Minimalmaxima

uh, has this thread been locked?

chernmax

iTrader: (15)

If the thread were locked, you would not have been allowed to post your comment!!!

igzy

iTrader: (18)

Well, after a quarter million miles under my butt, driving in Europe for a few years (special consideration to driving in England I had for a few months), Canadian winters and about dozen of car changed, I consider myself an experienced driver who can push any car to the limit and make the best out of any road conditions. I had my share of speeding tickets and accidents of which none were my fault (got rear ended a few times at a traffic light while sitting on red, and got hit by a truck tire on HW) but I don't think that makes me any worse of a driver than I am...

Minimalmaxima

Uh...um...Well I was guessing that it was unlocked just before I made my post...no...ahhh...dang you got me.

And igzy, stuff like a tire and other people have never caused me to have an accident. I have almost gotten the rear in front cause of someone pulling out in front of me a couple of times. But I straightened it out and avoided collision. That's the kinda stuff that makes me think I'm a decent driver. (I checked alright on the poll, though, because the accidents I've had have been when my guard was down cause of stress or sleep depravation or stupidity.)

igzy

iTrader: (18)

Minimalmaxima - Sorry if my post sounded like it was targeted towards you, I was just making a general statement in line with previous posts :-) No offence intended :-)

Minimalmaxima

Dude, certainly, no offense was taken. I was just making a comment on my own observations. It was just interesting to me that the stuff that has caused unavoidable accidents in your case is the stuff that make me think I'm a good driver cause I can avoid it (or I have so far).

Sterling

I can say I can hold my own. I'm 22 used to do some valet parking got used to stick, and currently have the 03 6 spd. I got 3 tickets when I first got my license with a 92 z24...it was fun at the time. Anyhow now I drive normal for the past 5 years and havent got a ticket since nor been in an accident and do about 80 on the highway.(knock on wood) If I see a quick car, VIPER or vette porsch or whatever on the highway I toy around with them I'll get in the second lane wait for them to pull up and I punch it a little in 3rd or 4th depending on the spend to let them know I am packing some power , but I hold my own with faster cars. I think its more decision making and if you have control of the gears and speed and what is ahead of you playing around with faster cars. I go in and out of traffic, its all about control, feel of the road, and how fast people are going, are they going to be braking and just making the right judgement. I'm not crazy but can have a good time.

I never drove a rwd car besides my friend back home- like a 91 mustang thing had *****, he ran the quater in the 10's. I drove it a couple times and its scary only because I have only driven it a few times and arent used to the control of rwd 600+hp car. I remember he took me around like 2 corners and than down this straight away where the speed limit was 40. Not gonna lie I think by 2nd gear around the first turn we did 55 and the speedometer jumped to past 85 on the speedometer like you see in the movies when he shifted to third. I was scared ****less and I was literally thrown back and had a neck irritation for a day after that. Pretty insane, I havent been in a car faster than that yet.

I went to the airport today and drove 55 all the way so im not speed racer just like to have fun with my car sometimes. Although I did see a porsch go by on when I was turning in the exit...thought about staying on an exit or 2, haha j/k

this is long enough - anyone in the florida, west palm area let me know, recently moved down from boston. Talk about people who drive crazy...

Later

S .

MaximaRider

iTrader: (3)

I'm a better driver than any rich lil beeotch/milf in my town that doesn't use a turn signal or verify if there is oncoming traffic to exit a spot on a busy one way street when I'm rolling by. Sometimes I wish I could just beat them senseless. sigh.

igzy

iTrader: (18)

Hehe... Right... Lets say you are sitting in traffic at a red light minding your own business and the guy behind you drops his clutch and rear ends you. Truck tire on the hwy - you see the truck tire flying towards you probably at about 60-70 MPH, you are doing 70 MPH going the opposite direction to the tire, you have cars on either side of you (this is rush hour traffic moving along), have cars right behind you so you can't really slam the brakes (not that it would matter as the tire is coming straight at you). Since the tire was flying across the center of my lane, I slowed down and moved as much to the left as I could and as close to the car in left lane so the tire does not hit me in the middle of the car. It hit the car in the right hand corner (passenger side) between headlight and the grill and rolled over to the right of the car into traffic in the lanes to my right... I think I did the best given the circumstances. I would really like to get your advice on how I could have avoided these two accidents...

igzy

iTrader: (18)

Not sure if I mentioned it, the truck tire was a tire from an 18-wheeler, weighing 200+ lbs...

