Chacham's Journal: Chronicle: Beginning to cut nighttime driving.

I just went to Milano bakery to pick up an order for a friend who is out of town and needed the help. And now my mind is pretty much made up, no more night-time driving for me. At least highway driving. Between those blue headlights, and the change to the diffusion patterns of new headlights, i was pretty much blinded. Flipping up the rear-view mirror wasn't enough; i had to take both it and the driver's side mirror out of commission to not be blinded. And that hurt lane changing. Between that and tailgaters night driving is just plain dangerous for me, and i have to stop.

As for daytime driving, tailgating is still very bad, but i've been getting over a lane, and just plain slowing down. I'm beginning to drive the speed limit, and letting people pass me. Better let the idiots move on than have them behind me. The worst part is that many cars are having their headlights on during the daytime now as well, and is affecting my ability to see then too. I figure its only a matter of a few years and i'll have to cut my driving down to the bare necessities.

Reminded why I'd given up Saturday driving

[ynotds]

After many months of not taking the car further than the local mall on weekends, I had a Saturday meeting out the other side and was silly enough to think I might squeeze in one or two neglected calls alongside some specialty shopping between the meeting and an evening commitment nearer the city if I took my own wheels. The first and last legs were easy enough, but the traffic during the afternoon and early evening made the rest a real pain.

Congestion and lane changing apart, we have it pretty easy on this

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[Chacham]

However I'm also happy enough to still tackle overnight interstate trips a couple of times a year for the convenience of having my car at the other end (and to avoid dealing with airports).

When i drive to St. Louis [slashdot.org] (about eight or nine hours driving) i do it with the same sentiment, and also that the drive alone is so nice, giving me time to think.

the blue lights are pretty damn evil

[eglamkowski]

They really need to stop producing them. I've seen green lights on rare occassion, but they weren't nearly as offensive as the blues.

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[Chacham]

ve seen green lights on rare occassion, but they weren't nearly as offensive as the blues.

Green??

New 15 degree rule

[Marxist Hacker 42]

They covered this in my defensive driving course- new rule is that you should adjust side mirrors out an additional15 degrees to prevent glare and eliminate the blind spots.

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[Chacham]

Defensive driving course? :)

And how exactly is it adjusted an extra fifteen degrees? What's the decisor for the origination point?

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[Marxist Hacker 42]

Defensive driving course? :)

Required by my employer- they consider it bad form to have state-owned cars run into each other on the freeway...so it's a required course for all new employees who might be driving. I went last Monday.

And how exactly is it adjusted an extra fifteen degrees?

A real loosey-goosey method if you ask me- stick your head out the window to adjust the driver's side until you can barely see the side of your vehicle, passenger side your head should be over the gearshift, same rule.

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[Chacham]

Interesting.. Thanx.

I see better at night

[Com2Kid]

For some reason, my night vision is better than my day vision, or darn nearly close to being so.

People complain about night driving, I am like "What is the problem??"

Aside from headlights that is, heh.

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[eglamkowski]

The headlights ARE the biggest issue for night time driving. And manufacturers keep making headlights more and more obnoxious.
The blue lights are not only painful to look at (to the point I have to physical turn my head away from the road, or close my eyes, or do something else insanely stupid to avoid having any of that light in my eyes), but they make me physically nauseous, as in wanting to vomit. No problem with white, yellow and orange lights, but the blue ones.... EVIL! The green ones aren't quite

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[Chacham]

Naucious? Well, it doesn't put me that far, but the rest is true.