Go toward the light

Now that most vehicles have fog lights, I am driven to wonder what the thought processes are of the yahoos who drive with them on all the time. Especially disturbing are the larger pickups, especially the lifted ones, that have their fog lights high enough off the road to blind the drivers of normal cars. Back thirty years ago, when fog lights were rare, I can see wanting to show them off, especially if you'd only gotten your drivers' license two years ago, but now they aren't anything special except to irritate other drivers when conditions don't warrant their being on. They don't help your visibility unless you are driving under fifteen miles an hour but I guess some drivers feel like they have to shine them down the road---I guess I should be glad that they don't turn on their roll bar lights that they got just in case the Baja Peninsula somehow moves up this way. I guess it's a good thing that most trucks don't come with the cab over running lights because the owners would be faint from the constant orgasims they'd be experiencing.

The one thing I bet they don't think about is the fact that there are so many people on the road like me---folks whose eyes are ageing and whose visual acuity is slipping along with an oversensity to excess light. In other words, if you keep blinding me, I'm liable to lose my spatial judgement and run into you, just as a moth is attracted to a bright light. I mean, do you really want to blind an old man when y'all are approaching each other at a combined speed of from forty to over a hundred miles per hour? Even if I don't run into you, you need to check the paint job on your driver's side so you can take care of the blisters caused by extreme caustic profanity.

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Along with the fog light crowd is the high powered headlight crew that can't seem to find the dimmer switch and run on brights constantly no matter how many times you flash your lights at them. Common sense is in short supply along with common courtesy.

Not to mention the folks that drive like they’re in a video game.
I’m thoroughly convinced this is a genuine modern phenomenon. Really, all kidding aside.
In a video game, you “win” if you can keep on driving while making the most insane crazy risk taking maneuvers,...and if you don’t “make it”?,...just hit the button, and you get another life..or two.
Sooo,..with a whole generation (or two) out there driving on pubic roads,..with real cars and trucks, which weight thousands of pounds instead of the ounces of a hand controller....you see where I’m going with this...

I’ve been driving in heavy city and beltway traffic for 40 years, first in Washington DC, then Atlanta,..(ask any trucker to pick the worst, ok,...Chicago usually makes the list too, but I digress) So, I’ve seen a thing or two when it comes to traffic and driving.
And I’ve seen a marked shift after the video game generation got behind the wheel.
Call me old, call, me gramps, call me boomer, call me what you want,...just don’t call me out of touch when I see what I’m seeing. It’s video game driving time,....and someone needs to educate these folks that there is no “respawn” after you don’t “make it” and you crash *(and take other non gamers out in the process)

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Originally Posted by Haywire

Now that most vehicles have fog lights, I am driven to wonder what the thought processes are of the yahoos who drive with them on all the time. Especially disturbing are the larger pickups, especially the lifted ones, that have their fog lights high enough off the road to blind the drivers of normal cars. Back thirty years ago, when fog lights were rare, I can see wanting to show them off, especially if you'd only gotten your drivers' license two years ago, but now they aren't anything special except to irritate other drivers when conditions don't warrant their being on. They don't help your visibility unless you are driving under fifteen miles an hour but I guess some drivers feel like they have to shine them down the road---I guess I should be glad that they don't turn on their roll bar lights that they got just in case the Baja Peninsula somehow moves up this way. I guess it's a good thing that most trucks don't come with the cab over running lights because the owners would be faint from the constant orgasims they'd be experiencing.

The one thing I bet they don't think about is the fact that there are so many people on the road like me---folks whose eyes are ageing and whose visual acuity is slipping along with an oversensity to excess light. In other words, if you keep blinding me, I'm liable to lose my spatial judgement and run into you, just as a moth is attracted to a bright light. I mean, do you really want to blind an old man when y'all are approaching each other at a combined speed of from forty to over a hundred miles per hour? Even if I don't run into you, you need to check the paint job on your driver's side so you can take care of the blisters caused by extreme caustic profanity.

This rant is brought to you free of charge and all or parts of it may be used for other purposes.

