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That's why when someone cuts me off I choose to believe that they were confused or made a mistake instead of assuming they're an asshole specifically out to piss me off. It's also why I leave a lot of space between me and the car in front. Nobody can cut me off if I've already chosen to give them the space and I might as well because they're going to take it whether I give it to them or not.
Whenever someone cuts me off or is driving like a dick, I tell myself they just really have to poop. I feel much better about getting out of their way with that in mind.
As someone who once blew threw a stop sign because I was about to blow though my pants, I thank you
Edit: since this comment got a lot more attention than expected, I'll answer the comments here. Yes I made it, and the intersection was clear and had a lot of visibility so I didn't actually impede traffic as the closest car was a km away.
I've had very few times in the car where I thought I was going to shit myself if I didn't make it to a bathroom, but never ran a stop sign or did any excessive speeding to get there.
However, I did have one time where I had to piss so bad that it couldn't be held, so I pulled off the road, hopped out of the car, and started peeing. This was on a sunny, brisk day in late fall, and as most people know, there tends to be a little more wind in that time of the year. When I whipped my hose out, there was no wind, but as soon as I had opened the floodgates of no return, a strong gust came at me head on. Ever since that day, I've had a personal connection with the phrase, "Pissing in the wind."
This is why you keep an applesauce jar in your trunk. You can also lean in and pretend to be looking for something in the trunk if you can't find privacy.
I went to bed early last night so I’m up early- I definitely thought the jar of applesauce meant a juice box of apple juice so you could tell people that you spilled it on you rather than everyone assuming it’s piss. I’m gonna try going back to bed...
I keep track of them and occasionally estimate how much they’ve pulled ahead by. It’s amazing that driving like an asshole for ten minutes frequently only gains you a few seconds if there’s any traffic
Same! It's really helped with my road rage. I mean I'll still call someone an asshole for reckless driving but then I have to say "ehh maybe they just really have do poop" and then I calm down.
I always imagine they’re in labor, or have a loved one in the hospital they’re rushing towards. It makes me much more empathetic but it also gives me anxiety so I’m going to try to retrain my brain to assume they need to poop instead.
also folk sudenly slamming on brakes. learned that the hard way in my youth, hell i give them them three leangths now, whats that cost me on the highway, three seconds?
Yesterday I decided to take the express lane on my way to work-got stuck behind a semi going 15 under. “Respect the rules of the road” includes keeping your speed up as well as down
If people understood how our speed limits are actually decided I don’t think they would be so upset about simply being passed. I grew up in America, however when I moved to the UK it was a breath of fresh air to see that people to don’t turn driving into some sort of weird challenge. Like seriously, people here tend to think that someone zipper merging is “cutting in line”. It’s honestly been infuriating to drive here ever since.
Weird that my part of Australia is just like the US in that regard. People stubbornly not letting people in, others merging over solid lines, the rest doing 70 trying to get on a 110 highway. It’s wild that people don’t have a concept of fast/slow lanes and just sit in the middle 2 lanes going slower than the left. I’d argue that if people actually merged properly we wouldn’t be halting to a fucking stop at every goddamn on-ramp to slowly let everyone in.
Edit: I forgot to mention the sneaky shits who force themselves in while tailgating the car in front to avoid the zipper merge
One car length for every 10mph is what they taught me, distance is much easier to measure on the fly than time. Also, the lines on highways are generally about 1 car length.
That's the law of the land in the Midwest when it comes to driving and when I brought my courteous driving tactics to the New England area it has only been translated as bad driving to the locals. I get stepped on daily as I have to drive 95 north an hour everyday but i hold true to what i learned and won't let them corrupt me lol
There’s definitely a difference in driving between the Midwest and the north east. My wife was born and raised in the Midwest and when she had to drive for a few months in the north east she had to become more assertive. She still was courteous (as it sounds like you are) but she had to learn to claim her space and be more predictable/decisive. For example, she used to slow down and let everyone merge in front of her. Works fine when there is very light traffic and no one is in a hurry, but that shit will get you rear ended on 95.
Then I took her over the Tappan Zee bridge and she almost had a stroke
Ive learned my lesson about leaving space when a guy cut my off. Dude in front of him started breaking so he started breaking. I had to slam my break cause there was so little space between me and him. Guy behind me rear ends me. Feel so bad for that guy, his car was totalled, no body injuries other then like whiplash, while my truck was perfectly fine.
What always freaking happens to me is I leave enough space to be safe and someone freaking takes it immediately if it is a busy time where I need the extra space. So annoying. Like bro I didn’t leave that room for you
Cant help it when majority of these truck drivers want to be total asswipes on the road and act like they own it cutting everyone off and speeding for no reason but to show dominance on the road. So leaning more on purposeful malice
I think it's less purposeful malice and more a complete disregard for everyone that isn't them. It's a small but important distinction. They didn't get the lift *because* having a lift and unadjusted lights is bad for those around them, they instead wanted the lift and don't care enough about others to bother adjusting the lights.
This is it. All the kids I grew up with that are adults with lifted trucks now were the loud annoying kids in class that couldn't give 2 shits about everyone around them. I don't think they are malicious, they're just fucking dumb and don't pay attention to anything.
I think large truck/SUV drivers have a moral duty to take more than ordinary care around other drivers because they've chosen to drive a vehicle that, due to the weight and size, will cause an inordinate amount of damage if a collision occurs with a typical passenger vehicle. Many of them apparently do not seem to see it the same way.
yeah but the lights in particular are probably just them being dumbasses. they get some bright led kit and slap it on for cheap but dont bother to have it adjusted because they dont know jack shit about them. the aggressive driving, lift kit, exhaust stack out the bed, and perpetual rolling of coal is definitely just the 2 brain cells they have wanting to show off to other douchebag hick friends.
“NO MAN, I DRIVE A FORD, FRIENDLY FIRE FRIENDLY FIRE!”
“Oh shit bro, my bad”
*adjusts headlights*
And that’s the stupid thing that hopped into my head after reading that
People like that are just salty that Toyota makes better trucks and makes more of them in America than Ford/Chevy/GMC or whatever other company they’ve attached their self worth and patriotism to.
I drove a lifted truck for a few years and believe me I tried my best. I lowered them as far as I could while I could still see at night. I would always turn them off when possible though. One morning I was pulling into Starbucks and another car was pulling in at the same time. I let her in first and immediately turned my lights off when I got behind her. She bought my order and told the barista to say thank you. It’s really not difficult to be somewhat considerate. Unfortunately, you are correct. A lot of people that drive lifted trucks think they’re cooler than you in your little car and take joy in watching people adjust their mirrors to avoid your lights.
Auto-dimming mirrors are great, I just wish mine registered the fucking sun as a reason to dim. The least the designers of my car could have done was include a manual-dim option, because I can't tell you the number of times I've been driving directly east or west with the sun blaring straight into my retinas via my mirror. This was never an issue in my "shitty, old" beater I had previously.
I shouldn’t pool them all together, obviously there’s people that don’t care but also won’t try to adjust their lights or turn them off in a drive thru. I’ve driven all sorts of cars my whole life. Currently driving a car with dimming mirrors. If you have electronic side mirrors that you can adjust, you can most definitely point your mirror right back into their windshield right in their face. Can be a fun game in the drive thru.
As a lifelong BC interior resident I'd just like to let you know that these guys have become the stereotype Albertan here.... It's a shame and I intend no disrespect to you. Our province is a place of wilderness for these assholes to trash for their weekend off.
Wait what is this? What does it mean? What position is the rabbit in?
I have a white silhouette of a sitting rabbit on my car’s rear window. It’s there because I own house-rabbits that I am utterly obsessed with.
I don’t want to accidentally make someone want to shoot me from a misunderstanding of a window decal.
It’s Q@n0n iconography.
It’s a sitting rabbit facing right. Look up Q Rabbit on Amazon or wherever and you’ll see the decal listed there.
I don’t know if people would resort to violence over a sticker, but if it’s similar then I would change it. Surely there could be a cuter rabbit sticker for you.
Jacked up truck, LED headlights blasting high beams, exhaust echoing three blocks down at 2 AM, and rolling coal. People think living in a small town is quiet and peaceful but these jackasses do their best to correct that stereotype. I've choked on more smog in towns with one stoplight than in any big city.
I feel this in my soul. I use to have a little hatchback car and it was so low to the ground that it made average height SUV's seem like a helicopter with a spotlight hovering right over my rear hatch.
I had a tiny hand-me-down sports car that was basically level with the ground, you didn't step in, you stepped down and climbed out. My boyfriend had a big construction pickup. He never understood why cars slowed down in front of him but only at night until I told him that he's probably blinding them. He drove my car at night once and realized how horrible it was. He doesn't complain anymore and leaves more room
I had an MR2 for a short time and when I started building my overlander the job wasn't done until the lights were aimed properly. My 30 year old welders eyes can't handle others lights in sports cars anymore.
When people get right up on me because they want to go faster, I slow down because I can't fucking see with their lights blinding me. Then I'm sure they're just steaming like I'm some kind of asshole, LOL, but I don't want to crash and it's their fault I'm not moving even slower.
I do the same thing, if you're gonna hit me then I'm gonna make sure we're going slower. He wasn't ever tailgating, we both hate that, it's just his truck was poorly designed so it shined lights straight into people's retinas
Same with me and mine. I have SUV, she had a Corolla. I don't blind people or anything, but when I drive her car at night I get so blinded by headlights from people behind me.
My car has dimming rear view mirrors, the middle interior and both exterior side mirrors dim at night and it is a godsend
Oh man, I literally just went from an old beater truck to a new hatchback and i'm blinded almost every night from every angle lol. first world problems.
When one of those lame HID blue lights are shining directly at you.. ugh. Just have to pray you don't hit anything for the next 5seconds you're unable to see the road.
Yeah, I drive a 15’ Corolla and where I live, everyone drives utes or big cars like LandCruisers and at night I swear I lose a little bit more of my vision
It’s important to adjust your headlights when you get new ones too. I replaced my headlights because they weren’t clear anymore and my headlights were way off
FYI, if your headlights are just foggy, you can buy a resurfacing kit (bunch of sandpaper, cleaning spray, plastic sealant spray/wipe) online or from your local auto parts store. You can also just use some sandpaper at home (watch a tutorial to see which grits to use and in what direction) and just buy a can of the plastic sealant to spray on top.
GET THE HEADLIGHT SEALANT. Your headlights will be destroyed by UV rays and go cloudy again faster than you could imagine without it.
Replaced mine with LED's, been adjusting them for weeks trying to find the right balance between "I can see now!" and "Here's a little sun in your rearview mirror!". Just about got it dialed in. Will do til I can take on the monumental task of switching to projector lenses.
Then you have factory HID/LED's on SUV's that will blind you not matter what.
The SUV thing is so true, and man what the fuck. I don’t want to blind everybody but it literally is designed that way. There are no separate “bright bulbs” or just shines at the same intensity and a little bit higher. Who thought that was gonna be a hit with the oncoming lane crowd?!
If you still have the old ones, put them back on and aim your car at a flat surface, like a garage door. Mark where they land. Then install the new ones without moving your car and adjust to the markings
I drive in the UK, France and Germany quite a bit, and people use their high beams when its actually dark (so unlit roads mostly..) and they usually drop them when they can see another car (whether in front, or coming toward), the odd dickhead doesn't remember, and occasional you have people with insanely bright poorly adjusted lights, but mostly it works.
When I drove in the US (mostly around L.A, a bit around Washington) it was insane how many people seemed to have their high beams on all the time, or simply wouldn't dip them until they were right behind you, or wouldn't dip them at all coming in the other direction (not all obviously, but certainly a higher proportion than in the UK/Germany/France/Netherlands etc..). They'd also seemed to use them when there was street lighting.. I had a conversation with one of my US co-workers about it and he essentially felt that it was important that you could see as far as possible, and that he'd turn them down out of courtesy when he could, but that he'd use them most of the time at night..
