u just hafta drive and assume no one sees ya.. period... thats how i drive here in south florida.. 'it's called defensive driving.. good luck ...

 

Nearly deceased, that's funny Gives dead pedal a new meaning

I know what you mean, people are too insulated and distracted. Its also been said that the quality and experience of driving family time and learning to talk, sit still, experience the moment and interact well, and cope with being bored/undistracted is being effected since so many kids are just plugged into watching DVDs or music players to distract them nowadays.

 

In an earlier post I mentioned that I did agree with "Beemer Guy" about being ignored. After reading more posts and paying a little more attention to what is actually happening on the road, I now find the situation more like harassment.

Consider this quote from glennaa11:
When I drove my Jeep (Wrangler soft top) I never had much trouble merging into traffic or passing or changing lanes, etc. With the Mini people are, seemingly, either speeding up or slowing down to purposefully impede my progress. This moring commuting to work on 87 in San Jose I actually made eye-contact with some while I was trying to change lanes, he smerked, sped up, and cut me off. I'd like to say this was an isolated incedent, but it wasn't. It's almost as if people imagine that us Mini owners are somehow entitled to to thier road... I guess I'm just going off on a rant. I also realize that I'm making some sweeping generalizations, even some prejudiced comments, but it still feels like a mild form of harassment.

Just one mans very very humble opinion And we all know what opinions are like

 

I agree, you get a fair share of haters, I had that in the BMW too though, I don't think its isolated to Minis. But some out there are just bullies and perhaps hate even more on such cute little things (You know it threatens their man-hood to let us ahead )

 

--No don't give in to the evil empire and buy an SUV. In a Hummer you'll still get cut off and hit, you just won't feel it when it happens.

Yes I drive a jet black with white roof and people can be pretty inconsiderate to our little cars. Sometimes I think all people can see is my roof racks and my antennae.

If I even think the person doesn't see me or if I am in their blind spot I either slow down or speed up so they can see me. The supercharger whine usually gets their attention especially if their window is down.

Sadly though I have noticed a lot of tailgating since I got my car. Some people say that the cars aren't really tailgating it just seems that way because we don't have a big trunk that extends past our rear window. I agree with some of that. When we're at a stop and I think the car behind me is too close I turn around and look. Usually the car is between 5 to 10 feet away from me. But in the mirror all you see is headlights and grill. Sometimes I look though and there really is a jerk tailgating me. In those cases my supercharger comes in real handy.

I love the way I can do the star trek thing on my rear view mirror. You know at the end of the show when they're looking at a planet and as they're blasting away from it the planet gets real small real fast on the screen? Yeah it's fun to make tailgaters shrink to nothing on my rear view mirror. "Engage numba 1!"

~pyratio

 

It's true! People ASSUME because the MINI is so small it's also going slow. I've seen people pull up to the road, wait 3-5 seconds before they proceed to pull out in front of me. It's then ME that looks like an idiot driver because I'm swerving to avoid them while they're looking at me like "why are you going so fast?" And I have a LY MCS, so it's not like they can't see me. I swear every time I have to use the horn that I'm going to get a louder horn put in, but I have yet to do so. I also get the stare from people when, like above, they're not paying attention and pace right at your rear bumper in the other lane for miles until I finally say screw it and do drive offensively...pun intended...and cut them off.

 

I hear ya...today, as I was turning a corner, a person pushing a bicysce stepped out in front of the car and called me an a$$ hole.... I don't think it's the car, I think it's other peoples' ignorance.... I don't dwell on it. I now I am a better driver than the ones I've had words with. Mikc

 

I guess most people are talking about the freeway. I avoid freeways as much as possible because they are boring. I haven't really noticed any difference between driving my Blazer and the Mini as far as how other drivers treat me. I have noticed that I have to watch the urge to pass cars on the ramps in the Mini though.

I also find that I have to watch the frustration level when I am ready to hit the accelerator but find myself trapped behind as other cars as they drop the anchor and deploy the parachute entering freeway ramps. If I'm behind SUVs it is like watching lumbering elephants wallowing along.

I drive the backroads as much as I can. There are a couple on my way to work. I find that other cars pull over when they see the Mini coming. I guess they know I am coming through one way or another.

 

Amen brotha!

 

Did you know that the US requires the LEAST amount of driver training of almost any developed country?

Also, I feel for you Nethack, I too live in the bay area, and the combination of "I'm late", "I'm more important than you", "I'm too distracted to pay attention", "I"m talking on the phone", "I"m eating my food", "I'm reading a frigging book or the paper", or "I'm just a bad driver" really gets me down. That's one of the things that pushed me into the hills from the flatlands. Most of the people who live up here are more attentive and engaged.

