Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with driving

No, sippy cups are not for scotch

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:57:42 -0800

My kid has a much beloved playdate buddy. Problem is; playdate buddy's mom is a drunk. A clingy, needy, whining, status-symbol addicted, country-club, drunk. I wouldn't mind if she was a fun drunk, or if she only drank after her husband got home, or if she didn't call me and want to come over when she was drunk...but suddenly, I've got this drunken crazy woman in my sphere. I don't much care for her, but our kids adore each other. I don't drink. I used to drink. I used to drink a lot. Then I realized I was probably an alcoholic, and I quit drinking for the most part. (I'll once every couple of months have a glass of wine, or an after dinner port or brandy, but I've trained myself to stop after one. More than one and I'm afraid I won't be able to stop, ya know?)

Anyway, I know all the symptoms of someone who is functionally drunk. The careful enunciation, the deliberate movements, the sort of sloshy head thing, and the overwhelming cloud of breath mint. She hides her drinking, but it's pretty obvious that she carries booze with her, on outings, she'll disappear every 15 minutes or so until she hits that "stage". Anyone who knows a drinker knows what I mean by the "stage".

All of that would be annoying, but tolerable, except for the fact that she wants to drive over to our house after she's called and I can tell she's "staged". Also, when we go places, she wants to always take her car, because she has a very expensive car, and she doesn't want to be seen getting out of my little economy car, when we could be driving in her status-mobile.

Thus far, I've been avoiding the issue by saying "oh, I'm sorry we're doing something" or by bringing my kid over to their house...but tomorrow is a big day. A bunch of neighborhood moms are scheduled to take the kids to see Santa and some other xmas events.

It will be an all day thing, starting very early. How do I tactfully suggest that she ride with me, rather than letting anyone else ride with her?

I despise drunk drivers more than I can express, for reasons I won't elucidate here. But she's kept her alcohol use hidden really well from those people who either aren't or haven't been around alcoholics. So, I can't just come out and say to the other moms "Look, she's a drinker, it's not safe, just take your minivan." I mean, I can, but it's going to cause a huge scene, at xmas, when everyone is already on edge, plus I'm not sure anyone would believe me. She's very good at hiding it, and she intimidates those people who are intimidated by wealth.

But, I'm afraid if I don't say something, then gods forbid, something happens...I can't knowingly put all those other people in danger.

Help me hive mind. How do I keep the drunken trophy wife out of her Lincoln?

Throwaway email: playdatemomdrinks@gmail.com

Winterising my car

Solomon — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:16:53 -0800

Is it safe for me to add methylated spirits to the screenwash reservoir on my car during this cold snap? Is there anything else I should or shouldn't use? I'm not so bothered by the cleaning ability as by the anti-freezing properties. I have both meths and 99% IPA on hand. Is there some other household product that I could use?

I realise I can buy winter screenwash, but that's not what this question is about.

Interstate 95 After a Blizzard

Elsie — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:32:09 -0800

What is the earliest best day to travel Interstate 95 from New Haven, CT to SC after blizzard? So, yeah, we were supposed to be in southern NJ by now en route to SC. Bagged that due to blizzard conditions along our exact route. Those of you who live along 95 and are familiar with the aftermath and clean-up of snowstorms, when should we set out? Tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, or later? We want to arrive by Christmas Eve, if possible, but only if conditions are clear and safe. (We had originally planned to do the trip over two days, with an overnight in Fredricksburg, VA. Is that even feasible after a cleanup?) Any advice--best internet weather sites to keep checking? Local Mefi advice is more appreciated since we don't know how well the interstate gets cleaned up after huge winter storms in NJ, PA, MD, NC.

Driving in Brazil (RJ)

tss — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:31:02 -0800

We are considering renting a car and driving from Rio de Janeiro to Paraty and back. Advice? My S.O. and I will be in Brazil for the next week or so. We are staying in Rio, but for the last few days of our trip, we plan to spend time in Paraty. We've been thinking that we might rent a car and drive there from Rio, then drive back to Rio before catching our flight home. Does anyone have any experience with this, or pointers? More specific questions (answers to any one of them would be most welcome):

1. When is the best time of day to leave Rio de Janeiro, and when is the best time to return? We imagine that broad daylight is the best time to be driving in Rio, but are there any more specific times? (Luckily there will be a lot of broad daylight this week in Rio.)

