Because, Clover!
The video above is just once incident. Writ large, these incidents – which congeal traffic all over the country – explain why it takes forever to get anywhere.
Just one Clover can gum up the works for dozens of drivers. Like the fussy old lady at the supermarket checkout who has to question the price of each item, then – one by one – then withdraws a dozen crumpled coupons from her purse – stalls the line. And like the old lady, Clover doesn’t care.
Clover is oblivious – indifferent – to the imposition.
The old lady at the checkout takes her sweet time – and so does Clover. Neither will ever say (or beckon) “you go ahead.” Their sense of entitlement – and lack of common courtesy – is so woodenly ingrained in their psyche that the thought probably never occurs to them.
How much time – how much money and productivity – is lost to Cloverism each year? It is incalculable.
Like the weight of the sun.
But let’s try.
If Clovers cost you five minutes every day – a lowball estimate, surely – then here’s how it adds up:
5 minutes times seven days equals 35 minutes per week.
35 minutes times four weeks equals 140 minutes, or 2.3 hours per month.
2.3 hours times twelve months equals 27.6 hours, or one day and 3.6 hours – the equivalent of 3.45 eight hour work days.
Over the course of ten years, we’ll lose more than a month of our time – of our finite lives – to Clover.
It puts the Cloveronian bleat about “being patient” into perspective.
It’s also a significant chunk of money.
How much do you earn per hour (or day)? Do the math. Even a minimum wage earner is dunned the equivalent of about $200 annually, courtesy of Clover. 
But the aggravation imposed is impossible to quantify.
It’s not that they’re slow-movers, timid and over-cautious. That cannot be helped. To expect a Clover to drive beyond his abilities is unreasonable and – to parrot the Clovers’ favorite word – it isn’t safe. But expecting them to use their mirrors – and not expect the rest of us to drive at their pace – that is reasonable.
And safe.
For everyone, Clovers included.
I once had a back-and-forth with a particularly obtuse Clover – the ur Clover, a troll at EPautos who used that handle to identify himself (and thereby, his species) – about the German Autobahn, where very high speed traffic coexists safely with traffic moving much more slowly. I gave him the example – not exaggerated – of a Porsche 911 closing at 150 MPH on another car doing 80. In this country – because of almost universal Cloverism – this scenario would be exceedingly dangerous. The Porsche would either have to decelerate rapidly to avoid a collision – or “swerve” around the car doing 80, which would not have moved out of the way.
In Germany, it would have gone differently. Because the driver of the car doing 80 would have been scanning his mirrors – would have noticed the Porsche and anticipated the need to get out of its way. And then done so – before the Porsche overtook. The 911 driver would likely never have had to touch his brakes. And the driver of the other car would be safely out of the way, where he belongs.
The Germans are religious about this – about lane discipline, about yielding to faster-moving traffic. It’s a cultural thing as much as a legal thing.
Here, it’s the reverse.
Cloverism is taught in what they hilariously misname “driver education.” Passivity and slowness – not merely of speed, but also of reaction most of all. Notice, as a for-instance, the way most U.S. drivers maneuver. If they maneuver at all. You’ll come up behind two cars, one in the left, the other in the right lane. Instead of having noticed that you are approaching at a speed faster than he is driving – and smartly increasing his speed such that he can clear the car to his right and then pull to the right, clearing the left lane so that you can get by without having to slow down to his pace – the Clover will maintain his pace. He will “cruise control” pass the car to his right – taking minutes do to what ought to take seconds. Perhaps eventually, he will put on his turn signal and then – very slowly – ease over to the right. But never before he has already created a Clover Cluster behind him.
Or he will not pass the car to his right – and thereby form a rolling roadblock. Scale that up nationally and you’ll understand why no one gets anywhere anymore.
Or gets there late
You can thank a Clover for this.
Throw it in the Woods?
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Dear Eric,
Very timely article. The Dollar Vigilante has also posted a great article right in line with this. Check it out!
What Happens When All The Police In A Town Are Removed
https://www.dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/10/1/what-happens-when-all-the-police-in-a-town-are-removed.html
Excerpt:
It all started over a month ago, right here in Acapulco, Mexico, when I commented to a good friend, “Have you noticed how much better traffic has been lately?”
He responded, “Yes, traffic flow has been so much better… it’s because the Transit Police went on strike.”.
