Thanks Mowse. Maybe your perspective is just what we need to help curb this in the future. Ideas are always welcome.

 

Depends where you are and how much your state considers public record, sometimes its free and online, sometimes you've got to pay $2 for it sometimes people post something like this and a law enforcement officer takes action (they can search for "any law enforcement purpose" and get reponses within seconds from any state).
They generally stick to designated pull offs and picnic areas, and even still stay at the back of those, so the pull off can be utilized, plus the way the dragon works, you're not to give berth to anyone even an LEO with someone stopped blocking the lane, you sit and you wait until told to do otherwise or you get cited.



Its been my observation that you get MINIs together and there's an increase in show off one ups man ship look at me immature driving. This is a large part of why I limit my exposure to runs for the last few years and a large part of why I choose an off season weekday to make the pilgrimage to the dragon instead of attending MOTD.

You're extremely luck this
http://killboy.blogspot.com/2009/04/before.html
Is all the warning you'll have before you see a windshield of this
http://killboy.blogspot.com/2009/04/during.html

It is a public road and it isn't always babysat and the visibility sucks and if you're not driving with some in reserve ontop of saving your brakes, it's oly a matter of time before you end up with your contribution to the tree of shame. and absolutely no exuse will fix your totalled MINI (1st gen-ers remember there's no ording new so if you like your option packae plus mods be extra wary) or heal an injury. Every year it's not if a MINI is going home on a trailer, but how many. Hindsight is always easier, but a little preperation goes a long way, and if you're scared, you're probably on the right track its if you're not that you probably ought to look into an autocross or HPDE day with an instructor or BMWCCA driving school or car control clinic so you can learn how to properly control your vehicle before you endager lives.

FYI here's what the locals and regulars think of that behavoir....
http://killboy.blogspot.com/2009/04/...of-person.html

 

It all comes down to this...either the driver cares or doesn't care. Those who care will be observant of the line crossing and maybe want to learn about their cars and show up for a safety session.

If you mention nicely to someone they were crossing the line and they act pissy, they are an *** to begin with. They are going to do what they want to do and there is no use trying to rectify their behavior personally. Those are the ones that I would point out to LEOs (or a maybe a big group of bikers ).

The info is out there, and honestly, it should be common sense that you don't cross on blind curves. Drivers ed 101 - double yellow means don't cross.

 

Thanks again for coming forward with such a great attitude. Find me next year and we'll go on some runs together and at the end of the day I'll buy you a beer!

 

In the video the cop says the #1 safety issue is speed.

And what the hell is that diatribe after the break?

 

Can I come too???

 

We'll all go! Granted he won't buy us all a beer (or will he?), but we'll all have a good time! :D

 

But only if we pass our driving test.

 

Wanna know why I didn't even consider going to this event? I've been on a few much less crowded East Coast MINI weekend jaunts where a good many of the knuckleheads in the pack were trying way too hard to prove they were the fastest, baddest race car driver in the East. At times I've been tailgated by NASCAR wannabees and at other times left behind because I refused to keep up with the group tooling at 20 mph plus over the speed limit - often in residential areas. To be honest, I'd probably freak out if some butthead was riding a few inches off my boot the whole way through this drive. I absolutely love driving both my MINIs but much prefer to do it somehwere where there are few others on the road. I don't need the aggravation of a bunch of macho geeks trying to recapture their lost youth.

 

maybe if it was a triple yellow line.... peeple would get the hint.

 

How about a spike strip between the 2 yellow lines?

 

That's not something I would like either but, in my experiences, that hasn't been remotely a problem for me at MOTD. Aside from the organized drives like the parade and the Midnight run, there is not nearly as much traffic on The Dragon as you would expect. I can tell you that in shooting it, I've often spent a good long time standing there waiting for someone to drive by.

 

If it's gonna be a big group we're drinking tequila! It's cheaper and people drop off faster so it doesn't cost so much.

 

I'm IN! I'll have to bring some lime juice, triple sec, and salt

 

Dude... seriously. It's not that bad. A few of us did a more "sprited" run on Friday and we never rode anyone's @$$. We'd just let them know we wanted to pass. It's really not a big deal.

