Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

fintail

We're in a heat wave in these parts, and it seems to have affected some people. I was out at 8am today, and it was already 80F. First winner was a phone yapping woman in a Grand Cherokee (hard to believe I know) who veered across three lanes on a major overpass/interchange without looking. I am glad I spotted her early on and knew she'd be trouble, so I stayed back. Then I got behind a cluster of cars that somehow was afraid to pass on the right (on a 4 lane road)....the car going slow in the left lane? A 200 year old couple in one of the last Sevilles (SLS I will guess) all decked out with a carriage top, chromes, and whitewalls, going about 22 in a 35.

imidazol97

Sounds like driving in your area is a lot more interesting than on the interstates and roads around here. You have to analyze people early on to predict what crazy and dangerous moves they may make out of lack of driving skills.

A lot of Riveras have traded enough times they're in the hands of people who are putting portholes on the side of the hood. It spoils the beautiful design of the car, although it is a Buick. Portholes, 28 inch wheels with rubber o-rings around the rim, gold grills (the car, not the teeth, at least I can't tell from a distance), loud boom boxes in the rear seat; what more could a guy want from a car.

fintail

This is a strange place to drive...people are generally easygoing, but there's a definite passive-agressive presence (I can admit I am guilty of it too), and there is at least as much distraction and cluelessness as anywhere. Coupled with the high population of SUVs and a road system designed when population levels were maybe 1/3 of present day, and you can have some messes.

I saw a pimped out Aurora the other day.

docnukem

If you have a camera-enabled cell phone, you can snap a pic of the cars (with license) parked next to yours. If your car is safe at the end of the day, you can delete them. If not, you at least have some evidence of who damaged your car.

Of course, without actually witnessing the scrape, it may be hard to prove.

snakeweasel

You wouldn't have any evidence of who damaged your car. The next person who parked there could have done it, or the person after that.

jipster

We have 8 levels in our parking garage. I drove around several times since looking, but haven't seen any similar white trucks. But, I've still got my eye out looking.

I work in a health care complex, so more than likely it was a visitor or patient, as opposed to an employee.

jipster

Well, this is actually the second time in less than a year someone has backed into my car and speed off. (Never a scratch on the clunkers I drove into the ground.) The first time I'm not really sure where/when it happened. I did pay attention to license numbers and models I parked next to for awhile...then just became to much of a hassle.

Mind you this isn't the most expensive car in the world...but is/was in really good condition. Having a 30k-60k vehicle would probably be to much for my nerves with all the idiots out there.

imidazol97

>(Never a scratch on the clunkers I drove into the ground.)

When I lived near Cinci I kept an old 1961 Chev that I'd bought after some lady crashed the rear of my car until my new one arrived. I didn't have people crowd me on narrow lane boulevards, I parked close to people who'd try to crowd and take two spots in a parking lot. I'd squeeze in. It had been scraped gently along one side when I got it. But they couldn't damage it and have me care.

imidazol97

Maybe they'll come back for a return visit to a doctor some day. You might find a scrape of your paint on the car. Carry a digital camera.

imidazol97

I saw a Deville a few years old with the narrow vertical taillights in med brown (old ladies color?) with large chromers and small tires height going down the road. What a hoot. The car looked like a pickup raised on extra large wheels.

imidazol97

On the inconsiderate driver aspect if someone has modified their tires and doesn't have good traction and can't prevent an accident, is there a possibility of an action against them for having modified the safety of a vehicle? Those 3 inch thick tires are not going to maintain traction like a 6-7 tall tire over a bump or rut.

loncray

Nope, I'm not a motorcyclist - though I AM a bicyclist (not on the roads in this area though)and understand how invisible anyone not in a car can be on the road. I've also never had a problem with motorcycle headlights. The way I figure it, the more visible a motorcyclist is to people around him, the more considerate he is. So long as it's not illegal, I have no problem at all with flashing lights on motorcycles.

marjie

PLEASE take me off your e mail list promptly!

snakeweasel

Who has you on their e-mail list?

Or are you just getting e-mails when someone posts to this forum? If thats the case then you clicked on the e-mail notification function for this forum. To undo that go to the page that you go to when you hit "my tracked items" and unclick the "e-mail alert" notification box.

capitano

Email stalking courtesy of Edmunds. LOL.