It turned out that was the case. The Transit Police in Acapulco had went on strike and all of a sudden many local residents were noticing how much better traffic, which can get to gridlock levels during peak holiday periods, had become.
Weeks went on and you could tell that almost everybody had become aware of the lack of transit police and no one was adhering to red lights if there wasn’t any oncoming traffic. The majority of people began treating red lights like a “yield” sign. They’d slow down, check that no cars were coming, and if there weren’t, they’d just roll through the red light instead of sitting there for a minute or two, as traffic backed up behind them.
But, it got even better. The municipal police also then went on strike… and no one noticed.
Is this great, or what?
Mexico. What a country! Land of the Free!
When I was in Mexico last, I swore I’d never come back here.
I’d Never felt so free.
…But then the damn money ran out. …And I was eighteen. …And I still thought this was the home of the free.
wHAt’s that “they” say about young, dumb, and…?
The videos I’ve seen from there about racing and such… whoa. Cool shit.
Dear helot,
Never too late!
That’s so cool, and an interesting thing to see in action, since its rarely “allowed”. Most people want “proof” that our way of doing things “work”. Loads of irony too, when you think that even though their “way of doing things” has been a huge failure worldwide, hundreds of times, over centuries, with millions of deaths to boot, we must keep “trying” to make something that will not work, “work”. But little examples of our way of thinking is “dangerous”.
Most small town or suburban police departments likely spend the majority of their time on “traffic duties”. What else would they be doing? If you did a real survey of the public, I imagine the majority would prefer that the majority of the time of a small town police department be on the solving of petty crimes (which are almost never solved, because most departments don’t even TRY to solve them). Rather then the harassment of drivers who for the most part are not causing problems. I imagine even some police officers would rather solve crimes then write traffic tickets.
Over the course of 40 years, in my small town, the department has also grown, by quite a bit, from two officers in 1970 to 38 today (they are budgeted for 40). Has my town grown in that last 40 years? No, in fact, it has gotten a bit smaller (from 26,000 down to 24,000). But with the rise of the “professional” police departments, they have grown enormously. So they “have” to write tickets to “support” the department. Property taxes only go so far.
Dear rich,
‘ Most people want “proof” that our way of doing things “work”.’
Right, and they won’t let us do it our way to show that it works! That’s what made this such a great thing. Living proof.
most people have been conditioned through government schooling that only government can solve problems through force. They don’t really want proof they just want a way of dismissing people who challenge their world view.
Here in Indiana we have 1-65 which runs north south through the state. Clovers have become a menace on it lately as the volume of traffic has increased by quite a bit the last few years. Its one of those four lane interstates that should have been expanded to six a decade ago already (yes, through the whole state, all the way from Gary to Louisville).
In the past clovers weren’t so dangerous because you could at least pass on the right (amazingly its actually legal to pass on the right in Indiana when you have too). But the volume of traffic has increase to the point where that isn’t possible because there aren’t big enough gaps anymore. So you get the huge backups of 15-20 people stuck behind some clover going slower then the speed limits in some cases. In some really bad cases you have a 18 wheeler that is stuck in the left lane behind some clover because they can’t move to the right, even if they want to.
So huge pileups have been happening, up and down the state, some fatal.
So if anyone wonders why I think slow drivers are FAR more dangerous the fast ones, that is why. One of my German friend rode with me once, and he was scared, and thinks American drivers are incredibly rude and dangerous even though we drive way slower then they do.
I for one would love to have autobahn rules on American interstates. There would be no reason why we couldn’t do 85+ on I-65, its all straight and flat. All people have to do is stay in the right lane for that to work, and yet………
When I see Indiana plates on a vehicle I assume it’s a clover. I am correct far more than I am wrong. Going into Indiana is clover city. Even the truckers in Indiana are clovers. One of my adventures on I-65… construction somewhere up ahead so two truckers get side by side crawling. 5mph or less crawling. I’m right behind the trucker in the right lane. An Illinois plated SUV with a driver that has had enough starts shoulder passing. The trucker in front of me goes on the shoulder to block the SUV driver forcing the SUV driver into the grass. This is where I accelerate since the lane is now clear and get into the free space in front of the truck. Had some interesting issues with trucks the rest of the way.
Michigan drivers are even worse, but since there is so much less traffic there…………
It is not only the poor drivers causing problems in the US, it is also the incompetent designing of the roads, poor signage and lack of driving knowledge of the those who make the rules.
And that’s all gunvermin as well.
