Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

xwesx

Its beginning to become spring in No. Ca. and its very lovely.

It is beginning to become spring in interior Alaska and it is very... mosquito-ey! :sick:

fintail

I have no doubt the WA state equivalent is similar. It's a revenue collection scheme...I just wan't wait til the program dies off and the lame ads vanish from the screen. I don't watch a ton of TV, but I have noticed this ad a lot. Maybe for the lameness.

Oh, and for the yellow sign tangent, which is a part of their TV campaign...this past weekend I had my old car out, and I drove through a curve yellow signed at 20...and I was going 40. No issues at all, even in the old car. SL was 35.

Spring here means lots of motorcycles, which means a lot of old timers on Harleys...sometimes doesn't end well. Nice to have the sunroof open now and then anyway.

imidazol97

Had to laugh at some of the inconsiderate drivers who want to left lane dominate. I75 between Dayton and Cincy has major rebuilding occurring although 3 lanes are maintained, by narrowing and by using old berm lane or temporary roadbed. This has been going on for over a year.

Many drivers local and out-of-area insist on driving 70-75 in the 55 zones just because it's the old 65 limit. There have been many accidents and the State Patrol has worked to slow them down.

I had an overweight mamma in an older car with a cell phone on her ear who insisted on following closely to try to get me out of the third lane at 62 mph. When she finally passed on the right she found a State Patrol car on the median side with its lights flashing as warning of an active area for trucks pulling in and out from the adjacent construction lanes. After tailgating me for a few miles in moderate traffic the witch slowed down, but I doubt the phone left her ear.

Then for those who insisted on tailgating and dominating others who just weren't going fast enough, they discovered the two motorcycle State Patrolmen, which is very rare in Ohio.

I don't know if they were hiding or pacing to get speeders, and hopefully dominators, of if they were using an airplane to observe, but several people discovered 55 and dangerous traffic area means drive carefully instead of playing the left lane dominator games.

If they keep this up, the state budget in Ohio may be balanced soon from the fines collected. On the return drive I saw the cycle cops still giving out tickets on the southbound side. I'll bet those are expensive since they're double in construction areas.

tjc78

We have a similiar situation in South Jersey right now. I295 is under construction and they have the "cattle shoots" up and the 3 lane highway is now two lanes and then separate a third lane. There were so many accidents that the NJSP started hanging out on overpasses and would radio ahead to catch the reckless drivers. It was in the local paper a week or two ago. The SL is marked at 45 and I catch myself going into the 60s, but people are flying by me.

stickguy

Tom, you must be practically my neighbor. I am real close to 295, and for a while was commuting on it. WHat a mess.

narrow and bumpy, but people still blow through at 75. The ticket machine is working overtime now.

Massive increase in accidents. the traffic people want to blame speeding. I think it has more to do with making most of the on ramps dead stop (with a stop sign) suicide merges. As in, no merge lane at all. and with 1/2 of them, you can barely see what is coming. Real fun in the dark when it is raining, or when a truck has to do it!

fintail

Today I saw a Crossfire run a light, and make a left turn in front of oncoming traffic, almost making a real mess. I was behind a PT Cruiser, thinking to myself "gawd those are so ugly"...then it locks 'em up as the Crossfire dashes in front of it. I wasn't tailgating the PT, so I had no problem stopping...but it could have been messy. It was in tight traffic exacerbated by worse than usual light sequencing too - for the past couple days my fair city seems to have a glitch, and the lights are acting weird - very long cycles. Or maybe it's some 150K/yr public sector suck trying to "improve" things. It's a shame the money wasted by the state on lameo "slow down or pay up" ads can't be used to improve traffic flow. I can't even begin to imagine the fuel wasted by poorly sequenced lights.

tjc78

I go from the black horse pike exit (mile from home) to 73 everyday for work. Its just a mess. I can take the Turnpike but that is backed up getting off at 73 and forget about getting off at exit 3 in rush hour going home. It just seems like everywhere I go is under construction. My girlfriend has sworn off 295 until its done. At least I won't be dealing with it this week because I'll be in Richmond for work.

I've noticed before from some of your posts that we must be close. Not too many South Jersey guys on the forums.

3233

Yeah, yesterday I went into "town" (Atlanta city proper) for an event and noticed that as the 65 zone switched to a 55, people continued to drive 75-80. In this case though there isn't a valid safety reason for the decrease in speed, just the stricter speed laws in most major cities. Most of the time traffic keeps speed down below the limit anyway. Either way, the Highway Patrol had easy pickings-I saw 2 cars pulled over within a 10 mile stretch.

