Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[pcprogrammer]

Even if that happens to be when in a queue of slow moving traffic or, if the car behind is a safe distance?  That's just a fcuking inconsiderate, belligerent attitude..
Spray back from using wash wipe can reach quite a way behind.  No wonder there is so much gun crime in America.

Why? If you're in a slow moving queue why would the spray even get to you? Maybe some cars are different but my washers spray onto the windshield, not over the top of the car. What on earth do window washers have to do with gun crime? I've been driving for ~25 years and I have never once in my recollection gotten sprayed by someone else's windshield washers, if I did I didn't notice. Is it seriously that big of a problem? Having never encountered it it has never even occurred to me before this thread that someone could be bothered by it.

I have had the "burden" once in a while. At 120Km an hour the spray can reach quite a distance, but no big deal, click your own wipers and it is done with. No reason to get upset about it.

[vk6zgo]

Even if that happens to be when in a queue of slow moving traffic or, if the car behind is a safe distance?  That's just a fcuking inconsiderate, belligerent attitude..
Spray back from using wash wipe can reach quite a way behind.  No wonder there is so much gun crime in America.

Why? If you're in a slow moving queue why would the spray even get to you? Maybe some cars are different but my washers spray onto the windshield, not over the top of the car. What on earth do window washers have to do with gun crime? I've been driving for ~25 years and I have never once in my recollection gotten sprayed by someone else's windshield washers, if I did I didn't notice. Is it seriously that big of a problem? Having never encountered it it has never even occurred to me before this thread that someone could be bothered by it.

Back in the day, windscreen washers were adjustable, so they sprayed onto the screen properly.
Occasionally, you would see a car with incorrectly adjusted washers spraying wastefully into the air, but they were quite rare.

OK, they are affected by vehicle speed, but could be adjusted for the best compromise.
In any case, if you are travelling that fast, the driver behind shouldn't be tailgating you.

You probably have to use a smartphone "app" to adjust them these days, anyhow!

[Slartibartfast]

The problem is that people unused to them don't realise they are on, so in non-fog conditions, following traffic is confronted by this very bright red light.

That's hardly the fault of the feature that people don't know what the switch is for. Mine clearly lays out the purpose in the owner's manual.

You are the one in a thousand people who read the owner's manual?
It seems that many cars are left with this function on as default as they come out of the dealer.

From a german's point of view this dicussion is funny. Over here, fog lights are mandatory, and everybody learns at driving school that using them in non-foggy situations, or failing to use them in heavy fog, constitutes an infraction and leads to getting fined.

[Black Phoenix]

The problem is that people unused to them don't realise they are on, so in non-fog conditions, following traffic is confronted by this very bright red light.

That's hardly the fault of the feature that people don't know what the switch is for. Mine clearly lays out the purpose in the owner's manual.

You are the one in a thousand people who read the owner's manual?
It seems that many cars are left with this function on as default as they come out of the dealer.

From a german's point of view this dicussion is funny. Over here, fog lights are mandatory, and everybody learns at driving school that using them in non-foggy situations, or failing to use them in heavy fog, constitutes an infraction and leads to getting fined.

Same in Portugal and also in China (I had to to a small written test to convert my European Licence to the Chinese one). I suppose that the non use in conditions who don't warrant it is something that is universal around the world.

[rsjsouza]

Even if that happens to be when in a queue of slow moving traffic or, if the car behind is a safe distance?  That's just a fcuking inconsiderate, belligerent attitude..

Inconsiderate and belligerent? Yeah, my safety before your (in)convenience of being sprinkled.

Slow moving traffic does not cause the spray to reach that far back, unless the nozzles are completely out of wack (common in older cars) or there is a heavy front wind.

No wonder there is so much gun crime in America.

Looking at your reactions I think you are the one that, if given the opportunity, would be most bound to use a gun^* against someone when confronted with such situation. This makes you the problem, not me or "America".

^*Ok, given it is the UK, I could probably say knife instead of gun.

[vk6zgo]

From a german's point of view this dicussion is funny. Over here, fog lights are mandatory, and everybody learns at driving school that using them in non-foggy situations, or failing to use them in heavy fog, constitutes an infraction and leads to getting fined.

Most people know about front facing foglamps----the rear facing ones are a bit less well known.
A lot of things are self-evident in particular weather conditions, but nonsense in others.

In Australia, there has been a big push to drive on dipped beams during the day----"for safety".

In WA where I live, I did a simple test on a sunny day during a drive in the country.
There was no difference in visibility between the cars with dipped beams or headlights off.
Even in traffic, the visibiity is not improved.

Towards dusk, or during a very dark Winter's day, most people do put their headlights on.
Usually, fog only lasts a few hours when it occurs, so the habit of having foglamps, either front or rear is not ingrained.

[IDEngineer]

We see that "headlights on for safety" thing here in the USA too. Like many such things, it only works by exception. If only one or two cars have their headlights on in the daytime, they do indeed stand out. But if everyone has their lights on, things blur into a sea of random-ish lights and they sort of fade into the background of your awareness. True for auditory noise too, basically true for almost any sensory input. Your brain automatically masks the commonplace while seeking to filter down to the unusual and noteworthy. Probably an evolutionary survival trait.

So, ironically, to best optimize your own safety you should encourage others to NOT turn on their headlights - while you proceed to do so! Altruism only goes so far, after all.