Too many signs. Conflicting signs. Signs hidden by trees and bushes, worn out, non-reflective (illegible).
Then more signs to modify the signs there.
Like at the highway-end of an entry ramp: A Stop sign, so you don’t just roll into traffic; a “One Way” sign on the median of the divided highway; a “DO NOT ENTER” Sign on the back (hopefully!) of the STOP sign, in case you didn’t understand/see the “ONE WAY” sign…
Sign, sign
everywhere a sign,
blocking up the scenery,
breakin’ my mind;
Do this, Don’t do that,
Can’t you read the sign….
(Tesla)
And the worst – the overhead programmable sign on the Interstate. May be helpful in case of an accident ahead that you can bypass with a different route. But the Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts, PSA’s (Drive sober or get pulled over), etc., all just cause marginal Clovers into full Clover mode, slowing down to read the darn thing.
One near here recently went 3-4 days showing a single letter – “L” – to which I could only reply “The L you say?”
I’m logged in. Why am I “awaiting moderation”?
Hi Phillip,
Have you registered as a user? If not, please do – and I will set it so that your comments are not held in the Moderation queue!
Yes, I have registered, and am logged in. That’s why I was surprised to be held up.
BTW – the avatar that you or Dom or whoever (luck of the draw?) chose for me is not quite accurate. It shows 1 tooth too many.
Should be all clear now! (I’ll keep my eye on it…)
You used to be able to upload an avatar of choice, but then something went Horribly Wrong.
No worries, Bevin already got the best one.
On my interstate exit, the wind blew some of the signs down in February, they are still laying on the ground yet in October. State crews mowed around them all summer.
That title still photo looks familiar 😉
http://clovercam.com/?p=1378
Now you’re being unfair. The clovers are often very “courteous” people. If someone is coming out of a gas station driveway and the light just turned green you can count on the clover in front of you to wait and let him in. When someone is in the wrong lane and won’t go the direction of that lane, the clover in front of you will stop the traffic flow for him. They are courteous, just in a backwards way for they don’t recognize anything behind the B-pillar, sometimes the A-pillar of their own car. Everyone behind them doesn’t count. Hence it takes forever to get anywhere.
Your points about driver education and the Autobahn are spot on.
For one thing, schools would rather spend money on a new FUUUUUUUTBALL stadium than on driver ed, which is one actually useful thing that’s taught in schools. For another, even with all the new requirements, it’s still super easy to get a license.
For another thing, US traffic laws have more to do with “revenue enhancement” than actually ensuring a safe, smooth flow of traffic. Notice how there is never a cop around to bust lane hogging and failure to yield, but drive a few miles over the PSL, and you’re toast.
That said, I’ve been interested in one of those Skip Barber/Bondurant driving schools…think those make sense to take to up my driving skill?
Thanks, Bryce!
And on Bondurant/Barber: Hell yes. I’ve done Bondurant and highly recommend it. You will learn things that are virtually impossible to learn on the street, by yourself, about vehicle dynamics/control. You’ll explore the limits of traction and will be amazed just how much you’ve still got, right up to the threshold of the car’s limits. And your own limits as a driver will be much, much higher after the course.
Eric you have mental problems. If you complain about cars doing the recommended speeds around curves then you either need to move where they do not have have those curvy roads or put an end to your miserable life.
Tell us Eric what your plan is to do with these videos of people driving correctly? You must be hard up for money if you need others to add to your insanity.
Just for you, Clover!
http://ericpetersautos.com/2014/09/28/clover-4/
What a load of horsecrap. Anyone with even half a brain who has looked at the ridiculously low “recommended” speeds posted for most curves can plainly see those speeds are targeted to the lowest common demoninator — like a 90-year-old woman driving to church in the snow, in a 1949 Nash with bias-ply tires and bad shocks.
I drive a vehicle over 40 years old that was hardly known for its handling prowess even when new and find that I can easily and without any distress whatsoever far exceed those laughable “recommended” speeds when going around curves.
Hi Jason,
The thing Clover refuses to grok is yielding.
I grok that he – and other Clovers – may not feel “safe” driving a given speed. That’s fine. I don’t expect Clover to drive beyond her abilities. I’d simply like her to look in her rearview and make an effort to let those of us who are comfortable driving at a faster pace get by.
It’s such a simple, common courtesy concept.
Which, of course, is why it’s beyond Clover’s ken!
