So, I come from a lifted Jeep with 32x11.50 tires, bumpers/blah/blah/blah. Basically big bad and ugly.

Now I have an '03 MCS, and I find myself constantly looking in the rear view mirror at the idiots behind me. I never had a problem with close calls of being rear ended. But I have to say that I've had more in the past three weeks of ownership, two of which i was out of town and the car was idle, than I have had in about 9 years of driving Jeeps daily.

Anybody else noticing this? I searched but didn't see any conclusive threads of this nature. I'm just wondering out loud really...

 

I usually come close to getting run over in parking lots at least once a week. It doesn't help that my car is lowered, but I think it's just because the car is so short.

 

scf
You have me a little worried. I am coming from an suv to a Mini and never thought about an increase in close calls. It makes sense that people are less wary of smaller cars. Guess we have to increase our defensive driving skills!

 

This is exactly why I bought a beater. I can't tell you how many times I have almost been run down. The thing is I got is a wagon and I have almost been run down in that too. People just don't pay attention at all while driving.

 

I think people are just idiot drivers in general and you just never noticed it before because it wasn't something you were worried about then. I have had all types of cars and have had close calls in all of them no matter what size. Actually the only 2 cars I have had accidents in I was rear ended 3 times, yep 3, in my Mazdaspeed Protege, and we got rear ended in my husbands Forester as well. People rear end semi trucks and those are a whole lot bigger than a Mini.

 

I am not sure how big "32x11.50 tires" are but they sound BIG.

Sometimes I have seen BIG Jeeps, trucks and Hummers and thought, "If I had one of those I wouldn't be scared of anybody."

Seems that way, doesn't it.

I always have my DRL's on! I come from motorcycling and one of the most important things to me is conspicuity - being seen - yet some people must, like with motorcycles, not be able to see MINIs because they are small. I can hear their thoughts now, "Oh look at the cute little toy car. I think I'll pull out in front of him because he can't be going very fast."

 

Yeah, I hear ya. Funny thing is an incident just this morning prompted me posting this.

I'm travelling in a 30mph zone, small town main street kind of setup. In NH it's the law to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. Well I see this one young girl walking to school every morning, by herself. She's obviously not one of the "cool kids", just making her way to school. I kinda feel for her, as that was me growing up. Always on the outside, looking in. Anyway...she's at the base of the crosswalk waiting for us idiot drivers to stop so she can cross. I stop at the crosswalk, a little harder than normal, but not aggressively. I watch in my mirror as the mazda suv locks 'em up. The young girl driving yelling at me as she does, meanwhile the toddler in the back seat finds his/herself now in the frontseat on top of the console between the seats. She got about a foot off of my bumper before completely stopping. The toddler makes a hasty retreat to the backseat. Now the driver looks over to the girl crossing the street, as do I. The pedestrian smiles at me and waves, as she crosses. Well, I smile back and wave. Then I look in the rear view mirror, and the driver is now gone from yelling at me to yelling at the girl to hurry up...move! Well, now you have my attention. I wait for the pedestrian to FULLY cross the street and exit the crosswalk, then look at the driver behind me in the mirror, and hesitate JUST enough to **** her off more. Sorry, I kinda took pleasure in that. Then I meander about my way.

I just don't understand what drives people sometimes. Is where you have to be THAT important that you don't strap your own kid in, or you take a chance on hitting another kid?!?! No, I think not.

The points made above certainly apply here, and I think that the size of the car comes into play here too. Hit the back of my jeep, and well your little euro-latte-suv is gonna crumple into nothing, and probably put a scratch in my rusted hulk of a rear bumper.

I digress, more of a rant really. I think it's time to slow down out there, too damned much of me first. How do I get off of this soapbox anyway?

 

Yep. In fact just last week my husband and I were out in my Countryman and it was a little drizzly outside. We stopped at a red light, next thing I know I am watching in horror in the rear view mirror some stupid person in an old POS car fishtailing back and forth b.c they somehow couldn't stop their car in the football field length of road that was between us. They didn't end up hitting us but even after all of the fishtailing they ended up going off to the side next to us. It shouldn't take a football field worth of road to stop if you are paying attention and going within the speed limit.

 

Get a third brake light pulsar, it really does get the attention of everyone

behind you.

 

This is a pretty cool product and I have one installed on both of the MINIs in the family:

http://gominigo.com/PULSAR.html

I can't guarantee that this product will stop you from getting hit but I feel better with it installed. Besides, it's cheap and easy to install. I put ours inside of a piece of heat shrink tubing just large enough to go around it and then shrunk it after wiring it in. That way, you can just stuff it into the space behind the third brake light and not worry about it shorting out.

Val

 

What color Mini did you buy? As you can see from the photo below I too downsized quite a bit, but I stick with colors that stick out. That said, I've almost been run down in the old truck, so take that for what it's worth. I have no idea how you miss a bright yellow F150.



Of course, my old MR2 was tiny, low and had a color that just blended. Many more close calls on that, but then again, my commute was 1.7 miles vs my 30 mile commute I have now.