Anyway, I went to the gym the other day. I had just gotten out of my car when I see this grey Lexus RX come down the aisle. He turns to his left to get a space between a Solara and a curb. He hits the solara just in front of the rear wheel and scrapes it down the driver's door almost to the front quarter panel.

I see him gesturing wildly inside. He backs out. I am watching this and I know he is going to take off. I study his license plate as it backs towards me. He bolts. I walk to the nearby Walgreen's ask the clerk for something to write on and a pen. I write down the plate number on the receipt he gives me. I buy a gatorade.

I go to the gym, get a bigger piece of paper to write on and leave a note for the owner of the solara. I leave my number. During my workout I would look out occasionally to see if the owner had come out yet.

I go home and get a call a little later. She asks if I am willing to talk to the cops and I say sure. When I hang up I am expecting a call from a cop at some point. It never comes. The lady never calls back.

I don't know if the cops went to the guy's house and he confessed or whether they told her to deal with her insurance.

snakeweasel

I don't know if the cops went to the guy's house and he confessed or whether they told her to deal with her insurance.

My guess would be that she called the police when she saw what happened then she called you (maybe by their request) and she called you because the police were going to do something about it. So its very possible the guy fessed up.

capitano

She called me while I was on the way home. My wife didn't pick up because she didn't recognize the name/number on callerID. I mentioned it after a while and told me to look at the callerID list. I ended calling the lady and at that point she had been waiting for the cops for 45 minutes. We talked for a while and I never heard back.

Given the nature of the 3rd world law enforcement we have here in South Florida, I was expecting that the cops would blow her off. But they may have gone to the guy's house, seen the white paint on his lexus, asked him about it and gotten him to confess.

xwesx

Here in AZ, they are allowed to split a lane, up to two wide per lane. They may not pass in between cars and may not split a lane with other cars.

Yes, splitting a lane with another bike, fine. With a car or to pass two cars? Not a good idea. That is taking a high risk activity and moving it into the extreme category. But, that is what many of the bikers out there are after, I suppose.

My favorite all-time biker move was when this bozo decided to pass down the center of a crowded two-lane highway as we were all beginning to slow for a light. There was an 18-wheeler in the left lane, and I was in the right driving my '69 C20 with a 26' flatbed trailer attached carrying about 8000# of cargo. Now, traffic was not moving slowly, this guy just wanted to get in front. So, he comes out of a blind spot behind the big rig, sqeezes between us along the solid white pre-intersection lane marker, and then plants himself right in front of me at the red light. I had already planned my stopping distance when braking for the light, and now I have about 20 less feet to stop. It took everything that rig had to stop in time, about 4 inches off the rear tire. Had I not been driving my C20 (it would kill me to damage it), I would not have made the extra effort to not punt his [non-permissible content removed] into the intersection.

albert6

Sadly, no more than any other defect: eg bald tires, no shocks, missing headlights, bad brakes, poor driving. In Maryland they used to allow police to require an inspection whenever they deemed necessary. Since they didn't happen often, inspections were dreaded.

snakeweasel

In Maryland they used to allow police to require an inspection whenever they deemed necessary.

I would think that would violate the 4th Amendment to the Constitution.

smittynyc

This just makes me angry.

A couple of days ago on Long Island, a guy driving a Hummer pulling a huge horse trailer fell asleep at the wheel, ran off the road, went up on a sidewalk, and struck 15- and 17-year-old sisters. The 15-year-old was killed instantly; the 17-year-old is in the hospital with head injuries.

The driver of the Hummer suffers from chronic sleep apnea and has a history of instantly and unavoidably falling asleep during the day. He has been prescribed a device to help prevent the apnea at night, but admitted to police after the accident that he hadn't used it for days.

Well, the Suffolk County Sheriff has seen fit to give the guy a mulligan. Oops. Be more careful next time. That's right, no charges were filed. It looks like he might get his license revoked, even though New York State doesn't require sleep apnea sufferers to register their condition, but aside from that, nada.

Am I nuts, or shouldn't this guy be facing a vehicular manslaughter rap? How is what he did any different than a guy who takes the wheel knowing he's drunk, high, or otherwise impaired? This is not to say that the worst sleep apnea sufferers shouldn't be allowed to drive. But they have to know better than to take the wheel when they've ignored their treatment.

