Comments on: This is how we roll

This is how we roll

roofus — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:15:29 -0800

This is how we roll in India
This is how we slide in Saudi
This is how we fly in Sweden
Some people are a little bit casual about road safety.

By: The Salaryman

The Salaryman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:20:07 -0800

Wonderfully insane and nihilistic. Cheers for the post, roofus! I especially love the Nordic RC adventure. The Saudi gentlemen take the concept of 'Ghost Ride Da Whip' out of fratboy idiocy and into some kind of alternative transport strategy.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:28:26 -0800

These are the kind of insane shenanigans that make me love the world. Thanks, roofus.

By: gubo

gubo — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:29:31 -0800

I thought the first link was going to be this guy.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:30:35 -0800

The second one looks like something that might happen in a dream. "And then we just got out of the car and we were skating only it wasn't ice we were just sliding along the road with all of the cars..."

By: DU

DU — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:34:28 -0800

At first I thought the India video was pointed at the insane merge, but they didn't even seem to notice that. Which I guess makes sense, given the ultra-insanity of what they were filming.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:36:24 -0800

It was completely disorienting to have the presenter-guy in gubo's video speaking in Icelandic. Didn't expect that.

By: Mach5

Mach5 — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:38:57 -0800

Indian Traffic

By: jedicus

jedicus — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:39:08 -0800

I like how the car in the Saudi video is using its hazard lights. Because, you know, without the hazard lights it would just be unnecessarily dangerous...

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:40:02 -0800

This is how we read US Weekly, fix our makeup, and make dinner reservations at 40mph in our ML Mercedes straddling lanes on the LIE.

By: netbros

netbros — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:40:43 -0800

Hey, at least the Saudi guys had the emergency flashers on.

By: pmbuko

pmbuko — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:46:47 -0800

This is how we bitch about YouTube posts in America.

By: vertigo25

vertigo25 — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:55:05 -0800

The Indians win. Hands down. Everything about that video reeks of awesome. The other two are okay, but the reactions of the guys actually videoing the biker in the Indian video are priceless.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:57:55 -0800

More crazy Saudis. Loonies from Libya. Don't miss the part at 4:35 where the guy gets out of the car and sits on a small table while the car's still whipping around him.

By: anthill

anthill — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:00:03 -0800

This is how they roll in NYC

By: anthill

anthill — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:04:11 -0800

and this is how they roll in Japan

By: netbros

netbros — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:05:45 -0800

Tires must be cheap in Libya.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:08:50 -0800

DU writes "At first I thought the India video was pointed at the insane merge, but they didn't even seem to notice that." Ya, me too. I'm not going to bitch about the lack of lane control in Canada ever again. Well, not this week anyways.

By: MtDewd

MtDewd — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:14:41 -0800

and this is how they roll in Switzerland

By: DU

DU — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:15:45 -0800

Also, was it just me or did those Indians sound a lot like Northumbrians? Were British Indian schools run by Northumbrians or was it just these guys that sounded like that? Or were they, in fact, non-Indian?

By: Outlawyr

Outlawyr — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:18:16 -0800

Remember: Friends don't let friends drive. At all. Too dangerous.

By: oaf

oaf — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:24:52 -0800

This is how the Saudi bobsled team trains in the off-season.

By: Kronos_to_Earth

Kronos_to_Earth — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:26:33 -0800

OK, so the future got here and the flying cars never showed up. We've got tunnel airplanes. That's about as cool.

By: cavalier

cavalier — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:31:47 -0800

Ok, while anthill's NYC link went more or less how I would expect... dios mio, I felt myself involuntarily clutching myself about every 10 seconds. I guess since it was more POV, or just more insane. thanks!

By: anthill

anthill — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:42:58 -0800

MtDewd, Jean Yves Blondeau's suit is much less nerdy looking at 110km/h. still nerdy tho

By: DU

DU — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:43:20 -0800

Actually, my main reaction to the NYC link wasn't so much "these guys are insane" as "these guys are really, really inconsiderate".

By: Forktine

Forktine — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:44:11 -0800

There is something wrong with the water in the middle east if it makes you drive like this. And if they lose their licenses, they will end up doing this. Where is there an explanation of how to make the video play right on the MeFi page?

By: roofus

roofus — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:49:34 -0800

There's no secret trick. The Youtube vids automatically play in the pop-up, but other vids won't.

By: Mike D

Mike D — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:00:01 -0800

In Riyadh, the streets obviously are covered in oil. That, and purée of Saudi teenagers who accidentally lose the grip on their car doors.

By: Forktine

Forktine — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:03:47 -0800

On the subject of stunningly stupid driving videos, the motorcycle laps of the Paris Peripherique are some of my favorites (example). (And those remind me of the Claude Lelouch video the racecar being driven around Paris (previously).)

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:05:08 -0800

How did the Saudis manage to slide like that on the asphalt? Did they have teflon pads on the bottom of their sandals?

