I do this.......we all should....defensive mode while in our lil beasts

[jrkoupe]

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...ws&date=090517

[Watch Carefully]

Thanks for that. Jack sometimes writes sensible things calmly and without much hyperbole; this is an example.

Someone here recently used the term Sport Brutality Vehicle, which I took a liking to, but have not found an opportunity to use in an appropriate context.
In truth, wanting to adopt it shows a bit of prejudice on my part...a generalized judgement call on the sort of folks who drive SUVs but who do it because they want to keep up with the Joneses or simply buy what automakers tell them they want, rather than buying a vehicle with that sort of capacity and capability because they really need it. Maybe it's an extension of the disdain we showed for Minivan drivers 20-30 years ago before the death of the Full Size Van (now seeing a slight rebirth).

In truth, I find any car that is taller than normal (for normal let's say 3- or 4-series BMW, A4 Audi, CamCordIma...) and/or which has entirely blacked out windows rather annoying. If I cannot see around or through your car, I'd rather you stayed off the roads I drive...whether I'm in my Z3 (admittedly abnormally sized) or one of my normal-sized vehicles.

As a professional rock-n-roller years ago, specializing in a genre that is now called Americana, I was asked why I played electric bass instead of upright (aka, bass fiddle). I replied that I did not want my choice of instrument to dictate what size car I had to drive. I hope things don't get to the point when I choose to drive something tall and large because it's the only sensible thing to do with all the other tall and large (and, sometimes, stupid) things on the road around me. Until then, taking Jack's defensive driving advice might extend the amount of time I enjoy driving something so wonderfully low as my Zed.

/rant.

[rhitee93]

I definitely agree. I put 30K miles on a '72 Spitfire before becoming a Z3 owner. You can literally drive one of those under a semi trailer, and I'm pretty sure some of the bigger bikes actually weigh more. I loved driving it, but it taught me to be very defensive on the road. It also got me in the habit of being a more watchful for bikers out of sympathy.

I deal with a nightmare scenario every day. Turning left off of a 4-lane undivided highway where people are usually doing 55-60mph. Stopped with a turn signal on waiting for oncoming traffic to clear. Some jack-wagon in an SUV is barreling up behind me and changes lanes at the last moment. That alone is frightening, but the bad part is the jack-wagon behind him who couldn't see me because he was tailgating the suv, now has only a few car lengths to get stopped.

[zellamay]

I rode motorcycles for about 15 years, and survived by playing a game. I pretended that all cars are out to kill me, and the game was for me to avoid them and survive. I live in Phoenix, where there were very few highways at that time, so all driving was on fast city streets. I always sped up or slowed down to keep a car at my side going through intersections. I never thought that a turn signal meant the driver would actually turn. I slowed well before I needed to, to keep the fool behind me from rear-ending me. I always had a way out. I planned ahead and noticed how others were driving, trying to spot the idiot before he spotted me. I still drive that way. I don't adjust the heat or use my cell phone or text while driving in traffic. I've been hit by others about 5 times, including 2 on a bicycle, and every time I realized later that, even though it was not my fault, there was something I could have done to avoid it.

[328 Power 04]

Do people signal more in other cities/states than in Houston/Texas?
For some reason you just can't get anyone with a truck or huge SUV to signal before cutting me off in the left most lane at slower speeds. The 5 lane merge across whole freeway entrance behavior to the default lane.


Then there's the Kia / Hyundai drivers with either lights completely off, or high beams all the time.

[Watch Carefully]

Do people signal more in other cities/states than in Houston/Texas?
For some reason you just can't get anyone with a truck or huge SUV to signal before cutting me off in the left most lane at slower speeds. The 5 lane merge across freeway entrance to the default lane.


Then there's the Kia / Hyundai drivers with either lights completely off, or high beams all the time.

LOL. This could turn into a troublesome and/or entertaining thread by itself.
Growing up in Delaware, I noticed that Pennsylvania drivers used their turn signals less often than Delaware drivers. Not in obvious cases where the turn signal didn't matter (sitting in line at a left turn only lane at a light, for example) but in real-world "I'm going to be in front of you momentarily so here's advance warning" types of situations. I've now lived in PA for 25 years, and work in the DC suburbs of Maryland, where I think people use their signals less than PA drivers...and the DE drivers today seem to be worse than PA drivers also.

VW and Audi (and maybe other MFRs) have done us a service by implementing 3-blink signals, thereby giving me two more opportunities to see a signal sent by a lazy driver doing the absolute minimum to indicate a lane change.

Don't get me started on average turn signal use by drivers on I-95 (anywhere from NY to DC) and on how nobody stays right, passes left south of Canada...