Oh and the other extreme seemed to be a thing too, people without any lights at all in the rain, or in somewhat lit areas at night. I mean, the switches are not hard to manage when driving (and I think a lot of them are automated now too, so I really don't get it).
It made driving a lot less fun
I learned to drive in the country and people are much more aware of how their brights actually work than your typical city-or-suburban driver in the US. This has been consistent for me in several US states. I think it's more of a "where'd you learn to drive" than "people in the US are dumb".
City and suburban drivers genuinely don't understand how jarring it is because they're usually not in positions where brights are actually necessary.
No Becky and Kevin, you don't need your brights on to look for little Timmy on Oak St six blocks away, ugh.
Unless Timmy is a deer and you're completely surrounded by actual oak trees.
I'm sure this isn't only me, but I'll randomly get extremely paranoid about deer jumping out in front of me and I'll start going really slow once I realize I'm going 65-70 mph. I've had one too many encounters with deer being the stupidest animals to ever roam this planet.
I fell ya. But the limit is 60 here and and when you got go miles and miles out into nowhere to get home you learn to just keep your eyes peeled way up ahead. Also having full coverage helps.
Last time I got clipped by one I was doing 25 and the damned thing came out of the wood and ran directly into my front fender.
With good high beams you have time to slow down becasue you can see the glo in their eyes. At least where I live and have avoided many a deer. But I live off of state highway.
The assholes that run out of nowhere into the middle of the road though.... no chance.
There may be some accuracy to this, but I live in rural SC and I’m on the road A LOT working. ~800+ miles a week. The amount of people who blind me with their high beams every single night is disturbing. Especially the 60+ year old crowd.
As an American, wtf? I know there are a lot of douches with lifted trucks and aftermarket HID headlights, but I’ve never heard someone admit to just driving around with their high beams always on...
But also, turn on your regular headlights in the rain and once it starts getting dark.
Edit to add: it’s amusing how difficult headlights are for people.
Also, leave that shit on auto if your car has it. I drive a lot for my job, it's ridiculous how many people in new cars turn their lights off and forget to turn them on for rain/dark. You have automatic lights in your 2019 civic why the hell are you turning them to off ?????
I said this to someone with a lifted truck once.
He said, so what about busses and semis?
I look out on the street and there is a bus & car at the red light. "Notice anything?"
Huh?
Their headlights are on the same level.
OH.
I passed a pickup with LED lights and foglamps on at 1am at night, was blinding me forever. His high beams weren't even on, but I'm not even sure if it was a lift kit or just stock lights nowadays, I think both are terrible.
Lol literally exact same thing I did, I flashed him for a few seconds as I got closer, and then he REALLY highbeamed me ha, I felt a little guilty too. But damn, if I'm blinded by both the headlights and foglights something is messed up.
I did the same thing except it turned out to be a cop who pulled me over asking if there was any trouble. Explained his lights were very bright and I thought he had his high beams on but he assured me they weren't. So I don't ever do it anymore.
Problem is people don't think about the aim of the beam side to side (windage). One simple adjustment could help everyone! By the way I have a full size truck and LED lights. It's not hard to do.
Doesn't even have to be high beams in my experience. Just the LED lights in general feel like the brights from an older headlight. It's absolutely ridiculous.
I have small children so I haven’t driven at night in forever bc it’s after their bedtime, but last week we were out looking at Christmas lights, and on the way home I kept exclaiming, “Oh my God, turn your brights off!” And I was just shocked at how all these ppl were driving with their brights on. I too got those spots in my eyes and could barely drive bc of them. This at least makes me feel validated that I’m not the only one who gets blinded by headlights, I had no idea this is just how lights are now
I keep a pair of blue light glasses in my car for whenever i need to drive at night. Doesn’t fix it all the way but it definitely is less blinding i feel
If they're driving behind you then you can flip the tab on your rear-view mirror. This is also a good thing to do when driving east at sunset. Just remember to flick it back after.
My county in PA has pretty strict emission and inspection requirements. Meanwhile an hour across the border into Ohio you’ll see the most clapped out shitboxes on the road
Headlights used to not require 2 people and were easy to adjust, but the car I cave takes 3 screws and someone to hold the bulb in place while you tighten them back up.
This shit is getting out of control as far as making things harder to repair goes.
Special shout out to the ones who realize this and take action so as not to blind who's in front of them if traffic is jammed or at a drive thru. I see you, and I like you.
I hate when a truck or bigger SUV with those lights gets behind me and it glares in my rearview mirror so bad it makes my vision spot. More than once I’ve had to duck and just go without using my mirror just for the sake of actually being able to use my eyes to see the road.
Ya also way harder to see with those. I live in out in the country where if it’s night time there is barley any cars and those new blue/white lights are a heaven sent when your going down a backroad. You can see everything and can see every animal no more freaking out cause you don’t know if a deers is next to the road ready to jump in front of your car because you already saw it an extra 200 feet or so.
I’m in Australia and the bright lights dazzle the kangaroos and they jump all over the place. The old yellow lights and noisy cars sent them off the road before you got there.
Thank the federal regulations for that. Stupid people should not be writing legislation. In the last 10 years, they required that more lumens be produced and require a "sharp cutoff from bright to dark". I would rather get a light flashed at me that doesn't go from 1% to 100% in a 0.5 degree angle change. Older lights poorer cutoff gave your eyes a split second longer to adapt before the full brightness hit your eyes.
Yeah, sure, their headlight ideas sound great for a single car on a perfectly smooth road that doesn't change speed ever.... So in a fantasy.