 

I'm liking the "Mini" community spirit I'm seeing here

 

Gluh, I have to echo Moxie and MarkS above. Having lived and driven extensively out East, I can absolutely appreciate the (using the polite term here) "aggression" you're talking about, but I have not run into ONE East-coast level of inconsideration on MOTD. Even when I have a REALLY fast driver on my butt, they've never been that honking, flashing, tailgating a-wad that East coasters can be on the parkway or Route 80. I can honestly say I've seen a very low level of macho geekiness there also. It is weird, I admit, and near unbelievable to someone who's not been there.

 

Maybe that's because MOTD is less about show(-ing off) and more about go!

(unlike some other "big" national MINI events...)

(...admittedly which I haven't been to, but heard enough feedback about...)

 

I saw it in 2008 when I was in an R50, and it freaked out my SO enough that she refused to drive at any point during MOTD last year.

Personally I think there needs to be an established signal that isn't so aggressive as bumper riding or flashing headlights? Maybe hazards at a safe distance? I know some people who have used that and it's worked surprisingly well.

That said, I didn't see it this year, though I was in an R56 S and didn't do quite as many runs, but those I did go on I thought were done quite well!

 

Funny, I saw exactly this sort of thing on the way back from the midnight run. There was a huge group of us. I was second and a guy about 4 cars back starting honking and flashing his lights and started passing people one MINI at a time. Sounded like he was testing out the rev limiter in 1st gear as he did it too.

 

Can you identify who? Pass-asses need to be called out, IMO.

 

Yeah, put them in a video and post it!

I can certainly appreciate that there will be some aggro driving at MOTD. Even if there's only 5% of drivers that are aggressive, that's 30+ at MOTD. Simply math. I'm just saying it's nowhere NEAR the levels I used to see daily from commuters and ordinary sedans in northern NJ - even rural northern NJ. It's one thing to possess the skills and Mini handling, it's another to be forced to exercise them in avoidance maneuvers almost daily.

 

No, I didn't get a good look when they passed. All I remember is that he had the quad driving lights across the front. I figured I'd probably catch up to him after he wrapped his little hot rod around a tree.

 

bhelton and wbarnhill, those are pretty sad actions by those drivers.

I'd like to change the direction of the discussion, if I may.

The MINI community has had the appreciation of the locals and bikers for being one of the groups who had it "together", who were conscious of the dangers on the road and who mostly drove in a safe manner. Over the last few years, that reputation seems to be slipping. As this thread and a similar one on MA have shown, the possible reasons vary from more noobies/overconfident veterans, inattention, and numerous other reasons. There has been debate over whether the video shown in this thread is the way to handle this. However, we all seem to agree something needs to be done to fix the problem.

Let's hear some ideas for addressing this subject for future MOTDs/Dragon events to get the word out about the dangers of crossing the double yellows, and in the process maybe address excessive speed/overdriving your abilities/inattenton/etc.

As someone with a background in public safety and presenting safety programs, I want to say up front that no one method will work for everyone. Unfortunately, some people will ignore the info no matter what, and some people will not hear/read it even if you give it to them personally. However using "some people won't listen" or "we can't get the message across to everyone" statements are just condoning this dangerous behavior and I don't believe any of us really wants to do that.

The more ways we present the information, the greater the chances it will be noticed and accepted.

Some things already mentioned in this and a thread on MA (I admit I've probably missed some so if you notice one missed, please mention it again):
> A noobie orientation as done this year
> Some type of instruction for the less experienced ie AutoX-type event
> A reminder at any driving event whether on the Dragon or not. I know it was mentioned that some people heard this repeatedly, but I was on a couple of events where absolutely nothing was said.
> A friendly reminder to drivers seen crossing the lines

One thing I would like to propose is more discussion on the forums like MA, NAM, and each of the Club forums during the time leading up to the event. In previous years, I noticed lots of discussion about this subject prior to MOTD. The last two years there was less discussion. Prior to this year's event it was almost nonexistant on the forums I frequent.

Another suggestion: mention safe driving tips closer to the front of the Welcome Guide instead of further back.

As I said before, no one method is going to work. We will need several ways to present the information in order to reach the most people.

So, any other suggestions out there?

 

I have to disagree with this. While I don't know how much discussion on safety happened before prior events, I can say there were several threads which had endless posts saying "don't cross the yellow" and "don't overdrive" ... so much so it kinda got preachy sounding. This is my 1st one and I'm glad those warnings were there.

I really liked the "Don't cross the yellow" card being put in the welcome bags. i thought that was a fantastic idea!