How I learned about Honda's Collision Mitigation Braking System...

[Sac Arrow]

... and the meaning of life, all courtesy of my Uber driver last night.

Imagine that you are being driven to your office party by Dale Earnhardt Jr., minus the #8 Camaro, five point harness, nomex suit, helmet, and skill factor. Our man, I'll call him Sanjeet, not his real name, has never really appeared to grasp the concept that there are accelerator positions that are in between "on" and "off." Thank god, or rather Vishnu would probably be appropriate in this case, that he was driving a 2019 Honda Accord, and not a 700 hp Dodge Charger Hellcat.

I'm thinking it would be a terrible irony that I'm taking Uber to the party to avoid causing a fatality on the way back, only to become one on the way there. I was pondering the crash ratings of the Accord, and instinctively assuming the "brace" position in the rear seat has he changed lanes, unsure if that tactic was viable for a rear end collision, which was equally likely. And then there it was. Sanjeet mashed the accelerator to the floor, shot in to the fast lane, rounded the freeway curve and...

Even he acted horrified at the line of stopped traffic as alarms sounded, and the car went in to maximum braking mode automatically at the exact time of the alarm. Well, the system worked.

"Um, this is an office party that I don't really want to be there for, and that I'm way early as it is, so, you don't have to get there quickly on my account."

"Ha ha ha. But I'm trying to get you there early on my account. The more fares, the more quickly, the more in my account."

I mean you gotta love Uber. It's cheap enough that it's a viable mode of transportation when a Yellow Cab is out of the question, plus the cars tend not to smell like curry kitchens or Turkish whorehouses (although the former was the exception for tonight.) You push a button, it's a few minutes a way at most, you hop in, you hop out, no fiddling for payment, win win. But damn, there are those times...

 

[SoonerAviator]

Lol my Uber driver this morning had a similar tactic in a Lexus ES350. He seemed to enjoy seeing how close he could get to the car in front of him while running 120km/hr. I figured I’d be late to work because Ahmed was going to cause a pileup on the most heavily traveled highway in the UAE. The bad part is, if I drive myself, I’ve got to combat all of the Ahmeds in Ubers/Taxis which may be playing with fire even more.

 

[GRG55]

Not sure this is an exclusively Uber thing.
This seems a universal phenomenon in many parts of the world. Watching the nationals drive in the Persian Gulf when I used to live there, for example. At that time the tiny island Kingdom of Bahrain, with about 700,000 people, was racking up more than 100 collisions and an average of one fatality. Per day.

There seems a complete lack of any understanding of vehicle dynamics. I used to wonder if it had anything to do with an absence of any basic science/physics in the education curriculum.

 

[GRG55]

Lol my Uber driver this morning had a similar tactic in a Lexus ES350. He seemed to enjoy seeing how close he could get to the car in front of him while running 120km/hr. I figured I’d be late to work because Ahmed was going to cause a pileup on the most heavily traveled highway in the UAE. The bad part is, if I drive myself, I’ve got to combat all of the Ahmeds in Ubers/Taxis which may be playing with fire even more.

I think the Saudi drivers in their big Mercedes sedans or Land Cruisers are worse. Far, far worse.

 

[wsuffa]

Ever been in a NYC cab? "Time square we go fast"...

Or ridden with an Italian driver in Torino(Turin)? "Don't worry about that streetcar, we get off tracks before it hit us"...

 

[Matthew]

“Life is a journey, not a destination.”

 

[AKiss20]

Any situation where there is an economic incentive to go fast is going to encourage fast and/or dangerous driving. I’ve had way worse experiences with cabs than Uber/Lyft, both in terms of safe driving and customer service. Uber/Lyft drivers are driving their own cars so they might at least be a bit more cautious about banging it into other things.

 

[Zeldman]

One cab ride I remember was in Manilla.

This very early in the morning, still dark and the cab was a minivan. We were on the way to the airport. The driver turned into a barricaded and very dark street. He handed a guy a couple bills and the guy opened the gate. I grabbed the driver by the back of his neck and told him if he stops anywhere but the airport then I will kill him.

I mean that dropped the green flag. The driver floored it, and the poor gate keeper on the other end barely had enough time to get the gate open before we flew through and into a 5 lane road full of traffic.

He weaved and darted between cars, bicycles and busses that were going much slower that we were going. We arrived at the airport, still WFO, and the guys that open the cab doors and help with luggage were running for their lives. The driver locked up all four, no anti-skid here, slid to a stop then turned to us and asked if the ride was Ok....

My poor fiancé (now wife) was terrified. I mean to the point she could not talk. I am trying to get her to breath when the driver apologized about the short cut. All I could do at the time was laugh.!! I gave the driver a generous tip for the fun ride.

 

[asicer]

 

[SoonerAviator]

I think the Saudi drivers in their big Mercedes sedans or Land Cruisers are worse. Far, far worse.

