General Questions

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I got a question - how do you get a custom avatar? I want a pic of my car for it.
 
DKX
I got a question - how do you get a custom avatar? I want a pic of my car for it.
Get 100 posts (without spamming) and be a member here for a month (I think) and you are entitled to a custom avatar. 👍
Just try searching for the answer next time, there are many threads (and even a sticky at the Site Feedback sub forum.) But it was good of you to ask here instead of making a new thread..... :)

Edit: Tree'd :grumpy:
 
I just wanted one of my car and I got it now.
 
DKX
I just wanted one of my car.
Which is irrelevant to the fact that you could have found the answer in the various ways you've been advised.
 
Something related to my earlier questions:

How are helium balloons filled? I don't know if I'll get hold of them for my gift, otherwise I'll have to fill them myself (is this even possible?), though I have no idea whether that is possible...
 
Through a helium filled tank.
helium_tank_med.jpg

Try looking for a party shop or something. Here in the US places like WalMart, Target, etc have them. A grocery store might have one also.
 
Something related to my earlier questions:

How are helium balloons filled? I don't know if I'll get hold of them for my gift, otherwise I'll have to fill them myself (is this even possible?), though I have no idea whether that is possible...
Supermarkets (or atleast Tesco) can inflate helium balloons for you, and I'm sure a party shop could easily.
 
When are your supposed to flash your high beams to pass someone? I've been told only on a two lane road but others tell me when ever you pass someone you should flash your lights so they know you are going past. This is something they never taught us in driver's ed.
 
I've never heard that, figure your turn signal would be enough.
 
My dad used to do that when I was a kid, but you don't see it much any more. Today it's used mostly to say "Please move over, I'm going faster than you."

That brings on a whole different problem with today's traffic, though, asking them to give way. Of course in today's cruise-control wars, nobody will. Most people don't even realize that the cruise control is not a lock; you can press the pedal and go a little faster to get out of the way, and the system will go back to your set speed afterwards. All by itself. Really!

Everybody's heard "Slower traffic keep right" but nobody thinks it means them. "I'm doing 5 over, so I'm not slow!" Well, it didn't say slow traffic, it said slower traffic, and if someone caught you from behind, then you're slower. Duh. It's not personal, it doesn't make you less of a human being, and it's not a reflection on your heritage or upbringing, nor does it call on anything to prove something to everyone else. If they caught you, move over and let them by. It ain't that big a deal! Really! They drive off, and you never see them again. Nobody thinks badly of you for it. You didn't lose, and it's not your job to "enforce" the speed limit and show everyone else how to be safe. If you're such a damn safe driver, why are your lights off when it's raining? (Idiot!)

But if you come up behind someone not paying attention, you should give a couple quick flashes to wake them up. Most people see it as a rude thing, like who the &$*@ does he think he is??!?!? It's not like that at all, but selfish drivers thinking of nothing but themselves and their makeup and their cheezburgers think you don't have the right to ask someone who's holding you up to please move over and let you pass. What does it hurt them, anyway?

BTW, doing the speed limit, or more, does not entitle you the "fast" lane. There's no such thing as a "fast" lane. On rural multi-lane, stay right except to pass. Simple. Easy rule. If you're camped in the left lane you're an obstacle. It's more dangerous to pass on the right than on the left, because the other driver's blind spot is larger. And again, you don't have anything to prove by being on the "fast" side. Lane changing is not dangerous, you don't have to pick a lane and stay there. (I've heard that as an excuse.)

Sorry, didn't mean to rant, but lane etiquette is perhaps the worst facet of driving in America these days, simply because it doesn't exist, and there's no reason for it other than poor (i.e. non-existant) training.

So, do you flash your lights when passing on a 2-lane? No, I don't think you should. Nor should you beep the horn. They used to do that, too. Again, nowadays it's deemed rude.
 
They had a huge problem here with Priuses when they first came out because they would cruise in the left lane going exactly 60 and everybody got mad at them. Of course the Priuses said that they should be wherever they wanted to be because they were going the speed limit and nobody should be going over. I guess the cops were pretty fed up too and just said that it was their job to police the roads and not people driving earth muffin mobiles.

Back to the helium topic, if you have a helium balloon in the car and you go around a corner really fast, to which side will it lean?
 
Back to the helium topic, if you have a helium balloon in the car and you go around a corner really fast, to which side will it lean?
Hmm.....neither, it will only appear to lean when it's actually just the car?
 
Well, the balloon has inertia too, doesn't it? So wouldn't it lean to the outside of the corner, regardless of whether or not it's helium filled?
 
When are your supposed to flash your high beams to pass someone?
Never heard of that.

Usually, if you’re on a road set up to do opposite-lane passes, you should have your regular headlights on anyway, so I wouldn’t expect visibility to be much of an issue.

Back to the helium topic, if you have a helium balloon in the car and you go around a corner really fast, to which side will it lean?
I suspect you already know the answer to this. ;) It’ll lean to the inside of the corner. Similarly, if you stop, it’ll lean back, and if you accelerate, it’ll lean forwards.
 
