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Comment by lamontcg | Hacker News Reader

> wealthy (probably better educated) drivers.

You mean drivers like the ones behind the wheel of all the BMWs and Audis that cut me off with no turn signals, speed, make aggressive lane changes, tailgate, and generally act like giant douches because a simple traffic ticket is nothing to their pocketbook while their time == money?

Those people are going to be a hell of a lot safer behind the wheel of an autonomous (level 4) vehicle where they can be on the phone and their laptop as the vehicle obeys the speed limits and safe following distance.

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Anecdotally I have a lot more near-incidents with 4WDs and little hatchback getabouts. In my experience the 4WDs have been distracted or drifting outside their lane, and the little getabouts have been tailgating and driving aggressively. Having "P" plates (1) also raises the chances massively.

Could just be the numbers of those kinds of cars in my area though.

Generally I feel that a douche can drive any type of car, and I try to drive in fear like everyone else on the road is a drunk prison escapee.

(1) provisional licence holders - new drivers (and also people who have lost their licence) have to display "P" plates for a year here (Australia).

I actually agree that douches drive any kind of car. I singled out BMWs and Audis because the prior post was claiming that highly educated/wealthy drivers would be 'better'.

I've seen jalopies driven like someone has been up on speed for 4 days straight.

Or the drivers in cheap sensible cars that are terrified of merging onto the freeway faster than 40 mph.

And the distracted drivers who realize they're about to miss their exit so they hammer on the brakes and put on their turn signal and completely fail to match speeds.

Ricers with after market exhaust are another kind of car that usually drives way too fast and aggressive compared to how their lowered suspension actually performs.

The people in road tanks who seem to split the difference between terrified and aggressive and expect you to just get out of their way because they're bigger.

I'm probably missing entire swaths of shitty drivers that I can't think of right now because my blood sugar is a bit low.

I find that drivers who fail to keep right except when passing are the leading cause of 'aggressive' and 'unusual' passing conditions.

Because the aggressive drivers behind them aren't responsible for their own actions in rage passing left lane hogs?

Somehow I manage to consistently undertake people who are going slow in the left lane safely. Its not that hard.

> because a simple traffic ticket is nothing to their pocketbook

Finland has a system where a traffic ticket is a certain percentage of your monthly income. For example, running a red light is typically fined for 25% of your monthly income.

He said less wealthy, better educated drivers.

Pretty certain he meant it the way I quoted it.

Ah it now makes sense, I did ask him to clarify but I just parsed in my brain when reading your reply he meant fewer wealthy (better educated drivers) as opposed to less wealthy meaning not as wealthy. Thanks for your help.

I read it as less wealthy meaning not as wealthy as well. Funny how ambiguous some sentences can be.

Well it's really that he used the wrong word. "Less wealthy drivers" can't correctly refer to the number of drivers.

Stop being so self righteous. Do you own a BMW or Audi? I do, and I'm totally polite driving mine. Also, when you have a car that handles and responds better you tend to drive it harder and you forget that everyone else is in some inferior product.

> when you have a car that handles and responds better you tend to drive it harder and you forget that everyone else is in some inferior product.

You can buy traction control, ABS, better suspension, steering, better tires, etc. None of that will make the idiot behind the wheel any better, although it may lead to overconfidence.

Thanks for making my point for me though.

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