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The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

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Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#61

Post by kwhitefoot »

grandchild wrote: post #40
Schroedingersat wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't one of the new mercedes have four wheel steering, but it refuses to be active during parking unless you pay a subscription?

I don't know if this is true or not, but I beg you, don't post comments like this. It's a question, and you could've spent the extra minute of research to _actually find out_ and post that. This way we are left with negative value: We don't know any better, and instead are mentally burdened with speculation, that we have to actively work to not muddle up with what we know later on. You can do better!

It would be a poor discussion that never had any questions in it.

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#62

Post by egeozcan »

Cockbrand wrote: post #50
4wsn wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of my favorite things about living in Germany. I bought my current car in 2018; it doesn't have a single scratch. Back home I'd be lucky to go six months without some careless idiot damaging it.

It's in fact one of my least favorite things about living in Germany (not the pristine-ness, but the holiness GP mentioned). Cars are absolutely holy, many drivers absolutely freak out when you dare touching their car or take up precious road space with your unworthy bicycle. Traffic rules for cars are often mere recommendations, and breaking them goes unsanctioned. Prioritizing motorized traffic is a borderline reli…

People also don't hesitate to honk if you are driving with a bike, or even a car slowly. It has a fine of 10 Euros, so nobody cares (even the Police themselves) if you call the police for abusive honking.

Last week we were driving 43km/s on a road with 50km/s limit. The driver behind us drove 10cm away from our bumper for like 5 minutes, and even though our indicator was on he didn't calculate we will slow down even further to turn right, and made an emergency brake then honked like 10 seconds as he/she was driving away as fast as that car could.

To be fair, it's not remotely as bad as back in Istanbul (what a mess there!), but I expected more from Germany, a country in which people normally love sticking to the rules.

Sometimes I watch this channel to see I'm not the only regular victim of traffic abuse: https://www.youtube.com/c/EureVideosFahrn%C3%BCnftig

In a weird way, it calms me down to see others also having similar problems. Edit: Just opened the latest video and here's another one - https://youtu.be/8mUi2uOzXvs?t=543

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#63

Post by jstanley »

mattlondon wrote: post #54
paxys wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have found that across most of the world (including expensive "first world" countries in Europe) it is perfectly normal for cars to have random dings and bumps from everyday use. I had a tour guide in Italy who "nudged" the cars on either end while getting into a parking spot and no one thought twice about it. In the US it would have caused a mini riot. Over here for some reason it is socially unacceptable to have…

In the UK this would be deeply frowned upon. Front + Rear dashcams would be used to claim on insurance and report a "hit and run" accident to the police. I don't put it down to people trying to "make space", more down to incompetence IMO. At least in the UK cars will generally be parked with the handbrake ("emergency brake" in the US AIUI) engaged, meaning that the back wheels will not move, so "nudging" a car will o…

> A "little bump" can be enough to cause some expensive damage on modern cars.

But the point is it's only expensive because people insist on repairing minor cosmetic damage to factory condition.

If people just accepted that when they leave giant objects lying around in public then they're going to get scratched occasionally, it would be cheaper and easier for everyone.

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#64

Post by teh_klev »

seszett wrote: post #56
DocTomoe wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like the French system, only they push the other car forward with their car instead of requiring some random car pusher guy. And somehow that is legal (?) Just over the border in Germany there's a good chance of getting beaten to death if you attempt something like that. Cars are holy here.

I'm not sure where this myth comes from but in France, although it's not a crime to slightly bump the car in front or before by mistake while parking if there isn't much space, it would be very much frowned upon to do it with enough force to actually move the other cars. Using the handbrake while the car is parked is universal, and in most modern cars the handbrake activates automatically, so it would likely cause ac…

> It's also not uncommon for people to put their car in 1st gear on purpose when parked (in my experience, mostly older people who don't fully trust handbrakes)

Having been a Saab owner, a habit I can't break is leaving my car in reverse (my Volvo's reverse gear position is the same as Saab's) with the handbrake on (a fairly universal thing in the UK).

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#65

Post by throwaway0a5e »

paxys wrote: post #35
litoE wrote: post #34

Many years ago I visited Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the flat parts of the city center, people would parallel-park their cars and leave them in neutral (very few cars had automatic transmissions) and without setting the parking brake. When you arrived and found a parking spot, there would be a man that, for some standard tip, would push all the cars in front or behind you, one at a time, until they were all bumper to…

I have found that across most of the world (including expensive "first world" countries in Europe) it is perfectly normal for cars to have random dings and bumps from everyday use. I had a tour guide in Italy who "nudged" the cars on either end while getting into a parking spot and no one thought twice about it. In the US it would have caused a mini riot. Over here for some reason it is socially unacceptable to have…

Depends on the income level of the locality.

Where most of HN lives, yeah people go crazy over that crap.

