Cruising with the Billman at BOTD
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Joined: Apr 2004
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At all driver meetings, I tell everyone to concentrate on the white line and don't even touch the yellow, not even a little.
The end result is no one ever crosses the far yellow, but touches the close yellow just a little.
If you go in with the mentality of not touching the yellow at all, you will be a better driver. And you surely will not cross it.
We all touch it now and then, but we should all adhere to "never touch it".
I also stress that I do not want a "keep up with so and so" trend to start. This is not a contest, and anyone turning it into one is asking for trouble.
We are all here to enjoy our cars, and learn at our own own pace.
The end result is no one ever crosses the far yellow, but touches the close yellow just a little.
If you go in with the mentality of not touching the yellow at all, you will be a better driver. And you surely will not cross it.
We all touch it now and then, but we should all adhere to "never touch it".
I also stress that I do not want a "keep up with so and so" trend to start. This is not a contest, and anyone turning it into one is asking for trouble.
We are all here to enjoy our cars, and learn at our own own pace.
Billman
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Joined: Apr 2004
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I have neve met anyone who says "stay off the double yellow lines" who actually spends any amount of time driving mountain roads. And if they do happen to actually drive, they are very guilty of crossing yellow and white lines on a regular basis.
Good driving, you are in no way putting anyone in danger.
Good driving, you are in no way putting anyone in danger.
Serious?
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 5,651
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From: Mt. ________
I agree there is no danger here, however...by keeping your mind on the yellow and the mentality not to touch it, it will keep you from driving beyond your limits. If you feel the need to cross it to complete a turn, the FACT is you are driving beyond you limits.
Rules make us adults, and safer ones.
Rules make us adults, and safer ones.
As I mentioned, I completely agree that there is no real reason to use any of the other lane, but there are many parts of any mountain road where it can and often is crossed and it is perfectly safe to do so. I won't go into detail as I don't advocate anyone doing this, but it just drives me crazy listening to people that go for a cruise every few months and pretend like they know what they are talking about and calling people who are perfectly safe drivers.
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Joined: Apr 2004
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Originally Posted by Billman250' timestamp='1366759824' post='22494296
I agree there is no danger here, however...by keeping your mind on the yellow and the mentality not to touch it, it will keep you from driving beyond your limits. If you feel the need to cross it to complete a turn, the FACT is you are driving beyond you limits.
Rules make us adults, and safer ones.
Rules make us adults, and safer ones.
As I mentioned, I completely agree that there is no real reason to use any of the other lane, but there are many parts of any mountain road where it can and often is crossed and it is perfectly safe to do so. I won't go into detail as I don't advocate anyone doing this, but it just drives me crazy listening to people that go for a cruise every few months and pretend like they know what they are talking about and calling people who are perfectly safe drivers.
Joined: Jan 2011
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From: Mt. ________
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 12,208
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From: Atlanta, Ga
I agree there is no danger here, however...by keeping your mind on the yellow and the mentality not to touch it, it will keep you from driving beyond your limits. If you feel the need to cross it to complete a turn, the FACT is you are driving beyond you limits.
Rules make us adults, and safer ones.
Rules make us adults, and safer ones.
Everyone needs to be safe
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 29,803
Likes: 1,258
From: Here, naturally.
I don't want to pile on, but if you feel that you must cross the double yellow to complete a turn, you're driving beyond your skill level. There are people here who do amazing things in S2000's who might touch the near-side yellow but never cross both lines. I'm not sure how much (if any) experience you have on the Dragon, but I'm willing to bet it's not much. The incident of coming into a corner and finding a crotch-rocket rider's head across the yellow as he leans into a turn makes a "never cross the yellow" believer out of someone pretty quickly.
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From: Michigan
Originally Posted by andrewhake' timestamp='1366762882' post='22494422
[quote name='zdave87' timestamp='1366762810' post='22494420']
Outside of debris/sand/oil etc on the right side of the road, there is no focking excuse for crossing the double yellows. If you do that, you are not in control of your car.
Outside of debris/sand/oil etc on the right side of the road, there is no focking excuse for crossing the double yellows. If you do that, you are not in control of your car.
[/quote]
Exactly.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Dec 2008
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From: Suffolk County
What a mess that has been started here. Haha
We all agree that crossing the double yellow is bad!!!
I believe this thread has reached it's boiling point.
As the OP, I'm requesting this thread be locked. We've all gotten our point across prior to it getting real heated.
We all agree that crossing the double yellow is bad!!!
I believe this thread has reached it's boiling point.
As the OP, I'm requesting this thread be locked. We've all gotten our point across prior to it getting real heated.
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 115
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As someone who grew up driving mountain roads (hit up back roads around Leicester and Marshall NC if you're ever in WNC - Marshall, especially has some freaking sweet switchbacks), I'd like to counter the sentiment that it's common for people to cross the double yellow. I have seen many do it, yes, but they're (I assume) distracted or drunk. I never saw any indication they were deliberately doing so. Also, key thing here, they're not driving anything remotely spiritedly. When I was driving my Prelude on said roads, I was always extremely cautious to stay in my lane. Similarly now that I have an S. I've done bonsai runs up roads that I know like the back of my hand, and I'm still surprised from time to time - "Oh hello giant lifted truck; I guess I forgot this is a completely blind corner around a boulder." You just don't think about it until it's too late. If I wasn't being overly cautious and giving myself room, I could have hit him, or jerked back into my lane and lost control.
We saw a perfect example of the latter during the Hilltops and Hollers run. Someone was rounding a corner at moderate speed, saw a truck drifting slightly into their lane, they swerved to the right, then back due to the impending guardrail. His S fishtailed twice before he caught it.
I don't think you'll find many supporters for driving into the other lane. It's really just not worth it. Yes, you can go faster by hitting every apex. Public roads are not race tracks. Enjoy driving them to the safe limit, and go to a track if you want to use the whole road.
We saw a perfect example of the latter during the Hilltops and Hollers run. Someone was rounding a corner at moderate speed, saw a truck drifting slightly into their lane, they swerved to the right, then back due to the impending guardrail. His S fishtailed twice before he caught it.
I don't think you'll find many supporters for driving into the other lane. It's really just not worth it. Yes, you can go faster by hitting every apex. Public roads are not race tracks. Enjoy driving them to the safe limit, and go to a track if you want to use the whole road.