Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

imidazol97

I had a semi truck tailgate continually at 65 when their speed limit is 55. I was in the middle lane of I75 and moving with the traffic. In fact I was behind a Dana semi that was traveling at about that speed and this trucker was going faster than the 62 most other trucks brave between Cincy and Dayton.

He kept hanging a long car length behind. He wouldn't pass in the third lane. He didn't pass in the right lane. He slowed down along with other trucks for a few miles (apparently got a CB warning of a police car). Then here he came again. They all got over and slowed down miles later and there was a trooper in the middle with laser (they got my cell call?). She didn't get any of the trucks where I could still see the trooper.

After dropping the ladies at the craft show, I whipped out the cell and called the recruiting number which conveniently connected me to the safety officer.

She was very interested in the behavior of continuing to tailgate when I had nowhere to go faster and she verified the speed limit was 55 for trucks. This made up for the disinterested company (same one) last year when the same company trailer forced me out of the middle lane into the third late returning home from Cincy. Luckily there was only light traffic and noone was in the middle lane. (The truck had to change lanes because a slower vehicle was 1/2 mile ahead on a slight uphill grade..?

If it hadn't been the same company trailer as last year's runover, I probably wouldn't have called.

Why tailgate when there's nowhere I can go faster without using left lane to get away from the idiot and when you're 10 over your limit.

xwesx

Eh, while I know exactly from where you are coming with that peeve, angl, I certainly do not want these other drivers trying to go faster than they feel comfortable. The nice thing about 20-30 is that is a highly passable speed, so it does not take a long straight shot to do it. Just a short blip between curves on the Parks (in the hills between Fairbanks and Nenana) and off you go. The ones that really get me are when you have two lanes in the same direction and get the "40mph crowd" all in the right lane save for ONE. That driver feels there should be a special crowd - the "42mph crowd" - and therefore clogs the left lane by taking 3 miles to pass. It is so terribly annoying. A little consideration goes a very long way during the winter months.

I will be heading down the Parks come 11/23, so I sure hope we have some inclement weather to enjoy!

driveright

I think it's pretty funny when drivers who don't have the right of way get annoyed at having to yield to those who do.

fintail

A couple of glorious local losers out in the rain today.

First off, a clueless local kept woman in a late model Lexus RX who was going between 30-45 in a 40. Maybe a phone yapper, I couldn't see. She changes lanes randomly, then makes a right turn from the left lane, cutting off a Volvo already in that lane. I so hoped she'd somebow receive an impromptu pit maneuver from the Volvo and be knocked on her roof.

Then I was a passenger in a car, we ran beside a current model Lexus IS for several blocks, similar speeds in traffic. It gets into a turn only lane, then as the lane gets closer to ending, veers back into the straight through lane, almost striking the car I am in. Then in the middle of the intersection, the guy makes the turn, as he is in the straight only lane. A real thinker, this guy.

xwesx

A real thinker, this guy.

Hahahhah. That was likely the problem - he had too many items on his agenda and was overthinking his route! Foolish.

emmanuelchoke

After midnight, very light traffic on a rural four lane. A car glued to my tail pipe, a timid driver perhaps because it falls behind on curves and hills only to speed up on level ground to reattach. Slightly irksome, but not enough to try and lose it. I begin to notice deer carcasses every few miles and then realize.... I'm a deer shield to this car.

Most annoying and possibly a dangerous situation in night driving is drivers, usually of pick up trucks, who put cheap aftermarket "driving lights" on their vehicles. When or if they dim their high beams, their misplaced and misaligned add ons are worse than the high beams.

snakeweasel

On the way home I sometimes go down this street which can best be called a side street. Its about a half mile long with a residential neighborhood on one side and for the first half a "Historical village" and the second half a park district area (fields for sports) on the other side.

Halfway along this road is a cross street, going one way into the residential area and the other way it heads into parking lots for the historical park and a high school behind the park district fields. At this intersection the street I am on has not stop sign but the cross street does.

Well I am driving down doing maybe 30 MPH give or take when just as I hit the intersection I notice a car from my right fly through the stop sign. :surprise:

Yep it was some punk teenager driving mommies Lexus leaving school and not following the traffic laws. :mad:

I hit him straight on the right side of my front bumper meeting the other car right by the front wheel well. I think I hit him before I was able to hit my brakes it happened so fast.

My car is really no worse for the incident, its bumper is scratched up but it doesn't look like its been really damaged (not that it wasn't scratched up to begin with).

