Still Learning as I Age...

[Joe Guy]

I had to drive to a few places around town this morning. As always, due the the existence of a high population of elderly and Asian drivers in this area, I am careful to stay in the moment and be here now at all times while piloting my vehicle.

After a few stops, turns and lane changes here and there, something became obvious to me that I'd never considered before. BMW cars are not equipped with turn signals. Drivers of those particular cars have to rely on others to anticipate where they are going.

For example, if I'm going to turn right onto a main road and they are headed toward me from my left, I should know they are going to turn right into the street I am on. Or if a BMW is in the left lane on the highway and is about to miss its exit, it is incumbent upon me to anticipate a three lane change to the right and yield to the BMW driver.

They are also allowed to go much faster than the speed limit on any road. If you are driving 5 or 10 mph above the limit and a BMW is behind you, you should not wait until the driver honks the horn and flashes the headlights in order to notify you that you need to get out of the BMW driver's lane - even though the lane on its right and left is clear. What you need to do is know that you are always out ranked when in the vicinity of a BMW driver.

So, anyway, as I drove on, suddenly the realization came to me of the uniqueness of the BMW and the drivers of them, I felt very enlightened and I experienced a breakthrough at which time I could feel my inner child coming into being and taking over. It was a very exhilarating and spiritual thing that happened.

So sure enough, another BMW came toward me as I was turning and, due to the car's lack of turn signal mechanisms, there was no warning that would have alerted me so I could have turned onto the road without having to wait to see if the car was going to turn on to the street I was on - which it did.

I looked at the driver, who was a blonde woman on a cell phone, and I opened my window and gave her the double bird flip accompanied by a loud Fuck You Asshole!!

Of course, she didn't notice me as she floated on down the street in her cloud of self-entitled privileged space and oblivious naïveté.

I decided that she was a Bitch and needed to learn a lesson.

But I wasn't going to be the one to teach her today. Instead I shook my head from side to side and laughed for a minute. Then I decided that anyone who drives a BMW is an asshole. Chances are I am correct well over 50% of the time, so I'm okay with that.

The End

[dales]

Q. What's the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?

A. The porcupine has pricks on the outside.

btw: Some of the most inattentive motorists traveled roads in San Mateo county and that was 30 or so years ago since I lived there. It must be a real fustercluck, now!

[Gob]

[Burning Petard]

Audi took advantage of this with a tv commercial that touted that Audi drivers were polite and considerate, while BMW drivers went out of their way to splash pedestrians with puddles on the side of the roadway.

snailgate

[Long Run]

Then I decided that anyone who drives a BMW is an asshole. Chances are I am correct well over 50% of the time, so I'm okay with that.

Most of the ones I personally know are in the other 50%, but I don't doubt your assessment (though it seemed worse when they first got popular here in the 1980s).

[rubato]

Gosh I wonder what science says about this?:

http://jalopnik.com/science-confirms-th ... 1120783177

Science Confirms That BMW And Prius Drivers Are The Worst

We have long ragged on BMW drivers for their terrible parking skills and general assholery, and Toyota Prius drivers for their holier-than-thou smugness. Now, it has been confirmed — through the miraculous power of science — that their owners are, in fact, terrible and inconsiderate motorists.
This Is Why People Think BMW M3 Drivers Are Asshats

There's been a lot of talk that Audi has replaced BMW for the car of choice for America's …
Read more

Our old pal Benjamin Preston reports in the New York Times on a study done by the Institute of Personality and Social Research at the University of California Berkeley which links poor driving habits and wealth. Basically, rich people are more likely to be jerks behind the wheel.

The researchers examined how motorists in California behave when approaching intersections with pedestrians, where they are required to stop, as well as how well they take turns at four-way stop intersections.

What they found is that people in luxury cars, specifically BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes, were much more likely to flout traffic laws and go when it's not their turn at intersections. Said researcher Paul K. Piff:

Mr. Piff said about eight of every 10 cars “did the right thing.”

“But you see this huge boost in a driver’s likelihood to commit infractions in more expensive cars,” he said. “In our crosswalk study, none of the cars in the beater-car category drove through the crosswalk. They always stopped for pedestrians.”

[...] “One of the most significant trends was that fancy cars were less likely to stop,” said Mr. Piff, adding, “BMW drivers were the worst.”

And in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the status-symbol Prius was marked down as a luxury vehicle, researchers found their drivers to have a higher tendency to commit traffic infractions than most.

Listen, it makes sense when you think about it. The Rich are busy. They have places to be, things to accomplish, deals to execute, unlike The Poors, who are content to drive slowly and courteously as they waste their lives suckling from the teat of the government.

