Is driving attitude related to homesteading?
 

I wasn't sure if this was the right forum for this question but it's something I've wondered about.

As a homesteader wannabe and someone who spent the summer gardening on family land that I don't own, I have wondered whether that laid back lifestyle has influenced the way I drive a vehicle on the roads.

Some of you are gonna hate me for what I'm about to say. I typically drive the speed limit, occasionally a little over when the traffic is heavy around me and they're doing way over, occasionally a little under but not usually by much. I don't tailgate. I almost never use my horn. Generally, I'm a pretty laid back guy. I can't say I'm often in a hurry. Sure, I have things to do, but I'm not in a big hurry. (It doesn't help anyway. Often at the next red light, the guy that zoomed past me like I was standing still is sitting there one or two cars ahead of me.)

I would like to think I'm a law abiding citizen and obeying the law the best I know how. But I nearly get run off the road at times (I think intentionally), people cut me off, people flip me off, people honk their horns at me, people get upset when I slow down before I get to blind curves in the road, people blow by me going 15 to 20 mph faster than I am going pretty regularly, even if I happen to be exceeding the posted speed limit.

I'm a little puzzled by the behavior as it really doesn't seem to get people where they're going a whole lot faster. And yet they are nearly enraged if someone happens to be in their way.

In one instance, on a 2 lane road in MS, 55mph speed limit, I decided to see just how fast that log truck behind me wanted to go. I bumped it up to 70mph. He PASSED me. At 80mph, I backed off because I really didn't want to go that fast. Maybe that gives you an idea of the kind of drivers I'm talking about.

Just yesterday, I was driving on a 2 lane road in PA and came up behind an Amish buggy. He was hogging the road in such a way that I couldn't have passed without going pretty far into the other oncoming lane. There was another car that just came into view in the oncoming lane about the time I was making the decision to pass or wait and the decision was wait as I didn't want to run that guy off the road. The jackwagon with his NY license plates behind me flashed his lights and laid on his horn as though I was a menace to all drivers everywhere and I assume I was just supposed to run the other guy coming towards me off the road so I could pass the buggy.

There are just some danged aggressive drivers out there and I'm liking driving less all the time. People complain about speed traps but I hate to say it, I wish for them because I keep hoping some of these jackwagons that drive way over the top will get snagged in them. (They almost never do.)

Hey, if someone wants to do 60 or 65 in a 55mph zone and they're not doing any harm, so long as they do it with some degree of safety and courtesy, I don't really much care. It's the ones that go over the top and get aggressive that really bother me the worst.

I do find it amazing that in this day and age when money is getting harder to come by that accelerator pedals seem to have two positions, on and off. Every road is the slalom and every red light turning green is the light to race. Every chance some people get to squeal those tires gets taken and there is an amazing amount of (expensive) rubber laying on the roads just because someone had to show us how big their male type organ is(n't).

Maybe I'm the one with the problem. Maybe a slower paced lifestyle has taken away my urge to travel at mach 5 wiath my hair on fire everywhere I go.

Anyway, I'm getting tired of the way people drive. It makes me wonder how often we may be seeing reverse road rage at some point when otherwise decent drivers have enough of the jackwagons out there and do something about it. (?)

Thanks for letting me blow off some steam.

I think my lifestyle (laid back homesteader/homemaker) definitely leads into my laid back style driving.


People ALWAYS seem to be in a rush. The normal speed limit is 55. I set my cruise control at 60. People FLY by me. Whats the hurry man?
I dont take big risks either.
If I dont feel confident to pull out into traffic Im not doing it... and sitting in that passenger seat saying, NOW! NOW! is not going to do anything.

Nope, weve got plenty of time..

I am not sure home steading has anything to do with it other than it is a way for you to relax and enjoy life and the drive

so many people are rush rush rush , the get so angry , I am also a puzzled speed limit driver , I got my one ticket on the way to church of all things about 10 years ago , I paid it and realized that ticket cost just about exactly what a basic pump shotgun cost at the time almost dollar for dollar, I though man I would really rather have a shotgun or hunting trip or fishing rod or road trip with the family than get picked up for a speeding ticket that kills that part of my budget

I would encourage everyone to budget for 1 ticket a year set that money aside , now you get to keep it if you don't get the ticket and do whatever you want with it , pick your splurge and keep that in your mind when you see the needle creeping over the point where a ticket would be given , then in a while ask yourself if you are not more calm not always worrying if there is a cop over the next hill.

I'm with GREENCOUNTYPETE. I am not sure home steading has anything to do with it other than it is a way for you to relax and enjoy life and the drive.

