Dim Your Brights!

[Principessa]

I'm back from my first road trip with TruckerTexman and I learned a lot about the trucking life. I'll blog about that in a bit.

I have noticed since moving to Georgia that once it's dusk people tend to turn on their bright lights. This is unnecessary and annoying. What really ticks me off is when these bright-beam loving fools do not dim their lights when they see a vehicle approaching them. Do you idiots not realize this temporarily blinds the other driver and can cause an accident?!?

Guess what, when you are sitting up high, as in a tractor trailer it's actually worse. It seems many auto manufacturers have the headlights aimed not at the road, but up high so that it can shine directly into a truckers eyes. It takes 2 seconds to flick your high beams off when you see a vehicle approaching . . .DO IT! The life you save may be your own.

Couple more little rants about you 4-wheelers out there.
1) Merge, just merge, hit the friggin' gas and merge! :irked:
2) When you pass an 18 wheeler, do not slow down once you are in front of him. It can take the length of four football fields for a semi-truck to stop, depending upon how fast he is going. If you speed up to 75 to pass a semi, then continue doing that speed. Don't drop back down to 60 or you may get run over.

 

[chrwl007]

Thanks for the post, njqt. It also irritates the hell out of me when I'm driving at night. And can people please switch OFF their rear fog lights if visibility is good? It blinds the drivers behind you. In the area where I live you almost never get fog that's thick enough to warrant using foglights, yet I see people driving with them switched on on a daily basis.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I hope watching the on-coming traffic wasn't the only thing you got up to in the truck, NJ

:wink:

 

[Mr. Snakey]

Did ya grab the clutch?:tongue:

 

[B_starinvestor]

And for God's sake, please don't come to a complete stop at the end of the on-ramp!!!!!!! Aargh, that is so frustrating.

 

[Deno]

yeah I get headache during night driving from the approaching head lights, those blue ones I can actually feel in my eyes.

 

[Mr Ed in Mass]

I also drive an 18,and my biggest complaint is that people don't know the rules of the road.The middle lane is the PASSING lane, NOT the travel lane.Keep right except to pass.There is not suppose to be a slow lane between two fast ones.

 

[Principessa]

yeah I get headache during night driving from the approaching head lights, those blue ones I can actually feel in my eyes.

Are those blue tinted ones the newer halogen lights? Cause those are annoying too, but they don't give me a headache.

I hope watching the on-coming traffic wasn't the only thing you got up to in the truck, NJ

:wink:

Let's just say a good time was had by all. :wink::biggrin1:

Thanks for the post, njqt. It also irritates the hell out of me when I'm driving at night. And can people please switch OFF their rear fog lights if visibility is good? It blinds the drivers behind you. In the area where I live you almost never get fog that's thick enough to warrant using foglights, yet I see people driving with them switched on on a daily basis.

My car has rear fog lights? Is that just a European or S. African thing? Cause I swear I never noticed. Actually I don't think I have ever used my fog lights in any vehicle I have ever owned. :redface: Fog lights are the yellow ones right? :tongue:

Did ya grab the clutch?:tongue:

No clutch, it's a Volvo automatic semi. :irked: I did grab hold of his cock a few times though. Okay, maybe more than a few times as he did swat my hand away more than once. :redface: :biggrin1:

And for God's sake, please don't come to a complete stop at the end of the on-ramp!!!!!!! Aargh, that is so frustrating.

Is merging not taught in drivers ed? Cause there are way too many people who don't know how to do it out there for my liking.

I also drive an 18,and my biggest complaint is that people don't know the rules of the road.The middle lane is the PASSING lane, NOT the travel lane.Keep right except to pass.There is not suppose to be a slow lane between two fast ones.

Grrrr, is there anything worse than the idiot who insists on doing the exact speed limit in the fast or passing lane?

 

[Mr Ed in Mass]

Also look for the little stick on the steering wheel post.If you move it up or down,lights will flash on and off on either side of the car.

 

[dj30905]

I must say that many drivers in GA can be a pain in the ass when it comes to brights. I haven't been to NW GA, but I go to NE GA, Atlanta, Augusta, or Savannah all the time. I spent 5 years in GA and I love it to death, but dammit, they can seriously learn a thing or two about driving. This also goes for NC, which has the worst drivers I've seen so far (out of 17 states I've driven in).

1. Your turn signal is your friend...and mine.
2. If it's not pitch black outside, you don't really need brights that much. Please don't get on my ass with your brights on, cause I will slow down and make your drive hell.
3. Why on earth would you go 45 in a 55 and suddenly speed up to 55-60 in a 45? I see this EVERY day.

 

[NCbear]

And for God's sake, please don't come to a complete stop at the end of the on-ramp!!!!!!! Aargh, that is so frustrating.

