Head on a swivel...musings from the flight deck.

[Mooneymite]

2 minutes ago, daver328 said:

I don’t trust the Georgia drivers. 

If you don't like how we drive, stay the hell off the sidewalk!   

Actually, I travel virtually everywhere.  Each location has its good and bad drivers.  Staying off the sidewalk is good advice in most metropolitan areas.  

[steingar]

5 hours ago, daver328 said:

They are just making a friendly gesture letting you know you are “number one!” 

Lol

In Colorado there were lots of bike lanes and there seemed to be a culture of awareness and courtesy towards bicyclists

... immediately  after moving to Georgia, I heard firsthand from a spouse whose husband was recently killed when hit by a car riding a bicycle and from another cyclist who was deliberately hit ... 

When I lived in California lots of folks bicycled here and there.  The accident rate was 100% for the folks I knew.  They all got hit, most got hurt. I managed to roll out of my crash (truck hit me) but the bicycle was mangled.

They just put bike lanes here on a lot of the major roads, so I might give it a try.  But bicycles give me the willies.  No oomf to get out of the way.  I saw that truck coming and knew he was going to hit me.  Wasn't a lot I could do about it.

[HRM]

6 hours ago, Mooneymite said:

When pulling a large wagon full of hay, I always swing real wide to prevent pulling down the fences on both sides of the gate. 

Isn't that how you should taxi?

[Mooneymite]

8 minutes ago, HRM said:

Isn't that how you should taxi?

I try to keep my Mooney out of the hay fields, but you have a point.  

I think the heavy metal drivers call that "operational oversteer".  Sometimes the nose gear is located a long way behind the pilot requiring "hay wagon turns".

[wishboneash]

On 11/15/2017 at 6:00 AM, steingar said:

I decelerate and sometimes brake right before  a curve so I can accelerate hard into it.  That's how you take curves fast.

That's perfectly reasonable for higher than average speeds. I was talking about drivers braking any time they see a curve even on freeways :-)

[jlunseth]

Yeah, all of the above.  Sigh.  I have driven a succession of Suburbans since 1983, I need the four wheel and hauling capability.  One of the great things about them is that you sit high and can see over pretty much everyone.  I drive generally about a mile ahead of myself.  I have been hit a few times over the years by those drivers you are talking about.  Once stopped at a stop light, I had been stopped there for about a minute when a couple of kids came around the corner apparently playing with each other.  Bam.  I also ride a bicycle.  I ride it to work which is about 20 miles one way, and most of it is on trails.  I had one guy deliberatly come at me about 20 years ago.  I was hit by a girl while on a bike trail that crossed a street, she was making a right turn on red after stopping, looking at her cell phone, and never looked up.  I would love to have one of those German engineered whee machines, but I am deeply distrustful of the drivers around me and prefer a tank that they can destroy, but which will protect me.

[steingar]

6 hours ago, wishboneash said:

That's perfectly reasonable for higher than average speeds. I was talking about drivers braking any time they see a curve even on freeways :-)

I suspect most BMW drivers need to approach curves like racing turns even at the slowest speeds to keep their ducks in a row.  Actually, I suspect most drivers  need to approach curves like racing turns even at the slowest speeds to keep their ducks in a row.

I'm reminded of a fellow I met who modeled traffic patterns for municipalities, to determine how to build freeways and such.  He claimed that the only way the models mimicked real life is if they had people routinely stop dead for no reason at all.

[Oldguy]

11 hours ago, wishboneash said:

That's perfectly reasonable for higher than average speeds. I was talking about drivers braking any time they see a curve even on freeways :-)

My wife and I have come to the realization the drivers around here drop 5 mph every time they see a curve, 10 mph when they see a policeman/state trooper, or 25 mph if there is a wreck on the other side of the freeway. All of the preceding regardless of the speed they are traveling. 

[bonal]

Whats funny is how many drivers consider themselves to be very good or excellent drivers.  Since we dont fly in such close proximity as we drive and as I have such a limited amount of exposure to other pilots i wonder if the percentage of delusianal pilots that think they are gods gift to aviation is as high as there are drivers to driving.

[Hank]

2 hours ago, bonal said:

Whats funny is how many drivers consider themselves to be very good or excellent drivers.  Since we dont fly in such close proximity as we drive and as I have such a limited amount of exposure to other pilots i wonder if the percentage of delusianal pilots that think they are gods gift to aviation is as high as there are drivers to driving.

Is there any reason to believe that pilots think less of themselves than everyone else???

[Yetti]

I have coined the term  RAB or Random Act of Braking.   There can be a mile of open road and someone will hit their brakes.

[DXB]

On 11/17/2017 at 3:49 PM, bonal said:

Whats funny is how many drivers consider themselves to be very good or excellent drivers.  Since we dont fly in such close proximity as we drive and as I have such a limited amount of exposure to other pilots i wonder if the percentage of delusianal pilots that think they are gods gift to aviation is as high as there are drivers to driving.

I find that hanging around on these message boards has provided me with a pretty clear answer to your question