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FogHelmut posted:Camry Hybrid, daylight, driver wearing sunglasses, highbeams on. I can barely see the high beam light on when I've got my polarized oakleys on. Our mini seems to turn it on if you bump anything incorrectly.
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May 16, 2015 02:32
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PT6A posted:So, we've all discussed the perils of bicyclists on the sidewalk. Well, today, I saw two different scooters driving on the sidewalk, on separate occasions. Oddly, it seemed to work without any danger, and then I figured out what the problem is with cyclists on sidewalks: they don't give right of way to pedestrians. The scooters were driving on the sidewalk to get to the road (since you're allowed to park on sidewalks here, apparently), but were respectful enough to not pass pedestrians. So, if you want to ride your bike on the sidewalk, I have to say it should probably be legal, but you should not be allowed to pass pedestrians, and you, as the cyclist, should have to move if pedestrians are coming toward you. If you don't, we get to beat you with a baseball bat. That reminded me of one of the more hilarious occasions of schadenfreude that I read about a while ago. The police were (for once) doing a crackdown on cyclists and in my city we have these streets that have been converted to pedestrian streets (or whatever it translates to), which mean that all traffic is supposed to adapt to whatever the pedestrians are doing. In other words, don't drive faster than walking speed, pedestrians always have right of way and so on. Frequently you'll see cyclist blowing through these zones going 20km/h+, which is pretty annoying and dangerous. Anyway, loads got busted and cried in the article that a local newspaper did about it. The fine is $120. Double if your vehicle is a car. I don't know about the US, but bicycles counts as vehicles. Also, it's pretty funny how you always get the same bullshit from cylists going on the sidewalk here "Oh but I don't want to cycle in traffic" - Fine, then don't cycle. "I'm not hurting anybody" - Yeah, until you or some other dumbass hit people. I've been hit by a cyclist, it hurts but I'm young. I was fine. But for old people, getting hit could easily lead to a fracture and fractures for old people can be a death sentence. Even if they don't get hit, they need to be able to go out without worrying about getting hit. Car stuff: Man am I glad my volvo actually has functioning AUTO mode for the headlights, and best of all, turns on the rear lights as well. It used to be law to have lights on at both ends, but I think the EU rules overruled it. So now we have loads of people going around in low light conditions, in cars that have lovely auto modes, that don't know that their car doesn't have any rear lights on... VVVVV: The "excuse" here is that up until recently, all cars had the low beams + rear lights come on when you start the car, with no way to turn them off, only switch to parking. First thing I did with the new car was to check if rear light came on when on DRL, which they do. Volvos auto system for lights is working really well so far. MrOnBicycle fucked around with this message at 08:49 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 16, 2015 07:44
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I've seen entirely too many cars going around with no lights, period, after full dark, lately. Is it really that hard to notice no lights?
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May 16, 2015 07:50
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PCOS Bill posted:I've seen entirely too many cars going around with no lights, period, after full dark, lately. Is it really that hard to notice no lights? Apparently it is for some people. My aunt hadn't noticed she was driving with no lights on but fortunately someone called the cops - they must have though the car was stolen or something as they sent four cars after her.
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May 16, 2015 07:56
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I had to ride around for a couple of days stuck with the gorram highbeams on because the switch broke. I put the highbeams on, heard snap, and the bitches stayed on. $70 for a multifunction switch for the turn signals and headlights for a corolla. The upside is that all the lights got brighter after I replaced the switch.
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May 16, 2015 10:58
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Vanagoon posted:I had to ride around for a couple of days stuck with the gorram highbeams on because the switch broke. Ya know, you could have just popped the hood and disconnected the high-beam bulbs.
