""I do believe that our cars are invisible to shitty drivers and the more lighting the better. I can't tell you how many times I have been worried about getting rear ended."" qoute by kq6

I am calmed down now. I was driving the 914 yesterday, doing about 35mph, in broad daylight. An SUV stopped at a stop sign on my right. I looked at him and made eye contact. As I got within 30 ft of his side street, the Bastige decided he would pull out in front of me and make a left turn. Ahhh what to do now?? I flashed on the teener other NW driver that went under an SUV just recently, I flashed on the same accident happend to me 5 yrs ago. What I did was to downshift to second (bit of a grind as I shifted faster than I clutched), brake and swerve to avoid him. When I stopped I was facing in the opposite direction and in the opposite lane. Two other cars were in the middle of all this, but they stopped in time to not enter the kill zone. I look up at the other driver and HE IS DRIVING AWAY. Yes I chased him, he pulled over about three miles away from the scene. Seems like the 22 yr old young man was late for work, was soory, said he thought I was alright and again told me he was late for work. I informed him that I was calling the police and did that very thing. I made a police report and the Officer intimated the vehicle did not belong to the 22 yr old, it was mom and dads. He visited them later last night to inform them of the sons "leaving the scene"
No damage to the 914, but I really had to work at not dragging his goat smelling butt out of the SUV and beating a memory into him.

OK, I am done ranting. I have driven/piloted everything from a renault daupine to an OH-58 helicopter and the only thing I get hit in is a 914.

We all need to start driving 914 Monster Trucks! Then they will give us respect

I'm not sure that more lights will help. A few weeks back I was listening to a podcast about 3D theater technology, and the expert they had on was talking about how the new 3D movies cause some people to have eye strain because it forces our eyes to see physically in greater 3D detail than we usually see. He said that most of us only have binocular vision to somewhere between 20-30 yards. Beyond that our brains create 3D for us by our knowledge of how the physical world works and exists around us. This caught my attention. If we apply that thought to our small cars, people just don't expect a car to be that small, therefore, (especially those drivers not being as attentive as they should be) many drivers quickly calculate that our cars are further away than they really are.

So my theory is that, it is not that they don't see us, it is that when they do see us they do the quick (distracted) mental calculation that a car cannot be that small, so it must be further down the road from them. They then feel they have plenty of room to pull out before we get to them.

Thoughts?

From past motorcycle safety courses, " Remember, they don't see you. You are not big enough to be a threat, so you are not recognized as one." THEY being drivers of cars that are all larger than motorcycles and most much bigger than our 914's. I suspect that the same thing is occurring with our cars. Therefore we have to be that much more vigilant.
Biggest cause of motorcycle accidents are cars turning left in front of a motorcycle! Sounds familiar?
Glad you avoided an accident.
Tom

Our cars are no smaller than a BMW Z4, a Mazda MX5 (Miata) and only a little smaller than a Honda 2000. I suspect that the feeling of impregnability implicit in the driver's seat of a big SUV and most people's acceptance that, if they do make a mistake, the other guy will take care of the problem ( as in your case) lies at the heart of the problem. On a twenty minute drive home this afternoon, I saw two cars pull out of stop streets in front of me without stopping and causing me to brake hard both times. Both times I made eye contact with the drivers and both times they were too lazy to stop because they knew (how, I ask myself) that I would apply my brakes rather than collide with them.
There were no cops present to give tickets for not stopping. However, there were cops out in force on a nearby main road where a sudden drop from a 55mph to a 45mph speed limit makes for easy pickings.
That's part of the problem.

Chris

i have only had my 914 for 7 mos. and several times people have come flying up on my tail.i guess they want to check out the car.

Even the bright green of mine doesn't spare me. People are just ignorant drivers. Hell, they don't even seem to notice the Mustang when I'm driving it. Maybe I need to get a '63/4 Galaxie.

I don't mind those folks. It's the ones who, when you are in the middle or right lane on a highway, come up on your left in a hurry but match your speed to check out your car and don't leave you enough room to move over to pass a slower car in front of you. I don't think they're as&@#. They're just unconscious but generally pass with a thumbs-up. So I firgive 'em.

That happens a lot with the ricers. Reel them in nice and close, accelerate on to the freeway, keeping them reeled in. Pretty soon all you see is smoke and taillights from them hitting the ditch