Newer Vehicles and Technology

John Brunner said:
I miss it. My 1990 Volvo I hit a deer with had it, plus an electronic 5th gear overdrive. Much of the time driving around here I have my Mazda in manual mode. It's not the same experience, but I like winding it out on these country roads. I do know that if I had a manual transmission, my gas mileage would probably go down 'cause I'd be so squirrely .
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The last manual transmission car I owned was a 1990 Mazda 626. I loved that little car. It had those automatic seatbelts and everything, haha.
 
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My 2002 Chevrolet Tracker has the automatic light feature that will turn the headlight on automatically, and off when I turn the key off, so I don't have to worry about whether the lights are on or not. My wife's 2013 Honda doesn't have that so I have, more than once, left home at night without turning the lights on, which is easy to do when you live in town and there are streetlights. On the other hand, I have to roll my window down to open the windows on my Tracker, and in the winter, they are often frozen shut.
 
Thanks for the laughs over the daytime running lights. In all the years I drove over the mountain passes with frequent fog, daytime running lights were a given for those that enjoyed low insurance premiums and in some cases, life. I thought everybody knew what daytime running lights were, but again old Faye is proven wrong. :ROFLMAO:

I like my Toyota that has lights I set on automatic and forget about it. They stay on for a couple of minutes after the car is shut off. A great feature for parking in a low lit garage. On overcast darker days here, I will get out of my car and as I walk away, some old guy will say, "You forgot to turn your lights off, ma'am. You will run your battery down." I thought this was some old grease monkey attempting to flirt with me, but alas, now I know these old geezers just don't know about daytime lights, running or otherwise. Once again old Faye is the recipient of enlightenment. :ROFLMAO:

I think next time a well meaning old guy, spouts that line, I will reply, "Those are what used to be called daytime running lights, Einstein, but now that I am parked, they are called daytime parking lights." :sneaky: You are not putting baby in the corner anymore! :cautious:
 
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Beth Gallagher said:
I have never cared for daytime running lights. I mean, if a person can't see something as big as a car they don't need to be on the highway. Besides, it was so easy to tell the end of a funeral procession when everybody on the road didn't have headlights on.
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I've driven with my headlights on during the day since I read an article in the 80s that said doing so reduces accident rates by about 5%. Cars can blend into the background real easy. I also read stats saying that certain colors were more visible and less likely to be in accidents (like my yellow Vega.) I'm sure there are other factors.
 
John Brunner said:
I've driven with my headlights on during the day since I read an article in the 80s that said doing so reduces accident rates by about 5%. Cars can blend into the background real easy. I also read stats saying that certain colors were more visible and less likely to be in accidents (like my yellow Vega.) I'm sure there are other factors.
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Like I said in my previous post, if a driver can't see something as big as another car, they probably don't need to be driving.
 
I thought that DRL's were yet another government requirement for American cars but I looked it up and apparently there is no such requirement. I guess the car makers just took it upon themselves to include them so they could bump prices and sell more headlight bulbs.

Another example of "for their own good" safety items is the sound that hybrids and electric vehicles make to alert people that they are moving. I suppose it makes sense because a vehicle under electric power is practically silent as it glides along.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
I thought that DRL's were yet another government requirement for American cars but I looked it up and apparently there is no such requirement. I guess the car makers just took it upon themselves to include them so they could bump prices and sell more headlight bulbs.

Another example of "for their own good" safety items is the sound that hybrids and electric vehicles make to alert people that they are moving. I suppose it makes sense because a vehicle under electric power is practically silent as it glides along.
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They are required in Canada, so maybe manufacturers just include them in North America. I think they have been required in Canada for decades, though, because the article I read all those years ago cited accident rates in Canada as support for DRLs. So dunno why the current trend. There are "hacks" to turn them off.

What bothers me these days are the hyper-bright LED headlights. My car has them, and other drivers flash their high beans at me thinking I have mine on. It used to be illegal to drive into oncoming traffic with your high beams on because you'll blind the other driver, yet these things are way brighter and are legal. It makes no sense.

The other stupid new thing regarding headlights is that if you have the type that's a string of LEDs, it must turn off (by Federal reg) when that side's turn signal is on so as to make the turn signal visible. Again, it's illegal to drive with a headlight out, but now every time you make a turn, you only have one operating headlight until the turn signal goes off...by law.

We're being played with.
 
John Brunner said:
What bothers me these days are the hyper-bright LED headlights. My car has them, and other drivers flash their high beans at me thinking I have mine on. It used to be illegal to drive into oncoming traffic with your high beams on because you'll blind the other driver, yet these things are way brighter and are legal. It makes no sense.
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In Maine, if they come with the car (factory-installed), they are legal but if they are an after-market product deemed to be too bright, they could result in a ticket.

As for electric vehicles, someone who looks to be in his 20s here in Millinocket has an electric bike that makes no sound and has no headlights, I suppose because he's used to not seeing people walking at night, if there are no cars coming, he has a habit of just sailing through intersections at full speed. He came very close to hitting me one night, because I often walk at night. Someone was killed on an electric bike here in town not long ago, but he was twelve, so not him. He wasn't hit, though; probably, ice had something to do with it.
 
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Ken Anderson said:
In Maine, if they come with the car (factory-installed), they are legal but if they are an after-market product deemed to be too bright, they could result in a ticket.