My wife calls the phenomina "the entitlement mentality" where everyone is just too self-absorbed to really pay attention or care about others....

Matt

 

I find people need to prove their supremacy around the mini. Today I was stopped at a light waiting to make a left turn when a mustang turning right across the front of my car got a little squirly.
The guy driving caught me eye and as he looked at my car he floored it. The stang' spun out beside me, almost hitting a car behind me.
I also had a 5 series trying to race me from a stoplight, he was behind me though trying to push. As soon as he could he pulled beside me and lurched back and forth.
How can the mini be so intimidating to these people?
I parked last Saturday outside the local bakery, I made sure to park where no-one else had to avoid scratches. When I came out, 5 minutes later I had a hummer on each side of my car. The a$$ on the drivers side was so close I couln't get into my car until he came back and moved.
I have pictures of that to post later.

Grrrrr.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=51070

 

Isn't this the truth. I learned to drive in Germany where the trainig and testing is rigorous. About equivalent to getting a pilots license in the States. People knew how to drive and how to use the road. They would pass left and move right and never weave in and out of traffic.

I had no concept of corner parking and lane clogging until I came to the States where this is the norm. Then when I talked to Americans about their driving they would say things like "I pay my taxes, I get to use the road," as if they are the only one out there.

 

It has nothing to do with the size of the car you drive but how bad the drivers have become. There is no more civility amoung fellow drivers. Road manners do not exist anymore.

It has been replaced by road rage, stop light running, stop sign running, passing on the right, swerveing thru traffic idiots of the road.

The best advice I can offer is to belive that as soon as you sit down in your MINI and start the engine that you become invisible to all others around you. Drive as though you can not be seen and noone knows you are there. Then you learn to anticipate what others will do before they can do it to you.

 

This isn't the nicest thing to do, but when I see someone following too close on a highway, I'll wait until that there's a good sized open space in front of me, drop into 4th (well, 'fake' 4th, I have a CVT) to slow down while letting the RPMs build (at this point the tailgater is usually about a half inch away from my bumper ), then in one motion, I turn on my rear fog (remember, in 2004s and earlier, the rear fogs look like brakes) and stomp on the gas. The tailgater slams on his brakes, I take off, and he becomes a lot smaller in my rearview mirror!

They usually quit tailgating after that!

-Paul!

 

Road Rage

 

No. Well... ok, maybe a little ! But it's mostly to keep them off of my butt. And in my defense, if possible, I'll usually simply just move over to another lane, especially if I'm in a left lane and there's space on the right. That's just good, old courtesy. But what gets me to pull my rear fog trick are things like, for example, when I'm in the right-most lane, there's other lanes of traffic open on the left, and the person behind me still insists on tailgating!

-Paul!

 

For some reason, some people either dislike the MINI or think small=slow, and they will do things around or to you they would not do with other cars.

So you have to driver either defensivley or offensivley a lot of time time, it's not good to take a nuetral position in a MINI with much traffic around.

 

Many of you are familiar with the once-common MINI bumper sticker that read "What are you compensating for?". That accessory was created for a small segment of the Corvette drivers out there. I'm sure he meant no harm. He was just dealing with a little inner turmoil.


Mac! Awesome observations! I could not agree more... lumbering elephants wallowing along... That's funny .

 

Crazy! I wouldn't have a car if I lived in seoul lol. Seoul is a crazy place to drive, I probably wouldn't survive driving there.

I personally haevn't had any trouble, except on a few occasions when they tried to swerve into my lane when I'm in their blindspot.

 

WOW ! I don't know what ya'll talkin' bout !!!!! I drive an Electric Blue and it never, ever happens to me!

The factory should have never eliminated that best of all colors!

 

How about adding an amber strobe light at thetop of a shorty antenna! John

 

I haven't had any problems with traffic pulling out or doing stupid things while in my MCS. In fact, it's been quite the opposite so far. If anything, it seems that people see me and purposefully wait until I go by, usually with smiles on their faces. I wish I could say the same about my Miata, I get cut off and ignored constantly while driving it.

 

Yup, I'm in total agreement. Many people seem to HATE being behind me, as if I'm going to slow them down -- even if my speed is being limited by another car in front of me, which they should plainly be able to see.

 

Well coming home from work on Friday on a very narrow and twisty back road a WRX was ignoring me and clogging up the corners but I managed to deal with it. The next three cars inline didn't ignore the Mini, they moved right over at wide spots and let me by. So I would say overall, no problem with other drivers ignoring the Mini.