Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

jjackson12 · January 2013

How did you become responsible for rewarding positive action and providing negative feedback for incorrect action?

I would be interested in seeing your credentials.

fintail · January 2013

Probably no less credentials than those who sit in the left lane when they should move over, as they do not want to tolerate "speeders".

fintail · January 2013

Wouldn't courtesy also dictate the slower driver move over for the faster driver asap, even if the faster driver is speeding? Kind of like risk mitigation?

Why is sharing the road and being courteous a one way street?

fintail · January 2013

Beautiful clear day here, traffic moved right along this evening. But as the skies were just a little lighter than in recent days (but streetlights had been on for some time), insane amount of cars with no lights, I stopped counting at around 10. All kinds of stuff from worn old cars to new Cayennes.

Didn't see anything too offensive, but did deal with a crosswalk crowder in a dopey Infiniti EX with bikes strapped to the back, and saw 3 (!) cars make turns from the wrong lane - Camry slammed on its brakes on a crowded fast 4 lane + turn lane arterial to make a left turn from a straight lane, Corolla did similar about a mile later, then on foot saw another Camry make a right turn from a straight lane.

jjackson12 · January 2013

Wouldn't courtesy also dictate the slower driver move over for the faster driver asap, even if the faster driver is speeding?

Absolutely!

When we have LLC and LLD together, we have trouble. Two wrongs don't make a right!

I found the justification for driving aggressively to be rather disturbing. I hope he doesn't do something foolish while attempting to teach a lesson to some inconsiderate driver.

hammerhead · January 2013

Justification? Not so much.
More like making excuses.

fintail · January 2013

For truly aggressive stuff, I always tell myself that time catches up. When I see it on the road, I just think that eventually, the driver will cause a problem for themselves, maybe in more than one way. Nothing I can do about it.

However, I don't see a flash or two as particularly evil, nor even a toot of the horn. Swerving, really tailgating, etc, that's where the problems start.

jjackson12 · January 2013

However, I don't see a flash or two as particularly evil, nor even a toot of the horn. Swerving, really tailgating, etc, that's where the problems start.

I agree.

But when someone does things to teach a lesson, trouble will ensue.

andres3 · January 2013

I highly doubt the driver of that car expected the flashes to continue for as long as they did.

Next time they decide to impede traffic, I'd bet the farm they'll think twice.

I certainly didn't expect the lesson to last as long as it did. Moral of the story is that the lesson terminated as soon as they moved over to the right (which never occurred).

andres3 · January 2013

But when someone does things to teach a lesson, trouble will ensue.

Your probably right though, as it doesn't seem they learned the lesson correctly.

When I passed, they proceeded to flash me a half dozen times, so it appears they didn't learn the context under which flashing is appropriate, as I was going faster than they were when they flashed me. I was also in the right lane since there was no one else to pass for miles besides them.

Looks like they need a remedial course.

fintail · January 2013

Having someone speed up while being passed is a common passive-aggressive WA state thing - can't count the times I have seen it. Best was ages ago, in my old car, a minivan was going slow, so I passed on the left of course, he sped up, but gave up after about 80 (70 zone). When I was past, I got back in the right lane, and drove on the shoulder just enough to kick up some spray. Oops, didn't mean to do that, I swear :shades:

In the modern car, it isn't so dramatic - only 5 speeds, but a lot of torque, so if I have to make it downshift, game over - I'm long gone.

I can't count the amount of times I have passed on the right on I5 in western WA. It is just normal driving here. Don't even bother to flash, just go around, quicker, less annoyance.

hammerhead · January 2013

Don't even bother to flash, just go around, quicker, less annoyance.

Percect. Low profile, make tracks.
See andres? It can be done without all the hoopla or attitude.

imidazol97 · January 2013

jjackson12 asks of andres3
>How did you become responsible for rewarding positive action and providing negative feedback for incorrect action?

In their own subconscious mind they become the policeman that they themselves hate so much.

imidazol97 · January 2013

>When I was past, I got back in the right lane, and drove on the shoulder just enough to kick up some spray.

??? Sounds aggressive and retaliatory.

>passed on the right on I5 in western WA. It is just normal driving here. Don't even bother to flash, just go around, quicker, less annoyance.

