No, not mind readers...

I was driving home yesterday and had occasion to pass a few cars without any particular aggression and without cutting anyone off. I returned to the right lane and started to exit the highway when I see a flash of color in my mirror and little side mirrors that I put in to help with the blind spot.

Apparently the driver of one of the cars I passed felt he needed to show me something and was passing me in the break-down lane and cut me off as I moved toward the exit lane.

I'm afraid I didn't take it very well - should have just let him and his micro-sized member go ahead and be done with it. Instead I caught up to him and spanked him in the slalom of turns leading to the next light, but not before my ESP spanked me back to reality on the last sweeper.

Soon enough the other jerk came along and skulked away without any more shows.

When I went back today I found there was a fine coating of sand where I was trying to pull .9 G's. That would account for why the ESP kicked in and shut me down. It made me look like I was a real a$$ who knew how to drive instead of a real a$$ going across the road into the guard rail.

It was a strange feeling when the car shut down the power to the engine and braked, perfectly correcting the skid and leaving me exactly where I wanted to be. Lesson learned.

 

Scary story, ppro! But I'm glad you didn't get humiliated or worse get into an accident. Remember to play it cool!!! What I do is as soon as I sit down in a car, I take a deep breath, tell myself, "I am going to drive calmly and I am never going to lose my calm because of bad drivers, impatient drivers, or people driving faster than me." The technique has never failed me.

The ESP has saved me once already from going around a turn too fast. I agree it is an odd feeling, but it makes you feel like you can do anything!

 

Well I thought the passage in the manual I am always thumping, on the subject of ESP, was quite eloquent:

"ESP cannot prevent the natural laws of physics from

acting on the vehicle, nor can it increase the traction

afforded. The ESP cannot prevent accidents, including
those resulting from excessive speed in turns, or
hydroplaning. Only a safe, attentive, and skillful
driver can prevent accidents. The capabilities of an
ESP-equipped vehicle must never be exploited in a
reckless or dangerous manner which could jeopardize
the user’s safety or the safety of others."

What occured to me was how close to the edge I had gone and only the thinnest of lines separated me from disaster. It definitely made me realize I can't do anything - there are limits.

 

Mine pissed me off before, some guy is on a side street, trying to get on the road I'm on. The opposite side (that he is trying to get on) is dead stop traffic and this guy is halfway out into my side, obviously waiting to cross. I slow down, and try to go around him, and he decides to move up, completely blocking my lane and yells out his window that he has the right of way (?!) I hit the brakes so I don't T-bone him, yell something obscene, and when I take off.... boom, traction control's lovely bog. It just makes our car look like a slow POS in situations like that and makes the driver look stupid. I can't stand it when I want (or really need) to just take off without my computer telling me no. It leaves me dissatisfied when I want the tires to be able to spin (not neccesarily WOT spinning) for more than 3 feet. I really feel like this is the reason most people run 15's in our cars, it really interferes more than I would ever want it to.

 

I made me look stupid in the situation I described. The car saved my a$$. I'm not sure there's much to be gained once traction is lost. From a start, I think spinning tires just shortens the life of the tire and doesn't get the car moving.

On corners, I do like a controlled slide so there I think there can be a case for turning ESP off. But this car is still new to me so I have been leaving it on to keep myself honest.

If I had been running with it off during this little episode, I would have gone sideways across the sandy spot, caught again on clean pavement (in the wrong lane), probably kept on sliding, right down into a deep ditch, probably rolling in the process. That's assuming I didn't hit someone head-on coming at me in the lane I would have slid through.

I deserved the spanking that the ESP gave me.

Does that make me a masochist?