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We need an "LOL" button.

I'm with you Haywire. I probably go most ballistic when the fog lights are about 30 feet straight back of my rearview mirror and lighting up the whole interior of my ride.

Probably habits from back when I drove around with a box full of dynamite or shaped charges in my pickup bed. I always still try to "manage my space" and while it's easy not to get too close to the guy in front, the guy behind is a wild card. I guess they were trying to read the orange placards.

Edit: BTW, I do not lollygag around in the left lane. If I get out there, I get my passing done quite promptly. IMO cruise control is a no-no in the left lane (eighteen wheelers excused).

Now that I'm retired I no longer fight the Atlanta commute except on the rare occasion of taking my better half to the airport, both of which result in a marked decrease in my blood pressure. For nearly thirty years I used to turn my lights on during daylight hours when tailgated by some moron at interstate speed just to see how pissed they became. Having survived those folks who insist on riding those "donut" tires at eighty mph, mascara applying nitwits that steer with their knees while eating another sausage biscuit, and those daredevils who dare to cut off semi drivers only set off brake lights I am indeed fortunate.
Gentlemen, Interstate 285 during rush hour is not for the meek.

I spent years commuting in Atlanta and Los Angelos traffic. Driver skills are worst in Atlanta. In LA the driver skills tend to be good but you must learn how they do things then join them. The biggest deals involve the use of freeway on and off ramps which are unusually short. When getting on you should floor the accelerator and be up to freeway speed when you get to the end of the ramp. You then turn on your left signal indicator and come over. You are telling them of your action not asking for a hole. When getting off the freeway maintain your speed until you get on the ramp then stand on your brakes hard.

Ive spent the last half dozen years driving back and forth between Oklahoma and Michigan multiple times a year to visit family, hunt, or just plain go somewhere that isn't 110 degrees and humid. My last trip was just a few days ago, and it made me think that there should be a lot more testing (or at least more rigorous testing) involved in getting your driver's licence. About 1/3 of the people on the road these days just don't belong behind the wheel of a vehicle. The ability to legally operate a vehicle on public roads isnt a right, it's a privelige. Some of you might think I'm a little off on my estimate, and maybe I am. Ive always been critical. I've also been driving farm equipment and vehicles on public roads since the age of 8. When i was that age, it was expected that farm kids helped out however they could. Plenty of my friends did the same thing. It was a very solemn occasion, and a huge responsibility to be entrusted with that sort of thing. We were proud as peacocks that we were in the driver's seat, but we were also very careful not to mess it up. Most kids these days don't ever have that experience. It's probably for the best since a lot of parents (and i say this having spent some time working in the public school system) just plain don't teach their children to be responsible for their own actions. Those same kids turn 16 and get their drivers licenses and end up on the roads. like the one on I55 that sped up as if to pass me then slowed down to my speed still on my left and just stayed there (as traffic piled up behind her) while a truck driver was attempting to enter and merge into my lane from the right. I couldn't move over because 20 year old goldilocks was on her phone and couldn't be bothered to drive where she should and use the left lane for passing. The poor truck driver ended up driving on the shoulder for a bit. I wasn't impressed. That was one instance of dozens on that trip. I confess that I have road rage issues now, but they're entirely verbal. I'm a safe driver, just don't expect my language to be pleasant when I'm confronted with stupidity at 75 mph.

Thanks for all the positive reinforcement. Looks like my little rant about fog lights was just the tip of the alligator.

[QUOTE=frednic;139603]We need an "LOL" button.
I always still try to "manage my space" and while it's easy not to get too close to the guy in front, the guy behind is a wild card. I guess they were trying to read the orange placards.

I can usually get the tailgaters to back off when I ease over to the edge of the road and kick up a few rocks and debris that pepper their windshield and the front of their vehicle.

I hope if I ever run for elected office (only at gunpoint) On Star isn't recording my language on I65 on my way to and from GS/OB. I'm especially fond of those who sprint to get ahead of you in the left land and then won't get out of the way. The best ones are the people glancing at the road and staring at their phones at 70 mph.