Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

ruking1

It seems to be a common occurence. They really do that to in effect, cut you off. Normally you get (a pretty far ahead) heads up. That being true, I just use other cars as screens. If they are doing it on purpose, that will normally drives em nuts as they are now almost kissing the bumper of the car that was in front of them : and really what can they say? Now you control the situation and can either continue up along side of them or complete the pass and move out of his way.... or ...NOT!? I normally move over to let him pass, for I dont like someone with their hair on fire or that stupid and/or emotional on my SIX. If they hit you, they probably do NOT have insurance and/or worse.

xwesx

Fin, this happens *all the time* when I drive my pickup or van (both 1969). It is just a mentality. Also, I think many people do not like to be behind old vehicles because of the exhaust smell not found in most modern vehicles. All those emission controls do count for something....

ponderpoint

When I speak of the "swoopers", I mean drivers that are VERY familiar with the exit/turn and simply fail to position themselves in the proper lane when they know they have to turn or exit..... selfish, self-centered and juvenile.

If you see a "cotton top" or a very alert/worried looking driver with out-of-state plates/no where near a state line, cut 'em some slack and let them in.

oldfarmer50

"...I bet some people here can guess some of the demographics..."

He was Irish, right? I just bet he was Irish.

"...Taurus guy floored it, and surprisingly was faster than the old Chevy..."

Didn't Ford make a Taurus SHO which was a real sleeper?

fintail

Funniest thing is they will get a lot more exhaust than they otherwise would have if they make me kick down the old beast during a pass...the old car isn't a ULEV for sure. Nice black unrefined smoke... :P

snakeweasel

twice when passing people on 4 lane 40mph suburban arterials, the person I was passing sped up!

I think that many times the driver doesn't even know s/he is speeding up. I think there is something in our phsyic about speeding up a bit as someone passes you. I suspect that the opposite is true and that some people may slow down when they pass someone.

The other day on the Interstate I had a guy start to pass me when all of a sudden we were going the same speed then I slowly started to pass him then he floored it and left me behind. The odd thing was that I was using cruise control so I know my speed didn't vary.

I always find it odd that driving long distances when I have the cruise on that there will almost always be some guy that I pass, and get passed by, multiple times.

fintail

Irish and a male, exactly!

This Taurus was a previous generation, 00-07 model. My mom has one of these and it is a sleeper - in that it can put you to sleep.

snakeweasel

Didn't Ford make a Taurus SHO which was a real sleeper?

Yeah during the 90's. IIRC it had 0-60 times under 7 seconds.

fintail

It could kind of be the "pacing" mentality, when some people will (maybe subconsciously) get beside someone and match their speed...it must reinforce their decision or something.

But yesterday....I remember one incident in particular, empty road with no cross streets for a good mile, I approach a Corolla going maybe 35 in a 40, I politely move left to pass - no tailgating or anything like that - and next thing I know I am going 55 to get around it :confuse: . Of course, as soon as I am back in the lane, it slows down.

I've had that cruise control experience too, drives me nuts. I remember on one maybe 150 mile I-5 trip I passed and was passed by the same car several times.

fintail

I'm too chicken to play any games like that ...if I see someone being really aggressive, I just let them have at it and hope I am able to dodge the shrapnel when the inevitable takes place. As you say, these aren't the people most likely to have insurance or stable tempers.

ruking1

Discretion is normally the better part of valor!

isellhondas

These people continue to tick me off.

In a crowed parking lot, they will cruise slowly through hoping to spot a car about to pull out. Then, instead of simply driving a bit farther to find a spot, they will sit there turn on their turn signal and wait. They will wait while someone slowly unloads their cart at Costco item by item. Then they have to put thier child in a car seat, put on their makeup etc whiile the park waiter SITS there waiting!

Meanwhile, traffic backs up into the street!

Can someone tell me WHY people do this?

