Blogs about driving:
City Layout.
Some cities have their streets laid out in a Cartesian coordinate plane, with the "NW", "SW", "SE", and "NE" street designations relating to the four different quadrants. Once you discover the origin (0,0) of the city, you can generally navigate without familiarity of the named streets. For instance, the origin in Portland is Burnside and the Willamette river. So, 1500 SE 40th would be about 15 blocks south of Burnside, on 40th.
This practice is probably more common in cities that were deliberately designed, and younger cities. Unfortunately, this very simple navigation equation can break down when faced with natural topography such as large hills and lakes. (Seattle and Camas, I'm looking in your direction.) Regardless, this concept was immensely enlightening when my dad explained it to me many many years ago.
Yes, Pedestrian.
That's right, I honked at you. I did it with calm deliberation, and I would do it again.
I stopped the car well before the crosswalk at my red light. You sauntered across your crosswalk well after the flashing hand started. Perhaps you're naturally inattentive. Perhaps your cellphone conversation was particularly engrossing.
I was an alert and conscientious driver. You couldn't even be bothered to hustle across the crosswalk before my light turned green. My honk is your punishment.
Water is Treacherous.
The hubby and I drove down to Portland this weekend to visit my family for Easter. He'd taken the first shift, so I took over the driving duties in Centralia. Having taken a nap on the way down, and picked up a delightful fresh strawberry milkshake at the Burgerville, I was well rested and alert. The rain kept varying between the showers and deluges that are typical of our beloved Pacific Northwest. During one such deluge near Kalama, I saw the black car shoot through the grassy center median, driving into the oncoming traffic, and moving far too fast to be a police car starting from a dead stop. The sporty black sedan hit a red pickup truck that had been traveling in the right lane, and both cars bounced apart. The red truck spun around and came to rest near the right side shoulder, and the black sedan also spun and stopped across the left and middle lanes of traffic, about a couple dozen yards in front of me. I stomped on the brakes, steered straight, and stopped our Forester at least 10 feet in front of the smashed sedan. The other southbound I-5 traffic also managed to stop without incident, though I was briefly worried about the SUV behind us.
Both damaged cars will surely be totaled for frame damage, but the passengers appeared unhurt. The driver of the black sporty sedan hopped right out and announced that his car had spun out. (I suspect he'd hydroplaned due to too high speed in the pouring rain.) The older couple in the red truck looked unhurt and made eye contact, and were using their cellphone. The cars really only impacted on their corners, and glanced off each other instead of smashing head on. But it's worth a lot these days to have a a safe, modern car with solid metal frames and airbags.
Several things went well for us in these few fateful seconds, and I urge you to reflect upon them.
- Our vehicle worked precisely as it should - being free of bald tires or other maintenance problems.
- As a habitual reaction to anything at all odd or threatening on the road, I take my foot off the accelerator and cover the brake. This is a solid habit that I encourage you to build.
- I also drive appropriate to current road conditions; I was probably going 60 or 65 mph in the heavy rain rather than the 75-or-so that I would do on a straight, sunny stretch of I5 where the posted limit is 70 mph.
- I'd studied up on anti-lock brakes (which our Forester has, in addition to AWD) and knew to keep slamming those brakes though they jittered as the ABS worked.
- I aggressively position myself within the flow of traffic so that I am away from other cars. Proper following distance (That's 3 seconds people, keep checking yourself.) is the only way in the world in which you can make more time. But I also speed up or slow down to move out of the blind spots of other cars, and to move myself out of their blind spots. In this way, I can give myself 'pockets' of empty maneuvering room that I can use in emergencies. I didn't need to swerve to avoid hitting the stopped sedan, but that space was available for me and the other cars on the road.
Right.
I love having a gas tank on the right (passenger) side of my car. I went to fill up the Forester on Friday. ($2.69 a gallon, thank you very much.) The super cheap station I use is naturally very popular, ecpecially on a Friday afternoon. As I pulled in, there were lots of cars with the tank on the driver's side of the car just waiting to get to the pump. But there was ample empty space for passenger side oriented cars, so I pulled right in. I was in and out in a very short time. I mentally waved bye bye to the suckers still waiting for gas. Ha ha!
Constant Vigilance.
I could have been T-Boned last week. But thanks to my driving instructor and my own paranoia, the Babydoll (Subaru Forester) and I are both fine.
I was stopped at a red light waiting to go straight. There was a separate left turn lane next to me with a big red van, also waiting for the green light. We got our green, so we started rolling forward.
While doing so, I took a peek down the left and right cross street, and saw nothing. I usually do this when I'm first into an intersection. It's a good habit since so many people do run red lights. I didn't notice anything, but I did see the red van stop, so I looked left again and saw a white van barrelling though the intersection. So I stopped and didn't get hit. After Runny-McRed-Light went though, I continued on my way.
It was no big deal at the time, but it's kinda scary in retrospect. That guy was hauling ass - obviously punching it to 'make the light' from his side. If he'd hit me, I'd have been in a bad way. I guess what I'm preaching here is constant vigilance - Mad Eye Moody style. After all, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. And they are.