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Another thing, doesnt it make sense that if you are stuck in the right lane and someone is trying to merge, that you should maintain your speed and not speed up or, espceciallly, slow down to allow them in. So many times I see drivers do this only to see the person trying to merge matching their speed trying to get over. End result, the cars are right next to each other and the on ramp lane is gone and noone can do anything. Let the person trying to merge make the move and everything is easier.
Ok, im done now but the above issues really anoy me. Maybe its just an Ohio thing.
Mike
We are driving back to her folk's house after the luncheon with my
mother-in-law, a nephew, and a couple of sisters-in-law on a city
street. Some guy is weaving in and out of traffic and when he got buy
us cuts me off to the point I had to lay on the breaks. So I lay on the
horn and let him know I am there. He flips me off as if it is my fault.
There is nothing that pisses me off more than being cut off or
something and having that person act as if it is my fault. Needless
to say I had to bite my tongue, in front of my mother-in-law and
nephew, but I had everyone of those four letter words I wanted to
call the guy in my mind at the time.
If I accidently cut someone off I usually feel bad because I know how
it is to be on the other end and will try to apologize if given the chance.
And I know some things are going to be accidental and can't be
helped, but for someone to flip me off after something they did, my
blood just boils!
Where did "it" come from?
Is there a law on the books concerning the "finger"? Anyone?
I bet the "finger" is used more out on the roads than anywhere.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon00/news/2000/0708/624898.html
The Battle of Agincourt
October 24, 1415 - According to internet folklore, the notorious middle finger apparently made its first appearance during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. According to limitless e-mails and postings forwarded to Ooze, the French taunted English bowmen by threatening to cut off their middle fingers. According to these sources, the mighty English longbow, made from the yew tree, would have been impossible to draw without the aid of the strongest finger. When the English won the battle, they allegedly waved their middle fingers at the defeated French, taunting, “We can still pluck yew!” Some even believe that the words pluck yew transmogrified through the years into _____ ___ .
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
It kind of makes sense....The equivalent British gesture is kind of like the V for victory sign with the back of the hand facing the recipient of the gesture. Those would be the two fingers used to draw a bow string.
I guess it was pretty inconsiderate of me though, to snap this shot! I mean, this guy's having a bad enough day as it is!!
People who are turning/chaning lanes and don't use signals. They deserve to get hit, plain and simple.
People who are turning right, but do not go as close to the curb as possible prior to turning, thus blocking the flow of traffic behind them.
People who hit a freeway on-ramp but do NOT accelerate for merging. If the speed limit is 65, it seems like a good idea that you should be doing at LEAST 65 by the time the ramp ends. This drives me extremely crazy when said offender is driving a late model SUV/luxury car that easily has the power to break 80 by the end of a ramp.
The people who swing into a lane on the freeway even though they see you're approaching in that lane going a good 10-30 mph faster than they are. How many times must I slam on my brakes because an inconsiderate nabob can't wait until I pass to move to the middle or fast lanes?
And why is it in the morning everybody does the same speed - even before thick rush hour starts? Once you weave through traffic and get to the edge of the pack you always find it's just a couple of dweebs doing 75 in the two fast lanes. Of course the open road only lasts half a mile before you must pull more Yoda school of driving to get past the next pack hindered by kin of the previous idiots.
Of course the big winners would certainly be all the wonderfully polite and thoughtful individuals who a) park in a handicapped spot without a placard/special plates or b) park in a normal spot with their wheels, often half the car over the disabled spot's cross-hatching. Can't forget the nice-guys who park in handicapped spots at say blockbuster with their hazzard lights flashing while they run into the store. Or you're parked illegally, but you did think to have your lights flash, so I guess no law was broken.
Once in awhile some people will also park with their wheels over the blue line of the handicapped spot. In those instances I love to back into the spot and get my outside passenger mirror to almost touch their mirror. I've emerged from stores before to find frustrated drivers sitting in their cars, furious that they cannot back out of the spot without damaging their own cars.
I'd also like to add people who Double Park along Avenues in Manhattan. For instance, 2nd Avenue runs downtown. There are 6 lanes. The extreme left and right lanes are taken up by parked cars. People Double Park in the lanes next to the outside lanes (all it takes is one or two cars), leaving only 2 lanes of traffic to pass.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
The result? Plenty of times when I've had to cruise campus for 20-25 minutes to find a spot and then I see one and get excited because I think I can finally park my frickin car and go o my room. But then some jerk has decided his time is too valuable to straighten up and make sure he's not taking up some of the next spot over. So I have to leave what could have been a perfectly good spot and keep looking. The other night I got so irritated with somebody that I left a very nasty note on their windshield with all sorts of expletives that generally asked why they think they're special enough to deserve 2 parking spots when the rest of us are struggling to find just one. To those who normally don't pay attention to their parking jobs who drive on UMBC campus, you'd better start. I may start keying cars next.
