mdgv2
OT Cowboy
Posts: 487
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Post by mdgv2 on Sept 4, 2023 6:15:14 GMT -5
How do!
A sort of catch all thread for bits and pieces which don’t really slot in anywhere, but you find irritating.
For instance, and to start it off?
Stolen Valour.
Now I’m not exactly a “thank you for your service” type, and other than grandparents serving in WW2, I’m not from a military family or background. Yet Stolen Valour really, really gets on my pip. Idiots buying second hand or fake medals, and claiming to be Service Veterans, up to and including appearing at memorial services, sitting amongst those who did serve.
I really don’t know why this of all things irritates me so much. It’s no particular secret I have zero time for liars and gobshites. But it still seriously pisses me off.
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Post by pacific on Sept 5, 2023 5:41:33 GMT -5
That is pretty pathetic actually, and I can only imagine how real veterans would feel when confronted with someone doing that.
I will mention 'middle lane hogs' on the motorway. People who find a nice steady 65-70mph and then just sit in the middle lane regardless of the traffic around them, and cause a wedge of traffic behind them. Usually they are in some sort of SUV I have found.
Interestingly I attended a speed awareness course a while ago (a penalty for my getting the quite pathetic speeding ticket from driving at 34mph in a 30mph zone!) and the instructor made a point of explaining that you should travel in the slow lane, and only use the middle and outer lane for overtaking. The middle lane was not a 'medium speed' lane, and incredibly a few people in the course were surprised by that. It makes me think that some sort of motorway driving really should be part of obtaining a license, as there are obviously which I would take as a triviality that are simply not known by some drivers.
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skyth
OT Cowboy
Posts: 344
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Post by skyth on Sept 5, 2023 5:48:14 GMT -5
As someone who only drives the speed limit, I prefer the middle lane so that people entering or exiting the freeway have easy access. I see the middle lane as 'you're going to be here for awhile' lane. Plus, I have 0 sympathy for people that are upset about being stuck behind me as to not be stuck behind me, they'd have to break the law  I do only use the far left lane to pass though. |
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Haighus
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 902
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Post by Haighus on Sept 5, 2023 5:54:54 GMT -5
That is pretty pathetic actually, and I can only imagine how real veterans would feel when confronted with someone doing that. I will mention 'middle lane hogs' on the motorway. People who find a nice steady 65-70mph and then just sit in the middle lane regardless of the traffic around them, and cause a wedge of traffic behind them. Usually they are in some sort of SUV I have found. Interestingly I attended a speed awareness course a while ago (a penalty for my getting the quite pathetic speeding ticket from driving at 34mph in a 30mph zone!) and the instructor made a point of explaining that you should travel in the slow lane, and only use the middle and outer lane for overtaking. The middle lane was not a 'medium speed' lane, and incredibly a few people in the course were surprised by that. It makes me think that some sort of motorway driving really should be part of obtaining a license, as there are obviously which I would take as a triviality that are simply not known by some drivers. Oooh, middle-lane hoggers are a good one. They really get my goat. Motorway driving is covered in the highway code and therefore the theory test, so I still see no excuse for middle-lane hogging. Regarding practical experience- One of my friends learnt to drive in Manchester, and never drove faster than 40mph before passing their test. The test routes never went faster than that (because they were in urban Manchester) so his instructor never "wasted time" practicing something that wouldn't be on the test. I was in the car with him when he first went on a duel carriageway to give advice, it was quite the experience! In contrast I had 70mph sections on my driving test and had done plenty of practice at that speed prior to sitting the test. Now learners can go on motorways with a qualified instructor and dual controls, so there is more scope for motorway practice. I doubt many do though, and you could learn the same skills on dual carriageways anyway (middle + "fast" lane is supposed to be the same technique as just "fast" lane, as you say they are overtaking lanes not "speed" lanes). |
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Haighus
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 902
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Post by Haighus on Sept 5, 2023 6:03:50 GMT -5
As someone who only drives the speed limit, I prefer the middle lane so that people entering or exiting the freeway have easy access. I see the middle lane as 'you're going to be here for awhile' lane. Plus, I have 0 sympathy for people that are upset about being stuck behind me as to not be stuck behind me, they'd have to break the law I do only use the far left lane to pass though. You could be fined for that in the UK, if a cop could be arsed to pull you over for lane hogging (I don't get the impression this happens very often, if ever, but it is on the books). The correct form here would be to move out when approaching sliproads and move back in to the slowest lane once the traffic has merged, unless you are overtaking of course. The problem with the speed thing is speedometers have tolerances- I know my car is actually going at about 66mph (according to GPS) when the speedometer says 70mph. If someone slowly overtook me at 71mph (by my speedometer) they are probably not breaking the law. This is exacerbated by curves being frequent on UK motorways- someone going at the same speed in the correct (slow) lane will catch up and start undertaking a middle lane hogger on a left curve, due to the shorter radius. Ergo, drivers should move into the left-most lane unless overtaking or the left-most lane peels off at the next junction and the driver doesn't want to go that way. The exception is very slow moving traffic, at which point maintaining lanes allows better traffic flow. In modern smart motorway segments (which includes most areas that frequently get busy and snarl up nowadays), there are large digital signs that often inform drivers when to maintain lanes (not that some people pay much attention to these). |
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mdgv2
OT Cowboy
Posts: 487
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Post by mdgv2 on Sept 5, 2023 6:20:43 GMT -5
On driving? Morons who, when approaching a slip road letting new traffic join the main carriage way, who pootle along at a slow speed, and don’t shift over to the middle lane. That’s genuinely FUCKING DANGEROUS, because at some point the joining traffic are going to run out of road.
