Most liked posts in thread: Shame on the Dragon

I have an idea. All of the photos of people being stupid in their driving the dragon should be printed. At next years MOTD they should all be posted on a wall of shame.

 

Education is the key and I guess we all didn't get the word out enough this year.

We can do better and the public shaming that is now underway is just one bit of the puzzle.

A multi-pronged approach night be a fun way to get the message across for next year and get the community involved in helping each other stay safe.

Besides posting online and pictures in a prominent place of MINI owners misbehaving we should come up some ideas here.

The Don't be "that guy" campaign.

Clink Stickers for every car with a cartoonish MINI on its roof with a circle and line thru it and the text Don't be "that guy"

Banners on various sites with the same message.

A Don't be "that guy" video online.

Your ideas here...

Comer with some, I'll split this out for a new thread...

 

Just a suggestion for people who want to pass a slower car that refuses to pull over... You don't need to. Pull over yourself. Hang out. Wait a bit, give them time to get far enough ahead. Then go drive at your pace.

 

two years ago, I had COOPERation come up with a nice logo with the saying "enjoy the ride, stay on your side", we can use that if everyone likes it.

As Katie mention, there is no way to make the newbie drives mandatory. It comes down to us a group to monitor the few that are not behaving well. I can post on the registration site till I'm blue in the face, we can make everyone watch the great newbie video Jack has made, but sadly at the end of the day, some folks are still gonna cross the line. Some on purpose or lazyness and some for driving beyond their comfort zone.

I'm not a fan of the public humiliation, but perhaps that is what is needed to be done. We must as community next year find a way to approach those that are endagering others in a calm corrective manner without getting confrontational. (and yes, I know that may be easier said than done)

I will have two large banners made by the two exits at Fontana onto NC28 with reminders to "stay on your side" or "don't be that guy" or whatever will come up with

 

I am all for the wall of shame and public humiliation that could be updated daily in a prominent area.

I see no reason to blur out the license plates for privacy reasons they are on a PUBLIC ROAD.

If your picture ends up on the Wall of shame your next trip might be to the Tree of shame.


Side note: Veterans do not drive on Saturday, that is a day for all the idiots. plus we are hung over from Friday night. :beer

 

Now have "Enjoy the Ride, Stay on Your Side" or somehting on the "wall".

I like it!

 

Glad to see this discussion. I was shocked when I saw Killboy's photos and posts, and embarrassed for all of us. So glad he's OK.

I think most everyone knows where I stand on this issue. When I put together the "Fail of the Dragon" video two years ago I took a lot of heat more the method but in the end it did make a difference. Last year was much better and now we've slipped back to the same problems.

We had two rookie orientation sessions again this year and I thought they were well-attended. The first one was about 50 people and the second about 30. That's about 10% of the attendance and without knowing how many who were registered were new people, I thought it was pretty good. Many people told me how much they appreciated those sessions and how it helped them.

I don't think most of the people we're seeing in those photos are rookies, and that's the alarming part of this. If we track those folks down I think we'll find many have been to MOTD before and they were crossing the line intentionally, because it's easier or because they want to go faster or blah, blah, blah. And that just makes me sick to my stomach.

A fellow SSM member told me he followed to veterans on the Hellbender and watched as they drove down the middle of the curves. They stopped at Deals Gap and he approached them about it but was told to ***** off and mind his own business.

You know I support doing whatever I can to educate and help people drive safely out there in a spirited way. But we're talking about free will here folks. You can't hold an event at a public resort on public roads and require people to attend a class. They can come and go as they please and still drive on the same roads as us even causing just as much damage, even if we don't let them register. They have to believe what we're saying is true and buy-in to the safety rules. Frankly, we all know there always will be people who choose to not do that.

As far as casting stones, I speed as do many of you. I go out early when there are less vehicles and do my personal runs. I DO NOT cross the line. And actually, where is the challenge in driving those roads if you straighten the curves? That's the joy of it, to me. On group runs I run at the pace of the group and I'm mindful to not push someone beyond their skills by running up their tailpipe. That's one thing I see too much of, and we all need to be aware of the pressure that puts on people.

Many good suggestions here that will continue to increase awareness, but bad souls are gonna continue to be bad and eventually Karma will catch up with them. Defensive driving should be a main focus, and that is discussed at length in the rookie sessions.