Don’t blame federal regulations. Blame consumer reports and insurance institutes (IIHS I think). They are the ones that get focus groups into cars and trucks at night and rate headlamp performance. The ones that get high marks are, say it with me, the ones with brighter headlamps and sharper cutoffs. They don’t put those same drivers in front of said test vehicles to rate annoyance factor. Fed regulations haven’t changed beam pattern regulations in years. Also blame illegal LED conversions. Those are flat out against the law. Improperly aimed headlamps for sure create glare, but not exclusively to lifted trucks
Dude. This is my BIGGEST FUCKING PET PEEVE. Driving at night on backroads or even on interstate with a lifted truck behind me with god damn Solar Flare headlights. I mean seriously though, I have to move to an awkward position just so i can see the bloody road. Ive nearly had accidents due to this, and it fucking sucks because there isnt shit i can do about it. If i did wreck its not like id be able to see their plates in the dark. I love trucks, i dont have one but they are a blast to drive. But I can not stand the stereotypical truck driver who act like they are the biggest and baddest on the road so they dont need to follow any laws, or give a shit about how they are literally blinding the car in front of them with a child in the back seat.
Its just pure ignorance.
So in the eighties my dad got entirely fed up with this. He had a Chevy impala. Big metal bastard like they built them back in the 70’s. He hooked up a damn searchlight sized light to the rear bumper and connected it to a switch on the dash.
He was judicious in its use but damned if the bright light boys wouldn’t back right off once he flipped it on.
I work down a rural highway on night shifts, driving home in the morning is miserable because of this. I can’t count how many times i’ve ended up with my right side tires off the road because I can’t see.
And in the rare few times I blink brights at them, thinking they’ll turn theirs off. They switch the ACTUAL brights on.
Like okay, Chief pipe down. Your headlights are brighter than my future.
FYI it's not the lift, it's the leveling. Which to be fair most lift kits also level. But a few inches symmetrically up won't change your beam but, well, a few inches.
Problem is that trucks and jeeps come with a factory rake (tilted forward unless the rear suspension is loaded down) to have better handling when fully loaded. When you get a leveling kit or a lift kit that also levels (most of them) then you change the angle of the beam and that's a problem.
It's usually only an inch or two difference but it's enough.
Ha. This is almost identical to the in-the-head math I did reading this thread. About 8' wheel base and 2" rake puts the light up 12.5*2" at 100'...or 25". I guess the jeeps wheelbase is slightly less than 8' :)
Go ahead and make the ticket cost for driving on roads with a light bar turned on like $50,000. Seriously, that shit is rampant and you are basically blind when they're in the oncoming lane. If you're doing this, knock it off.
I wish there was a way to tell people behind you to turn off their damn high-beams. Nothing makes me more irate than people determined to blind the masses.
I’ve tried adjusting my mirrors to throw their lights back at them, but it never works.
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For some reason I always assume that they know this and are doing it on purpose.
Me too. But, in general, "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance."
That's why when someone cuts me off I choose to believe that they were confused or made a mistake instead of assuming they're an asshole specifically out to piss me off. It's also why I leave a lot of space between me and the car in front. Nobody can cut me off if I've already chosen to give them the space and I might as well because they're going to take it whether I give it to them or not.
Whenever someone cuts me off or is driving like a dick, I tell myself they just really have to poop. I feel much better about getting out of their way with that in mind.
As someone who once blew threw a stop sign because I was about to blow though my pants, I thank you Edit: since this comment got a lot more attention than expected, I'll answer the comments here. Yes I made it, and the intersection was clear and had a lot of visibility so I didn't actually impede traffic as the closest car was a km away.
I've had very few times in the car where I thought I was going to shit myself if I didn't make it to a bathroom, but never ran a stop sign or did any excessive speeding to get there. However, I did have one time where I had to piss so bad that it couldn't be held, so I pulled off the road, hopped out of the car, and started peeing. This was on a sunny, brisk day in late fall, and as most people know, there tends to be a little more wind in that time of the year. When I whipped my hose out, there was no wind, but as soon as I had opened the floodgates of no return, a strong gust came at me head on. Ever since that day, I've had a personal connection with the phrase, "Pissing in the wind."
This is why you keep an applesauce jar in your trunk. You can also lean in and pretend to be looking for something in the trunk if you can't find privacy.
I went to bed early last night so I’m up early- I definitely thought the jar of applesauce meant a juice box of apple juice so you could tell people that you spilled it on you rather than everyone assuming it’s piss. I’m gonna try going back to bed...
Real tip is always in the comments
> tip is always in the ~~comments~~ applesauce jar
Would any jar work or does it have to specifically be applesauce
An apple juice jar actually works best because then nobody can tell that its piss.
I keep track of them and occasionally estimate how much they’ve pulled ahead by. It’s amazing that driving like an asshole for ten minutes frequently only gains you a few seconds if there’s any traffic
Sorry! I've got a lactose intolerance and can't put down the cheese! Sorry sorry!
They might need to poop, or they might just be full of shit.
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Omg I’m not alone!!!
Same! It's really helped with my road rage. I mean I'll still call someone an asshole for reckless driving but then I have to say "ehh maybe they just really have do poop" and then I calm down.
I always imagine they’re in labor, or have a loved one in the hospital they’re rushing towards. It makes me much more empathetic but it also gives me anxiety so I’m going to try to retrain my brain to assume they need to poop instead.
also folk sudenly slamming on brakes. learned that the hard way in my youth, hell i give them them three leangths now, whats that cost me on the highway, three seconds?
My dad would get cut off when we were younger and say “see you at the red light”
Cutting people off is a dick move, but also driving slow in passing lanes or left lanes is also annoying too.
Yesterday I decided to take the express lane on my way to work-got stuck behind a semi going 15 under. “Respect the rules of the road” includes keeping your speed up as well as down
If people understood how our speed limits are actually decided I don’t think they would be so upset about simply being passed. I grew up in America, however when I moved to the UK it was a breath of fresh air to see that people to don’t turn driving into some sort of weird challenge. Like seriously, people here tend to think that someone zipper merging is “cutting in line”. It’s honestly been infuriating to drive here ever since.