Truly. But here in Winston-Salem, the in-town interstate was designed in the 1940s, so the on- and off-ramps are incredibly short (and marked with yield signs). People think "yield" really means "surrender," so they stop.

And then they wonder why they can't easily get into the flow of traffic in a 45 mph zone (when many are going 60+).

I also drive an 18,and my biggest complaint is that people don't know the rules of the road.The middle lane is the PASSING lane, NOT the travel lane.Keep right except to pass.There is not suppose to be a slow lane between two fast ones.

This pisses me off too. Sometimes there's as much as 25 mph difference between the fast lane and the lane next to it. What's up with that? And why do drivers only use the left two lanes on multilane freeways?

So many times on I-85/I-40 between Durham and Greensboro, the right two lanes are empty and the fast drivers have to use those lanes to pass the herds of slow-moving vehicles in what should be the fast lane. And they won't move over?

I must say that many drivers in GA can be a pain in the ass when it comes to brights. I haven't been to NW GA, but I go to NE GA, Atlanta, Augusta, or Savannah all the time. I spent 5 years in GA and I love it to death, but dammit, they can seriously learn a thing or two about driving. This also goes for NC, which has the worst drivers I've seen so far (out of 17 states I've driven in).

1. Your turn signal is your friend...and mine.
2. If it's not pitch black outside, you don't really need brights that much. Please don't get on my ass with your brights on, cause I will slow down and make your drive hell.
3. Why on earth would you go 45 in a 55 and suddenly speed up to 55-60 in a 45? I see this EVERY day.

NC drivers are from all over. When I was growing up, NC drivers all knew when and how to use their brights (and flash-to-pass). Except for the occasional farmer coming to the city, they knew that the leftmost lane of a multilane freeway was the fast lane, and they got out of that lane after they passed slower-moving vehicles. Fast driving in groups was the norm; in the mid to late 1980s, you could see lines of cars snaking out to the left and then back into the right lane, all driving about 15+ mph over the limit, everyone looking ahead through the next car's windshield.

And then out-of-state people and SUVs ruined it all. Now, NC has people who don't know what flash-to-pass means, who drive slowly in the fast lane, who don't move over for faster drivers, who don't use their turn signals, who can't read road signs, who don't look far enough ahead to stop quickly when there's an accident and stopped traffic in front of them (a wall of brake lights), who can't manage to steer their honking big SUVs straight in a lane wide enough for tractor-trailers, who can't even manage to park their damn huge SUVs, and who don't realize that people like me who drive normal-sized cars can't see over their damned huge useless penis extenders (otherwise known as SUVs). Who basically aren't alert when they're driving.

And don't get me started on the coffee/cigarettes/cell phones/texting/lip gloss/mascara/eyeliner/newspaper readers who all do their thing while driving. Did they think they could push a button marked "automatic pilot" and sit back and let the car drive by itself? Hmmm . . . that would be no.

I've made several friends from the North and Midwest, and they honestly do not know what "keep right except to pass" means. They're shocked that I expect other drivers to treat a multilane highway like an autobahn--you know, right lane is the posted speed or lower, next left lane is ~5-10 mph higher, and the rest go up by 5-10 mph increments until you reach the fast lane (the leftmost lane), which is where people blow past you going 25+ mph over the limit.

You know, the way it was back in the day, when I was first driving. :biggrin1:

NCbear (who obviously hates SUVs--they interrupt all my sight lines--and bad drivers :tongue

 

[dj30905]

You know, I go to/thru WS quite often on 52. I hate passing old and new 40 ramps because of the little ramp/speed problems. I stay in the left lane for my sanity/safety in that area.

85/40 can be a big pain in the ass around Raleigh/G'boro. I hate the area when you go from 40 to 85 only. It's easy to get cut off at the split with a-holes doing just what you described and you want to get around them. I got cut off just like that a few times at the 74/52 split.

I cannot stand people who must text and/or talk on their phone. You are driving a car, not a effing phone booth, so pay attention to the damn road. I don't always mind, as long as you aren't swerving all over the place. I talk on my phone on occasion, but only for really important calls. Who have you seen reading a paper? That's just scary!

 

[HazelGod]

Please don't get on my ass with your brights on, cause I will slow down and make your drive hell.

Why not just move to the right and let them pass you? You have no idea why they might be in such a hurry, yet you'll actively choose to become an obstacle that impedes the flow of everyone around you? That's just asshole.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Also look for the little stick on the steering wheel post.If you move it up or down,lights will flash on and off on either side of the car.

Hey - those things are optional extras... and they wear out REAL quick if you use them too much... at least that's the impression I get from the way people drive around here.