2. What's the best way to leave Rio from the Zona Sul?

3. What should we expect from the BR-101 road along the coast?

4. What should we watch out for (e.g. traffic jams) when planning our trip back---to an airline flight we really would rather not miss?

5. Is there a particular kind of insurance we should get here, before we leave, or there, when we get the car?

6. We are confident, patient drivers in the US and wouldn't bat an eye at Manhattan or downtown Philly, say, but have not driven outside of USA/Canada or western Europe before. Is this car trip advisable or should we just take the bus?

I should add that we don't speak Portuguese, although we've had some luck reading webpages and such through triangulation from French, Italian, and Spanish. Naturally, we would plan to limit the need for conversations along the road by driving conservatively, during off-peak hours, at the speed limit.

Round and round we go

gadha — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:41:17 -0800

Some questions about traffic light controlled roundabouts in the UK. More inside. I have some queries regarding traffic lights with roundabouts

In order to visualise my questions, I'm using a specific example - the Great Cambridge Roundabout. I have created an annotated google map to help with my questions, its available here:

In my scenario, I am approaching the roundabout from the south (Placemarker Roundabout_Entry on the map) and taking the third exit (Placemarker Roundabout_Exit on the map).

Assuming I've never been on the roundabout ever, my initial instinct will be to take the innermost lane and then change lanes when I'm just before my exit.

My questions are as follows:

1. The two innermost lanes go right around, so would it be correct for me to go around the roundabout completely in any two of the innermost lanes?

2. At peak traffic times it is likely that the roundabout will be full, i.e. that at the traffic lights (e.g. at Placemarker FirstExit_TrafficLights or SecondExit_TrafficLights in the map) I will pull up in any of the four lanes and there will be traffic on both sides to me.

In this situation if I'm moving from an inner to an outer lane (e.g. from the innermost to the second innermost lane) do I have the right of way? (If so is this a general rule)? If not, how do cars in the innermost lanes stop from getting trapped in times of peak traffic (i.e. no gaps to move into outer lanes).

3. Imagine I reach the traffic lights at the second exit traffic lights (Placemarker SecondExit_TrafficLights in the map)and I'm in one of the two inner lanes for whatever reason. Am I still allowed to indicate left and move/merge into the two outermost lanes to exit the roundabout (assuming I have the time to do so) or do I HAVE to go round because my positioning was not in one of the two lanes to exit the roundabout?

4. In a traffic controlled roundabout, if I'm positioned to leave the roundabout and I find I've made a mistake, am I allowed to merge into right lanes? E.g. in this example, if I find myself at the traffic lights at the second exit (placemarker SecondExit_TrafficLights in the map) and I'm in one of the two outermost lanes but I realise I wanted to take the fourth exit, do I HAVE to leave or can I indicate right and merge back into the inner lane?

5. In this particular example, I'm entering the roundabout from the south (placemarker RoundAbout_Entry in the map), the road markings for the four lanes are A406 West, A10 HFord, A10 Hford and A406 East respectively. I assume this is marking exits 1-4 respectively. Is this correct?

Thanks for your help.

Setting up an online driving schedule

JannaK — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:48:03 -0800

Help me create an online driving schedule for friends/family to get a patient to and from far-away medical appts. Is there a better system than Google calendar? My uncle has chemo every other week, lives far from the hospital and has many friends and family willing to help him get to appointments. I've offered to help set up a calendar and "sign-up" system for driving him.

My current plan is to set up a Google calendar. It would be visible to all family/friends and a few of us could edit it. Then I'm thinking I would e-mail the group every couple months, have people look at the calendar, e-mail me with the shifts they could take and I would update the calendar. Then, I would have a reminder set up in Google to remind them a couple days in advance.

Has anyone else done this before? Am I overlooking major details? What worked and what didn't for you? Is there a better system than Google to work with? Did you allow edit access to all viewers or have them go through you to take a driving shift?

Thanks!

On The Road To Feeling Weird

mmmbacon — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:27:26 -0800

Why do I feel so weird when I return home from a long car trip and how can I prevent these feelings? Every time I take a long car trip, I feel very out of sorts when I get home. I always feel tired, restless, emotionally drained and generally icky. This never happens when I arrive at my destination, no matter how long the trip there is. Also, I feel just the same whether or not I am doing the driving.