PS: It bears mentioning that Clover will frequently almost stroke out when passed – honking her horn, flashing her lights, gesturing angrily – even though nothing was done to her and even though the passing driver/rider is now ahead of her and rapidly disappearing and thus, no longer even in Clover’s orbit. What drives Clover batty is that someone passed her. That someone drover faster than she drives.
It gets her panties in a bunch!
Eric I just want to know what the object of your video is? In business, something you know nothing about, if you see a problem you then create an action plan to remedy the situation. What is your action plan that includes these videos other than putting cash in your pocket?
I read one of the posts in this section and the poster complained about the heavy traffic on the interstate in Indiana. The poster was not smart enough to understand that you do not free up a whole lane of interstate so that the select few can drive 85 mph and take up twice the interstate space needed to eliminate tailgating because with higher speeds you need more following distance. Another thing the poster forgot is that driving at higher speeds do not lessen traffic congestion but often makes it worse. Traffic congestion is lessened when everyone drives the same speed and even gets better when speeds decrease. They even do that in Germany with variable speed limits are dropped to a lower speed limit when there is heavy traffic.
The object, Clover?
The joy of movement; of being alive and in the moment – as opposed to a blank-eyed, lifeless lump.
My plan of action, Clover?
To undermine you and yours at every opportunity. To de-legitimize every awful thing you stand for – so that, one day, you and yours will be swept off the stage of human events as the detritus you are.
And: I “have to laugh” (to use your idiot vernacular) at the pronouncement about a country she’s never been to and roads she’s never driven or even seen for herself.
You’ve never taken a high-performance driving course, Clover.
Liar.
Clover –
Your fearful/dumbed-down attitude toward driving is a function of your low skill level. Don’t assume others are similarly impaired, much less presume to tell them to drive at your level.
If you’d taken any actual driving courses, you’d know something about vehicle dynamics and that a skilled driver can operate in tandem with the capabilities of modern cars at a very high (by your standard) level safely, in more control of the car than you are of yours at your dumbed-down, Cloveritic level.
But the courses you’ve taken are “obey the law” courses, such as those “taught” by the DMV.
Only one question Eric, if performance driving schools make you a so much better driver then why do so many professional race car drivers have accidents and even single car accidents that kill themselves and others?
My answer is that they push the limits. It is pushing the limits of the car, the driver and the external environment which includes the road and others that makes them kill people. Eric the video that you showed us where you said you did not have a clue why there was a no passing zone shows us that you are one of the worst drivers in our country. If you think it is a good thing to start passing someone when you can not see cars or trucks entering the roadway in front of you until they pull onto it then it shows us your poor driving. It shows us how poor your performance driving class is doing for you for day to day driving.
First of all, Clover, you sloppily “group guilt” people (as is your usual practice). If Tony Stewart wrecks, it says nothing about my judgment/abilities behind the wheel.
Second, your sloppy generalization is just that – sloppy.
Let me prove it to you.
I and others who do what I do (test drive new cars) have (most of us) taken high-performance driving course and are better-than-average drivers as a result. We also tend to drive faster than most people (because we’re able to do so safely and so are comfortable doing so). Yet the majority of us do not have “accidents.” In fact, we have fewer accidents than the average (that is, the typical) driver. Most of us go 20, 30 years (or more) without so much as scratching a fender. If it were otherwise, we would not be trusted with the responsibility of driving other people’s often very expensive, very powerful cars – I assure you.
Same goes, by the way, for over the road truckers (who are also higher skilled/better trained).
The bottom line, again, is your presumption that the speed you feel comfortable driving is The Universal Safe Speed For All.
PS: It’s hilarious that you think you know the road in the video. Which – like the German Autobahn – you’ve never driven on or even been in the vicinity of yourself.
Limited access highways are simple as road systems go.
qout > qin -> no congestion.
qin > qout -> congestion.
It’s rather obvious that better flow and higher speeds maximize qout and thus lessen congestion.
Brent you are the most brain dead persons I have ever heard. The maximum qout your can have on a roadway is approximately 1 car every two seconds. It does not really matter how fast you are going except it often delays cars with your merging into a free lane blocking others. The faster you are traveling and the more you change lanes makes your maximum qout decrease. I never did figure out how you got a degree? If it was in engineering the only thing I can think it would be in is a garbage pickup engineer because you do not have the mental capacity to do anything better.
