off road etiquette

[highdesertranger]

sorry,  my little rant.

I have noticed an ever increasing number of people that have no clue as to the proper etiquette of off road driving.  this rude behavior really shows it's ugly head at the RTR. so I am going to enlighten everyone about certain rules of the off road.

first and foremost unless it's a life threatening  emergency,  driving off road is NOT your very own private Baja 500.
so with that in mind.  if you feel so entitled that you think you can dust out someone's camp PLEASE STAY ON PAVEMENT.
the rule is NO DUST.
1.  if you are making dust driving past someone's camp you are driving to fast.  slow down.  it doesn't matter how slow you have to go.  remember that last part,  IT DOES'T MATTER HOW SLOW YOU HAVE TO GO.
2.  same thing applies to someone's house.
3.  same thing applies to farmers fields when crops are present.
4.  when you are off road and another vehicle is approaching both vehicles need to slow down so there is no dust.  blowing by someone and leaving them in a cloud of dust is beyond rude.

rant over,  have a pleasant day.

highdesertranger

 

[MrNoodly]

Other bit of off-road etiquette: When approaching another vehicle on a narrow road, the rule is NOT that the most bad-ass vehicle (in the mind of its owner) has the right of way and therefore doesn't need to move. You BOTH move as far to the right as possible.

 

[cyndi]

Does the vehicle going uphill always have the right of way? People don't seem to know this is the case on regular streets.

 

[highdesertranger]

when driving off road the vehicle going uphill has the right-of-way. highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

Much too often many especially in low traction conditions are coming down to fast and pretty much out of control with little or no knowledge of the right-of-way just trying to stay on the road. Being right but dead is not really a good option. Waiting a few seconds at wide spots to make sure it is clear, horns in blind spots and flashing your lights to signal others it is safe to proceed are all good things. Now a days with most vehicles air conditioned with in cab filters I leave my top and doors on and windows rolled up when I see a dust trail coming my way cause I know they are not going to slow down in most cases as the dust doesn't bother them. It is a real pain at over 100 degrees and the cab heater going to keep from over heating the engine, hope that new radiator get here soon!

 

[rokguy]

Other bit of off-road etiquette: When approaching another vehicle on a narrow road, the rule is NOT that the most bad-ass vehicle (in the mind of its owner) has the right of way and therefore doesn't need to move. You BOTH move as far to the right as possible.

Don't know how far you would get pushing this rule approaching a road train, Downunder.

 

[user 423]

Don't know how far you would get pushing this rule approaching a road train, Downunder.

Right. You may find yourself down under some big ol' tires.

That might be more likely for a Yank visiting there, since they drive on the wrong side of the road down there.

 

[rokguy]

Right. You may find yourself down under some big ol' tires.

That might be more likely for a Yank visiting there, since you'd be used to driving on the wrong side of the road.

Yeah but we drive on the proper side of the road, just asked mother England.

 

[user 423]

^
I wonder how that was sorted out way back when.

Were the early driving pioneers in one country being contrarian for the hell of it?

 

[rokguy]

^
I wonder how that was sorted out way back when.

Were the early driving pioneers in one country being contrarian for the hell of it?

I would imagine its always been that way from the very first trains here, running on the left hand side of 2 tracks. Being an English colony they adopted a similar road network.
Australia always had imported cars and trucks from the UK back to the 20's so I guess it stuck. Probably why we were a dumping ground for Japanese cars during the 70s and 80s. Another RHD country along with Africa and parts of Asia.

Before Australian Federation we had several different rail track widths due to our different states adopting either an Irish or English (or variation) gauge, they could never agree until only recently.

 

[user 423]

^
Actually, I was thinking about the US being contrarian for the hell of it..LOL.

 

[wayne49]

Europe and Canada being "contrarian" as well.
Looks like the one thing definitely dropped when Brits crossed the Atlantic was driving on the left.

 

[B and C]

The way I heard it was that in the horses day, they rode on the left to make it easier to wield a sword as most people are right handed. Once you get used to being on the left it just naturally carried over to automobiles.

 

[tx2sturgis]

This entire thread is about dirt roads or off-pavement....I dont see nuttin about actual, real, 'off-road' etiquette.

Gimme some real true, gen-u-wine 'OFF ROAD' etiquette!

Well?

I'm waiting!

 

[user 423]

Well, my true offroad experiences have always been on a motorcycle and mostly in CO. Although I did once take my old VW bus way up some primitive roads in the Virginia hills. Not exactly cross-country rock crawling but it was fun. I could have went farther but for low branches.

I've had a few close calls on a bike because either I was driving too fast or someone else was but I never saw anyone else being truly obnoxious or dangerous. I was passed many times by hot-doggers but no big deal.

My biggest beef was people driving thru camping areas too fast and raising dust like HDR said. Usually kids on quads.

 

[LERCA]

when driving off road the vehicle going uphill has the right-of-way.  highdesertranger

I can see you’ve never driven in Spain. One of the many things I dislike about the country. Lived there and people drive like maniacs. I should do a search on traffic fatalities. I can’t tell you what it feels like to be on a narrow high road and have some **** came at you at 85 mph. They don’t play chicken, they live it.

 

[Qxxx]

I'm waiting!

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Easy peasy.

I spent 2 1/2 months this past winter within 150 miles of Quartzsite in AZ and SoCal, and it's clear that UTVs, also called putt-putts, are turning into one of the worst threats to the desert environment so far. These people drive everywheres, many at high speeds, many in large groups of a dozen or so, building up large clouds of dust, and destroying areas that previously only had people walking through them.[/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]All you have to do is get out of your rig, and take a walk for a couple of hours into the desert to see the damage. [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]They seem to delight to "go where no man has gone before". They refuse to stay on the existing "trails" where other putts-putts have gone, but continually bust new cross-trails. If there's a berm, they'll immediately drive over it. During the 4 days I boondocked at American Girl Mine, there was a pack of them camping about 200 yards away. During that time, they tore all around my camp, in the washs and on the playas, and made multiple excursions at high speeds within 100 feet of my campsite. [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]So much for etiquette.[/font]

 

[highdesertranger]

hahaha. is Big Sally's Mom the only one the noticed I spelled etiquette wrong in the title? fixed it for you mom.

highdesertranger

 

[B and C]

Lot's of spelling and grammatical errors on here. This isn't a novel. As long as the point gets accross (intentional misspelling). I guess it would help searches later if words in the title were spelled correctly though.

 

[Qxxx]

HDR has the advantage that he can go back and fix his posts for spelling and gramcractical errors ... after the fact ..., so it looks like he actually graduated high school. Whereas, for the rest of us, our "typos" will live in eternity, so we'll always look like dummies. J.K.