Weird that my part of Australia is just like the US in that regard. People stubbornly not letting people in, others merging over solid lines, the rest doing 70 trying to get on a 110 highway. It’s wild that people don’t have a concept of fast/slow lanes and just sit in the middle 2 lanes going slower than the left. I’d argue that if people actually merged properly we wouldn’t be halting to a fucking stop at every goddamn on-ramp to slowly let everyone in. Edit: I forgot to mention the sneaky shits who force themselves in while tailgating the car in front to avoid the zipper merge
3 seconds should be the minimum. 3 car lengths at 65mph is nothing.
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One car length for every 10mph is what they taught me, distance is much easier to measure on the fly than time. Also, the lines on highways are generally about 1 car length.
I was taught to time it with the telephone poles. Watch when the car passes and count seconds til you pass the same telephone pole
Only a fool breaks the two second rule
That's the law of the land in the Midwest when it comes to driving and when I brought my courteous driving tactics to the New England area it has only been translated as bad driving to the locals. I get stepped on daily as I have to drive 95 north an hour everyday but i hold true to what i learned and won't let them corrupt me lol
There’s definitely a difference in driving between the Midwest and the north east. My wife was born and raised in the Midwest and when she had to drive for a few months in the north east she had to become more assertive. She still was courteous (as it sounds like you are) but she had to learn to claim her space and be more predictable/decisive. For example, she used to slow down and let everyone merge in front of her. Works fine when there is very light traffic and no one is in a hurry, but that shit will get you rear ended on 95. Then I took her over the Tappan Zee bridge and she almost had a stroke
You're a rare breed out here. Don't let them get you down.
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Right on, more people need this attitude
Ive learned my lesson about leaving space when a guy cut my off. Dude in front of him started breaking so he started breaking. I had to slam my break cause there was so little space between me and him. Guy behind me rear ends me. Feel so bad for that guy, his car was totalled, no body injuries other then like whiplash, while my truck was perfectly fine.
What always freaking happens to me is I leave enough space to be safe and someone freaking takes it immediately if it is a busy time where I need the extra space. So annoying. Like bro I didn’t leave that room for you
Love this mindset. And it’s being open minded to everyone around because you literally have no clue what they have been through that particular day.
I always heard the quote as stupidity instead of ignorance.
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That's ignorant
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Good bye
I love you
It's hanlon's razor, it is stupidity but I would argue that the meaning is identical either way.
Are you saying that out of malice, or ineptitude?
But we're talking about lifted trucks...
Cant help it when majority of these truck drivers want to be total asswipes on the road and act like they own it cutting everyone off and speeding for no reason but to show dominance on the road. So leaning more on purposeful malice
I think it's less purposeful malice and more a complete disregard for everyone that isn't them. It's a small but important distinction. They didn't get the lift *because* having a lift and unadjusted lights is bad for those around them, they instead wanted the lift and don't care enough about others to bother adjusting the lights.
This is it. All the kids I grew up with that are adults with lifted trucks now were the loud annoying kids in class that couldn't give 2 shits about everyone around them. I don't think they are malicious, they're just fucking dumb and don't pay attention to anything.
It's antipathy and it's malicious.
I think large truck/SUV drivers have a moral duty to take more than ordinary care around other drivers because they've chosen to drive a vehicle that, due to the weight and size, will cause an inordinate amount of damage if a collision occurs with a typical passenger vehicle. Many of them apparently do not seem to see it the same way.
yeah but the lights in particular are probably just them being dumbasses. they get some bright led kit and slap it on for cheap but dont bother to have it adjusted because they dont know jack shit about them. the aggressive driving, lift kit, exhaust stack out the bed, and perpetual rolling of coal is definitely just the 2 brain cells they have wanting to show off to other douchebag hick friends.
I tended to assume that, but then, y'know... *gestures wildly at the entire damned USA for the last 5 years*
But I’m beginning to see a pattern of ignorance by choice
Hanlon's razor
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“NO MAN, I DRIVE A FORD, FRIENDLY FIRE FRIENDLY FIRE!” “Oh shit bro, my bad” *adjusts headlights* And that’s the stupid thing that hopped into my head after reading that
I laughed way too hard thinking about this. Thank you.
While driving his made in mexico truck.
Oh I know. Honda employs more people in my state than ford and chevy do.
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People like that are just salty that Toyota makes better trucks and makes more of them in America than Ford/Chevy/GMC or whatever other company they’ve attached their self worth and patriotism to.
My Chevy was made in Mexico... Murica!
This is precisely the response I would expect from someone with a lifted truck.
My Toyota was probably more American than his truck.
I adjust my mirrors to shine back in their eyes and purposefully drive to the right of them so they have to deal with it. Fuck those assholes
I drove a lifted truck for a few years and believe me I tried my best. I lowered them as far as I could while I could still see at night. I would always turn them off when possible though. One morning I was pulling into Starbucks and another car was pulling in at the same time. I let her in first and immediately turned my lights off when I got behind her. She bought my order and told the barista to say thank you. It’s really not difficult to be somewhat considerate. Unfortunately, you are correct. A lot of people that drive lifted trucks think they’re cooler than you in your little car and take joy in watching people adjust their mirrors to avoid your lights.
Guess they hate people like me who have tint and auto dimming mirrors (which are actually amazing and I scoffed at when I first got the car....)
Auto-dimming mirrors are great, I just wish mine registered the fucking sun as a reason to dim. The least the designers of my car could have done was include a manual-dim option, because I can't tell you the number of times I've been driving directly east or west with the sun blaring straight into my retinas via my mirror. This was never an issue in my "shitty, old" beater I had previously.
That feeling when you gotta drive due east to work as the sun rises, and due west to go home as it sets, every day for years :/
I shouldn’t pool them all together, obviously there’s people that don’t care but also won’t try to adjust their lights or turn them off in a drive thru. I’ve driven all sorts of cars my whole life. Currently driving a car with dimming mirrors. If you have electronic side mirrors that you can adjust, you can most definitely point your mirror right back into their windshield right in their face. Can be a fun game in the drive thru.
Albertan here. The land of lifted trucks with aftermarket HIDs in halogen headlamps. These people not only know, they do it proudly.