[ProductUser]

Turn signals are optional in Phoenix and only used to signal the completion of the lane change

If you signal your intention to change lanes, drivers will speed up to prevent you from changing lanes. Good times!

[zellamay]

Yes, I forgot that one: put on your signal soon enough to warn them, but not soon enough to give them time to cut you off. Timing is everything. Also: drive fast! It's harder to hit a moving target.

[jrkoupe]

I track another car.......that helps to calm me........also Im also almost 60.......and have a mortgage.....lol.....I almost always drive in slow lane all alone...I may be moving quite well....but Im almost always alone these days....

its clear to me these cars.......especially arctic....are often never even seen!

[Bill837]

I rode motorcycles for about 15 years, and survived byplaying a game. I pretended that all cars are out to kill me, and the game was for me to avoid them and survive. I live in Phoenix, where there were very few highways at that time, so all driving was on fast city streets. I always sped up or slowed down to keep a car at my side going through intersections. I never thought that a turn signal meant the driver would actually turn. I slowed well before I needed to, to keep the fool behind me from rear-ending me. I always had a way out. I planned ahead and noticed how others were driving, trying to spot the idiot before he spotted me. I still drive that way. I don't adjust the heat or use my cell phone or text while driving in traffic. I've been hit by others about 5 times, including 2 on a bicycle, and every time I realized later that, even though it was not my fault, there was something I could have done to avoid it.

I'm always amazed when I hear people say "He/she didn't cause the crash, there was nothing they could do". I've beaten the idea that your hyperawareness is your lifeline into my kids heads. Been a rider since 1982. My kids (22 and almost 20) don't ride yet but plan to, but she drives a Fit and he drives a 99 323 vert. I've drilled into their heads that you have to be outside your car, mentally aware of EVERYTHING. So many people drive along in a small bubble of awareness that encompasses maybe 40-50 feet around them, and barely registering much even inside that bubble except gross motions. Look for little kids waving arms, the extra bit of shadow on the side of the drivers head that indicate a cell phone held to the skull, the sudden turning of a head that might indicate a sudden lane change. What the author talked about, looking for that odd bit of behavior that could mean sudden movement is imminent. Sounds like a lot of work, but after a while, that sort of vigilance becomes second nature, you're processing it in the background. Another analogy is to act as if you are in a Final Destination movie

Another idea I picked up in a defensive driving course I took in the Navy in the early 90s. "Sometimes, there's just gonna be a crash. Nothing you can do about it. What you can do is chose the best crash you can get". Spent a lot of time with the kids on this concept. Sounds crazy, maybe, but the more you preplan for events, the better prepared you are to take "instinctive" action. Friend of my sons destroyed his car dodging a deer and running into a phone pole. Sometimes, Fluffy has to die that you may live.

[jrkoupe]

Bill837...

good post, thnx....BUT

I feel the roads are incredibly unsafe these days and it will only get worse.....I feel it is just so horribly awful

tech gadgets, cars w/ elec nannies, super ez cars to drive , insulation/isolation , and the overall awareness of folks on the road driving is about non existent


often getting on a track, for me, has made this all so painfully obvious.

The z3 may be a bit long in tooth but it is a good example: my wife just hates being in it..its too visceral for her, : tire noise, exhaust noise, some rattles, etc etc etc.......its too stressful for her......and she is the norm I would say.

[Bill837]

Bill837...

good post, thnx....BUT

I feel the roads are incredibly unsafe these days and it will only get worse.....I feel it is just so horribly awful

tech gadgets, cars w/ elec nannies, super ez cars to drive , insulation/isolation , and the overall awareness of folks on the road driving is about non existent


often getting on a track, for me, has made this all so painfully obvious.

The z3 may be a bit long in tooth but it is a good example: my wife just hates being in it..its to visceral for her, : tire noise, exhaust noise, some rattles, etc etc etc.......its too stressful for her......and she is the norm I would say.

You have a point, a couple actually. And we are entering what will be viewed as a very dangerous time, this transition between human drivers and self driving vehicles. A coworker recently transitioned from a relatively new Toyota 4Runner to a Jeep Wrangler. She said "I am having to learn to drive all over again, I actually have to look over before making a lane change since it has no thingy to tell me there's a car there" I asked if she has not been backing up her blind spot system with head checks and she seemed to think I was the crazy one

So yes, unsafe and going to get worse before it gets better. For those of us driving the smaller machines. Overall, pretty much, fewer people die every year. Mostly because we engineer things to keep people alive better than we ever have, not because we drive any better. Those of us who drive machines not so designed have to just be better drivers

Oh, let me drop this here, for Rush fans (and I suspect the Z crowd might have a higher Red Barchetta fan base than the average acr community ) this is the sort story that inspired that song....

