Quick rant thread.

[KwS 2425]

15 hours ago, jon dee said:

Having made a lifelong study of this particular phenomenon, I have determined that it is primarily high end cars with older drivers. The likely cause is that the dashboard presents so many options (buttons, knobs, switches etc.) that they have no idea what most of them do, and are completely unaware that the rear fog lights are ON. Not restricted to nighttime driving either !! 

Cheers...

I believe part of the problem is the growing trend of always illuminated dash clusters. Back in the day you knew your lights were off because you couldnt see your speedo, now you have to look for a little light in the dash to know if your lights are on. That and the reliance on auto lights and wipers. We're making drivers dumber with these driver "supports".

Edited August 4, 2022 by KwS

[gjm 3258]

52 minutes ago, KwS said:

I believe part of the problem is the growing trend of always illuminated dash clusters. Back in the day you knew your lights were off because you couldnt see your speedo, now you have to look for a little light in the dash to know if your lights are on. That and the reliance on auto lights and wipers. We're making drivers dumber with these driver "supports".

Ha!

Feckin' work hack Nissan Lafesta, aka Uncle Fester, a veritable festering concoction of all that is unwelcome about vehicles, has NO onboard indication of lights being used (other than main beam). So being a conscientious individual, using headlights in low light, foggy, or other poor visibility conditions, you can arrive at your destination and not recall headlights are on. The taillights are sufficiently dim to be unnoticeable in daylight so walking away and looking back (why would you look back at such an undesirable POS?) doesn't raise awareness of lights being on.

And the battery is tiny . I'm sure an old mobile phone has more capacity. So leaving the lights on without the engine running drains it to flat in about 14 seconds.

So you carry a charge pack to jumpstart the engine of the miserable cage. Not a supplied battery pack or similar - one you have to buy yourself after finding you need it. Only place to sensibly keep it is in the back, under the floor, where there is an actually sensible storage space. Except the boot mechanism is electrically actuated, so once the battery is flat you can't open it!

Dash lights? They'd flatten the battery even faster!

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

3 hours ago, KwS said:

I believe part of the problem is the growing trend of always illuminated dash clusters. Back in the day you knew your lights were off because you couldnt see your speedo, now you have to look for a little light in the dash to know if your lights are on. That and the reliance on auto lights and wipers. We're making drivers dumber with these driver "supports".

Luckily we had another foggy morning to further examine these f**ktards in the wild.

Two fairly distinct groups emerged..

1. Modern vehicles with driver support features - driving with DRLs on at front, but no rear lights. Probably because auto lights only work off brightness I believe, so not activated by fog.

2. Old sh*t boxes with no technological features being driven with no lights front or rear. Would be doubtful dash lights up, so I suspect they are going on the “I can see, so you must be able to see me” principle. Prevalent car colour seemed to be silver which is really hard to spot in fog. I also believe these are the same vehicles seen widely at night without any lights on!

[Eagle 1662]

2 hours ago, gjm said:

Ha!

Feckin' work hack Nissan Lafesta, aka Uncle Fester, a veritable festering concoction of all that is unwelcome about vehicles, has NO onboard indication of lights being used (other than main beam). So being a conscientious individual, using headlights in low light, foggy, or other poor visibility conditions, you can arrive at your destination and not recall headlights are on. The taillights are sufficiently dim to be unnoticeable in daylight so walking away and looking back (why would you look back at such an undesirable POS?) doesn't raise awareness of lights being on.

And the battery is tiny . I'm sure an old mobile phone has more capacity. So leaving the lights on without the engine running drains it to flat in about 14 seconds.

So you carry a charge pack to jumpstart the engine of the miserable cage. Not a supplied battery pack or similar - one you have to buy yourself after finding you need it. Only place to sensibly keep it is in the back, under the floor, where there is an actually sensible storage space. Except the boot mechanism is electrically actuated, so once the battery is flat you can't open it!

Dash lights? They'd flatten the battery even faster!

But i bet it has key in ignition beep when door driver door open. Such a life saving feature, those jappas were ahead of their time on that one.

[gjm 3258]

1 hour ago, Eagle said:

But i bet it has key in ignition beep when door driver door open. Such a life saving feature, those jappas were ahead of their time on that one.

Nope. No beeps for key in ignition, no beeps for headlights are on and key isn't in the ignition, no beeps or indicators for doors being open... It's just like the old days (although even ancient British cars had a light on the dash when headlights were on).

It does beep when reverse gear is selected.

[lord_jagganath 421]

^ sounds like my dad's Airtrek until i replaced a relay bank

[Jacko 2154]

9 hours ago, KwS said:

We're making drivers dumber with these driver "supports".