The Lexus has some pretty decent damage in the area I hit it (but then I really don't care :P ) and while I am not sure I don't think the car is driving all to well either.

nightvzn

I'm a deer shield to this car.

Ah, makes perfect sense, so that way if you hit a deer, because this person is driving so close, they inevitably rear-end you and then everybody gets a nice pile-up.

A conscientious one, this driver, preferring to smash your car rather than kill a deer

xwesx

Whew.... sounds like a recoverable situation for both you and your car. There is nothing worse than losing a perfectly reliable automobile by means of a crash. This is one of those rare instances where the damage was appropriately divided!

ruking1

Sorry to hear of your accident. Glad to hear no one was hurt.(I am surmising this by the omission) Usually when someone blows a stop light/sign the one following the law usually is on the bad side of the damage.

snakeweasel

Usually when someone blows a stop light/sign the one following the law usually is on the bad side of the damage.

Yeah if I would have been a few seconds ahead of myself it would have been that way.

fintail

In the Hyundai then, right?

At least the dork wasn't going twice the limit when he blew the sign.

snakeweasel

Yep it was in the Hyundai. At least this time it was in the front end and at a different intersection. :shades:

fintail

Good that it was the commuter car, and that of course you weren't harmed.

Lots of idiots on the road here today. Now that it is getting dark earlier some of them get really slow at dusk. Like 30 in a 40, left lane, being passed by everything. Death grip on the wheel. Silver Corolla. Traffic was horrible after work today, but looking at it closely, one could see that it wasn't volumes or accidents, but just the scattered dawdler messing up the flow for everyone else. These are the truly selfish, the incompetent who don't understand lane discipline.

I also passed a guy in an Exploder going maybe 25 in a 40, on the phone...but at least he was in the proper lane. Must have been a tourist, probably from somewhere in Europe.

Then I had the misfortune of entering a big box store parking lot...I was behind a battered old Contour with no hubcaps. It signalled to turn left from the main parking lot lane into a row of parking spots, and turned down the row...right before I was about to go past it, the dork veered back to the right, and took the next row. That got a good horn honk from me.

xwesx

that drivers would tend to keep their lights on around the clock, since the number of those hours where daylight is sufficient to warrant them being off dwindles considerably. Especially if one drives a silver car, as these tend to blend in to the surrounding dirty/wintery landscape like a ptarmigan. Well, a rational person would think that, anyway. This morning I am traveling into town on Chena Hot Springs Road, following about 10 seconds behind, and gaining on, my neighbor's blue Dodge pickup. It is right at 0830 - just enough light in the sky to lend the promise of day, but still nearly dark upon the ground. After the Dodge passed a relatively high-traffic T-intersection and I am approaching it, I see a turn signal illuminate from nothingness and a new Cadillac (the little one, sedan version) turns in front of me. Not dangerously close, but the near invisibility of the car made it all the more perilous. As I had very little time to notify the driver of the lighting omission, I double-flashed her quickly (rather than the double off-on sequence) but I doubt it had any effect. She was turning on to a rather narrow gravel road that people habitually drive in the center during the winter months, so I hope she did not come across any opposing traffic on her way home! :surprise:

akangl

I think its safe to say a lot of people up here think *well, I can see, I don't need my headlights*, especially on the Parks Hwy.

I turn mine on out of habit, the dash on my truck doesn't look right unless its lit up, lol, that's how much of a habit it is. I wish they would just make cars that had headlights on all the time and I don't mean daytime running lights, I mean headlights and tailights. I don't know how many people I see driving around after dark with just the daytime running lights on.

nightvzn

I wish they would just make cars that had headlights on all the time and I don't mean daytime running lights, I mean headlights and tailights.

I did this for a while in my previous car (2000 Maxima), which had no daytime running lights, but three modes: off, auto light-sensing, and on.

For a year or so I drove with headlights on all the time. I got the occasional friendly notification flashes from other motorists assuming it was by accident.

At some point, I was told headlights have a noticeable effect on fuel efficiency, as they're a pretty substantial electrical draw (far worse than taillights or markers, since headlights generate a lot more light). I switched to auto mode, which actually worked quite well most of the time (certain heavy rainy cloud covers still necessitated manual operation).

Honestly I don't know whether it had any substantial effect on fuel efficiency. My mileage varies too much depending on how much city/highway driving I'm doing, how much stop-and-go traffic I'm hitting, etc.

