With a couple million miles unner my belt I concluded, as any truck driver does, that most driving "situations" fall into a relatively few typical catagories. One that comes to mind is drivers accelerating onto a freeway to freeway speed but then slowing down for a bit then resuming freeway speed again. Though momentarily discombooberating it becomes expected and therefore tolerable. In fact when it doesn't happen it is surprising. I have noticed this particular behavior is not as prevalent as years ago and have concluded it is because the older pre-freeway drivers have died off. I never could unnerstan this catagory till I found myself doing it one time. Here's what I found. I had accelerated my ancient velocipede to freeway entrance speed (a harrowing experience), entered the freeway then, feeling that I had accomplished a good thing ie done a good job, just relaxed which of course meant my foot came off the throttle a bit. Finally realizing my mistake I speeded back up. With this insight I found much greater tolerance for the situation. Please realize that years ago a 200hp truck getting slowed down might take a mile to get back up to speed. Today they are running 600hp-700hp or more; just have to lean on the pedal a bit harder so the situation is much less intolerable. Ultimately with enough miles and years you become quite a student of the human nature and behavior of drivers particularly 4 wheelers to say nothing of the highway patrol. Over the years I became less and less perturbed when the various situations developed, learned to take em in stride and indeed to forget em within a minute or two. Literally. =============================================================== An above post mentioned accidents where the people just sat. Now I had one time read that it was found that passengers in airplane landing crashes often survived the wreck but not the aftermath. Careful observation showed that, for example, 150 survived the landing but only 20-30 evacuated the plane. The majority just sat there. I truly believe it is the same with freeway wrecks. They survived the crash, ie did a good job, now they could relax; stop thinking. Possible fatal error of course. Driver training does not stress, "get the hell outa here." It should! It all comes down to mental conditioning, either by formal instruction or by a self analysis involving the process "if such and such happens just what should I do?" Having a "correct thing to do" in mind increases the chance you will do it; that is the reaction is at the ready. Figuring it out at the moment doesn't make it ie may not be a viable timely option. Well I could go on but I believe the best thing is to be aware of and be alert for various typical situtions, note the typical behavior, expect it and then be content to go along with it maddening as it might be because you can't really correct it. You will be a safer driver because you will be mentally comfortable. And as vstech says; "if they want to pass, let em." Both of you will be more mentally comfortable. Regardless of speed or conditions or percieved excesses a mentally comfortable driver is a relatively safer driver. ======================================================== And of course I note here on this thread, as usual, it is always the "other guy" who is the lame brain. None of the above posters has ever made a single solitary driving mistake of any kind. Have you? :-)

We bought a 2004 Lexus ES330 new . We looked at Avalon and Camry before we bought. The ES330 is basically the same running gear and engine as the Avalon and the Camry. FWD 3.3 liter 6cyl. It was updated in '04 to 3.3 liters from the previous 3.0 liters (the ES330) The car is a great car, we have the Navigation also and it works reasonably well. Now the bad: while in Las Vegas this last weekend (1-28, 1-29-06) I was driving the car and stopped at a light. The brake pedal then slowly sunk to the floor! Whoa! says I, this ain't right! I pumped the pedal and the brake returned to a normal brake height. At the next light, guess what?... it sunk to the floor again! No brakes! I pumped it again a couple of times and the brake pedal returns to normal height. I does this 2- 3 times again on the way back to our lodging in Las Vegas. When I parked it in the parking space at our apt, I was able to make it go to the floor again with very little pressure on the brake pedal. We called Lexus of Las Vegas on Monday 1-30-06 and had them flatbed the car to the dealer for repairs. They at first told me it was a "bubble in the brake line and they "bled it out"...BS..there was no bubble, there was no loss of fluid, there was no repair. They said because they "couldn't duplicate the problem" they weren't authorized to change the master cyl. That we should just come pick it up and drive it until it looses it brakes again! I said .."NO WAY!!!!" Fix it , it's under warranty and it only has 17,000 miles on it. Well it turns out that Lexus won't let there service mgrs. make a decision on their own, but must be able to "duplicate the problem" in order to authorize a repair. My position was that the brakes had failed not once on Sunday, but several times and that anything over once was one time to many. I asked if the service manager would put his wife in a car that had the brake pedal go to the floor and tell her that he can't do anything unless he actually sees the brake pedal on the floor. ( He'll be sleeping on the couch for a while!) I told him I wasn't willing to see the brake pedal on the floor and my significant other on a stretcher being taken to a hospital because he couldn't "duplicate the failure" in his shop. I asked him if he had heard the term "intermittent failure" . He said yes, but his mantra was : I can't replace the part unless I can "dup......Blah , Blah , Blah" . We live in Los Angeles, the car's in Las Vegas, & so is my S.O. And nothing is fixed, NO loan car for 3 days. I then called the Lexus dealer in Van Nuys where we bought the car new (Keyes Lexus in Van Nuys Ca) and asked if they could intervene. I got the same answer: We can't do anything unless they can "Duplicate the failure" Then I tried to call the Lexus customer service line (1800 25-LEXUS) and there's no answer at 4:15 pm PST. I tried it 4 times , It just rings and rings and finally hangs up on you. ( I guess their cars only break before 4:15 PM ) Bottom line: You may think you're getting the best, but sometimes you don't get what you pay for. Today is Wednesday, 2-1-06 and the car has been at Las Vegas Lexus for 3 days, no repair, NO loan car. Refusal to tow it to our home so we can have it fixed in Los Angeles and ....A very Pi---- off customer. A customer who when we signed the purchase contract also was given a warranty.. and they are not living up to their obligations on the agreement we both entered into. So folks, like the housing market, so is the Vehicle market turning. Customer satisfaction is slowly going out the window. I hope the quality stays above water until Somebody out there cares enough to take care of the customer after the sale. If not, Toyota Motors USA will be joining GM and Ford, et al, in the slippery slide. By the way, I was in the automotive field in the 70's and 80's and saw the dismal products that were made in those two decades, so I left the business. I ran an automotive service center. I still am an automotive enthusiast and work on my own antique and classic vehicles. I am not afraid of the new technology and have a broad understanding of it including the Computerization of the automobile. BUT... I have a warranty.

Affordable ford able bale lade lad fad fade doable dare drab brad loaf foal for deaf leaf barf fade fed led lead load lead deal dole flab blade dale fab fable able lade ade fade fore rad doff And I know there are lots more, but that is enough. GLISTENING

With my one pickup I was frequently driving off with the gas cap on top of the topper. I had it survive home a time or two, once it dropped down and caught on the rear bumper, once I found it in the street, then I finally lost it for good. Same pickup carried a box of tools 125 miles, open. One of the socket sets (and an expensive one) with a couple screwdrivers and pliers on top. How it did it, I have no idea. I guess I was living right at the time. So I was pretty good until a year or two ago I was loading up at a motel and brought out something, set it down while I opened the back of the van. Had to go to the side of the van for something and sure enough, got distracted and backed into it while I was leaving. Heard the noise and thought at first my breaks were catching. Well in a way they were. Then it hit me. Got out and the owner of the motel started yelling that I had something behind me! DUH, yeah, I figured it out. When I managed gas stations people would drive off occasionally with the nozzle in the car. And they'd get upset when we gave them a bill for it. And one woman set the baby bucket on top of the car, got gas, came in and paid, and yep, got in, started up and put it in gear. I saw what was happening so I was on my way out the door when she put it in gear and yelled. And she was offended that I yelled at her. Sometimes you can't win.