The Dashcam Chronicles

[Tiberius Jim]

So *all* traffic has to come to a complete stop to allow pedestrians to cross instead of allowing traffic to proceed when it is clear and simply yielding for a brief moment while pedestrians cross?

I've seen some pretty poorly designed intersections here in California but I'm afraid this isn't one of them.

 

[Avon]

make all the cars stop for a few seconds. easy enough. seems to work in a lot of countries. no wonder americans can't handle roundabouts if this is a hard concept :P

 

[Tiberius Jim]

It's not a hard concept, it just seems like it would disrupt the flow of traffic much more than a green light and yielding to the occasional pedestrian. It happens many times (I make that turn about 7 times a week if not more) where a ped is crossing and I have a green to turn right. I just stop for a few short seconds and then I'm on my way. Besides, we can turn right on a red light unless otherwise noted so I'd likely still be able to proceed after yielding to the peds anyway.

 

[Avon]

i'm going to blow your mind now: the pedestrians press a button when they want to cross that then makes it all go red for a few seconds. if there are no pedestrians it carries on as normal.

but anyway, this mild excursion into traffic flow solutions isn't really the point of this thread.

at the start of this thread i was vaguely on board with your video idea, but expecting everyone to agree with you has caused a reversal of my original position.

 

[Roger Wilco]

i'm going to blow your mind now: the pedestrians press a button when they want to cross that then makes it all go red for a few seconds. if there are no pedestrians it carries on as normal.

And I'm going to blow your mind: Almost always those buttons are actually not functional and the only purpose is to make pedestrians feel better about waiting.

 

[Avon]

hey they work where i am. not my fault your local traffic authority or whatever are lying to you

 

[Tiberius Jim]

hey they work where i am. not my fault your local traffic authority or whatever are lying to you

That's what you think...

 

[Avon]

i press the button it goes red.

i don't press the button, it doesn't go red.

where's the conspiracy?

actually, if you're meant to wait for pedestrians to cross even if it's green, doesn't that mean the 'green light get out of the way' video is pointless then?

 

[Tiberius Jim]

i press the button it goes red.

i don't press the button, it doesn't go red.

where's the conspiracy?

actually, if you're meant to wait for pedestrians to cross even if it's green, doesn't that mean the 'green light get out of the way' video is pointless then?

*sigh* Notice which crosswalk the guy is in? That's not the side that gets to cross when my light is green. He had the solid red Do Not Walk when I had my green. It's the crosswalks going parallel to me that have the green.

 

[doubleohfive]

I don't know about you guys, but I for one am thrilled and relieved - yes, thrilled and relieved - that Flux has the free time, the resources, the ingenuity and the wherewithal to be out surreptitiously policing the streets for us, more concerned with capturing almost-accidents than with actual safe, defensive driving. Onward, good Christian soldier!

 

[Avon]

but you're on red at the start, so i'd assume he'd start crossing while it was green for him. and then you're meant to wait. which you did. so whats the problem?

also even if he crossed when it was red we, the viewer can't see that. you could invest in some more cameras to cover all angles.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

but you're on red at the start, so i'd assume he'd start crossing while it was green for him. and then you're meant to wait. which you did. so whats the problem?

also even if he crossed when it was red we, the viewer can't see that. you could invest in some more cameras to cover all angles.

I was at red at the start. When I had the red, he had the Walk. When my light turns green, that means he now has the Do Not Walk. Yet he walked anyway. I didn't think I needed to cover every single angle because I figured people watching the videos understood how traffic signals work here.

In other news...I'll refrain from feeding the troll.

 

[Squiggy]

Just rewatched the video, I don't think you had the right of way at all. The Mazda (5LRMI78) was alright turning when you proceeded unto the intersection. You then tried to turn into where they were already turning. Also, the California Vehicle Code section 27001 makes it a crime to use your horn unless it's necessary.

But please, keep posting the videos. They're HI-larious. Also, learn how to share the road. Then take a breath and get on with your life. This isn't special and it happens to countless millions on a daily basis.

