Few years back I was talking to my dad about insurance and how the premiums go up every year even if you never make a claim. He said "Well, the insurance company knows that if you go for a while without an accident, you're due."
That reminds me of a conversation that I had with my mom yesterday. Someone backed into my sister's car (and drove off, of course), and she needs a rental car while her car is being repaired (can't close the door properly). My mom kept going on and on about getting the rental insurance, and I kept telling her that the insurance is just their big money maker. It doesn't help that people that just had an accident tend to be more worried about shit.
I told her that when someone rear-ended me last year, I didn't get insurance on my rental car, and I even drove from Alabama to Kentucky to get my new car. The thing is... she knows that the insurance covers it, but she's all worried about the possibility of an accident. :\
I argued no, that's not the case, and pointed out that if you flip a quarter and it comes up tails 9 times, it's still 50/50 odds on the tenth flip. He told me 'no', heads is more likely on the 10th flip.
I think people tend to mix up permutations there. I mean, the chance of getting 10 tails (or heads) in a row is .09766% (.5 ^ 10).
Decelerating without braking. I see people every day needlessly hit their brakes because they are overtaking the person in front of them. All they need to do is let off the gas and voila, no need to hit the brakes.
I do this all the time, but I try to be cognizant of people around me, because I can't just be slowing down people unnecessarily. That doesn't really apply to something like slowing down from 55 to 45, but if I'm going to be turning soon, and no one is behind me, I'll just let my car coast earlier. There are some times when I can be on a 55 MPH road and never touch the brake prior to taking a sharp turn simply because I bled off enough speed.
It's also one of the few ways I get decent gas mileage out of my car.
4-way stops. It's also not your turn because you have been waiting longer than me.
Wait ...what? Am I understanding you correctly? If someone has been at a 4-way stop
for longer that means they
got there first. 4-way stops are no different than normal stops as in the first person that gets there goes. If multiple vehicles arrive at the same time, the vehicle on the right goes. If all four vehicles arrive at the same time, well... they work it out. Just to make sure that I'm not being dumb and remembering something incorrectly, I looked it up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-way_stop
After a full-stop has been made, vehicles usually have the right-of-way to proceed through the intersection in the order that they arrived at the intersection. In the United States, if vehicles arrive at approximately the same time, each driver must yield to the drivers on their right
This sounds like the kind of crap that irritates me. I'll visibly get to a stop
after someone, and they sit there and wait for me to go. What the fuck? You're there first! GO! I've gotten to the point where if I see any hesitation from people at a stop sign, I just go instead of them. I don't have time to waste on them trying to "be nice".