Another way to look at it is has your laid back demeanor brought you to the homesteading life...and many other characteristics including your driving habits?

As I read your post, I thought I was reading about my typical day. I also drive a school bus. Since you know I am driving the speed limit and obey all driving laws as carefully as I can, my big yellow bus is an annoyance for many drivers. I've had people blow their horns and get all worked up because I come to a full stop at a stop sign or right on red intersection. Now, we all know a stop sign and right on red means you should just tap your brake momentarily, change cell phone hands and then gun around the corner. I drive in a very rural area on narrow, winding roads. Their isn't a day someone isn't behind me flashing their lights because I don't pull off into the woods to let them pass, or I come around a curve and someone is in my lane coming right at me. Awhile back at a stop, with my lights flashing, I saw a small car coming towards us in the other lane. As the car approached I knew it was not going to stop, so I leaned on my horn. The driver whizzed by, but as she did, she was sure to give me the finger out of her car window.

Jim

WHY people get so upset about school buses is beyond me.
Its transporting A LOT of children. Have some patience!

We had a car almost hit a kid when I was younger by wizzing past the bus (went around the back of it). That bus driver got that tag number and reported it right then.
I dont think I ever wanted someone to get into trouble as much as I wanted that person to

I'm in a rush most of the time but usually stay less than 10 mph over the limit. I have no problem with people driving the speed limit or a little below but stay in the right lane.

I live off a road that was expanded to have 3 lanes each way (not a highway, this is a residential throughfare - yes I live in the Dallas area - the place used to be semi-rural but the 'burbs surrounded us), my major problem is with people who have to wait until all three lanes are clear to make a right turn. Turn into the nearest lane and then move over when possible!!!

The attitude may sometimes be that for some people time is indeed money. That log truck driver likely gets paid by the load delivered. Drive faster, deliver more loads in a day, make more money. The same could be said of many others on the road. A salesman doesn't make a sale at a door he doesn't knock on. If he can get between stops quicker he can make more stops and make more sales. The same math works for many. Not saying it is right to endanger others but sometimes it's just people trying to make a better living and find more time to relax.

If a state trooper had witnessed what I experienced with that log truck, he'd have probably lost his license. It was one lane in each direction with a yellow dotted line or a double yellow stripe down the middle. I believe each lane is 10' wide. Most of the road doesn't have enough shoulder to get a car safely off the road in case of a breakdown and there are steep cliffs over which a tumble into isn't likely to see survival with guardrails hit or miss. The terrain is hilly, not flat. Does that sound like 80mph would be an appropriate speed for a log truck?

I do know of places where there are multi-lane highways marked at a ridiculously slow speed for NO apparent reason. Even I complain about those. It's the really aggressive and unsafe type driving that gets me.

Did he crash? Were there remains of wrecked log trucks littering the road? It may well have been the speed he thought appropriate and could safely handle. Had he been caught he would have paid the penalties. If he wasn't he would have made more money. Risk- reward.

Anecdote- back in the early 80's I had a cousin who drove sprint cars. He was pretty good. He got invited to Indianapolis to do some testing in Indy cars and spent a couple of days driving in circles at 200 mph. On his way home to Iowa he was pulled over doing in excess of 120 mph in his new corvette. He didn't even realize his speed as his senses were attuned to driving much faster than than. Appropriate , no , but likely safer than many of those driving the speed limit.

Seems to me that the closer you get to town, there's more aggressive driving than defensive driving.

I have the cleanest windshield on the road. When anybody tailgates me for a long time without passing, I turn on my windshield washer.......

geo

We live a block or so from our kids school. Our children are all special needs and ride the bus. Every so often some jerk decides that the law doesn't apply to them and whizzes on by while the bus is stopped in front of our house and my kids are getting on/off. I nearly have a heart attack each time.

I always give the officer the thumbs up when I see he's pulled over someone that blew past me.

WWW

Idiots and rear ends drive too.

About tailgating and bright lighting, a funny memory...
Guy named Denny worked with me at sonic when I was a teenager. He was in his thirties and drove an old pickup truck. He always did the speed limit.
Because sonic didn't close til midnight or later on the weekends, a lot of times he found himself driving home when the bars were letting out. Invariably he would end up on his country road with some drunk idiot riding his butt bright lighting him who wouldn't go around.
He hooked a spotlight to the back of his truck with a switch he could flip inside to turn it on.
Although certainly not legal, no doubt it solved his problem, lol.
Course, Denny also taught us you could use everclear to start a lawnmower....