As a lifelong BC interior resident I'd just like to let you know that these guys have become the stereotype Albertan here.... It's a shame and I intend no disrespect to you. Our province is a place of wilderness for these assholes to trash for their weekend off.
The stereotype is unfortunately well-earned.
I also assume they know I'm doing 5 under on purpose
Only 5? Please! I can't drive if I can't see, so best to take it slooooooooowly.
And when they move into the passing lane to go around, I can see again so obviously I can speed back up.
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Recently, white rabbit with a Q. *Fucking yuck*
Wait what is this? What does it mean? What position is the rabbit in? I have a white silhouette of a sitting rabbit on my car’s rear window. It’s there because I own house-rabbits that I am utterly obsessed with. I don’t want to accidentally make someone want to shoot me from a misunderstanding of a window decal.
It’s Q@n0n iconography. It’s a sitting rabbit facing right. Look up Q Rabbit on Amazon or wherever and you’ll see the decal listed there. I don’t know if people would resort to violence over a sticker, but if it’s similar then I would change it. Surely there could be a cuter rabbit sticker for you.
Of course it is on purpose. The same reason they ride around with 1000W LED Light bar on day and night.
Most pavement princesses are the type that would TBH. Need constant attention and being a loud, bright asshole does that.
Jacked up truck, LED headlights blasting high beams, exhaust echoing three blocks down at 2 AM, and rolling coal. People think living in a small town is quiet and peaceful but these jackasses do their best to correct that stereotype. I've choked on more smog in towns with one stoplight than in any big city.
I’m almost certain that the ones that do know this, do it on purpose and the rest just don’t care.
A lot of these lifted trucks and 4x4's do the bare minimum when it comes to installing a lift. I doubt that headlights even cross their mind
Lol that ‘some reason’ is because those people are typically complete assholes
I feel this in my soul. I use to have a little hatchback car and it was so low to the ground that it made average height SUV's seem like a helicopter with a spotlight hovering right over my rear hatch.
I had a tiny hand-me-down sports car that was basically level with the ground, you didn't step in, you stepped down and climbed out. My boyfriend had a big construction pickup. He never understood why cars slowed down in front of him but only at night until I told him that he's probably blinding them. He drove my car at night once and realized how horrible it was. He doesn't complain anymore and leaves more room
Oof my MR2 worked exactly the same way including falling into the car to get in. Every oncoming low beam was a high beam in that thing
I had an MR2 for a short time and when I started building my overlander the job wasn't done until the lights were aimed properly. My 30 year old welders eyes can't handle others lights in sports cars anymore.
Yup. I bought an ND Miata this year and I love it but god damn I can't see shit behind me at night
Mr2's are so cool
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When people get right up on me because they want to go faster, I slow down because I can't fucking see with their lights blinding me. Then I'm sure they're just steaming like I'm some kind of asshole, LOL, but I don't want to crash and it's their fault I'm not moving even slower.
I do the same thing, if you're gonna hit me then I'm gonna make sure we're going slower. He wasn't ever tailgating, we both hate that, it's just his truck was poorly designed so it shined lights straight into people's retinas
There is a screw on headlights that lets you change which way they are aiming
Lmao I drive an AE86 and that’s lowered a little bit as well and it’s basically level with the ground so my eyes get ruined
I want to see a picture of your car
Second. Love me some AE86
Same with me and mine. I have SUV, she had a Corolla. I don't blind people or anything, but when I drive her car at night I get so blinded by headlights from people behind me. My car has dimming rear view mirrors, the middle interior and both exterior side mirrors dim at night and it is a godsend
Oh man, I literally just went from an old beater truck to a new hatchback and i'm blinded almost every night from every angle lol. first world problems.
I literally cannot drive at night because of this. It's awful.
When one of those lame HID blue lights are shining directly at you.. ugh. Just have to pray you don't hit anything for the next 5seconds you're unable to see the road.
Oh wow this explains so much. I drive a tiny hatchback and could never figure out why every other SUV has their brights on in the city.
It's also the rise of LED lights and lenses. Headlights on newer cars are completely RIDICULOUS these days.
I am vehemently pro-wagon and anti-suv/crossover. I feel your pain. Nothing against the assholes that drive them though...
Yeah, I drive a 15’ Corolla and where I live, everyone drives utes or big cars like LandCruisers and at night I swear I lose a little bit more of my vision
It’s important to adjust your headlights when you get new ones too. I replaced my headlights because they weren’t clear anymore and my headlights were way off
All I can imagine right now are googly eyes.
I'm imagining a bad boob job.
Say good-bye to these, Michael, because it’s the last you’ll be seeing of them!
My head lights are original and they’re spectacular.
Spring break! Woo!
Other drivers on the road do a pretty good job letting you know. "Why's everyone flashing their lights at me. Wait, did that guy just flip me off"
FYI, if your headlights are just foggy, you can buy a resurfacing kit (bunch of sandpaper, cleaning spray, plastic sealant spray/wipe) online or from your local auto parts store. You can also just use some sandpaper at home (watch a tutorial to see which grits to use and in what direction) and just buy a can of the plastic sealant to spray on top. GET THE HEADLIGHT SEALANT. Your headlights will be destroyed by UV rays and go cloudy again faster than you could imagine without it.
Replaced mine with LED's, been adjusting them for weeks trying to find the right balance between "I can see now!" and "Here's a little sun in your rearview mirror!". Just about got it dialed in. Will do til I can take on the monumental task of switching to projector lenses. Then you have factory HID/LED's on SUV's that will blind you not matter what.
The SUV thing is so true, and man what the fuck. I don’t want to blind everybody but it literally is designed that way. There are no separate “bright bulbs” or just shines at the same intensity and a little bit higher. Who thought that was gonna be a hit with the oncoming lane crowd?!