By: davejay

davejay — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:08:16 -0800

The most fascinating thing about the second link, for me, is that cars were passing these guys on the left as if nothing unusual was going on. Ho hum, just another commute.

By: netbros

netbros — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:14:37 -0800

How did the Saudis manage to slide like that on the asphalt? Looks to me like the common thread in all the Saudi videos is a fine layer of sand all over everything, everywhere, all day, all the time, forever, under your fingernails, in your food, on your sheets, even in the toilet. Plus balls.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:16:54 -0800

This is how they roll in Paris. Was it my imagination, but in wgp's Saudi link, were some of the guys taunting a police car? (My father worked in Saudi for years, and said that Saudi drivers essentially could drive like they wanted to as there was no penalty. Try driving like that as a foreign national and face pretty grim consequences.)

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:18:48 -0800

Forktime, damn you! (Even if mine seems to be a different clip.) * Accelerates motorcycle and lane-splits to escape shame *

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:22:23 -0800

It was cool watching the R/C airplane's shadow in the Stockholm tunnel link. Thanks! The other two videos: my jaw is still open. Thanks!

By: facetious

facetious — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:24:56 -0800

i totally could not finish watching the saudi video! too scary.

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:31:35 -0800

a fine layer of sand all over everything [...] Plus balls. Well yeah, I think balls are included in "everything." Really must chafe.

By: Jon_Evil

Jon_Evil — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:44:31 -0800

This is how they roll in NYC That was a bike race? That's how I get to work. This is how we roll in New York Goddamn City.

By: beelzbubba

beelzbubba — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:48:52 -0800

In no particular order: The Indian motorcyclist must've had incredible faith in reincarnation or his fellow motorists or both. The Swedish r/c stunt? I dunno. Meh. The Libyans show the tremendous influence the Italians had on developing their driving culture, based on my limited experience watching nut-jobs race around roundabouts drunk out of their minds in the wee hours; I'm sure RAI must have video of that, it was a news story there frequently--in Bologna, Roma, well, pretty much anywhere you put Italians & cars & roundabouts & alcohol together. The Swiss Robocop Rollerblader. Wow. Breathtaking. (but let's see him do that uphill!) The Saudi video relieved me that at least the women are safe for a few moments while the men are ouut thinning the gene pool. Maybe there is hope eventually. NYC bicyclists? I live in the relatively sedate midwest college town setting. Once, a 20-something biker who was racing another biker, in a pale imitation of the NYC races, blew through a red light while riding at about 35 mph and hit the rear quarterpanel of my RAV4. Miraculously, he was unhurt but for a few minor scratches. His bike was totaled, my car had about $2000 worth of damages, and I was left to wonder if there was anything I could have done to prevent the accident, and left relieved that I hadn't arrived a split second later to launch him with the front of my car. After realizing that this is some sort of a sport, I am now relieved of the worry that I had any extraordinary responsibility to watch out for the bicyclist, but am still relieved he wasn't hurt. I can't say that if I was driving in NYC, I wouldn't take a little aim at the racing bastards. I'm all for the days when the bicyclists bring attention to cycling-as-transport by clogging all lanes, so don't think I'm anti-bike, but those guys, man. I have no respect. None.

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:49:57 -0800

This is how we roll in New York Goddamn City. Christ, there was a dude a few years back (an MIT nerd, one could only assume) wobbling and weaving and generally fucking up traffic in East Cambridge riding a circus unicycle, 6 feet off the ground. I wanted to push the fucker in front a bus. Fuck him and the wheel he rode in on.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:51:28 -0800

This convinces me that the neocortex and frontal lobes of young men is not completely formed until around age thirty. You men do not emerge from the pupa stage until after they either die or get goofy crap like this out of their systems. I have flashbacks of doing shit like that when I was a teenager. Including a game called "trusting the force" which was driving down the Pacific Coast highway at night withe the headlights off for as long a you dared... then eventually extending that to removing your hands from the steering wheel and steering with "other" body parts, etc. All this while the passengers screamed in a paniced ever increasing pitched mantra "TRUST IN THE FORCE! TRUST IN THEEEEE FOOOOOOORCE!" over and over. Jeebus. It's amazing any of us survived.

By: gompa

gompa — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:00:33 -0800

At first I thought the India video was pointed at the insane merge, but they didn't even seem to notice that. Just to clarify, there was nothing at all unusual about that lane merge by Indian standards. Indeed the simple fact that there are lane markings on this highway and that people are actually making at least half-assed attempts at staying within them leads me, along with the accents on these guys, to assume that this is one of those fancy new controlled access highways outside Bombay or maybe Delhi. The overwhelming majority of Indian roads are pure free-for-all, with only one rule actually operative: Might makes right. Smaller vehicles yield to larger ones, even when the larger vehicle has swerved out into the smaller vehicle's lane with no warning to pass a bullock cart and is bearing straight on it at full speed. If the smaller vehicle must abruptly swerve off the road onto the sloping soft shoulder to avoid a collision, so be it. Bikes give way to autorickshaws, pedestrians give way to bikes, everyone gives way to cattle. In my personal experience, most Westerners will white-knuckle the rickshaw ride in from Delhi airport to the inner city like you've just installed them in some kind of torture device, but after a month or so, you get used to avoiding a dozen head-on collisions by an arm's length margin per ride. Fortunately, on all but these newfangled divided roads, traffic's rarely moving at fatal speeds anyway.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:02:11 -0800

Now I understand why alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia.