When are your supposed to flash your high beams to pass someone? I've been told only on a two lane road but others tell me when ever you pass someone you should flash your lights so they know you are going past. This is something they never taught us in driver's ed.

I've never heard that either except for when driving on the German Autobahns.
 
In my few ventures so far on the highway, I was told never to flash your lights unless you have to warn the person ahead of a problem with his car - mostly, that his own lights are out..
 
There is no way of knowing what a flash of the headlights mean.

Does it mean
  • I'm coming through
  • After you
  • You've just pulled out in front of me, you 🤬
  • Your lights aren't working
  • Your cars on fire
  • Just spotted someone you know coming the other way

Flashing the headlights should mean, "Hello, I'm here", but they are used for all the above so it now doesn't have a meaning.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, the reason I ask is that both the Cooper and the Blazer have "flash to pass systems" where you pull the light indicator towards to to flash your lights. I drive with my lights on all the time so I don't get squished buy some asshat in a lift Dodge Ram, but I still give my lights a flash when I pass someone on a two lane road and use my indicator when I go around.

On the highway I use my high beams to signal get over when I'm coming up on you because for whatever reason people from Ohio and Illinois think you can drive in the left PASSING lane at 65mph when the rest of us are doing 80mph. If you are being undertaken you are in the wrong lane.

Actually the lane discussion might make a good thread topic.
 
If you're camped in the left lane you're an obstacle from North Carolina.

I swear this is true. I used to commute a lot on an open stretch of I-95 through rural Maryland. I never saw a car from North Carolina that wasn't in the left lane, and most times, when I finally got around any gaggle of cars that was bunched up in the left lane, there was a car from North Carolina out front jamming it up.

On the subject of flashing your high beams for a pass, that was an older European tradition for passing on two-lane roads where you have to overtake in the oncoming lane. The passing driver would flash to the person being overtaken, who would edge onto the shoulder, and they would flash during the pass to indicate to oncoming drivers that they bloody well better edge onto the shoulder too, because someone is passing whether there is traffic or not. My parents are decent drivers but they told some horror stories about driving through northern Europe in the '60s.
 
Didn't know about the European thing, thanks Duke 👍.

I still find it odd the in my Blazer at least GM thought it's flash to pass system what awesome.
 
I much prefer that setup to the traditional American "squeeze the stalk to change from whatever to whatever" system. I can feel by the touch of a fingertip if my highs are on or off without taking my eyes off the road, and it's second nature to just flip forward or back as required. Plus it makes signaling to let people out a breeze.

Back on the European topic, my parents took a driving tour through northern Europe in the mid '60s. It took them a little while to realize that drivers would use that signal system and pass even though there was oncoming traffic. The car being overtaken would get half on the shoulder, the oncoming cars would get half on the shoulder, and the passing car would drive right up the middle, doorhandle to doorhandle. Scared them spitless the first couple times people pulled out into them.
 
Aaaaah, you guys want to hear about the Coroner's Corridors... :D They used to be quite common, but there's only 6 or 7 left in the UK now (for some reason)...

Essentially it's a wide road with one lane of traffic in each direction. But in the middle there's a third lane, which may be used by overtaking vehicles in either direction. Imagine the fun you could have with that... :D
 
Yeah, we do that all over America in our cities, where there's a center lane, not for passing but for left turns, from either side. People use it as a merge lane, a passing lane, to cheat to get to the next light if they're actually turning left there, etc. I've seen numerous instances of someone barreling down the center lane, looking over their shoulder for a spot to merge, all the while approaching a stopped vehicle waiting to turn left. Sometimes they don't make it, and it's messy.
 
Yeah, we do that all over America in our cities, where there's a center lane, not for passing but for left turns, from either side. People use it as a merge lane, a passing lane, to cheat to get to the next light if they're actually turning left there, etc. I've seen numerous instances of someone barreling down the center lane, looking over their shoulder for a spot to merge, all the while approaching a stopped vehicle waiting to turn left. Sometimes they don't make it, and it's messy.

Sounds messy, and definitely a recipe for disaster. I, thankfully, have not had the misfortune of seeing anyone speeding down what is essentially, a turn lane for both sides.
 
In my country, flashing headlights when overtaking, even in the highway, is very common, and nobody gets annoyed with it. A quick flash just to tell the guy ahead "I'm about to overtake".


I travel usually at night (less traffic, overall more competent drivers, kids sleeping) and I use it mostly when I'm about to overtake big trucks (it's "lorries" in english, isn't it?), not so much other cars.



EDIT - If I'm traveling with the bike, I flash ALWAYS, trucks and cars. I need to make sure they know I'm about to be at their side for a moment.
 
Driving in Boston, the "Flash the Headlights" system is more on the lines of "You're going too slow, get out of my way."

Frequently, there will be a group of cars in the left lane travelling near 80mph, with the guy at the back flashing his lights so he can speed through. Nevermind that there is no place for anyone to move right to allow for the pass.

Then again, there is a severe lack of etiquette with Massachusetts drivers, in general. Boston drivers are much more so.
 
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