Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

redmaxx

Not funny. Pretending to be a police car is a serious offense probably resulting in jail time. The CB and antenna were put on car within one week of purchasing new in Jan 97. Took awhile to realize that our car looks like a cop car from a vehicle's rear view mirror ahead. It definitely was not intentional.

What do you mean not funny? I wasn't serious.

snakeweasel

Your fault? No way. You did everything you reasonably could to assure a safe turn.

Unfortunately doing everything reasonably possible doesn't keep you from being the cause of the accident. In The situation described unless you can provide proof that the other driver was driving grossly negligent then it is still your fault. I know a similar thing happened to me just after I got my license, guess who was at fault?

xwesx

Nightvzn, this is a relatively common occurence on Chena Hot Springs Road, where I live. The main road is primarily a two lane, 55mph "rural" highway. For the first 25 miles or so, the primary use of the road is as a residential feeder route and, as you might imagine, is more heavily populated toward mile 'zero' than toward mile 25. It has plenty of twists, turns, and hills with many access roads nicely situated so as to have a short sight distance (my road included!). In every case about which I have read, if there is a rear-ender collision, the person doing the colliding receives a "too fast for conditions" citation. But, somewhat surprisingly, these collisions are quite rare (especially considering how often people go in far excess of the SL (like 80+)) overall. More common are single vehicle crashes and head-ons.

There was just one a couple weeks ago where a drunk slammed into a carload of Japanese tourists who had pulled to the shoulder of the road to enjoy a nice view of the Alaska Range. Killed one, sent the other two to the hospital for a few days. :sick:

nightvzn

Well, again, it all depends on how the situation plays out, and how the cop interprets it.

xwesx

A coworker was hit making a left turn onto a one way (same as right turn in this case) at about 1100 in mid-December one year. It was barely light outside (no orb of sun visible) and she was hit by a unlit vehicle *almost* in the rear end.... so she had not quite made it all the way onto the roadway.

She was found at fault, even though the other vehicle was driving without lights during a time when lights were required. I think she did not argue it enough, but so be it.

The point, I think, that we have established is that right or wrong, the turner is automatically the main suspect simply because that is the driver entering the flow of traffic.

andre1969

If you make a right turn on red, or at a stop sign, and get hit, I think one big factor in who gets found at fault is where the other car hits you.

Now if you get all the way out into the intersection and get rear-ended, most likely the other guy will be found at fault. The whole being under control of your vehicle at all times, plus they go by the reasoning that if you had enough time to get all the way out, the other guy had sufficient time to stop, regardless of who had the right-of-way.

If you get hit towards the front of the car, you're more likely to be found at fault. If you get hit towards the back, such as aft of the B-pillar, I think you're less likely to be found at fault, but again I'm sure it'll vary from situation to situation.

snakeweasel

Well, again, it all depends on how the situation plays out, and how the cop interprets it.

It wasn't the way the cop interpreted it, it was the way the judge (you know the one with the actual law degree) in court interpreted it.

fintail

Nothing terribly annoying today...save for one incident. On the same 40mph suburban road I travel every day, a road that almost never has a speedtrap, there was a cop in traffic. He was going maybe 35, probably talking on his radio or something. He didn't seem to be on the lookout for inconsequential speeders, and didn't even look as jerky as so many cops can. Anyway....almost nobody would pass him, even though he was in the right lane minding his own business, at well under the limit. People would get even with his bumper when in the left lane, and then slow to his speed. Sometimes they'd actually drop behind him when someone came up behind them (in the left lane). I noticed several people do this...is it ridiculous fear, or do these people all have no insurance and felony warrants? When I could, I got past him and his bottleneck, going the limit or maybe even marginally above...and of course he didn't bat an eye.

snakeweasel

I sometimes wonder if they do that on purpose??

Yep they do, I have had more than one tell me they do that at times to see how many people actually pass them and how long it takes.

gogogodzilla

I've noticed the reverse here in Maryland.

