Here’s video evidence of impaired driving – although not by alcohol or arbitrarily illegal drugs (presumably). Instead, impairment by incompetence. Which is remedied not by the cultivation of competence but encouraged by “assistance” technology.
Is it that difficult, really, to drive in between the painted lines? To not let a third of your car wander over the double yellow line?
Apparently, it is.
Though of course it isn’t, actually. Plenty of us can still drive in between the painted lines – and not in the opposing lane of traffic – without “assistance.” But because so many do need it – apparently – all of us are forced to buy it.
If we buy a new car – almost all of which now come standard with it.
The good news – for now – is that we don’t have to buy a new car.
Let’s enjoy it while we still can.
. . .
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Most times I see wandering like that and finally manage to pass, they are tapping on their phone glancing up every now and then to see where their at.
The irony is that cars are easier to drive then ever. Maybe that is part of the problem…….
When I see that kind of behavior I pass them up (if I can) and give them the stink eye. 9 times out of 10 here they are on a cell phone.
BTW, I’ve seen worse. I’ve been behind idiots on the highway, twice, that spun out and smashed the barrier with no other cars around them on a clear day.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of “drivers” that slow down to the ridiculously slow posted suggested speed for a curve, and STILL can’t stay on their side of the road. That they are still alive is even more amazing. It’s been 50 years since I took a “driving test” to acquire my “drivers license”, but at that time the “test” was anything but. More akin to handing someone a gun, teaching them to load it, and turning them loose. The truly terrifying thing is that it seems most drivers assume that since they passed the “test”, that they know how to drive and don’t seek to improve their skills any further. Indeed many drivers on the road don’t drive any better than a newly licensed 16 year old. Some worse. Fortunately, it occurred to me some time ago that one can do an enormous amount of work on an older car for half the price of a new one. So I won’t be buying one that assists me.
Get this: The other day, I see this guy….. Oh wait- that was me….
Nunz, I saw that!. The farm to market road to my dirt road has two blind curves and I keep it in a single lane. On other roads where I can see forever and nobody up close behind me, I use the whole damned road. And why not?
When I first started driving a dump truck all day, I found out why dump trucks were always hauling ass. You have to get as many loads as you can and it’s often difficult to do. Out in the country where you could not only see the curve and beyond but halfway to the next town, I used every inch of pavement or roadway if it wasn’t paved. I could bump that 45 mph max staying in one lane to 65 using both and right to the edge.
Being a trucker though, you live and die by keeping a close eye on your sixes. A quick scan ahead and then watching the mirrors the rest of the time, probably one reason my neck cracks like a popcorn popper.
But in a 4 wheeled vehicle, I drive using as much of the road as possible when it’s possible. I do hate meting that ahole that’s over in my lane though.
I sure don’t drive through a hole if there’s no traffic and I can go around it. Our county road is basically a game of dodging all the holes and bumps.
I do hate the yuppie neighbors who are afraid of the edge of the road and drive right down the middle in their SUVs 🙁
In road racing we call that “Finding your line”.
Lane keep assiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiist, hell! Why not just a get a Tesla and let it do the driving?
That’s a joke, of course. But speaking of Tesla, customers who put down $1,000 deposits as much as four years ago on Tesla solar roof tiles just got an email:
“Upon further review, your home is not located within our currently planned service territory. The driving distance from our closest warehouse would make it difficult for us to provide you the high-quality service that our customers deserve. For this reason, we will not be able to proceed with your project.”
Sad!
But Tesla’s abject punt on solar roof tiles after years of hype raises another question: what if the vaunted “million-mile battery” is ALSO vaporware?
Gonna be tough to sue Lord Elon when he’s ensconced on Mars, mooning us through the bubble glass of his base camp.
Like you said, for now it’s optional. Rest assured they have plans to make it mandatory. They will tell us that it is unsafe to drive a car that is not autopiloted. That manually driving a car poses a safety risk to those cars on the road that are in constant communication with each other, because our old cars don’t communicate.
It’s coming.
Here in Pennsylvania some roads have cupping cut by a special machine in the double yellow line so that you get an auditory warning when you wander out of your lane onto the double yellow lines. I find them irritating, but I once I feel asleep behind the wheel after working a double shift over midnight. Those cups cut in the road woke me up. I sometimes wonder if my number would have been up that morning if I had taken a different road home.
Oscar, Texas roads are like that and when I want to push it hard, they’re irritating as hell. I don’t know how many times they’ve saved my life though, not from my own driving but from others. They get your attention and if you are wandering into them, they’re the best thing I have ever found to keep you alive.
In MT we call them “rumble strips”.
I do hate them when I’m trying to peek around a truck to see if it’s clear to pass.