Minimalmaxima

Well, I think what you did under the circumstances was the best. Was the tire bouncing at all? It would have been good to even speed up so you could driver under it. If it was pretty close to the ground the whole time, then yeah, I would have done exactly what you did.

igzy

iTrader: (18)

Thanks :-) It was flying low, not bouncing too high and I saw no way of avoiding it other than trying to get out of the way to the side... I am just happy it turned out the way it did. A lot of drivers get badly injured or die here in Ontario due to flying tires...

maxgangsta02

before you think you are a good driver, you need to autox and road race. i was a huge fan of auto-x, but something about going 120+ on the raod course makes auto-x IMO of course

jmai86

I guess I'm alright for a 6 month experience driver. I'm better than your average beggining girl driver though. (no offense to the ladies here). My sister's 22 and she drives like my mom. x_x

dr-rjp

iTrader: (4)

I have had that happen three times in the past five years, but I never got hit because I always check the cars behind me when I am stopped. In the first incident, I was the first in line at the light, and I drove through the intersection when I saw I was going to be hit (no cars in the intersection at the time).

For the second one, I was three cars back from the light in the right-hand lane, and I was able to pull off onto the road embankment in time.

For the third one, I was smack-dab in the middle lane of a 3-lane roadway, and about four cars back when an SUV came barrelling in. Fortunately, I had enough room in front of me to pull forward without the SUV hitting me, but I wound up tapping the bumper of the car ahead of me.

Over the years I have had beds, dressers, tires, pots, tree stumps, and God-knows what else come flying out of trucks and landing in front of me. When I drive, I always look for an out.

A couple of times, I was also boxed in and had to apply my brakes to make the driver behind me slow down enough for me to wedge my car in between two other cars in an adjacent lane...even if that space was not a full car length.

Now, if there had been bumper-to-bumper traffic on all three lanes and no space to create, I would have applied the brakes anyway and hope that the object would take another path.

Sometimes, there is nothing that you can do, and you just have to hope that your Guardian Angel is near.

Minimalmaxima

Yeah, and you have to hope that your Guardian Angel is not buddies with your jerk insurance agent.

Maxzilla91

i took possesion of my max 1.5 years ago.. when i first had it, it had the stock toyo tires on it.. and the car was 13 years old!!! can u believe that?

anyway, so i was driving around on those tires for 4 months.. sliding everywhere but i had it well handled because i just kinda get used to it.. until one night in january it was raining really hard. i slipped around a turn and fished tailed for about 100 meters before i finally swung around and over a curb on the opposite side of the road.

that tought me not to cheap out on tires again...

Minimalmaxima

Okay that's funny. In a dangerous not funny kind of way. But I can just imagine you doing that.

Tryonetic

I got cracks on both rear tires for the max I just bought...got to replace them very soon......

chernmax

iTrader: (15)

What kind of tires are they, if the cracks are on Goodyear Eagle RSA's you can get those tires replaced for free through Goodyear, their is a known defect and a thread on the Org. addressing this problem.

Tryonetic

I don't think they are, but my dealdership is suppose to replace them but they are giving me a hard time...

Thanks though

04BlackMaxx

I chose I can hold my own...I know im not the best, but the more I think back, maybe I am pretty darn good behind the wheel..a few things come to mind, reasons why:

#1. Took a concrete highway on ramp too hot a couple years ago in a 1996 taurus GL in the rain...It was a hard left turn, the tailend fishtailed 180 degrees and I actually drifted the car around the corner, and I had to be less than 2 feet away from the concrete barrier ( I was pointed right at it) I instinctively cut the wheel to the right and turned it to its maximum. So I Feel I saved the front end of that car that night in the rain...I pushed the car to the limit and saved it.

#2 In my current maxima....It was a winter night on a desolate 2 lane country road, snow was blowing over the road and the wind was high...plows were unable to completely clear the road duue to the wind. pavement was wet in the parts that had no snow on it. I was traveling at about 55MPH and caught a glimpse of a deer nearing the white line to my right..it was about 4 carlengths in the distance...but at 55 it was coming very fast, too fast to stop, especially on wet pavement. I knew I had to pass or get around this deer and then came the suprise: The stupid deer lurched into my path as I came close to passing it, no traffic coming and instinctively I cut hard left, knowing not to cut too hard or ill be in a ditch....WHACK! is what I hear next..and at this point in in the other lane and recorrecting myself to get back to the right....but I heard the deer hit me and I looked in my rearview to see it standing in the middle of the road on the yellow line. I drove to a gas station a couple miles away and was afraid to see the damage on my 2 month old car! NO DAMAGE!!! the deer grazed the rear pass. door so slightly that it was only enough to wipe the dried salt off the paint...thats where I hit it. If I wasnt paying attention or didnt cut the wheel to the point of almost losing control that deer would have demolished the bumper, hood, grille, windshield, and maybe even..me.

04BlackMaxx

If they are gonna ban cell phone use they might as well ban smoking, HVAC controls and Radios...we have this ban here in NY and its absolutly ridiculous, and nobody obeys it, including the police. Not to mention you may find yourself fiddling with the hands free set anyway. There is no way to solve careless driving because people will be people...the silly laws are definately not the answer, make it harder to get a license would be a start IMO to get smarter people behind the wheel...and raise the age.

