Reminder that when you're driving and there's weather like fog, snow, or rain, turn your headlights on. It doesn't help you to see better, no, but it does help other cars to see you, preventing accidental collisions from literally just not seeing another car.

This goes for everyone but especially "neutral" colored cars like gray, silver, white, black, and even just dark colors like dark blue. Cars with those colors blend into the road whenever visibility is low. Turn your headlights on. Let other cars know where you are.

Notice the car which you can see ONLY its headlights

(Pic from a search, I did not take a pic while driving )

[ID: a photo of various cars driving in fog. One of the cars is entirely obscured by the fog, except for its active headlights. End ID]

bringing this back to remind everyone that snow is also a visibility hazard, not just a skid hazard. Please turn your lights on!

would like to add: make sure it's your low beams/headlights and NOT your high beams/brights! Because of the angle your brights are pointed at, it can actually make it harder for you, as a driver, to see -- this is true for fog, as well as rain and snow

Touchscreens do not belong in cars

And gauges and dials should be gauges and dials, not screens

Door releases should have a direct mechanical link to a latch, not send an electronic signal to a servo

You should not have to have your phone alive to unlock your car

Your ability to quickly and easily see what's behind you while driving should not be dependent on cameras instead of mirrors.

I'm actually going to push back on that last one, @fuckyeah-nerdery: backing cameras in cars aren't there for drivers or for manufacturers, they're there to keep people from running over toddlers.

not even joking: car companies do not actually like backing cameras because they are the most expensive option in terms of making it easier to see what's behind you, but cameras are the only way for a driver to see something directly behind them that's shorter than their window. years of research showed that less expensive options – more or better mirrors, sensors, a bigger rearview window – did not work, and cameras did, which is why they're now a mandatory feature on cars, like seatbelts.

behold my shitty drawing explaining why:

we had a whole day in my admin law class about this because it was a promulgated regulation at the time. there were a lot of people in my class who were basically "RIP to those kids but I would simply teach my baby not to stand behind cars so cameras are unnecessary" as if that was the first time anyone had thought about it.

anyway, that's a necessary safety feature like a manual lock or buttons you can feel instead of needing to look at a screen.

Oh, I'm not opposed to backup cameras. Apparently there are people who want to replace side mirrors with cameras and that just sounds like a terrible idea. I'm fine with cameras in addition to mirrors, my concern is a dangerous reliance on them and what could happen if either they or the display stops working while someone is on the interstate.

well, that's just dumb AND expensive.

reasons new pickup trucks suck:

oh also market research suggests people who buy trucks and SUVs are more likely to be assholes lmao

basically, watch this video if you need more reasons to hate trucks:

Every pickup truck I ever see actually being used for work or to haul shit is one of those older normal trucks not those gigantic mistakes

i have seen ONE of these hulks doing work and that was to haul draft horses.  all the rest of them, the risk to others seems to be part of the point.

the risk to others seems to be part of the point

More reasons new pickup trucks suck, but infrastructure this time!

Seriously, fuck these trucks and the people who decided they were a good idea.

[ID: Text reads "20 years of pick up truck design progress in one photo". The photo shows an old pickup truck and a new one, the old one parked in front so you can see how much bigger the new one is. END ID]

love when i say like. we need to change the way we build our communities and public services since they're made with the assumption everyone has a car and are thus not practical for people without cars. and then someone goes 'uhhh but if i tried riding a bike it would take a while… so idk how that would work….'

person who's only experienced individual action seeing a call for collective, state-level action: not sure how to square this one with individual action

I went looking for info on this and TESLA OWNERS ARE TRYING TO PROVE THIS WRONG BY DRIVING THEIR TESLAS AT THEIR OWN CHILDREN. The gov't had to be like hey please don't. Please don't aim your entire car at your child. Please not even if your foot is hovering over the break the whole time, don't let your car drive at a small human being.

Anyway if you're interested, the above tweets were likely inspired by the Dawn Project running a test on the full self-driving, for which they provided full details.

Also that is just… 110% not how most collision avoidance systems work. They’re not designed around children they’re designed to prevent you from hitting the car in front of you which is made of.. yk.. car and not… meat that can read at a 6th grade level.

[image description: first post, screencap of two tweets.

First tweet is from Taylor Ogan @TaylorOgan, and shows a picture of two Teslas on an obstacle course in a parking lot. The one on the left is in the process of hitting a child-sized manneqin.

Text of tweet: It's 2022, and Teslas still aren't stopping for children.

