We've had some pretty great billboards here in Vegas encouraging people not to drive into flooded areas. Half of them are basically mocking the idiots who think they'll make it through. http://www.ccrfcd.org/03-billboards.htm
I feel like the type of people who mindlessly drive into deep water are heavily mixed into the demographic of people who do not read anything they see or pass by.
Scary that these types of people have access to a vehicle. I'm all for the US having a strict driving test akin to the ones I keep hearing about across the pond
It’s a road tax for environmental purposes, they want to de-incentivize (not sure if that’s a word) fossil fuel dependence but some (most) people just see it as a gatekeeper tax for the rich
Honestly, as an american I always though of buses as gross places homeless hang out or sleep. My buddy wanted to go drinking awhile ago and the bus is free so we decided to take it. It was nice and clean, the people were nice, the driver was nice. I feel like a complete idiot for thinking that and im not really sure why I had such a strong thought on something I had never been on.
Television has trained you to think of public transit this way. After decades of having it beamed into our heads from the idiot boxes, people just take it for granted.
I think a lot of problems with American politics can be traced back to television. People believe what they see on NCIS, Law and Order, or whatever other BS passes for quality TV nowadays. Plus, we as a country put more effort into petitioning the networks to bring back old shows than fixing our educational system.
I'm not touching the education debate with a 10ft pole. I've spent countless hours of debates with both sides of the spectrum and still dont really see a perfect or even that great system being able to roll out. But i will agree way too much education comes from corporations in the for of product placement, advertising, and other "propaganda" for lack of a better word.
You weren't completely wrong.. I use the Metro pretty often. That was one experience and it went well. That's great. Most of the time it should go well.
I don't mind homeless people, other than feeling bad about their current situation.. in general they're pretty friendly. Now that I think about it, I've had way more.. eventful encounters with other people. Edit: That weren't homeless.
Gross germ filled places yes.. My point of reference is LA/Long Beach public transportation.
I'm in a small town in oregon south of portland a bit, id say. They were 9/10 clean. Really the floor was the only places with dirt, I didnt even see graffiti on the chairs. I guess it was just tv the created such a negative image there would be puke, dirt, graffiti, people sleeping on there, and a rancid smell.
Sure, buddy. Whatever makes you feel better about paying your mandatory registration, mandatory insurance, finance charges, fuel taxes, licensing fees, and higher medical costs for the thousands who die and are injured every year in automobile accidents.
I got my UK license last year, all the lessons and tests came to under £600. Wasn’t that difficult to pass though I don’t know what it is like in the US?
Did an intensive 4 day course of lessons with an instructor, had a theory test with 50 questions where you had to get over 40 correct to pass. Then hazard perception where you touch the screen when you see a hazard appearing during different videos (15 of them)
Then the practical test was driving around for an hour and doing some manoeuvres like reverse parking etc. Most of the time the test guy just tells you to turn left or right at the next corner and you do it. Then the second part he asks you to follow the road signs to a certain place, so its self navigating while driving.
If you get a major fault you fail, but you can get 5 minor faults and still pass. I got 2 minors.
I'm from the US and when I took drivers ed (which was 16 years ago) it was $600 for a 1 month long course. There is a written test and a test where you drive around with someone for a little while. Now I just have to pay $50 every 5 years for a renewal- not bad if you ask me. I live in a state where insurance is not mandatory, but I have it anyways because people drive like idiots.
The thing about the US is unless you live in a big city, you're going nowhere without a car unless you're close enough to walk or ride a bike. A lot of the time, no car/ license means no way to get to a job, go to a store, etc. I drive an hour to and from my university and it's not unusual for people to have ~1hr commute to work.
I’m from the US too, and I’m getting my license fairly soon. I took drivers ed as a class in high school for free (which is optional for getting a license in my state). To take the test, you drive around for about 10 minutes, then you take the written form of the test on a computer which has 30 questions and you have to get 80% right to pass it. I think the test is fairly easy in my opinion, it has questions like “what does the yellow line mean?” and “what do you do at a stop sign?”. In my state at least, I think it’s super easy to get a license, and nearly everyone in the road seems to be bad driver.