Why is it Brent that countries like Germany have variable speed limits? If you figure that one out maybe your IQ will go up to 50.
Oh Clover how you must resort to insult because you do not have a point.
I am not the first person to view traffic on limited access highways from a fluid dynamics or heat transfer point of view. However my twist on it is that I see ‘clots’ form. Someone like yourself prevents passing and as faster traffic gets stuck a moving clot forms. Multiple clots form the same way. Then the clots grow together and bumper to bumper traffic is the result. Speed plus lane discipline prevents the clotting resulting in higher qout. furthermore, time in system. Long dwell times in the system are what the ‘clots’ cause. lower the dwell time, lower the congestion. I’ve explained this all to you before. But it is entirely beyond your grasp. I might as well try to teach heat transfer to my friend’s dog.
Oh and since you mentioned it… Variable speed limits are for two reasons, to speed some sections and slow some sections down. The goal here is to always keep qout > qin.
Brent variable speed limits are not to speed up some sections and slow other sections. Brent you IQ is well below 50 yet. If you say that speed is best always why the need to slow some sections? You answer that correctly then you may get up to the 50 IQ.
Clover –
I’d love – I’d pay good money – to see your IQ score and compare it with Brent’s.
You’re my favorite pinata.
I bet Brent’s, too.
What have you ever made in this life? I mean, other than a “number two” in your Depends?
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/smarterhighways/vsl.htm
“Congestion on the highway ebbs and flows and the variable speed limit signs reflect that fluctuation. It’s just like a driver speeding up and slowing down to adjust to the traffic flow. The only difference is that the Smarter Highways signs let you know in advance that the speed change is coming. “
Brent copying part of a web site only shows us that a person with under a 50 IQ can do a search on the internet. If you say that higher speeds are better for congestion then why drop the speed limit when there is congestion? Can you make it up to a 50 IQ?
You didn’t read what I told you about clots in traffic. Of course you never notice them because you cause them.
Anyway lower variable speed limits are to limit the vehicles building up behind the clot you and those like you create. By preventing the clots from growing too large congestion is lessened.
Higher speeds plus lane discipline works to prevent clots from forming in the first place.
The funny thing is, you can’t understand this 50 IQ type stuff, so your IQ is somewhere around what? A soybean plant? Oh wait, that’s an insult to soybeans.
Clover’s problem isn’t that he can’t (or won’t) understand variable speed limits, traffic flow and so on.
His problem is that he is an asshole.
I usually drive faster than the traffic in my orbit, but when I see a car behind me that’s traveling faster, I always (and immediately) yield right.
When I am driving a four lane (two in each direction) I stay right except to pass.
Sure, I “speed” – but I do not impede other drivers. I do my best to actively avoid doing that.
Unlike Clover.
Which is why he’s an asshole – and we’re not!
Clover – as usual – has no argument, so resorts to attacks.
Brent is “stupid.” Eric is “stupid.”
That’s all Clover’s got. Like an eight-year-old bully, but all grown up.
I understand Eric. You are always passing so you claim the left lane as yours. You want others to be delayed so you are not. You are like Brent in that if another car in the right lane is coming up fast to a slower truck or whatever then you want them to slow down to a crawl so you are unimpeded. I would call such a person a selfish brat. I would bet that neither of you have slowed to allow such a driver to pull in front of you because you always have the right of way. You are in the left lane. You are driving fast and illegally so everyone else get the hell out of your way and pull off the road and wait a minute or two for an opening so that you are not impeded in any way.
Brent you say variable speed limits stop people from building up behind a clot. Tell me when you would slow down before you reached that clot? Never! You would add to the problem. In your favorite country to drive in, Germany, they have variable speed limits that work. Why? Because in Germany they WILL ticket you for driving 2 mph over the limit. That is why variable speed limits work so well in places like Germany. People do not go past the speed limit. Traffic flow is great. They would never work with libertarians in control because you have the right to add to traffic problems.
Clearly, Clover, you do not understand. Because I’ve repeatedly stated that I am not always passing. But it’s an irrelevance, regardless. The point at issue is your refusal to yield to faster-moving traffic. Your demand that others drive at your level.
Stop making comments, by the way, about a country you’ve never been to and roads you’ve never driven on.
Clover has three weapons in his kit:
The lie.
The evasion.
The insult.
He argues points I never made – such as accusing me of “always passing” and “claiming the left lane as my own.”