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-s...tta-1446791872

[Vintage42]

... I deal with a nightmare scenario every day. Turning left off of a 4-lane undivided highway where people are usually doing 55-60mph. Stopped with a turn signal on waiting for oncoming traffic to clear. Some jack-wagon in an SUV is barreling up behind me and changes lanes at the last moment. That alone is frightening, but the bad part is the jack-wagon behind him who couldn't see me because he was tailgating the suv, now has only a few car lengths to get stopped.

That is my situation for the past fifteen years. Ten years ago the "jack-wagon", who had no time to see me when the car behind me suddenly pulled around me, rear ended and totaled me. Since then I don't make that left turn, but drive another half mile and circle around to make a right turn.

[Vintage42]

Got a BMW bike at the factory in '66 and soon after was standing Navy bridge watches. That fearful 360º awareness helped keep me safe on bikes and cars for 50 years. Not one accident except a rear ender.

[jrkoupe]

Vintage

thats a very cool lil tidbit........but I would say there has been some luck, maybe not alot...but some

a new beamer in 66...wow, waaaay cool......still have it?

btw, were u born in 42?

[Dakar Ole]

Get Dakar and be done with it

[ZGator]

Get Dakar and be done with it

I have the next best thing Alpine White, I bought a lighter color of hoping to be seen.

Having had to plant a motorcycle on asphalt or hit a car/SUV that was parked and pulled a U Turn right in front of me at 18 in downtown Allston(Boston) I do know..

I too am paranoid, and practice defensive/paranoid driving, most of the time.

I also turn on fog lights as psuedo - Run Time Driving lights, anything to be seen, but always anticipating the worse..

[Colo Springs E]

Absolutely the mentality you have to have. When I briefly owned a 1st generation Miata several years ago, I was nearly hit 3 times while driving downtown in one day. It was an education for me. You really have to have your head on a swivel in a small roadster. Throw in the added increase in texting/viewing smartphones and it has gotten progressively worse. I absolutely would not own a motorcycle at this point, and I once owned one as my only transportation. Wouldn't take that risk anymore, too many distracted drivers out there.

[melville]

The z3 may be a bit long in tooth but it is a good example: my wife just hates being in it..its too visceral for her, : tire noise, exhaust noise, some rattles, etc etc etc.......its too stressful for her......and she is the norm I would say.

Wow. My Z3M is the quietest, most refined thing I've ever owned. Nearly everything else has been a VW Bus or Beetle, though.

On the subject: using things learned in my 2-wheel experience (push and moto) is a big part of how I get around in my various 4 wheel deathtraps. Lots of observation, trying to avoid groups, etc.

[Vintage42]

... a new beamer in 66...wow, waaaay cool......still have it? btw, were u born in 42?

Sold one like it in 2012. The last of many BMWs. Wife said she would give me the Z3 if I did. I was born in '42.
http://home.insightbb.com/~aatherton/R27a/R27a.html
http://home.insightbb.com/~aatherton/R27/R27Rest.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AII...ature=youtu.be

[s8ilver]

Do people signal more in other cities/states than in Houston/Texas?
For some reason you just can't get anyone with a truck or huge SUV to signal before cutting me off in the left most lane at slower speeds. The 5 lane merge across whole freeway entrance behavior to the default lane.


Then there's the Kia / Hyundai drivers with either lights completely off, or high beams all the time.

I remember that when I lived in Texarkana. No one seemed to signal, ever. I think new cars sold in CO now have turn signals as optional. Doesn't seem many use them here anymore either.

[pine1000]

Few people signal in the Charlotte NC area. I see several people texting or otherwise reading information on their phone screens while driving every day.

It's scary out there. I'm ready for most people to have nice docile self driving cars as long as I get to keep driving when I want to.

[fairchild]

WOW- great article----
i drive a z-3 and a chevy tahoe and a 1 ton diesel pick up truck. So I see all 3 sides of stupid driving. I CAN tell you I drive the truck possibly MORE
defensively than all of them - because i see how stupid people are about pulling out in front of trucks with heavy loads. (I am never loaded- but they dont know
that---) I DO notice that I very seldom have other drivers try to intimidate me when Im in the 1 Ton. I do feel helped by the z-3's increased visibility
and maneuverability--- (havnt had to use that so far) About 90 % of the drivers here are from Ny , Pr.and Nj. They are the worst drivers of anywhere I have
ever been. Wishing for the country roads again. (thanks john denver....)

Strange--- the last trip in the z-3 it occurred to me that I was probably a motorcycle-like target for idiot drivers.... and I should take 2 wheel precautions....
I never rode a motorcycle on the road.... only off road.