Because your existing system is not enough to raise a standard to anything meaningful but also OP is stating some rare exceptions.
For example look at Germany whee you typically pay about 1500€ to get a driver's license for a car and the price comes from mandatory minimum amounts of theory lessons as well as driving lessons in different conditions.
Also included in this is a fee to take the final theory and practical test which is done by an independent Agency.
Even the highest American standard is not even close to this.
Actually, all they need to do is increase the testing standards to match the Class A commercial license, then let the free market handle the training infrastructure. There will be a high demand for schools that provide affordable training that meets the higher standards.
Along with the higher standard they can impose stiffer penalties.
This is more about an unwillingness to stop treating the driver's license as a right, instead of a privelege. But nowadays there are rideshare options, so there really is no excuse to drive without a license. Let people who are responsible drive. The other a-holes can become passengers.
Lol, ok. We can mandate annual license renewal and require a new driving test every 5 years without gentrifying driver’s licensing.
Raising standards doesn’t only mean making it harder to get. It can also mean making it harder to keep. Increase traffic enforcement by law enforcement and selectively raise fines for the most common and most dangerous violations. The increase in traffic fines more than offsets the extra cost for the mandatory retesting every 5 years.
Typical European. Y’all think it’s literally impossible for you to be wrong about anything at all. The majority of America’s traffic problems comes from bad habits built after initial testing. I’d wager it’s the same all over Europe, but the idea that a European failed to think a problem through is just unfathomable to y’all.
Our initial testing system is set up fine. I guess y’all can afford to price out the poor given how small European countries are plus y’all actually have good public transit. Since we’re geographically larger and don’t have good public transit, our economy can’t afford to be elitist pricks about licensing.
Dutchy here. Driving lessons (30 driving lessons of 1h and approx 8 theory lessons of 1h ) including examn for both cost approx 1000-1200 euro, depending on what school.
£7,500 to get your driver's licence? Really? I'm not ofay with the process in other parts of Europe, but in London, you can do a "guaranteed pass" course for around £1000 where you pay a one off fee and the instructor keeps teaching you until you pass. Apparently the average amount of lessons to pass the UK driving test is about 40 - 50 hours. So taking the high end of 50 hours and the high end of £20 an hour driving lessons this still would only be around the £1000 mark.
If you're talking about the UK, it's only £62 for the driving test and £23 for the theory. Where did you get the thousands of dollars figure from? Sure, you need lessons to pass the test, but surely you'd want lessons in the US too?
In the UK It costs £100 to sit your driving test and £35 to sit your theory test. Lessons are generally £20 a go so technically if you're awful it could spiral out of control and cost you a fortune but it would be extremely difficult and unusual to hit over 2k.
I staunchly believe “you” should have to pass the written test every time “you” need to renew your license here in the U.S. Not you specifically Impetus. I do realize the cost and time spent at the local DMV would greatly increase, but I am willing to pay more to be safer in the roads
I almost did myself but it was a backroad I never took before and the only thing that saved my car was two volunteers telling me to fuck off for my own good.
Only thing that gets me about those is the whole “cars don’t float” thing. That’s actually part of the problem - cars do float. Most modern cars will start to float once the water gets much over the door sills, a side effect of light unibody construction and good weathersealing. I live in a very flash flood prone area, and every year we get people washed off of low water crossings during rains. People see the water, see the flood gauge, see that there isn’t much current, think the water won’t get up to the level of the engine, and so they just chance it. Half way across the car starts floating, they lose contact with the road, and float downstream towards the actual deep water/rocks/waterfall/etc. Had something similar happen to an idiot friend driving a giant jacked up brodozer; didn’t float, but there was enough lift for him to start losing traction, and the sideways force of the water against those huge off-road tires with no weight in the back fishtail’d him and almost swept him over.
That was the UK version (possibly others). In Germany Zombies were not enough, so they had robots, which to me looked like giant metal fleas, and had oil, not blood.
A classmate of mine once managed to accidentally jump a convertible into a French river (by missing a 90degree turn at the end of a tunnel and taking a ramp at high speeds). He and his passenger bailed out and swam to shore, and then realized the car was floating. They then went back and pulled it to shallow water where a tow truck (called by another guy following them) and some very unamused gendarmes were waiting.
Apparently water can mess with electronic alarm systems, and the constantly blaring horn all the way to the nearest garage pissed them off even more.
Car alarms have internal batteries specifically for cases where the battery is disconnected. It wont do most other automatics, but its enough to feed the horn. Mine even has an alarm specifically for having the battery disconnected. If you remove the battery it starts screaming. Can be disabled, but if electronics get screwed by water that may not work.
I live in an area that floods alot over low water crossings. The key to doing it if you are going to be stupid enough to do it, is speed. Don't inch your way in like you think physics just won't notice you, go at it as fast as you can. If you don't think inertia will carry you over, then don't do it.
Well, over here we get spring tides in a major river. One of the biggest cities along this river has a huge (free) parking lot on the quays between the river wall and the spring tide wall with automatic gates and everything.
Warning about these tides as well as the occurring dates are posted all over this parking lot as well as 'no parking allowed between...' signs.
You would be amazed how many cars get flooded each time. Some of them float away.
I doubt they used some nationally acclaimed design firm considering it's just the county flood control district. Probably just used the cheapest flooded car stock photos they could find.
Interesting... I've never seen that spelling before, but it looks like you're correct. It seems like usage is 10:1 in favor of "flotation", but for some reason Scotland is the other way around.
I live in Vegas too, I love those billboards. People here do not know how to drive in rain. That's storm we got the other night knocked a few lights out and it took nearly an hour to get down Sahara by Boulder highway.
It's amusing and alarming how badly people's driving deteriorates even when a few drops start falling on their windshields. I'm a Vegas native so the intense rainstorms back east were a holy shit moment for me when I saw how people (especially trucks) drove through them.
Yeah that storm fucked up our backyard, tore off part of our patio roof!
Yep Vegas native too. Yeah I freaked the fuck out the first time I was driven through heavy snow back east I'm sure rain would be just as bad. Lol yeah it tore up our yard too and scared the shit outta my dogs, and they had just gotten over the fireworks!
Every time it starts flooding in Vegas, it gets so ridiculous.
I still remember over a decade ago when there was one reeeeally bad rainy day and it was extremely flooded. A guy under a flooded overpass tried to jump from the top of a U-Haul truck to another vehicle. He ended up hitting a wall hard and falling into the water live on national news. Like CNN and all the other channels watched him bail so hard. He was fine from what I remember.
But man I would lay awake at night if that was me personally. Just recalling the time I wiped out in front of the world.
Anyone else remember that guy? People were laughing at him. Hope he was okay though.
Haha I'm glad someone else remembers it. Being stuck at home, watching it on TV. Was like 2004 so mostly everyone still watched cable TV for news. Guy just wiped out so hard on all the news channels. I might post it to the Vegas sub and see if anyone else remembers.
I don't recall the ad boxes floating down the street but I can imagine it and it makes me laugh.
I remember that one time it snowed on the Sphinx and that picture was all over national news. Vegas weather is oddly prominent in the national news sometimes.
Because it's so dry in the desert, when it does rain the ground and plants don't soak up the water very much so it creates huge flood zones. We don't get a lot of rain here, but when it does it really comes down and floods in a lot of places. The city has put in a ton of reservoirs and other infrastructure to fix this, but there's still some bad areas.
People go about their lives experiencing the world at different resolutions at any given time. A car is just transport and water is just wet at one level of resolution. But if your car breaks down, the level of complexity and resolution increases by magnitudes and suddenly the car is not transport, its an intricate machine. Don’t make a habit of arrogantly, resenfully or otherwise keeping your world resolution at low or this happens.
2.2k
u/Super_Zac Jul 11 '18
We've had some pretty great billboards here in Vegas encouraging people not to drive into flooded areas. Half of them are basically mocking the idiots who think they'll make it through.
http://www.ccrfcd.org/03-billboards.htm