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The Driver Deductible is intended to promote safe driving.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Not to mention that stuff will break down the plastic-based material on your steering wheel! I recommend Gun Oil or Wet Platinum for such escapades. :P
A car geek who knows what Gun Oil is? Makes me wonder... lolol
We were traveling straight through on the Steese with green for straight and dedicated left turn traffic. As we approached the intersection at 50 mph, the dedicated left arrow for traffic going our direction went to yellow, then "yield on green." This means that a few seconds later, the light for opposing traffic will turn green with a "yield on green" for left turners. About 50 yards from the intersection, the first vehicle in line, a new Durango, zips left in front of us. Close, but not too uncomfortable. Behind the Durango, was a blue Jeep Liberty. This vehicle pulls in to the intersection and slowly begins to turn left. At first, I thought the driver was planning on sneaking through right behind me and thought it was odd considering there was no traffic behind me that would necessitate the close encounter.
But, as we entered the intersection, the Jeep entered our lane! I hit the brakes hard, then quickly realized that would not help, and instead punched the gas. At this point, my van was just about to eat the engine of that Jeep, so I swerved hard right, then back left (there were probably 10-15 vehicles only a 15-20 feet to my right on the Johansen, waiting to turn left onto the Steese). The tires of the van ('98 Dodge Caravan) were screaming for mercy, but it held true and we somehow missed that Jeep by mere inches. I fully expected it to clip our rear quarter as we swerved by, but I guess we were moving fast enough (about 40, probably) that the Jeep was not there yet. I glanced in my rearview a few times and the Jeep was stopped, perpendicular, in my lane. It sat there a few seconds and then finally went through.
I was absolutely shocked! This is not an intersection with poor sight distance or ambiguous markings. Clearly, the driver was zoned out and just went because the driver ahead had gone. What a trip, and I am so thankful that we did not collide that I am not even mad at the driver! Just perplexed.
Considering my wife is 37 weeks pregnant and we had our 3-year-old son in the van, I am very thankful it was almost a collision and nothing more.
Good thing your driving skills got you through without contact. Wonder if Liberty driver was on hands-free phone.
Your description of incident is kind of in same category as one of my pet peeves. I call it the early left turner. At times when I am a lone car, or at tail end of long line of cars, and approaching intersection where an opposing vehicle is waiting to turn left I am at special attention.
More often than not, the left turner has begun their roll and front wheels are cocked before my car gets to intersection. It is ironic in that in these situations where I am lone car, or at end of line of cars, the opposing driver would only have to wait another second or two to begin moving their vehicle and cocking their front wheels.
When I am waiting to make left turn, I keep car and front wheels pointed straight ahead until all opposing traffic has cleared. This is basic, elementary driving 101. Don't they teach this in driving school anymore?
I am always wary for left turners and especially those who have already cocked their front wheels and/or are moving forward. What is it with these people. Are they merely impatient or are in a hurry.
There was this white Altima waiting on the side street to make a right turn into the heavy traffic. There might've been 100 feet, tops, between me and the car in front, and the way this traffic was packed, that was a pretty big gap!
Well, the Altima pulls out into the merge lane, but really didn't try to speed up much. However, as soon as that gap lined up, the driver darted over in front of me. I hit the brakes and the horn at the same time. Luckily I was able to slow down in time, but that woman didn't even BOTHER to try speeding up! :mad: Needless to say, at 50 mph, 100 feet goes by pretty quickly. Something like 1.36 seconds, according to my calculations. If I had taken my attention off of what was in front of me for the slightest instant, she would've gotten a 4300 pound Chevy Enema.
The biggest annoyance is that she didn't even TRY to speed up! Sure, the way the law is written, chances are, if she's quick enough to get out there, and I rear end her, it's my fault, but what good is that gonna do you if you're DEAD?!
Now, what I did next was inconsiderate on my own part...once I saw she wasn't bothering to accelerate up to cruising speed, I punched it, blew past her on the shoulder, and got back over in front of her. That was when I noticed she had a child in the back seat. Not an infant, but maybe a 9-10 year old girl.
What kind of mother is going to put not only her own life at risk, but that of her CHILD?