 

[Avon]

so flux, you admit when you were red he starts walking, but once you get the green he should stop in the middle of the road for you to go?

and don't imply i'm a troll. that's childish.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Just rewatched the video, I don't think you had the right of way at all. The Mazda (5LRMI78) was alright turning when you proceeded unto the intersection. You then tried to turn into where they were already turning. Also, the California Vehicle Code section 27001 makes it a crime to use your horn unless it's necessary.

But please, keep posting the videos. They're HI-larious. Also, learn how to share the road. Then take a breath and get on with your life. This isn't special and it happens to countless millions on a daily basis.

It's a crime to honk at a vehicle that is cutting me off in my lane? I did have the right of way, as when I turn on my green light I am supposed to turn into the rightmost lane...and I did. She was supposed to turn into the lane that was clear, and she failed to. It's a two lane road we were turning onto...I take the right lane, she takes the left and all is good. Why is this so hard for people to understand? We both have a green light, why do I have to stop for her to turn into the right lane when all she had to do was turn into the proper lane and all would have been fine?

I'm going to ticket someone for honking at a driver who cuts them off, said no cop ever.

so you admit when you were red he starts walking, but once you get the green he should stop in the middle of the road for you to go?

and don't imply i'm a troll. that's childish.

Jesus Christ. There is a countdown that tells the pedestrian how much time he has left to cross. When it reaches zero, that's when my light goes green. He was already in the crosswalk after his countdown ended. He should never have been in the crosswalk to begin with because he clearly didn't have time to cross.

I wasn't calling you a troll. See 005's post. Well, at least until he edits it again.

 

[Squiggy]

I did have the right of way, as when I turn on my green light I am supposed to turn into the rightmost lane...and I did.

She was there first. Trying to occupy the space she was occupying at the same time she was occupying it was impossible, so why were you attempting it?

Watch the video, she turned first. Her trying to force her way through you was a little infantile, but so way you shoving yourself into the intersection with not only pedestrians but also another vehicle in your way.

It's stubborn drivers like you who cause pointless slowdowns on roads because you're asserting your dominance.

Was it a perfect situation that's taught in driver's ed? No. But the only people who were successfully getting through that situation were the people walking. Both you and the other driver fucked up. She forced her way through, you were forcing your way through. I'd hold off on that motorcycle.

 

[Saito S]

I did have the right of way, as when I turn on my green light I am supposed to turn into the rightmost lane...and I did.

She was there first. Trying to occupy the space she was occupying at the same time she was occupying it was impossible, so why were you attempting it?

Yeah. Whenever I see this kind of thing happening on the road, I like to call it a math problem.

So, based on responses in this thread, and consulting with a coworker, it seems that indeed the person turning right WOULD have the right of way. Despite arriving in the intersection first, the van should have waited for opposite direction traffic to clear (so even though Flux hadn't reached the intersection yet, the van should still have waited). So, granted.

But I have to agree with Squiggy on the issue of who fucked up: both of you. Yes, she should have waited for you; no, you shouldn't have just plowed ahead, beginning to turn right when she was there, and then honked your horn. The bigger mistake was made by the van driver, but still. It goes back to the third point in my other post, as well, which was summed up by Locutus and Squig: regardless of who was "in the right" or not, the most important thing is safety and not making an existing situation worse. Pulling out into the lane when the van is already doing something stupid and having to go around the peds, and then honking your horn, doesn't strike me as a safe driving practice.

And she really did not almost hit them. She was also driving pretty slowly. The peds were completely unconcerned. You say the video doesn't do "proper justice" to the distances, but it looks pretty clear to me. Besides which, all we have to go on is the video. You put it up to say "look at this crazy thing this person did", but if the video shows nothing all that crazy happening, than what are we to take away from it?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

This is unbelievable. So now my driving is critiqued and hypothetical situations are being made up where I'm the one at fault.

Please tell me that the irony of you complaining about strangers in a comment thread critiquing your driving in videos posted online occurred to you while you were typing up this post? Because otherwise, that would be unbelievable.

