here's my left lane crusier story... usually these are not unique as LLC's are all over the place but this one I thought worth mentioning... I was on my way home on I-17 Southbound from Flagstaf to Phoenix Arizona. I had just left Flag and the SL was 75. I came upon a new 350Z going about 70 in the left lane. I stayed behind long enough to let the driver know I was there, but didn't tailgate. I didn't flash my lights either. I decided it wasn't worth the hassel and rather than slow down to her pace and wait for her to realize I was there, I went around on the right. As I passed by I saw she was on the phone. Typical I thought and then I was on my way. I was cruising between 75-80.
About an hour later I realized nature was calling so I pulled of at a rest stop and took care of business. I got back on the freeway and continued home, althought to make up lost time I pushed my speed to closer to between 80-85. A couple miles down the road guess what?? I came upon this same 350Z still in the left lane still going about 72 MPH. This time I was a little miffed. I stayed behind her, flashed my lights to let her know to move over and was a little close for comfort. Finally realizing she was not going to move over, I proceeded to pass her again in the right lane. And you know what?? She was still on the phone!
I just shook my head and kept going... for the most part my trip home was smooth sailing. There was one section of road when I was coming into town that clogged up before the freeway went to multiple lanes. We came to an almost dead stop. I couldn't figure out why. The traffic report had no accidents in that area and the only thing I could think was a freeway interchange that was coming up, but that was still about 5 miles off. 2 miles into the clog, I noticed a motorcycle off to the side of the road. A couple was standing next to it. The girl was not unattractive, but she was wearing a tank top. But she wasn't really anything worth slowing down for? But right as soon as traffic got past them it picked back up to speed for the next mile or so till I hit the freeway interchange where the traffic expectedly slowed down. Was she really the reason that traffic practically ground to a halt??
I have noticed this many a time where a vehicle will pull up next to a Semi in a turning lane and not realize the danger he is putting himself in. I have seen a couple of close calls that the it was only the actions of the Semi-driver that saved a vehicle next to it from being crushed or side swiped by the trailer. I have also seen vehicles that are on the opposite side of the road (meaning that once the Semi completes the turn they would be "on-coming traffic")pull out too far and have to back up keep the Semi from clipping their front end. I have also seen where they couldn't back up because there were several cars behind and the several cars had to move for the one car and it clogged traffic for a light series or two...
I also think you are a more patient driver than I am.... Sometimes I have done what you did, but more often than not when traveling up a hill, I will usually be going about 75-80 and up a 60% grade, most trucks will slow to about 35-45 MPH. If I come upon one going as fast as I am, I do not want to lose my momentum and slow to 45 MPH just to let a truck pass a truck. Sometimes it's only 1 truck that needs to be passed, other times it's 3 or 4 or by the time you get close to the top of the hill, especially if it is a long one it can be as many as 6 or 7.
So if I have a good speed and I can tell that the truck is going to want to pass, I will usually gun it as get past as quick as I can so the truck doesn't have to lose his momentum becuase I blocked his way and he wasn't able to get over before he had to slow down.
I have often wondered why trucks just don't stay one behind the other when going up hills because when they do move over they generally clog up both lanes while trying to pass each other, but then I realized that all trucks are geared differently, carrying varing weighted loads and when going up a steep hill, if they have to slow for anything it can mess up their entire ascent of the hill. So one truck may take the hill better at 45 MPH, but another at 50 and to slow to 45 will mess up how the truck is geared and may have to slow even further to find the right gear again....
It was Murphy's Law day for me. I had to make a trip to a town about 150 miles away for work today and most of the way is a somewhat mountainous two lane road with passing lanes every so often.
Traffic wasn't too bad except for one spot of construction, but even then I breezed through, but.... It would seem that every time I would come to a spot in the road where my lane divides into two for passing I would cruise right on through encountering no one until the very end just as the lane ends I would come upon a truck that of course was going slower due to the mountain grades. So I would end up stuck behind him until the next passing lane and once past did very well until the very end when I hit again another truck and not able to pass because the lane ended.... I swear it was Murphy's Law. Not that I am mad at the truckers as they couldn't control what was happening it was just my dumb luck that I would happen upon them just as my opportunities to pass disappeared. This happened 3 times! Oh well. Such is life.
Also on this same trip I was headed down into a canyon where the road is a 6-7% grade downhill with 25 MPH corners on it. There again was a truck making his way slowly down the canyon using his engine as a brake. Understandably. I cruised behind at about 30 MPH until I could pass him. I usually take this canyon at 50-60 MPH and the turns at about 40 MPH. As soon as I began passing the truck I noticed this lifted Chevy diesle bearing down on me. He must have whipped out the same time I did from the line of cars - I was the 1st one behind the truck so in road ettiquite I thought I had the right to pass first. Anyway, he was bearing down on me quick so I got past the truck as quick as I could and then got back over. Note that is was only a passing zone not actual passing, still downhill on the 6-7% grade at the bottom of the canyon with a bridge and a 30 MPH hair-pin turn coming up. The Chevy zoomed passed me blowing black smoke every time he shifted gears. I paced him back up the hill doing 60-70 MPH. He was moving pretty good. I could tell everytime he dropped gears because he would blow black unburnt fuel out the tail pipe. So he was working it up the hill. I only tried to keep up for about 1/4 of the hill as I didn't want to punish my truck and tires... It might have kept up, but it was only an S-10 with a V-6. I had wider tires so it took the corners okay, but was punishing to the vehicle. I figured my life and vehicle were worth more than trying to outdo some nutball that would probably only hit a guardraill or something because he took a corner too fast.
Wouldn't you know it though that I did catch up to him as he got stuck behind the same Murphy's Law that had been plaguing me all trip and once he and I passed a truck he took off again and a half mile down the road was a Highway Patrolman coming the other way. All he did was flash his lights to warn the guy, but it did slow him down for about a mile or so and then he was gone again.
PS - This was Salt River Canyon for those of you in AZ so you know which canyon and road I am talking about.
Ha Ha - Like a previous poster said about laws of physics, trucks are bigger than me. No matter what he does whether it be wrong or right, he is bigger. He will do more damage. I will be crushed. I will not chance my life to the idiocy of someone else. Not saying all truckers are idiots, but if an idiot trucker does happen along my way I will happily move out of his way. Even if he were to crush me an it is his fault, I am still crushed. I might still be dead. More than likely not, but still do I really want to go through the rigamoral haggling with insurance, his insurance, the cops and having to get my vehicle fixed or replaced???
