Vancouver Drivers, and Merry X-mas

[Calvin]

So frustrated, so very very frustrated.  The "I can't drive so I need to take up 2 lanes", the "I drive a truck so I own the road", the "take 20 min to parallel park on a major street", the "U-turn at every intersection", the "I love your exhaust fume, so I'll follow you on highway as close as possible", the "everyone else should go back to their countries", the "if I signal you'd better get out of the way", and of course simply "drive as fast as you can in any and all things resembling a clear patch of road".  Sorry, I am so venting right now.  Christmas eve, and the worst drivers are out on the road, probably correlated with desparate last min shopping.

I think I am willing to sacrafice my Larrivees and beat them over the head with it.  BONG!!!!  Whatever happened to the days where we wave at people for being nice enough to let us in (Which wasn't too many years ago).  Speaking as a Vancouverite, we are rectal-o drivers.

Oh a happier note, Merry X-mas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Talk about juxtaposition.

[dermot]

heee heeee heeeeee.......

and of course simply "drive as fast as you can in any and all things resembling a clear patch of road

That might be us....

We live and drive in Vancouver.. my girlfriend had alot of single finger salutes when she first started driving here after moving from Germany

I drive a Mercedes with way more horsepower than any car NEEDS, but dark blue and four doors so not really noticable or flashy... i often feel like a shark in a minow tank as i slice through the "sleepers" bumbeling their way to somewhere slowly...

Eva is back home this week, and just drove her brother's M5 from Berlin to Hamburg yesterday just so she can stay in the fast lane groove, her family buggs her about driving like the "sleepers" over here.. she has to prove her self undamaged by the collective stupid and slow that defines North American driving... as seen from German eyes (and culture)

naturaly your mileage may vary ;-)

Ta from the North Shore

d.

[Crunchy Wacko]

I try and make a point of letting at least 1 person  merge infront of me everyday...and give them a smile and a wave. Makes you feel good and hopefully it will rub off on them.

I think if everyone owned a Larrrivee the world would be a better place  (at least it sure would be for Jean) 

[jcbuggs]

I'll put crazy Boston drivers up against anybody anyday. The people who commute on Rt 128 every day all have a death wish!

[dermot]

Just off the Phone with Eva (my SO) and she reports that traffic was really bad on her way back to Berlin, and she had to keep it to around 150, and at one point it was all the down to 110..... that's MPH not KPH

Your average Vancouver driver would be gease stain on the Autoban... if they survived that long ;-)

She reports that her brother's M5 has really good brakes

A side note... she has a superbike licence as well.. but left the GSXR1100 behind when she moved from Munich to Vancouver

My best guess is that she will again get more than a few single finger salutes while she re-aclimitizes to a land where "sleepers" manage to get drivers licences

Off i go to work now... quick & quiet in the big Merc

Ta,

d.

[Gemnoc]

I wonder what's the death rate on the roads of Germany!

Sorry but I don't buy that every German has the reflexes it takes to drive *safely* at 150mph. I'm glad those lunatics are across the ocean and not here.

Now where's the gigantic rolleyes smilie when you need one!

[bucky1]

While we are so far off topic...........

I love the TV add where the guy is unloading his Mustang in Germany, and the customs officer says, "What's the matter, don't you like German cars?" and the guys says, "No, it's American roads I don't like."

[Gemnoc]

LOL that's a good one.

[dermot]

I wonder what's the death rate on the roads of Germany!

Only slightly more than 50% of the death rate in the USA, you are almost twice as safe in the passanger seat of the M5 with Eva at 150Mph than you are in any car in America, and you are also much safer once you cross the northern border;
Germany = 8.3 per 1Billion Kilometers driven
Canada = 9.3 per 1Billion Kilometers driven
USA = 14.9 per 1Billion Kilometers driven

Sorry but I don't buy that every German has the reflexes it takes to drive *safely* at 150mph. I'm glad those lunatics are across the ocean and not here.

Seems obvious to me.. but I'll let someone else say it then ;-)

American automotive journalist Eric Peters accurately identified a key problem when he wrote:  "Lack of skill—not speeding—is the fountainhead of America's traffic problems. If you disagree, then you've got to explain how it is that the Germans routinely drive much faster than we do, yet, miraculously, have lower overall accident and fatality rates.

     "Go to the head of the class if you guessed the Germans' luck is due to more-demanding licensing requirements and skills testing—not anything special about the Germans themselves.

     "It takes a lot to get a first-time driver's license in Germany—as much as 25-45 hours of Fahrschule instruction, on the road, in a real car—culminating in an extensive written and practical test. The cost to pay for the necessary schooling (at an approved Fahrschule) and so forth runs about $1,500-$2,000. They don't mess around. As a result, the road competence of the average German driver is much higher than that of the average American driver.

     "Almost anyone (including a 10-year-old) can pull a lever from 'Park' into 'Drive' and get a vehicle rolling—and that's about all we demand of people [in the USA] before issuing them a valid operator's permit. That and a quickie written test that even Forrest Gump could pass.

