Keeping your tank full can give your wheels better traction in the winter.Getty A driver at a B.C. gas station took off while still tethered the nozzle still in his car, the end of the hose tugged clear of the gas pump.He seems shocked when its pointed out to him, and who can blame him? A task we carry out hundreds of times without incident, until that one embarrassing time we dont.Unlike old movies would have you believe, gas pumps have for years now had a breakaway coupling where the hose is attached to the pump.The internet is littered with pictures of drivers obliviously driving with a hose dangling from their fuel tank, but there is little chance it caused any major damage.Richmond 5 and Bridgeport. @RichmondDrivers pic.twitter.com/dAuAymGUlz leaf nation (@SwaggaSingh) December 8, 2019That said, if you do it, you are responsible for any costs incurred if they manage to hunt you down. One exception is this fireball set off in New Jersey last year, though that state also has a law you cant pump your own gas.But wait! It could be worse! Check out this DIY-er from Kentucky!The clip shows a woman filling up a grocery bag with gas. Seems reasonable. I mean, who carries a jerry can with them on the regular?Always double bag your gas pic.twitter.com/gh10hyYI8V Rex Chapmanđđź (@RexChapman) December 11, 2019Things get a little sideways (surprise!) when she tries to lift it, so she does the only thing that makes any sense: she gets another bag to double-bag it. Like its a turkey or something. Oh, well. Running out of gas is never fun, so maybe we shouldnt judge. But wait. Shes in her car. At a gas stationWhat do you say, Judgy-Pantsers?Take Our Poll
Origin: Judgy-Pants: The Fill-‘Er-Up Edition
Judgy-Pants:
Judgy-Pants: Mowing Down a Cyclist Edition
Whether youre a driver, cyclist, or a pedestrian, we all share the road.Ernest Doroszuk / Postmedia Once again, a dashcam delivers.Toronto is awash in rising collisions between vehicles and both pedestrians and cyclists. All media is in (rare) agreement, reporting that police enforcement has tanked, putting more people at significant risk. City Hall appears to care. Appears. Drivers seem not to. The fact is we are hurting and killing each other and we have to stop.The latest piece of evidence is this viral clip. The video shows a Mercedes-Benz making a right turn, into a cyclist. Cyclist goes down, driver crosses over the median and carries on.Reports say the driver did come back and was charged with careless driving.A car rammed into a cyclist in Markham and it was all caught on video. Luckily the cyclist was not badly injured. The driver was arrested. #bikeTO #Markham #Toronto pic.twitter.com/8CMMUNRWHq blogTO (@blogTO) November 25, 2019Some say the cyclist should have dismounted, etc. because lets blame the person who was run over by an SUV. The cyclist did not suffer serious injuries.That driver was making a right turn onto a busy six-lane roadway. That driver was intent on looking for oncoming vehicles, and any pedestrian or cyclist would have lined up with their front A-pillar, and been partially if not totally hidden. Itâs why we have a solid white stop stripe at intersections â to keep sidewalks safe for those who use them. When cars sit in them, and drivers stay devoted on their own next move instead of those they are putting in peril, metal-to-flesh contact will continue to rise.So, whoâs to blame? Whatâs the ratio?Take Our Poll
Origin: Judgy-Pants: Mowing Down a Cyclist Edition
Judgy-Pants: The Press Release Edition
2020 Lincoln Corsair Grand TouringClayton Seams Before there is an article, before there is a picture, sometimes before there is even a car, somebody is making up words to tell us about it. Yknow, so that we can tell you.But in a world where marketings decided theres no such thing as too much, sometimes there really is. How many ways can you describe something? How many thesauruses can one writer burn through in a career?The answer is many. Too many, sometimes.Whats too much of a reach? You tell us. These are all real excerpts pulled from real press releases weve got from car companies, just to give you an idea of what were working with.Every vehicle has to be all things to all buyers. Some of them are even crafted instead of made to make certain. âCrafted by Alfa Romeo artisans at the Cassino plant in Italy, the award winning Giulia and Stelvio are testaments to Alfa Romeoâs perfect balance of engineering and emotion, delivering a premium midsize sports sedan and SUV for driving enthusiasts that stand out among the entire marketplace.