If's one thing if the lot is full or nearly full but this usually isn't the case.

carnaught

I saw an elderly woman looking numb yet horrified. A younger male ran a stop sign and made a left turn right in front of her cutting her off while she was going straight at a normal speed. Despite his recklessness she managed to avoid hitting him and was rewarded with his giving HER the finger as he did this. Geeez.....

oregonboy

No wonder he gave he the finger! Couldn't she see that he was in a hurry?! :P :sick:

fintail

I call them parking lot trolls, as they are trolling for a spot. I have never understood the mentality. Virtually anyone is not going to be worse off for walking an extra 50-00 feet. At any large establishment I usually park out in the boonies and walk...less chance of door dings from oblivious sheeple, and often as I am entering my destination, I will see the same troll still circling around.

imidazol97

>often as I am entering my destination, I will see the same troll still circling around.

That happens a lot. Park and get walking and you'll be in the stores before the people who are trying to park close to save time!!!

snakeweasel

I had to go to the Loop for court yesterday and as I was leaving the parking garage someone did that, just sat there waiting for me to get out. The funny thing was I was in a tight spot for my Elantra and the guy waiting was in what looked like a 7 series BMW. I knew he wasn't going to get in because I barely got my front end between the two support columns in the front of the parking space. If he ended up parking there his back end had to have stuck out,

Can someone tell me WHY people do this?

Sure they are to lazy to walk an extra 25 feet.

The sad thing is when you see this at the gym. Yeah they are going to work out but can't walk those few extra feet.

the_big_al

These people bug me to no end... especially when the aisles are so narrow that you can't get around...

I usually park in the first reasonably close space I find. I'll go down the aisle and if there is a spot I take it. It takes longer to find a closer spot than it does for me to park farther away and walk.

euphonium

A few of the parking waiters are driving 40' motor coaches with a toad behind. Do the big box stores have separate parking areas for RV's?

The other PIA is the driver with the most expensive car in the lot straddling two spaces so as to protect the sides from being slammed or door dinged.

Starting Friday morning our parking patience will be developed for another Christmas Season.

imidazol97

>The other PIA is the driver with the most expensive car in the lot straddling two spaces so as to protect the sides from being slammed or door dinged.

If there's room I'll park next to them in my older Buick, leaving the appropriate amount of space as if they were parked in the marked spaces right. I love thinking about their panic when they see someone parked next to them where they're taken up two spaces.

If they park way out where they should if they want to protect their baby, I sometimes will park way out beside them as if I'm protecting my 1998 leSabre from dings.

I used to have an old '61 Chevy as a 3rd car long ago and would squeeze into the really right space left. It had a chrome ridge along the door that would ding if the door hit another car. And one side had been scraped from a slide through a fence by the previous owners. I can imagine the panic when they saw this monster next to their precious baby back in the 80s.

oldfarmer50

"...the most expensive car in the lot straddling two spaces..."

You have to be careful doing that as it can actually ENCOURAGE damage.

On morning as the wife an I were going into the local supermarket there was a vintage Corvette parked across the closest two parking spots. A brief evil thought crossed my mind of how cosmic justice would be served if I went over an damaged this symbol of entitlement, but I resisted the urge.

Sure enough, when we came back out of the store someone with less self-control had dragged a key down the entire left side. A shame really, as it was a nice car.

imidazol97

>A shame really, as it was a nice car

That reminded me of something from the early 90s while vacationing in Gatlinburg (Pigeon Forge actually which is more fun) at a busy motel with tight parking. Someone parked their black Miata or similar small sports car in two spaces. The next morning it looked like a skunk with white spray paint over much of it in random patterns. No words, just patterns.

ruking1

While there are fewer options to guard against intentional damage such as keying paint jobs, etc, an easy one that I have got into the habit of is looking for those parking spaces with natural configurations that lessens the chances of door/ bumper, dings etc,.