[pcprogrammer]

Those idiot industrial designers that make things to tight, like on my Microsoft wireless mouse. The battery compartment is just a wee bit to small making it hard to remove and insert a battery. Had to use pliers just now to get the rechargeable one out of it

[tom66]

Had a flat a week ago ... could have turned into a blowout type situation

Er...

Forgive me, I couldn't think of the right word... the situation when the tyre comes off the rim because it loses pressure.   That's quite common with lowish profile wheels.  Then you have rim on tarmac, which probably means you need a replacement wheel even if you notice almost immediately.  You need to stop as soon as pressure is lost to be safe.

[vk6zgo]

We see that "headlights on for safety" thing here in the USA too. Like many such things, it only works by exception. If only one or two cars have their headlights on in the daytime, they do indeed stand out. But if everyone has their lights on, things blur into a sea of random-ish lights and they sort of fade into the background of your awareness. True for auditory noise too, basically true for almost any sensory input. Your brain automatically masks the commonplace while seeking to filter down to the unusual and noteworthy. Probably an evolutionary survival trait.

So, ironically, to best optimize your own safety you should encourage others to NOT turn on their headlights - while you proceed to do so! Altruism only goes so far, after all.

In WA, on the open road, I could see the sun reflecting off the windscreens at a longer distance than I could see if their lights were on.
I agree with motorbikes having their lights on, as they have a much smaller surface area for natural light to reflect from.

[PlainName]

In WA where I live, I did a simple test on a sunny day during a drive in the country.
There was no difference in visibility between the cars with dipped beams or headlights off.

I think there is a difference, but it's not measurable. The dipped beams don't add anything but they look different, like a green stripe on a yellow background. Or, in the UK here, a blue light amongst many white and red ones - you catch it out of the corner of your eye and notice it even though it's insignificant. A daylight running light used to be unusual enough to catch most people's attention (and is why bikes used to have them on). Now everyone has them the effect is reduced, but it's still there. I think it's the artificial light vs natural reflection thing.

Edit: Many years ago I had a bike onto which I fitted twin spotlights, for better illumination the single headlights then were pants). I had to dump them because cars were pulling out of side roads right in front of me! The visibility was obviously much better than with the single headlight, but to the waiting driver it would look like a car coming, and since a car is 6' or so wide they automatically saw me being much further away than I was. Unintended consequences and all that.

[PlainName]

On the subject of lights... walkers/runners with head-mounted torches. And cyclists with super-bright LEDs. Same issue as with fog lights - to the user they seem great, but everyone else is blinded by them.

[unknownparticle]

I think that's probably because bicycle lights fidget about with the riders movements, so the glare fluctuates, also of course, they don't have dip beam! 
For the benefit of American, and other countries that don't realise, daylight running lights became mandatory in the UK from 2011. I think, but could be wrong on this, some manufacturers just removed the headlight switch, so the headlights became the DRL's, others fitted, or had already fitted dedicated DRL's.
This was possibly an EU influenced law!!
Motorcycles are exempt, but a bike I bought new in 2018 has a permanent on headlight anyway!  I don't like this because it's a nuisance when you are working on the bike in the garage, especially at night, and the bl00dy headlamp is on!!   

[IDEngineer]

DRL's have been standard in the USA for some time now. Like anything that's universal, they've basically faded into the noise floor and don't provide the awareness that they're intended to. It's a constant game of one-upsmanship. I wonder how far this will go?

[vidarr]

I can't stand people that whistle. Also, people that eat with their mouth open and talk with food in their mouth.

[PlainName]

people that eat with their mouth open and talk with food in their mouth

<sweeps crumbs from keyboard>

[pcprogrammer]

I can't stand people that whistle.

  When I opened this thread for viewing I was whistling 

[Nominal Animal]

On the subject of lights... walkers/runners with head-mounted torches. And cyclists with super-bright LEDs. Same issue as with fog lights - to the user they seem great, but everyone else is blinded by them.

The bloody blinking ones are horrible!  If I'm tired, and they're the fast kind, I get sick.  Others get migraine.

[vidarr]

[/quote] When I opened this thread for viewing I was whistling 
[/quote]

LOL!

[IDEngineer]

People who whistle *while you're answering their question*.

[Nominal Animal]

People who whistle their esses are worse.  Hurts my hearing, those piercing high tones in there.

[TimFox]

People who whistle their esses are worse.  Hurts my hearing, those piercing high tones in there.

In the heyday of radio broadcasting, the National Broadcasting Company network published a list of preferred words to avoid sibilants (including that one) that would distort in microphones.
There were also announcers' tests to qualify for broadcast:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Announcer%27s_test
The last one listed there, from WFMT in Chicago, continues to show up during their holiday broadcasts.

[Circlotron]

^^ The old timey barber shop where you would be sitting there getting your hair cut and there would be an AM radio on the bench most often tuned to the races and nearly always it would be slightly off the station, causing all sorts of sibilance. 😵‍💫

[AndyBeez]

^^ The old timey barber shop where you would be sitting there getting your hair cut and there would be an AM radio on the bench most often tuned to the races and nearly always it would be slightly off the station, causing all sorts of sibilance. 😵‍💫

I think it's the law. Here in the UK it's always Talk Sport on AM/Medium wave. With DAB the signal to noise ratio falls off a cliff when the electric clippers start sparking EMI. At least the performance of the latest Manchester United soccer manager is always a good conversation starter - barbers are just so opinionated.

[pcprogrammer]

... barbers are just so opinionated.

And we are not