Your bad driving encounters

[mid_gen]

Well I an agree with jpaul on something, touchscreens in cars are a scourge that needs to be nuked from orbit.

Does my head in every time I have to drive a rental with touchscreens. They are objectively worse than physical controls. The rattly piece of junk Passat I had the other week was particularly bad, with a good half second delay on any of the buttons, so you had to stay looking at the damn thing to see if it had actually registered the press.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Am I the only person who's never noticed cars auto dim their headlights when driving? I just see normal or annoyingly bright, never notice it change...

 

[ICDP]

Well I an agree with jpaul on something, touchscreens in cars are a scourge that needs to be nuked from orbit.

Does my head in every time I have to drive a rental with touchscreens. They are objectively worse than physical controls. The rattly piece of junk Passat I had the other week was particularly bad, with a good half second delay on any of the buttons, so you had to stay looking at the damn thing to see if it had actually registered the press.

I agree on this. Though try telling a Tesla owner that their mostly touch operated controls are dangerous.

But but voice controls. I always remember the proud Tesla owner demonstrating his voice controls to navigate to a town called Scarva in N. Ireland. The car created a route to Scarborough including a ferry crossing from Dublin to Wales. After swearing and fiddling with the screen for a bit he was forced to pull in and stop and do it on a fiddly touch screen.

 

[NasherUK]

And you know they are auto rather than the driver?

Pretty much any EV or recent German monstrosity is going to be automatic everything.

 

[ICDP]

Pretty much any EV or recent German monstrosity is going to be automatic everything.

Not speaking for all such cars, but on my I-Pace, previous E-Tron, previous BMWs and Nissan. The auto dimming/matrix features are/were disabled by default. On every one of them I had to turn the feature on via the menu, though once enabled it stays enabled.

So I would wager (I know not stating fact), that most people never turn this on.

 

[ICDP]

Am I the only person who's never noticed cars auto dim their headlights when driving? I just see normal or annoyingly bright, never notice it change...

A lot of this is down to the fact most cars have LEDs now. So they are quite bright by default.

 

[Penfold101]

Still the best video captured on my dashcam 6 years later...

 

[Penfold101]

A lot of this is down tot he fact most cars have LEDs now. So they are quite bright by default.

Every time I switch from my E Class with the matrix LED headlights to the other half's A Class with bog-standard halogens, I feel like I can't see a damn thing at night.

 

[Rroff]

Every time I switch from my E Class with the matrix LED headlights to the other half's A Class with bog-standard halogens, I feel like I can't see a damn thing at night.

Why I replaced the halogens on my truck with Philips X-tremeVision - makes a huge difference.

 

[builder22]

Am I the only person who's never noticed cars auto dim their headlights when driving? I just see normal or annoyingly bright, never notice it change...

it's just going from main beam to dipped...it's not like they're on a dimmer switch - matrix lights you can kinda see them 'working' - switching the different sections on and off

I might be stating the obvious here!

 

[ICDP]

it's just going from main beam to dipped...it's not like they're on a dimmer switch - matrix lights you can kinda see them 'working' - switching the different sections on and off

I might be stating the obvious here!

From what I have experienced it is more that they aren't switching between low and high beam, just that the "normal" LED setting looks quite bright and much whiter. So many people think, "that muppet has high beams on".

At normal setting a car with good LED headlights could give off more light than older cars with halogen headlights on high beam.

 

[Rroff]

it's just going from main beam to dipped...it's not like they're on a dimmer switch - matrix lights you can kinda see them 'working' - switching the different sections on and off

I might be stating the obvious here!

There is an open area on my commute where the road goes around an S bend, where it often gets foggy at night - cars with matrix headlights you get crazy beams of light shooting off and around in all directions as they go along it especially if other traffic around. Personally I'd say it is distracting through to dangerous.

 

[Greebo]

When I drive to my parents, a lot of teens use the service road which I go on to their home to do wheelies on their bikes. They have no consideration or ability to respond to the car horn.

They are acting dangerously. If one hits my car, I will get done for dangerous driving

Last night in town was similar. Kid on bike totally in black/dark clothes pulling wheelies down the street. He didnt half jump when i slammed my horn.

 

[Iron Man]

I saw someone driving with a front tyre flat last week. Couldn’t believe it.

 

[tom_e]

I saw someone driving with a front tyre flat last week. Couldn’t believe it.

That reminds me of a couple of years ago I was riding down the motorway and getting hit by bits of something but couldn't work out what.

Turns out it was the bits of one of the trailer tires behind a car in front of me, thing was completely shredded by the time I pulled level with the driver opened my visor and started trying to shout at him that he had an issue. Poor guy just stared at me completely confused. I'm sure when he got to where he was going and noticed the pieces probably fell into place.

 

[NasherUK]

Every time I switch from my E Class with the matrix LED headlights to the other half's A Class with bog-standard halogens, I feel like I can't see a damn thing at night.

Halogen bulbs do dim with age as well. Good ones are more than enough though.

There are a couple of issues with LEDs. They are far to bright and the higher Kelvin causes bright reflections. LED bulbs aren't replaceable for a few quid (and they do die, quicker if they are in hot conditions), they can cost a couple grand each! As you have to replace the whole thing.

 

[cheesefest]

That reminds me of a couple of years ago I was riding down the motorway and getting hit by bits of something but couldn't work out what.

Turns out it was the bits of one of the trailer tires behind a car in front of me, thing was completely shredded by the time I pulled level with the driver opened my visor and started trying to shout at him that he had an issue. Poor guy just stared at me completely confused. I'm sure when he got to where he was going and noticed the pieces probably fell into place.

Do these trailers don’t get tested like cars?

 

[SilverTongue]

I saw someone driving with a front tyre flat last week. Couldn’t believe it.

Saw someone last night as well, stopped next to them in traffic and shouted to them about it, but they just shouted back "so what" I despair sometimes.

Driving to work yesterday morning following behind some who was either having a medical episode or was still drunk from the night before, on a straight road they bounced off the kerb 3 times and at the next junction pulled out and too more space to do so than an artic. Ended up phoning 999 to report it (hands free) as the driver was gonna end up killing someone or themselves

 

[jaybee]

The roads are becoming like the wild west round here. Roadworks literally everywhere - which is good as they need repairing - but it's not nearly enough. Most of the roadworks are for new builds going up and utility companies, rather than actual road resurfacing works.

I think there are also a lot of people driving around intoxicated. A lot of people that feel invincible since there is just no police presence now. Speeding issues locally and a lot of inpatient people as the traffic numbers seem to have gone up to higher than pre-covid levels now.

Last night I saw police parked up at the scene of a car crashed into a fence on the way out to do something. Then on the way back, saw an accident happen right next to me as a car ploughed into the back of another one. Huge smash. Sounded raw AF, but then I did have my window slightly ajar.

Stay safe out there.

 

[NasherUK]

Yep you rarely see traffic cops now. On my street they put up average speed cameras as people were bombing it down there at like 60+. They used to do random speed checks. But now you can go as fast as you like after the first camera as long as you turn off, with zero chance of being caught.