You'll be zipping along in the passing lane of a two-lane highway, going with the flow of traffic... (mainly because the slow lane exists solely for on-off ramp traffic; what with on-off ramps every 1/2 mile)

Then some car will (in the slow lane) zip up to your speed and stay there, right next to you. That is, until that car finds out why that lane is called the 'slow lane'... i.e. - ends up two inches of the bumper of the car in front of them.

Then they're force to slow down.

(I figure that they're trying to pass. But mind you, I'm not accelerating to match THEIR speed, they're accelerating to match mine... without realizing that one must speed up to a faster speed in order to pass.)

fintail

Indeed they do, because they can. What are they going to do, get fired? hahahaha

Today's worst was simply a young woman smoking and talking on the phone at the same time, who signalled for her turn after she started turning. Good day!

fintail

Last night I'm getting in around midnight, and I hear some engines racing maybe a couple blocks from my house I can tell they are slowly getting closer. Then one revs way up and just screams, like some kind of crazy NOS or turbo setup or something. So I go to my window...and a sportbike and some kind of souped up 90s Japanese coupe (hey, I didn't use the generally accepted term) - maybe a 240SX - fly past me, going maybe 80-100 on my 30mph uphill street.

nightvzn

Today I had to be awake at what is, for me, an inhumane and brutal hour (6am), especially on a Sunday. I was running in a relay triathlon in Santa Cruz. The nice thing about this was I got a chance to blast over 17 through the Santa Cruz mountains so early there was almost nobody else on the road. I hadn't made the trip in my new WRX before so I was quite pleased at how incredibly balanced it felt through the turns.

The return trip was, of course, a different story. By that point in the afternoon, there was quite a bit more traffic. That sort of road (winding, mountainous) is usually a wellspring for some of my usual pet peeves, including paranoid excessive braking on curves, paranoid excessive braking on small downhill stretches, and failure to yield the left lane.

The traffic, as a whole, was actually pretty good today, but once we started going downhill, the curves spooked the hell out of the otherwise confident drivers, and the left lane got jammed up.

But then the auto-synchronization began. Somehow pairs of cars, side-by-side, invoked precisely the same amount of paranoid braking (what an amaaaaaaazing coincidence!) and remained laterally locked to each other. No way for anybody to get through for quite a while. Sigh...

The best moment was almost the worst. Several cars ahead of me, a Grand Cherokee in the left lane turned on its blinker and started to merge right ... directly into a BMW SUV! What almost became an American-German clash of the suburbanite titans was averted, last-minute, as the Grand Cherokee realized its error and swung violently back into its lane (barely retaining composure).

I think I noticed this mainly because I've seen it happen an uncanny number of times in the last week. I've started using my horn FOR the people involved just to try to prevent an accident. People apparently change lanes relying on peripheral vision alone. Mirror? Who needs it! Blind spot? If I can't see it, it can't hurt me! (In all fairness, I've made the merging-near-miss mistake once or twice in my driving career, even when I thought I'd thoroughly checked for cars. So who knows.)

Yikes. I'd hate to witness one of these near misses come to disastrous fruition, especially if I was right behind and in the line of fire.

snakeweasel

I was going down this small two lane (one lane each direction) road that went through a residential location. Along the road are little kids on their way to school and a big sign with flashing yellow lights that said "School Speed Zone 20 MPH". Of course I am driving down the road at about 20 MPH (as I should) when I look in my rearview mirror and see some clown in a Civic coming up on me really fast. This idiot must have been doing 40-45 (Normal SL is 30) and he came up so close and so fast that I thought this guy was going to hit me.