Then again, conventional wisdom says to use the AC compressor only when you need it for cooling or defogging, for the same reasons. But now I'm driving a car with automatic climate control, and hence the compressor is almost always on anyway. So much for caring about mileage

I also have DRL's now, and I honestly preferred the auto light-sensing mode of my last car. It would prevent people from getting too comfortable with DRL's and forgetting headlights at night.

nightvzn

Oh, another problem (and part of the reason I stopped keeping my Maxima's headlights on all the time): turning on headlights automatically dimmed certain interior lights, like the clock. This made certain indicators impossible to read during the day. My WRX at least has a stereo with dim mode that can be toggled.

Manufacturers would have to make dimming of all interior lights user-controllable if they were going to make headlights a full-time proposition.

snakeweasel

Honestly I don't know whether it had any substantial effect on fuel efficiency.

It has an effect but I seriously doubt that you would notice it.

xwesx

Exactly. The impact is negligible and highly debatable with factory-installed low beam headlights. The reason is quite simple: alternators are not clutch-controlled accessories like an AC compressor. If the engine is running, the alternator is generating (assuming it works!) based upon the speed of the engine's rotation. And, it is designed to handle the electrical load of the factory installed devices while at idle. If the total power draw exceeds supply from the alternator at idle, some (most? all?) modern cars will increase the idle speed to compensate (otherwise, given enough time, the battery would drain) and that would be the only time it would reasonably consume more fuel. Otherwise and especially at highway speeds, the alternator is pumping out far more current than is used by the car's eletrical consumers. I suppose one could argue that if less current was needed, then a smaller and less demanding alternator could be installed to thereby divert more power to the wheels.

I like my truck's lights (1969 Chevy C20) when it idles.... the brightness of the lights will actually vary in time with the speed of the engine while it is idling. During the winter when I start it up to warm up, I can see through my window if it is idling too high or if it is about to stall out just by a quick glance at the lights.

oregonboy

I've driven with my headlights on full-time ever since the seventies when I discovered that people would hesitate to pull out in front of my little grey BMW 1600 if the lights were on.

The only time that this proved disadvantageous was once when I was stopped by a cop during the day, for having a headlight out. I've always thought that that traffic stop had more to do with a bored cop and a carload of long-haired teens, than it had to due with traffic safety. :sick:

james

nightvzn

That should make it into the "absurd traffic stops hall of fame."

snakeweasel

There was (or is) a study out there on the internet detailing how much more gas would be consumed by Canadian drivers due to the DRL requirement that Canada now has. IIRC if you broke it down to how much more per year per Canadian it was less than a gallon (or maybe just over a gallon) of addition gas usage.

I will see if I can find it.

snakeweasel

Going home today, going the same way at the same intersection. This time it was someone coming from the opposite direction and made a left turn right in front of me. :surprise:

Fortunately I was able to avoid this idiot, but just barely. Horn got a workout though :P

nightvzn

Whoa you could have some cops stake out this intersection

fintail

I was forced to drive how some would consider to be inconsiderate this morning. The stoplights in my fair city were frozen. Usually early in the morning they are sensitive, so if you pull up to a red and there is no cross traffic, it will change within 5 seconds. I waited at one for a couple minutes, then went against the red...then about a mile later another one was stuck, I gave it a mere 30 seconds or so before going through. There was a woman in a minivan going the other way who I was trying to motion through as well, but she looked at me like I was insane. I wonder how long she sat there....when it left my field of view in the mirror many blocks later, she was still sitting there on red.

snakeweasel

I don't know what the issue is but I have been driving down this road for over a year with no problems and now twice in 3 days. :confuse:

snakeweasel

Mine for today. A Jag doing 20 in a 40 in the middle of rush hour with their hazard flashers going with a sizable piece of metal hanging from underneath the car making an awful noise as it was being scrapped across the pavement.

There is a reason God created tow trucks.

euphonium

And the Devil created their drivers?

snakeweasel

Ah found memories of the Lincoln Park Pirates.