First of all...did you see an accident in that video? Maybe that would have been more exciting for all of you, but the fact is that no, no accident happened. I guess that was just a happy coincidence then and not due to anything on my part.

Wait, you think we want to see you get in an accident to make a more compelling video? That's the exact opposite of what I was saying, where I thought it looked like you're being overly aggressive and impatient while driving in order to force a situation that makes for good video, like in the "two wrongs don't make a right" crosswalk video especially where you sped up when it was obvious what the other driver (who was more in the wrong, but that's beside the point) was doing.

I honked because the woman (yes I saw that she was a woman) crossed into my lane for no reason.

I know it's not what it often gets used for, but honking is supposed to be for accident avoidance, not to show your displeasure at someone's bad driving when there's no longer any danger.

I *did* slow down to make sure I did my part to let the pedestrians clear my path. I then proceeded because every other time I've turned at that intersection nobody else has been careless enough to turn I to the wrong lane. But like I said...I still avoided the accident.

Accidents are avoided because of luck all the time. Just because you didn't have one here doesn't mean you're Mario Andretti with amazing driving skillz or anything. Like I said, it comes off like you were driving too aggressively to me. Just because someone else screws up and you have the right of way doesn't mean you should try and wedge yourself in ahead of them and potentially cause an accident when their path into your lane and premature turn seem entirely obvious before you tried to turn yourself.

But sure, go ahead and play armchair psychiatrists from a 15 second video.

Isn't that exactly what you're doing with your assumptions about other drivers motives; attributing them to malicious intent to cut you off, etc. rather than simple misunderstandings and oversights which happen on the road all the time?

And somehow it comes off as petty for me to make these videos but somehow its funny to take the time to film yourself watching my video...

Actually, yeah, it was, and it happened to accurately capture the experience of watching each of your mostly pointless videos of utterly forgettable minor traffic incidents perfectly.

Somehow I doubt he's going to try and make a whole YouTube Channel out of it, though.

Someone said it earlier...I do the same thing multiple times expecting different results. And that thing is posting here expecting a civil discussion when all I've gotten in the past is ridicule and people who think they're Dr. Freud analyzing me. I've honestly never posted at a forum where I've encountered so many people who act like that.

While I greatly admire that you're continuing Northern California's tradition of producing world class white whines, there's a quote from the TV show Justified that I'd like you to consider. It's been used a lot around here lately, but only because it's so apt:

Raylan: "You ever hear of the saying 'you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole; you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole?'"

Now, before you build a full head of steam, I'm not calling you an asshole. I'm just reiterating the point I made earlier that if you keep running into this kind of problem over and over again, maybe the problem is not everyone else. Maybe the problem is you and how you present yourself.

You've posted threads complaining about various people or events or issues for years and frequently they receive a negative reaction. Is it because the people of TrekBBS are just exceptionally rude? How do you account for the fact that it's not always the same people having that reaction, though? While there are plenty of old timers still around here, there are also a lot of fresh recruits who encounter your threads and still have the same negative reaction. Were they all indoctrinated to dislike your attitude when they joined, or could it be that your attitude is the problem itself, and that different people all have a very consistent reaction to it?

Sorry, there was a bit of uncivil discussion there, but since apparently simply critiquing your videos and giving you the feedback that you asked for is considered uncivil as well, I guess it doesn't really make much difference, does it? You're going to classify anyone disagreeing with you as being uncivil no matter what.

I don't want to be overly critical of FC here, but one thing that annoyed me was, yes, what some of the other drivers did was dumb, giving very short notice about changing lanes and squeezing into tight spots, but if you see an idiot do that, why not slow down and give him a little more space?

How much more space am I supposed to give them? The space they're taking up is what was once my buffer area between the car in front of me. So because they're an impatient douchebag who for whatever reason couldn't just slide over behind me (in every instance I wish I also had a rear facing camera because there was never *anyone* behind me) I should slow down even further and just let them on in? I see what you're saying but I'm not going to go out of my way to make it easier for them to be a jerk. I'm not going to speed up and make it impossible for them to get over or nearly cause an accident but I won't make the feel comfortable about the dick move they just made. It's people like the that cause traffic jams by making the driver they just cut off have to slow down to make room for them.