What you gon do with all that junk inside your trunk?

sickinthehead — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:08:12 -0800

Which is the safer car position for my dog? We have a VW Golf and a German Shepherd. Traditionally, when the dog travels with us he sits in the back seat. Yesterday we drove 12 hours home for Thanksgiving and I had to sit in the back with my dog the entire time as we drove an additional person home with us this time. It was an...adventure.

This led to the following debate between my husband and I:

He wants to get one of those bar things that extend from the back seat to the roof of the car and start putting the dog in the trunk. I think it's an unsafe proposition because I think we're most likely to be rear-ended if in an accident, and that would effectively smush my dog. I think he's way safer sitting in the back seat, and therefore we should continue this arrangement. What do you think? Note I'm only looking at this from the perspective of his safety.

Maryland DMV

josher71 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:23:21 -0800

Marylanders, I need your help. I haven't had a driver's license since 2004 and now I need one in a shorter time than nine months from now. I haven't had a license in a long time since I was living in NYC and didn't need one. Now, here in Maryland I need to drive again and in order to do that, I have to get a learner's permit. That's fine, except for the fact that you have to have the permit for NINE MONTHS before you can get your license.

This seems excessive to me especially since I've had a license before. Regardless, I pretty much need to get a license as soon as possible to help me get a job here in Baltimore. Is there some way to get around this nine month wait that you know of? Or, are there any suggestions you have for how I would go about trying to get an exception?

Plan My Drive from ATL to Vermont

tmharris65 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:32:20 -0800

A few weeks ago, you guys helped to reassure me that I could drive from Atlanta to Vermont in December. Now, I'm asking you to offer some suggestions for that drive. The plan is to drive for three days, stopping after about 6 hours of driving each day, and arriving in Vermont on the third day. I'm looking for suggested routes and cities-towns-villages to stop in that would have some combination of a) cool place to spend the night, b) a nifty place to get a bite to eat, and/or c) something cool to see/do. Thanks for any suggestions!

Moving In Wintertime

scrutiny — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:10:15 -0800

My wife and I are moving from NYC to Denver in the middle of January. We'll likely be shipping some stuff and then driving. I've never moved during the winter, so I'm looking for advice from people who have moved through snow or know of any issues getting to Denver around January. Best routes? I've moved often, but it's always been in the summer. We plan on taking things slow - no reason to get into an accident - but I want to be sure there's not some other salient feature that I won't know about until it's actually too late.

I know what I want to do, so if you've advice on how best to do it, please be my guest!

Previously, about winterizing cars in Denver

I think fuzzy dice are actually kind of cute

kerning — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:50:56 -0800

What's a good present to buy a 25 year old newly licensed driver? My female coworker is (maybe) getting her driver's license this weekend, after 25 years of begging rides from her friends. I thought it would be nice for my department to give her a little congratulations present, since we have done nothing but listen to her stories about her driving lessons progress for the past 6 months. But I have no ideas.

One hitch is that she actually doesn't have a car, nor does she have plans to get one anytime soon - she'll be relying on Zipcar when she needs to go somewhere outside of the city (DC). So we can't buy her the normal fuzzy dice/carmats-type present.

Anything Prime-eligible from Amazon preferred, or things I can get locally (NoVa/DC area).

sip, sip, bang, bang

thinkingwoman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:27:54 -0800

what are the logistics for arresting someone for DUI if they are in the hospital? say you have a car accident, go to the hospital, discover you are legally drunk, and it is reported to authorities. assuming you are not able to walk out of the hospital and go to jail that night, what happens?

do they arrest you in the hospital? arraign you in the hospital? send you to a jail hospital? have your lawyer go to court for you?

i've just always wondered this but it's not an easy google search.

Right of way? Wrong-o, I think.

azpenguin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:05:05 -0800

The Arizona drivers license manual states that the law does not specify who has the right-of-way; it only specifies who must yield. What is the legal significance of this? Pretty much everyone I've heard talk about traffic situations talks about right-of-way, and I think in those terms too. If I see a pedestrian in a crosswalk, I think "hey, they've got right-of-way. I'd better stop." So while I know I must yield, I still think about right-of-way. But if they included this in the manual, someone must think it's pretty important. Why?