 

I think this thread has brought up some good points and served it's purpose. I will be creating several large "safety reminder" banners to display at the Fontana exits onto NC28 and in the village itself. I will also include a "safety reminder" handout in the registration bags. We will most likely have a large poster board of photo's showing how not to drive the dragon in the registration room. Add to that the overall hightened awarness of our community on this subject, I hope we will be able to eliminate the bad traits exhibited by a small percentage of our group this year.

 

I spoke to Barry this morning and have some interesting data.

I realize that stats can be skewed to say what ever you want but it was really only a dozen or so people that have been identified as the big culprits. Maybe 2% of all the MINIs were the issue. Yes, that ~2% made us all look bad and ~2% is ~2% to many.

There are already plans in the works for a multi-pronged approach for next year. We are looking into banners for the exits and various points around the village. Clings for all to put on their cars so it seen again and again and again. Info in the swag bags and being more vocal online too.

Once we have the theme in place and have some graphics we'll start soliciting sites to putting up banners as PSA's. You can rest assured that M/A will be involved in helping to get the word out.

 

I'm all for getting the word out and for posting the pics.. ( don't think I'm in any of them ) The thing I find ironic about it is it's against the law to cross the yellow line on every road in America, not just HWY 129 so no one should need to be reminded of it..
Though some do for some reason!!!

 

No need to turn half the MOTD attendees into a bunch of empowered Barney Fife's.....

A good awareness program including statements on all advertisements and included in the registration bag, car stickers saying "stay in your lane" with a note attached explaining the situation and asking everyone to put it on their car should go a long way..... 2 cents

 

+1 ^

While I agree some sort of newb orientation is in order I can't see how it can be made mandatory. It's a public road that they have every right to drive on. Also if we have a school are we not taking on a risk if a graduate of our school does something foolish & causes harm to themselves or another road user? In our society folks sue for everything & anything. I don't know if MOTD carries any insurance, if not it might be time to raise the admission fee & buy some. Sad, but true.

There are pictures of MINIs all the way in the other lane, crazy.ut: Not sure anyone that stupid can be helped for they are unencumbered by the thought process. :nonod:

There are pictures of some MINIs with a wheel a bit over. IMO those folks maybe could benefit from some friendly advise. There are different levels of violations & they should be treated differently.

:idea: Maybe we can get MINI FINI to weld us up a pillory for the worst offenders. :devil:

 

I am in the loud exhaust club, I know it and I admit it. Is it illegally loud? I have no idea but I've never been pulled over for it. Never been tossed off a track with noise restrictions either. I also know how to modulate the volume and do so according to the time and place. You won't find me whipping through the village at full song at 3 AM at high RPM levels.

Did my exhaust offend someone, probably, am I going to quiet it down to appease others...No.

We are headed down a slippery slope here if we try to make every exhaust quiet enough for all people. Whats next..the number of lights on the front? Paint colors that are too bright for some eyes?

The issue at hand is driving skills, paying attention on the roads and not being hoonish to extent we were this year. All this talk right after the event helps to bring awareness to the issue, but where will be in 6 months when all these posts roll deep into the site. We need to work on an eduction solution for 2012 and be prepared to start rolling it out come January when registration starts again.

Lets look for solutions instead of pointing fingers and making accusations.

 

While I agree education is key, it seems to me that it's not working.
2 Newbie Orientations were held and at least one that I saw, given the size of the MOTD group, were poorly attended.
A How To Drive The Dragon video was posted by Barry on the MOTD site.
Numerous posts about safe driving were posted here and on NAM.
Announcement made by Barry at the Welcome Dinner about safe driving.

So, education efforts were made and obviously completely ignored by some.
I'm not thrilled at having to do a wall of shame for next year, but if that's the only way to expose the few idiots who are destroying a 9 year MOTD reputation, then I'm all for it. Pictures, names, license plates...what ever it takes.
I am a 9 year veteran and I WILL NOT have MOTD banned from Fontana because a few idiots insist on behaving as such. If public exposure of bad driving and naming names is what we have to do to police our group, then sadly, that is the route that MUST be taken.

 

What if on registration for next years MOTD: there was a pledge page that has to be read and agreed to before a persons registration is accepted... A simple pledge to stay in your lane....

 

You know you're on Facebook too much went you start trying to tag that picture.