Another no brainer one is to park where folks do not want to park. I do that as much as possible; in say like those warehouse clubs with those industrial sized flat bed carts and over sized grocery carts.

xrunner2

While there are fewer options to guard against intentional damage such as keying paint jobs, etc, an easy one that I have got into the habit of is looking for those parking spaces with natural configurations that lessens the chances of door/ bumper, dings etc,.

Do that. Islands are usually safe spots if you snuggle up to them. Some of the Costcos in my area have islands or penninsulas. Another method I use when at Jewel stores in my area is to find an open slot in an area where the store's employees usually park.

Real slobs and inconsiderates are those with old beaters, jacked up pickups, etc., who presumably park next to and close to someone who has obviously parked their impeccable looking car in the boonie area of the parking lot.

snakeweasel

The other PIA is the driver with the most expensive car in the lot straddling two spaces so as to protect the sides from being slammed or door dinged.

I think I relayed the story 30+ years ago I was following a friend to a local kwiki mart type store we both actually worked at. In front of the store some idiot parked parallel across several perpendicular spots. My friend parked right in front of him and I right behind (or maybe the other way around) and stood outside to watch his response. :shades:

stever

Tercel, meet BMW.

steve_, "Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)" #12307, 5 May 2008 9:11 pm

carnaught

I used to have an old '61 Chevy as a 3rd car long ago and would squeeze into the really right space left. It had a chrome ridge along the door that would ding if the door hit another car. And one side had been scraped from a slide through a fence by the previous owners. I can imagine the panic when they saw this monster next to their precious baby back in the 80s.

"Real slobs and inconsiderates are those with old beaters, jacked up pickups, etc., who presumably park next to and close to someone who has obviously parked their impeccable looking car in the boonie area of the parking lot."

jensad

Now that makes sense to me snakeweasel. Great idea to "lock" the offender in his (parking) place.

My wife likes to harp on me for parking away from others. I told her several times that it was to keep the careless, inattentive, dumb, (fill in ) drivers away from our then car a Lexus suv.

Well one night she kept it up to the point so I did what she wanted me to do which was to park next to a car very near the entrance. I went in to get her medication, and when I returned I got in my car, just then another car parked on her side. And of course, the woman got out, banged my car with a small dent, and said, "oh " never said anything more ahd walked quickly into the store. It was not worth to call the cops, as private parking lot stuff is not reportable and the fact the dent was minor.

Since that day, my wife has never mentioned to me about how and where I park my car. It it is her car, she can do anything she wants, as I don't comment. But my new car has yet to be dented and her car has been dented and scraped on the driver's side. So far so good as the expression goes.

Finally I too get tired of the "waiters' that hide in their car behind a person loading their car. And I would rather walk a 1/2 mile or so into Cosco and not get hit, so I park in the corner of the lot and get in the good walking exercise.

Good luck to all and I hope all have a peaceful and lovely thanksgiving.

jensad

the_big_al

It's tough tough when at our Costco the parking lot is so small its hard to find a spot at any place... add into it the gas station at the back of the lot and the Wal-mart with an entrance to their lot off the Costco lot and it's a nightmare trying to get in and out. Especially this time of year and with Costco gas prices being about 30 cents lower than everyone else.

ruking1

Yes, what goes unsaid is the cost of seemingly a simple repair is VERY expensive anymore! There are a lot of folks that don't own up when it happens: up to a hit and run. This is not even to mention up to (felony) malicious acts.

However, to one and all: HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

snakeweasel

I am starting to see them. Those people who park outside and then drive off with windshields that are almost completely frosted over. Either they scrap only a small area for them to see of the run the defroster a for minutes to get a small area where they can peek out.