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skyth
OT Cowboy
Posts: 344
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Post by skyth on Sept 5, 2023 6:41:20 GMT -5
You could be fined for that in the UK, if a cop could be arsed to pull you over for lane hogging (I don't get the impression this happens very often, if ever, but it is on the books). The correct form here would be to move out when approaching sliproads and move back in to the slowest lane once the traffic has merged, unless you are overtaking of course. In the US, it's only the far left lane you're not supposed to travel in. Problem with changing lanes constantly to let people in is changing lanes is when most accidents on the freeway happen. Constantly changing lanes just increases the risk to you and everyone else. |
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Post by adurot on Sept 5, 2023 7:16:01 GMT -5
Yep, US the middle lane is the Through Lane for traveling. Right is Merging/Exiting, and left Passing.
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Haighus
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 902
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Post by Haighus on Sept 5, 2023 8:48:50 GMT -5
You could be fined for that in the UK, if a cop could be arsed to pull you over for lane hogging (I don't get the impression this happens very often, if ever, but it is on the books). The correct form here would be to move out when approaching sliproads and move back in to the slowest lane once the traffic has merged, unless you are overtaking of course. In the US, it's only the far left lane you're not supposed to travel in. Problem with changing lanes constantly to let people in is changing lanes is when most accidents on the freeway happen. Constantly changing lanes just increases the risk to you and everyone else. That is interesting. I suspect the rationale of always left (or right if in US) is to minimise undertaking and associated conflicts. Edit: it also accomodates more speeds- someone sitting in the middle lane at 60mph would really clog up the motorway. |
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Post by bobtheinquisitor on Sept 5, 2023 9:45:21 GMT -5
You could be fined for that in the UK, if a cop could be arsed to pull you over for lane hogging (I don't get the impression this happens very often, if ever, but it is on the books). The correct form here would be to move out when approaching sliproads and move back in to the slowest lane once the traffic has merged, unless you are overtaking of course. In the US, it's only the far left lane you're not supposed to travel in. Problem with changing lanes constantly to let people in is changing lanes is when most accidents on the freeway happen. Constantly changing lanes just increases the risk to you and everyone else. This. Changing lanes for every merge is way, waaaaay worse for traffic than going the speed limit in one lane, and more dangerous to boot! Besides which, in big cities here, right lanes come and go all the time, so sticking in the slow lane is impractical. It makes sense on a long desert highway with two consistent lanes, but downtown, you’re just adding to congestion and cascading braking moving over and back all the time. |
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mdgv2
OT Cowboy
Posts: 487
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Post by mdgv2 on Sept 5, 2023 10:46:11 GMT -5
Cool wind in your hair?
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mdgv2
OT Cowboy
Posts: 487
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Post by mdgv2 on Sept 5, 2023 16:33:38 GMT -5
Celebrity Culture
It’s pervasive. And I loathe it. It makes pointless persons “famous”. And it’s like an ouroboros of utterly pointless exercise as the mags and the morons chase each other’s attention endlessly.
“You won’t believe what X now Y”. Not won’t. Don’t. I don’t fucking care. Never have. Never will.
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semipotentwalrus
Ye Olde King of OT
A somewhat powerful marine mammal.
Posts: 980
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Post by semipotentwalrus on Sept 6, 2023 3:01:47 GMT -5
Plus, I have 0 sympathy for people that are upset about being stuck behind me as to not be stuck behind me, they'd have to break the law This cannot be overstated. If I'm going the speed limit I'm not the problem, the fuckwits that aren't are. The sheer amount of people that will insisting that going the speed limit is "dangerous" because I'm "blocking the traffic" pisses me off. |
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herzlos
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 700
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Post by herzlos on Sept 6, 2023 4:22:02 GMT -5
I certainly hate that people seem to listen to celebrities opinion on stuff because they are famous.
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herzlos
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 700
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Post by herzlos on Sept 6, 2023 4:26:06 GMT -5
How do! A sort of catch all thread for bits and pieces which don’t really slot in anywhere, but you find irritating. For instance, and to start it off? Stolen Valour. Now I’m not exactly a “thank you for your service” type, and other than grandparents serving in WW2, I’m not from a military family or background. Yet Stolen Valour really, really gets on my pip. Idiots buying second hand or fake medals, and claiming to be Service Veterans, up to and including appearing at memorial services, sitting amongst those who did serve. I really don’t know why this of all things irritates me so much. It’s no particular secret I have zero time for liars and gobshites. But it still seriously pisses me off.
I know one of the English "Defence" League type groups kept getting in trouble for using stolen valour to raise funds illegally, generally by pretending to be a veterans charity or involved with the poppy foundations. They'd set up a stall in a town centre, take donations and then flee when actual veterans called them on it.
I wonder how much of the stolen valour stuff is driven by the US's weird idolization of veterans - huge discounts, private parking spots, etc. (whilst simultanously failing to support them properly). I don't approve but I can understand why someone may pretend to be a veteran to get treated like a celebrity.
I don't think it really happens in the UK beyond using it for fraud or fantasists in pubs.
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