 

I understand the troubles. My F-150, FX4 was on 35s with a little lift. I still has issues in it, more-so in the MINI but I know I am well protected, cars can be replaced, and my Pulsar gets their attention. Drive with one eye on the mirror and assume everyone else is dumb and out to get you. Sad fact, drivers have become lazier and less careful. Gotta look out for number 1, Me.

 

It is my belief, that every other driver on the road, barring the majority of other MINI drivers, their sole purpose, is to try and kill you.
Driving requires 101% of your attention, most seem to devote, at best, about 23%. They're either on their cell phone or on drugs or reading the paper, or playing a trumpet (really, I saw this). Good luck.

LIFE IS DANGEROUS .

 

Oh yea, and if you think drivers are out to kill you in your mini, you should try my "Nice Day Commuter Vehicle."

 

I picked up a dark silver version of the MCS, so yeah that comes into play as well. I'm really liking the pulsar, and it may be my next purchase. My nice day commuter is a '98 FLSTC, and even as loud and big as that bike is...I've planted my boot into a couple of truck beds that tried to occupy my space.

Thanks!

 

You da man I would have done the same thing too... maybe even "accidently" put it reverse and back up a few inches before slowly puttering off at the posted speed limit

 

I noticed this when I went from a full-size p/u to my first MINI back in '08. I was almost scared to drive it but then I started noticing my own driving habits when I was in my truck. Now I've never lived my life in a way to be intentionally rude so I don't assume everyone else is, but the fact is if you're in a truck you can see over and/or around almost everything (especially small cars). We all know that MINI's handle more like motorcycles than cars, off the line quicker and stop shorter.

I think the typical truck/jeep/suv driver doesn't realize how close they follow because they're looking 3 or 4 cars ahead as well as or instead of your rearend. Believe me when I say almost everyone in Nashville drives a Suburban or truck of some sort and they're always in my backseat.

 

Get a pulsar 3rd break light thing. I added one to my car. As soon as I hit the break the light flashes and people backoff real quick.

It goes to what I have always suspected. Humans are scared of blinking lights.

 

Is it just me or does the rear view mirror seem to pull everything in closer as if it's curved or something. For the first few days I thought everyone was riding my butt but on looking in the side view mirrors or back I'd see they were a normal distance behind.

Also, getting used to the rear of your own car being right behind you as opposed to 10-12 feet behind you takes some getting used to. I had the extended cab plus the bed of my truck behind me so cars were a long way behind me, but still the normal distance behind my rear bumper.

 

I worry less about being rear ended than being sideswiped. I've had many many people trying to lane change through me.

 

Dont get me started on my pet peeve, a lot of these close calls are from idiots on a cell phone, it is amazing how stupid people become with a cell phone attached to their ear...

 

Coming from riding motorcycles I keep the same truth in mind I learned back: "Ride as if everyone is out to kill you, because they are." I always have an eye on my mirror and know exactly what is happening behind me.

Now, in my MINI, it feels ENORMOUS compared to straddling a CBR, and I have no fear of being rear ended other than knowing I'd hate to see my boot all banged up. I brake check tailgaters all the time. Last week I kept having someone crawl up my *** at every red light, many on inclines. After politely flashing my brake lights the first few times, I gave up and put it in Reverse. The white lights helped him clue in.

 

I have been driving for 11 years now and every signal one of my vehicles(87 Ford Bronco 2, 94 GMC Sonoma, 04 Nissan Sentra Spec V, 93 Nissan Sentra, 07 MINI Cooper S, and 93 BMW 525iT) I have people almost hit me, pull out in front of me, and generally drive like the have their head permanetly attached to their ***. I don't believe size of vehicle or type of vehicle matters, people are just going to do stuff regardless. I am an aggresive driver but since buying this BMW just over a week ago and not being able to drive that fast I really have learned how to calm down a lot and let things happen. The problem with that though is that people have this "I am the most important person on the face of the planet" mentality and I think that is what makes people do some of the things that they do. Next to just complete lack of ability to drive.


I wish it cost more to get a drivers license. I also wish you had to have a professional driving school certificate to recieve your licsense(not racing school but a certified school with a state or federal approved cericulm). I also wish that every 5 to 10 years you had to requalify for your license not just renew it. But sadly we live some where people would be up in arms if you took away their ability to drive.

rant/

 

Short? The MINI isn't short. A Lotus Elise is short. A Porsche 914 is short. A Miata is short. Not the MINI.


Colors don't matter. I owned a BRIGHT SCREAMING YELLOW Honda CRX for many years. It got hit at least six times, and every single person who it it told me that they didn't see it. (Perhaps so, but you would have to perform a recto-cranial extraction and actually look around to see the car, idiot!)

I was ranting about one of the collisions, and another person on the same board mentioned that they drove a lifted jeep 4x4 with monster tires, tons of metal, painted bright orange where the rust wasn't taking over. Pretty much the ultimate "I don't care" car. They were hit multiple times, once hard enough for the other driver to be taken to the hospital. That one was hard enough to dent one of his steel wheels, but not to dent it enough to let the air out of the tire.

Colors don't matter, size doesn't matter. People paying attention is what matters, and too many people don't!

 

That is what I love about the BMW I have. If someone hits oh well.