More about this story at the link.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liapne0725,0,6437651.story?coll=- ny-main-bigpix

xwesx

I agree. He needs to be held responsible for his actions. The fact that he took the wheel after having willfully foregone his treatment for "several days," tells me that he made a decision and somebody died as a direct result.

That reminds me of the 13-y.o. boy who was killed here last spring when a guy got in his truck (drunk) and had barely left the bar's parking lot when he veered off the road and struck the boy AFTER the child had taken evasive action and was in the bottom of a ditch! The guy just kept going and was confronted by a witness to the crime, at which point he offered a bribe to the witness. How's that for irresponsible!?! :mad: The difference, though, is that the guy in my story will likely spend the rest of his life (he was 67 at the time) in prison.

imidazol97

I would expect the guy was criminally negligent. He knew he hadn't been sleeping well. He knew he hadn't been using his apnea pressure machine for sleeping.

He's as negligent as if he drank 10 and got in the truck and drove till he dozed off.

Follow the money, friendships, or political power since he lives somewhere in the area.

A guy killed two bicylists in this area. But the one adult lady lived close to a state rep who was on the radio talking about what a wonderful lady she was. Guess who's facing charges for lots of decades in jail.

oregonboy

Even if the State chooses not to prosecute, the family could sue in civil court, as did the family of OJ's Ex. I don't know how effective that is. I believe that OJ never paid off the judgment and is still "livin' large."

james

akangl

In these cases. A few years ago a japanese bicyclist was hit and killed on the parks hwy by a woman in a chevy cavalier who was fiddling with her stereo. She crossed the white line and was completely on the shoulder when she hit him. Nothing happened to her.

Yet a trucker who hit a train several years ago and killed a guy got sent to prision. The difference for the trucker was A. the train was backing across the crossing and the guy that was killed was on the caboose and B. the sun was in the trucker's eyes, he never saw the crossing lights or the train......a state trooper even went back to the crossing at the same time of day and reported that the sun was in such a position that the trucker could not have seen the train.

I remember the boy who was killed in Fairbanks by that drunk driver, I was very thankful at the sentence the guy received, he truely deserved it.

imidazol97

OJ moved to Florida because that's the only state that allows the home to be completely untouchable financially.

gee35coupe

off limits. So as long as he has no real assets, he doesn't have to pay anything else. I remember them saying he get a heckufa lotta money in retirement investments though. And he is still OJ. His celebrity status is still strong to many people. I'm sure there are still plenty of places where he gets star treatment.

I'm sure the guy that killed the teenagers is hurtin' in the wallet area though.

whahappan

Ok, here's the scene. It's a 4 lane road (2 lanes each direction) with a dedicated left turn lane. I'm 2nd in line of the left through lane at a red light. As the light turns green the idiot at the front of the left turn lane decides he wants to make a RIGHT turn, guns it and cuts off the two through lanes to make his right turn.

Then 1/2 mile up the road the road comes to a T at Rte. 22 (a multilane divided highway.) There's a stop sign with a stop line before an acceleration lane to enter the highway. The guy behind me seems impatient, and as there's a dedicated lane and really no need to stop, I roll through the stop sign. Apparently not fast enough for the bozo behind me, as he lays on the horn as if to say "What are you doing, actually slowing down for a stop sign, can't you see I'm in a hurry?!"

What goes through these people's minds :confuse:

snakeweasel

and as there's a dedicated lane and really no need to stop,

Actually there was a need to stop, its called a stop sign.

Its like the multitude of times I am waiting for traffic to clear to make a right turn on red and the idiot behind me keeps blowing his horn for me to go. Sorry, but I will wait until I think its safe, not you. Or worse yet when there is a "no turn on red sign" and the guy still blows his horn for you to go.

imidazol97

>"no turn on red sign" and the guy still blows his horn

I have actually opened my door, stood up, and pointed to the "No turn on red" sign for the idiots. That of course irritates them more because you're doing something to delay them further. Good!

loncray

Oh, yeah, I love it when folks do that. I make sure to stop completely and totally and look both ways - several times in fact. That way I'm sure that it's safe to continue, and I've just done the person behind me a favor in making him or her safe as well.

andre1969

I was driving through DC in my truck, and this pretty thing in a Jag convertible pulls up beside me on the left at a traffic light. Light turns green, and traffic goes. She got ahead of me, and suddenly I heard something coming up from behind, gunning its engine menacingly and then backing off. It was a Ford passenger van, your typical hotel/rental car/airport shuttle type vehicle. For some reason he felt pressed to gun it and get right up on this poor kitty's rump, as if to intimidate her, and then back off just a bit.