My husband drives for a living (water truck in the Oil/gas drilling area). He is constantly complaining about how everyone drives in such a hurry. Drivers cut in front of him all the time. He says, "Don't they realize this big truck can't stop on a dime?" He keeps to the speed limit but tells me how a lot of the other drivers push the speed limits. He gets his job done and doesn't risk his or someone elses life doing it.

I am always amazed how little regard people seem to have for their own lives when they scream around me on a curve or a hill they can't see over. Really, you have to be somewhere in such a hurry you are willing to risk your life to get there? I guess they just don't think anything bad can happen to them.

That's a pleasure I'd like to have WAY more often. :)

Before I retired, I was riddled by time pressues. I had to get up early to feed and clean animals, rush to work, then keep more appointments than I had time to do, squeeze in a lunch between them, maybe instead run to a store or business, then rush home to get what I had to feed and do what chores I needed done before dark.
I was not a patient driver. Too many people in the way and every minute lost was pain.
Now I don't have to do it, I rather not go fast. But I still remember the pressures and try to keep out of people's way. I pull over to allow passing on my little two lane road, with accompanying cliffs, sharp turns and no shoulders. I do not tail gait slow moving log truck, making the drivers feel pressured.

But the change is in me, not the surrounding traffic.

I don't know if he crashed or not. And if he had, I doubt the remains would be there for long. They do clean stuff like that up, you know. I also have little doubt that despite his apparently thinking he was driving safely, an accident could have easily resulted in loss of life beyond what would have been likely had he been obeying the speed limit.

Your friend driving his Corvette at 120mph might have been just fine. When things don't go wrong, it makes them seem safe even if they're not. I'd not have wanted to be anywhere near him if he had crested a hill to find traffic stopped dead in front of him. I have had that happen to me and it can be challenging enough to stop doing the speed limit, let along twice the speed limit. And yes, I'm a competent driver.

Then the logs shift forward and hit him through the back of the cab. It happens. So many logging truck drvers are paid per estimated board feet they carry per load. The more they carry , the faster they go, the more they make in their short season. I try to stay behind them- it's safer.

What terrifies most..
I live on a 2 lane road.
It seems a bit narrower than it should be and the curves are banked wrong for the terrain. It's annoying.
And there are blind curves.

I drive the speed limit or a bit more which is PLENTY for this short road.

I cringe at every curve because of how many times people pass me..on the WRONG side of the road.. heading INTO a curve.

It is an absolute miracle that no one has been hit head on yet.
So when a selfish, dangerous, potentially deadly fool is trying to pass me I just come to a stop. I let him get back into the proper lane as quickly as possible.

Oh please. Oh please please.. don't let one of the fools be in the curve when I come up on it.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...january079.jpg

I don't worry about it much anymore. I've had people pass this on blind corners, up steep hills, and through blind intersections. Even had one guy in such a hurry he drove UNDER a combine header to get past.

Log truck drivers are a breed apart. Where I grew up they didn't stop for any reason. You'd be toodling along a twisty, one lane mountain road and find one. You had better be able to shift into reverse and back up a looong way in about 5 seconds flat. It did make for fun watching when it wasn't you!

I tend to drive the speed limit around here, but it's 70 mph. Slower states drive me nuts. I'm talking about freeways and highways here, not the city. I'm the one who annoys everybody in the city, I just don't drive in there enough.

It's nothing new. I remember an old cartoon that had 30s, 40s style cars in it about how some people changed when they got behind the wheel and became "speed demons". Disney took up the subject with a Goofy cartoon in the 50s, maybe it was the 60s. Some people have always been that way, always will be.

I homestead nights and weekends, but during the work week, I am driving a big van in a major city, driving house to house fixing things. I leave the city Friday, but it takes until Sunday until the city leaves my driving. All week I am used to driving as fast as I can, since city traffic usually limits my speed. I tailgate, I race to the next stop sign.

All weekend, I am in Amish country, usually driving a tractor more than a car. When I get to work on Monday, I am amazed how badly everyone else drives. By Tuesday, I am one of them.

People are just plain nuts, I agree.

A couple years ago I was stuck in traffic. There was nowhere I could go, I was surrounded by other vehicles and we were all at a dead stop for hours. The woman behind me was laying on her horn, gesturing wildly and clearly screaming, staring into my car. I was just... doors are locked and I have my phone so...

I also get routinely flipped off by an older couple who dislikes anyone doing the speed limit. These folks are in their sixties and both have this face like they just drank sour milk, double birds flying out their windows. Crazy people.