Lol, well the places in Saudi I've been weren't too heavily populated so they didn't stand out too much. I do love how they ALL seem to drive Land Cruisers and they pretty much park them wherever they want and no one questions it. I think the issue in UAE (more-so in Dubai than Abu Dhabi) is that you have so many nationalities with markedly different driving styles/regulations/qualifications all in a fairly condensed area trying to "work it out" on the fly. The craziest of the bunch are the Zomato/Deliveroo guys on the 250cc motorcycles swinging across 4 lanes to deliver $30 worth of chicken tiki, lol. Death wish if I ever saw it.

 

[weilke]

Sanjeet, slow the fuuk down or I'll give you a 3-star review and curse you for your next reincarnation.




As I found out a few weeks ago, the autobrakes on the 2018 Accord work exceptionally well. They have however no effect on the reaction time and brakes of the 2001 Tahoe behind you:

 

[ChemGuy]

I think I had your guy a couple times as a cab driver in Tokyo last week. This on older guy, he was impressive. He made lanes appear where I, being a lowly foreigner, assumed only bicycles and rain water were allowed to go. Plus I had a couple lessons in the fine art of pushing pedestrians crossing the street out of the way using the front bumper of a Toyota Corolla.

 

[Weekend Warrior]

Why can't we find these fast Uber drivers? Every Uber we take I look out the back window, "Honey, is that glacier getting closer to us?"

 

[JOhnH]

In the years I have been taking Uber/Lyft I have had only two bad drivers. And I figure that using them as designated drivers has probably saved my life and/or driving record and insurance hikes, many times.

 

[Bill]

As I found out a few weeks ago, the autobrakes on the 2018 Accord work exceptionally well. They have however no effect on the reaction time and brakes of the 2001 Tahoe behind you:

View attachment 80935

Looks similar, except no autobrake. I stopped in time when traffic came to a sudden stop, ditz chick on cell phone didn't.

 

[genna]

This thread reminded me of this. Fun starts around 4min mark, but the first 4 minutes do set it up, so worth watching

I miss that car

I’ve been on a few “hold for dear life” taxi rides in the past. Seems like the closer we get to equator, the more entertaining the taxis are

 

[Zeldman]

One of my favorites.!!

When I was racing full time one of our favorite games was to try to scare each other while in a car. I quit full time in 1992 and drove my last race in '97. I have friends that to this day will not get in a car with me.

 

[wanttaja]

I've got an '18 Honda with the collision avoidance stuff. Have a hairpin uphill curve on the way home. Collision Mitigation System *really* doesn't like it when cars suddenly appear coming down the hill in the opposite direction. Most of the time, it just beeps and blinks the dashboard display. A couple of times, it's stabbed the brakes.

On the whole, though, I'm OK with it.

Ron Wanttaja

 

[Sac Arrow]

I've got an '18 Honda with the collision avoidance stuff. Have a hairpin uphill curve on the way home. Collision Mitigation System *really* doesn't like it when cars suddenly appear coming down the hill in the opposite direction. Most of the time, it just beeps and blinks the dashboard display. A couple of times, it's stabbed the brakes.

On the whole, though, I'm OK with it.

Ron Wanttaja

I never thought about it, but I can see how that might be a problem.

 

[Sac Arrow]

Sanjeet, slow the fuuk down or I'll give you a 3-star review and curse you for your next reincarnation.




As I found out a few weeks ago, the autobrakes on the 2018 Accord work exceptionally well. They have however no effect on the reaction time and brakes of the 2001 Tahoe behind you:

View attachment 80935

This is why when I am braking hard, I'm looking at what is happening behind me as much as I am what is in front of me. I don't want to brake any harder than necessary to get the job done.

 

[weilke]

This is why when I am braking hard, I'm looking at what is happening behind me as much as I am what is in front of me. I don't want to brake any harder than necessary to get the job done.

Well, in front of me were cars stopped at a traffic light. Not much you can do. 55mph speed limit with traffic lights 120,000 cars. Lots of bent metal.

 

[Sac Arrow]

Well, in front of me were cars stopped at a traffic light. Not much you can do. 55mph speed limit with traffic lights 120,000 cars. Lots of bent metal.

I wasn't faulting your actions, I agree you have little control over what is going on behind you.

 

[cessna182b]

... and the meaning of life, all courtesy of my Uber driver last night.

Imagine that you are being driven to your office party by Dale Earnhardt Jr., minus the #8 Camaro, five point harness, nomex suit, helmet, and skill factor. Our man, I'll call him Sanjeet, not his real name, has never really appeared to grasp the concept that there are accelerator positions that are in between "on" and "off." Thank god, or rather Vishnu would probably be appropriate in this case, that he was driving a 2019 Honda Accord, and not a 700 hp Dodge Charger Hellcat.

I'm thinking it would be a terrible irony that I'm taking Uber to the party to avoid causing a fatality on the way back, only to become one on the way there. I was pondering the crash ratings of the Accord, and instinctively assuming the "brace" position in the rear seat has he changed lanes, unsure if that tactic was viable for a rear end collision, which was equally likely. And then there it was. Sanjeet mashed the accelerator to the floor, shot in to the fast lane, rounded the freeway curve and...

Even he acted horrified at the line of stopped traffic as alarms sounded, and the car went in to maximum braking mode automatically at the exact time of the alarm. Well, the system worked.