LOL - I have made the trip from Southern OR to SW Utah and made the drive through Nevada. Talk about long and desolate. I could have stuck a stick in the steering wheel to keep it straight, set the cruise at 80 and taken a nap the roads were so straight and long.... with no traffic.
yeah - I'm not too sure I am all for this one.... Speed Limits are there for a reason, but at the same time I don't think I would really appreciate being held by the hand all the time or watched while I drive... I mean it's almost a little too much "big brother". Nat the I would actually be watched, but I can see how this type of technology can be used in so many ways that I feel would violate the many rights that we as Americans enjoy.
Happens to me all the time... you have green arrow, and you have the right away. Even so that's not going to keep me from stopping to let him through if it will cause an accident to happen if I continue. Even though it would be his fault, I still wouldn't want to mess with the Insurance, the possibilty that he may not be insured the police report, the damage and shop time to my vehicle.....
It also happens to me when I have a green arrow and I am makeing a U-turn. Cars turning right aren't expecting U-turns, so they don't even bother stopping at their red while making a right... they just expect that everone with the green arrow will continue through the left turn...
Yes correct. Usually there is only a red light, meaning that cross traffic must stop, even if making a right turn, once stopped and if the way is clear, they are free to continue the right turn. However there are intersections in this town that I know have green right turn arrows while the cross traffic has a green left turn arrow. These intersections are also marked "NO U-TURNS".
Than I would say that for those intersections, the right of way would be reveresed from what I have experience and those making the u-turn would have to yield to those making the right turn on the dedicated green arrow? That is what common sense tells me.
I had a thought and I noticed it today coming home. I would like to take a quick and silly poll as to what you would do in this situation.
I think everyone knows what merging lights are and how they are used. But a quick explanation for those that might not... basically they are red and green lights at the end of a freeway on ramp that regulate the flow of traffic onto the freeway.
They work well when the freeway is congested and you have several cars trying to get onto the freeway. But here is my question. What would you do if you find you are the only one on the on ramp and the lights are flashing green and red? Would you A: come to a stop and wait for your light to turn green even though you are the only one on the ramp or B: or just continue onto the freeway because you are the only one on the ramp. OR C: this is a silly poll and why ask such a dumb question
I would keep going as I see no point at stopping only to have to get back up to speed again to get onto the freeway. If I was not the only one, than of course the I would obey the lights, but if I am the only one I am going to keep going.
or in PHX traffic might be crawling at 10 MPH if it's in the thick of rush hour.... But most of the time you are correct, but in Mesa getting onto the 60 I have seen traffic back up all the way to the lights and beyond on to the surface streets with people trying to get onto the freeway. This morning was no exception... at 8:30 I was half a block down down Gilbert Rd in a line of cars that lined up all the way to the end of the ramp, plus those that were in line at the light coming the opposite direction. Traffic on the freeway by then was flowing at about 60 MPH.... but the ramp was crawling at 2 MPH
Well... I just spent an interesting two days going 1200 miles in a behemoth of a U-haul. It was a 17ft U-haul van with a car hauler attatched to the back of it. While not the largest U-haul offered to those of us with regular driver's licenses, it was still a beast on the road. I would like to apologize to all those drivers who had to be on the road with me at the same time . Although I did do my best to stay in the right lane and at least maintain the speed limit but.....
Sometimes it just was not possible. Most of the time I was being passed by Semi's. Now this was mainly by choice as by keeping the speed down a little bit I was able to get about 10 MPG in a gas Ford V-10. This sucker needed to be a diesle. If I pushed it any harder my mileage dropped to about 7. And when it takes 100 bucks to fill the tank you want that tank to go as far as possible. The hills were "fun" and I would much rather go up than down. Going down is akin to being on a roller coaster, except you aren't attatched to a track... and no brake to haul you to an almost instant stop at the end of the ride. Yes the Van had brakes, but barely adequate and with only a 4 speed auto trans to work with, I could barely keep the thing under 65 going down the hills. Or I could have dropped into 2nd gear and scattered the tranny, or rode the brakes until they were just smoking dust particles, but I made it phew!!!
I don't envy truckers - although they are better equipped with better engines, tranny's and brakes to make trips like I did with much much larger loads. I'll bet they were safer on the road than I was. It took was seemed for ever to accelerate from a dead stop to even 45 MPH, took even longer to stop from that same 45 MPH and I had to determine where I wanted to go at a gas station before even entering, because if I got into one and couldn't get U-haul and it's accompanying trailer out, than I was a screwed monkey.
Needless to say it was a very interesting, but thankfully mostly uneventful trip. I don't think I did anything terribly inconsiderate (except just by being on the road ), and tried to be mindful of how huge I was, and in the end I think it all turned out okay.
Actually I wonder when a cop deems it necassary to pull someone over for speeding. Technically they can pull you over for even 1 MPH over if they wanted to. The times I have been pulled over (which has been few in the last couple of years, but many many times in my younger years), where when I was grossly exceeding the limit. The last three pull overs were where I was unfamilier with the area - 69 in a 55 when I thought the limit was 65. There I was only given a *waste of finite resources ticket*. It's a no points ticket, but a fine of about 35 dollars. The other time was almost the same, and again unfamilier road and very little speed limit signs. Apparently the limit dropped from 65 to 55 and I was pulled over for doing 67. For that I was only given a warning. I was also pulled over a few weeks later for doing 76 in a 65. I had been trying to keep the speed at 70ish (I didn't have cruise control), but I happened to be going down a hill and just as I got the bottom of the hill I glanced down the road and there was the cop sitting getting ready to pull out. I glanced at my speed and realized how fast I was going and knew he had tagged me. So I immediatly pulled over. He didn't even turn on his lights. There again I was only given a warning.
That used to not be the case however. When I was younger and I actually got a ticket were when I was doing about 12-19 over. I recieved a ticket a year for about 4 years and averaged a pull over evey other month - for various things... speeding, rolling through stop signs, driving with no lights (I had a digital dash and it was in town so I didn't realize it until I had been pulled over. Lucky for me the cop wasn't around five minutes earlier when I jumped my car at a spot in the road where it rises abruptly to go over a canel. I was up to about 60 in a 25 ) But these were all when I was young dumb and stupid.
Anyway, back to my original point, when does a cop deem it necassary to pull someone over?
Okay here is a dumb question, although I already know the answer, but I want to know how the general public also feels... Left Lane Cruisers. We all know who they are. We also all know that on a expressway or divided 4 of more lane highway we all try to keep to the right, right?