Find the details here;
http://www.driveandstayalive.com/info%20section/statistics/stats-usa_indiv-states_per-capita_2003.htm#table-2

Now try to get a superbike licence there..... REALLLLLY not easy to get them to give you a licence for an over 1000cc bike..... my Babe is pretty fast and very safe, safe comes first for both of us, and sometimes that means getting far ahead of the sleeper so they can fall off the road on their own.....

sleepers..... so many sleepers.....

Ta,

d.

[Gemnoc]

I wonder why you came here if we are such a nuisance for your driving.

Hey, there's a rolleyes smilie now!

And a "blech" one for good measure:

[dermot]

Insert Quote
I wonder why you came here if we are such a nuisance for your driving.

it's the guitars!

The sleepers arn't a nuisance.. like i said;

i often feel like a shark in a minow tank

Just a potential danger.....

I also have my drivers licence for the PRC.. the Peoples Republic of China as i lived in Shanghai for a few years and got my "Perminant Residence Card" that allowed me to apply for a drivers licence there.... driveing in Shanghai is a whole new world.... there were entire days that Yan'Xi Lu (the main elevated highway through Shanghai) was stopped dead due to so many overheating cars in the summer heat..... surface streets are always jammed... bicycles were faster even tho they have their own traffic jams, and no air con - here's a stock photo taken on the street i lived on;


Ta from  out here

d.

[Old Geezer]

it's the guitars!

The sleepers arn't a nuisance.. like i said;Just a potential danger.....

I also have my drivers licence for the PRC.. the Peoples Republic of China as i lived in Shanghai for a few years and got my "Perminant Residence Card" that allowed me to apply for a drivers licence there.... driveing in Shanghai is a whole new world.... there were entire days that Yan'Xi Lu (the main elevated highway through Shanghai) was stopped dead due to so many overheating cars in the summer heat..... surface streets are always jammed... bicycles were faster even tho they have their own traffic jams, and no air con - here's a stock photo taken on the street i lived on;


Ta from  out here

d.

Was that taken during the slack period? 

I'm in China three or four times a year and wouldn't drive there for (pardon the pun) all the tea in China.
Hell, walking can be dangerous enough...


OG

[dermot]

Hey OG!

i found this 17 seconds of Shanghai Traffic on YouTube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppl2TZ8mHkk
Much closer to my experience.. don't reconize the street tho...

i got my driver licence so i could rent a car and get out of town for a day by myself.. after a couple of years living downtown near the old city i was getting cabin fever.. i lived on the 34th floor and all i could see was buildings as far as the eye can see... not all that far through Shanghai's pollution & haze....

Eva was just recounting getting her super bike licence in Germany.. they made her ride at 160 on her road test so they would be confident that she would be inside her comfort zone at 120.... and they ran this test on icy roads in Febuary.. don't think you'd find me going 160 in GSXR on an icy autoban... this is what it takes to get a licence there... we get arrested for this... she gets her superbike licence..... go figure

Gotta be safer with her driving than most around here (Vancouver that is)

Ta,

d.

[Calvin]

Was that taken during the slack period? 

I'm in China three or four times a year and wouldn't drive there for (pardon the pun) all the tea in China.
Hell, walking can be dangerous enough...


OG

Yeah I thought Hangzhou was a zoo till I had to go to Shanghai.  People are mad drivers.  Being anus is standard there.  It's a reflection of the cultural intereactions between people too.

Say OG, you know any good guitar stores in Shanghai or Beijing?  I have to be in Beijing (Shanghai later in the year) and I just want to get something cheap local to play around for 3 weeks.  I don't want to bring my nice guitars there.

[Old Geezer]

Dermot, Calvin,

Dermot first...NO AMOUNT OF MONEY could ever get me to drive in China!   Period!
I can't even imagine trying.  Hell, I feel like I'm taking my life in my hands by WALKING!
Luckily, I work in Baoying and Changzhou which are smaller cities....I think they have four or five less cars/bikes on the roads

Calvin,
If I ever find a real guitar shop I promise to post it here. I've been looking for six years now.

OG

[dermot]

OG; Oh yea.. but after the first year it all becomes second nature... i even brought a American style mountain bike over after a while.. talk about a shark in a minnow tank....... sliceing through traffic on that was wicked good fun! A giant ( 6'2", 249lb) 50 year old, long haired forigner that knew how to swear in Shanghaiese was attention getting enough to keep me safe ;-)

Calvin; You might try "Best Friend Music Store # 2".. i got a pair of Blueridge-ish things there.. sound great & dead cheap;


It was just behind the fashion market on Haui Hai Lu (before they tore it down) near the music school

Ta,

d.

[Calvin]

Thanks for the info, D

I am from Hangzhou (More tourist town than Shanghai), so I can pretty much commuicate with people in Shanghai in dialect also.  Hahaha, we "dont like" them.  Same relationship as Vancouverites vs Torontonians.