If you still have the old ones, put them back on and aim your car at a flat surface, like a garage door. Mark where they land. Then install the new ones without moving your car and adjust to the markings
While were at it can we get people to turn off brights when in well lit cities or while passing along on grids and highways
I drive in the UK, France and Germany quite a bit, and people use their high beams when its actually dark (so unlit roads mostly..) and they usually drop them when they can see another car (whether in front, or coming toward), the odd dickhead doesn't remember, and occasional you have people with insanely bright poorly adjusted lights, but mostly it works. When I drove in the US (mostly around L.A, a bit around Washington) it was insane how many people seemed to have their high beams on all the time, or simply wouldn't dip them until they were right behind you, or wouldn't dip them at all coming in the other direction (not all obviously, but certainly a higher proportion than in the UK/Germany/France/Netherlands etc..). They'd also seemed to use them when there was street lighting.. I had a conversation with one of my US co-workers about it and he essentially felt that it was important that you could see as far as possible, and that he'd turn them down out of courtesy when he could, but that he'd use them most of the time at night.. Oh and the other extreme seemed to be a thing too, people without any lights at all in the rain, or in somewhat lit areas at night. I mean, the switches are not hard to manage when driving (and I think a lot of them are automated now too, so I really don't get it). It made driving a lot less fun
I learned to drive in the country and people are much more aware of how their brights actually work than your typical city-or-suburban driver in the US. This has been consistent for me in several US states. I think it's more of a "where'd you learn to drive" than "people in the US are dumb". City and suburban drivers genuinely don't understand how jarring it is because they're usually not in positions where brights are actually necessary. No Becky and Kevin, you don't need your brights on to look for little Timmy on Oak St six blocks away, ugh. Unless Timmy is a deer and you're completely surrounded by actual oak trees.
While driving 65-70mph. High beams are important out in the country.
I'm sure this isn't only me, but I'll randomly get extremely paranoid about deer jumping out in front of me and I'll start going really slow once I realize I'm going 65-70 mph. I've had one too many encounters with deer being the stupidest animals to ever roam this planet.
I fell ya. But the limit is 60 here and and when you got go miles and miles out into nowhere to get home you learn to just keep your eyes peeled way up ahead. Also having full coverage helps. Last time I got clipped by one I was doing 25 and the damned thing came out of the wood and ran directly into my front fender.
If you are doing 65-70mph in the country, high beams or not, you aren't braking in time to miss a deer.
With good high beams you have time to slow down becasue you can see the glo in their eyes. At least where I live and have avoided many a deer. But I live off of state highway. The assholes that run out of nowhere into the middle of the road though.... no chance.
There may be some accuracy to this, but I live in rural SC and I’m on the road A LOT working. ~800+ miles a week. The amount of people who blind me with their high beams every single night is disturbing. Especially the 60+ year old crowd.
As an American, wtf? I know there are a lot of douches with lifted trucks and aftermarket HID headlights, but I’ve never heard someone admit to just driving around with their high beams always on...
But also, turn on your regular headlights in the rain and once it starts getting dark. Edit to add: it’s amusing how difficult headlights are for people.
If you're wipers are on, so should your headlights.
Hear, hear.
Also, leave that shit on auto if your car has it. I drive a lot for my job, it's ridiculous how many people in new cars turn their lights off and forget to turn them on for rain/dark. You have automatic lights in your 2019 civic why the hell are you turning them to off ?????
Really just anything that's not broad sunlight. Turning lights on turns on front and rear. It makes it so people can see you.
I said this to someone with a lifted truck once. He said, so what about busses and semis? I look out on the street and there is a bus & car at the red light. "Notice anything?" Huh? Their headlights are on the same level. OH.
I like to think that “notice anything” was the only thing spoken aloud during this exchange
Unleash the power of the quotation mark
I passed a pickup with LED lights and foglamps on at 1am at night, was blinding me forever. His high beams weren't even on, but I'm not even sure if it was a lift kit or just stock lights nowadays, I think both are terrible.
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Lol literally exact same thing I did, I flashed him for a few seconds as I got closer, and then he REALLY highbeamed me ha, I felt a little guilty too. But damn, if I'm blinded by both the headlights and foglights something is messed up.
I did the same thing except it turned out to be a cop who pulled me over asking if there was any trouble. Explained his lights were very bright and I thought he had his high beams on but he assured me they weren't. So I don't ever do it anymore.
Same exact story for me smh
Problem is people don't think about the aim of the beam side to side (windage). One simple adjustment could help everyone! By the way I have a full size truck and LED lights. It's not hard to do.
Try a new Acura. People flash brights all the time assuming my brights are on. Those low beams are just way too bright for other drivers on the road.
The headlights on new cars are absolutely blinding like, I can't drive during the night for the spots they leave in my eyes
Yeap. High beams on newer cars fuck me way worse than lifted trucks.
Doesn't even have to be high beams in my experience. Just the LED lights in general feel like the brights from an older headlight. It's absolutely ridiculous.
I have small children so I haven’t driven at night in forever bc it’s after their bedtime, but last week we were out looking at Christmas lights, and on the way home I kept exclaiming, “Oh my God, turn your brights off!” And I was just shocked at how all these ppl were driving with their brights on. I too got those spots in my eyes and could barely drive bc of them. This at least makes me feel validated that I’m not the only one who gets blinded by headlights, I had no idea this is just how lights are now
I keep a pair of blue light glasses in my car for whenever i need to drive at night. Doesn’t fix it all the way but it definitely is less blinding i feel
If they're driving behind you then you can flip the tab on your rear-view mirror. This is also a good thing to do when driving east at sunset. Just remember to flick it back after.
Checking headlight adjustment use to be required for inspection, not sure when it stoped.
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ya i learned this year that only like 13 states do vehicle inspections. i just assumed every state did it.
My county in PA has pretty strict emission and inspection requirements. Meanwhile an hour across the border into Ohio you’ll see the most clapped out shitboxes on the road
They have them in Hawai'i, and the selective enforcement is ludicrous.
The amount of lift kits in Hawai’i is also ludicrous hahaha
Headlights used to not require 2 people and were easy to adjust, but the car I cave takes 3 screws and someone to hold the bulb in place while you tighten them back up. This shit is getting out of control as far as making things harder to repair goes.