Okay what about on a highway that runs through a town? A highway that stays divided while it runs through several small towns? And how about the 2 mile stretch between the towns, but there is a center lane for making left hand turns that frequently come up? Does slower traffic still keep right? Even though the SL is 45 and most traffic will be going 40-50 depending on the time of day and whether or not there is a lot of turning traffic - either left or right?
So my question is does the slower traffic keep right rule of thumb apply here? What if a vehicle is going 35 and is in the left lane but is going to turn left and therefore stays in the left lane? Is he being inconsiderate?
Glad to be out of Phoenix Traffic.... I must have become numb to it, but I just moved to Southern Oregon and wow. What a change. I thought that was a fairly considerate driver, but I think that the Phx traffic habits must have crept into my my own personal habits... Meaning I drive a little aggresively. Not dangerously, nor speed demon fast, not weaving in and out of traffic so I can get ahead, but I stay on my toes and look for any advantage that might come my way. Moving to Oregon has made me realize how that each town had it's own driving "culture". The SL is lower, traffic is not as heavy, (it is so nice not to be stuck on a freeway going 5 MPH in rush hour ), people drive a little more sane here. It's a pretty big change, but I take it over trying to deal with PHX traffic anyday of the week. Let the speed limits be lower I still get there just the same and 70 MPH on the freeway (SL is 65) still gets me to my destination. Plus I don't have to worry about the trucker blowing by me at 90 MPH since Oregon has a trucker limit of 55. AZ had no such limit and I would constantly see trucks doing about 85-90 on the outer reaches of I-10.
Here's another thought I had while reading through these last posts....
I know what turn signals are and why we have them but... here is another dumb question. Is considered inconsiderate not to use it when it is obvious to other traffic that the vehicle is going to be turning one way or another? Such as say at an intersection where there is a designated left turn lane and a vehicle doesnt' use it's turn signal, it is still obvious that the vehicle is turning? Or a right hand turn lane? Or here is one for you... on a deserted road with no other traffic but you and your vehicle and you are going to turn off the road to another road either left or right?
Many Many newer cars I find the turn signal on the rear irritating if I am behind it at a light.... Especially if it is orange. Red isn't so bad - even LED. But wait until Orange LED turn signals come out....
I saw a good one today that could have been interesting. I was at the end of a very long line of cars in a left turn lane. In this line are also a couple of trucks. The left turn lane also is a yeild to oncoming traffic. It does not have a dedicated arrow (it sorely needs one, but as yet does not have one). The light turns green and the line slowly begins to move. Oncoming traffic finally clears and the line is finally able to move. I was not expecting to make the light because of the long line of cars so I just ease along. I am behind a Mercedes which is behind a trailer toting Semi. The Semi picks up speed (sort of) and the light turns yellow right before the Semi is ready to enter the intersection. Of course the Semi is going to go through, it is not feasable that he should slam on his brakes 10 ft from the intersection. He just can't physically do it. So he goes through the intersection. While he is in the intersection the light turns red. The Mercedes then gets to the line and instead of stopping like a normal person would do, the Mercedes jumps on the truck's rear end as close as if it had a tow bar on the front and goes through the light. SOLID RED and the other side is now green waiting for the intersection to clear. A Lifted Hummer waiting to go leaned on the horn for the entire time the Mercedes was in the intersection. I think it might have been interesting to see what would have happened had that Hummer decided rather than to wait, but to go over the top of the Mercedes to teach her a lesson???
Saw this couldn't help myself even though it's off topic.... . My personal opinion? 35 MPG is pretty good. I wish I could get that it my vehicles.... one is between 15-20 (it's a truck so I don't complain however, and the other is a newer sedan that can acheive 30+ on the highway but in the lower to mid 20's in town. Still in my eyes not horrid, but niether vehcile is a Prius. Unless you drive a Prius which is designed to get better than 35 MPG I wouldn't fret... however if you do think it's an issue than I would head over to your particular vehicle's forum and see what you can find! However you are also more than welcome here to discuss how you drive to achieve your mileage rate and we can let you know if that is being inconsiderate or not
I have seen before in some states - Idaho and Oregon, but not in Arizona that railroad crossings will actually have stop signs at them "forcing" you to slow down and make sure there isn't a train coming.
My personal opinion is that one should always be catious at a railroad and if you are blind enough that you can't see a big huge train barrelling down the tracks and you decide to cross and get hit well then you shouldn't be on the road at all. I have also seen drivers be dumb enought to put them selves in danger at intersections that will also include a rail road and a stoplight. Instead of stoping on the other side of the tracks behind the white lines and the barriers that will come down in the event of a train, they will park them selves over the tracks.... and invariably be trapped there by other inconsiderate morons who will box that driver in on the other lane by also stopping over the tracks and other drivers behind him. So per chance a train comes along there will be no where for these poor vehicles to go and I don't even want to imagine the havoc that could cause...
I saw an interesting vehicle today... it was a fairly new 04 or 05 Lincoln Town Car with 22 that had the wrong offest - they were too far under the wheel wells. The rear sagged slightly, and everything that could be chromed was chromed. It also had a stero booming out of it. I thought to my self that some one first went and wasted the money to buy a brand new Lincoln only to trash it by wasting even more money on the wrong wheels and cheap looking chrome parts... I won't tell you who was driving it though... could get me kicked off the site.
okay - I'll throw my 2 cent story in here .... Years ago when I was in high school, I had purchased an old Chrysler Laser from a friend. It needed some body work, an interior job and a motor rebuild. I took it upon myself to do all those things starting with the body work to get it prepped for a paint job. Well, I ended up replacing the front clip, the passenger side door and a front fender. But after I had gotten all those parts off, the guy that was going to recover my seats and door panels called me and said he was ready to work on my car. So..... missing a passenger door, no fenders (as the fenders had to be removed to remove the front clip), no front clip and only a single headlight that I had left attatched because the bolts were rusted in place and so hence it stayed, no turn signals and it being about 9:00 PM, I proceeded to his house to drop off my vehicle. I made it with out incident, but can you imaginge what the ticketing officer might say to me had he indeed found me driving down the road the way I was???
I have since grown up a little bit but that was back in the days when I was still naive and foolish.... and yes I might have been a little bit of an "inconsiderate" driver, even with all the parts put back on the car. There is more to this story and I'll just throw it in real quick.
