Peach Picks and Pits

There are some things that just make our lives easier or better, we’re calling these Peach Picks. There are also things that we find endlessly annoying, we’re calling these Peach Pits. Sometimes, we may just have to vent in the hope that someone will listen and sometimes, we’ll show you ways to help eliminate the problem. Both the Peach Pick and the Peach Pit are driving related this month. Maybe it’s because we live in Metro Atlanta, which has some of the worst traffic in the nation, or maybe it’s because the Picky Peaches spend a lot of time on the road, either way, we promise not to focus on driving every month.

For our first Peach Pick, we’ve selected the Bell and Howell Clever Grip portable phone mount. If you’re one of those folks who has a built-in GPS in your car and you never use it because you prefer Google Maps, Waze, or some other system on your phone, then you’ll love the Clever Grip. Simply clip this handy little device onto an air conditioning vent in your car and voila! You’re ready for convenient hands-free viewing or talking. The packaging says it can be used for video chat and movies–uh maybe a passenger can use it that way, but no driver needs to be watching a movie. The idea is to reduce distracted driving, not make it worse.20160318_143509

The sturdy Clever Grip holds the phone firmly and it didn’t rattle on any of our road trips. Susan loves hers so much that we can guess what you’re getting for Christmas, if you’re lucky enough to be on her list.bell-howell-clever-grip-portable-phone-mount-car-cell-phone-holder-good-4fded1258c542b66c8489ae46183771d

Does it work with my phone? Probably so. It works with iPhone® 5, 6 and 6 Plus; Blackberry®; Android™ and Windows® smartphones. They’re $14.99 at our local CVS and $9.99 at Dollar General.

Remember: Arrive alive. Don’t text and drive.

Our first Peach Pit, it isn’t an actual product. It’s a group of people and chances are we’ve all experienced it at least one time in our lives. It’s the dreaded Drivers Who Don’t Use the Zipper Method. Wait, what? Zippers are on my pants.

What in the world is the Zipper method you ask? Well, “in traffic engineering, the late merge or Zipper method is a convention for merging traffic into a reduced number of lanes. Drivers in merging lanes are expected to use both lanes to advance to the lane reduction point and merge at that location, alternating turns.” In other words, when there’s a lane closure ahead, cars are supposed to stay in both lanes for as long as possible before they merge, one by one, into the open lane. This helps to maintain a consistent speed and avoids heavy congestion.

We’ve all seen angry drivers who don’t like it when cars pass them, stay to the end of the lane and merge into traffic. These angry drivers are usually the ones who, when they saw the upcoming merge, immediately slowed down, merged over into the open lane that continues through the construction area, and by doing so stopped or slowed the traffic behind them. You’re thinking, “Well, that’s the nice thing to do, right?” It may be a nice thought, but this driving behavior actually creates a bottleneck. If everyone will wait until the lane ends and then merge into the open lane with every other vehicle taking their turn, the traffic moves smoothly and doesn’t create a bottleneck. We’ve seen it work and we love it. This is new school thinking and it’s proving to be a time saver, in some cases, saving as much as 50%. So, the lesson today is to resist the urge to merge early!0308_zipper_merge_t635-2

Sign us: Faithfully, until the end (of the lane).
Love and Peaches!

PS: Join us next week for the second installment of the Hidden Gem Restaurant challenge.

HINT: They have a velvet celebrity and it’s not Elvis.

23 thoughts on “Peach Picks and Pits”

  1. Well, first, I must agree wholeheartedly about the Clever Grip, as one of the Picky Peaches gave me one a few months ago and I totally LOVE it! Three cheers for telling everyone about it!

    About the zipper method of integrating into traffic from the entrance lane, I have been using that method for many years and, if everyone would take a deep breath and USE the method, Atlanta would be a much better place in which to drive! Again, thanks for the suggestions!

    1. So thrilled you love your Clever Grip! It’s ingenious! Zip on and thanks for following Picky Peaches!

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