Most liked posts in thread: Shame on the Dragon

This was stressed so hard before MOTD 8 (my first) that I was scared to death that one of those photographer would snap a picture of me with a tire on the line. Many of the new folks might not have known about the photographers, so I think posting the pictures for all to see, as Crashton suggested, is a good idea. A ticket you can hide, but the picture tells everyone.

Nathan's idea of more awareness is also good. If we had some banners at the entrance/exit points with the warning, it would be a last minute reminder and show the locals we are trying to police ourselves. Some PR so to speak.

Jim

 

I don't want to make too much out of this but I think this is more of a problem than people "over driving" or driving past their limits. In addition to what was reported to have happened to Lori, I have my own anecdote. My wife and I drove the Dragon parade Saturday morning. I drove the classic with one son and my daughter and my Wife drove the Clubbie with our other son. As these things go, despite sitting in the front seat of the Clubbie with motion sickness meds, my son got car sick at about Overlook on the way out. Needless to say, once we got him cleaned up, the ride back was at a quite slow pace. My wife made sure that she pulled off when she had the chance if anyone was behind her (traffic on the was back was still pretty light.) Anyway, at one point about half way back, a red MCS came up behind and, apparently, could not wait for the next pull off to go by and passed her on the Dragon. Now this, like what sounds like happened to KillGurl, was not the result of someone "just" crossing the line or driving too fast, this was arrogant stupidity.
I like the idea of the "don't be that Guy/Girl" message. I am just concerned that it is going to take someone getting really hurt for people to regain the respect that these roads demand.

 

That's just it. Someone gets killed on that road every year. Maybe not from the MINI crowd but someone. Usually a motorcycle rider that came in contact with a car.. Not always the cars fault though..
We seem to always have a MINI wreck some how some way on the Dragon every year..
If that is not messege enough I don't know what is..
We only made one trip down and back this year at a pretty slow pace as one my wife doesn't care too much for the twisties and we had already gotten word of 3-4 cops on there as well.
I know there are the photo guys out there ( which is really the only reason we made a run ) so I know if I'm acting a fool it made get caught on film..

 

You and I were in the same boat. MOTD 8 was my first Dragon and sadly I wasn't able to make this year's event, but I do remember how much it was stressed to drive safely. There was also a big push to remind people to drive within yourself and to act accordingly, since you are visiting most likely.

:idea:My suggestion: put a wall of shame board from MOTD 9 in the t-shirt area, tons of people get shirts, both newbies and veterans, and it's probably the first thing you do when you get there. You can even update it with photos from the current Dragon in the hall where the Brew Swap takes place.

#2, keep an "incidents log." If we're truly going to police ourselves then have a place where people can go and say "hey the driver of the *insert body/roof color Rxx* is driving like a drunk blind man and I spoke with them or attempted to." That way you have a running list of who is driving erratically, who spoke with them and when it was. Hopefully having your name/SN attached to this would keep people from making blind claims of bad driving.

I'm not trying to suck the fun out of the Dragon, but a bad wreck will do that a lot faster than being told to slow it down or watch your driving.

Reminder: This was said with the best possible intentions, from someone who thoroughly enjoys the Dragon, and wants to keep it safe and enjoyable for both drivers and locals. :arf:

 

opcorn:
GIFSoup

 

People need to realize this is not a RACE TRACK ! ! For all practical puposes this is a one lane road, so stay in your lane.

Really sad to see this happen, but it is inevitable that it is going to happen with the numbers of attendees.

 

I also remember the dont cross the double yellow being stated more before MOTD8, my first MOTD. Wasnt there also some backlash (against MINIBee?) for a video he made of bad Dragon Drivers? Or am I mis-remembering? I remember a lot of complaining/ excuses by those that were caught. A few took responsibility and learned from it, I respected those.

Maybe putting photos of the crashes and a link to all the Dragon deaths (I think this is on the Tail of the Dragon website) on the MOTD website will instill the seriousness of the issue to those that dont quite get it. I love the idea of a wall of shame at registration.

I dont think a mandatory orientation will do much good because A) some people need to drive the Dragon to get to Fontana and B) I think (and this is just a guess) that the more serious of the driving stupidity is by the more experienced drivers...those that have familiarity with the road and are more inclined to take risks. I am by no means saying that I believe the majority of drivers that are familiar with the Dragon are bad drivers, I genuinely believe most seasoned drivers have a healthy respect of the road. I am just saying that of those that take the stupidest risks (i.e., passing others on the Dragon) probably arent newbies. And, frankly, if they are newbies passing other cars on the Dragon there is probably no orientation that will help them.


We did the newbie orientation and run last year. We had a pretty bad driver in front of us...going over the double yellow and the white lines, braking at the wrong points, etc.. To me that made the drive more dangerous than if we had just gone by ourselves when there was less traffic. I remember clearly thinking (and verbalizing) how it was not such a smart idea to be in the middle of a bunch of people that didnt know how to dive this road, not knowing ourselves. I would recommend that newbies read the *how to drive the dragon* section and go at an off time for their first run. Take it slowly and pull over when safe to let traffic pass if necessary.

