Conference terri::cars_uk

Bruce,

Strange, I get a similiar affect, but my force field has recently been
dragging people into the middle lane of an empty motorway.

I think mine and another guys must have clashed onSunday.I was behind a
Mercedes, stuck in the middle lane, inside lane was empty. So I flash
the Mercedes, once, three, three times, nothing happens. I pull out to
overtake, at the same time another guy overtakes the Mercedes on the
inside, and she stays in the middle lane until she disappears ou of my
rear view mirror!


It nmakes me so MAD!


Greg 

    
    This force field is even more disconcerting when it happens on A roads,
    during overtaking manoevers!

The very same thing happend to me on an A road. The great thing is that the
force field on the Landrover protected me when I decided to just move over
back into the correct lane.The other car soon moved when someting twice the
size and weighing best part of two tonnes  was getting too cloe for comfort.

The whole story is in here some where.

If anybody fancies a trip round town in the Landy one lunchtime to see some 
idiots your welcome. I think the force fiedl round the Landy turns most drivers
insane.

Simon

:-)

	The Range Rover's force field actually seems to move
	fast-lane hogs back into the middle lane... funny thing
	is it seemed to work much better with my old white one
	than it does with the new green one...

    It's odd, it must be the time of year (now that the crop circles season
    is over).  This morning on the M4, I pulled out behind a car in the
    middle lane I wanted to overtake.  Since there was a much faster car
    (Porsche) zooming up in the outside lane, I flashed the first car to
    move over, which he kindly did (into the now empty nearside lane).  As
    I pulled back into the nearside lane after overtaking, I watched him in my
    mirror.  He pulled violently back into the middle lane and carried on.
    I carried on watching him, on and off, for a couple of miles: eventually
    he must have realized that there really was another lane there, and I
    hadn't really forced him on to the hard shoulder, 'cos he pulled over.
    
    Jeff.

    This "force field" must be related, or must have opposing 'polarity',
    to the "Invisible Catapult Syndrome" that occasionally crops up at 
    traffic lights.
    
    It seems to affect smaller cars. Or cars that have an over-rev problem.
    Sometimes XR3's are particularily affected. There's also an effect on
    the driver's neck, similar to a full-nelson, which renders the driver
    unable to look anywhere else except into your car. Often with an ugly
    grin on his face. 
                                                 
    I noticed that this phenomenon acts more voilently if the road in front
    narrows to a single lane or if the vehicle next to you is using a right
    turn only lane to go straight ahead. 
    
    Luckily, I tend to rev, rev... and then...turn left. 
    

	I've noticed an interesting effect in my wife's Cavalier.  It
	excerts strange forces on otherwise innocent Fiesta 1.1 populars.
	They get dragged into the next lane, and, engine revving fit to 
	fall out, they drag themselves past at almost 1, maybe 2 mph faster
	until, exhausted, they collapse back into the lane I'm in.  Of course,
	at this point the field collapses and I catch them up, overtake them
	and then we go through the whole routine again.

    There is also gravity - a force field which seems to affect some cars.
    You're driving at a constant x mph, when the road starts to slope
    down.  The car behind speeds up, overtakes, and pulls back in.  You
    carry on following the car until the road starts to slope up.
    Mysteriously, the car that recently overtook you slows down until it's
    going more slowly than you want to, and you have to overtake again.
    
    Jeff.

    One must not confuse this field with the infamous "you want past me but
    I won't let you" syndrome.
    
    This usually is apparent on "A" or "B" roads when the car you want to
    pass flogs it's guts out on the only available passing place then
    trundles around corners and hills, whils't the driver explains to his
    embarassed passenger how he can out run any other car on the road
    because he has a "JAN SPEED" exhaust and wide wheels which have
    transformed his car into a "GROUP A" Rally car, where the choke button
    is really a secret boost control.
    
    
    
    Bruce

    reminds me of the time many many many years ago when I had a renault 5
    base (and I mean base, like the base you get in holland is a lot baser
    than the UK base!) which only had an 850cc engine.
    
    I was coming back to holland from the UK, we had the roof rack loaded
    up to a heaigt almost equal to the height of the car (if you think this
    is exagerating I can show you the picture). Going along the belgian
    motorways at about 3am was rough, maximum speed I could get was about
    55 MPH. 
    
    However, whenever I got behind a lorry I could accelerate really fast,
    swing out at the last minute....
    
    and slow right down! The wind drag was so great I couldn't overtake
    ANYTHING. 
    