"So it's way, hey, tow 'em away,
We plunder the streets of your town,
Be it Edsel or Chevy, there's no car too heavy,
And no one can make us shut down."

redmaxx

My car is serviced by a dealership that also sells Buicks and Cadillacs and I had to take it in for service yesterday. I found that a large chunk of their customer base is from a very large retirement community and that they were having an annual party for them that day. On the way back to the dealer, the shuttle driver got stuck behind this older couple in a Rainier going 15-20 MPH in a 30. As we're driving around the Autoplex loop, they keep randomly hitting the brakes. Every time they come to a turn, they slow to about 5 MPH. So as we're getting close to the dealership, they naturally stop right in the middle of the road in front of a Nissan dealer. :confuse: After a minute they figure out that it's not their dealer and continue. Finally we get to the dealership, they get their directions for where to park and then proceed to start going down an aisle. The parking lot attendant waves us through, but the guy in the Rainier stops 5 feet into the aisle. Throws into reverse and proceeds to back up with us behind him. Quick action on the shuttle driver's part saved us from having our front end taken off.

So, I have to wonder, is there a point when the dealership has a responsibility not to sell a product that they can't use properly? We all deride the MVDs that license elderly drivers that can't find or even recognize their cars in a parking lot, so shouldn't the dealership do something?

redmaxx

Let's see this week we had:

A T-bone fatality on Tuesday. Shut down the highway causing backups for hours. Thank you DPS for calling it a 17 minute delay, thus forcing many to miss the voting booth because the county wouldn't extend the time due to the faulty delay reporting.

5 car pileup at a red light yesterday, causing a 5 mile backup for two hours.

What looked to be a 3-5 car accident today, one car veered off and slammed into the tensioned wire separating the sides of the highway. Backed up traffic for miles (couldn't tell how far) for about two hours.

These are more than inconsiderate, these are incompetent drivers. We've had more major accidents this week than in the last (probably) 6 months combined. Sheesh!

redmaxx

Maybe you should have gotten out and hit the crosswalk buttons?

Several years ago, we had a power outage and when power came back on, the traffic lights were flashing red. So I come up to one, stop, wait for the cars on the other side to go through and then proceed. Almost got creamed. Turns out the idiots that programmed the light made the road I was on flashing red and the other side flashing yellow. If you're going to make one side flashing red after a power outage, it would be best to make all sides flashing red. At least now I know I have to crane my neck around to see what the other direction's lights are.

Reminds me of a question I was going to ask: If you're in a city like Tempe that likes to use those lights that you can't see except when coming straight on, how are you supposed to know what the other direction is flashing after a power outage?

Oh, and speaking of stuck lights, one light around here has the stupidest programming I've ever seen. We have a two lane in each direction (plus center turn lane) minor road intersecting with a three lane (plus center turn lane) major road. Suppose the following scenario:

- Minor road going west: Two cars pull up to make a left.
- Minor road going east: Two cars pull up to make a left and a few come up to go straight.

Now, the light will signal protected lefts for a few seconds, then (this is the strange part) will switch both lefts to a green light, turn green for traffic going east and leave the traffic going west red. WTH? I'm coming up expecting to get a green and nothing! I end up waiting an entire cycle. Stupid, stupid programming.

snakeweasel

So, I have to wonder, is there a point when the dealership has a responsibility not to sell a product that they can't use properly?

Take a long hard read at this forum, then tell me how many dealerships would go belly up if they did that.

snakeweasel

Let me get this straight. your going west approaching the light and you see traffic making the left turn on a green light. Before you get to the intersection the left green turns red and you get no green. Simple you were not close enough soon enough to trigger the sensors for the green light.

redmaxx

Yes, I'm going west. Traffic turning loses their protected arrow and then east switches green. So at this point:

- East bound straight has a green.
- East bound turn has a non-protected green.
- West bound turn has a non-protected green.
- West bound straight has a red.

Would it have been too hard for them to turn the west bound light green with the east bound straight like most other lights? This is the only light that I have seen that does this.

fintail

If it wasn't pouring out, I'd be tempted.

I contacted the city today. No reply yet, just like in aprevious attempt. Good enough for government work, I suppose.

snakeweasel

explain what you mean by a non-protected green.

redmaxx

With your luck, it would probably turn green half-way to the crosswalk button.

redmaxx

Protected green => Green arrow.
Non-protected green => Green light (no arrow).

snakeweasel

Ok I am getting more confused here. So I will just say that I don't think you got close enough to trip the sensors soon enough.