I had put the car back together, painted it and mostly finished what I was going to do except for the motor. I was basically waiting for the motor to go before fixing it. Well it had an extremely bad oil blow by leak in the turbo system that would leak oil into the turbo when the oil level was completely full. If I ran a quart low or so the problem with not as bad, but the end result was when this oil would blow by the seals, it would churn out the amazing cloud of exhaust from the tail pipe. Imagine one of the foggiest days you have ever experienced and this is what came out from behind my car every time I accelerated from an intersection of dead stop. The exhaust cloud was so thick that you could not see through it until it had cleared out. Cars would have to wait for it to clear before proceeding through the intersection because you could not see the other side. You couldn't even tell if the light was green after I had gone through. Fortunatly the motor blew soon after and rather than fix it immediately, I drove around in an old farm truck that had no mufflers until that motor blew. But because it was cheaper to fix the truck motor, I did that and still drove around with no mufflers. Actually the thing didn't even have tail pipes. I had wrapped what was left of the mufflers around the axles during a recent off road romp and so I had taken a hacksaw and cut of the entire exhaust system from the cab backwards. No mufflers, no catylitic converter, nothing. Try sneaking home at 2 am in that! I actually only got pulled over once for the noise.... after that I did hammer some glass packs a friend gave me to curb the noise somewhat.
Anyway.... there my "inconsiderate driver" story. I have grown up a little. I drive a little more sane and the vehicle I have now run a little better and make less noise. Actually, they are quite new and don't leak, smoke, rattle, have parts hanging off them or have mufflers missing....
well in a town that had no inspections - for mufflers, smog or otherwise, it was pretty easy to get away with things like what I did... except for the noise. I did get busted for that.
I am the worst at letting people in in construction zones. I actually go out of my way to make sure they can't get in... now before I get jumped all over for being inconsiderate let me explain. These people are not the people who are trying to get over as soon as they see the numerous signs posted that a particular lane is closing or the people who can't find a spot because traffic is so jammed. If I can tell that they are in the process of trying to get over and in front of me is the only spot I willingly oblige.
The people that I will go out of my way to block, or hope that the lane ends just as they get to me, are the people that whip out from the line of cars and zoom down the ending lane at twice what others are going and or are oblivious to the signs that indicating an ending lane and the cones all around.....
now let me just note that I know that this is wrong and I should be considerate at all times even when others decide not to be... well we can't all be perfect drivers all the time can we?? Aren't we allowed even just a couple of vices?
One of the worst places I have seen for this and it isn't even construction, but normal everyday road is the 60 through Tempe when it narrows down to 3 thru lanes, but always an ending on ramp lane and just after McClintock 2 ending lanes, one for McClintock and the other from the 101 that are trying to get in the normal 3... that section of road during rush hour is a mess.
lol that's true... from the 202 interchange construction to the east to the now widening project that is going from Gil bert east... yes it is a mess. The 202 is a much better alternative at all part of the day even with rush hour slow and go...
Actually I used to have to go from N. Phx Cave Creek area to Mesa almost daily. The best route I found was the 101 to the 51, then S to the 202 and then to the 101 S to the 60. The 60 between the 101 and Gilbert rd wasn't too bad and thankfully I lived just off Gilbert so that is where I got off... I don't live there anymore and grateful I don't have to deal Phx traffic anymore...
I saw 3 dopes today. I know it was 3, but the third at this moment is escaping my mind. Hopefully it wll come to me as I type the other two in...
First was a Dufus in a Taurus on a one way street that tried to pull in behind a Mustang at a gas station that had also just pulled in. Unforuntely for Dufus Taurus, the gas station (it just happened to have the lowest price in town by 10 whopping whole cents), was chock full and the Mustang was barely able to get his rear bumper out of the bike lane. Hence Dufus Taurus was stuck in thru traffic blocking every one behind him. Now Mr Mustang could also be called a dufus since he didn't seem to realize the back up he was causing by planting his vehicle where he did to wait for a pump to open up. I guess he had the "ME FIRST" attitude and no one is going to cut in front me. I noticed as I was stuck at the light in the blocked lane that there were 2 other places this Mustang could have waited. Mr. Taurus finally realized the blockage he was causing and BACKED back into traffic and then continued to the next station entrance.
Incident #2:
While unloading for a job at a house, I noticed down the street an beat up old Dodge pick up backing out of his driveway. Apparently he forgot about the rule of looking before backing as he backed into the path of a CRV that was headed down the street. The CRV blared it's horn, but to no avail. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic and the CRV was able to skirt around the Dodge but that could have been a pretty little fender bender there.
Incident #3:
You know what? I can't remember the 3rd thing I saw today. It must be because it's late and time for bed... But I do have an interesting phenomenon that I have noticed. For my business I drive one of those large white cargo vans with ladder racks and lettering on the side. It is large and cumbersome. Not to worry, I do my best to drive it it as such... a large vehicle that handles and manuvers as such. But I can still maintain the flow of traffic on the freeways. I have noticed that even though I will be doing my usual 5 or so over to "keep up" with traffic and not impeed it, I will still be passed by just about all kinds of cars. The speed limit is 65 and I usually try to keep up with traffic at between 70, sometimes 75 but rarely that fast. There seems to be a big difference between 70 and 75.
What I find interesting is that is the speed I drive normally. So the phenomenon that I experience is that when people see such a vehicle like mine (the work van), they assume that it must be going slower than they are and hence they must pass it. Or that if they stay behind it, they are invariably going to be slowed down by it. Yet if I drive my regular truck or car, and stay at the same speed, I am hardly passed....
you should have just ran into the first one... that would have saved you the from having to deal with the other 2 indiots ...
But then you would have to deal with your insurance and the cops probably wouldn't do anything about it since that particular road you were on, if it is like the road that goes around the mall where I live, is private property and not regulated like other roads. From what I have understood is that on these particular "private roads", the stop signs are merely courtesy signs and not governed by any force of law. But still inconsiderate to pull out in front of someone... there is still a reason that stop sign is there.
It was one of these types of trucks - although this one was hauling scrap steel that lost a piece of 70 pound large shoe box sized piece of something that fell off the truck. Since I was in the process of passing him in the other lane, it bounced and hit my bumper. Thankfully it was also steel, with a rubber jounce strip. The strip absorbed alot of the impact although I have a decent dent in the bumper. After hitting the bumper it went underneath the truck, took out the front tire and rim, banged up into the passenger side door sill causing a dent and then continued and took out the rear tire and taking a chunk of rim with it...