By: naju

naju — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:09:45 -0800

I still remember this short conversation I had with my parents about traffic in India: "Do the cars ever stop?" "No." "Then how does grandma cross the street?" "She doesn't."

By: beelzbubba

beelzbubba — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:14:41 -0800

I'm inclined to agree with tkchrist. As I thought back, I remembered when 5 of us threw in $50 apiece and bought an on-its-last-legs early 60's VW bug with the sole purpose of trying to roll it while all of us were in it. Amazingly enough, it survived a good dozen separate roll overs (in traffic) as did all five drivers. In the driver's favor, you could make a VW bug flip at less than 30 mph. And we did this on the streets of Chicago and near west suburbs. Thank god, it was before hand held video, the internets, and YouTube.

By: mrbill

mrbill — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:23:32 -0800

The plane-through-the-tunnel video seriously looked like screenshots from a video game at certain points. They should have put a tiny video camera on the plane to get a "pilot point of view".

By: Forktine

Forktine — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:29:36 -0800

Of course, these stunts don't always end well. Or end well. Or... you get the idea.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:32:14 -0800

Thank god, it was before hand held video, the internets, and YouTube. Can you imagine. We were dumb enough before you thought it would be entertaining for all the other knuckleheads out there.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:10:12 -0800

Forktine, that dude getting run over by his spinning BMW always makes me smile. Evolution in Action is always a cause to celebrate.

By: jjj606

jjj606 — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:21:11 -0800

This is how we roll in Portland

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:24:07 -0800

Idiots. This is how they will roll.

By: mhum

mhum — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:29:01 -0800

This is how we roll in Gloucestershire.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:40:33 -0800

Of course, these stunts don't always end well. How do you mean? I still laughed. Note to all you healthy young daredevils and maniac cyclists: Don't forget to sign your organ donor cards! Your lungs, I want them.

By: elmwood

elmwood — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:50:33 -0800

I wonder what would happened if those rolling in Saudi had been women, even if they were with male relatives. Why must every other European driving-related video on YouTube be accompanied by techno?

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:03:30 -0800

maxwelton writes "Was it my imagination, but in wgp's Saudi link, were some of the guys taunting a police car?" Ya, looks like it. Are all cars in Saudi Arabia white?

By: facetious

facetious — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:45:44 -0800

"Are all cars in Saudi Arabia white?" Would make sense. A black car would look like sand & dust-covered shit inside of 10 minutes in that environment.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:08:17 -0800

How to roll. Really, you'd get in a lot fewer accidents.

By: MtDewd

MtDewd — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:45:56 -0800

not_on_display- I thought that's how this all got started.

By: wretched_rhapsody

wretched_rhapsody — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:48:46 -0800

No, THIS is how we roll in NYC. Once a year, anyway.

By: crapmatic

crapmatic — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:58:37 -0800

Are we certain those Saudis aren't using prosthetic legs as a trick? There's something odd about the way their centers of gravity flow in and out of the car.

By: vronsky

vronsky — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:43:56 -0800

This is how I roll.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:45:49 -0800

I roll 2d and get a +6 damage modifier. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

By: wuakeen

wuakeen — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:30:22 -0800

This is how we roll in the Netherlands

By: Camofrog

Camofrog — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:25:52 -0800

How is the guy on the motorcycle maintaining his speed with his hand off the throttle?

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:48:39 -0800

Camofrog, I think they're illegal here, but you can get devices which lock the twist-grip open. Essentially cruise-control.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:52:16 -0800

This takes me back.

By: the cydonian

the cydonian — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:29:53 -0800

gompa: this is one of those fancy new controlled access highways outside Bombay or maybe Delhi. I suspect it's the Delhi - Gurgaon highway, mostly coz the video blurb says this was in Delhi. :-)

By: intermod

intermod — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:03:30 -0800

Seconding what maxwelton relayed about drivers in Saudi. Nationals own the road and careen all over it. Foreigners drive like scared geriatrics. And for anyone commenting on the merging, you need to get out to the third world someday, anywhere. It's like that all over. Personally, I think the most insane merging / lane behavior can be found in Latin America. I need to find that old skool BMW M coupe ghostrider video ... Could someone find the URL that uncleozzy intended? Killer thread!

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:43:30 -0800

This is how they shatter in Qatar.