Thank you for perfectly illustrating my earlier remark that it seems as if you are purposely driving aggressively to make a point.

Yes, if you see someone driving badly, you should slow down, go out of your way, and do whatever it takes to make sure you avoid an accident and don't put yourself, the bad driver, and the pedestrians that still hadn't cleared your half of the street in danger. You should not say "Oh, I'll show them!" and speed up to make the turn at the same time when it's obvious they're going to be in the way.

I'm going to ticket someone for honking at a driver who cuts them off, said no cop ever.

Wrong.

When Honking Your Horn Can Land You a Ticket

Did you know that you can get a ticket for using your horn? That’s right; the California Vehicle Code prohibits “unnecessary” horn use. Here’s what California Vehicle Code Section 27001 says about it:

Subdivision (a), “The driver of a motor vehicle when reasonably necessary to insure safe operation shall give audible warning with his horn.”
Subdivision (b), “The horn shall not otherwise be used, except as a theft alarm system which operates as specified in Article 13 (commencing with Section 28085) of this chapter.”

So when should and when should it not be used. Here are some tips from the Department of Motor Vehicles Driver Handbook, Safe Driving Practices:

When to Use Your Horn:

- Only when necessary, to avoid collisions.
- To try to get “eye contact” with other drivers. You may tap your horn to alert another driver who might turn in front of you and cause a collision.
(Before you say this one applies to you, the other driver was already past you when you honked)
- On narrow mountain roads, where you cannot see at least 200 feet ahead of your vehicle.

When You Should Not Use Your Horn:

- If a driver or bicyclist is going slowly, and you want him or her to drive faster or get out of your way. The driver or bicyclist may not be able to safely go faster, due to illness, being lost, intoxication, or having mechanical problems with the vehicle.
- To alert other drivers that they made a mistake. Your honking may cause them to make more mistakes or to become angry and retaliate.
- Because you may be angry or upset.
- To honk at pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists unless necessary to avoid a collision. Remember that your horn sounds much louder outside a vehicle.

The DMV also cautions that, honking your horn may startle other drivers and that it is generally safer to slow down or stop, instead of honking your horn.

http://ticketbusters.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/when-honking-your-horn-can-land-you-a-ticket/

Someone should post a video about drivers who abuse the horn and violate traffic laws. I'm sure that would be entertaining.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

When the hell did I "plow ahead" in that video? I practically came to a complete stop as she turned into my lane. She was the one trying to occupy my lane, not vice versa. That's why I honked...letting her know she was cutting me off and letting her know I was there. I'm not sure how she missed a bright blue car trying to make a legal turn but who knows. I've rewatched it myself and I don't know where you're all seeing aggressive behavior on my part. I slowed down before the turn, so I don't know where you're seeing me speed up. I didn't force anything for sake of the camera so you're dead wrong there.

I'm a really a big fan of Justified and liked that quote a lot. I don't thinking applies to me because not all of the people I encounter are necessarily "assholes" per se...just bad drivers, at least in that particular moment.

I really don't know how to account for this place always giving me such negative feedback while other outlets seem to be much more civil. My only guess is that this place attracts a certain mentality that I'm obviously not a part of. Like I said earlier, I should just realize I'm pretty much incompatible with 90% of the board's population and stop expecting us to agree on anything.

 

[Yoda]

Epic thread!

Anyway... on the jerk quotient from that vid, Flux Capacitor, sorry bro but you take that cake. Why? Because when you're a pedestrian and someone honks 10 feet behind you for no fucking good reason, it's startling. Totally sucks. Don't do that.

As for what the left turn "bitch" should have done... yes, she should've pulled into the intersection to the point where she'd begin her turn. Stop. Not turn her wheels at all. Wait until the pedestrians and/or Flux were through, and then make her turn when safe. Yeah, she's a shit driver.

And aside from the honking Flux, it's true, your vids show a pattern of impatient driving. It's something you should work on.