    Richard

I had the force field effect trying to overtake a Sierra 1.6L in my
Renault 5 Campus (discourtesy car). I was doing 60mph, and decided to
overtake him, and the ******* speeded up to 80mph, which is perilously
close to the Campus's top speed!

    
    The last note reminds me of the time the Renault dealer lent me
    a 5 Campus while my 5 Turbo was serviced.
    
    To drive, the car felt remarkably similar and when I reached the
    small stretch of dual carriageway where I normally overtook I forgot
    I had about 80 hp less and pulled out to zap past the lorry in
    front of me. Needless to say, great embarrasment resulted when I found
    I couldn't get past it! 
    
    Mark

    To read a nice, reasoned, well thought out, polite discussion ( !! ) as
    to the merits of speeding, overtaking etc. etc. read note 727 in
    PEAR::SOAPBOX.
    
    And I thought this conference sometimes degenerated into a slanging
    match. The guys in SOAPBOX have been taking lessons !!.
    
    Rich
    
    P.S. I don't know how to do the KP7 bit of magic !!
    

    Press KP7 to add entry for PEAR::SOAPBOX
    
    Re .15 - use command 'SET NOTE/CONF=PEAR::SOAPBOX'
    
    J.R.

	for a read-only (local to UK) conference

	SET NOTE/CONF=VANITY::SOAPBOX


there is *LOADS* of traffic on SOAPBOX at the moment...

    
    	The American Driving test. Copied with permission.
    
    	Read with the right frame of mind this is very funny.
    
    	Rich
    
    	    Let's see just how 'level' the playing field is, shall 
    	we?  Take the test... the Road Alertness Test.
    
    	1) You are one of the herd driving 55 MPH.  Each of the 
    	nerdmobiles and family trucksters in the herd has one 
    	car length's distance between it and its neighbors.  A
    	meteor falls from the sky striking the car ahead of you.
    	Do you:		a) cover your face with your hands and pray
    			b) keep singing that stupid song (off key)
    			c) apply brakes, cut the wheel, hit the guy beside you
    			d) shoot the gaps and get out of harm's way
    			e) wish you had listened to the traffic leaders
    
    	2) It's a gray, rainy day.  The roads are slick and the truck ahead
    	of you is throwing so much mist in your windshield that even with
    	the wipers on high you can't see a thing.  The ice cream you just
    	bought is melting, and the goo is starting to ruin the velour seat.
    	Do you:		a) slow down until another truck gets in front of you
    			b) flash your headlights and fiddle with the radio
    			c) slam down the accelerator and pass the truck
    			d) pull over until the tulips bloom
    			e) wish you'd bought plastic seat covers
    
    	3) You are in a passing maneuver, getting around a trembling
    	granny who can barely see over the dashboard.  You're doing the
    	legally acceptable 5 MPH over the limit, and just as you get 
    	nose-to-nose with granny you see a cat leap into the road.
    	Do you:		a) honk your horn and flip granny a bird
    			b) jam on your brakes and get rear-ended
    			c) grant the cat its death wish and get home early
    			d) swerve into oncoming traffic
    			e) swerve into granny shoving her into the ditch
    
    	4) You are sitting at a stale red light.  You are the first
    	car in your lane.  You are driving your Nerdmobile Gutless Calais.
    	The car behind you is a Ferrari 308GTS.  The light turns green.
    	Do you:		a) get out of your car and direct traffic
    			b) cover your eyes and scream
    			c) do your darndest to keep the Ferrari from passing
    			d) flash your headlights and fumble with the heater
    			e) give the Ferrari a run for its money
    
    	5) It is early afternoon.  The roads are empty.  Your windows
    	are down and the wind is whipping through your hair.  Your speed
    	drifts a little higher than the legal limit.  You see a cop ahead.
    	Do you:		a) jam on the brakes and go into a wild spin
    			b) fasten your seat belt to avoid a second ticket
    			c) turn the radio up to drown out the siren
    			d) ease off the gas and drift to a slower speed
    			e) play chicken with the cop
    
    	6) You are doing the speed limit on a busy freeway.  Rush hour
    	nears.  Everyone around you is driving 7 MPH over the legal
    	limit.  Even the cops are passing you and pacing the traffic.
    	Do you:		a) get a clue and go with the flow
    			b) take down the cop's license number and report him
    			c) flash your headlights and change to a top 40 station
    			d) pull over and wait for the traffic to thicken
    			e) tap your brakes and lay on your winshield washer
    

    So where's the score sheet?
    
    Steve