We have red and green lights for a reason, so that everybody gets a chance to go. Too bad some people feel so entitled that they're willing to risk their own lives, and the lives of others, just to try saving a few seconds with a "Me first" attitude.
I wonder if she's ever tried the same thing at railroad crossings?
I remember seeing a film in driver's ed that burned forever in my mind the evils of turning your front wheels BEFORE actually turning. In the context of the film, it was this nice elderly couple in a 70's Corolla in either mustard yellow or orange, probaby two of the only three colors they offered those things in.
Well, this sweet elderly couple stopped on a 2-lane road to make a left turn, but traffic was coming the other way. They had their front wheels cocked. So naturally, another car came up behind them, rear-ended them, and sent them sailing head-on into oncoming traffic. The resulting pile-up was a mess worthy of "CHiPs" or the A-Team, and the elderly couple got killed. Everyone else in the accident lived.
Now, the whole thing was staged, so nobody REALLY got killed. But I just thought it was odd that they were coming down so hard on this elderly couple with the cocked wheels, and not the martini-sipping playboy in the T-bird who was rushing off to see his mistress, and sent that sweet old couple headlong into the arms of angels...
But, I guess it worked. I never cock my wheels waiting for a turn. Although back in October, I still almost got shot off into oncoming traffic when an Infiniti I30 rear-ended me. I was going straight, but she hit me at a slight angle, as she tried to swerve around me to the right, and because of that, I shot off a little to the left.
Oddly, I saw similar "driver's ed" videos of the same vintage. I do not recall that specific one, though. Most of them were "what to do right" videos, not "what could happen if you DON'T do it right" videos.
In tight traffic situations, I will often begin pulling forward in the intersection (I wait just beyond the crosswalk, in the intersection) while preparing for a left turn, but it is rare that I would ever begin the actual left movement until the last vehicle to which I am yielding has passed me.
I did not notice the driver at all, admittedly. I could not tell you if it was a male or female, let along whether that person might have been holding a phone. At the speed we were traveling, there was a very short time frame during which we were close enough to notice and my attention was on... bigger... things. Conditions were favorable for us to sneak away from that potential crash, but I have gone from double-taking intersections to giving them a triple-take the last few days!
Yes, but we are all capable of it. I will admit that a couple years back I was presented with a similar situation - a driver pulled out onto a 35 mph street at about 0500 close enough to me that I had to slam on my brakes to avoid t-boning him - not rear-ending! Then, the driver proceeded to drive at about 15 mph. The road was abandoned save for me and, now, this other driver. I passed him in the center turn lane and, of course, he immediately began to speed up. This was an icy road, though, and he was driving a little 2wd pickup while I was in my Subaru, so all he did was spin his wheels. I pulled in front of him (now going 35 in a 35), and he tailgated me until our paths diverged. :sick:
Yes, I was inconsiderate as this falls into the category of "two wrongs do not make a right!"
My big complaint about the right turn on red law is that way to many people make those turns when its not safe to do so. I don't know how many time I actually had to get out of my lane to keep from hitting someone who made a right turn on red at the very last second.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Now in most instances it's pretty cut and dry...if the person in back had been paying attention or hadn't been following so closely, the accident wouldn't have happened. And sometimes, accidents just happen. Both of these were a factor last year when I got rear-ended, twice. The first time I got hit pretty hard, because a car stopped up ahead at the last second to make a left turn, from the lane. There was no protected left turn lane. The car behind it had to stop fast, I had to stop even faster, and the poor girl behind me couldn't stop fast enough. We were all rolling along about aboug 45-50 mph when this happened, and I think the speed limit was 40-45. So technically we were all speeding, but not going THAT fast. Everybody was just too close, which is common during rush hour.
Now the second time, I was stuck in traffic pretty far back from a traffic light. It turned green, but nobody really went anywhere because of gridlock. The lane to the left of me had fewer cars in it. As traffic inched up, I let my foot off the brake and drifted up. When I stopped again, I felt a slight bump, and looked back to see a Hyundai Elantra wedged under my bumper. She was too close to begin with, evidently, and tried to cut over to the left lane just as I stopped.
