Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

imidazol97

Ohio State Patrol officer turned off sound as he arrested two Gahanna police officers for 147 and 150 mph.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/08/05/gahan- nacycle.html?sid=101

oldfarmer50

"...do i have to change my habits?..."

Oh I get it, kinda like marking your territory, same as a dog barking when you walk past. Very primal.

But did you damage those cars you parked next to?

I've heard guys talk about how they deliberately run shopping carts into cars. I wonder if that's the same behavioral matrix?

fintail

Inconsiderate? More like amoral and cowardly.

snakeweasel

No not marking my territory it was just the area of the lot that was directly across from where I worked. I followed company/mall policy and kept my walk to work the shortest I could. So why should I park even further away from work just because someone parked in the same area I park in?

xrunner2

Do the same at times, park between well kept cars. Also do as ruking. Park where employees park when easily identified. I have noticed that entry lux or lux foreign brand cars parked in isolation will attract American brand full size pickups ususally nasty and/or jacked up. Wonder what it is with that mentality.

Every once in a while, when parking with empty slot on one or both sides, and just shutting off engine, someone I deem possible jerk will pull up in next stall. I quickly restart car and go find spot farther away.

tjc78

I always try and park next to a curb (and close to it) figuring that only leaves one side vunerable.

oldfarmer50

My BIL has a daughter who lives in Brooklyn. He and his wife occasionally drive down to see her. Two trips ago someone broke into his car. The last time, someone sideswiped it while parked and took off.

Got to love them city folk.

Out here in the boondocks I don't lock anything and never had a problem in over 40 years.

ruking1

Yes, one of the MANY advantages of city chic urban living.

fintail

I do that when I can, too. In garages I also like to park up alongside poles or barriers - things that scare off the lowest common denominator.

stever

The joys of driving a decade old beater. I park where I want. :shades:

fintail

To a degree, I am that way when I drive my old car. You'd have to do a lot to hurt it - its metal won't submit to a modern tin can, and I probably wouldn't notice a new paint chip anyway.

ponderpoint

There is some weird twisted psychology going on here because this has happened to me (cars parking next to you in a dead part of the lot), l park remote to get exercise, not necessarily door ding avoidance.....

This is first hand observation; beat up old pick-up in dead part of lot - completely ignored, I come back out of "Chipotles" with my burrito and the truck is still an island to itself.....

Late model luxury sedan I own? - ALWAYS somebody right next to it in a complete beater! Yes, the late model luxury sedan already has a door ding in it's short precarious existence.

I really do think there are people out there that are just MISERABLE and have destructive tendencies. So sad - they must subconsciously know they will never have a brand new lux or sport mobile so they conclude... You will not either!

tjc78

Too funny here.... the same thing happens to me. I take my 10 year S10 and no one is ever near it, but take my new Genesis and people are always near it no matter where I park. Of course, I try not to take it to many places where I could get damage, but its sometimes it can't be avoided (like when stopping at the store on the way home from work)

imidazol97

>my new Genesis and people are always near it no matter where I park.

I would be one of those people near it if I were to see one parked. BUT I wouldn't be parking close to it. I would be taking a look at it and peering into the interior. There is no nearby dealer for Hyundai and I never think to stop when I'm close to one of the stores. I think they're glamorous cars.

tjc78

I think they're glamorous cars

Thank You.. on my Carspace page there is a nice shot of the interior of mine.

tallman1

Although my family teases me constantly, I look for end parking places and get as close to the "end" as possible so that I'm far away from the one other space. It can be an end spot close to the door or farther away in the parking lot.

So far so good. My 06 Accord has over 72k miles and no door dings. Rock chips from the highway, yes. Replaced a windshield because of a flying rock, yes. But no door dings, doggone it.

hondaowner10

My 05 Accord coupe received a ding within the first week I owned it. Stopped at a convenience store for a gallon of milk. Was in the store for less than 5 minutes. So far my 09 Accord sedan only has a few small scratches on it after 6 months. I try to park as far away from other cars as possible. My wife complains about it all the time.

oldfarmer50

I'm driving my big yellow school bus down a 4 lane highway the other day. I notice an old beat-up green Honda Civic is riding right along side of me. The car was weaving slightly back and forth coming real close and then moving back over almost into oncoming traffic. I thought to myself: Drunk? Aggressive? Crazy? Asleep?

At the next light I looked over into the car and saw what the problem was. The driver was scratching off lottery tickets! He was using both hands and driving with his knees.