As for electric vehicles, someone who looks to be in his 20s here in Millinocket has an electric bike that makes no sound and has no headlights, I suppose because he's used to not seeing people walking at night, if there are no cars coming, he has a habit of just sailing through intersections at full speed. He came very close to hitting me one night, because I often walk at night. Someone was killed on an electric bike here in town not long ago, but he was twelve, so not him. He wasn't hit, though; probably, ice. had something to do with it.
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Yesterday I followed a link to a social media site that had a video of an e-bike blasting through an intersection. He had the right-of-way (green light), but a car coming the opposite direction (also with the green light) turned left in front of him. The e-bike did not slow down. It was not pretty. From the angle of the video, you could not tell if he had a headlight.

Don't get me started on golf carts and "parents" letting children drive them on the roads.
 
I know, from years or riding a motorcycle, that car drivers (many of them) don't have eyes that are trained to look for a motorcycle so, even though it might be daylight, or the motorcycle has a headlight at night, they just pull out or turn in front of it. I've had that happen to me when someone used his blinker to pass me on the left, on a city street, and then moved back into the lane, striking my front fender. He couldn't have been more apologetic and paid me more than it cost to replace the fender. He had seen me when I was in front of him but then forgot about me. That seems strange but I have had times when, as the driver of a car, it was only at the last moment that I noticed a motorcycle approaching an intersection. That's a larger motorcycle that makes noise and has headlights. When you consider electric bikes that are silent, sometimes have no headlights, and riders who ignore traffic laws like kids on bicycles are prone to, I'm surprised there aren't more accidents.

Perhaps laws for e-bikes need to become more standardized, particularly for the ones that are wholly electric, treating them more like motorcycles than bicycles. I'm not suggesting requiring a motorcycle license and license plates, because these are simply taxation devices, but applying traffic laws to them. In Maine, bicyclists can choose to ride in a traffic lane (in the right lane unless they are turning left at an intersection), or they can ride the sidewalks or hiking/bicycling trails, and I believe e-bikes are treated like bicycles, not motorcycles. Even on a bicycle, riders are supposed to have a fixed headlight when riding at night, and a rear reflector. Oddly, if they opt for a taillight, they still have to have a visible reflector. However, the police rarely enforce the traffic laws that do apply to bicycles, perhaps because, here, it' mostly kids who ride bicycles. Both kids and adults have e-bikes though, but they are treated, by the police and riders, as bicycles.

Adding to the annoyances, Millinocket is a snowmobile-friendly town, so snowmobiles are allowed on several of our streets. In the winter, the sidewalks of some of our streets are turned into snowmobile trails - intentionally not plowed or shoveled (in fact, in late winter, they will dump snow onto these sidewalks in order to prolong the snowmobile season), and used primarily for snowmobiles. At least, you can see and hear a snowmobile coming, however.
 
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Ken Anderson said:
I know, from years or riding a motorcycle, that car drivers (many of them) don't have eyes that are trained to look for a motorcycle so, even though it might be daylight, or the motorcycle has a headlight at night, they just pull out or turn in front of it. I've had that happen to me when someone used his blinker to pass me on the left, on a city street, and then moved back into the lane, striking my front fender. He couldn't have been more apologetic and paid me more than it cost to replace the fender. He had seen me when I was in front of him but then forgot about me. That seems strange but I have had times when, as the driver of a car, it was only at the last moment that I noticed a motorcycle approaching an intersection. That's a larger motorcycle that makes noise and has headlights. When you consider electric bikes that are silent, sometimes have no headlights, and riders who ignore traffic laws like kids on bicycles are prone to to, I'm surprised there aren't more accidents.

Perhaps laws for e-bikes need to become more standardized, particularly for the ones that are wholly electric, treating them more like motorcycles than bicycles. I'm not suggesting requiring a license and license plates, because these are simply taxation devices, but applying traffic laws to them. In Maine, bicyclists can choose to ride in a traffic lane (in the right lane unless they are turning left at an intersection), or they can ride the sidewalks or hiking/bicycling trails, and I believe e-bikes are treated like bicycles, not motorcycles. Even on a bicycle, riders are supposed to have a fixed headlight when riding at night, and a rear reflector. Oddly, if they opt for a taillight, they still have to have a visible reflector. However, the police rarely enforce the traffic laws that do apply to bicycles, perhaps because, here, it' mostly kids who ride bicycles. Both kids and adults have e-bikes though, but they are treated, by the police and riders, as bicycles.

Adding to the annoyances, Millinocket is a snowmobile-friendly town, so snowmobiles are allowed on several of our streets. In the winter, the sidewalks of some of our streets are turned into snowmobile trails - intentionally not plowed or shoveled (in fact, in late winter, they will dump snow onto these sidewalks in order to prolong the snowmobile season), and used primarily for snowmobiles. At least, you can see and hear a snowmobile coming, however.
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Virginia is somewhat the same for bicycles. I used to commute to work on my bike. 12 miles each way from the suburbs to the foot of Key Bridge just before crossing into DC. I always drove in the line of traffic as though I were a motorized vehicle, didn't go between lanes to rush to the front, etc. Things rarely moved all that quickly that I could not keep up...speed limits were 25MPH. I have seen cyclists hop back & forth between the street and the sidewalk to avoid red lights, blasting through No Walk signs, etc. That's the kind of stuff that makes people angry. For all the stories of opened doors, etc out there, I never had a driver get aggressive with me.
 
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