Many time I will get to a light that is red but has a green left turn only not to get a green light. This usually happens if the green arrow is on for a while before I get to the intersection. The issue with this is that the system is already gearing up for the next cycle when I trip the sensor meaning I wont get the green until the cross traffic gets theirs.

redmaxx

Forget the turn lanes for a minute. Consider a light that only gives east bound straight traffic a green when it senses there isn't any west bound traffic stopped at the light. Why wouldn't it make sense to also give west bound straight traffic a green, considering that:

A) It doesn't harm anything or delay anyone.
There could be traffic rolling up outside of the light's sensors.

If you're going to give one straight direction a green, why not the opposite?

snakeweasel

Ah but if you give a green arrow to the direction that has a green light then you cannot give a green light to oncoming traffic. If that is a street that has little traffic and the cross street has heavy traffic it makes sense to not give a green to that oncoming traffic if the system doesn't detect oncoming traffic. This would make the red light for the heavier cross traffic shorter.

redmaxx

OK, so we'll add the turn lanes back in. So it works like this: Both turn lanes get a green arrow for about 10 seconds. After that, then they go to a yellow arrow for about another 3-4 seconds. Then from a yellow arrow, both of those turn lanes get a green light (round thing, not arrow), east bound traffic gets green light. Here I am coming up expecting that with east bound turning traffic having a green light, not an arrow, I should get a green light. Nope, it stays red for me.

Now does it make sense?

redmaxx

Alright, you'll have to excuse my poor art skills. In each picture, the shapes in the intersection area denote the traffic lights.

State #1
State #2
State #3

So, hopefully from State #3 you can see where the problem is. There is no reason it should be leaving those lanes as red.

akangl

Several years ago, we had a power outage and when power came back on, the traffic lights were flashing red. So I come up to one, stop, wait for the cars on the other side to go through and then proceed. Almost got creamed. Turns out the idiots that programmed the light made the road I was on flashing red and the other side flashing yellow. If you're going to make one side flashing red after a power outage, it would be best to make all sides flashing red. At least now I know I have to crane my neck around to see what the other direction's lights are.

That's the way it is in Fairbanks. If its flashing red on one direction you can count on it flashing yellow for the other direction. Never understood that, seems dangerous to me.

nightvzn

I think I've basically followed what you've been saying from the beginning, although I'm not familiar with this "unprotected green" concept where there are dedicated turn lanes. It must be a regional difference.

The only explanation I can think of is that traffic heading straight down (in your illustration) is always heavier than the opposite direction, and a lot of people have to make left turns coming from that way. Or, maybe it's just stupid like you say.

I've seen a number of intersections where the lights don't behave as I'd expect them to, and it usually irritates me if the reason isn't obvious.

And sensors at these intersections are also a pet peeve of mine. Somebody mentioned "not getting there soon enough to trip the sensors" as a possible explanation for your problem. I don't think that fits what you're describing, but that DOES happen to me in some cases, and I can't help but think the sensors should be located a little further back.

For example, when I'm approaching an intersection in a left-turn lane JUST as the protected green is about to come on for both sides, it doesn't give me protected green, and lets opposing straightaway traffic go instead. If the sensors could just detect my imminent approach a little sooner...

This encourages somewhat aggressive driving wherein if I see perpendicular traffic is about to stop, I will race toward the front of the turn lane, then brake hard, in an attempt to trip the sensor in time. (I only do this if there's nobody in front of me and the road is dry, but still, it shouldn't be necessary.)

Traffic light programming is clearly designed to account for traffic patterns, but I believe it should also consider driver irritation. Your case is a perfect example.

If drivers get frustrated by traffic lights, they are more likely to take this out on other drivers...

nightvzn

Lest they forget that the rear of thier car isn't lit up either.

I encountered one of these last night on EXTREMELY trafficky 101. I was behind them and tried flashing my headlights a few times. No good. Tried again. Still no response. Finally a few quick flashes of my highbeams. Dialtone.

I passed the person eventually and saw that DRL's were on. I think. Sometime they're hard to tell apart from headlights, but this was a Lexus SUV, so it probably has xenon headlights.

But honestly, what goes through someone's mind when people behind him are flashing all manner of lights in his direction? I guess he just thought I was another random crazy driver

Or maybe he was trying to save gas. Lol...

xwesx

Red, I have to wonder if the eastbound traffic really did lose the dedicated/protected left arrow. Were you able to see this was the case? Although I have certainly never seen a left turn lane have a green light without the non-turning traffic having one also (unless, of course, it is an arrow).

xwesx

Or maybe he was trying to save gas. Lol...

Hahahahaha.... beautiful! Are you sure it was not a Prius? :P