Of course I'm sure I irritate a few drivers myself. I always find Civic parking spaces when there are no legal spaces available. Spaces at the end of a row with the diagonal lines through them, the first space or two past a row of meters, etc.
-Andrew L
Somebody is tailgating you, so you blind them with an industrial strength flashlight. They're behind you, right?
You better pray that you don't have to slam on your brakes - remember - there's a blind driver behind you.
Heck, you better pray the blinded driver doesn't drive off of the road and die or run over some child. Because then you're going to be doing time for manslaughter or worse.
Use your flipping brain for something other than a hatrack will you.
John
Hey, it wasn't my idea. We all know crazy people like the friend I mentioned above. This guy also once followed another driver around for a good five minutes, holding his horn down the whole time. I'm not necessarily recommending that everyone try each piece of crazy behavior that happens to come up as part of a conversation. Awhile ago there was a thread called "craziest things you've done with a car" or something like that. If you think my friend and his light are bad, you should see some of the stuff people owned up to over there. Calm down.
-Andrew L
Using signal lights is not only the law it is just logical to let other drivers know your intentions in advance and it is courteous.
Even police vehicles are in violation of the law when it comes to common road laws and they should lead by example by signaling turns and having 4 way flashers on when parked at the curb.
While I commend law enforcement agencies for targeting drunk drivers and speeders with blitzes, I feel they should have regular programs to enforce the common laws that people flaunt such as coming to a complete stop at intersections, indicating turns and not passing on the right. Or one of the more bone-headed practices of entering a freeway and getting into the passing lane immediately and staying there regardless of the traffic conditions and speed!
Most of the laws are already in place so let's enforce them!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
A teacher I had in elementary school had her BMW 325i destroyed when she hit a cop car that ran a red light for no reason, with no sirens or lights on. That sort of behavior is prevalent in NJ, especially on the part of the much maligned State Police. You'd think they would have learned by now why everyone hates them.
-Andrew L
Last night, on my way home from work, there had been a 4 car pile-up on the interstate. I was in the line of traffic to get on the interstate, where I'd been for 30 frickin' minutes! WITHIN 200 YARDS OF THE INTERSTATE!!!
Well, Mr. White 4Runner decides he needs to get in the turn lane to get on the interstate. There was no turn signal, or anything, and there SURE wasn't any room for him to get into the turn lane in front of me! People had been driving around all the traffic & cutting over at the last minute, & as bad as I hate to say it, "I WAS TIRED OF IT!" Well, I held my ground & didn't let him over. He just kept on coming into my lane!! We wern't going over 10mph, but thats not the issue here. He didn't give a rip about anything or anybody but himself! I finally had to let him in to keep him from hitting my truck! I guess I should've been a little more selfish & just let him hit me!
If I hadn't let him in, his back door would've hit my front quarter panel.
Its one thing to screw up, or not know where you're going, and do something like this. But I see this guy at least 3 or 4 times a week on the same commute! This was just blatant "ME SYNDROME". He didn't want to sit in traffic, so he thought he'd just muscle his way in at the last minute. Now, I drive a full-size Chevrolet 4x4 truck. I know who would've won the 4runner vs. full-size truck bout. GUARANTEED!! But, I don't guess thats the right attitude to have now is it?
Next time, we're going to see just how good his insurance is! This guy is BOUND to try this crap again. I just hope its not in front of me.......................I don't like dealing with insurance companies. It'd be my luck that he wouldn't have insurance. Then I'd have to resort to "other" forms of "reconciliaiton"
keith
Guess what? The driver pulled out, going my direction, when I was almost on top of her. I slam on my brakes, come perilously close to locking it up.....and then come perilously close to bursting a blood vessel when the driver STOPS COMPLETELY not TWENTY FEET later to begin making a left turn into another location!!!!
Had she waited for TWO SECONDS she would have had all the time in the world to pull out, then sit there waiting for the oncoming traffic to have a gap enough for her to turn.
Oh, how I wished for a howitzer at that moment.
cheers,
Phil
Merry Christmas!
My other new favorite are inconsiderate drivers who mean to be considerate. You know, they'll stop a whole line of traffic behind them to let *one* car turn left in front of them, to the peril of all other traffic on the road. Part of being considerate, IMO, is to act in the interest of the majority, at least in traffic. If you think you're being considerate but ruining the flow or safety of traffic, you're doing something wrong.
Don't know if I'd call it 'peril' so much as 'extreme irritation.'
