won't exist practically.

It is outright silly to merge 3 miles ahead, and have to wait 10(?) times
more than necessary.

The point of merging at the latest is kind of undefined, and requires social
interaction on the parties involved.  Now, that is where the problem lies,
in my opinion.

response 10 of 30:

Feb 20 14:45 UTC 1993

I agree with shf, to an extent.  If I merge early, by Murphy's law, there will
be some bozo who always goes 10-under in a dump truck in front of me.  Being
a construction type (or just curious & timid little old lady or something) he
or she will slow w-a-y down and crawl through the zone, leaving it with an 
immense load of traffic stacked up behind that will keep things slowed down for
 miles thereafter.  A few too many experiences like this taught me to sometimes
charge to the front of the open lane before merging, depending on my current
urgency and level of testosterone, and try to get around any bozos I could. My
biggest problem on the highways is people who are too distracted, timid, inept
at managing themselves in traffic, or fearful.  Some people are too scared to
be out there, basically.  They don't have driving test questions to detect
that, though they should.

response 12 of 30:

Feb 22 13:39 UTC 1993

The freeways around here are for bozos!  If your not a bozo driver, you don't
fit in.  Charging to the front before construction is, in my minority opinion,
a bozo move.  Since many bozos also have fuzz busters in their cars, I have
a lot of fun on the 2.7cm band.

response 14 of 30:

Mar 28 22:08 UTC 1993

That also reduces your risk of piling up with them.

response 16 of 30:

Apr 11 20:44 UTC 1993

Re #9:  My wife and I decided we want a phaser bank on the hood.

"Captain, asshole merging dead ahead!"
"Steady as she goes, Mr Sulu. Chekov, fire on my mark..."
"Jim, are you mad?!?!  If we start running about the galaxy blasting
  every jerk on the road, pretty soon they'll be noone left!"
"I'm aware of that possibility, Bones, but we MUST get this MAN to 
  SCHOOL.  And maybe, just MAYbe, we can GET these DRIVERS to think
  a little and make space a safe place for man to travel..."
"Chokov!  NOW!"
<<phaser sounds...> A GeToyoZukio Privyum spins wildy off in space>

response 18 of 30:

Apr 13 11:25 UTC 1993

The 25GHz cavity, feed-horn and gunn diode in my hand has much the same
effect.

response 20 of 30:

Aug 8 00:42 UTC 1993

The only problem with that reasoning is that the Ann Arbor area does not
have a reasonable public transportation system.  The only public
transportation, in fact, is the AATA bus system.  With buses running
every half-hour, it's pretty much guaranteed that taking the bus
will add at least 30 minutes to your trip.  And what if you live in
Ann Arbor, but work in Detroit or a Detroit suberb?

It's interesting that Detroit, the moter vehicle capitol of the world,
doesn't have a subway system.

response 22 of 30:

Aug 8 13:37 UTC 1993

He's right, actually.  On top of that, many of the lines run only during
rush hours.  I'm not sure AA has enough people to support a really good
public transportation system.

response 24 of 30:

Aug 8 20:45 UTC 1993

re 20"
   Detroit's layout is not condusive to a subway system. Unless you were to
run lines along Jefferson,Gratiot, Woodward, Grand River and Fort. There
is room to bus between the lines or better yet, route each in a loop pattern
like : Jefferson out to 9 mile and it could come back into town along Gratiot.
But that will not happen because this takes up a lot of real estate that would
have to be condemned, purchased, then developed. 
   Better yet, a light rail line could be added to the left turn lanes on
each of the major trunk lines with turn arounds at M-59. But, there again
will be opposition due to Mayor Young's alienanation of the suburbs.

Keep in mind that it took well over *30* years to build I-696. 
That should have been done in 6 yrs.