Keeping your "nice" car "nice" in the DFW area

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by ghaladh

Lol. Too bad I don't have a phone that can take pictures :-D. Really, people with big pickup trucks sometimes don't know how to park, and the nearer you go to uptown, the truest it is! XD

Speaking about turning signals instead, I noticed that not using them is the most troublesome bad habit the drivers have here. So many times I barely avoided the crash with people that "ambush" me on the lane, snapping out of a queue of cars. Of course, I understand their attitude considering that, like someone else wrote already, if you use the turn signal, people accelerate to prevent you from entering.

Other unsafe practices I see in my hours on the streets:
-high beams, straight to my eyes or to my rear view mirrors. I understand many streets lack of lighting, but making other people blind is not nice or safe.
-safety distance. No, 2 feet from my ass is not enough, even when the traffic is slow. The bigger the car, the bulliest the driver, isn't it?
-crazy acceleration for short distances. from 0 to 40mph in two seconds. If I think we are going and I don't see if you have cars in front of you, I will accelerate as well. I might not be so sharp to brake in time when you do, though.
-overloading your pickup? Fine with me, but please fix your load! I don't want to dodge a barrel of paint while driving 70mph on the North Tollway (actually happened).

Yes to all of this...plus, HANG UP THE PHONE WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING. SERIOUSLY!

[DoneWithDallas]

I really wish they would make texting illegal while driving. I'm 24 and refuse to do it. I think it's just as dangerous as drinking and driving.

[kenshi]

Originally Posted by DoneWithDallas

I really wish they would make texting illegal while driving. I'm 24 and refuse to do it. I think it's just as dangerous as drinking and driving.

Agreed, but it would probably be hard to enforce. If you just hold the phone down low, it's going to be hard for a cop to see and even if he did, you could just say you were using it as a GPSr. On the other hand, if you caused a fatal wreck and they found the phone with half a text written out, maybe they could get you for negligent homicide.

[ghaladh]

I came to think that people in Dallas feel tremendously lonesome when driving. They MUST speak or text to someone! :-D
In Italy, driving while using the cell phone is illegal and you will get a ticket because of that. Is considered a minor infraction, though.

[Mr. Chad]

Originally Posted by ghaladh

Lol. Too bad I don't have a phone that can take pictures :-D. Really, people with big pickup trucks sometimes don't know how to park, and the nearer you go to uptown, the truest it is! XD

Speaking about turning signals instead, I noticed that not using them is the most troublesome bad habit the drivers have here. So many times I barely avoided the crash with people that "ambush" me on the lane, snapping out of a queue of cars. Of course, I understand their attitude considering that, like someone else wrote already, if you use the turn signal, people accelerate to prevent you from entering.

Other unsafe practices I see in my hours on the streets:
-high beams, straight to my eyes or to my rear view mirrors. I understand many streets lack of lighting, but making other people blind is not nice or safe.
-safety distance. No, 2 feet from my ass is not enough, even when the traffic is slow. The bigger the car, the bulliest the driver, isn't it?
-crazy acceleration for short distances. from 0 to 40mph in two seconds. If I think we are going and I don't see if you have cars in front of you, I will accelerate as well. I might not be so sharp to brake in time when you do, though.
-overloading your pickup? Fine with me, but please fix your load! I don't want to dodge a barrel of paint while driving 70mph on the North Tollway (actually happened).

I will keep these tips in mind, thanks!

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Yes to all of this...plus, HANG UP THE PHONE WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING. SERIOUSLY!

I agree with you on this but people need to be conditioned to not use the cell while driving, unless you are using blue tooth, or speaking using the cars speaker system. Other than that TX needs to pass a law banning cell phone use or texting while driving, and really enforce it.

Originally Posted by DoneWithDallas

I really wish they would make texting illegal while driving. I'm 24 and refuse to do it. I think it's just as dangerous as drinking and driving.

agreed!