oregonboy

Yep, they are the same ones that don't bother with headlights at dusk... in fog, in rain. :sick:

fintail

Or around here, half an hour past sunset. :sick:

ruking1

On the way home from Thanksgiving dinner (last night) app 11 pm (yes I know I was on the edge, sharing the roads with the probably of more DUI folks out and about), on Highway 680 N/B, we past 2 major exits for a 1,750,000 sq ft outlet mall during aka " BLACK FRIDAY". (FRIDAY FRIDAY) The line (on the 4/5 lane freeway N/B & S/B ) in the far right hand exit lanes seemed to be ORDERLY, but backed up app 1.5 miles in each direction !!! This was a full hour before OPEN ! OPEN ! OPEN !!! ( on first impression I thought it was a SUPER bad accident/s but the absence of ANY flashing lights and or sirened vehicles took me off full alert)

fintail

Last night everyone must have had turkey hangover - LLC city on I5 northbound. I passed endless amounts of cars camped in the left lane (either passing on the right or in the carpool lane, as traffic wasn't too heavy), and I rarely went past 65. It was an odd scene, the lane speed order was almost reversed. It was a free for all, half the traffic wanting to move along, the other half being content to go no more than 5 under the limit. There was a Prius in the left lane that couldn't have been going more than 50...this created a fun bottleneck as those of us who wanted to actually drive a reasonable speed had to dodge it. Vehicular cholesterol.

There was also a moped on 405 yesterday going about 35-40...this created a little area of chaos too. Insane.

the_big_al

It must have been turkey hangover and the day before must have been turkey rush. On Wednesday as I was traveling a long I noticed that traffic moved along quite a bit faster than usual. I usually travel at around 70ish, sometimes 75 on the freeway. I am usually able to keep the pace with everyone else around. I end up passing a few people and only a few pass me, but not many. But this time was different. I was set at about 73 and I couldn't keep up. In either lane. I was constantly shifting to the left lane to get around a slower car and then shifting immediately back to allow faster traffic by. And it wasn't the crawl by at 2 mph faster than you are going rate. It was whizzing past. I almost wondered if my speedo was correct. I increased my speed just a little to between 75-80 and I was able to keep up better as I didn't like having to constantly change lanes. I felt it was safer to go a little faster and keep up with traffic so I could remain in the left lane, rather than go slower and constantly have to switch lanes and risk cutting in front someone who might be going faster than I anticipated.

fintail

I don't think traffic ever flows at 70 around here, even on open roads where 70 is the limit. Maybe one lane for a couple miles or so.

snakeweasel

First one was along a road in a rather undeveloped area in the far SW suburbs of Chicago. The road I was on can best be described as a paved secondary country road, rather narrow with a narrow shoulder that drops off quickly. Its one of the few roads that have not been redone for "urban spraw". Its a mile and a quarter or so long and runs through some of the remaining farm land in the area (at least a mile on either side), so needless to say along this road there are no lights at all. So with all that being said I cannot believe that on this road anything over 45 is safe, especially at night. So I am on this road doing around 45 and all of a sudden, like a bat out of hell, some idiot comes up behind me at a high rate of speed then sits a few feet behind my rear end, :confuse:

Second was on the way home I stopped to pick up dinner. The restaurant is at the end of a small strip mall where everything else was closed. I pulled up infront of the place and was the only car parked out front. I then saw this van driving across the perpendicular parking spaces with the driver looking intently into the store fronts. And he was heading straight for me. A quick toot on my horn and the look on his face was priceless.

jensad

I can sure relate to your experience. I also drivee around 70 mph on our freeways in Disneyland, er CA. My wife and I were driving up I 5 from Firebough at about 70 mph in the right of two lanes last March. I too could not stay up with traffc including some big rigs at 70.

So I kicked it up on cruise control to 75, then 80, and stil l got tailgated. I then just stayed in the right lane at 70. But the good news was that everyone was driving with some courtesy and no recklessness. Eg no tail gating.

We are going to go south to the High Desert in Dec. I will just get there at 70 mph and lets the others do their thing.