âWe get it â itâs quiet.âSanctuary for the senses â As quietness is paramount, Lincoln designers and engineers obsessed over each detail to create a sanctuary for the senses in the all-new Corsair Grand Touring. Corsairâs electrified powertrain enhances its whisper-quiet cabin.â (For the record: a 2017 Lincoln Continental was probably the quietest (gas-powered) car Iâve ever driven.)Not sure what just passed you on the road? The new 2020 Fiat 500X has. âChrome dual-exhaust tips (to) complete its unmistakable road presence.â It also now comes in Rovente Red, which means âred.âThe Hyundai Vision T Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept reminds you that you can have it all, even if you have no idea itâs a car theyâre talking about. âWe pursue innovative solutions in design and add emotional value to our product experience through sensuous sportiness design language.âThe new McLaren Elva roadster sounds like a blast, though this line admittedly stood out, because in a world full of options, windshields are rarely one of them. âHelmets can be worn if preferred, but the form and sculpture of the upper cabin wraps around the driver and passenger to provide a secure environment. A fixed windscreen derivative of the car is also available for most markets as a factory
Origin: Judgy-Pants: The Press Release Edition
Judgy-Pants: The Train Edition
âThey had so many options,â says the title on %7B%22provider_name%22:%22reddit%22,%22provider_url%22:%22https:%5C/%5C/www.reddit.com%5C/%22,%22object_url%22:%22https:%5C/%5C/www.reddit.com%5C/r%5C/IdiotsInCars%5C/comments%5C/dv5us5%5C/they_had_so_many_options%5C/%22,%22html%22:%22%5Cn%20%20%20%20%5Cn%20%20%20%20%20%20They%20had%20so%20many%20options%20from%5Cn%20%20%20%20%20%20IdiotsInCars%5Cn%20%20%20%20%5Cn%20%20%20%20%5Cn%22,%22type%22:%22oembed%22,%22channels%22:%5B%22desktop%22,%22tablet%22,%22phone%22%5D%7D target=_blank rel=noopener>this recent reddit post. And they did. But letâs pick the video apart and figure out what those options actually were.A wide, main street in middle America â Kentucky, apparently â a quaint downtown with those deep, angled parking spots that make parking so easy. Perhaps too easy? Down the center of the street runs a set of train tracks. A locomotive crawling at about 15 km/h is slowly approaching when a motorist starts to back out. They had so many options from IdiotsInCars Itâs easy to call out the first of those âso many optionsâ: look before you back out, and wait for the streetcar to clear. Nope. Thatâs not going to happen. At least there is tons of room for the car to maneuver and go on its way. All the driver has to do is reverse, keep the car in its lane and head off. Nope. Perhaps spooked by a pedestrian, moving even slower than the train, perhaps worried about the lights now flashing on that streetcar. The lights warning that a car is sitting on the track for no discernible reason. Next option, maybe pull back into the parking spot, wait to do it again? Nope.The only thing that makes any sense, then, is to back all the way up on the tracks to the intersection behind. Worst option, of course.But this is a Judgy-Pants after all. What should have happened?Take Our Poll
Origin: Judgy-Pants: The Train Edition
Judgy-Pants: Tesla-Driver-Napping-on-Autopilot Edition
A screenshot from a video apparently of a driver asleep at the wheel of a Tesla on Autopilot.Breaking911 via Twitter Where to begin?The video now going viral shows a woman in the passenger seat of a Tesla as it hurtles down a highway, head thrown back, dead asleep, probably drooling. More disturbing, the driver is just as out of it, though heâs pitched forward toward the steering wheel. Oh, the freedom to go to your EDM Festival and just drive home blacked-out.Yes, Elon keeps telling us his misleadingly named âAutopilotâ is the catâs ass, and we nay-sayers should stop sprinkling on his parade. Yes, the technology exists for this to work, but most responsible brands know they canât yet divorce the driver from the controls, nor even â nudge-nudge, wink-wink â pretend to. âThe future is now, old manâ pic.twitter.com/eJIeDjo04G Breaking911 (@Breaking911) September 9, 2019Itâs one thing if that car was piloting itself down a barren stretch of road, endangering only itself if Droopy Driver hit some pedals in his sleep or the car itself makes a miscue, as has happened repeatedly, sometimes withfatal results. No, this car is in a sea of others, its special-ness blunted by the dreary fact that even Teslas have to share the road.But! Lots of blame to go around! Who shot this video? Another driver! As much as I enjoy the proof instead of a tall tale that can get more elastic with the retelling, this, too, is just not cool.Put on your Judgy-Pants!Whats your take on this nodding-off Tesla