Amen. I've done that occasionally with someone going slower than I wanted to travel. Some claim it's not legal. I notice my son was taught in drivers ed never to pass on the right; he always uses the left on 3 or more lane roads to pass a car in the middle lane. He will hang back and wait for the driver on a 2-lane interstate to move to the right. I suspect he was told in Ohio it's illegal to pass on the right on two-lane roads. I have not checked.

But passing on the right is the easy way to ameliorate a bad situation and shows maturity.

imidazol97 · January 2013

>Having someone speed up while being passed

I can't recall when I've seen that happen in my travels for years.

As a neutral comment, I've noticed that some people who are wanting to go faster will come up behind, follow, and then when I move to the right hand lane of 2 lanes, they move forward a little and then go the same speed at which I am traveling on CC. They don't like being out front is my suspicion, but they will travel above the speed limit if there are other cars and trucks ahead of them--is this from the old days of the first car got zapped by radar by the smokey hiding on the overpass or in the median or behind the bridge railing?

Kirstie_H · January 2013

Maybe they should leave the Taurus in the street?

Nooooooo!
Actually, if you weren't in Michigan I'd swear you were squatting in my house. We had a similar situation with our neighbors across the street - too many cars. Well, there wouldn't really have been too many if their garage weren't full of junk, but since it was, that left several vehicles parked in the street; most notably, a Taurus. (Alliteration alert:) This Taurus was perpetually parallel parked perpendicular to the end of our driveway, making it a real PITA for us to pull out, particularly when towing something behind the truck.

After a few months, it became clear that the Taurus had long since taken its last ride, and was inoperable - expired tags, flat spot on the front tires. I gave them a generous 6 months before I reported it to the city as a decrepit vehicle, and it was mercifully towed away.

Moral of the story: don't wish for a Taurus on your street.

imidazol97 · January 2013

>the Taurus had long since taken its last ride, and was inoperable - expired tags,

You were beyond generous in not reporting the car...

Something you'd said in the past about rules for garbage cans perhaps indicated your city was good about zoning and appearances. Ours is very good. Cars can sit for 7 days, IIRC. The city occasionally asks people to notify them of cars that haven't been moved that are parked on the street.

Our city uses some lowlevel police cadet trainees to ride in a police car marked for Parking Enforcement to spot such cars as your Taurus as well as check for handicapped parking violations at the local groceries and box stores with their designated handicapped spaces.

I've seen tickets on cars parked on the left side of the street facing the opposing traffic in residential neighborhoods.

fintail · January 2013

Nah, I was in an old car, you know how they wander around sometimes? :shades:

I have witnessed the speeding up while being passed ideal numerous times around here, on highways and surface streets both. It fits in with the local passive aggressive attitude. They will almost always give up and slow back down once you've moved past.

Passing on the right is fine in WA anyway, here's the law:

RCW 46.61.115:

(1) The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass upon the right of another vehicle only under the following conditions:

(a) When the vehicle overtaken is making or about to make a left turn;

(b) Upon a roadway with unobstructed pavement of sufficient width for two or more lines of vehicles moving lawfully in the direction being traveled by the overtaking vehicle.

(2) The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass another vehicle upon the right only under conditions permitting such movement in safety. Such movement shall not be made by driving off the roadway.

imidazol97 · January 2013

>When the vehicle overtaken is making or about to make a left turn;

I read those as Boolean And relationships--so the cars have to be making a lefthand turn...

fintail · January 2013

I see (a) and (b) as independent statements under (1). The (2) also opens the door up to just about anything, so long as you stay on the road.

Probably made to prevent people from driving on the shoulder, which is uncommon here, but seemingly a normal event in the south.

andres3 · January 2013

In their own subconscious mind they become the policeman that they themselves hate so much.

There's some truth to that, as I believe that traffic cops fail to do their job competently. If they don't do it, someone has to!

I generally don't flash, but if I think your basically asleep at the wheel, particularly bad LLC offenders, then you may get a couple flashes to wake you up.

The typical LLC doesn't get flashed by me.... it's the really blatant ones.

andres3 · January 2013

But passing on the right is the easy way to ameliorate a bad situation and shows maturity.

When easily possible, it makes sense, but it usually does contribute to increasing traffic congestion when you are forced to pass on the right, in addition to having greater speed differentials, which some here think is a big deal.

