Scary Moment

[Capt Worley PE]

I think it is those stoplights on end of the merge ramps. I saw them on CHiPs when I was a kid and thought they were pretty stupid.

 

[MA_PE]

What the hell's a metering light?

I think it is those stoplights on end of the merge ramps. I saw them on CHiPs when I was a kid and thought they were pretty stupid.

Exactly. There is a stop light at the end of the highway on-ramp. Here's a Wiki description Ramp metering signals

I think it's a pretty stupid concept myself.

Oh, and the world did not end when they shut them off in MN.

 

[ALBin517]

He blew the right front tire and demolished the front bumper. There was other visible damage and maybe more that he discovered later.

Yeah, I bet he later discovered he'd ruined a perfectly good pair of pants.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Exactly. There is a stop light at the end of the highway on-ramp. Here's a Wiki description Ramp metering signals

HAHAHA Now I can retort to all those times my Dad said, "CHiPs?!?! You won't learn anything from that show!"

 

[Supe]

The concept of stalling traffic everywhere else to attempt to ease highway traffic sounds a bit off to me. If you tried that in Houston, there would be cars lined up well past the ramp entrance, blocking traffic everywhere else to boot.

 

[Chucktown PE]

The Georgia DOT spent millions of dollars to install those things in metro ATL and to my knowledge they have not turned any of them on. Your tax dollars at work.

 

[roadwreck]

The Georgia DOT spent millions of dollars to install those things in metro ATL and to my knowledge they have not turned any of them on. Your tax dollars at work.

They are on, most of the ones I see are at least. They only come on during peak hours and it never ceases to amaze me how few people seem to understand how they are supposed to proceed through them or just choose to ignore them entirely. You hear people bitching about how the make it hard to "get up to speed" after being stopped halfway down the ramp, but in most cases the interstate isn't moving that quickly anyway, so there isn't much need for excessive acceleration. I contend that the ramp meters wouldn't be necessary if people knew how to merge into traffic to begin with, but these days everyone seems to have the 'me first' mentality so they all drive as far as they can on the uncontested ramp and then cut people off when they merge over at the last second causing a chain reaction where everyone has to slam on their brakes. Thus we all get slowed down b/c some selfish prick wants to get 3 cars further ahead.

 

[MA_PE]

^ yes folks we have another winner.

What ever happened to the unwritten "zipper" code where one car goes from each side? No one wants to let anybody in these days.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

...so there isn't much need for excessive acceleration.

Blasphemer!

 

[snickerd3]

You know, a while back some old, somewhat senile guy I know wrote a letter to the editor here observing that traffic seemed to flow better whent he power was out and the traffic signals were out of order. i thought he was nuts. But then, last year when we had daily rotating power outages for 4 months, I observed precisely the same thing. And this was with no police giving hand signals; no nothing. Just a free-for-all at every intersection. yet, there was signifcantly less traffic back-up at every intersection (virtually zero, in fact), and there were no accidents that I am aware of.
Maybe traffic engineering is unimportant, at least up to a certain level of congestion?

so area specific. Some places that holds true and others not. Where I grew up when the street lights went out, total chaos ensued. It becomes a four way stop people!!! Traffic backs ups, and accidents/near accidents occur all the time. Like after the first snowfall fo the season people forgot how to drive.

 

[roadwreck]

so area specific. Some places that holds true and others not. Where I grew up when the street lights went out, total chaos ensued. It becomes a four way stop people!!! Traffic backs ups, and accidents/near accidents occur all the time. Like after the first snowfall fo the season people forgot how to drive.

THIS IS VERY AREA SPECIFIC!!! Around here when the lights go out it becomes a free-for-all. Most people here must not have to pass a driving test b/c if the light is out it's a good as a green light in all directions. You are taking your life into your own hands driving in a power outage.

 

[DVINNY]

Precisely the reason I need a truck with 400 hp.

I resemble this remark

 

[Guest]

I was on a two-lane road yesterday and saw an impatient guy nearly roll his Explorer. He was behind a big truck and I was behind him. He tried to pass the truck - got into the other lane, but there was a vehicle coming at him head-on in the other lane. Instead of pulling back in behind the truck, he went off the other side of the road, hit a ditch, went flying and hit hard.

This is a pretty standard move in Florida where I came from ....

It happened in a few seconds. And what I want to tell all of you is that the risks that we take every day seem like a necessary part of life, but they are RISKS.

There are so many things that we do that are risky behavior that CAN be avoided. I have stopped tinkering with radio stations, environmental controls, iPod, blackberry, etc. while driving - all things that can divert your attention for those few seconds that can lead to a bad situation. I have MINIMIZED the time I may spend on a cell phone while driving - haven't given up on it entirely, though I don't dial while driving.

Even econoboxes cruise smotthly at 80+ mph, so people (especially young people) tend to cruise there.

My crappy Kia can hardly sustain 70MPH much less 80!!!

JR

 

[Flyer_PE]

The only way I talk on a cell phone while driving is using a headset. If I don't have the headset with me, there's nothing that can't wait 'til I'm stopped somewhere.

 

[Guest]

^^^ I have been tinkering with hands-free sets but my hearing loss + background noise makes it problematic to hear. What do you use for hands-free?

JR

 

[MA_PE]

not exactly "hands-free" but I always use speaker phone when/if I need to talk ont he cell in the car.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I'm using a Plantronics Voyager 520. The volume works pretty well for me so long as there's not much background noise. (I have to close the windows in the truck or the sun roof in the MR2 when I'm using it.)

There are aftermarket stereo systems available that will work with a bluetooth enabled phone. I haven't done any research into how well they work though.

 

[Supe]

Plantronics Explorer 220 for me. Haven't had any issues with it to date, and it was priced right (i.e free).

 

[snickerd3]

my hubby likes the Jabra bluetooth headsets. I just use a cheap corded headset, when I remember I have it.

 

[Flyer_PE]

^ I was using a cheap corded type until I picked up a phone without a standard headset connection. That kind of forced the change to bluetooth and another battery to keep charged.