Reply tweet from CabSav @CryptoCabSav: If the car has a heat sensor and the object doesn't have any heat signature, it can tell it's not a real person. These tests should be done using real children, not dolls.

Second post: reaction gif from Degrassi High, an early-90s teen TV show. A brown-haired white girl looks at her friend, mouth dropping in shocked disgust. The blonde friend snickers and drops her head.

Fourth post: screencap of replies on tumblr.

bigstupiduglyogre says: Is this person also implying that it's ok for the car to run over child-sized objects as long as they're not alive

ruinedrainbowpooka says: Cars should still not be running into things... even if they're not alive

/end id]

tag by cynicallysweetposts: #what's so bad about running into objects?

well, nothing, provided no harm is done to either the object run into or the object doing the running-into, or to anyone in or near the collision

but as one of those objects is a whole-ass car that is likely moving at getting-places speeds with a person inside, that scenario is a rare one

I have not looked up Tesla's own marketing materials, but the fact they're calling it "Full Self-Drive" when the system is at best a long way from living up to that description is telling in itself.

Also, it seems that the software was intentionally written to roll slowly through Stop signs instead of coming to a complete halt, which is directly against US law. Not a good look even if you think that particular law makes little sense.

[Video: a woman in a pink skirt in the front seat of a car. She is talking and following her own instructions.

"Take the card from the visor. Go straight up from the door lock. Insert it into the window channel, until it stops. Pull back. And release."

The window she turned away from during the last two commands, shatters to tiny pieces behind her but doesn’t fall out of its frame. End description.]

when the vitamin gummies kick in

this is so stressful to watch

[Video: a recording of a guy running across a six lane road, while occasionally doing cartwheels or laying on the pavement, so a car or a bus can pass over him. The people behind the camera are screaming

Gif 1: an animated rabbit, looking confused

Gif 2: a white woman doing a double take

Gif 3: an animation of a guy dancing in between busses, then cars, then people, that are barely passing him by. Everything is shaded in red

End description.]

[ID: a tweet by Tomi Obaro @ToniObaro "Whatever I see someone trying to parallel park I avert my eyes and continue walking, giving them the privacy they need because I'm a decent human being" /end ID.]

you guys are missing out on this insane reply

[image 1: a tweet by twitter user oatmeal influencer @acehhh with an icon of Ralph from the Simpsons wearing makeup and a wig. It says "have to tell a guy his house is sinking tomorrow" with a meme of Nicki Minaj smiling and brushing her hair back edited to say "so there's this load bearing wall u shouldn't have removed"]

[image 2: a pair of replies to the first tweet by twitter user BDCO @JohnSBxter saying "My friends mom asked me 2 change her tire. I was high on ecstasy.l changed tire. 2 days later I remembered that I only twisted the lug nuts with my fingers cause I couldn't see where the wrench was. I snuck over in the dead of night w/ a wrench & tightened them. May delete later" and then a further reply to his own reply saying "I'm a homosexual" /end image ID]

[Image 3: a reply by swamp wife "are you a civil engineer" and another reply by the original poster oatmeal Influencer @acechhh "I am a general contractor and my brother is an engineer. When we work together he lets me break the news first because breaking bad news to rich people is my passion" /End ID.]

Brain on auto-pilot (x)

[Image Description

Tweet from verified user Josh Hart (@/ joshHart) reading: Yall ever been driving and then realize your driving?

End Description]

combining my knowledge of urban planning with the hours of video essays on horror i’ve consumed to come to the conclusion that the real monster is car culture

ok so let me explain. an oft repeated saying in urban planning circles is that cars are the dominant species on the planet. this is based on a 1960s cartoon that satirizes the north american obsession with cars, how much space we devote to them, and how we design our entire cities and lives around them. in jacob geller’s video on the architecture of alienation he talks about the fear created when a space we expect to be built and designed for us subverts those expectations and becomes hostile or incomprehensible. to many people who can’t access vehicles or proper documentation to be able to drive this is exactly what the car-centric city becomes. it is a place that should be designed for people but is not and is hostile towards those who are unable to drive, think about suburbs with no sidewalks or urban food deserts with no grocery stores within walking distance. not to mention the danger imposed by cars themselves, especially when car manufacturers are locked in an arms race to make the biggest, bulkiest vehicle in the name of supposed safety for the driver with very little regard for pedestrians and cyclists. altogether, a car centric city is a horror unto itself.