I felt bad for the lady in the first accident. She was apologizing up the wazoo. The second one just irritated me though. First thing out of her mouth was "why did you stop? The light was green." Umm, I stopped because the gridlocked traffic in front of me stopped...DUH.
It was her mother's car, and when I talked to her mother on the phone, she had the nerve to ask me the same thing...why did you stop?! Neither was the least bit apologetic about it. And get this...daughter was on her way to pick up her mother from some church function!! If that ain't the ultimate in hypocrisy! I guess it must have been The Denomination of Holy Entitlement or something like that.
I think there are instances though, when the person who gets hit should be held at fault. For instance, a dive-and-swoop instance. In those, the person in front actually IS held at fault, but how do you prove that they did it on purpose? I also think that when you fail to yield right-of-way and get yourself hit, you should be held at fault. For instance, if some slow-moving vehicle makes a right-turn on red and gets rear-ended, such as pulling out into 50 mph traffic at 5 mph.
Now if said car guns it, gets up to the speed limit, and gets rear-ended by some fool doing 80, then yeah, throw the book at the fool doing 80.
I guess one reason that the laws are written to go after the rear-ender is that it's actually pretty hard to prove that the person in back DIDN'T have adequate time to stop, or that the person in front did something stupid to get themselves hit. So the laws just go for the easy money.
I remember years ago, one of my coworkers was stopped at a traffic light, second car back. When the light turned green, the car in front went into REVERSE! Whacked her hard enough to knock her unconscious for a moment, and took off. She and her boyfriend, who wasn't with her at the time, reported it to the police and insurance company. Only problem was, because she was in back, they told her that they'd better hope the other person doesn't report anything, because if they do, SHE would be held accountable for rear-ending!
The poor woman went backwards more than forward and eventually rolled right into us. I'm sure if we'd had any trouble from her, which we did not, we'd have had no difficulty in convincing a cop that this was one rear-ender that the car in the rear did not cause.
She was very sheepish and my friend's car was not damaged (big old Volvo wagon). After we cleared everything up, the woman turned her bug around and went back down the hill. I do hope she eventually got wherever she was trying to go. :P
I know from my past job experience that it's possible for both drivers to be ticketed. There was one police report I saw where the drivers got into a little "contest" involving brake checking. A rear-ender occurred and both were cited.
Also IIRC, there were some situations like Pat's where the driver in front backed up or drifted back, and that person was ticketed.
About 25 years ago a friend asked me to help them move. We needed to get a large truck, and he did not drive. I left the arrangements to him, and just told him how big a truck I thought we needed. At the time I barely drove a stick.
So along comes Saturday morning, we show up to get the truck, and it is a stick and they have no other trucks available. Fortunately for me the truck was parked facing down a slope to the gate, so I was able to roll out of the lot without stalling it.
I grind my way across town, getting more familiar with the 'box, fortunately this was early on a Saturday morning, so no real traffic. Then... I go up a hill, and get stopped at a red light. No panic yet, until a car stops behind me, and in the mirror it looks like they are CLOSE. Light changes, and I don't move. I know that if I take my foot off the brake I'm rolling back.
Light goes to Red.
Change to green, and he gets on the horn. I don't move. Back to red. I can hear the cursing start. I don't move. Back to green, he backs up, pulls around, waves at me with the universal friendly gesture, and zips off.
I grind into first, roll back my 10 feet, stall a couple times, then continue...
That's actually refreshing to hear, especially that BOTH drivers were ticketed! I know it's pretty rare for the person in back to get off scott free, but it's nice to know that it CAN happen.
I could also see it happening in Pat's situation, where a steep up-grade is involved, and the car in front is a stick. Although I know from experience that even an automatic tranny car will roll backwards if the hill's steep enough!
In the situation where my co-worker got hit though, the ground was perfectly flat. I guess if there were witnesses around to see it, they could have vouched for her. But there were none to be found.
In my situation where that Altima pulled out in front of me, I guess it's possible that if I had slammed on my brakes hard enough to lock up the wheels and leave skidmarks, and still hit her, AND there were witnesses testifying that she cut out in front of me unsafely, then yeah, I might have gotten off if I'd hit her.