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

BTW, I learned how to drive from a cop and in an SUV (along with other land barges). At the time, I hated driving those vehicles but they actually helped me learn how to judge distance better.

dr-rjp

iTrader: (4)

On "Mythbusters" last Saturday night, they tested to see if driving while on a cellphone is as dangerous as driving while under the influence. Guess what? The test drivers made more errors in the cellphone condition than in the DUI condition.

It always takes drivers awhile to comply with any new traffic law, and that, in and of itself, is not a very persuasive argument to do away with them.

People still drink and drive despite the laws. Should we do away with the laws? People run red lights and stop signs, too. Do away with those laws also?

I'm sorry, but 99% of drivers with cellphones have no valid reason for talking on them while driving, and if it takes a law to get at least some of them to quit, I am all for it, 300 percent!

4x4Max

iTrader: (12)

Yeah, ban cell phone driving in all states, im definatly for that. People just take their focus off the road making it dangerous for themselves and other drivers....and pedestrians.

Minimalmaxima

NO buddy. Ban cell-phones while driving for YOU and people who can't do it. Some people can do it and some can't. If you can drive with your elbow on the door and your head resting on your hand, you should have a piece of your brain left to hold a cellphone in your hand and lean your head on it. It's really not that hard. It's really not like you're giving all that much attention. That depends on your mental capacity, I guess. But then again, some people (me) can play piano and other instruments where the left hand is doing something totally different from the other. Some can't (you?). I can tell when a person doesn't do well with a phone while driving. They drive slower, almost like some DUI people do, trying not to make a mistake. They use turning signals at the wrong time. They delay pulling off from a traffic light that has just turned green. I'm just as aware of everything with my phone in my hand as I am with my head leaning on my hand and my elbow on the door (at the bottom of the window). Now when I'm about to do a multiple lane change, I will tell the person on the phone to hold on a sec, because you can't turn your head 120 degrees quickly and freely with your hand to your head, much less with a cell phone in it. It's one of those things where if some people suck at it, for the safety of the majority, everyone should be banned from doing it. But dude, don't generalize.

Rob'sAE

I can agree with this 100% I can drive while talking just fine. Many a time have I told someone to hold a second while I turn/navigate/avoid stupid people. Even more often I have told people let me call them back because I am in traffic. There is a time and place for everything, and knowing when to call it quits because you have to drive is something that needs to be practiced more. I drive a 5spd, when I drive and talk at the same time my conversation sometimes gets neglected, never my driving. When it gets to that point it is time to go.

dr-rjp

iTrader: (4)

Sure...and how many people say they drive just fine after a few beers or a joint? What's fine to you may not be fine to others, however.

Now, I agree that drivers are to blame, and not cellphones, per se. Just like people kill people and not guns...or cars, for that matter.

Right? The technology is blameless?

Not exactly!

How well could you negotiate an emergency maneuver that takes at least two hands to accomplish when one of them is latched onto a cellphone?

Sorry, but there are too many scenarios where you would not have enough time to drop the phone and then grab the wheel to avoid an accident.

Plus, what is your brain doing while all this is happening?

Unless, of course, you can carry on a conversation without paying any attention to it. (I think I'll let the readership decide on that one).

Don't generalize??

Last time I checked, traffic laws are (mostly) intended to benefit the "general" public. Which part of "generalize" does not contain the word, "general?"

The point is that all of us would be better off if we devoted 100% of our attention to driving. That may not happen, but would you argue against such a concept?

Maybe you might counter by raising the argument that people who fix their hair or read a newspaper while driving are just as much a menace as a cellphone user.

Yeah, right.

Cellphones were never intended to be used while driving, any more than hairdryers, electric razors, or pianos.

Minimalmaxima

Whatever, dude. I'll tell you what though: I tend to watch everything way more when I'm on the phone. And my statement was not to generalize all drivers. Not the law. I believe I even made a comment to that effect. Did you read the whole post? And why don't we ban talking to people in the car with you? Tell me what the difference is besides basically holding your hand to your head. Nothing. You don't shut down everything for the phone/conversation. It must be said, though, that some people cannot chew gum and walk at the same time. I'll support a law for that reason, but not because I have any problem driving with my cell phone. People need to quit thinking that just because they aren't able to do something that nobody is. I don't drink, so I've never driven drunk so I can't say what that's like. No one has done this research to my knowledge, but I venture to say that far more accidents are attributable to DUI than driving while talking on a cell phone. And I wouldn't even count accidents prior to 10 years ago before most people had cell phones.

04BlackMaxx

You are deviating from my point that cell phone use is just as distracting as the HVac and radio (esp in a 6th gen maxima) Not to mention things like Navigation, and maps...none outlawed. I am argueing that there is no difference between these and other distractions, and hands free units are a joke because you still need to fumble with it.