At one point he even honked at her. Now she was going with the flow of traffic, and even if she had moved over there was a whole rush-hour's worth of cars on the road ahead, so it's not like she was holding him up. Up ahead the two lanes of the street split and went different ways, so I was thinking that perhaps he was trying to push her ahead so he could cut over in front of me and turn off. So I backed off a bit, so that he could if he really wanted to.

But nope, he just kept right on her tail. She tapped the brakes a few times, as necessary when traffic in front of her slowed, and she kept a fairly safe distance from the car in front of her. But as the two lanes veered off their separate ways, he just kept right at her, gunning it and lunging at her, and then backing off just before impact.

Sometimes you really have to wonder what's going on in people's heads. Now maybe I'm missing part of the story here. Perhaps she cut him off somewhere awhile back, which I didn't see? Still, I'm sure he'd be regretting it big-time if he got too close to her just as she had to tap the brakes, and he ended up kissing the rear of a car that probably cost 3-4x his annual salary! His employer probably wouldn't be too joyous.

snakeweasel

Now maybe I'm missing part of the story here. Perhaps she cut him off somewhere awhile back,

May have been the case, but that doesn't excuse his actions. If something like that happens just shake it off, you'll live a longer happier life.

imidazol97

The solution for those people who don't pay attention to driving and talk on their cellphone instead. If we can catch one here's the solution:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/26/D8J3L8583.html

snakeweasel

Can we do that for people who take/receive calls in the theater, at a restaurant and the like?

Better not, it will only give us momentary pleasure and is bound to get us talked about.

One time I was interviewing this one lady for a job and her cell phone went off. Now I could excuse that as she could have just forgot to turn it off for the interview (I have at times forgotten to turn mine off when it warranted it) but she said to me "hold on a sec, I have to take this". :surprise:

Needless to say she didn't get the job.

ruking1

That well timed cp call probably saved you a lot of money in eventual disconnect costs !

imidazol97

She waited on me at the local farm supply store last evening. She was talking to someone as she checked me out. I just about asked her to hang up so she could check me out but it sounded like she was talking to one of her kids.

magnette

We had a well publicised case in UK about 5 years ago, where a guy driving a Land Rover with another vehicle on a trailer fell asleep on the M62 Motorway, in Yorkshire, drifted off the road at a point where there was a gap in the crash barriers to allow access to repair crews for the road bridge, which crossed the main railway line to London. The L-R and trailer slid down the road embankment onto the railway below, and although the chap woke up and tried to phone the police etc to warn them he was blocking the track he derailed a fast freight train which hit the vehicle, and then an express train coming the other way hit the freight... I think about eight people were killed and the east coast main line was shut for days.
Anyway, the guy went to prison for about two/three years I think, although it was recognised that he was very unlucky that where he slid off it was possible to fall down to the railway, as there is supposed to be a safety barrier to prevent this. In the press they made a big thing about him being fatigued as he was apparently on the internet the whole night before,(the crash was early - like 6am) although in his defence they did say he had tried to stop the trains at great risk to his own life. Just a terrible combination of circumstances.

albert6

Well, nothing gets seized, just inspected.
Purely a civil action.

Then it's up to the inspector to decide and it's pretty arbitrary about what constitutes a safety hazard - rough rotors? Lights not aimed perfectly? Chip in the windshield?

It used to be rough.

euphonium

Once on my lunch break I went into a store to buy my wife a Christmas present and while I was being waited on, a telephone rang. When the clerk went to answer it, I asked her to let it ring as I took the effort to come in person and didn't want to wait for some one shopping via 'phone while sitting on the couch eating chips. She let it ring and continued to help me pick out the right size, color, and style. Her manager came over and asked why she didn't answer the 'phone in a tone not recommended so I advised him she was asked to continue her sale with me. Then the manager said it was him who was calling. You can guess the rest.

snakeweasel

Well, nothing gets seized, just inspected.

The 4th Amendment prohibits searches without a warrant or reasonable cause. Pulling someone over and doing an inspection would be in violation of that.

mark156

Yesterday, I had to go to the airport to pick up some friends that were going to be visiting me for 5 days. The speed limit is 65 mph on this section of the freeway and I was probably going about 68-70. I was not in the passing lane so there was plenty of room to go around me if so desired.