Detroit PD would do their best not to laugh at you if you tried to get them to file a police report for a hit and run if "parking bump" was the nature of the hit. And insurance would probably try and stonewall you either way.

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#66

Post by DocTomoe »

seszett wrote: post #56
DocTomoe wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like the French system, only they push the other car forward with their car instead of requiring some random car pusher guy. And somehow that is legal (?) Just over the border in Germany there's a good chance of getting beaten to death if you attempt something like that. Cars are holy here.

I'm not sure where this myth comes from but in France, although it's not a crime to slightly bump the car in front or before by mistake while parking if there isn't much space, it would be very much frowned upon to do it with enough force to actually move the other cars. Using the handbrake while the car is parked is universal, and in most modern cars the handbrake activates automatically, so it would likely cause ac…

Hm, personally, I got warned about this by my French language teacher. And the fact that there are videos of this "bumper-parking" happening [1][2][3] made it believable. Just over the border, touching a car like that is not a crime - but an accident (and leaving from an accident site without contacting the owner of the other vehicle OR the police is a crime).

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkCyepivokQ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n51OdFlOi1o [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA09matde2Y

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#67

Post by wolframhempel »

mauvehaus wrote: post #16

Parallel parking just isn't hard enough to justify the expense and complexity (same thing, really) of adding this device to a car. This is a lot of gizmosity to solve a problem that can be solved with a couple hours of practice on a quiet street.

If it had multiple wheels or would allow you to turn the wheels 90deg so that you can slide sideways into a parking spot there might be a case for a system like that. I guess about half a cars length is needed as padding for a parking spot, so having a bumper to bumper system would unlock an extra 33% parking spaces which would be huge.

Unfortunately the system in the video still requires a significant bit of space.

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#68

Post by throwaway0a5e »

gambiting wrote: post #44
syrrim wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming everyone just bribes their way through the test?

I don't think that's right. In Poland the theoretical test is just as stupid as OP said, with a lot of "gotcha" questions designed specifically to catch you out, and yet people pass without bribery and then drive like bellends on the road. Having said that, people drive very aggressively and frequently are inconsiderate, but I'd say they absolutely know what the rules are - they just choose to ignore them because the…

In my US state (which is nationally renown for its authoritarianism) you only ever have "gotcha" questions for stupid stuff that doesn't actually matter on the road. Like "what is the maximum sentence someone with one DUI 366 days, but not more than 24mo ago can receive", as if that actually matters on the road. It would be a lot more palatable if it was some obscure questions about a 5-way intersection with a light only controlling a fraction of the streets or something about a rail crossing and a drawbridge.

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#69

Post by DocTomoe »

egeozcan wrote: post #62
Cockbrand wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's in fact one of my least favorite things about living in Germany (not the pristine-ness, but the holiness GP mentioned). Cars are absolutely holy, many drivers absolutely freak out when you dare touching their car or take up precious road space with your unworthy bicycle. Traffic rules for cars are often mere recommendations, and breaking them goes unsanctioned. Prioritizing motorized traffic is a borderline reli…

People also don't hesitate to honk if you are driving with a bike, or even a car slowly. It has a fine of 10 Euros, so nobody cares (even the Police themselves) if you call the police for abusive honking. Last week we were driving 43km/s on a road with 50km/s limit. The driver behind us drove 10cm away from our bumper for like 5 minutes, and even though our indicator was on he didn't calculate we will slow down even…

> People also don't hesitate to honk if you are driving with a bike, or even a car slowly.

The acoustic warning signal is meant to warn other traffic participants of imminent danger - which includes the intend to overtake (outside of towns). There is no fine for that.

> but I expected more from Germany, a country in which people normally love sticking to the rules.

Careful there: Your scenario does not exactly paint you as a hero. Driving deliberately slowly (you mentioned for "like 5 minutes") when higher speeds are possible (both from the street conditions and your vehicle's capabilities), if it hinders others from using legal use of the road (which includes driving at the speed limit), can be construed to be "Nötigung", which is a crime. (The other driver of course could be fined for the same as well)

Re: The “fifth wheel” parallel parking tool that never hit it big (2018)

#70

Post by throwaway0a5e »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #59
dsego wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know about russia, but in my country plenty of people driving without a license or with a suspended one. Also, no limit on how many times you can take the written exam, so someone maybe had to take it ten times, got lucky with the questions or memorised all intersections and passed. The more academic folk ace the written exam, but then struggle with the driving part. And when you fail the driving part, you don'…

Is there actually a strong correlation between what people intuitively think of as a good or bad driver and that driver's accident rate or accident severity?

Outside the obvious extremely bad drivers (old people who are practically blind, people who habitually text and drive, people who drive at huge speeds above other traffic even in traffic to dense to really be doing that effectively, etc), probably not.
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