Comment by hungmung | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hungmung | Hacker News Reader

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Drivers on their phones scare the living shit out of me. I've driven across America way too many times, and there are a lot of people on the interstate that are texting or just browsing the internet while they drive at full speed. My partner riding shotgun would count them but it became somewhat impractical after a while. There's a trope in my head now of teens/young-20's driving fucked up Altimas going 90mph+ down the interstate with their eyes down on their phones and not looking at what's in front of them at all. I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen one rear end a semi ala Jayne Mansfield by now, which is apparently becoming not uncommon.

Edit: forgot to add. I was one of the first vehicles to the scene of somebody who plowed head-on into a boulder while driving about 60mph. Killed 4 people. I was able to find the police report later and it turns out the driver was updating her Instagram in the moments leading up to the crash. That sort of thing leaves an impression on you when you see it first hand.

I drove-by about 5 minutes after an SUV had hit a deer and rolled over (possibly trying to avoid it). There was stuff from the car strewn all over the road, and 2 bodies lying prone in the ditch on the road side. The police were already there, trying to revive them.

Leaves an impression.

By the next day the road had been swept clean. I searched and searched for info on the crash online and in police reports. No info.

There's a subreddit called "NissanDrivers" that studies and proliferates the notion that drivers of Nissan's are uniquely bad, regardless of age, citing numerous data points. Namely:

* It's common to see Nissans in the wild with body damage

* It's culturally known or at least assumed that Nissan will finance a vehicle for basically anyone, no matter how bad their credit is

* Nissans regularly engage in aggressive driver behaviors and driving patterns

Why it is so many problematic drivers are attracted to Nissans (and other "budget" brands, like Kia and Hyundai which also feature regularly on the sub) seems to come down largely to... well, people who make good choices in life don't generally sign an 84-month loan that will end with them having spent $70,000 on a car that costed $27,000. There's an air of classism to the entire thing, however it's difficult to disagree with based on what's shown.

Obviously that's all extremely prone to confirmation bias and all manner of prejudices so to be clear, I'm not saying I agree, I'm just saying it's interesting how Nissan as a brand is so widely associated with poor people who allegedly make bad decisions, financial, and in their driving. It's also worth noting (and probably what's anchoring this impression is) that Nissans are, in spite of their awful financing, cheap. As are Kias and Hyandais, so more people own them at scale, and therefore more bad drivers also own them at scale. Once the narrative is in the wild, there's little that will arrest it from being "confirmed" by people and passed along as understood fact.

They also have a ton of bumper stickers, too.

It's not just Nissan drivers, and it's not just younger people, but younger people are definitely the most egregious. I do roll my eyes when they're in a Nissan missing the front bumper though

https://imgur.com/a/F6y0Sz3

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