"Um, this is an office party that I don't really want to be there for, and that I'm way early as it is, so, you don't have to get there quickly on my account."

"Ha ha ha. But I'm trying to get you there early on my account. The more fares, the more quickly, the more in my account."

I mean you gotta love Uber. It's cheap enough that it's a viable mode of transportation when a Yellow Cab is out of the question, plus the cars tend not to smell like curry kitchens or Turkish whorehouses (although the former was the exception for tonight.) You push a button, it's a few minutes a way at most, you hop in, you hop out, no fiddling for payment, win win. But damn, there are those times...

The wildest ride of my life was in a taxi in Taipei, Taiwan many years ago. This guy did everything crazy, including corners on two wheels. I suppose he had a similar objective to your Uber driver.

At the other end of the spectrum was the taxi ride (in the middle of the night) to the airport one time in New Delhi, India. The car was an old beater that hardly ran. The generator didn't work, so he was driving on
battery (lights off, of course). The ignition switch was hanging by it's wires - and every so often came apart - at which point the car stopped dead. The driver would grope around on the floor for the pieces - and then
put the switch back together (in the dark - he had no flashlight) - and the journey would resume. This happened in the middle of a busy intersection, with trucks and buses roaring by on all sides. I was sure I was
going to die (by the way - the taxi was painted black). However, after what seemed like an eternity, the driver managed to get the car running again, and we made it to the airport. What a relief!

Dave

 

[kyleb]

This thread reminded me of this. Fun starts around 4min mark, but the first 4 minutes do set it up, so worth watching

A friend of mine worked with her (Madonna's) father at GD back in the early '90's.

 

[cessna182b]

Another memorable ride was the time I hired a car and driver in Bali. In spite of repeated requests, this guy drove way too fast for conditions (narrow, twisty roads, not too much traffic - but lots of pedestrians and animals)
He finally did it - put us in the ditch. The ditch was narrow, and not too deep. Only the wheels on the left side went in - but he could not get out. Standing around wondering what to do, a crowd gathered. Suddenly, as if
a signal was given, the men present together picked up the car (a micro van) - and put it back on the road. Must be a common occurrence over there. So the journey continued - and having learned nothing from the
experience, the driver continued his wild driving. He was mad at the end when I refused to give him a tip.

Dave

 

[Sac Arrow]

What I've discovered is that the drivers in Southeast Asia are generally good drivers when it comes to heavy, slow traffic, but their skill falls apart when the roads open up and the speeds increase. The road trip from Hanoi to Haiphong was just scary, and the road embankment was littered with vehicles on their sides from dodging oncoming traffic in their lanes. Downtown Saigon may look hectic (and it is) but there are actually fairly few accidents all things considered.

The road trip from Siem Reap to Phnom Phenh (not my idea, long story) was horrendous. One of those "never again" ordeals.

 

[asicer]

This thread reminded me of this. Fun starts around 4min mark, but the first 4 minutes do set it up, so worth watching

So *that's* what life was like before ESC&TC.

 

[genna]

So *that's* what life was like before ESC&TC.

actually, e39 m5 had both and they were pretty intrusive. But you could turn them off completely

 

[asicer]

actually, e39 m5 had both and they were pretty intrusive. But you could turn them off completely

As opposed to many cars today where "off" only means "partially-off".

 

[charheep]

This thread reminded me of this. Fun starts around 4min mark, but the first 4 minutes do set it up, so worth watching

I miss that car

I’ve been on a few “hold for dear life” taxi rides in the past. Seems like the closer we get to equator, the more entertaining the taxis are

That, honestly, is one of my favorite cars, actors (not actress/singer at all), and great mini-movie. Just pick a different actress and it would be perfect.

 

[Ghery]

The only taxi ride where I've feared for my life was in Shanghai, many years ago. That driver was nuts (and had a hidden switch that ripped me off as the receipt was for significantly less than what the meter said).

The driver thinking there were only two positions for the throttle (wide open or closed) isn't anything new. I ran into that 30 years ago in a taxi out to NRT. A "bang-bang" controller is what it was to him.

 

[Matthew]

A co-worker and I, plus our boss, caught a cab from MDW to the convention center about 20+ years ago. Stop and go morning rush hour traffic and we probably averaged 40mph. We were all over the road and shoulder, but he got us there.

My buddy and I didn't need coffee after that trip. Later in the day ( a one day trip ), we got the return trip to the airport in evening rush hour traffic. It was the same thing - traffic was pretty much stopped, but that didn't keep us from still averaging what seemed like about 30 mph. The thing that really impressed me was seeing our exit coming up on the right, and we were in the far left (of about 4) lane. I thought there was no way we'd make it, but he shot us over just as that exit ramp came to the end of its lane.

Good times.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

"Um, this is an office party that I don't really want to be there for, and that I'm way early as it is, so, you don't have to get there quickly on my account."

"Ha ha ha. But I'm trying to get you there early on my account. The more fares, the more quickly, the more in my account."

"The lower review I give you, the less fares, the less in your account..."