Two flats, and so concentrated on not veering out of control that I didn't get a license or the name of the company that was hauling the scrap... Had to be towed because of the two flats, but the other damage was only cosmetic... Tire replaced and rim replacement came to about 300. Still have the dent in the door sill and the bumper however.
good one... I wish my wife would pay the same heed. I won't even make a right turn onto a 4 lane road - two lanes in each direction - if the lane closest to me is clear but the next one over is not. I have seen too many people decide to switch lanes at the last second as someone was trying to make a right turn...
This is one that I don't get. At an stoplight with 2 or more lanes for each direction, there will be a line of 4 or more cars and every single one of them will all be in the same lane. leaving the other empty with no one at the front? :confuse: None of these vehicles are turning one way either. I have seen upwards of 10 cars in the same lane with only 1 or 2 in the other....
I also saw a good one today. It was a jacked up Chevy Duramax lifted to the sky, and towing a behemoth travel trailer. The thing towered almost as tall as a semi trailer. (the travel trailer not the truck) The truck was piped out that you could hear it working every last gear to move both the monstrous tires it had on it and the trailer it was towing. It was loud enough to disturb any kind of conversation I might have been having while talking on the phone . And to top it off he insisted on going about 60 in a crowded 45 MPH area of town. I would hate to see what he tried to do once he got out of town? Oh and when I pulled up to him at a stoplight... he was on the phone and talking to the guy sitting next to him. Look out.
I saw this in another forum (please note I wasn't browsing this other forum intentionally, it was just a link on my homepage and it caught my eye) and thought it interesting. I know that all of us here do our best to be considerate drivers, but I'll bet that we have all done some stupid and or reckless things in the past and may have even busted for it.
It's not a good topic here, but.... maybe we could start a new forum where we could have a little fun and tell about some of the more "dumb and reckless" things we have all done and maybe even some of the punishment that we suffered because of it?
Hosts what do you think?
The title could be something like "Dumb, Reckless and Busted."
The title to the other thread was "What was the fastest that you've been busted for?", but I think that we could expound on that a little because not all dumb behavior has to be fast, not do we have to have been busted for it.
Or this could be the dumbest thing since the square wheel and it's a sign that I need to go to bed since it is past 1 am for me.
lol... no worries... it's The Big Al.... It's been my nickname since who knows when. Kind of given to me to make fun of me since I was the smallest kid in the class, but the name stuck all through school and so now I use it as a screen name.
that's a bad area of road to be driving 80 miles an hour towing a trailer too if I remember... it's been a few years since I have been in that area but isn't that area pretty mountainous and curvy?? I seem to remember one stretch of road either right before Roseburg or right after that they have these huge electronic signs letting drivers know of an extremely sharp curve(s) ahead ???
Busy day today... it took me a while to get through all the posts...
I saw a good one on the way home today. I was at a more or less typical intersection with two lanes of traffic each way and a dedicated left turn lane with dedicated arrows. I was the 3rd car in line behind a 50's Ford pickup and another car. The turning lane gets the green arrows and starts to proceed. All of a sudden for some strange reason the Ford pickup starts to move foward. Our light had not yet turned green and at first I thought she was going to "push" the green, meaning that she was able to tell somehow the other light had turned red and thus her's was about to turn green...
But not so. She just kept right on moving into the intersection and finally completely crossed it admist the line of cars turning left. She had completely and utterly just ran the light. I just sat there shaking my head and almost laughing. A few seconds later, our lanes got the green and I caught up to the truck at the next light... it was a she, blonde and on the phone. I hate to stereotype but she certainly seemed to fit the mold this time around.
This award goes to the road crew working on the road near where I live. During the day they are closing off one lane of the 4 lane road to do some sort of work off the shoulder. They have cones, an electronic arrow sign and a regular "right lane closed ahead" and another sign that symbolizes the lane being closed. This is not the inconsiderate part. They are doing thier job to make sure traffic is well informed of the lane closure. What makes them inconsiderate is that when the day is through, they move the cones off to the side of the road and open the lane back up. But on several occasions they have forgotten to either turn off the electronic arrow sign, flip to the side the other two signs indicating the lane closure so that you can't see them, thus creating the illusion that perhaps the lane is still closed. Since this is all on a hill it is not possible to see that the lane is not actually closed until you start down the hill. Therefore I have moved over only to find out the lane really hasn't been closed. Normally I wouldn't be annoyed, but since my turnoff is a right turn directly after the lane "closure", I wish they just had the sense to turn off and move the signs.
I'm a two foot driver - comes from the ingrained habit of driving a standard and even though I now drive an automatic, I still drive with both feet, although I don't ride the brake pedal... just when ever I brake, I use my left foot and not my right
I actually got someone behind me one night to turn off thier brights by repeatedly lighting up my brake lights in a series of 3 flashes. After about the 5th time they got it and turned off thier brights.
I was pretty careful to make sure that I didn't so the S.O.S. I just kept my flashes consistent... Actually I think I did it in a series of like 4 or 5 flashes to a set and once the guy turned off his brights I immediatly flashed a 2 flash thank you so that he would really know I was "talking" to him.
And you know it would be their fault if you hit them right?? At least that is how I understand it. When I had my manual tranny truck, I used to do that all the time. I had more than a few wide eyes as I would pop the clutch at the last second and move forward.... I even had a couple jerk their brakes and lurch because they had started moving forward too soon. That was even more fun to watch thier reaction.
You are building on the schedule my family followed when I was growing up. It took almost 15 years to get the house fully completed... I still remember going outside to the outside set of stairs to get to my bedroom which wasn't even sheetrocked yet, because the hole in the floor/ceiling wasn't cut yet. It wasn't after I left home that it was finally painted; I lived my whole life with 2 different colors of stucco, and a year before my mom passed away before the house was finally "finished". The last little bit; building the front porch and re-tiling the front roof, my dad actually, finally paid a contractor to do it rather than do it himself... Everything else he did frame to paint.
I was at the gas station and getting ready to pull out when I noticed an old 80's LTD in the far right hand lane 2 cars back from the light. In front of him a BMW Z3 was squeezing in between him and the car in front. THe Bimmer driver was turned around in his seat shouting something to the LTD. When the light turned green the Bimmer turned right and came into the gas station. I had cut across to pull out on the other side when I looked over and saw the LTD still in the same spot, but now the hood was up. A little odd I thought, and then a space cleared for me to turn left, and I made it to the intersection so I could turn right. I glanced over at the LTD again and now the hood was closed and the driver had his flashers on, so I knew something was definately up. I almost made a U-turn to go back and help him push his car out of the way, but then I watched him walk across the grass area separating the road and the parking lot of the gas station and left the car sitting in the middle of the road with everyone trying to get around it. I assume he was going for a phone, but isn't that illegal to leave your stalled vehicle obstructing the roadway???
