If you've ever pulled a trailer or driven any sort of 'big rig' you know that there are some blind spots and sometimes despite excellent situational awareness, you don't always see the smaller vehicles near you. For this reason, I am always cautious around trucks or larger vehicles when I'm in my 997.
Then again my car is Orange and is hard to miss.

 

Several primary causes for such near-misses, or incidents, come to mind:

1) the drivers of the car that merges into you just is not looking properly before changing lanes.. they have side mounted mirrors and when adjusted correctly with some amount of head turn, can give you what you need to know. The key there is taking the time it takes to check... signal, maybe check again and then change lanes... rather than just a brief glance at one angle of the side view and then starting the maneuver while simultaneously engaging the turn signal too late.

2) drivers on the receiving end hanging out in blind spots (areas where it is harder to see you)... I've seen that lots where someone will be sitting back at my 7-o'clock position rather than dropping back a bit or pulling along side... and when there is little other traffic in the lane to my left... I can loose track of the fact that they are there. This is where the German rule of go left-pass-get back in the right lane can help ... don't loiter with your car in a tricky situation.

3) drivers passing cars at a too high rate of speed difference. Ie, the right lane is moving at speed x and I zip past traffic at x+20 in the next lane over.. it increases the chance of an issue by someone trying to signal and get into my lane...

But I don't think anyone is invisible. If you drive a big truck or suv, it is still your responsibility to look and verify the place you want to go is open and give folks there a chance to adjust.

I'm ignoring the fools that drive with their running lights on at dusk that look liked parked cars moving down the road, or those that forget to turn on their headlights entirely.

 

Never a good idea to dilly-dally when passing big rigs and also guard against being hung up in their blind spot. Helps too to run with headlights or running lights always on.

 

Generally people do NOT pay enough attention driving in North America. As said above, they drink coffee, do make up, talk on their phones, etc... I remember an interview with a German driver, he said when you're going 200 KM/h (125 MPH), you HAVE TO pay attention to the road and cannot be distracted with phone calls, drinking coffee, etc... and I agree with him.

Now, a BIG Escalade, or F350 catches people's attention even when they're distracted, specially since most of the worste drivers drive SUVs/Trucks (falsely thinking they're safer!) those are much higher than our cars and their line of sight MIGHT BE above the roofline of a Porsche... hence our cars do not stand out on the road as much as some other cars out there.

 

No exactly. I read where brightly colored cars more likely to get hit. Seems the driver of the onrushing car locks his (or her) eyes onto the brightly colored car and steers right into it.

Might explain how my less than 4 week old new SY Cayman S got taken out by some woman in an old Volvo. She lost control in the wet -- on the cell phone -- missed a turn and slid through an intersection, 2 lanes of opposing traffic to smash into the driver's side of my Cayman that was 2 or more car lengths back from the intersection.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

The San Jose Mercury newspaper has a writer Mr. Roadshow who does a driving/traffic column 5 times week.

By email, letter and phone he was contacted by law enforcement officers regarding their pet peeves and one thing I took away from all the comments was that the law enforcement officers hate the same things we civilian drivers hate, they just don't all agree on what it is.

Some do not like speeders. Others it is a vehicle following too close. Failure to signal. Failure to come to a complete stop at an intersection. Littering. Seeing a dog riding on the driver's lap or hanging out the driver's side window. And so n.

Trouble is they're *all* bad driving practices, but the enforcement is scattered, inconsistent.

In my 30 mile (one way) commute I see an infraction nearly every mile or less. Cell phone usage and following too close are the most common. Unsafe lane changes -- weaving in and out (usually the vehicle is speeding too) is another.

Cigarette ash and even cigarette butt tossing. (Burns me up -- no pun -- to see this at any time but particularly so during the fire season.)

And lots of just plain littering.

(Not too many months ago followed a sheriff's bus (away from Santa Rita Jail) and watched as the bus rolled down the freeway and a deputy sitting up front with his back to the side of the bus was tossing out probably candy wrapper from the bus window. A sheriff's deputy for God's sake.

My experience is out side of CA is lane discipline is pretty good. In the various states I drive through (besides CA), AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, MO and sometimes others further north and west, many have road signs stating the left lane is for passing only and most drivers obey that. The ones that don't, usually are in vehicles with CA plates. Lane discipline in CA sucks.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

I drive a Guards Red 997. I've had SUVs and trucks literally attempt to drive *over the front of my car*. I'm not exaggerating. It used to happen all the time at stop signs. I couldn't believe how stupid these people were. Couldn't they see a bright red Porsche?

Then I figured out that many people only scan the road at their own eye-level. So SUV drivers can see pedestrians and cyclists, but they just don't notice a low sports car. The dark roof of my 911 probably doesn't help. After a really bad near miss, I started to drive with my headlights on all the time, and the problem mostly went away.

 

Personally, I don't think age is the issue.

The last time I was hit on my bike was by a soccer mum in her mini-van. I'm sure she was rushing to get her kids to school or whatever.

The time before that I was intentionally run off the road by a young guy driving a truck (F150 or similar).

I think people in Houston just don't want to share the road with bikes. Case in point...

 

Ultimately, I find a certain degree of arrogance and entitlement with today's drivers. When in Europe you absolutely NEVER have to hit your brakes because of the actions of another driver. Here, it is commonplace. For example today, some guy decided to do a U turn in the middle of a residential street. It was too narrow to do a simple U turn in; he had to do a three point turn, holding up others. If you gave him a dirty look he would look at you as if you are a nut. If you smile at him (for being insane) he simply goes on his way--destined to do it again.

 

My statistical bias. I am fortunate enough to be able to ride/train between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. while my daughter is in school. It's probably not too much of a stretch to believe that there is a higher percentage of older drivers and contractors/tradesmen/landscapers driving during this time period than, say, on a weekend day or in the late afternoon. FWIW, I've never had a problem w/ a pick-up forcing me off the road - in fact I crashed once (totally my fault) and three cars passed me by while it was a contractor in a pick-up who stopped, gave me water to wash the road rash and let me borrow a few tools to fix my bike enough to limp home.

 

I live in the land of pick-ups. Yes, they have a hard time seeing us. BUT, we are a bit nimble and may not notice our agility to move about. So, a bit of the invisibility is because we can, and perhaps do, move about in unexpected ways; or at least in ways that normal cars are not expected to. This should be as clear as mud now.

Cheers

 

Add OR to the list of states where there's lane discipline. I'd also fold in to this thread "crap" on the freeways. Ladders, couches, clothes, lumber, batteries, etc, etc. It's AWFUL.

 

Unfortunately that is not my experience in NV, AZ, UT.

 

Sadly, the Polish truck drivers have done this in in recent times.
I regularly travel the Munich/Meiningen stretch of Autobahn and have to be constantly on alert for trucks pulling out without looking. In general, the average skill of car drivers is significantly higher, but I wouldn't go far to say manners are perfect.

My solution - drive with HID headlights on always.
The lower bulb life is worth the visibility - especially on my pavement colored model.
P.S. Aren't we trying to blend in? Coppers are getting more and more clever.

 

I sent an email to the family member whose comments to me prompted this thread including links to the treads that she had inspired. I want to share her reply: