Monday, April 24, 2006

Cut vs. track

Most of you drive vehicles that track rather than cut — “track” means that the rear of the vehicle follows very closely within the turning radius of the front tires, while “cut” means that the rear wheel will tend to cut across the back edge of the arc that you make when you turn the front wheels.  A good example of this is to watch how a big UPS box truck’s rear axle makes a turn vs. how a Ford Explorer makes a turn.

You might consider this useful, yet random information and question my point, so here it is:  Unless you drive an exceptionally long vehicle or vehicle that cuts turns, 90% of the time you do not need to swing out and away from the turn that you are going to make.  I almost got smashed into by a guy in a BMW 3–series that swung out into the left lane today to make a not-very-tight right turn into a parking lot.

Consider this a PSA for safer and happier driving. 

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