My next incident actually invovled me. I goofed today and felt like a dolt. I was in an area of town that has a couple of one way streets but only east and west bound in this area. North and South are not major streets and are not one way. I was southbound headed towards the east bound street. I crossed the west bound street which in order to do that I had to make jog over because the street I was on didn't make a straight connection. I made my jog right after another car had made a right turn. I was behind this car, but in the left hand lane. As the car go to the intersection to make a left hand lane onto the east bound street, he did so from the right hand lane. That's odd I thought, why doesn't he move over to the left hand lane to do that? Then I go to the street just after him and I noticed a truck directly across from me coming to the intersection IN MY LANE. He abrubtly turned right and then I realized why he had done so. I WAS IN THE WRONG LANE! Oops. I had a momentary lapse of reason and while the street was actually a 2 way street, I was treating it as a one way. It was only for about 2 blocks and there was no traffic, but that one truck and no cars parked along the street. So I realized what I had done. What should have tipped me off was the yellow lines instead of white but I guess I wasn't paying attention :surprise:
I sometimes wonder if they do that on purpose?? The rolling roadblock effect. It drives me crazy. In Phx I can recall several times where I have been doing ABOVE the limit, maybe 10 over, just to keep with the flow of traffic and a cop will breeze past. On the other side though I have seen where there has been one going under the limit and I have gone past him at my above the limit speed and he has paid me no mind.
And I would have placed another sign inside the car saying "this is not a junkyard" ....
Okay so that may be a little mean spirited and I probably wouldn't do that now, but back in my younger years I probably would have, except I drove a vehicle in somewhat similar condition for a little bit.
Comments
About an hour later I realized nature was calling so I pulled of at a rest stop and took care of business. I got back on the freeway and continued home, althought to make up lost time I pushed my speed to closer to between 80-85. A couple miles down the road guess what?? I came upon this same 350Z still in the left lane still going about 72 MPH. This time I was a little miffed. I stayed behind her, flashed my lights to let her know to move over and was a little close for comfort. Finally realizing she was not going to move over, I proceeded to pass her again in the right lane. And you know what?? She was still on the phone!
I just shook my head and kept going... for the most part my trip home was smooth sailing. There was one section of road when I was coming into town that clogged up before the freeway went to multiple lanes. We came to an almost dead stop. I couldn't figure out why. The traffic report had no accidents in that area and the only thing I could think was a freeway interchange that was coming up, but that was still about 5 miles off. 2 miles into the clog, I noticed a motorcycle off to the side of the road. A couple was standing next to it. The girl was not unattractive, but she was wearing a tank top. But she wasn't really anything worth slowing down for? But right as soon as traffic got past them it picked back up to speed for the next mile or so till I hit the freeway interchange where the traffic expectedly slowed down. Was she really the reason that traffic practically ground to a halt??
So if I have a good speed and I can tell that the truck is going to want to pass, I will usually gun it as get past as quick as I can so the truck doesn't have to lose his momentum becuase I blocked his way and he wasn't able to get over before he had to slow down.
I have often wondered why trucks just don't stay one behind the other when going up hills because when they do move over they generally clog up both lanes while trying to pass each other, but then I realized that all trucks are geared differently, carrying varing weighted loads and when going up a steep hill, if they have to slow for anything it can mess up their entire ascent of the hill. So one truck may take the hill better at 45 MPH, but another at 50 and to slow to 45 will mess up how the truck is geared and may have to slow even further to find the right gear again....
Traffic wasn't too bad except for one spot of construction, but even then I breezed through, but.... It would seem that every time I would come to a spot in the road where my lane divides into two for passing I would cruise right on through encountering no one until the very end just as the lane ends I would come upon a truck that of course was going slower due to the mountain grades. So I would end up stuck behind him until the next passing lane and once past did very well until the very end when I hit again another truck and not able to pass because the lane ended.... I swear it was Murphy's Law. Not that I am mad at the truckers as they couldn't control what was happening it was just my dumb luck that I would happen upon them just as my opportunities to pass disappeared. This happened 3 times! Oh well. Such is life.
Also on this same trip I was headed down into a canyon where the road is a 6-7% grade downhill with 25 MPH corners on it. There again was a truck making his way slowly down the canyon using his engine as a brake. Understandably. I cruised behind at about 30 MPH until I could pass him. I usually take this canyon at 50-60 MPH and the turns at about 40 MPH. As soon as I began passing the truck I noticed this lifted Chevy diesle bearing down on me. He must have whipped out the same time I did from the line of cars - I was the 1st one behind the truck so in road ettiquite I thought I had the right to pass first. Anyway, he was bearing down on me quick so I got past the truck as quick as I could and then got back over. Note that is was only a passing zone not actual passing, still downhill on the 6-7% grade at the bottom of the canyon with a bridge and a 30 MPH hair-pin turn coming up. The Chevy zoomed passed me blowing black smoke every time he shifted gears. I paced him back up the hill doing 60-70 MPH. He was moving pretty good. I could tell everytime he dropped gears because he would blow black unburnt fuel out the tail pipe. So he was working it up the hill. I only tried to keep up for about 1/4 of the hill as I didn't want to punish my truck and tires... It might have kept up, but it was only an S-10 with a V-6. I had wider tires so it took the corners okay, but was punishing to the vehicle. I figured my life and vehicle were worth more than trying to outdo some nutball that would probably only hit a guardraill or something because he took a corner too fast.
Wouldn't you know it though that I did catch up to him as he got stuck behind the same Murphy's Law that had been plaguing me all trip and once he and I passed a truck he took off again and a half mile down the road was a Highway Patrolman coming the other way. All he did was flash his lights to warn the guy, but it did slow him down for about a mile or so and then he was gone again.
PS - This was Salt River Canyon for those of you in AZ so you know which canyon and road I am talking about.
Nope... don't think so.
and I quote ... "Vehicles in London could soon be fitted with technology that would automatically slow them down if they break the speed limit."
Here is the full story:
http://msn-cnet.com.com/A+car+that+slows+you+down/2100-11389_3-6076096.html?part- =msn-cnet&subj=re_3-6076096&tag=tg_home>1=8298
It also happens to me when I have a green arrow and I am makeing a U-turn. Cars turning right aren't expecting U-turns, so they don't even bother stopping at their red while making a right... they just expect that everone with the green arrow will continue through the left turn...