I guess he was a loser on many different levels.

tjc78

The other afternoon I was on RT 73 in south Jersey. It was early afternoon and trafffic was starting to get thick. The road is a 55 MPH 2 lanes each side with frequent red lights. Anyway, a couple year old lifted F350 Diesel decided he was going to tailgate and cut off every car he could. Harder and harder he worked to get ahead all the time blowing black smoke all over the highway. He was inches away from hitting several cars as he was changing lanes The best part is after about 4 miles or so he got a whole 3 cars ahead of me (and I wasn't even trying to keep up with him)

oregonboy

The best part is after about 4 miles or so he got a whole 3 cars ahead of me

No, I would have to say that was the worst part. I hate being just a few cars back from a stinkin' diesel. :sick:

tjc78

hate being just a few cars back from a stinkin' diesel

Thank goodness for the "recirc" button.

fintail

There's some kind of mental link (defect) to people who drive big diesel pickups. It's the same here. The most aggressive annoying vehicles on the road.

I live on a hill, and when the bastards drive up, they can never do it smoothly - they have to floor it and hear the exhaust roar, then let off, then floor it again. The Harley idiots do the same.

ruking1

There are far MORE bikes running around with little to NADA emissions controls than the so called monster diesel trucks. Oxymoronically, the emissions of those bikes are far worse than the diesel emissions.

(diesels are ULSD @ 15 to 5 ppm sulfur) and gasser bikes are 90 ppm sulfur which only has to by law be mitigated OFF LINE by FEES to 30 ppm sulfur)

So RUG to PUG can LAWFULLY be up to 18x more pollutive than ULSD !!!!

(90ppm/5ppm=)

As another side bar:

not many folks even know the 90-30 ppm sulfur are the refining standard to fully mitigated standards. Again, RUG to PUG can be ACTUALLY 30 ppm sulfur, but there is NO law that says that has to be posted. Also if RUG to PUG is actually 90 ppm, all the refiner has to do is mitigate it by fees (off line). To state the obvious you would now be burning 90 ppm sulfur RUG to PUG and really don't know and... dont care.

There are actually heavy and felonious sanctions if ULSD is NOT 15 ppm and under (actual normal is 5 ppm)

fintail

The emissions don't get to me so much....I find diesel fumes to be less terrible than fumes from an unmaintained gas engine (or a leaf blower, which must pollute as much as 100 cars). It's all about the noise, most of which is intentional.

ruking1

For sure it is the "total" package. It is interesting to note those folks (especially bikers) are destroying their hearing. I see very few folks wearing ear protection.

fintail

A lot of them around here barely wear head protection...those fake German style helmets can't be the best. And we collectively get to pay for it when they crash....very inconsiderate.

ruking1

VERY inconsiderate !!

tjc78

The Harley idiots do the same.

You know this brings up another thing... I have a kid on my nice quiet street who recently acquired a bike. It's not a Harley some crotch rocket thing. I don't mind the drive away/come home noise. What I can't stand is that he works on it and it idles and revs for what seems hours :confuse:

ruking1

It seems that most folks who own bikes have a hard time believing their bikes can actually idle on its own !!

fintail

In my old condo complex, there was a rental unit next door occupied by a crazy woman who had some Harley driving friends stop by all the time. One of them would let the thing idle for like 10 minutes before he'd drive away. I swear, I thought of going out there and just tipping it over or pouring gasoline on it. Luckily for me, her tenure there was not long...I wonder why.

fezo

We had a guy across our corner that did that. They recently disappeared without a trace. We're not complaining! Nice enough folks just blissfully unaware. When we went over and said 'there are babies we'd like to keep asleep" they apologized and quieted right down but a few days later were back at it.

oregonboy

No, no , no... all motorcycle engines will die immediately if you don't constantly blip the throttle. It's right there in the owners' manual. Developing the proper wrist-twitch is the sign of a true cycle aficionado. :sick:

oregonboy

I think that there is something about the vibrations felt through the crotch of bikers that causes the synapses in their brains to misfire. The net result is total lack of social responsibility. :P

fintail

A Harley drove by my place a while ago that was so loud I swear I could feel the air reverberate. I reached for my Uzi, but then realized I don't have one :sick:

tjc78

My cousin rides a Harley and since he lives on the end of a dead end street if he comes home late he actually kills the engine and walks the bike down for the last couple of houses. That's a good thing, because its louder than heck. I think if the kid across from me continues his antics with his crotch rocket I am going to borrow the Harley for the weekend and give him a taste of his own medicine

fintail

That's not a bad idea.

Dueling bikes...the neighbors will love it :shades:

snakeweasel

I am biking down the street when some idiot passes me and makes a right turn right infront of me immediately after passing me. Missed me by a foot or so. :mad:

stever

"Forty-six motorcyclists believed to be part of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle gang were cited for flouting traffic laws when they passed through the Treasure Valley late Wednesday, according to Meridian, Boise and Nampa police officials."