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May 16, 2015 15:05
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They'd turn off normally, but when I turned the lights on they were locked on high beams. I replaced the switch because I don't want to be the dick that rides around with their highbeams on all the time. This car uses the integrated 9003/HB2 bulbs too, so I can't just d/c the high beam side without hackery. Vanagoon fucked around with this message at 15:55 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 16, 2015 15:34
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Atomicthumbs asked me to post this ITT.  My parking lot a week ago. Don't know the circumstances on why, but, lol for the Fiat. (My parking job wasn't spectacular, either, but welp.)
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May 16, 2015 20:07
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May 16, 2015 20:32
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May 16, 2015 20:42
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What a wanker, parking an ambulance in a bay clearly marked for ambulaces only. I like the other side of the hill from the Royal Free Hospital. It is of no surprise that some prick gave them a ticket.
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May 16, 2015 20:49
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Mooseykins posted:What a wanker, parking an ambulance in a bay clearly marked for ambulaces only. I like the other side of the hill from the Royal Free Hospital. It is of no surprise that some prick gave them a ticket. In the minimum wage parking reps defence that is a private ambulance and it might be for proper ambulances only. Plus that is not a legal parking ticket, it is just an invocie as its a private car park and issued by someone with no statutory authority to issue actual parking tickets. The car parks try to make them look as much like tickets as possible but the legality of it is up in the air (if you ignore them they can't do much apart from take you to the small claims court and try and prove that you agreed to pay any charges against you).
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May 16, 2015 22:42
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poo poo, I was pretty close to getting rear ended. The motorway ends and the speeds go down from 90km/h->70km/h->40km/h in preparation for an upcoming intersection. I was going 40km/h in the 40 zone, some dude come up real loving fast and has to brake hard. Scared me enough to pull out on the side of the road. He was probably still doing 90.
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May 16, 2015 22:50
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Foxtrot_13 posted:In the minimum wage parking reps defence that is a private ambulance and it might be for proper ambulances only. There are a lot of private ambulances around here, and many are sub-con'd by the NHS in certain times when it's the nearest/only one available. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together would know not to give it a ticket.
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May 16, 2015 22:54
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Mooseykins posted:Anyone with two brain cells to rub together would know not to give it a ticket. Ah. There you have hit on the crux of the problem.
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May 16, 2015 23:01
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spog posted:Ah. There you have hit on the crux of the problem. Traffic wardens are not known for their intelligence. Not really known for anything other than generally being cunts, looking like cunts and acting like cunts. Cunts.
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May 16, 2015 23:20
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Mooseykins posted:Traffic wardens are not known for their intelligence. I found a video of your van when you had the dashcam pointing backwards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPIr46MLZag
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May 16, 2015 23:27
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About a week and a half ago I was driving on the highway on my way home at about 6:30pm. This was on 280 going from San Jose toward San Francisco, so the main flow of traffic is going the opposite way, but there's still a fair amount of people on the road and I was cruising with the flow of traffic behind a big truck (a commercial vehicle, not a pickup) at about 5-6 or so car lengths going about 50mph. Now if I was reading this I'd be saying, "hold on a second, 5 car lengths really?" but I drive a manual transmission and I really hate changing gears and all that poo poo when people are braking and just not being smart so I like to keep a good distance so I can just back off the accelerator and not have to brake at all. All of a sudden from under the truck appears this black box. It was on the road so I am not sure of exact measurements but let's just call it an 8" square box. 5 car lengths is good if the car in front of you starts breaking but it is no where near enough distance to stop for some stationary object on the road, and with no real time to check my blind spots or merge I braked but really didn't have a choice but to hit the drat thing. It sounded like a really ugly impact and I was afraid for a second that maybe I cracked an axle or at least busted my tire (it hit toward the passenger side), but the handling was still perfect. The truck in front of me starts to pull off to the side (we were in the middle lane) and my adrenaline was pumping, but since nothing seemed to be broken I didn't pull off. My exit was only a mile off. Anyway the freaking black box of whatever (it contained some kind of liquid that got all over the undercarriage and smelled like burning chemical) wrecked my oil pan and the housing for the oil pump inside. Luckily nothing got caught in the oil pump or it could have starved the engine of oil. Cost $850 to repair. Was it illegal of me to keep going and not pull of since I did technically hit something? Or do you have to hit another vehicle? You wouldn't be expected to pull off if you hit a bit of tire debris on the road. I have had a bad experiences with a road rage-type driver and just rather not deal with whoever that would try to blame me for something falling off of their vehicle and hence it got run over.