I wonder why he won’t debate what I did state?
About using one’s mirrors and yielding right to faster moving, overtaking traffic before it overtakes – so that overtaking traffic is not forced to slow and bunch up?
Clover, when you make up stuff about people personally? That is the thrust of your post, which means you lost the argument.
Eric your are always in the left lane and passing unless there are no other cars for hundreds of yards. Tell me Eric why it is OK for you to control others, tell them to pull off the road or stay behind the slow truck in the right lane and you say that others do not even have the right to drive the speed limit? Why is that Eric? Why do you have the need to control others and others have no rights? Eric I usually do yield to faster cars even when it slows me down but why should I have to? I just want the jerks to get the hell away from me. It is not worth the fight but if I had your mentality I would. If someone is driving fast in the left lane passing no one at the time and a couple hundred feet behind me then why should I have to slow behind the truck below the speed limit and not pass just so someone else can break the laws and slow me down when they are behind me? I bet that Brent would pass or you would pass if in the right lane in such a case and have no problem with it.
We have seen videos of Brent pulling between vehicles. He says it was OK because he is an excellent driver and can tailgate but the car behind him is pushed back because that is why there was space in the first pace because they do not tailgate. He has no problem delaying others. He has videos where he was behind someone and he saw they were changing lanes so he stands on the horn to stop them, speeds up and blocks them. Eric aggressive drivers are every bit as bad or worse than any other driver.
Even if I were “always in the left lane” – which I’m not – it would be irrelevant, Clover.
The debate here is whether slow-moving traffic ought to yield to faster-moving traffic. And more, whether drivers ought to anticipate the need to yield and do so before faster-moving traffic is forced to slow down.
You can’t stand the idea of paying attention to your driving relative to the driving environment. All you are about is you.
You’ve said so yourself. “What’s the hurry?” Others can “leave early” and the delays you impose only amount to “a few seconds” … and so on.
You’re lying again Clover. Why do you lie? Is it because you don’t have a valid argument? I think so.
clover, by that idiot statement of slow means less clogs, I guess the state is trying to keep congestion down by shunting everybody into a single lane at a big construction zone. Sure works well every time I got through there. Got behind a line a mile long of barely moving car Friday because of that. At my behest the driver took an exit and made up half that distance to blend in again, just further up the line. Naw, everything was peachy after that construction single lane. I’d bet the traffic managed to get back to speed and not bunch up within a couple hundred miles, if ever. Luckily, our exit was a two lane hiway with no construction and everybody was hauling ass.
I go through that same zone yesterday but the road is open on both lanes making it much faster and safer and very few vehicles were going as slow as the PSL. Well, so much for your slower is safer theory.
And BTW clover, I was a victim of the single lane stopped traffic this year and got clobbered from behind. In the ensuing ambulance ride I was thinking of how nice it would have been to not have a mile of traffic stop and just let em run slowly on the dirt since Texans are fairly much at home on most surfaces.
One sure way to get rid of clovers, send em to Tx. right now and have them drive these over-clogged roads. Of course the downside is all the other people they’d kill. Just think clover, not holding others up and driving the same speed as everyone else might end up being a good thing as in The life you save might be your own. Aw hell, no use to use logic here, clover can’t hear, she ain’t got no ear. (Thanks JP, RIP)
Hi Eight!
Clover’s going to do a number two in her Depends when she hears my Vidcast, which will be posted later today!
eric, why is it I think number two in clover’s Depends is a frequent and unavoidable event?
I think it’s because Clover lives her life in a state of perpetual fear. Like Dr. Smith from Lost in Space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz2_d6zWDhg
Her nervous condition must be just awful – and I’d be sympathetic, were she not such a gash.
It’s tough to understand. Why should I care if someone wants to pass me? I usually do 5-10 mph over the PSL. If someone wants to go faster it’s no skin off my nose.
If needed I’ll pull over and wave them on as long as there’s a safe place to do so. (Did that just today for a guy on a motorcycle who wanted to move faster down a back road. What’s the big deal?)
Jason Flinders,
It should not matter. If others wish to travel quicker than me, so be it. It takes less than 30 seconds for me to safely pull to the side and let them pass.
There are more clovers than you can imagine and I think they’d been shunted to the oil field. I occasionally have to drive a tractor with a 65 mph speed limiter. Traffic piles up behind me cause some idiot won’t go around. I even roll down my window sometimes and try to get them to go on. Nope, no soap. They’re in a pickup with 350-420hp(unbelieveable power in pickups these days), can see two miles are free and clear and still won’t just go around. The longer this goes on the more vehicles are backed up and the more like a target I feel.
