Who else is fed up with car culture and the auto obsession ?

rickenvox said:
quite perceptive of you, I was actually alluding to a train. For commuting to work on a daily basis in the city it's far superior to everyone driving their own cars. If you're in BFE it understandable won't work. I do have a need for owning a truck or SUV for Home Depot, nursery, and trips.

Cars are a crude technology that pollute and become disposal problems at the end of their life.
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Y’all talking bout Trains?!?

 
335clone said:
I could take a train.

First I would have to drive an hour to the station, then another hour and a half to go 43 miles. Then walk 6 blocks. That's close to 3 hours door to door, that I drive in 85 minutes. Many of my coworkers do take the train, but it just doesn't work for everyone.
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Yes, you have to live in an area where enough of that infrastructure is built. When I say train, the LA Metro is more like a subway but mostly above ground. So my local station is 10 minute away by car, takes me 20 minutes to get to downtown (there's up to 7 minute wait time) and then I can either walk a mile or take the bus across downtown to my building. It's about an 50-60 minutes door to door, which compares to about 40 minutes driving. But not having to pay attention driving, and being able to read a book or browse social media, is worth the little extra time. I could also ride my bike which would take about 60 minutes also. But getting to work sweaty and the risk of riding on streets with increasingly bad drivers is not attractive to me any longer.

There's a lot to be said for community planning that puts housing, jobs, and shopping all within a local area. Again, I'm talking about things they're primarily doing in large cities. But it's patterned after villages people lived and worked in for centuries. And I also telecommuted for several years, but there is a cost in reduced face to face social interaction that I always needed to seek out after work.
 
335clone said:
NO. That would not be awesome. Take a fucking bus/train if that's what you prefer.

I agree with mongooz. Go back to manuals. If one hand is on the wheel, and one on the shifter, you can't hold your phone and your mind is concentrating on the task at hand. Driving.

Lets make all bikes big tandems connected together so you can all push up that big hill together! Wouldn't that be awesome? You could then concentrate on screaming Wheeeeeeee!! going back down the hill, in 37 part harmony. Yay.
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DdBob said:
Would you agree that with a modern car you are able to stop in a shorter distance and because of such you can get by with say a car length between you and the one in front vs the three car length we were all taught years ago? Like wise do you ever feel like you should wait to pull into traffic like with an old carbureted car or do just pull in ?

That’s kinda the point I’m trying to make . Most folk nowadays trust their cars too much.


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I don't really believe that the average driver is really all that aware of how much more capable & safer their modern vehicle is compared to previous era cars so I can't really see how that would influence their ignorance of safe driving practices or awareness of the potential consequences. Things like radar cruse control, rear-view cameras and blind spot monitoring all were developed because the average driver isn't capable of consistently following safe driving practices and the computers/machines are more reliable at that.
 
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^^Agreed. If they would actually require comprehensive training and testing for drivers licenses instead of rubber stamping everyone who applies and doesn't get in an actual wreck during their once in a lifetime driving test, we wouldn't be where we are today. The simple concept of understanding your vehicles blind spot and actively knowing where the vehicles around you are at all times is lost on the majority of drivers out there.
 
335clone said:
The simple concept of understanding your vehicles blind spot and actively knowing where the vehicles around you are at all times is lost on the majority of drivers out there.
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The simple concept of adjusting your mirrors to minimize or eliminate your blind spots is lost on the majority of drivers out there and mirrors ain't exactly a modern revelation.
 
Lerxst said:
The simple concept of adjusting your mirrors to minimize or eliminate your blind spots is lost on the majority of drivers out there and mirrors ain't exactly a modern revelation.
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Minimize, yes, but all vehicles have a blind spot. People need to use their neck and actually look (without turning the wheel at the same time, which also seem a lost art).
 
335clone said:
Minimize, yes, but all vehicles have a blind spot. People need to use their neck and actually look (without turning the wheel at the same time, which also seem a lost art).
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Point being that one of the things you'll notice on the road as you are passing through someone's primary blindspot is that you'll rarely be able to see anything near their face/head in their side mirror...they're usually adjusted so the driver is viewing the majority of the rear quarter panel of the vehicle which is far too late when you see something in that view.
 
The other important thing to consider is that in many passenger side mirrors, objects are closer than they appear. The average driver doesn't know that and will often get into an accident where the whole car will burst into a ball of flames. Then when they're pressed against the window screaming to get out they finally see the fine print on the mirror and realize their folly moments before becoming a pillar of ash. Duh!


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You guys have me just about convinced to go out and get that GMC 3500 extended cab dually. I'll show up in anyone's blind spot, and if you cut in front of me...fuggedaboutit. And it doesn't matter that it'll cost me ~60k, there's long-term financing available. Thanks MWGL!


[/satire]
 
shoeless said:
You guys have me just about convinced to go out and get that GMC 3500 extended cab dually. I'll show up in anyone's blind spot, and if you cut in front of me...fuggedaboutit. And it doesn't matter that it'll cost me ~60k, there's long-term financing available. Thanks MWGL!


[/satire]
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shucks, I was trying to convince you to buy a tesla and put it on autopilot to go everywhere.

Leave the driving to cyberspace so meatspace can take a nap.
 
I catch myself looking for the yellow blindspot indicator LEDs in newer cars I'm passing (or being passed). They're usually in their side mirrors.
 
I think the biggest problem with cars is that there's just too many of them. transportation is neck-and-neck with power generation as the biggest greenhouse gas contributor, and light duty vehicles is the largest part of the transportation contribution.
 
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