Needless to say that this clown rode my rear all the way through the school zone up to the stop light just after the end of the school zone. :mad:

xwesx

The "best" one I can remember was back in... hmm. Must have been round about 1993. My parents had taken a trip to Costco in their motorhome and were on their way home on I-84 with nary a car to be seen. After a while, there was an early '80s Cadillac DeVille coming down an access ramp, so they moved to the left lane to clear the space for this car. Well, the car comes onto the highway, then continues to drift left (into the side of the motorhome!) with about 4' of motorhome in front of them (so no blind spot excuse) and at least another 10' out the rear. My mother was driving at the time, and she can see this car hugging her rig through the sideview mirror. She laid on the horn and pulled left to avoid the collision until she was entirely on the shoulder and median! She finally had to brake until the car was ahead of them and pull back into the lane. The other driver never did have a clue, though there was a child in the back seat with a look of horror on his face and he was gesturing wildly to the old man driving.... :sick:

tallman1

Okay, Fintail... I was up in your neck of the woods today and the LLCs were everywhere! Both directions of I-5 and the road between I-5 and Anacortes. OMG! Totally oblivious.

fintail

Sounds about right. This is a "pass where you can" area, as opposed to "slower traffic keep right". I always laugh when I am on I5 and the left lane is not the fastest...say, 85% of the time.

That highway to Anacortes is a real nightmare too, I haven't been up there in a couple years, but I remember it. Odd lane number changes, crossroads, lots of old people and tourists.

Today I got onto 405 in a friends car...behind a Saturn that got up to 35 at the end of the on ramp, as traffic on the road was shooting past at 60+. Oblivion defined.

euphonium

Highway 20 between Burlington and Anacortes goes through an indian reservation and the reservation cops patrol their area vigilantly, not giving warnings.

The most dangerous road is five miles from a departing ferry in four minutes. And that's between Anacortes and the San Juan Ferry Terminal.

LLC is a tradition on I 5 in WA because the rest of the lanes are mobile parking lots as well. Same for I 90 past Issaquah.

redmaxx

I had one today and it wasn't the kind you could excuse as a mistake. I was on a 4 lane divided highway, two lanes in each direction. I'm in the right lane, cruise at 75 and there is a red Intrepid in the left lane going about 72 MPH and a car in front going about the same. Enough room to pass and continue my speed. But, as I come up along the Intrepid, it slowly speeds up. I thought that maybe the driver was just trying to syncronize and wasn't paying attention. So I dropped back, got behind him and waited. He slowed down alongside the car in the right lane and didn't move. I flashed my high beams and he finally speeds up and moves over to the right and keeps speeding up. I had to go about 80 to pass. So I get by and resume my 75 speed until I come to another block of cars about 1/2 mile down the road. I look up and see the Intrepid riding my bumper, so that I could no longer see it's fog lights and barely see it's tail lights. So I make my way through the pack of cars, all of which seem to be synchronized at 68 MPH. Now through, the Intrepid is still riding my bumper. So I kick it up to 85, hoping to put some distance, no luck, he just stays glued to my bumper. At this point, I move to the right lane, hoping he might pass. Nope, he backs off just a bit. So we continue another few miles to another pack of cars going about 70 MPH. I get over into his lane and he speeds up as I'm slowing to their speed and now rides my bumper so close I can't see his lights. The car in front of me isn't making any moves to complete his pass, so I move to the right lane and drop back. He starts tailgating the car that was in front of me, until I move back into the left lane so I could hopefully eventually pass the car in the right lane. I sit a good distance back, but no luck, he won't pass. So I slow way down, to 45 MPH and he does the same thing. What a jerk. I finally lost him turning into a neighborhood. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

nightvzn

Reminds me of a time I bruised somebody's ego.

You know how sometimes accidents on the other side of the highway cause massive congestion on your side because the selfish numbskulls all have to slow down to stare?

Well, I was driving at night one time, so the traffic was pretty light, and I happened to notice an accident on the other side. It looked like it had just happened pretty recently, so not much traffic had had a chance to pile up.