It's simply safer for faster traffic to pass on the left.

andres3 · January 2013

is this from the old days of the first car got zapped by radar by the smokey hiding on the overpass or in the median or behind the bridge railing?

Maybe. But in my experience the smokies have gotten so lazy that they will pull over the vehicle in back because it takes too much energy and time to chase down the fastest car in front. (provided they are all within 5 to 10 MPH of each other and all going 15 or more over the limit).

xrunner2 · January 2013

insane amount of cars with no lights, I stopped counting at around 10. All kinds of stuff from worn old cars to new Cayennes.

Perhaps your sleepless city needs some kind of ongoing public awareness spots on your radio and tv stations about putting headlights on. Citizens in sleepless drink a lot of coffee and should be very aware of things, responsibilities. :P

xrunner2 · January 2013

However, I don't see a flash or two as particularly evil, nor even a toot of the horn.

Perhaps just letting it go could work best for everyone.

No way is one individual going to change the world of drivers.

fintail · January 2013

I blame it all on transplants and tourists :shades:

Saw 4 of them today, I recall a Yaris, Xterra, and 90s Z-car. No other real inconsiderates though, actually got to drive home at roughly the speed limit - rare event.

jjackson12 · January 2013

When I was past, I got back in the right lane, and drove on the shoulder just enough to kick up some spray.

Wow, for someone who gets upset when a driver fails to use his turn signal, you pull something like this? You're the inconsiderate one.

jjackson12 · January 2013

This evening I talked with the neighbor across the street from our unfortunate Explorer. There are no cars in the street.

Silver Focus - her car, garage
Mustang - his summer car, garage
Black Focus - his car, driveway in front of Mustang
Explorer, son, commuting to college 10 miles away, driveway

Kia - friend, helping move in (gone now)
Taurus - BIL, helping move in (gone now)

While it was nice to have help moving into a new house, it prevented our young (but smarter now) student from parking in the driveway.

fintail · January 2013

I did it because [non-permissible content removed] in the van sped up while being passed- one of the biggest jerk moves someone can pull. I was just returning his lack of consideration ...And it worked, I didn't see him again :shades:

xwesx · January 2013

one of the biggest jerk moves someone can pull.

That's for sure. Not only one of the biggest jerk moves, but also amongst the most dangerous (on a two lane highway, especially).

xwesx · January 2013

You sure seem wrapped around the axle on this one, so I'm glad your mind was finally put at ease. :shades:

stever · January 2013

There have been a slew of aggressive driving posts in here recently, including members advocating illegal actions, and many of those posts have been removed.

As a reminder the Membership Agreement provides "We do not allow the promotion of illegal conduct or activities or fraudulent schemes in the Community Services. Specifically, you may not advocate illegal conduct, such as street racing, reckless driving or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs."

Additionally this discussion is about other lousy drivers we see running our errands or on our commutes. It's not about other posters.

xwesx · January 2013

You had your work cut out for you, Steve! There was quite a run over the last few days.... :surprise:

fintail · January 2013

I ran a red light this morning, same intersection that always sticks. Another car was sitting to my right, I don't know how long he had been there. No word from the city, time to contact again. Workin hard, they are. They are far more inconsiderate than me :shades:

fintail · January 2013

Observations from being on foot this morning - if the revenue enforcement community would put the energy they shovel into the speeding menace to enforcing laws about turn signals, crosswalks, and phone use, every budget problem could be solved. It seemed every other car was doing something dumb, without a LEO in sight - as they are speedtrapping the busy arterials.

printerman1 · January 2013

without the cops, its a free for all. You can do anything on the road you want, just make sure no cops around. Nice to see, foolish driving is not confined to my city. I hate halogen lights.

ltllady · January 2013

Of course, with 300 million guns on the streets it might not be the wisest move for a person to make such a petulant respone. The character on the other side might be crazy, say like that Alex Jones guy on Piers Morgan last night!

printerman1 · January 2013

straight from CCR tune, Run Through the Jungle. As USA constitutional right to bear arms means nothing today. There is always the underground to supply the demand. And as Itlady says, you do not know what people in the USA are packing in their car. It takes only one to get the media attention and then they have the power to blow it out of proportion.

fintail · January 2013

This morning saw a Camry make a (n illegal) U-turn - those must have the turning radius of the Titanic, it was pretty comical.

Also a Rav4 gets in a left turn lane, sits at a blinking yellow light, then makes a crazy random right turn from that left turn lane - thankfully there was a gap in traffic or it could have been messy, as the intersection is often busy.

fintail · January 2013

This morning saw a guy I have never seen in my office building before, parking a big white Denali in the garage, early when I arrive, almost no other cars present. Let's just say it took more than one attempt. I think big truck SUVs need license endorsements.

Driving home got behind an old woman in an Optima running beside an old man in a RAV4. Both were going 29 in a 35, with a line behind them.

On foot, saw a black rental Avalon run a light pretty harshly - a good 20 seconds after red. Only luck prevented a crash. Also saw a woman holding a phone in her left hand, trying to steer her Prius around a 90 degree corner with the right hand, using short jerky movements - insane.

printerman1 · January 2013

of people with big things they cant handle. The idea is the bigger the vehicle, 'I' wouldn't get hurt. Same thinking went into the Hummers. People could not drive it, but it protected them.
Or if you want a good chuckle, watch the people that are too short for the car they are driving.
They cannot see what is around them, because the inside mirrors are out of their vision.

Car Salesman will do anything for a sale, even if you dont fit the car/vehicle.
A woman I overheard at a dealership, told the sales guy, This is the vehicle I want, you dont need to do a sales pitch with me. What did he do? He went right into his pre-recorded sales pitch. Ignored her.

gogogodzilla · January 2013

I learn my lesson with that back in 2001, when I bought a Nissan Altima.

While I could handle it just fine, it always felt too big for me (felt like a pig wallowing in mud). Because of that, the 'buy a car that fits you' ideal has been ingrained in my car-buying psyche.

So I've stuck with small cars/SUVs. IE: VW Golf/GTI size for cars... and the old Ford Escape size for SUVs.

fintail · January 2013

4 cars with no lights tonight, I forget what 2 were, one was an Accord, one was a Rio. I was able to motion to the older woman in the Accord, and guess what - she noticed, and turned on the lights. Yay me.

Three idiot cars on the road - Sonata weaving through traffic, but never getting more than a car length or two ahead, big white Sequoia making a right turn from the far left lane on a 4 lane road, and an X5 going straight from a right turn only lane, and having a close call. Oh, and 3, count em 3, Lexus SUVs (2 RX, 1 GX) that never used a turn signal. The well kept princess or born lucky middle aged property developer behind the wheel must have better things to do.

stever · January 2013

Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy Revs Up for 2013

fintail · January 2013

Clear day here, so a little light in the sky for my evening commute, which means maybe a quarter of the cars had no lights, and numerous others only using parking lights. I don't get that.

Had a bad crosswalk incident - I and another random pedestrian were in a crosswalk on green, [non-permissible content removed] suit in a late model A6 makes a right turn from the left lane and just zooms through. Too bad he didn't bump me, I could use a new house. Far past time for wealth based fines. Also saw a young guy in an Impreza blatantly blow a light for a "free" turn (I thought you had to stop first) - phone in hand, of course. No enforcers within a few light years, I guess they pick and choose what to enforce - do what is easiest.

fintail · January 2013

Could make for an interesting vacation, but 4 grand is a lot for a long weekend.

That reminds me, local Ducati dealer gives you a free track day pass if you buy there.

slorenzen · January 2013

Ducati?

Nice bike...

Have you considered the BMW R-bikes?

State police use them...for several reasons...

fintail · January 2013

There are a few Ducatis and BMWs that I love - but are out of my below-my-means budget and probably more machine than I should have right now. Maybe in the future.

My city police used to have BMWs, now they have big Hondas.

snakeweasel · January 2013

Watch out for pedestrians. Especially when they have a crosswalk or the right of way given to them at a lighted intersection. Lots of people on foot (at least here) at this time of year, and lots of distracted drivers having close calls.

OK I know I am a bit late to the rodeo here but let me add. If you are pulling out from a parkinglot and waiting for traffic to clear once traffic is clear take a quick look to your right to make sure no pedestrians have snuck up on you.

snakeweasel · January 2013

The benefits would be enormous, with less congested roads

Yes but who would be the one remaining driver?

Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

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