The license plate game doesn't work when all the plates are from the same state.

hamsterdam — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:30:41 -0800

What are some challenging, competitive games two people can play in a car (one being the driver)? I've agreed to drive my roommate from Hollywood to the Long Beach airport during rush hour, a trip that I'm estimating will take between 45 minutes and 2 hours.

What games can we play that will make the trip more bearable? Most "car games" seem to be for long road trips; hopefully this trip won't last quite that long.

Looking specifically for games to play while:

- sitting in traffic
- stopped at a red light
- driving on surface streets
- driving on the highway

What does it mean when someone flashes you a "C" while driving?

Hollow — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:49:55 -0800

Tonight around midnight, in South City St. Louis, MO, my mom pulled up to a stoplight left of a pickup truck, and the thirty-something, white, crew-cut haired driver flashed her a hand sign that looked, from her perspective, like the letter "C." He did this several times over the next couple minutes whenever he pulled along side her, until she managed to lose him. Has anyone seen this before or know what it means?

License to _____.

reductiondesign — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:15:53 -0800

"Upgrading" my driver's license—help! I'd like to have the legal ability to drive all sorts of things. The first that come to mind are a motorcycle license and commercial driver's license. However, I don't want to own or even have access to a motorcycle, a big rig, etc. I'm not exclusively interested in cars, either: forklifts, boats, planes (though I imagine this would be a large and expensive undertaking), whatever.

What sorts of things can I get tacked on to my license, how much would it cost, what would it involve, and how do I start?

I currently live in AZ, but I have a GA license. Also, I'm 19, but if there's anything that I can't do until I'm 21 (or above!) I'd still like to hear about it.

Thank you!

Good movie driving shots for chroma keying?

wavejumper — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:30:30 -0800

Here's a fun one: can you think of any films that have good, usable -moving background- shots / tracking shots, that I could use as a fake "driving" backdrop for a movie I'm making? I filmed a green-screen shot of my friends driving and dancing along in a convertible (which wasn't actually moving) for their music video...and now I'm chroma-keying in various exotic and ridiculous moving backgrounds. I'm looking for things like: driving along a beach highway, driving along a beach itself, driving through a nightclub district or New York / Las Vegas downtown at night, driving through a jungle, anything crazy even (like boating shots over water, etc.), anything that looks cool, i't supposed to be ridiculous and fake and fun, that's fine, but we're also trying to make it look -awesome- :-). So recent or high-res, non-jumpy clips would be best. One shot I have so far is them driving through outer space, which is pretty cool looking.

Can you think of any films (or other sources) that have tracking shots like what I'm thinking of? I need two angles: one looking directly backwards out the rear of a moving vehicle, and one looking sideways off the side of the road as things go by. "Empty," purely background-only shots would be best of course, though with a certain amount of finess, I could remove another car in the shot and replace it with the one we filmed. I can also reverse shots that show forward-motion, so those are possibly usable as well. Thanks a lot!

How can I minimize my chances of getting in a car accident?

wireless — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:01:00 -0800

How can I minimize my chances of getting in a car accident? I haven't gotten in any traffic accidents in my year of driving, but I am concerned because I can be a bit of an absent-minded driver. Today I cut off a car while switching lanes because I forgot to check my blind spot. I had my mind on spotting the right cross street and just forgot.

Another issue is that before I learned to drive I never paid attention to the rules of the road, so I still haven't developed the intuition most drivers have.

My first measure has been to minimize the actual amount of driving I have to do. Additionally, I eliminate all distractions when I drive (including the radio), avoid driving others, and never drive when I'm tired. After today's close call I bought convex side view mirrors to cover my blind spots. What other things can I do to minimize my chance of getting in a car accident?

What's the best way to learn to drive stick in Toronto?

Dasein — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:41:03 -0800

I'm in Toronto and I'd like to learn to drive a manual transmission. I don't want to ask anyone to lend me their manual-tranmission car because of the wear and tear I might inflict on it, and you can't rent stick-shift cars (as far as I know) for exactly that reason. So I'm considering paying for lessons. My question: does it make sense to spend more money for lessons from a dedicated learn-to-drive-manual outfit like Shifters, or should I inquire with a regular driving school like CSS about individual lessons? Or, alternatively, do you have any other suggestions?