Koch bros. own a trucking company called “Koch”, imagine. They’re damned trucks won’t go over 60 mph, saving them big bucks no doubt but creating dangerous situations everywhere they go. I wouldn’t drive for those SOB’s if I were starving.
Dear clover,
“In business, something you know nothing about, if you see a problem you then create an action plan to remedy the situation. What is your action plan that includes these videos other than putting cash in your pocket?”
Putting cash in one’s pocket sounds like an “action plan to remedy the situation” of no cash, wouldn’t you say?
Do you even bother to check your arguments for internal contradictions clover?
Clover is like Frankenstein’s monster – dead flesh animated (kind of) by unnatural forces. It walks, it talks (sort of)… but isn’t quite human.
Right.
We are being overrun by clovers. Brain dead shells of human beings who shuffle about aimlessly in a cruel imitation of life, acting on brute instinct, unable to make moral distinctions.
Hence the popularity of the “zombie apocalypse” metaphor.
Got stuck behind a clover today who wouldn’t pass a bicyclist. Even when the biker kept moving over and waving them on. Of course clover had to wait until the oncoming lane was empty to pass waaaay to the left of the bike. Funny thing, do you think clover realized he was passing a double yellow line?
I doubt it!
A fair number of cities/states now have a 3 foot clearance requirement when passing pedestrians and cyclists. It’d be better if when they paved, they would create an area outside the white line for cyclists, even if it isn’t an official bike lane. But they won’t spend the money on the asphalt.
Austin has the 4th worst traffic in the nation now — a consequence of 120-150 people moving here each day. The problem is that all those people have different driving styles, having learned their driving habits wherever they came from (usually California). So you get people who have traffic stacked up behind them, and 5-6 open car-lengths in front. Which means that that’s 5 or 6 cars that won’t make it through the next light. Immensely frustrating.
“A fair number of cities/states now have a 3 foot clearance requirement when passing pedestrians and cyclists.”
It makes things interesting when there are cyclists on a two-lane, double-yellow lined road with no shoulder. You have your choice of traffic laws to break: pass too close to the cyclist, cross the double-yellow line, or stay behind the cyclist and obstruct traffic.
Each available action is 100% illegal, so what’s a poor Clover to do? (Of course we know the Clover will pick whichever option inconveniences the maximum number of people around him!)
Three feet was the unwritten rule, what was considered polite. Of course that was back before this barney fife law is the law crap.
Anyway most lanes are 12′ wide and most cars around 6′. There are exceptions of course.
We have a lot of narrow, shoulderless back roads that can be a real challenge to share with bicyclists. Situations as I described are common. If a badge-wearing goon happens to be behind you there really aren’t any good choices, you are basically screwed no matter what you do.
I almost look forward to winter since the cold weather cuts way down on the bicycles.
I have avoided Austin for decades. It’s always been a hellhole to drive in as long as I can remember but it’s taken on that willy-nilly, no planning, state capitol with no pilot or any other type of planning or mixed planning.
The new toll road is the best thing to happen to it in decades. I’d like to build a few more “around” it. I lived near Cedar Park in ’76 and 83 was plenty bad then. I’d been gone only a 3-4 years and went back to see where my old house was. It was gone, and abandoned, never used boulevards were in it’s place. I can’t tell any longer where Lampasas starts or ends and Austin is somewhere 70 miles away in a mess that stretches well beyond…..San Antonio or Bastrop.
A couple years ago a group wanted to form a new state with a 30 mile radius around Austin. Everybody else in the state, except the real Texans who’d lived near Austin all their lives and still had their ranches near there wanted it to be 100 mile radius to take in little Mexico(San Antonio)too were fully in support. The ideals and values of Austin are anathema to other Texans. Draw a line from somewhere N of Del Rio around to Kerrville to Blanco to Mineral Wells on up near OK and the Red River up through Llano Estacado to Jal, NM and back to Ft. Davis and call it New Texas. Draw a line from Waco to Orange and up to the Sabine and call it “Old Texas”. Look at the mess below it and call it what it really is, Mexico…..and Austinites can slug it out with that bunch for whatever they can get. Austin, the cradle of the west, could only have been written by a guy from New York.