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May 16, 2015 23:40
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spog posted:I found a video of your van when you had the dashcam pointing backwards: 100% yes.
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May 16, 2015 23:42
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Sometimes for work i have to carry long rolls of carpet, they're 4, 4.5 or 5 metres in length, which sticks out the back a bit. To do this safely i run a load projection marker, flashing lights and when needed, a trailer light board too. People either don't want to be anywhere near me, and the lane will be clear for a hundred yards behind me, or they want to tailgate me so their bonnet is inches from the end of my load. You can't miss it, it has a 2' red and white triangle on the back of it. Why do they do this?    Yes, it is all strapped in very securely.
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May 16, 2015 23:47
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That reminds me of the time I was transporting carpets. I had an open trailer hitched to the back of my little Audi A3, we rolled up the carpets, piled them up and secured them with straps. Some moron forgot to tuck in the loose end of one of them, and it flapped around and ended up winding itself around one of the trailer's wheels. A deeply unnerving sound made me pull over, and I found that the strap had wound around the axle and tightened so powerfully that it had sawed a good 12 inches into the trailer's fender. Not a loose fiber on that strap, naturally, those things are amazing.
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May 17, 2015 00:41
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Mooseykins posted:or they want to tailgate me so their bonnet is inches from the end of my load. Well, I can think of worse things to tail gate than a big pile of fluffy carpeting...
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May 17, 2015 16:00
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Last night some rear end in a top hat hit the front of my car, I assume trying to parallel park, then ripped my front license plate bracket out of my front bumper while driving away. No note or anything, of course. I plan to get this fixed as soon as possible, tomorrow afternoon if my mechanic has new anchors he can use. In the meantime I have to drive someplace today, and to & from work tomorrow. I live in Maryland. Does anybody know what the chances are that the police will care enough to pull me over for not having a front plate?
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May 17, 2015 16:09
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Murphys Law posted:Last night some rear end in a top hat hit the front of my car, I assume trying to parallel park, then ripped my front license plate bracket out of my front bumper while driving away. No note or anything, of course. Phone the police to report a hit and run, and mention that your license plate holder was damaged and ask what you should do until it can be repaired.
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May 17, 2015 16:17
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PT6A posted:Phone the police to report a hit and run, and mention that your license plate holder was damaged and ask what you should do until it can be repaired. You can report it but the police will do nothing. Just take your chances, unless you're a huge dick to the cop I can't imagine them giving you a ticket once you explain the situation.
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May 17, 2015 16:46
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PT6A posted:Phone the police to report a hit and run, and mention that your license plate holder was damaged and ask what you should do until it can be repaired. Sometimes the simplest solution eludes us. I talked to an officer. There's not really much I can do about it. If a cop sees me and decides to pull me over all I can do is explain the situation to him, that it just happened last night and nobody is open to fix it, and show him that I do actually have the plate with me, and hope he's understanding and will cut me some slack. If not, I may get a repair order or $50 ticket depending on the officer's mood, and if I get it fixed I should be able to get the fine canceled.
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May 17, 2015 16:48
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Stick the plate on your dashboard in the window. Until you get it fixed, at least it's visible.
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May 17, 2015 17:00
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Could you just loop a piece of stiff wire through the bumper and plate, and twist it together to temporarily hold it in? Maybe with a piece of double sided foam tape on the back of the plate so it doesn't flop around a lot. It'll look like hell but should work, unless the bumper got torn all the way between the two holes or something.