Massive traffic stop leads to 46 citations (Idaho Statesman)

ruking1

Indeed the same thing happened to me in a rather recognizable intersection in San Francisco, not by the Gypsy Jokers MC gang, but by a renegade bike rebel group. Easily a pack of 300 bike and scooter riders went through several red lights.

euphonium

Would not a pellet gun flatten a tire on the biker playing traffic cop? :confuse:

ruking1

Rather well actually !!

jensad

About 20 years ago, when bay bridge traffic was bumper to bumper going from SF over to Oakland, a motorest noticed a m/c splitting traffic abouit 45 mph. Well a driver noticed him coming up and openned his door and "splat, bang and crash. Driver one point, m/c rider zero.

I was driving back from Saratoga today when a group of m/c riders were in the middle lane. There was about 50 riders and they were courteous, stayed in thier lanes and allowed drivers to cross and take off ramps when needed. Go job. Nice to report.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad

fintail

Today's fun....white Traverse makes (an illegal) left turn directly in front of me. I slow down only a little, to make a point, and miss it by a couple inches while laying on the horn.

Honda Odyssey backs out of a driveway right in front of me, making me nearly stop even though there are no cars behind me for at least half a mile. Then he proceeds to go 5 under while rooting around for something, probably a phone. I later got a chance to give him a dose of scowling direct eye contact.

Big bloated white Sequoia pulls out in front of me from a stop sign at an exit, no cars behind me for maybe 10 blocks. Then proceeds to go well under the limit as an exciting conversation with his passenger develops. These boomers are going to be much worse than the old greatest generation when they hit elderly status.

White Matrix goes 24 in a 30, until the limit changes to 25....then he goes 35-40.

And the finale, a big old whale Caprice camps out in the left lane at 10 under, while everyone passes on the right. Driver didn't look older than 35 or so. Maybe the car determines everything :shades:

fintail

This kind of poserfied stupidity is probably the least considerate driving of all...because when these stooges fall off, we all get to pay for it.

And that evil little voice in my head wants it to happen anyway :shades: :shades:

Of course, this resplendent pair, trying to recapture youth, were headed for the local HD dealer, which is like a biker gang hangout for the suburban rebel without a clue.

ruking1

I was reading a few gov statistics and they say the accident and fatality rate is approaching epidemic proportions for murder cycles, in relation to THE safest year ( fatality rate per 100 M VMT) since recorded history for overall fatalities and accidents.link title

First reference, pg 11

Motorcyclist fatalities increased
The 10th year in a row
Highest number since 1975

Also the average miles per year driven is 11,847 miles per car. (pg40, ... do da maf)

You have of course have seen me many a time saying 12,000 to 15,000 miles per year average.

fintail

It's just going to get worse too, as droves of the bad biker gang movie generation become retirees and seek new hobbies. I am pretty sure I read something awhile back that said, at least locally, that the over-45 set was easily the dominant group when it comes to increasing cycle casualties.

Every now and then I really get the itch for a bike, but I can't justify it as I would only feel safe in traffic here once or twice a week.

ruking1

And here link title there is a lesson? . It would almost be funny, if not for the fact that its execution in reality turned truly tragic.

It makes you wonder how the biker made it to his 57th BD. ????

We probably will not hear who was ruled at fault.

fintail

If you're going to brake check someone, make sure it won't squash you if it can't stop. Has to be some kind of Darwin award there.

jensad

You hit on the head, no pun intended here, as to the increase of m/c fatalities. And Ruking I too have been stuck driving in the Bay Area with clueless "older" m/c riders, who wander down the roadway in tank tops and female baggage.

And there are also some excellent riders out there too.

I was trained at the CHP Academy to ride but I chose not to ride on the job. Every one of our m/c officers, all 22, went down on the East Shore, Nimitz, or Mac Arthur freeways. My best friend on the job died on the Nimitz.

Now we have, I am guessing here, the older rider, who probably did not go thru some form of training school, makes a mistake and its over. And if I were to take up riding again, I would most definitely go to a riding school and pay extra$ to get back to art of riding safely. If I did do it again, my wife would probably
1. would never ride on the back out of choice, 2 maybe even divorce me.

I think the odds are against m/c riders in Calif, due to the high number of cars on the road today (except at 3-4 am) and the driver's not noticing/not caring to watch for m/c riders.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad

fintail

I know there are MC schools/classes in my area, they are even subsidized. If I was going to get a bike, I would take these - for one, they bypass the test at the DMV needed for the endorsement, and they would simply make one a better rider. They are pretty involved, two levels needed to get the endorsement, and there is an optional "intermediate" level offered after that. I think each of the lower levels is something like 8 hours of classroom time and 4-5 hours of riding time, on a private course. It should be mandatory.