I don't get it. Chill the heck out. We're all trying to get somewhere. No need to be a donkey's backside about it.

I think it is just individual people who are very bad drivers, have no manners, don't understand defensive driving and are just impatient.

We live in a small city. A "massive" traffic jam is having 3 cars ahead of you waiting to turn left. Some people just wait patiently for the the 2 minutes it takes but others are honking and risking the passenger side of their vehicle.

Everyone drives down the middle of the highway when you leave the city as there are few on coming cars. Most people just move over to their side of the line when there is an on coming car but others want to play chicken. And as there are hundreds of kilometers of road and you never see a police car speed signs are just used for target practice. And no matter how fast you are driving there will always be someone to come up to tailgate and want to pass.

You didn't finish the story - after they pass you, they will slow down and drive slower than you were going in the first place!

What if you and neighbor block both Lanes just to shoot the bull?

big rockpile

I hate those that do not honour the bright rule, or law...

or retards that have their lights aimed high.

I normally drive low beams, you blind me ... ohhh.


as far as passing oh my!

what boils my pea is the idiot that drive 25 under till you can pass then they want to race!

I can't use the language I would like...

Plenty of them.

I have given a swerve across the road a option... but... I don't know who all is a passenger.

Just wish folks would know brights blind.

as well as distract.

slow down and drive right.

I watched a STATE TROOPER try to pull in between a RV and the car he was towing!

That's bad.

Very true for some but what is worse is when you run into them just a few kilometers further on and their speeding has put them off the road. Since it is often hours of driving between "civilization" you know that you have to stop and that slows you down. We once rescued a guy and his wife, kid and dog and after we had been driving them for about 20 minutes the guy actually asked my husband if he could drive faster. NO. That is how you ended up in the ditch!

Oh I have a good story like that.

Freezing rain falling, icy conditions, on a 2 lane highway with no shoulders, just ditches. I'm driving 35 mph in a rear wheel drive car. At that speed, I can probably stay out of the ditch if I slide some. Got a pickup riding my tail for a couple miles, finally he gets a stretch where he can pass. He was sliding around just getting back in his own lane but that didn't slow him down any. He is out of sight in no time. Another mile or two up the road, around a bend, there he is -- he slid off in the ditch. I left him there, it was less than a mile's walk to the next town. I made it home safely, now I am waiting on DH, who got off work later than me. The hours passed, it got dark, and I was really getting worried. Finally, he shows up.

Me: What took you so long? I thought you were only an hour behind me. I was really starting to worry!

DH: Some guy put his truck in the ditch outside Mo City, so I stopped and pulled him out.

Yep, it was the same guy.

I think homesteading and the other flavors or rural living teaches patience. When I was an urbanite, I got to try to exert control of when things happen. Now I am always waiting...

...waiting for a cow to calf
...waiting for a goat to come into to heat
...waiting for rain
...waiting for it to stop raining
...waiting for spring
...waiting...waiting...waiting...

All of that learned patience translates to other areas, like driving...

I drive the speed limit plus or minus two to three mph depending on road incline and leave one car length per 10 mph between my vehicle and the one ahead of me.

I am the guy aggressive drivers hate. I drive under the speed limit most of the time, but then I drive on winding narrow back roads most of the time too. On the interstate I set the cruise at just under the limit.... if traffic is light and I have plenty of space between me and those in front of me. On secondary roads the posted limit is there for a reason.... that is the MAXIMUM safe driving speed for that environment under the best conditions. If its raining, or foggy, or ice on the road.... slow it down... you might just live long enough to get to your destination. I have yet to get a ticket for driving 5 mph under the speed limit and have avoided many an accident by doing so. I always assume those who insist upon breaking the speed limits and are in such a hurry are simply wanting to be the first to arrive at the scene of an accident... and many do seem to get there first. :)

Sounds like "old school" to me.:thumb:

Often we forget that 50+% of the drivers are on some kind of drugs. Legal or not. :cool:

At 66 and retired, all I got is time, for as long as time lasts. I don't see the rush to get anywhere fast. I have time enough to cause myself to prepare early and go at the rated speed. I don't wait till the last minute to do anything.

Here in rural north Florida no one will pass you. They prefer to ride your bumper & try to push you to go faster on curvy 2 lane roads with deer everywhere. I normally will drive 7 or 8 mph over the limit if the conditions are safe to do so. It just makes me insane how you get to a passing zone and they slow down and back off but then are right up on your bumper again once you are past the passing zone. I guess they don't teach driver ed anymore. Its all terribly unsafe and I have seen some very serious accidents. I'm glad my guardian angel is a good one!