Interstate safe driving strategies

[Foiled Again]

Think back to the last time Los Angeles hosted the Olympics. Everyone predicted traffic disasters... which actually did not occur. What LA did right was to start urging people to consider public transportation, carpooling, working from home, etc. Additionally they asked employers to shift their workers schedules away from peak hours whenever possible, and got the local radio and TV stations to remind drivers about legal and courteous driving habits ... like. SLOW DOWN because the visitors need the extra time to read the signs. Of course they also put a lot of marked cars and uniformed officers on "rolling road blocks" that forced drivers to kinda figure out why traffic wasn't moving at the usual 75 - 80 MPH. They photographed speeders and mailed them tickets too.

I doubt whether common sense has EVER actually been common... but herd behavior is. I spent a week in Colonial Beach recently and met an NYC driver who was there visiting. He bitched constantly about the slowpokes (this town literally has most streets legal for golf carts!) But after some prodding admitted he was getting used to it. He is there on a six month work assignment and probably will have a hard time falling back into NYC mode by the time he goes home!

Public safety campaigns do work. They also wear off quickly. LA drivers went back to normal within about 5 days after the games ended.

[InterBlog]

I'm flipping back and forth between Air Forums and local news this morning. IH-45 the Gulf Freeway had to be entirely closed yesterday evening in order to Life Flight an 11-year-old who sustained a head injury in a collision; no statement yet on whether the child survived. The accident happened in front of the establishment that I use to fill my rig with propane, slightly over 1 mile from our house.

This following another collision just 2 months ago in which an 8-year-old girl died from collision-induced head injuries. That one occurred about 2 miles from our house. Both of her parents are teachers in our school district.

This isn't "greater Houston" I'm talking about now - this is our immediate suburban vicinity, right here within walking distance. I don't know what can be done about any of this madness. I worry about safeguarding my own life and property (our rig) but others have it much worse, obviously.

[featherbedder]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Ok, so here's a fun one to watch out for ....

Your "however many" lane highway necks down to a single lane for construction. You can see what's going on and slow down accordingly. The cars behind you can't work it out (all the signs and flashing lights are just there for show ...). Around they come and note the barrier in the lane they are in (40 feet ahead). Their answer is to pull in in front of you and lock up their brakes.

So much fun, fortunately AS puts *good* brakes on the trailer ... Sometimes I wish for a great big rattle your teeth air horn ...

Bob

Had that happen to one of our semis. Do to speeding and no chance to stop, and no room to pull in front of semi, car ended up underneath between tractor and trailer. Won't do that again after out of hospital and jail time. Our semi had slight damage not same for car and driver.

[HI-OH-AG]

Here is a newbie question. We live in an area where there are numerous "ROUNDABOUTS", My first thought was KAMIKAZE, but there has to be a better way. We will be towing with a 3/4 ton and 25' AS, my second thought was, well I didn't have one that is printable!

[xrvr]

Roundabouts are Americans love affair with all things European. They are everywhere down here and are worse than stop signs. I'm in Florida. Even emergency vehicles are held up by them, delivery trucks have to find alt routes in many cases, burning more fuel.

[InterBlog]

In my part of Nova Scotia, they wisely decided to put single-lane roundabouts only. Those things are almost idiot-proof - all anyone needs to do is remember to yield to the drivers already in the roundabout, and if that much can be accomplished, failure is otherwise difficult to achieve. The multi-lane versions appear to be beyond the grasp of many drivers, though.

[73shark]

The only thing worse than "roundabouts" (called rotaries in Boston in late '60s) is this other European import is the "diverging diamond" used at interstate interchanges. There must be at least twice as many stop lites and navigating one of these at nite is obscene. Did I say a dislike these impediments to driving?

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by 73shark

The only thing worse than "roundabouts" (called rotaries in Boston in late '60s) is this other European import is the "diverging diamond" used at interstate interchanges. There must be at least twice as many stop lites and navigating one of these at nite is obscene. Did I say a dislike these impediments to driving?

Sorry to have to disagree with you on the diverging diamond intersections. My first experience was in a strange (to me) city, in work traffic, pulling a trailer, at dusk, and I not only had no problem with the several such intersections, everything went smooth and easily. BTW, I was 83 at the time. You simply follow the road markings.

A similar intersection north of Austin reduced waiting time by something like 30% and also reduced accidents.

I'm eagerly waiting for the local "stop all growth" bunch to exhaust their stupid and pointless lawsuits so that a terrible intersection near my house can go diverging diamond.

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Roundabouts are Americans love affair with all things European. They are everywhere down here and are worse than stop signs.

They are popular because they are proven to be safer than stop sign controlled intersections.

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

That is what hell looks like.

[LB_3]

Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam

That is what hell looks like.

There are lower rungs of hell:

[Countryboy59]

Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam

They are popular because they are proven to be safer than stop sign controlled intersections.

They make it a lot less likely for "right angle" crashes and reduce fatalities dramatically. There are a lot of "gender bender" type crashes but that is just driver error.

[Pahaska]

I worked extensively in England and found roundabouts to be really good where traffic was not terribly heavy. I really liked the traffic-light controlled roundabouts I encountered in Scotland where the entrances were controlled but not the exits. That seemed to solve the heavy traffic situation.

The worst circles were in France where the entering traffic has right of way, or at least it did when I was stationed there in the 1960s. I got trapped in the inner circle at a multi-lane roundabout during work traffic in Paris and thought I was never going to get back out.

[Haasman]

I will always help someone who needs to get around me. Almost always. Some many advantages to doing so-

-Obviously they think they need to be somewhere fast, I'll help 'em by getting out of their way.

-The sawing and jocking for positon(s) is anxiety producing for all drivers, thus I'll help 'em by getting out of their way.

-I love the faster cars since they become my front-door for speed traps, up coming dangerous road conditions etc. I'll help 'em by getting out of their way.

The more quickly I can get away from these types of drivers the better. An old long-haul driver told me to never run with the pack. Get out of the pack as soon as possible. Its within traffic packs that most accidents originate.

Haasman

[Wolf Alaska]

My experience is that drivers in the right lane don't want a high profile vehicle to change lanes & be in front of them. They can't see down the road if you do that.

My Excursion, Type B, or trailers all are high profile; particularly for little bitty car drivers.

A technique that helps in the change into the right: instantly add 5 or 10 mph as you make the move.
Sadly, this isn't available to Interstate drivers who are short about 200 hp.
Large displacement engines shine on the highways of today.

I try to drive safely & calmly. Doing this can also have a good effect on others.

Here's an idea: if he/she missed you...thank them for being such a good driver. Particularly those that switch over 4 lanes to get in front of you, hit the brakes hard, & promptly take the exit at the last possible second.
Let's Roll!
Wolf

[uncle_bob]

Hi

While I agree with the "don't travel in a tight pack" advice. I find that I learn quite a bit from following semi's and observing what they do. If you are in strange territory and can do so at a safe distance, tagging along with one is not all that bad an idea.

Bob

[Countryboy59]

Originally Posted by Wolf Alaska

My experience is that drivers in the right lane don't want a high profile vehicle to change lanes & be in front of them. They can't see down the road if you do that.

My Excursion, Type B, or trailers all are high profile; particularly for little bitty car drivers.

A technique that helps in the change into the right: instantly add 5 or 10 mph as you make the move.
Sadly, this isn't available to Interstate drivers who are short about 200 hp.
Large displacement engines shine on the highways of today.

I try to drive safely & calmly. Doing this can also have a good effect on others.

Here's an idea: if he/she missed you...thank them for being such a good driver. Particularly those that switch over 4 lanes to get in front of you, hit the brakes hard, & promptly take the exit at the last possible second.
Let's Roll!
Wolf

In the city I can usually tell by vehicle type and driving behavior who is going to do something stupid. Then I stay away from them or drop back. When a vehicle along side suddenly speeds up the are going to change lanes. If they've been in a lane longer than 5 seconds they are going to change lanes again. If you can cut in and miss me, great. But I'm not going to swerve and wreck to save your a**.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Wolf Alaska

...

A technique that helps in the change into the right: instantly add 5 or 10 mph as you make the move.
Sadly, this isn't available to Interstate drivers who are short about 200 hp.
...
Wolf

This gave me the best laugh of the day, by the way.


My husband would agree with you - the maneuver you describe is motorcycle de rigueur in his opinion, and I do use that technique where and when I can. Which is not as often as it would be in a passenger car, for the reason you state. Interstates don't have that kind of flexibility. As I noted previously, their only true defense is full-on straight-line braking. That much they do fairly well, but that's the extent of it.

[Wolf Alaska]

The technique I mentioned in a recent post was in reply to the OP, Interblog, who sometimes had problems when trying to move into the right lane. "....I have noticed that, by far, the number one threat to Interstate driving is intentional cut-offs on the passenger side. They'll see that I'm preparing to make a lane change to the right and they'll shoot the gap, assuming that I'll see them in time to avoid a collision." If the vehicle is coming over into that right lane next to the OP from 4 or 5 lanes over, there may very well be a collision. The speed up as you move to the next (right) lane really is a defense against a lurker in position near your right hand bumper who may try to squirt past you as you begin to move right.

Note to Countryboy 59. I think you were also commenting on the guy who might try to cross 4 lanes and maybe end up in front of you. Just to be clear, I won't do such a thing. But I see it all the time. Now, instead of running them down and jerking the guy out of the car, I just say " hey you missed me, thanks !" and let them go on their happy way. I find this helps to keep my blood pressure a little bit lower and causes less stress. So, I was just sharing another way to deal with idiot drivers out there instead of turning anger inward.

I've finally realized a lot of the stupid drivers think they are good drivers. They make all these crazy maneuvers and don't collide so they must be good. They never even realize that they are only able to drive that way because most of us drivers do what we are supposed to do and are steady on the road.

I think Airstream and other trailer towing RVers have a generally good reputation on the road. I try to be steady behind the wheel.

A word of caution for the road: I think highly polished Airstreams with the mirror like finish may be misunderstood by some drivers....so be aware that your trailer may be invisible out on the Interstates !

But they look great in the CG

Let's Roll !
Wolf

[sallye]

Originally Posted by Wolf Alaska

A word of caution for the road: I think highly polished Airstreams with the mirror like finish may be misunderstood by some drivers....so be aware that your trailer may be invisible out on the Interstates !

Wolf

Oh, do you really think that the polished airstreams are hard to see?? I sure hope not. . . . I have enough to worry about already. . . . .