I think everyone knows what merging lights are and how they are used. But a quick explanation for those that might not... basically they are red and green lights at the end of a freeway on ramp that regulate the flow of traffic onto the freeway.
They work well when the freeway is congested and you have several cars trying to get onto the freeway. But here is my question. What would you do if you find you are the only one on the on ramp and the lights are flashing green and red? Would you A: come to a stop and wait for your light to turn green even though you are the only one on the ramp or B: or just continue onto the freeway because you are the only one on the ramp. OR C: this is a silly poll and why ask such a dumb question
I would keep going as I see no point at stopping only to have to get back up to speed again to get onto the freeway. If I was not the only one, than of course the I would obey the lights, but if I am the only one I am going to keep going.
Sometimes it just was not possible. Most of the time I was being passed by Semi's. Now this was mainly by choice as by keeping the speed down a little bit I was able to get about 10 MPG in a gas Ford V-10. This sucker needed to be a diesle. If I pushed it any harder my mileage dropped to about 7. And when it takes 100 bucks to fill the tank you want that tank to go as far as possible. The hills were "fun" and I would much rather go up than down. Going down is akin to being on a roller coaster, except you aren't attatched to a track... and no brake to haul you to an almost instant stop at the end of the ride. Yes the Van had brakes, but barely adequate and with only a 4 speed auto trans to work with, I could barely keep the thing under 65 going down the hills. Or I could have dropped into 2nd gear and scattered the tranny, or rode the brakes until they were just smoking dust particles, but I made it phew!!!
I don't envy truckers - although they are better equipped with better engines, tranny's and brakes to make trips like I did with much much larger loads. I'll bet they were safer on the road than I was. It took was seemed for ever to accelerate from a dead stop to even 45 MPH, took even longer to stop from that same 45 MPH and I had to determine where I wanted to go at a gas station before even entering, because if I got into one and couldn't get U-haul and it's accompanying trailer out, than I was a screwed monkey.
Needless to say it was a very interesting, but thankfully mostly uneventful trip. I don't think I did anything terribly inconsiderate (except just by being on the road
That used to not be the case however. When I was younger and I actually got a ticket were when I was doing about 12-19 over. I recieved a ticket a year for about 4 years and averaged a pull over evey other month - for various things... speeding, rolling through stop signs, driving with no lights (I had a digital dash and it was in town so I didn't realize it until I had been pulled over. Lucky for me the cop wasn't around five minutes earlier when I jumped my car at a spot in the road where it rises abruptly to go over a canel. I was up to about 60 in a 25
Anyway, back to my original point, when does a cop deem it necassary to pull someone over?
Okay what about on a highway that runs through a town? A highway that stays divided while it runs through several small towns? And how about the 2 mile stretch between the towns, but there is a center lane for making left hand turns that frequently come up? Does slower traffic still keep right? Even though the SL is 45 and most traffic will be going 40-50 depending on the time of day and whether or not there is a lot of turning traffic - either left or right?
So my question is does the slower traffic keep right rule of thumb apply here? What if a vehicle is going 35 and is in the left lane but is going to turn left and therefore stays in the left lane? Is he being inconsiderate?
Anyway your thoughts please
I know what turn signals are and why we have them but... here is another dumb question. Is considered inconsiderate not to use it when it is obvious to other traffic that the vehicle is going to be turning one way or another? Such as say at an intersection where there is a designated left turn lane and a vehicle doesnt' use it's turn signal, it is still obvious that the vehicle is turning? Or a right hand turn lane? Or here is one for you... on a deserted road with no other traffic but you and your vehicle and you are going to turn off the road to another road either left or right?
My personal opinion is that one should always be catious at a railroad and if you are blind enough that you can't see a big huge train barrelling down the tracks and you decide to cross and get hit well then you shouldn't be on the road at all. I have also seen drivers be dumb enought to put them selves in danger at intersections that will also include a rail road and a stoplight. Instead of stoping on the other side of the tracks behind the white lines and the barriers that will come down in the event of a train, they will park them selves over the tracks.... and invariably be trapped there by other inconsiderate morons who will box that driver in on the other lane by also stopping over the tracks and other drivers behind him. So per chance a train comes along there will be no where for these poor vehicles to go and I don't even want to imagine the havoc that could cause...
I have since grown up a little bit but that was back in the days when I was still naive and foolish.... and yes I might have been a little bit of an "inconsiderate" driver, even with all the parts put back on the car. There is more to this story and I'll just throw it in real quick.
I had put the car back together, painted it and mostly finished what I was going to do except for the motor. I was basically waiting for the motor to go before fixing it. Well it had an extremely bad oil blow by leak in the turbo system that would leak oil into the turbo when the oil level was completely full. If I ran a quart low or so the problem with not as bad, but the end result was when this oil would blow by the seals, it would churn out the amazing cloud of exhaust from the tail pipe. Imagine one of the foggiest days you have ever experienced and this is what came out from behind my car every time I accelerated from an intersection of dead stop. The exhaust cloud was so thick that you could not see through it until it had cleared out. Cars would have to wait for it to clear before proceeding through the intersection because you could not see the other side. You couldn't even tell if the light was green after I had gone through. Fortunatly the motor blew soon after and rather than fix it immediately, I drove around in an old farm truck that had no mufflers until that motor blew. But because it was cheaper to fix the truck motor, I did that and still drove around with no mufflers. Actually the thing didn't even have tail pipes. I had wrapped what was left of the mufflers around the axles during a recent off road romp and so I had taken a hacksaw and cut of the entire exhaust system from the cab backwards. No mufflers, no catylitic converter, nothing. Try sneaking home at 2 am in that!
Anyway.... there my "inconsiderate driver" story.
I have grown up a little. I drive a little more sane and the vehicle I have now run a little better and make less noise. Actually, they are quite new and don't leak, smoke, rattle, have parts hanging off them or have mufflers missing....
The people that I will go out of my way to block, or hope that the lane ends just as they get to me, are the people that whip out from the line of cars and zoom down the ending lane at twice what others are going and or are oblivious to the signs that indicating an ending lane and the cones all around.....
Actually I used to have to go from N. Phx Cave Creek area to Mesa almost daily. The best route I found was the 101 to the 51, then S to the 202 and then to the 101 S to the 60. The 60 between the 101 and Gilbert rd wasn't too bad and thankfully I lived just off Gilbert so that is where I got off... I don't live there anymore and grateful I don't have to deal Phx traffic anymore...