Humans dumber. Im pretty sure the human race is actually devolving, we will back in the trees throwing poop at each other soon, probably via a stage not far off what was shown in Idiocrasy 

 

[Twistee 453]

3 hours ago, Jacko said:

Humans dumber. Im pretty sure the human race is actually devolving, we will back in the trees throwing poop at each other soon, probably via a stage not far off what was shown in Idiocrasy 

 

Agree, I'm living proof. Just smoked out the lounge while the recently repainted firebox did its final cure. Nice combo of wife putting masses of the firebox black paint on and me forgetting to light a slow burning fire for the first curing session...... Now if it had rod bearings we wouldn't be having this discussion, but I'm pretty merciless to a firebox from cold. 

[Jacko 2154]

Drove from Opotiki to Auckland this evening, the number of drunk/high c**ts driving is genuinely scary...

The methhead in JYD178, e90 323, I hope when you kill yourself you dont take anyone else with you. 

[Twistee 453]

@Jacko

Bugger, it's all good because the millions being spent on average speed cameras will totally change the way they drive....... FFS, let's spend tens of millions on "safety" cameras. I'm sure that 14 year old who is doing 180 up the motorway after doing a ram raid for cherry flavoured vape liquid knowing the cops won't tail them will totally be worried about that speeding, sorry safety ticket.

Meantime feel free to dial *555 and wait. Feel the love, when the cops decide to do anything that is proactive in my local community rather than simply attending accident scenes and directing traffic I'll happily change my tune.

Rant over, mic drop.....

 

 

[Jacko 2154]

Yeah its appalling out there, numpty in the 323 was sitting in RH lane of SH1 (on the new autobahn..) going from braking hard when he saw lights in distance and freaking out, to driving off the road, to going well north of 160... then he tried lining me up for a race, which resulted in the bird. 

Was thinking afterwards, is the problem our weetbix license system? A big chunk of my job is carrying out checks on UAV pilots, making sure they know the rules and can fly, and its my name and reputation in the industry (and with CAA) that goes on their certs. If I think they are plebs and are going to go out and be cocks afterwards, and I am not happy to have my name on their cert if something went sideways, I dont sign it. I dont think the same sort of system applies with cars? Are the people clipping tickets doing drivers tests directly accountable for whom they are signing off?

Other issue is obviously those who just simply dont have licenses, different problem to solve there..

[jon dee 500]

When it comes to controlling how people behave, new rules and laws only affect the people who actually give a sh*t about rules and laws. The small percentage that don't care (who are actually the target) simply continue to do what they have always done. 

Legislators know this, but the government being driven by public opinion and politics, continues to believe that the all and any social problems can be solved by dumping money on new technology and passing new rules and regulations. This is how your freedom gets eroded away. 

One unpopular (but surprisingly effect solution) is to simply put some effort into using available resources to enforce existing laws. Certain "clubs" are now getting some heat after many years of being allowed to proliferate by weak-kneed politicians. Just goes to show what can happen when a problem gets big enough to turn public opinion against a do-nothing government.  

Cheers...

[Driftit 2078]

16 hours ago, Jacko said:

Was thinking afterwards, is the problem our weetbix license system?

Yeah it is a joke.  But the ones driving like this very rarely even have one.
Thursday night is always a frightening drive home for me.  All the drunk Ute driving tradies leaving the Tavern after blowing all their money on horse racing and slot machines.

[Vass 830]

Honestly, I was shocked by the driving culture when I first came to New Zealand. Or not even so much the culture as just piss poor driving skills, basic knowledge of road rules and borderline criminal lack of attention. In one instance, I had to slam on the brakes three times within barely half an hour. One person straight drove out of a driveway onto the main road right in front of me; second was driving in front of me, randomly started pulling over to the left side of the road, without indicating, then proceeded to turn straight around by chucking a hard right, cutting me off as well as a car in the opposite lane; third I was standing at an intersection, going straight, lights go green, I accelerate and the dude in the opposite lane obliviously proceeds to turn right straight in front of me, with a cop car right in the front row of the side road, who just sat there like a muppet and did nothing.

To me the whole licensing system seems idiotic. There's nowhere near enough oversight when it comes to actual driving education. You could very easily turn up to a driving test with absolutely zero prior driving experience, then luck out with passing a test and be set to drive for the next 50+ years. After what, barely an hour of actual supervision? Short of police intervention, that's literally all the oversight you get. How low a bar is that? No wonder so many clowns with decades of driving under their belts still struggle to grasp the proper use of indicators or a f**king roundabout.

In my native Estonia, it's mandatory you do a minimum of 40 hours of driving with a licensed driving instructor before you're even allowed to sit a theory test. Then within 2 years of getting a license, you have to do a "Slippery Driving Course" before you get your full license. That involves doing an obstacle evasion drive on a skid track. It's wild how difficult it is to keep even a tiny front-wheel drive car pointing straight doing as little as 30km/h. Humbles you right up. There's still hordes of idiots on the roads, but at least they've been given a set of basic skills and knowledge by a competent operator prior, so you don't see as nearly as much stupidity on the roads. All the dedicated exam cars are manuals as well. It's an annoying and expensive process when you're in it, but damn it, looking back, I'm very glad I had to go through it.