So the next time a BMW driver parks across three handicapped spaces, or a Prius driver blows ahead of you at an intersection when it was your turn to go, don't get angry. That would be tantamount to class warfare. Instead, be inspired by their success and think of ways you too can aspire to their level of greatness.

http://roadwarrior.blogs.pressdemocrat. ... udy-finds/

Rude drivers drive expensive cars, study finds

So, rude drivers drive expensive cars?

A UC Berkeley study reported by the Los Angeles Times found that people who drive those cars appear to be more likely to cut off other drivers and pedestrians.

As part of the study, the Times reported, observers hid near a four-way-stop intersection in downtown Berkeley and noted the makes, years and conditions of cars and whether the drivers waited their turn at the intersection.

They found that people driving the most expensive cars were four times as likely as drivers of the least expensive cars to enter the intersection when they didn’t have the right of way. And it was even worse when it came to yielding to pedestrians.

The Times said those findings, reported Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, led the researchers to conduct a series of experiments that found rich people also were more likely to cheat to win a prize, take candy from children and say they would pocket extra change given them in error rather than give it back.

To read the full account, go to the Los Angeles Times story by CLICKING HERE.

And an interesting observation:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/27 ... d-20120228

"... Because rich people have more financial resources, they're less dependent on social bonds for survival, the Berkeley researchers reported Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As a result, their self-interest reigns and they have fewer qualms about breaking the rules.

"If you occupy a more insular world, you're less likely to be sensitive to the needs of others," said study lead author Paul Piff, who is studying for a doctorate in psychology.

But before those in the so-called 99% start feeling ethically superior, consider this: Piff and his colleagues also discovered that anyone's ethical standards could be prone to slip if they suddenly won the lottery and joined the top 1%.

"There is a strong notion that when people don't have much, they're really looking out for themselves and they might act unethically," said Scott Wiltermuth, who researches social status at USC's Marshall School of Business and wasn't involved in the study. "But actually, it's the upper-class people that are less likely to see that people around them need help — and therefore act unethically." ..."

yrs,
rubato

[RayThom]

This has also been my experience for decades now.

Just tonight I was rolling up behind a BMW X5 as it was rolling up to a semi waiting at the red light. Knowing that the lane would now be slow to move once the light changed I moved to the clear left lane to pull up next to the truck.

Silly me, I did my maneuver just a second or so before the "Bim-bo" driver was to do the same. Unfortunately, she (also a blonde) landed up behind me, almost stopping in my trunk.

So the light turns green, I clear the truck and then signal I'm moving over to the right, now in front of the semi. Bim-bo wanted to jump into that small open space to get around us both but couldn't, and she is now tailgating me in the right lane. It's a nice open highway so I amp it up to 75 MPH yet she's right on my bumper. Moments later she passes me doing at least 90 MPH -- all the while she has her phone glued to her face.

I see newer BMW drivers pulling similar stunts all the time. My guess is that due to their "obvious" financial status they're in a position of knowing people in high places who can get most traffic violations fixed or reduced. Regardless, it appears that there is a certain "fog of privilege" that enshrouds the average Bim-bo driver.

The BMW mantra, "Keep Moving Faster Or Get The Fuck Out Of The Way!"

[BoSoxGal]

Interesting theory.

My last trip through Boston I was harassed by a shiny new red BMW that tailgated me and flashed its headlights at me frantically and repeatedly, because there was a car length between me and the car in front of me in the fast lane, and he clearly expected me to move over so he could fill it and tailgate the next guy. This was even though I was keeping up with the fast lane traffic, all of which was already (typical for Boston) traveling 10-15 miles over the speed limit.

The male driver then crossed two lanes to the right to pass around several cars at an even more accelerated speed, in order to then cross the same two lanes back into the fast lane, ending up just two cars ahead of me - whereafter he promptly found himself slowed by the suddenly clogged traffic that had us all then travelling 20mph under the speed limit.



Jackasses like that cause serious accidents; I for one will not be sorry when someday modern technology is able to capture such reckless and dangerous drivers in the act and the state can then fine them and if necessary, relieve them of the burden of driving at all.

[Long Run]

I for one will not be sorry when someday modern technology

The latest article I saw on the future of "smart" cars is that they will clog up the road ways, as car owners send their robot controlled cars out for every imaginable task, errand, convenience. Fortunately, I expect by then, they will all be powered by solar/wind/flatulence and so will have limited contribution to our suddenly awesome weather (at least those of us not under actual water).

