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'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!!!
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.
Make up a bunch of "Dragon" bumper stickers - Don't be that Guy/Girl, crossing the yellow line.... I'll be there this Fall, and I would put one on my rear hatch for sure. Good way to get the message out to those following behind you.
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:
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
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
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.
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.