Origin: Judgy-Pants: Tesla-Driver-Napping-on-Autopilot Edition
Put on Your Judgy-Pants: How to deal with car-litterers
Female arm throwing fruit waste out of car window.Getty This Judgy-Pants isnât about litterers. Anyone who throws their garbage outside of their car is disgusting, and we donât need to take a poll to figure that out. If you wish you could vote that littering is OK, you can make your own lonely poll of one.Nope, this Judgy-Pants is about the best way to deal with the litterers. Are we allowed to be harsh? The first video, which I could watch on repeat all morning, shows a driver tossing paper after paper out of the car window as a person with a broom and pan patiently sweeps it up. One after the other, Rude Dude just keeps tossing. I felt helplessly appalled until another man comes into frame, grabs the debris from the worker and stuffs it right back in the driverâs lap. Am I a horrible person to get schadenfreude from this? pic.twitter.com/FQIhEpNSqB Jay Arnold đłď¸âđ (@JadedCreative) July 26, 2019When the driver tries to make an indignant exit from his car â to, I dunno, fight? I guess? â our warrior slams the door shut with his foot. Twice. The fact the worker just keeps on cleaning makes me love the intervener even more. Heâs sticking up for the environment, and also for the worker.The second video is gross. Weâre repeatedly warned that we everything do now is probably being caught on camera. A slob in a parking garage found that out when he put a dirty diaper on the rear windshield of another car. That car had a rearview-mounted dashcam, which caught all the details. Are you kidding me? A loaded diaper? But onto our judgement for this day.How should we deal with
Origin: Put on Your Judgy-Pants: How to deal with car-litterers
Put on Your Judgy-Pants: A message to all 911 abusers
In this file photo, an ice crea truck is parked on King St. West in downtown Toronto.Peter Redman / National Post Just when you think people couldnât get any worse, they go and get worse.When people bothered by Amber Alerts started making headlines with their calls to 911, most of us shook our heads. Well, I hope most of us did. How a childâs safety â or life â doesnât trump disrupting your sleep, Iâll never know. Could the system use some tweaking? Sure. And changes to the American system indicate there are ways to make those tweaks without sacrificing their effectiveness.Amber Alerts that happen at night result in the same old walk of shame the next morning â police reporting call after call to 911 complaining. Last week hit a new low: Someone called 911 to report an ice cream truck. Hottest day of the year, and someone called emergency services about an ice cream truck. Sure, the theme song is the worldâs most annoying earworm, but dragging on an ice cream truck is like taking a kidâs hopes and dreams and setting them on fire. In 2018, a third of 911 calls made to Hamilton, Ontario police were non-emergencies. So what were they? Asking for the time, reporting a hacked Facebook account, assaulted by a âhumping dogâ, a weird noise from a light bulb, a cat in front of a house, a cold McDonaldâs meal, and asking for the hours of the Beer Store, among others. Perhaps these are all worthy questions, but theyâre obviously not emergencies. They may be funny, but the number of resources wasted to deal with this garbage is not.Angry, ignorant, or just thoughtless? Letâs judge how people misusing emergency services!Just because youre annoyed by an ice cream truck or an #AmberAlert, doesnt mean you should call 911. Whats your take on these 911 abusers lately? Check out the full story here: https://t.co/FLWMuhWFGS driving.ca (@drivingdotca) July 26,
Origin: Put on Your Judgy-Pants: A message to all 911 abusers
Put on Your Judgy-Pants: Vigilante parking enforcer redraws the lines