[Gob]

Last Beemer who tailgated me, it was in a school zone. I got quite pissed off about this, and luckily Hen wasn't with me. So I stopped the car when it was safe, effectively blocking him.

I walked up to his window;
Me: "Problem?"
Him: "I'm late for a very important appointment."
Me; "School zone mate, it takes priority. Oh, and you're going to be even later now."

Got back in my car and switched the radio on. Only when two cars were waiting behind him that I moved off. Slowly.

Luckily I live in a land where bad attitude, scrawny, little, suited men cannot carry guns.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Yeah, it might have been bad if you'd had a gun

[Long Run]

Him: "I'm late for a very important appointment."

[rubato]

So, new cars. I was leaning towards the S5 but the GTR just calls to me:







What do you think?

I'll probably do the boring thing and get the S5.

yrs,
rubato

[Joe Guy]

Make sure to ask for the Blinker Package. It's an often overlooked option on higher priced vehicles.

[rubato]

I'm looking for the "get the fuck out of the left lane if you can't drive, you hopeless slug" package.


New cars all need a feature which announces "If you are not faster than the right lane then you are slower traffic and need to get the hell out of the way of people who know how to drive".


Bad enough that stupid people in dope-mobile trucks and SUVs are cluttering up the left lane with vehicles with inherently bad handling which are designed to roll over, fishtail, and crash but the complete idiots in miscellanea really bring a dead skunk to the party.


yrs,
rubato

[Crackpot]

Rubato you know jack shit about design.

[Bicycle Bill]

I'm looking for the "get the fuck out of the left lane if you can't drive, you hopeless slug" package.


New cars all need a feature which announces "If you are not faster than the right lane then you are slower traffic and need to get the hell out of the way of people who know how to drive".


Bad enough that stupid people in dope-mobile trucks and SUVs are cluttering up the left lane with vehicles with inherently bad handling which are designed to roll over, fishtail, and crash but the complete idiots in miscellanea really bring a dead skunk to the party.

yrs,
rubato

Please understand that I bear you no malice personally when I say "fakku arigato, Mr. Rubato" ("go screw yourself, Mr. Rubato", polite form).  I've said it before, maybe not here so much but definitely at "Le Chat House" and the old Café, that the term is "speed limit", not "speed suggestion", and just because you don't think that I'm breaking the rules by a sufficient margin to satisfy you I fail to see where it is my obligation to get the hell out of your way so you can continue to pretend that you're Burt Reynolds driving in your own personal version of the Cannonball Run.

You've got a steering wheel and it goes in both directions; if you're in that big a hurry, go around me on one side or other.  And if traffic doesn't let you get around me, then take a breath, pull up your big girl panties, and realize that maybe *YOU* are the one driving too fast for conditions.

-"BB"-

[MGMcAnick]

No BB, you've said it here before.

[MGMcAnick]

Basically, rich people are more likely to be jerks behind the wheel.

So, rude drivers drive expensive cars?

Basically rich people tend to be jerks. Being behind the wheel has nothing to do with it, although many, if not most, of them are jerks there too. It goes without saying that they drive cars that they can afford. I'm not rich, so I don't think I'm a jerk, wherever I am.

I got hooked on the BMW marque when I thought I'd like to buy a NEW car upon college graduation. The local dealer had a three year old 2002 (That's the model designation, not the year.) that he used as a demonstrator. It had over 100K miles on it. Yes, a demo that was not NEW. It didn't rattle. It didn't roll in hard corners. It still steered like it was on rails. A new one, with aftermarket A/C since it was not ever installed at the factory, was about $4000.

I never did buy a new BMW, but I've had a few. My newest BMW (car) is a 2001 325iC with nearly 90K miles on it. My 1998 328i has nearly twice that. I tend to drive them with aplomb because they are capable of things that lesser cars simply aren't. If you've never driven a BMW, then you can't be expected to understand.

I ALWAYS use my turn signals, but sometimes I forget to turn them OFF on my BMW motorcycles. Bike signals are not self cancelling after a turn.

A 1974 BMW 2002 looks like this in California orange: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... 4_pic2.JPG

[Burning Petard]

I carry no brief for BMW drivers. Rather I agree with most if the bad things said about them here. But in the spirit of full disclosure, I admit I lust for a 507. The car looks like timeless classic. It had an exhaust note exactly like a late 50's Ford v8, and there were less than 250 made. Who cares about gas fumes. I would never drive it with the top up anyway. I think the reputation of BMW as a driver's car was fully and honestly based on the 2002. It was much more reliable than an Alfa or a Jag of the same era.