Just as the accident came into view, I saw the two or three cars ahead of me, in my lane, immediately get on their brakes. It was a unique situation, as I'd never seen this "sympathetic traffic jam" thing in its early stages. I saw the brake lights, thought "Ohhhhh no you don't!," and let out a few short blasts of the horn.

I must have really ticked this guy off by having the audacity to object to his right to rubberneck, because he was RIGHT on my bumper after that for several miles. With practically no other cars on the highway, mind you. I could barely see his headlights.

I still have to smile at the way I handled the situation. I completely ignored the person and let him have his temper tantrum. I even set my cruise control. He got more and more frustrated the longer I ignored him, it seemed, because his tailgating got more and more intense.

Eventually when he realized he simply couldn't provoke me, he gave up and left. Of course, I realize it was incredibly dangerous having him so close on my tail in the event I had to brake suddenly, which fortunately didn't happen. So despite the satisfaction from letting him fail in his attempts, I didn't exactly think it was a good situation.

I've also used the "slow wayyyy down" approach to get somebody to pass. As long as I'm above the legal lower limit and there aren't enough cars on the road for me to be creating a problem, I find they eventually get sick of driving so slow if I wait long enough.

snakeweasel

I look up and see the Intrepid riding my bumper, so that I could no longer see it's fog lights and barely see it's tail lights.

You could barely see its tail lights? Who was riding whose bumper? :P

snakeweasel

I've also used the "slow wayyyy down" approach to get somebody to pass.

I usually use the slow down method because tailgating, especially at high speeds, is simply to dangerous. To dangerous to play some of these games.

One time on an open interstate in the Caddy I came across one of those game players. I just downshifted slowed down until he went to pass me. Once I saw him change lanes I just floored it and left him way behind.

fintail

Isn't that fun, being able to leave the jerk well behind.

One early Saturday morning on a fairly abandoned stretch of I5, I had some dope in an Accord trying to play games...I was just in my old W126, but I did little more than apply some pressure until it kicked down, held some speed for maybe a minute...and I never saw the Accord again.

xrunner2

You know how sometimes accidents on the other side of the highway cause massive congestion on your side because the selfish numbskulls all have to slow down to stare?

Timing is the key. If emergency response vehicles and people are already at the scene, then staring is out of order but slowing down is not. Unless it is an interstate or otherwise has wide median, there may be junk and accident parts on your side of the highway. If you slow down, you can see these and drive around or otherwise avoid.

If accident just happened recently, as evidenced by no police cars or ambulances, then slowing way down is proper. One might be able to assist those in accident.

Many years ago, I came upon accident that just happened in my direction of travel. I quickly parked my car and ran to one of the cars and found a co-worker from our office building behind the wheel and injured and bleeding badly from a puncture wound in his leg. The accident was a couple of miles from our office. I was able to apply pressure and held back the bleeding until the paramedics arrived. That co-worker was very greatful that I stopped quickly and came to his car. I did not know what kind of car he had, nor did I know that it was him behind the wheel whent I ran up to his car.

andre1969

on my honeymoon we drove out to Washington. On the way back, just into Idaho, we were one of the first cars on the scene of an accident where a tractor trailer had gone onto the median and tipped on its side. This accident was so fresh that the truck was still running, and the way one of the smokestacks was dug into the embankment, the cab and immediate area were filling up fast with fumes.

I tried to see if I could get into the cab to shut if off, but the fumes were too strong, so I just tried banging on the part of the windshield that wasn't broken and hollering at the driver to turn it off, in the hopes that he was still alive/conscious. The truck finally just shut itself off, I guess from being on its side it either flooded itself out or it had some kind of sensor to shut it off.

The driver turned out to be okay, just in serious shock. We and a couple others who stopped stayed with him until the paramedics finally arrived, which seemed to take an eternity.

snakeweasel

Isn't that fun, being able to leave the jerk well behind.

Yep and sometimes its the safest, and only, way to get rid of a jerk like that.