Street parking in a suburban neighbourhood.Getty Itâs the little things that keep us sane while we drive. People signaling their turns; a wave of thanks if you let them in; parking inside the lines.But letâs look at that last one a little more closely. If youâve ever circled a crowded city looking for a parking spot like a vulture seeks carrion, you know how irritating it is to find someone has managed to take up two spots by failing to calculate how many vehicles could fit. Without clearly delineated spots, parkers get increasingly random in their aim. Even with painted lines, some people just donât get it.Enter what some might call an âinspired soulâ who decided necessity was the mother of invention. Or at least the reason for grabbing a can of white spray paint. Someone in the Beaches area of Toronto took it upon themselves to help out the city, or their neighbours, or themselves. Who knows? According to the Toronto Star, they spray-painted two parking spot indicators along a stretch of curb that could have room for two cars, if you squint a little, and turn your head sideways. If either car hangs its butt or its nose out a foot, theyâll be blocking someoneâs driveway, from the looks of it, but other than that, two cars would fit.It may be hot out there, but pull on your Judgy-Pants anyway.Fed up with people hogging all the street parking, one Toronto resident decided to paint their own lines along the curbâbut are they really helping?See the full story: https://t.co/tHn8H7HepR driving.ca (@drivingdotca) July 10,
Origin: Put on Your Judgy-Pants: Vigilante parking enforcer redraws the lines
Judgy-Pants: Fourth-Grader-at-the-Wheel Edition
When I read the Peel Regional Police tweet over the long weekend, I presumed theyâd made a typo. They were reporting a collision between two cars, and noted one of the drivers âis 9-years-old.â Hmmmm. Mistake?Nope. It seems a 9-year-old asked their adult neighbour if they could drive said neighbourâs car. Of course the logical answer to that question is âyup!â Kiddo successfully reversed the car, but things went askew when they tried to maneuver forward. The youngster lost control (though, please, letâs not even pretend they ever had control in the first place) and crashed into another car in the neighbouring driveway.UPDATE: Not a typo 9-year-old asked an adult neighbour if they could operate the vehicle. Child was allowed to reverse the vehicle and when the child tried to pull it forward, the child lost control and struck another vehicle in the adjacent driveway. No injuries Peel Regional Police (@PeelPoliceMedia) June 30, 2019So many questions. Did the kid crash into their own familyâs car? If not, letâs imagine how peeved that other neighbour is going to be. Was beer involved? Were other kids playing in the vicinity? Can I listen in on the call to the insurance broker on this? Judgy-Pants for the middle schoolers! Take Our
Origin: Judgy-Pants: Fourth-Grader-at-the-Wheel Edition
Put on Your Judgy-Pants: A particular shade of green you’re waiting for?
A police truck pulls over a distracted driver in a Jeep in Burlington, Ontario in June 2019Halton Regional Police Most of us have done it. Mind wandering a little, a long light finally turns green, and weâre still sitting there, wondering what that plant is called or when the city moved that mailbox. Usually a terse blast of a horn behind you gets you moving.But these days, itâs more likely that stuck driver is checking their phone. Thatâs what happened with Constable Marc Taraso in Burlington, Ontario recently. He watched a driver sit at a green light for eleven seconds, apparently checking out a website. The officer was right beside the driver. Now, thatâs some engrossing website.The location is a side street coming into a major arterial route. Those lights can take some time to change, and Iâll guess our driver lives in the area and sits at that light frequently. We get a little bored and comfortable close to home. On my way into court this morning; this driver was stopped at Walkers/Thomas Alton; the driver was too busy reading the phone to notice they were sitting at a green light; for 11 seconds; with me directly beside them. Charged with #DistractedDriving fail to proceed green light pic.twitter.com/9t3NM66u6Z Cst. Marc Taraso (@MT9345) June 25, 2019However, heâs now busted with distracted driving, as well as failure to proceed. The distracted charge alone will cost our pokey driver $615, three demerits and a three-day licence suspension. As always, there are three sides to every story. Put on your
Origin: Put on Your Judgy-Pants: A particular shade of green you’re waiting for?
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