Thankfully, I did have time to stop, though. But another thing that annoys me is that I could have slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting her, and gotten rear-ended myself, and a big chain reaction could have ensued. While the blonde bimbo who actually CAUSED the wreck would have just driven merrily on her way, free to wreak havoc enother day.
Hate to stereotype with the blonde bimbo remark, but hey, she WAS blonde! And did look a bit ditzy. :P
He would get close for a while to push me. I saw a catalytic converter cover on the road in front of me (in front of friend's home) and I just kept a straight line toward it and then slightly veered to the right enough not to clipe the coverter cover. I heard a bang, bang, rattle, rattle as the car behind ran over it.
It was his fault because he was too close to me to see what was in front of him. I raised my hands and clapped. He didn't tailgate after that. And he went around me on the main road without incident.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I can't justify rolling through a red light but if you time the lights right often you can manage to still be creeping along when the light changes back to green.
Many of the stop signs could be changed to yields since many intersections don't really call for a complete stop when the sight lines are good. People never stop "at the line" anymore, so you may as well let them creep through some intersections, since they are sticking out into the intersection if they decide to actually stop.
Rolling stops save gas, so there's another reason to encourage roundabouts.
Well, this guy was driving in a Ram pickup on a country road one night, when a cop tried that. Cop was right on his butt, too. He noticed a fence post with some barbed wire attached to it partly in the road. When he came to it, he started to go around it, but made sure to just barely clip it with his rear right wheel. This made it bounce up into the air, catch the copcar full in the grille, and stick to it!
We have a running "joke" about yellows, where if I end up cheesing one (I usually try not to, but sometimes it happens), and I worry about whether I really caught it on yellow, at least 1, if not more, people behind me blow through, definitely on dead red.
Never seems to be a cop handy when you need one, and as much as I would like to see some dopes T-boned, the [non-permissible content removed] (?) doesn't deserve the hassle!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
http://www.nbc5.com/news/14058549/detail.html?dl=mainclick
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Most RR tracks run both ways.
Must be the I-64 truckers near Lexington. :P I travel I-65 & I-264 around Louisville all the time... never had any trouble from "Kentucky" truckers.
Through the decades I've driven through on I-75 border to border going to and from Pigeon Forge. When traffic is heavier with travelers some of the truckers get really nasty because they can't run the way they want to run, 95 on the downhills and never below 50 onthe next uphil. They want the cars out of their way. They tailgate, they cut over, they crowd you out of the lane by slowly wagging their way over. Some of the I-75 strip has been made 3 lanes and that has helped in spots. The sterotype of the trucks doing this is the independents with their name painted on the door and colors lights stuck around on the cab. It rarely was the name brand truckers.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
We went that route on a recent trip to Pigeon Forge/Gatlingburg. Can't say I ran into any problems with truckers, though traffic was moderate to light. With almost constantly going up and downhill... I can see where it may be a problem.
Does he get gas? Heck no, this bozo gets out of his truck and walks into the pizza shop next door. I pulled around to the other pumps and as I'm filling up bozo gets in his truck munching a slice and drives off.
What is this? The new sport, PUMP BLOCKING OLYMPICS?
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Edited to add.
Oh sure actually post something after I tried to be a wise guy with your (originally) blank post.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Rolling up the southern NJ Tpke last night, speed limit 65, traffic flowing at about 75. In this area there are two lanes NB, with ample paved shoulders. I noticed someone coming up on traffic, and passing on the shoulder!
I added "for no apparent reason" to the tag on this because this would appear to be the behavior of someone who just got the dreaded "kid sick, need pint of your blood" call - but in fact, after each pass they would speed off for a little distance, then settle back to around 75 mph. It was almost as if they thought that the shoulder was a third lane.
Yeah, I'm familiar with the scenario you describe. The shoulder also comes into play on some roads I drive down in the Silver Spring, MD area. However those are usually rush hour scenarios, and are always marked... this was simply some bonehead "adjusting" the number of lanes. What also surprises me is that (since these shoulders were not used this way normally - tons of dust and small debris in his wake) someone would risk the potential car damage (punctures etc) caused by running over crap on the side of the road with no apparent emergency.
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2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
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It's the pedal on the right!
LOLOL
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,