I got lucky with my teacher as well who used to be both a police man and a rally driver. He was very harsh at times but was a great teacher and really knew his sh*t. Similarly to what @Jacko touched upon above, there was also a great sense of professional pride and even competition amongst the instructors. The main criteria they were aiming for is to get the highest percentage of students passing the state exam on the first go. My instructor was sitting at something like 96%. All that meant that there was a high bar of entry to even be allowed to register for a state exam. It wasn't unusual for people to rack up as much as 80 hours of driving before the instructor deeming them ready. As opposed to here where all the driving education you could easily get away with is a quick sesh with your dodgy uncle in a New World parking lot.

Makes me cringe every time I hear of another speed limit getting lowered or all this crap about millions being "invested" into Mission Zero or whatever the f**k. How about investing in proper education instead? You won't legislate away stupidity, but what it would do is instil at least some basic tenets of a driving culture in new drivers before they're allowed to independently hit the road for the first time. Wouldn't make much of a difference for a number of years or even decades due to the sheer number of cretins already grandfathered in, but it'd be a start. Either that or make every single road 40km/h I guess...

[KwS 2425]

Not to mention the slap with a wet bus ticket for criminals if they are caught. All these kids nicking cars, doing ram raids and generally being little shits, all knowing that the cops wont chase them and even if they did, there are almost no consequences to their actions.

Cops wont chase anyone now because some kids played a stupid game (stole a car and got into a chase) and won a stupid prize (death via impact with tree and fire), and heaven forbid someones little precious that has "honestly never done this before, he's a good kid" gets messed up doing something stupid.

Edited August 16, 2022 by KwS

[Vass 830]

It's all video games' fault...

[gofaster 99]

Director General ordering all councils to fluoridate water supplies.

The target audience doesn't even drink water as they are fed sugary sh*t by their lazy, numpty parents who dont take any responsibility for their kids health.

[KwS 2425]

1 hour ago, Vass said:

It's all video games' fault...

No, its social medias fault. Social media is one of the worst things to happen to humans.

[polley 916]

8 hours ago, KwS said:

No, its social medias fault. Social media is one of the worst things to happen to humans.

Yep social media and smart phones should f**k off. World was a much better place 20 years ago. 

Internet should be nerds only.

[jon dee 500]

10 hours ago, KwS said:

No, its social medias fault. Social media is one of the worst things to happen to humans.

Social media is a VIRUS.  Unlike covid, people welcome it into their lives like a drug and pay handsomely to be able to get their daily hit on the latest high tech device. Just take a look at the passengers disembarking from a plane at the airport... how desperately they reach for their phones to make sure they haven't missed any likes on their latest fb post   

The animals that passed covid to humans didn't know what they were doing... the corporates that designed social media knew exactly what they were doing. Ultimately, social media will harm society far more than covid or designer drugs, and it is all for profit. Corporates doing the Devil's work. And you know who loves social media so much that he started his own channel... hmm ?

This is the definition of selling one's soul... "Do or be willing to do anything, no matter how wrong, in order to achieve one's objective." 

Cheers...

[Vass 830]

2 minutes ago, jon dee said:

Capitalism is a VIRUS.

Fixed it for you.

[polley 916]

34 minutes ago, Vass said:

Fixed it for you.

Whats that got to do with social media and people being generally dumb?

[Vass 830]

59 minutes ago, polley said:

Whats that got to do with social media and people being generally dumb?

The incentives baked into the system that have driven social media to what it is today? The drive for higher profits hijacking and weaponizing basic human psychology? The over-commercialization and commodification of literally everything? No semblance of any sense of a moral good, only what's good for the bottom line? Decisions, legislation, actions that are objectively necessary to curb any of that never being taken or implemented because they're "bad for the economy"? When you take a bigger picture view and look at the core incentives baked into the foundation of the economic system, it all becomes painfully inevitable.

[polley 916]

23 minutes ago, Vass said:

The incentives baked into the system that have driven social media to what it is today? The drive for higher profits hijacking and weaponizing basic human psychology? The over-commercialization and commodification of literally everything? No semblance of any sense of a moral good, only what's good for the bottom line? Decisions, legislation, actions that are objectively necessary to curb any of that never being taken or implemented because they're "bad for the economy"? When you take a bigger picture view and look at the core incentives baked into the foundation of the economic system, it all becomes painfully inevitable.

Sounds half baked to me.

[Twistee 453]

On an almost dead straight 50 km/h road near my house, two power poles taken out in 7 days. Lines down etc.