The 1960's cartoon:

And Jacob Geller's video:

Okay also I’ve been driving electric cars long enough now to be really emphatic that the fact that they’re not all automatically built with solar panels in the roofs is a scandal.

And somehow almost every time I tell anyone this they roll their eyes and attempt to explain to me that this would not create a perpetual motion machine because of the limitations of the area relative to the power draw of the motor, which is incredibly annoying because that’s not the point.

Yes it’s possible that driving in the sunshine with a solar collector dripping into the battery would net you a little more mileage on that trip before needing recharge, but the usefulness of a solar-topped electric car is that if you drive it someplace–say, to work–and leave it outside in the sun all day, you’ll definitely have more range available by the time you’re ready to head home.

Also if you fuck up your calculations because of the inefficiency induced by cold weather or something and get yourself stranded without anywhere to charge, like halfway up a mountain or, more likely, six miles from home, you can call for rescue or walk away, come back later, and it’ll be able to move again.

This is important because unlike running out of gas you can’t really go get some electricity.

like imagine if some of the energy that turns into face-melting air when you first turn the AC on was stored as electricity instead of going to waste

Imagine if electric cars were designed and sold on their merits as practical devices and not toys for the rich.

07/28/17

JESSICA CHOU Has A YouTube Channel Teaching Women About Basic Vehicle Maintenance

male mechanics are known to overprice and add on unnecessary services to female patrons because they assume they dont know shit about cars. go jessica!!!

As a female mechanic, this makes me so happy! I was the only female in my entire shop, so please more ladies get into mechanics. Yay Jessica!! :D

[ID: a tweet by @nasmarai "In 2020 Apple will unveil their first car." with a picture of a futuristic looking car and followed by a response by @Sloondadon "Engine & key sold separately." End ID.]

After 5 years it’s super slow

It’s got proprietary tires that don’t fit on anything else and shred themselves every hundred miles

also it’s only compatible with about 40% of roads

Radio has no speakers and only works with specialized bluetooth headset

There’s only one button to control everything on the center console and a tiny ass touchscreen

You need to buy a special accessory if you want to open the door and sit down at the same time.

Costs more than your house and will outsell everyone

[ID 1: a tweet by @nasmarai "In 2020 Apple will unveil their first car." with a picture of a futuristic looking car, and followed by a response by @Sloondadon "Engine & key sold separately."

ID 2: black text on a white background "Car salesman: *Slaps roof of car* It's an Apple." Below that is a picture of a drawn car salesman and a client in front and a little to the side of a photo of a car, whose window is exploding.

End ID.]

A PSA about trucks from a truck driver

I and some colleagues were talking about how we wish everyone could see the safety videos that our company was showing us, because I don’t think most people understand how traffic works in a truck. So here’s some things we wish everyone on the road knew.

- we’re not kidding about tailgating. If you’re right behind us on a straight highway? Chances are we have NO IDEA you’re there, which means we can’t anticipate any of your movements. Plus slowing down takes multiple downshifts, so we might start decreasing speed way earlier than you expect.

- We’re not kidding about any of our blind spots. WE CAN’T SEE YOU, GUYS.

- That bit about slowing down taking a while? The same goes for when you’re in front of us. Don’t cut off a truck. Oh god, PLEASE don’t cut off a truck. If you cut me off, I’m not irritated, I’m terrified. For YOU. It can take 7 to 9 seconds for us to stop. DON’T CUT OFF TRUCKS.

- Before you get mad about how slow we’re going on the highway, keep in mind that many companies govern their vehicles so they literally CAN’T go over 60 or 65. This is a good thing, I promise. Because…

- Do you know what happens when a car meets a truck in an accident? The car gets totaled and the truck needs a new coat of paint. You will not win this fight. I know nobody likes getting stuck behind a big dumb truck, but it’s not worth your life.

We are trying our best to protect you from our 80,000 pound death machines. Please help us out.

This information is actually useful.  Thanks for posting.

important PSA about when your car is smoking

like literally smoking from the engine

white and you smell pancakes? it’s the coolant. panic and pull over, but you’ll live

a slight blue tinge? it’s the oil. panic and pull over, but you’ll live

grey, looks like fire smoke? gasoline; the most combustable and dangerous. pull over and leave the vehicle, pray.

sharing because i didn’t know this when my car started smoking white yesterday and i was so afraid for my life.

Reblogging because a dear friend of my Moms with mechanic experience told me the same thing when I got my license.

White or blue, you’ll pull through. But if it’s gray, get away.