 

Good point. And I wonder if setting up signs (if allowed by law and/or permission) or a small 'welcome station' (same caveat) at the north end of the Dragon would help.

I'd be willing to man a welcome station for 1-2 hours, to hand out flyers along the lines of 'stay in your lane / drive at or below your capabilities', etc.

If it prevents one accident, it'd be worth it to me.

Now to check prices on a dining fly / open tent

 

This is what I did... I woke up with a headache that morning and was NOT driving with a headache on the dragon. I had breakfast and waited awhile. We went out a little later that morning with our roommates and I think it worked out well. Traffic was a little low, though we did see a Tractor Trailer and towards the end the road was closed (I'm guessing a tree was still down, there was a cop blocking the road).

 

I've driven the dragon many times. I consider myself a Dragon chicken, I play it extremely safe when up at MoTD for sure. I save my speed for track days when I'm driving on a closed track with an experienced instructor. This year I was in a new MINI and my husband was in his brand new Countryman so technically we were both newbs again. We ended up going up late afternoon on Wednesday (apparently during a tornado of some sort ). We saw maybe 3-4 other vehicles up there so were happy to have it to ourselves. We did, however, have to brake suddenly for a boar on the road just after the scenic overlook! It made me even more cautious the rest of the week to be sure.

Annette

 

I don't know what it is about being in a large group of MINI's that causes people to turn off the "safe driver" filters, but I've seen it happen on lots of runs, not just on the Dragon - it seems to get the competetive red mist up in folks somehow....

Good ideas all around, but I think peer pressure is the best motivator - so putting up the pics of the scofflaws in a prominent area I think is a great idea.

Make it so.....

 

I'm guessing if you post the pics prominently you would have to blur out the license plates for privacy reasons. However, most people can recognize their own car by graphics, or other details so they would still know their own car in the "lineup". I hate to see us, as a group, get a bad reputation and lose all the goodwill we've built over the years.

Annette

 

OH NO!!! The CR in the second picture was my roommate. I will have to give him a stern talking to for sure.

I will admit that I tend to cross the white line on the inside corners (I know, I know - VERY bad habit! ) but I am trying very hard to be more disciplined.

 

The MINI in front (in his lane) is me. I met the guy behind me on one of the runs but don't really know him. It was his first dragon in a newly purchased MINI but said he owned many sports cars. I saw this picture earlier this week while looking for my MINI. I couldn't believe it! :frown2: I never saw him crossing the lines in the rear view, but then again you don't get a lot of chances to look at it! I guess he was trying to keep up but I don't let that get to me. If someone is a more experienced driver then that's great and I will fall back. Not going to endanger myself to try and stay with someone.

Last year was my first dragon and I went to the Newbie Orientation. That was a great class that really stressed safety and staying in your lane and the dangers that could happen if not. We also took a slow drive of the Dragon and talked about our experience with it. Those teachings stayed with me for this year too. I know there is no way to enforce it but most of these problems are probably new people like the one in the picture who never went to the class because they don't think they needed it. (making assumptions, I could be wrong ) It would be good for everyone to have!

 

@ Kevin: You were behind me twice on Saturday. . .I hope I didn't embarrass myself on video. :smilewinkgrin:

 

I've seen the same sort of display in front of schools. It's definitely an attention getter.

 

Two years ago my daughter got this shot when she and I rode the Dragon Sunday morning before we left. This vehicle, not a MINI, was not only over the double yellow but sometimes over the white line on the wrong side!!! Scared me to death and they did this at least 50% of the time after we caught up to them. I just don't understand how anyone can be so unaware of the danger to others. You want to kill yourself, well go drive off the mountain but for the love of MINIS don't do things that could hurt others. Do no harm.

 

I never saw you get out of your lines Dawn! I haven't had time to go through it yet but you should have video of some good driving! I just hope I stayed in mine as well as I think I did! I will however post a video clip of that motorcycle parked, yes PARKED to chat in the wrong lane of a blind curve we had to dangerously swerve around!

 

I saw a few bad drivers myself (both mini's and everything else on the road). this being my first MOTD, first time at the dragon also. I had the don't cross the yellow line stuck in my head. I felt I had been doing very well at staying off the yellow until I saw some of my pics on killboy... while I never crossed the line I had one tire on it... I'm somewhat ashamed of myself but definitely learned and will be doing better next year.

When it comes to awareness the newbie orientation definitely helps get things in your head. But it comes down to the driver to drive to their ability/ cars ability. I was guilty of it and pushed a little harder than I should have but I learned and backed off. I think most chalk it up as a close call :nonod:

 

Sounds like 2009 all over again.

See thread FOTD - Fail Of The Dragon