Gotta run.. fussy daughter
First was a Dufus in a Taurus on a one way street that tried to pull in behind a Mustang at a gas station that had also just pulled in. Unforuntely for Dufus Taurus, the gas station (it just happened to have the lowest price in town by 10 whopping whole cents), was chock full and the Mustang was barely able to get his rear bumper out of the bike lane. Hence Dufus Taurus was stuck in thru traffic blocking every one behind him. Now Mr Mustang could also be called a dufus since he didn't seem to realize the back up he was causing by planting his vehicle where he did to wait for a pump to open up. I guess he had the "ME FIRST" attitude and no one is going to cut in front me. I noticed as I was stuck at the light in the blocked lane that there were 2 other places this Mustang could have waited. Mr. Taurus finally realized the blockage he was causing and BACKED back into traffic and then continued to the next station entrance.
Incident #2:
While unloading for a job at a house, I noticed down the street an beat up old Dodge pick up backing out of his driveway. Apparently he forgot about the rule of looking before backing as he backed into the path of a CRV that was headed down the street. The CRV blared it's horn, but to no avail. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic and the CRV was able to skirt around the Dodge but that could have been a pretty little fender bender there.
Incident #3:
You know what? I can't remember the 3rd thing I saw today. It must be because it's late and time for bed... But I do have an interesting phenomenon that I have noticed. For my business I drive one of those large white cargo vans with ladder racks and lettering on the side. It is large and cumbersome. Not to worry, I do my best to drive it it as such... a large vehicle that handles and manuvers as such. But I can still maintain the flow of traffic on the freeways. I have noticed that even though I will be doing my usual 5 or so over to "keep up" with traffic and not impeed it, I will still be passed by just about all kinds of cars. The speed limit is 65 and I usually try to keep up with traffic at between 70, sometimes 75 but rarely that fast. There seems to be a big difference between 70 and 75.
What I find interesting is that is the speed I drive normally. So the phenomenon that I experience is that when people see such a vehicle like mine (the work van), they assume that it must be going slower than they are and hence they must pass it. Or that if they stay behind it, they are invariably going to be slowed down by it. Yet if I drive my regular truck or car, and stay at the same speed, I am hardly passed....
But then you would have to deal with your insurance and the cops probably wouldn't do anything about it since that particular road you were on, if it is like the road that goes around the mall where I live, is private property and not regulated like other roads. From what I have understood is that on these particular "private roads", the stop signs are merely courtesy signs and not governed by any force of law. But still inconsiderate to pull out in front of someone... there is still a reason that stop sign is there.
Two flats, and so concentrated on not veering out of control that I didn't get a license or the name of the company that was hauling the scrap... Had to be towed because of the two flats, but the other damage was only cosmetic... Tire replaced and rim replacement came to about 300. Still have the dent in the door sill and the bumper however.
I also saw a good one today. It was a jacked up Chevy Duramax lifted to the sky, and towing a behemoth travel trailer. The thing towered almost as tall as a semi trailer. (the travel trailer not the truck) The truck was piped out that you could hear it working every last gear to move both the monstrous tires it had on it and the trailer it was towing. It was loud enough to disturb any kind of conversation I might have been having while talking on the phone
It's not a good topic here, but.... maybe we could start a new forum where we could have a little fun and tell about some of the more "dumb and reckless" things we have all done and maybe even some of the punishment that we suffered because of it?
Hosts what do you think?
The title could be something like "Dumb, Reckless and Busted."
The title to the other thread was "What was the fastest that you've been busted for?", but I think that we could expound on that a little because not all dumb behavior has to be fast, not do we have to have been busted for it.
Or this could be the dumbest thing since the square wheel and it's a sign that I need to go to bed since it is past 1 am for me.
I saw a good one on the way home today. I was at a more or less typical intersection with two lanes of traffic each way and a dedicated left turn lane with dedicated arrows. I was the 3rd car in line behind a 50's Ford pickup and another car. The turning lane gets the green arrows and starts to proceed. All of a sudden for some strange reason the Ford pickup starts to move foward. Our light had not yet turned green and at first I thought she was going to "push" the green, meaning that she was able to tell somehow the other light had turned red and thus her's was about to turn green...
But not so. She just kept right on moving into the intersection and finally completely crossed it admist the line of cars turning left. She had completely and utterly just ran the light. I just sat there shaking my head and almost laughing. A few seconds later, our lanes got the green and I caught up to the truck at the next light... it was a she, blonde and on the phone. I hate to stereotype but she certainly seemed to fit the mold this time around.
I was at the gas station and getting ready to pull out when I noticed an old 80's LTD in the far right hand lane 2 cars back from the light. In front of him a BMW Z3 was squeezing in between him and the car in front. THe Bimmer driver was turned around in his seat shouting something to the LTD. When the light turned green the Bimmer turned right and came into the gas station. I had cut across to pull out on the other side when I looked over and saw the LTD still in the same spot, but now the hood was up. A little odd I thought, and then a space cleared for me to turn left, and I made it to the intersection so I could turn right. I glanced over at the LTD again and now the hood was closed and the driver had his flashers on, so I knew something was definately up. I almost made a U-turn to go back and help him push his car out of the way, but then I watched him walk across the grass area separating the road and the parking lot of the gas station and left the car sitting in the middle of the road with everyone trying to get around it. I assume he was going for a phone, but isn't that illegal to leave your stalled vehicle obstructing the roadway???
My next incident actually invovled me. I goofed today and felt like a dolt. I was in an area of town that has a couple of one way streets but only east and west bound in this area. North and South are not major streets and are not one way. I was southbound headed towards the east bound street. I crossed the west bound street which in order to do that I had to make jog over because the street I was on didn't make a straight connection. I made my jog right after another car had made a right turn. I was behind this car, but in the left hand lane. As the car go to the intersection to make a left hand lane onto the east bound street, he did so from the right hand lane. That's odd I thought, why doesn't he move over to the left hand lane to do that? Then I go to the street just after him and I noticed a truck directly across from me coming to the intersection IN MY LANE. He abrubtly turned right and then I realized why he had done so. I WAS IN THE WRONG LANE! Oops. I had a momentary lapse of reason and while the street was actually a 2 way street, I was treating it as a one way. It was only for about 2 blocks and there was no traffic, but that one truck and no cars parked along the street. So I realized what I had done. What should have tipped me off was the yellow lines instead of white but I guess I wasn't paying attention :surprise:
Okay so that may be a little mean spirited and I probably wouldn't do that now, but back in my younger years I probably would have, except I drove a vehicle in somewhat similar condition for a little bit.