I hope all had a pleasant thanksgiving.

jensad

fintail

Wacked out holiday drivers today...Saturn Ion merging onto I90 at 35mph, Trailblazer making a left turn from a straight only lane and almost causing a disaster, Odyssey making a screeching stop at a yield sign at a minor street leading onto a major road - a few cars had to slam on their brakes, Volvo slammed on its brakes at the first sign of a yellow light and almost claimed a few bumpers, wannabe homeboy in a clapped out old Exploder tailgated me for a little bit and then tried to pass on the right (with 10 cars ahead of me going my exact speed) and promptly got stuck when the right lane slowed to a crawl...what a day...

oregonboy

You know, fin, I lived in the Puget Sound area for eight years... just moved back to Roseburg, Oregon last June. You want to know how much I miss driving in Western Washington? Hahahahahahahhaha! :P

isellhondas

Old Pappy Roseburg was quite a guy, wasn't he?

oregonboy

You must be referring to Kenneth Ford, founder of Roseburg Lumber, (later to become Roseburg Forest Products). I worked for RFP from 1990 until 2000. I heard many interesting stories about "Pappy" Ford. Fortunately, I wasn't high enough up the food chain to work directly for him.

To stay on topic, both Pappy and his son, Allyn, were famous for driving as if they owned the road, probably because (in a way) they had paid for it. RFP was the largest employer in the region. I'm sure the taxes paid by the company and its employees paid a fair percentage of road taxes in the county.

It was said that the local police quickly learned to recognize Pappy's car, and would generally "look the other way" when he drove by.

isellhondas

Oh, I thought he as a Roseburg.

I've heard stories too and I know he basically ruled the town for years.

fintail

Sometimes I wonder what keeps me in the area...insane cost of living, dreary weather, oblivious slow drivers...but the job market hasn't collapsed, for now.

Today's winner: I am at a light behind a new A4, the driver is a little princess type of girl, maybe 20 at the most, little lap dog sticking its head out the window, she's leaning over while texting or eating or something....probably the spoiled spawn of one of the local corporate bandits who deserves to be sent to the 10th level of hell. Anyway, I knew when the light changed, she'd miss it...and she did, so I gave a little toot toot of the horn to wake her up...nothing menacing. She moved around but the car didn't move. As it is a short light (due to the inept overpaid underworked sucks in control of traffic planning here), I then gave a normal honk, and she slowly starts moving forward. The light then changes to yellow, so I just lay on the horn to get her going...and she honks back! I know, shame on me for asking one of the least accountable members of society to actually pay heed to the responsibilities of driving a car. I'd hope she experiences an airbag deployment soon, but daddy would likely buy the parasite another car and the aesthetic maintenance required to hide what happened to the last one...

fintail

This morning I am heading to work about 0545, on a long off-ramp that ends with a major intersection. Almost no traffic at this time, and the ramp has a sensor that will change the light to green if there is no cross traffic. I am behind a tractor-trailer rig, which is moving at an acceptable speed. The truck trips the sensor and it gets the green light long before the end of the ramp, but for some reason slows way down. Then I see why...from the right, a late model Chevy van is cruising down the road at about 45mph, and not slowing down a bit for the red light. He wakes up at the last second and misses the truck by maybe a foot. Could have been a big mess.

oregonboy

Good thing that the trucker was more awake than the Chevy driver! :surprise:

euphonium

unloading her purchases from Walmart while smoking and then throwing the lighted cigarette on the ground just before she knocks a curler out of her hair while jumping in her 68 GMC van & leaving the cart to be blown into other parked cars.

This is the same inconsiderate who never flushes the public toilet, nor washes their hands, but they walk among us.

fintail

Another good reason not to go to Wally World. I don't cry that my little suburban area is too snooty to ever let one in.

That same inconsiderate doesn't just not wash their hands, but also goes back to work preparing food in any random restaurant after not washing their hands. :P

ejain

Lots of effort seems to be put into enforcing speed limits. But I wonder how often people are pulled over for tailgating or cutting in front of other cars -- which seems a lot more common and dangerous to me. For example it's often near impossible to keep a safe distance to the car in front of you when driving at 60mph on a busy highway. Does anyone have evidence of police pulling over people for such behavior?