Earning points for Road Rage, is this the new norm for Calf?

[Wildthings]

My wife and I recently drove most of the length of California on I-5. Twice along the way on sections of highway that had three lanes in each direction someone turned from the far left "fast" lane into the far right exit lane thereby crossing multiple lanes of traffic in not much more than a second. The turns were executed so late that the exit lanes had already separated from the travel lanes by thirty feet or more so the vehicles had to cross the typically debris strewn "V" shaped apron as well as the traffic lanes.

Are these people participating in some kind of a contest to see how ridiculous their driving can be, maybe getting points for how close they come to causing multi car accidents or are they just texting as they go down the road and are oblivious to where they are at at any moment?

[danfromsyr]

don't worry the cars are becoming smarter than the drivers.. and why should they pay attention, the car is monitoring the other traffic right?
fear the next group of new drivers..
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[jakokombi]

Here in Wisconsin I'm amazed at the people who will risk life and limb to avoid
going around the block.
I used to dread the thought of self driving cars, now I think they can't come soon enough.
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70 Sunroof Kombi
85 Motherfukinvanagon
73 Thing
72 Baja

[Wasted youth]

No points. Normal behavior.

Geez... I-5? You must have been pressed for time.

[aerosurfer]

This is why I hate GPS. People blindly follow it now with no real idea where it is taking them, then when it tells them to do something the late reactions, or other distraction causes them to act before thinking, or in regards to the road; making the quick trip across all lanes of traffic, or what I see even more often is slowing waaaaay down in the left lane and trying to frogger their way over to the exit amongst all the cars at speed.

No idea what the highway was like where you were, but if people still knew the areas they were being led, they could make better use of knowing to go up an exit and come back or using another route from the next exit to get back on course, not making rash decisions after it's essential too late.

Even with all the new safety and technology in cars today, and even for the majority of people not necessarily driving distracted, I still think it's making people dumber to their environment to the point that self driving cars look like a good idea. Or perhaps we have reach an apex to whom or what the right definition of 'the driver' is.
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Rebuild your own FI Harness..My Harness

77 Westy 2.0L Rockin and Rolling Resto!

72 Sportsmobile (sold)
79 Tran$porter... Parts car money machine (gone)

[79SuperVert]

I don't agree that GPS is the problem. GPS gives you plenty of warning about upcoming changes. It repeats the upcoming turn numerous times, and does it multiple ways (verbally, graphically and in text on the display). A driver that misses all those cues is clearly distracted. Driver distraction is the real problem IMO, and it seems that only self-driving cars will solve that problem.
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Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[airschooled]

This is definitely not a California-only problem. They give have wider freeways than most. I-5 is a huge commuter AND tourist freeway; it's a deadly mix when you get the commuters that know the traffic flow and lane layouts mixing with the family of seven in the SUV late for their Disneyland hotel check in.
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[aerosurfer]

[TDCTDI]

[Enkiel]

nothing about distraction or anything.

its all about time.

fast lane as loing as possible, then cut the slow guy for your exit as late as possible.

its like that everywhere.


people are in a hurry, and don't care about others safety or time, they just want to "beat the traffic"
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1964 Turkis Flipseat

[Wildthings]

[KTPhil]

Not all GPS units give enough warning. The verbal warnings on my Benz come far too late to prepare for the maneuver. I turn on the second screen that gives me a mileage countdown to the next turn so I know it is coming. The "bitch in the box" is a day late and a dollar short.

The problem is on L.A. freeways that have 6-7 lanes. Getting over for a junction requires a mile or more in high speed traffic. The GPS only gives about a quarter mile, and that makes for too little warning for those multiple lane changes!

But then, if everyone is staring at their GPS screens, they will have other accidents!

[Zundfolge1432]

[Air-Cooled Head]

[bigdog1962]

All GPS apps are not the same. The one that came with my Avalanche isn't very good and you have to buy a disc every so often to update it.

Google maps seems to be pretty good and gives a decent warning.

So far as driving, that's one reason I love living where I do. It takes you about 15 minutes to go wherever it is you're going.

I would never, ever live in Atlanta. I go through there enough to have chest pain whenever I think about it. Dangerous drivers going 85 in a 55 is the norm.
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Oprn wrote: I'm getting to the age that any self propelled woman (no wheel chair or walker) looks HOT!! Oooo! look at that Babe! She made it from the dining room all the way to the TV room without help!! Hubba, hubba!!

[79SuperVert]

I stand corrected. I was speaking from personal experience with GPS units from Garmin and Tom Tom, and GPS apps on my wife's and daughters' cell phones. All of them do what I described in terms of giving plenty of warnings and multiple ways of telling the driver what is coming up. As long as we are paying attention to the unit and not talking or doing something else, we have usually had very good results with our units. They often point out quicker ways to get to our destinations than we knew about, and they also warn us of traffic tie ups and alternate routes. I sometimes like to set mine to "no highways" so it will take me along back roads that I've never been on before.

I'm very surprised that other people have had such poor experiences with GPS. I really thought the technology and implementation was much more advanced than it seems to be based on these comments. It also doesn't speak well at all for self - driving cars which are using GPS apps.

BTW, I saw an interesting bumper sticker the other day: "I'm an idiot driver." Might as well save the other guy the trouble of reaching that conclusion on his own!
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Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[Zundfolge1432]

Didga ever wonder why GPS is not pinpoint accurate?

[scottyrocks]

[60ragtop]

[Zundfolge1432]

Well didga?