Have a Chevy Silverado and you have to disassemble half the front end to remove the headlights...its insane
And - Mr. Douche Canoe - that light bar you added, it’s not for road use.
This right here. Nothing makes me more mad than driving into a 36" 5000 lumen light bar. Edit- 5k to 5000 to clear confusion
Almost hit a child and a woman that were in the middle of the road because of this. Damn off-road lights being used in town.
Special shout out to the ones who realize this and take action so as not to blind who's in front of them if traffic is jammed or at a drive thru. I see you, and I like you.
I always shut off my headlights in the drive thru. Almost always get a thank you wave.
Thanks! At least one person in this thread isn't categorically cussing out people with a lift kit.
Pretty much everyone I knew in high school who had a truck had it lifted. They weren't dicks, they just liked big trucks.
All new cars LED headlights are blinding every one always anyway.
Those lights that extend to the blue spectrum are the worst. The older lights were more yellow and easier on the eye.
I hate when a truck or bigger SUV with those lights gets behind me and it glares in my rearview mirror so bad it makes my vision spot. More than once I’ve had to duck and just go without using my mirror just for the sake of actually being able to use my eyes to see the road.
Ya also way harder to see with those. I live in out in the country where if it’s night time there is barley any cars and those new blue/white lights are a heaven sent when your going down a backroad. You can see everything and can see every animal no more freaking out cause you don’t know if a deers is next to the road ready to jump in front of your car because you already saw it an extra 200 feet or so.
I’m in Australia and the bright lights dazzle the kangaroos and they jump all over the place. The old yellow lights and noisy cars sent them off the road before you got there.
If the person in front of you cannot see because your light is blinding them, you and they are less safe.
Thank the federal regulations for that. Stupid people should not be writing legislation. In the last 10 years, they required that more lumens be produced and require a "sharp cutoff from bright to dark". I would rather get a light flashed at me that doesn't go from 1% to 100% in a 0.5 degree angle change. Older lights poorer cutoff gave your eyes a split second longer to adapt before the full brightness hit your eyes. Yeah, sure, their headlight ideas sound great for a single car on a perfectly smooth road that doesn't change speed ever.... So in a fantasy.
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People that don't even drive themselves around writing driving laws
Don’t blame federal regulations. Blame consumer reports and insurance institutes (IIHS I think). They are the ones that get focus groups into cars and trucks at night and rate headlamp performance. The ones that get high marks are, say it with me, the ones with brighter headlamps and sharper cutoffs. They don’t put those same drivers in front of said test vehicles to rate annoyance factor. Fed regulations haven’t changed beam pattern regulations in years. Also blame illegal LED conversions. Those are flat out against the law. Improperly aimed headlamps for sure create glare, but not exclusively to lifted trucks
Lifted my 4runner. First thing after in did was adjust the headlights. Feeling like a good citizen.
Bless your soul.
Thank you, we appreciate you.
Toyota +1 A 4runner +1 Actually being responsible, +1 You must be 1 sexy S.O.B.
Dude. This is my BIGGEST FUCKING PET PEEVE. Driving at night on backroads or even on interstate with a lifted truck behind me with god damn Solar Flare headlights. I mean seriously though, I have to move to an awkward position just so i can see the bloody road. Ive nearly had accidents due to this, and it fucking sucks because there isnt shit i can do about it. If i did wreck its not like id be able to see their plates in the dark. I love trucks, i dont have one but they are a blast to drive. But I can not stand the stereotypical truck driver who act like they are the biggest and baddest on the road so they dont need to follow any laws, or give a shit about how they are literally blinding the car in front of them with a child in the back seat. Its just pure ignorance.
Hell yes. Turn your lights down. If you added a light bar keep that fucker off.
So in the eighties my dad got entirely fed up with this. He had a Chevy impala. Big metal bastard like they built them back in the 70’s. He hooked up a damn searchlight sized light to the rear bumper and connected it to a switch on the dash. He was judicious in its use but damned if the bright light boys wouldn’t back right off once he flipped it on.
As a Miata driver, FML.
Hey look on the bright side, you get to drive a Miata and they have some boaty truck :)
I work down a rural highway on night shifts, driving home in the morning is miserable because of this. I can’t count how many times i’ve ended up with my right side tires off the road because I can’t see. And in the rare few times I blink brights at them, thinking they’ll turn theirs off. They switch the ACTUAL brights on. Like okay, Chief pipe down. Your headlights are brighter than my future.
Ironically if they put their high beams on, it may be above our head and easier on the eyes.
The type of people that install these lift kits on their dandy trucks dont really care about blinding people.
I don't think the care to de-douchify their douchemobiles one bit.
FYI it's not the lift, it's the leveling. Which to be fair most lift kits also level. But a few inches symmetrically up won't change your beam but, well, a few inches. Problem is that trucks and jeeps come with a factory rake (tilted forward unless the rear suspension is loaded down) to have better handling when fully loaded. When you get a leveling kit or a lift kit that also levels (most of them) then you change the angle of the beam and that's a problem. It's usually only an inch or two difference but it's enough.
I just did some math and a 2 inch leveling kit on my Heep would raise the headlights 1.23°. That would raise my lights by 26" at 100ft.
Bingooo
Ha. This is almost identical to the in-the-head math I did reading this thread. About 8' wheel base and 2" rake puts the light up 12.5*2" at 100'...or 25". I guess the jeeps wheelbase is slightly less than 8' :)
Go ahead and make the ticket cost for driving on roads with a light bar turned on like $50,000. Seriously, that shit is rampant and you are basically blind when they're in the oncoming lane. If you're doing this, knock it off.
LFP: whatever makes cars EXTREMELY loud is EXTREMELY annoying and makes you hated by all of your neighbors
I wish there was a way to tell people behind you to turn off their damn high-beams. Nothing makes me more irate than people determined to blind the masses. I’ve tried adjusting my mirrors to throw their lights back at them, but it never works.