Drive to Vermont in December?

tmharris65 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:53:33 -0800

Are we crazy to think of driving from Atlanta to Vermont in late December? We have reservations at a great loft-barn-cabin and we have our favorite table at our favorite restaurant reserved for a New Year's Eve dinner, but the flights are so expensive right now. How much stress will we add to our lives if we drive? (It's not the length of the trip that worries us ... it's the potential for winter weather that Georgians don't know how to deal with.)

When should I get a new car... for safety reasons?

cheapskatebay — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:42:30 -0800

When should I get a new car... for safety reasons? To what extent should safety improvements be taken into consideration when deciding to buy a new car (or a used car with more modern safety features than one's current car)?

I'd like to take one of my comments from an earlier question - please see here - and pose it as a question for the hive mind.

I drive a 1998 manual transmission Toyota Corolla, which was paid off years ago. It's reliable, fuel-efficient, and has front airbags (not side-curtain, though) and anti-lock brakes. I drive a lot in the city and seldom on the highway. Only 75,000 miles so far, and I add perhaps 7,000 or so to that total per year. My seven- and five-year-old kids occasionally ride in the car (perhaps 1-2 times per week for each) but it is primarily an econobox for commuting. I make every effort to drive safely and conservatively.

How might (or did) the availability of electronic stability control, side curtain airbags and/or another safety feature affect your decision to buy (or not to buy) a new car? Houstonian had a good reply to my comment in the earlier thread about the importance of driving defensively... I'd assume that is every bit as important as having the latest safety features, but is that an accurate assumption? Are IIHS crash study results useful in this analysis?

For environmental and financial reasons, I'm biased toward driving the car into the ground. I'm concerned that I'm giving safety short shrift in my analysis, however.

Many thanks in advance.

Canada: Going to court for impaired driving

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:30:12 -0800

I screwed-up, and got caught for driving impaired I know you're not my lawyer, just looking for advice.

This pertains to BC, Canada...but I thought I'd leave it open.

Like I said I screwed-up, shouldn't have been driving. Took a turn into a narrow gravel driveway too fast (it's on a hwy), and slide into the ditch.

All I needed was a tow truck, but someone called 911, so ambulance, firetruck, 2 cop cars. Got arrested for the first time in my life, charged with impaired driving, but was released once the paperwork was done.

I have a "Promise to appear" form with two dates:

One in Sept. "for purposes of the identification of criminal act". No idea what that means, so that's question #1.

Second in Dec. "to attend thereafter as required, to be dealt with according to law". Not really sure about this either, so that's question #2.

Question #3: I've never dealt with a lawyer. I can't afford one anyway. I don't know if I should try to represent myself of not.

Can you prove what someone's blood alcohol level would have been two hours ago based on what it is now?

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:10:59 -0800

Can you prove what someone's blood alcohol level would have been two hours ago based on what it is now? Pulled over and arrested then charged with DUI in the State of Vermont. Refused the roadside breathalyzer test. Took the roadside evaluation for shits and giggles (I think I did okay).

After much processing, asked to talk to public defender on call. Advised to consent to breath test, so I did. After much more processing, I finally took the breath test. I didn't take the test until two hours after the time of the stop.

My test results: 0.059%

Point at which it is a DUI: 0.080%

Charges dropped right? Not in this case. They are trying the case and the arresting officer claims they will bring in a chemist/scientist/whatever to say that based on my test results my blood alcohol level would have been above 0.080% at the time of the stop.

You are innocent until proven guilty right? Can they possibly "prove" this?

Several civil citations were given as well. One for not stopping at a stop sign (I did stop) and one for going over the yellow line (I may have). Also, a third was mailed to me for being two months out of inspection.

And to preempt the lawyer up advice. Of course I will be hiring a lawyer to represent me in this case, but I would like to know as much as I can going in, while I have plenty of time to get myself informed.

Mythbust supermarket petrol for me, please.

Lorc — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:18:19 -0800

Is supermarket petrol bad for my car? It seems to be common knowledge that supermarket petrol from Tesco, Asda or what have you stations is inferior to the stuff from a "proper" petrol station. That it damages the engine in the long run for any of a variety of vague and poorly explained reasons.

Is there any substance to this idea, or is it just superstition? Googling gave me lots of conjecture but nothing authoritative.

UK-centric in case it matters. Thanks.