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Hazard lights should not be used in traffic unless the vehicle is being towed.
Link?
I was always told (I'm in NY) that you have to have them on if you are going 20-25 MPH or more under the posted speed limit. I've used them when I've been driving in bad weather, because there is always that one azz-wipe that likes to tailgate people even in a sleet storm because they think 4-wheel drive equals 4-wheel stop (which it doesn't). When I put those 4-ways on they back right off.
It is possible to drive with a sense or urgency and still be safe.
In the past, if I have had to drive slow for whatever the reason my be, I would have my hazards on and pull off to the side to let cars go by when I had the chance. The highway is a little different though; as long as you are in the right lane going at least the minimum speed limit people should not complain. The problem is that when you are driving the minimum speed on the highway and everyone else is driving slightly above the speed limit it would appear to the slow driver that everyone else is driving aggressively when that isn't the case at all.
Its all about perception. Ive seen people driving 80 mph plus on the highway matching each others moves but to me the one not using their turn signal is the one driving aggressively. Even the sound of someones engine can indicate aggressive driving to others.
I was always told (I'm in NY) that you have to have them on if you are going 20-25 MPH or more under the posted speed limit. I've used them when I've been driving in bad weather, because there is always that one azz-wipe that likes to tailgate people even in a sleet storm because they think 4-wheel drive equals 4-wheel stop (which it doesn't). When I put those 4-ways on they back right off.
I never understood why someone would put hazards on in bad weather; everyone knows its bad weather. I think using hazards more or less tells others to stay away because you don't know how to control your own vehicle in those conditions.
Youth has to be a factor. Youth and the inexperience and lack of judgment that comes with it.
I live in a college town and breathe a sigh of relief every year in the spring when the majority of the students go home. In the fall I brace myself for a new onslaught of young, self-important drivers. And every year it's getting worse. Many don't signal, cut drivers off, talk on cell phones and none seem to understand right of way guidelines.
They also are the ones who have the dents in their new college cars that Dad and Mom bought for them.
Someone recently wrote a letter to the paper complaining about coming upon people on the freeway traveling under the speed limit and that he nearly went in the ditch. Guess he was never taught that a driver shouldn't expect to travel his preferred speed with free sailing.
A competent driver is always prepared for possible obstacles on the road ahead. That can be animals, road or farm equipment, an accident or an elderly person who is following all the rules of the road but not overdriving his reflexes.
Actually, I think that more aptly applies to the OP and others who are focused solely on their own relaxation and contentment with total disregard to the time constraints of others. Just because they have time to waste and enjoy taking it slow and easy doesn't mean everyone else is wrong not to feel an act the same. The very premise of this thread is "I'm ok with going slow, what is everyone else's problem that they can't just go slow too".
Oh, you mean like the woman who used to ride on my back bumper when I would be on my way to work in the morning? I lived 10 minutes away from work (still do, just in a different apartment, on the other side of the Hudson River), and I would leave 15 minutes early, just in case I had to deal with overflow from the highway that ran parallel to the street I drove to get to work. She and I used to both take the bridge from downtown central Troy over the Hudson, and the whole way down the street to the bridge and on the bridge she would always be sitting on my bumper because I wasn't exceeding the 30 MPH city speed limit. I would brake check her and get the usual "friendly" gestures in return.
It's not my damn fault she didn't know how to leave extra time for her commute, especially if she was one of the many folks heading down I-787 into Albany.
No matter where you are going, LEAVE EARLIER and you won't have to rush or speed. I do that, and it makes for a much more relaxing ride, especially if I don't encounter someone who is trying to do an hour's drive in half an hour's time. Again, it's not my problem if they are late, but it sure as hell will be their problem if they rear end me if I have to stop suddenly.
Oh, you mean like the woman who used to ride on my back bumper when I would be on my way to work in the morning? I lived 10 minutes away from work (still do, just in a different apartment, on the other side of the Hudson River), and I would leave 15 minutes early, just in case I had to deal with overflow from the highway that ran parallel to the street I drove to get to work. She and I used to both take the bridge from downtown central Troy over the Hudson, and the whole way down the street to the bridge and on the bridge she would always be sitting on my bumper because I wasn't exceeding the 30 MPH city speed limit. I would brake check her and get the usual "friendly" gestures in return.
It's not my damn fault she didn't know how to leave extra time for her commute, especially if she was one of the many folks heading down I-787 into Albany.
No matter where you are going, LEAVE EARLIER and you won't have to rush or speed. I do that, and it makes for a much more relaxing ride, especially if I don't encounter someone who is trying to do an hour's drive in half an hour's time. Again, it's not my problem if they are late, but it sure as hell will be their problem if they rear end me if I have to stop suddenly.
Well aren't you just so awesome and perfect!
And it will be your problem if they rear-end you because you "brake checked" and witnesses can attest that you did it on purpose.
However, I'm not talking about that case at all. You can always cherry-pick and find examples of bad drivers. But if you're at odds with the majority of drivers on the road, maybe the problem lies with you. When one kid can't get along with all the other kids on the playground, I'm inclined to think the problem lies with the one kid not all the other kids.
I never understood why someone would put hazards on in bad weather; everyone knows its bad weather. I think using hazards more or less tells others to stay away because you don't know how to control your own vehicle in those conditions.
I have been tailgated more times than I can count when I have had to be on the road when the weather was bad.
I grew up in the Northeast, upstate NY, I know how to handle this type of weather, and before I was licensed I was learning from watching my my father, who grew up in the Catskills (so he is also a damn good snow driver). I'll drive as slow as I damn feel like it when I have to be out in it, and all I ask is for people to stay the hell off of my back bumper so they don't slide into me. I've never understood the urge people have to sit on the back bumper of the car in front of them at any time, and the fact that some of them do it in bad weather indicates they shouldn't even be licensed, because it's not a safe way to drive. If I have to be driving out in storm conditions, my goal is to get from Point A to B in one piece, PERIOD. Doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as both my car and I get there without any incident.
You are supposed to leave at least double the normal space between you and the car in front of you when the roads are snow or ice covered, and I see a lot of people who apparently never were taught that. And I'm not talking about the highway, either, just city streets and state route roads (there are a number of those in my area) that are 40-55 MPH when the weather is ideal.
Actually, I think that more aptly applies to the OP and others who are focused solely on their own relaxation and contentment with total disregard to the time constraints of others. Just because they have time to waste and enjoy taking it slow and easy doesn't mean everyone else is wrong not to feel an act the same. The very premise of this thread is "I'm ok with going slow, what is everyone else's problem that they can't just go slow too".
I was always told (I'm in NY) that you have to have them on if you are going 20-25 MPH or more under the posted speed limit. I've used them when I've been driving in bad weather, because there is always that one azz-wipe that likes to tailgate people even in a sleet storm because they think 4-wheel drive equals 4-wheel stop (which it doesn't). When I put those 4-ways on they back right off.
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