Here's another one that I'm not sure whi the inconsiderate driver was. Sunday evening I'm travleling south on I-87 (NYS Thruway). I see a late model Porsche 911 in my rearview mirror. I'm going about 90mph and see him closing in. I move over and let him pass. In front of the 911 is a BMW 330CiC (Convertible for those of you who don't speak BMW). The 911 tailgaited the BMW for a few minutes and then passed on the right. I ended up back in the left lane a few moments late and got behind the BMW (a safe distance). The BMW was going at least 90mph in the left lane. SO my question to the board: Who was the inconsiderate driver? The Left lane camping BMW (At 90mph) or the tailgaitng Porsche who passed on the right?
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
When I try to wave them on they usually act weird and it takes them awhile to figure out to just go. I sure am not going to try to drive blind across a moving lane and get T-boned. They just don't get it, I guess.
That was in the driver's handbook over 40 years ago.
But speaking of intersections, there is one near my office where traffic backs up. On more than one occasion, I have stopp just before the intersection because there wasn't room to exit the other side. Many times someone takes the opportunity to occupy the space in front of me -coming from a driveway or the other lane- and then they sit in the intersection blocking traffic. Unbelievable.
But they can't understand why you are looking at them like... Uh thanks but no thanks... I CAN"T FREAKIN SEE PAST YOU! So dont do me any favors, OK?
These people "being nice" are actually not being smart by creating a traffic hazard involving a turning car (or someone cutting across stopped traffic) and cars whizzing by blindly in the right lane.
So please.... if you own a tall vehicle please avoid being nice at the wrong time.
I tried to get my skin (on my hand that is!) caught in door and glove latches in Hondas and Toyotas. No matter how hard I tried, you cannot snag your skin in one of these cars. What's wrong with Ford?
I also know people who just play 'follow the leader' through stop signs. As long as one person in a line stops, we can all go through without stopping, right?
He doesn't even bother to go after the inconsiderate motorist, instead he parks outside a cafe to get his morning coffee and donut.
I guess I'm more dangerous on an interstate at 10 over without a car near me on a sunny day in a well maintained car.
Sheesh!
TB
I think cops do that when they suspect you were doing something wrong, and they're trying to rattle you or watch you very closely. She was probably annoyed that she couldn't nail you for the thing that she was sure you did wrong. Or maybe she was told to be on the lookout for a car with your general description that was involved in something more serious than a traffic violation, and she was trying to see if you acted funny when she followed you.
I've developed a fairly cavalier attitude about cops after driving this many years (23). I respect them but I don't let them rattle me anymore. I just drive the way I want and don't worry too much if I see a cop, unless I'm going way over the speed limit, in which case I'll slow down if I can. I drove many years before I got my first ticket, and ironically the cops rattled me more then than they do now. I realized after I got stopped a few times that the fear of it is much worse than the reality. Now if I get stopped, I have the "it's not my first ticket and it won't be my last ticket" attitude. Unless you're drunk or doing something really crazy, the only thing they can do to you is hand you a piece of paper.
One time I got really lucky with a cop following me. I was doing 80-85 mph in a 55 mph zone of I-91 just above Hartford, CT. It was early on a Sunday morning with no traffic, and I can't keep the lead out of my shoes under those circumstances, whatever the risk. I passed an entrance ramp and a cop got on behind me. I thought I was busted for sure and had visions of a $300 ticket. I took my foot off the gas but didn't want him to see my brake lights, so it took some time for me to slow down to a reasonable speed. He just followed me for one exit and got off. That was a lucky break.
I find that in Connecticut, on the highways cops are an all or nothing thing. They are either out in full force or completely absent. They tend not to do much routine enforcement on a day to day basis, but instead to have targeted "operations" on certain roads and on certain days of the week that involve a lot of manpower. There must have been some operation going on when you saw so many of them.
A few years ago, I was riding with my buddy to Boston on I-84 (on the fourth of July) and the troopers busted him for speeding (about 80 mph) in Newtown. He's the type of guy who resumes the speed that he got written up for before the ink on his ticket is even dry, and on this day he very narrowly missed two more tickets a little further up the road where they had more speed traps. We didn't breathe easy until we hit the Mass. Pike.
The moral of the story is, when driving in Connecticut, if you see one cop, watch out, because you'll probably see a lot more.
There is a highway exit near my house that feeds into a main road, with a yield sign for those getting off the highway, and no room to merge. That means that if there is a car on the main road, the car on the exit ramp must stop and wait for traffic to clear.
Several times, I have almost been hit by morons who barrel right through the yield sign into my lane. I have to be extra careful when I drive there to avoid an accident with those idiots. There was actually a fatal accident there about two weeks ago.
I think you need to re-read your Rules of the Road pamphlet, pronto.
Bill