 

[Mr Ed in Mass]

In some cars,they're still in pristine condition

 

[D_Hepsibah Salmonbreath]

ok hi everyone, its truckertexman. yes the same one. i have plenty of rants about drivers and not only the four wheeler ones. there are pro drivers out there that apparently won their cdl in a lottery.

bright lights. this is why i am not allowed to carry a gun with me. i have good aim dont get me wrong. after the 4th or 5th time or shooting headlights out of the car passing me, the cops got tired of it really fast.

all the extercaricullar activities drivers do in the car. i had passed a truck that i looked over into and he had a small tv with a play station and was playing it. i reconised the game on account i have the same one. it was big mutha truckers. does he not get enough of it already, i dont know.

on/off ramps. there have been times that i was on these so called things where all of my truck did not fit on it. nuff said.

look, it take a long time to get speed and to lose the speed. if i have to hit my brakes on account of you. i am wanting to run you over. now i know no one on here does that, lets face it, we are perfect. just know that i can not, CAN NOT, slow down anywhere near as fast as you can. you try to do it with a vehical that bends and has 45000+ pounds on the back of it. there are many times i am right on the 80000 pound limit.

for the love of god, show me some skin. i am in a white volvo semi that had deboer all over it. the truck number is 1219. FLASH ME. show me a boob. all i need is one, if i have that i can imagine what the other looks like. i would even settle for some leg. stick that thing out of the window hang it there and lift up that skirt/dress and let me see.

if you are an 80 pound woman, you have no reason to be driving a 3 ton suburban and haveing to put 4 phone books under your butt to see over the steering wheel.

please start putting more than 1 person in the suv. i have only seen it 4 times. they was all uncomfermed, but, i think i saw an suv with more than 1 person it it about 4 times.

i put more miles on the road in 1 week than most drivers put on their car in a month or 2. i know what i am doing. please stop looking at me like i was the one that just cut some one off. please dont get right beside me and stay there, i may have to get over. i do have spots on the truck that no amount of mirror or servalance equipmant would be able to see. if you can not see ALL of my mirror, i dont even know you are there.

i am so sorry to have gone on like that, but, belive me this is not even the start of it.

 

[dj30905]

Why not just move to the right and let them pass you? You have no idea why they might be in such a hurry, yet you'll actively choose to become an obstacle that impedes the flow of everyone around you? That's just asshole.

If there is a car in the left lane inching past the car in the right, it's hard to do anything if I'm the guy right behind this car. The asshole on my rear with their brights on doesn't help me, especially if I can't do anything. Other than that, I move out of the way if they are going faster than I'm willing (which is generally 10-15 over the speed limit). This also goes for the people driving on the back roads I drive on who don't want to go around me when they have the chance. They'd rather ride my rear with brights and not pass me.

 

[HazelGod]

Also look for the little stick on the steering wheel post.If you move it up or down,lights will flash on and off on either side of the car.

In some cars,they're still in pristine condition

Pffft...women. Don't they know they're supposed the change the fluid periodically?!? :biggrin1:

If there is a car in the left lane inching past the car in the right, it's hard to do anything if I'm the guy right behind this car. The asshole on my rear with their brights on doesn't help me, especially if I can't do anything.

Yeah, I'm with you there...that's a little different situation than your earlier response brought to mind. Truth be told, I've rarely found myself in that scenario because I'm usually going faster than traffic around me, so it's uncommon for other drivers to close on me from the rear...but also I'm impatient with idiots who pass slowly or otherwise block the left lane. If someone in front of me is doing this, I don't hesitate to let them know it isn't appreciated...usually with a flash or two of the lights or a tap on the horn. I'll almost never ride behind someone with my brights continuously on, unless they're intentionally blocking traffic...which a lot of jackasses seem to enjoy doing.

 

[dj30905]

Yeah, I'm with you there...that's a little different situation than your earlier response brought to mind. Truth be told, I've rarely found myself in that scenario because I'm usually going faster than traffic around me, so it's uncommon for other drivers to close on me from the rear...but also I'm impatient with idiots who pass slowly or otherwise block the left lane. If someone in front of me is doing this, I don't hesitate to let them know it isn't appreciated...usually with a flash or two of the lights or a tap on the horn. I'll almost never ride behind someone with my brights continuously on, unless they're intentionally blocking traffic...which a lot of jackasses seem to enjoy doing.

My apologies for being kinda vague. I do the same thing as far as speeding, but I do come up on those jackasses pretty fast and then suddenly have to hit the brakes for them. I'm a little more patient, but I also try to avoid riding their rear. I do at times if I'm really in a hurry, and they do get the point pretty quick. As for brights, I rarely use them. I live out in the boondocks and many people feel they must have them on to see. It really pisses me off when they just have to use them when its raining/foggy/snowing. You'd think they'd realize it makes the road less visible, since moisture in the air does tend to scatter light a lot more and make it harder to see, but many people tend to be pretty dense.

 

[Mr Ed in Mass]

I'm also a professional driver and I just love it when someone cuts me off then gives me the finger. I brake hard to save your life and you flip me off? Wait till next time.