Minimalmaxima

I'll grant you that. My worst accident was from messing with the radio and looking to change lanes. But I think the distraction lies in the fact that a lot of people take their eyes off the road to mess with this stuff. In my case, my eyes were already off cause I was about to change lanes but when I looked to change lanes, that distracted me from pressing a button on the radio and I had to look and bam. It was just like that. Airbag all in ma face. I didn't even know what happened at first. I slammed on the brake cause I thought somebody had hit me for a second. But had my eyes never left the road, which they usually don't do, I'd have avoided that one. It was just that my buffer or cache, if you will, was full with the lane change and the radio. My point (there is a point): The fumbling with the cell phone and hands free systems or AC controls could contribute to an accident only if they take your eyes away from the road and everything around you or limit your mobility, specifically being able to turn to see what's going on around you or turn the wheel or shift as you would normally.

I'll add too, though, that I don't talk on the phone in heavy traffic. On the interstate, sure. When I get ready to exit and the right lane is backed up and I'm going to have to merge into the lane, I say hold on and put it down. And BTW, that's only when I don't use the hands free. I use the hands free most of the time. And really, I don't talk on the cell phone that much anyway. GOt like a million rollover.

ABenatar

Im a good enough driver that I know how to react to a situation on the spot. Thats all there is to it. There was one time that I almost got screwed in my dads 99 maxima. I was on a 2 lane road with a 15mph turn coming up (a 'U' wedged out alittle bit) and me and this bmw were goin atleast 50, I was in the left lane and he flew by me catching up to the turn, but he got stuck being some slow *** audi, i swung in the right lane, owned the turn and i was out. The most frightening experience in my life (b/c i felt the car literally shift its position) but im glad i did it, i know that if I needed to do a turn like that, i can.

lol and someone said something about there mom driving like crap, i feel what you mean bro, my mom cant drive for crap either... if i need a ride from her (depending on where it is) ill just walk b/c i just cant stand when people who dont know how to drive, drive.... the best is when i have to tell her to stop drifting off the road, but when i driver her around going alittle fast handleing turns perfectly im the bad driver.

dr-rjp

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the clarification. I agree with you about the contributing causes. I can see that you are a conscientious driver. Do you think better driver education will accomplish what a law would do; i.e., dissuade individuals from driving while distracted?

Many places of business have been banning the use of cellphones on their premises, and those prohibitions do not carry the force of law. Yet, people seem not to be resistant with compliance in those instances, just as many smokers were when restaurants had self-imposed restrictions.

It is only when government steps in that people tend to become defensive and reactive.

Max5spdDrifter

Hmm... I view myself as a semi-decent driver, but definitely not the best. However, that does not go to say that I'm a safe driver! Haha, just kidding. But I saved myself from a couple bad fishtails where I'm pretty sure other ppl would've wiped out... 70MPH on a 30 MPH onramp, when out of nowhere I hit a puddle (on a dry day), had just installed my RSB, running on bald-ish tires in the rear... that was fun. At least I saved that one. Another time, driving 35 mph on the highway in the snow on summer tires that the car came with (I had to drive to a swim meet cuz I was captain of the team at the time, haha), cuz my dad wouldn't buy me winter tires, and I didn't have cash, rear just went out on me, but saved that one, too. I also know how to heel-toe, so I guess overall I'm OK. I actually heel-toed on a test drive in an SRT-4, and by the end of the drive, the salesman told me "You're the best driver I've taken a test drive with!" Goes to show you what kind of people actually look at the SRT-4, lol.

I haven't had any professional instruction, and I'm only 19, but I still want to take a Skip Barber course, then possibly a Team O'Neil rally course, as I want to get into rallying, but I'm prohibited from doing so at the moment... my dad doesn't let me autocross, drag, or anything. Hmm, perhaps this is why there is so much street racing? Haha, kidding. I'm really careful when other people are around, so I'm not too careless. I just wish other people were considerate, as well, i.e. got off their cell phones and didn't swerve all over the road.
Anyway, most of the stuff I've learned from practicing in open lots, and playing video games. I'm wondering, though, if anyone else thinks that games help with coordination and control in emergency situations?

MdniteDrftr

Im a half-way decent driver, lol. My other cars have been auto, so Im not awesome with 5spd, but Im not terrible either. I have no problem driving normally, but on things like hills, Ill let the car roll back a little more than I should. But I guess Ill pick that up once I drive the car more, afterall, I just got it registered today.

maximase86

iTrader: (24)

Ask any NWMaxima owner. Curbs are my friend.

S

Sgibb

iTrader: (3)

I completely agree

rich2kbusa

good driver over here

LockNTross

I'm used to the multi-tasking within a car, the only thing that could affect the quality of my ride are these damn low profile tires. Bumps own me something stupid.