And tell me why are a large number of the jerks (especially those who want to race you at the stop light) driving Civics?

snakeweasel

Timing is the key. If emergency response vehicles and people are already at the scene, then staring is out of order but slowing down is not.

I would say it depends on the circumstances. If its on the same side of the street/highway that you are one then slowing down is the safe thing to do. But if its on the other side then there is really no need to slow down, especially if the roadway is divided.

I have seen traffic slowed down for a considerable distance on a divided interstate highway simply because of an accident in the oncoming lanes. There is abosolutly no reason for that. That was the circumstance of nightvzn's story.

nightvzn

Timing is the key. If emergency response vehicles and people are already at the scene, then staring is out of order but slowing down is not. Unless it is an interstate or otherwise has wide median, there may be junk and accident parts on your side of the highway. If you slow down, you can see these and drive around or otherwise avoid.

Yes, as snakeweasel commented, in my case, slowing down was completely unnecessary and served only to allow the drivers to bask in the horror of the accident.

It was a very large interstate -- 4 lanes in each direction -- with a wide median and big concrete divider. The accident was entirely on the other side, and even if one of us had wanted to help, there was no safe way to pull over and cross the median. We'd more likely than not cause more problems in the process.

That's the kind of phenomenon I'm talking about: accidents on roadways where the sides are wide and completely divided, yet you get congestion on the side that has nothing to do with the accident.

nightvzn

Yep and sometimes its the safest, and only, way to get rid of a jerk like that.

I'd only be afraid of getting a revenue ... er ... speeding ticket. That would be an awful conclusion to trying to put some safe distance between myself and a tailgater. Otherwise I think this would be the best way, on long straight roads without too much traffic.

210delray

Well, slowing down also works on a multilane highway, as long as you stay above the minimum speed limit and are mindful of other traffic around you.

The winner for me was many years ago when I was returning home on a Monday morning after seeing my wife-to-be. I was on an almost deserted 4-lane divided road (not a freeway) going 55 in the right lane in my little Rabbit. A medium-duty straight truck came up on my rear and stayed there like glue. I got tired of this and gradually reduced my speed...50...45...40, and finally at that point, he went around.

snakeweasel

That's the kind of phenomenon I'm talking about: accidents on roadways where the sides are wide and completely divided, yet you get congestion on the side that has nothing to do with the accident.

On a related note, one time during a pretty heavy snowfall I was on I-290 going from the western burbs to the northwest burbs. Traffic was crawling painfully slow and I was thinking it was due to the weather. Well after about 5 or 6 miles of this I passed one of those remote news crews, camera and all, alongside the road. They were filming all the slow moving traffic in the snow storm.

What really burned me was that the traffic was slowing down because of this #$%@# news crew along side the road. That was more than evident as at that point traffic sped up from the around 20 MPH we had been going to more than 45 MPH. :mad:

snakeweasel

But it is still inconsiderate to do so because you want to look at the accident over in the next area code.

redmaxx

Oooops. I meant headlights.

snakeweasel

I know I just had to rib you on it.

fintail

Street racer/fast and furious syndrome. It seems dodgy mods to little cars bring out aggression in their drivers. Sometimes they pick the wrong cars to challenge.

snakeweasel

My niece has a boyfriend that has a modified Acura RSX that he wants to race me with.

I tell him anytime under the strict condition that its at the nearby drag strip where we only endanger ourselves.

He has yet to accept.

atlvibe

We have the local eccentric jogger that like to run thru the middle of town. He has been doing this rain or shine everyday for the last 20 years. Anyway, he has developed a nasty habit of running in the street and challenging vehicles for the last couple of years. I encountered him one morning coming right dead center toward me on an exit ramp on the edge of town. It was about 8am, foggy, and I was travelling about 50mph. I looked up and in the distance I see this figure coming out of the fog. He threw up his hands in anger and continued running toward the truck. It was like a game of chicken with him. After I braked severely and swerved toward the guard rail direction, he then yielded the lane. To this day, it stuns me to think about his actions.