Well, this guy in a Honda Accord gets right on my back bumper. Since my vehicle is rather high compared to an Accord (Land Rover LR3), all I could see is his windshield. I'm not sure how long he was tailgating me but when I noticed him and watched him for a few minutes, he didn't make any effort to pass me.

On the Land Rover, I have two bright rear fog lights that could look like brake lights. Since I drive with my lights on 99% of the time, I just pulled the light switch control out to activate the rear fogs. Just as soon as I did that, the guy in the Accord backs off and then passes me on the right (left lane was wide open). Some people you just can't understand. :confuse:

Mark

snakeweasel

Well with gas prices the way they are maybe he was drafting?

mark156

LOL!!! true!

Mark

xwesx

Hahah, well then he should have understood that she had prioritized appropriately! :P

xwesx

I agree. Now, if it was a "have a vehicle inspection performed in the next X days or pay this fine" ticket or something, maybe. But just pulling you over and ordering an inspection on the spot?! Geez. Must be some laid back citizens in that state. :confuse:

albert6

Nope - Just if the car does not pass state safety inspection in the next 30 days the tags are no longer valid. Driving with invalid plates gets you a ticket.

It's been 30 years since I last dealt with this - anyone from MD have an update?

I'll bet a driver who was put out by this could go to court and argue that it was not in the State's best interest to do a safety inspection on the car. There's no fine to waive, no ticket, no charge, no points. Just an administrative action. And a trip to an safety inspector.

I believe the police knew what a hassle it was and saved it for those special ones who mouthed off.

xwesx

Oh, oh I see. So it was a "the car has to have a safety inspection in the next 30 days" thing.... not something where the officer and motorist would sit there (where ever) and wait for a "safety inspector" to come on site and inspect the car. Whew... haha. THAT would be overboard!

andre1969

It's been 30 years since I last dealt with this - anyone from MD have an update?

I've lived in Maryland all my life, but I've only had my license since 1987. Other than doing something out-and-out bad, the only time the cops ever pulled me over was for having a headlight out. First time was like back in 1995 in my '67 Catalina. Second time was just about 3 weeks ago, coming back from the Mopar Nationals in my '79 New Yorker. Both times the cops just wrote me a warning and told me to get it fixed whenever I could. And neither one was jerky about it.

As for inspections, I don't know how it used to be back in the day, but nowadays a used car only has to get inspected when it changes hands to someone out of the immediate family. So if you go buy a used car, it has to be inspected. Unless it's at least 25 years old and you get historic plates for it. But if your mother gives you a car, or you give a car to your kids, siblings too I think, it doesn't have to go through inspection. So my 1985 Silverado, for example, has never been inspected in its life. Granddad bought it new, and a few years after he passed away Grandmom gave it to my Mom. Then in 2002 my Mom sold it to me. Now I've checked it out myself, and had the mechanic check it from time to time, but it's never had an official inspection.

I hear that Maryland's inspection is pretty thorough, though. I bought my '79 New Yorker from a little sales lot in West Va. The seller said he'd guarantee it to pass VA, West VA, or PA inspection, but if I were titling it in Maryland he said good luck but you're on your own!

It wasn't too bad though. Took something like $250 to put it through, which included some brake work, messing around with the steering box, the stereotypical headlight aiming, and a few other minor odds and ends.

It wouldn't pass now, though. The exhaust pulled loose right behind the catalytic converter, so while it hasn't turned into a gross polluter, it sounds a lot more powerful than it really is! It's still not as annoying as some of these little fart-canned things, but that night that the cop pulled me over, I made sure I had the car turned off before he got out of his car and came anywhere near it! And I was going to wait until after he left before pulling out again, but he just sat there, so I made sure to pull out S-L-O-W!!

The windshield wipers also got out of whack and when you turn them off they park in the up position. I can get used to it, but I'm sure there's a safety violation in there somewhere. :surprise:

xwesx

Speaking of headlight aiming, I knew a gal who came from VA with her, um, must have been late '80s Olds 88. It was a nice enough car, but the driver headlight seemed like it was aimed into the ground! She said that the aiming of it was mandated by the VA inspection and that the shop had adjusted it like that during the inspection. It was baffling, as that light was nearly useless to the driver (though I'm sure it was very nice for oncoming drivers). :sick: