Guy makes an illegal U-turn in front of me

[DaveLC2]

I had just took my attention off of the road for a split second to turn off the defrost and when I looked up this guy is executing an illegal u-turn right in front of me. Good thing I was going pretty slow.

 

[Sabe]

That's how it goes, never assume other cars do something intelligent, expect craziest things and then maybe you survive.

 

[kamkar]

What i in my twisted mind call a directional meltdown

I had this slow motion potential problem yesterday, no doubt i could have gotten a dent in my car if i was to assume she had seen me and kept to the rules.

So seeing where that was going i beat a retreat, and offcourse turned my head to see where i was going and not replicate the WTF thats in front of me.

 

[flank]

I had this slow motion potential problem yesterday, no doubt i could have gotten a dent in my car if i was to assume she had seen me and kept to the rules.

I almost smashed into a Cadillac the other day that was backing out. Cadillac decided to put the white reverse light at the worst spot possible. Its at the very bottom next to the exhaust pipes. I bet the driver almost gets into crashes each time he goes into parking lots.

 

[Error7]

I had just took my attention off of the road for a split second to turn off the defrost and when I looked up this guy is executing an illegal u-turn right in front of me. Good thing I was going pretty slow.

He probably got excited when he saw a parking spot.

 

[Gibson99]

Loads of cars have poorly thought out reverse lights...

 

[flank]

He probably got excited when he saw a parking spot.

I understand their struggle. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do If he didn't pull that move, some other car would have or he would have missed that spot. Parking is kind of hard to come by in that area during that time of day. I know that area and all of those cars were parked there to catch the BART metro train to get towards San Francisco. There is a parking garage but it cost them $105/€93/£72 month.

 

[Rajagra]

Cadillac decided to put the white reverse light at the worst spot possible. Its at the very bottom next to the exhaust pipes. I bet the driver almost gets into crashes each time he goes into parking lots.

I have given up on people noticing my van's reversing light (singular.) I always put on my hazard lights before reversing. People may not understand right away what it means, but at least it gets their attention.

I was thinking of getting one of those reversing bulbs with a built-in beeper. Great idea, but a legal minefield.

 

[Gibson99]

I was thinking of getting one of those reversing bulbs with a built-in beeper. Great idea, but a legal minefield.

how is it a legal minefield? over here, nearly every commercial vehicle you see has a back-up beeper of some sort. some louder than others. very easy to add to any vehicle. can't imagine a beeper inside the light housing could be very loud though, if for no other reason than you can't fit a very large speaker in there and still have a bulb.

 

[DaveLC2]

I understand their struggle. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do If he didn't pull that move, some other car would have or he would have missed that spot. Parking is kind of hard to come by in that area during that time of day. I know that area and all of those cars were parked there to catch the BART metro train to get towards San Francisco. There is a parking garage but it cost them $105/€93/£72 month.

Yup it's about a 5 min walk to the Dublin BART station from there. The parking used to be free way back when. I work by there and sometimes people leave their cars there overnight. I would be way too sketched out. The county jail is just up the street & they release inmates during the middle of the night. Someone just getting out of jail might want a quick ride home

 

[DT MI]

...The county jail is just up the street & they release inmates during the middle of the night. Someone just getting out of jail might want a quick ride home

Excellent reason not to park on the street overnight in that area.

 

[Rajagra]

how is it a legal minefield?

In the UK reversing beepers are actually illegal in vehicles under 2 tons. Don't ask me why.
There may be times of night when reversing beepers can't be used, and unplugging the bulb is hardly practical.
They are non-standard equipment which can have an effect on insurance, especially for company vehicles like mine.
Still considering the idea, but can you imagine the flak I'd get if I had a reversing incident and it turned out a bulb/beeper I'd fitted had failed or was too dim?

 

[flank]

You could stick your head out of the window and yell "beep beep beep". I do that sometimes for the heck of it.

 

[mollydog]

A thing more or less a thing of the past now here in the UK, but we used to have our milk delivered by milkmen in their milk-floats years back, and remember in the early 90’s these milk floats started being fitted with reversing buzzers, that came on if the float had its lights on,

on many a dark morning I’d see/hear these milk floats driving down my cal de sac with their lights off so not to get the buzzer buzzing while they were reversing, health & safety made them fit these buzzers, and due to the milkmen starting work around 4 or 5am they drove round with their lights off half the time

 

[DaveLC2]

I almost smashed into a Cadillac the other day that was backing out. Cadillac decided to put the white reverse light at the worst spot possible. Its at the very bottom next to the exhaust pipes. I bet the driver almost gets into crashes each time he goes into parking lots.

Here's another one for the terrible reverse light location. The new Mustang. I didn't realize how many cars have chose to put reverse lights in bad locations. I remember in 1986 when the U.S. required all vehicles to have the 3rd brake light so they looked like taxi cabs. At least cars anyway. I like it in bumper to bumper traffic.

 

[flank]

I see that all of the car manufacturers are in collusion with the hidden reverse lights. They want us all to smash in each other so that we would buy new vehicles.

 

[DT MI]

(One of) the original intentions of the back-up or reversing light was to provide rearward illumination for the driver. If you subscribe to the philosophy that is the principal purpose, versus providing warning to nearby drivers, you can see how some of the current placements come to be - especially for highly stylized cars where the design engineers have final say.

From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/backup light

Definition of backup light

1. : a light mounted at the rear of a motor vehicle and so connected that it shines only when the vehicle is in reverse gear illuminating the road behind
   

 

[Rajagra]

There used to be a CD that plays the reversing beep. I'm sure I could do something similar with a smartphone and Bluetooth connection

I have never found the reversing light useful for seeing. I'm a townie. Like most other people!

It never even occurred to me that that was it's purpose.

Ironically the best way for me to see via reversing camera is to turn my lights off. Having the lights on dims the reversing display. D'oh!

Sent from my tap-to-talk using Tapatalk

 

[Gibson99]

my miata's reverse lights actually work pretty well to help me see when backing at night - have used them to back down a completely unlit driveway a few times - and it wasn't straight either - the driveway curved and had a small "bridge" over a ditch.

the ones in my tacoma and my wife's highlander are also quite useful at actually illuminating things behind me. the ones in my previous camrys weren't that great, but still better than nothing.

all of these vehicles have TWO reverse lights - one on each side, and all of them are integrated into the normal tail/brake/turn light assembly. i think these single backup lights are done purely for style. especially that one on the left side of the scion XB - which they only did for about a year, then they went back to conventional reverse lights on both sides, integrated into the tail/brake/turn assy.

 

[Gibson99]

There may be times of night when reversing beepers can't be used

Yeah, we had a neighbor with a Ford F350 work truck with a backup beeper... we always knew when he was leaving for work at 5am, even though he's 6 houses down the street. we don't miss hearing that now that he's moved away.