210delray

No, I meant slowing down to get rid of a tailgater.

I absolutely detest rubbernecking slowdowns. Around here, the most common crashes are usually just stupid low-speed rear-enders. Nothing to see...move along please!

loncray

This morning I was driving to a meeting - and let's make it clear that I'm not a slow driver. I was passed by a motorcycle who proceeded to pull back into my lane (no signal), cutting me off. He then went onto the shoulder and took off. I was on the same road (doing 70 the same as surrounding traffic, speed limit 55) but he was gone in a twinkling. Thus, it gave me great satisfaction to see him pulled over a few miles ahead, pulling out his driver's license and getting ready to explain his behavior to one of our county's men in blue. Instant justice doesn't happen very often, but it's nice when it does!

snakeweasel

Ah, ok, I take back what I said. That should teach me to try to follow to conversations at once.

fintail

It'll have to be massively modified to beat ya. Don't expect to make that trip.

Aggressive motorcyclists surprise me...I mean, why tempt fate by asking for trouble while driving a vehicle that you're guaranteed to lose in when you crash?

snakeweasel

Aggressive motorcyclists surprise me..

yes, especially when all they are wearing are shorts and sandles. All they are is a road rash waiting to happen.

210delray

I don't think it's too surprising that some (many?) motorcyclists are aggressive.

After all, it's mainly the natural-born risk takers who are drawn to motorcycles, like moths to a flame. Fraidy-cats like me won't go near one.

fintail

Ah I never saw it that way...I overlooked the obvious. I'm a fraidy cat too, although if the roads were empty I might be tempted.

I got behind a sportbike on the commute home today...the rider had a helmet, jacket, gloves, boots...but was wearing khaki shorts!

More or less perfect commute today, no real dolts to be seen.

kapbot

Back in my stupider days, I used to own a motorcycle. It was a Kawasaki 550. One day I was driving down a two lane each direction road and the two cars in front of me, one in each lane were drag racing each other. One was an early 70's Chevelle, and I don't remember what the other was. Anyway, they kept speeding up, then slowing down for another duel, going again, and so forth. Finally, I got frustrated with the whole thing, and shot between both cars and got in front of them both. It was funny how pissed off they both got!

fintail

Today's winner - a car going about 20 in a 40, being swiftly passed by literally everything on the road. Luckily traffic wasn't as bad as it can be, so not much of a queue would develop. The car was occupied by Methuselah and his wife, neither of whom appeared to have a care in the world.

The car? A ca. 2004 Audi S4. Not just an A4, an S4. It boggles the mind.

nightvzn

The car was occupied by Methuselah and his wife

Hahahahaha....too funny!

snakeweasel

Saw an SUV this AM with license plate that read "HOCKEY PUCK" (ok some letters were missing so it would fit but the meaning was clear). Of course there were hockey stickers on the back window too. But my question is didn't the owner ever hear of Don Rickles?

nightvzn

I've seen some great vanity plates. Probably the best set was on this little putrid yellowish green car from my college, years ago. The plates? "BABYPUKE." It became legendary.

Too bad in California you can only fit 7 characters. It certainly limits creativity . One of the best I've seen out here was on a Prius. The plates say "BUYPRII."

Sometimes vanity plates make me roll my eyes, but sometimes I really just have to smile.

snakeweasel

Sometimes vanity plates make me roll my eyes, but sometimes I really just have to smile.

Many a year ago I had a friend get a Blue Toyota Celica GTS. He got "BLUE GTS" as his plates. On seeing that the first thing out of my mouth was "Blue guts?"

Once many a year ago walking through a parking lot we saw a car with CA plates that read "ILUV SD". As we passed it my friend pointed it out and exclaimed "Hey the plates read I love South Dakota" right when the driver was getting out of the car.