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May 17, 2015 20:10
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Is Maryland really strict about front plates or something? They're required in CT, but I haven't had one in literally years and I've never been pulled over for it. Hell, I was pulled over for having a tail light out (while driving to buy a bulb  ) a couple of years ago and the cop didn't even mention it.
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May 17, 2015 20:23
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88h88 posted:Stick the plate on your dashboard in the window. Until you get it fixed, at least it's visible. Don't do this for two reasons: 1. It will not stop any cop ever from stopping you. It may actually make it more likely you get stopped, because cops hate that poo poo. 2. Flying steels in an accident hurts. Just keep the plate and the damaged bracket on the floor somewhere and show them if stopped.
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May 17, 2015 20:32
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Paradoxish posted:Is Maryland really strict about front plates or something? They're required in CT, but I haven't had one in literally years and I've never been pulled over for it. Hell, I was pulled over for having a tail light out (while driving to buy a bulb Seconding this, I also live in a two plate state (Ohio) and have been driving without a front plate since 2006. Never had a cop say anything about it, even when pulled over for something else. Even if you do get cited it will likely be a fix it ticket on your first offense. I wouldn't worry about it unless cops are really zealous about it in your state.
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May 17, 2015 20:51
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Murphys Law posted:Last night some rear end in a top hat hit the front of my car, I assume trying to parallel park, then ripped my front license plate bracket out of my front bumper while driving away. No note or anything, of course. I live in Baltimore city and commute to Columbia / college park daily. I bought my focus st in January and still haven't put a front plate on ( the actual plate sits in my backseat). Haven't gotten hassled about it yet. Talking to other people you could be pulled over In a day or two years from now, it's just luck if a cop notices it. I would presume it will be used as PC to pull ,e over when I'm leaving work at 2 am though so I'm waiting for it to happen. I just hate the look of the plate on the ST.
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May 17, 2015 21:47
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nm posted:Don't do this for two reasons: What you crashin' for, bro? Rubber side down, yeah?
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May 17, 2015 21:51
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Haven't had a front plate on my car in ages, cops don't care. This is going to be especially true if you live near other states that are not two plate states. The default assumption is going to be that you're out of state.
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May 18, 2015 00:37
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Back in high school the plates were stolen off my car. We reported it to the cops, and they said there wasn't much they could do, other than flag them as stolen. Told us to get them replaced as soon as we could, and gave us a case in number to reference in case I got stopped.
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May 18, 2015 01:06
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http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8b0_1431723876
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May 18, 2015 12:17
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If dickhead in the van was that intent on getting in front I would've just let him but then people who drive cars hate being overtaken and London harbours a special kind of awful driver...
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May 18, 2015 12:25
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Is that showing how much of a fuckhead the van driver is, or how much of a fuckhead the pickup driver is?
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May 18, 2015 12:35
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Sigma X posted:Is that showing how much of a fuckhead the van driver is, or how much of a fuckhead the pickup driver is? Showing you what driving in London is like.
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May 18, 2015 12:36
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turtleluvr posted:... I was cruising with the flow of traffic behind a big truck (a commercial vehicle, not a pickup) at about 5-6 or so car lengths going about 50mph. Now if I was reading this I'd be saying, "hold on a second, 5 car lengths really?" but I drive a manual transmission and I really hate changing gears and all that poo poo when people are braking and just not being smart so I like to keep a good distance so I can just back off the accelerator and not have to brake at all. So you were following too close and couldn't dodge a road hazard in time? 5-6 car lengths in at best 1.5 seconds at 50mph. Went to see the local C&C this Saturday, they had police presence there at the start and lots of reminders to not drive like a jackass and cause them to lose their spot. Then when I left I saw this Porsche that just couldn't wait to floor it, followed by an R8 racing him on the onramp, cutting off a semi truck and braking, then zooming off in the left lane. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iMBSZ388hM
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May 18, 2015 18:52
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