I also had some more real life experience with distracted driving that makes me a bit happier with my driving-unfriendly touchscreen phone . A man in an Infiniti G35 (as I'll later discover) is texting. He slams on the brakes to make a turn into a parking lot. The driver in the opposing lane slams on his brakes and swerves around him, successfully avoiding the distracted driver. The problem is, the other driver is pulling a trailer, one of those fully-enclosed ones. As he finishes swerving and moves back into the right lane, the trailer lags behind just enough to force a Mercedes S550 to slam on the brakes. The Merc doesn't get hit by the trailer, but the driver behind him, in a Chevy Cobalt, either doesn't react quickly enough or has weaker brakes, and slams into the back of the Benz at about 15 mph. Neither driver is hurt, and both cars receive only minor damage, but it still goes to show how doing stupid things will driving is, well, stupid!

imidazol97

http://www.ohio-share.coxnewsweb.com/multimedia/dynamic/00677/orignal_1540460_cC- F_677960c.jpg

fintail

100mph? Really, or revenue enforcer exaggeration? Who drag races in a fancy rednecky truck pulling a toy hauler? There must be more to the story.

What was the white car, a big Buick maybe? Those wheels are ghastly, and they look like they must weigh 500lbs apiece.

imidazol97

The story explains that another vehicle fled. I assume that was another of the racers. It also sounds like another truck left the scene without stopping.

I personally have seen little cars racing through the traffic. Civics. Mitsubishis. Those cars trying to see who can stay ahead of the other by zooming around cars on either side. I've even seen the berm used to get around a car.

My sympathies to all those travelers on I75 who were held up or if they were able to get off and bypass using their GPS had a long torturous path with lots of other cars on two-lane highways.

The link to the article is:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/drag-racing-causes-accident-on-s- outhbound-i-75-681907.html

The area was near the beginning of the construction area where the road is squeezed slightly for lane width and moved to the right or the left using the old berm as part of the roadway of 3 lanes.

snakeweasel

100mph? Really, or revenue enforcer exaggeration?

Could be a case of "How dare you pass me" Vs "How dare you speed up when I pass" with both accelerating until it got out of hand.

fintail

Yeah, that makes more sense...the trailer hauler got caught up in it, and a drag racer fled. One of the racers probably cut someone off, who slammed on the brakes, and chain reaction ensued. I can't imagine that big Buick performed well with those ridiculous wheels either. One less idiot on the road, too bad others were involved.

I've seen the little cars racing around here too, but not in construction zones...usually people here behave fairly well in those areas, other than a scaredy cat who will want to go 35 in a 55 when others will want to go 70. I've never seen a big Buick race either.

fintail

That kind of crap happens to me more often than I'd like to think about...luckily my car is faster than 99% of the vehicles on the road, so the game never lasts long :shades:

imidazol97

The drag racing accident gets weirder.

Person arrested after accident

The black Oldsmobile dropped off one of its occupants when it stopped and left the scene.

Here's the myspace page for a person who appears to be the one arrested with same age of 28.

Notice pictures show a black Oldsmobile and a white Park Avenue.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=5- - 16119626&albumId=190726

http://www.myspace.com/516119626

stickguy

was on it today. Was doing about 60, in the 45, in the right lane and people were flying past on the left (going south). Actually got off at your exit, since my daughter had a soccer game at Audoban HS.

for a while, i commuted to PA, and took 295 from 31 to the exit for the bridges. Going south not too bad, but coming home in the afternoon could be downright scary.

That, and the almost daily wreck that screwed up at least one direction!

did see a sweet looking light blue Genesis at the Lowes today. Interesting color. DonDon'tthink I ever saw it before.

andres3

Could be a case of "How dare you pass me" Vs "How dare you speed up when I pass" with both accelerating until it got out of hand.

I avoid those "darers" by executing the following move when passing.

I simply pass with authority, as fast as possible, and suddenly as possible, and as quickly as possible (when it is safe to do so obviously). By passing in a few heartbeats, I find that those "how dare you pass me drivers" won't be able to react in time to do anything other than find the gas pedal for the first time all day and tailgate me. I'd rather have that then a horsepower contest though.

tjc78

I was on the roads alot yesterday, I observed the same thing through the construction zone. At one point a motorcycle flew by us at, 100 or better heading into the construction zone (southbound). I am curious if he got caught, because as we got off to come home there was a trooper standing on the (BHP) overpass with a laser/radar gun and two other troopers getting onto to 295. I guess they were not kidding about targeting through that area.

did see a sweet looking light blue Genesis at the Lowes today

I haven't seen that color in person, heck I've only seen one other burgundy one like mine, they all seem to be silver or black.

wesleyg

Today here in the Cleveland area with the temp in the 80's, the annual Japanese motorcycle crotch rocket racers have finally gotten their prayers answered and are able to return to the interstates, 480 and 90 in my case. While driving these roads, I was passed 3 or 4 times by these death wish imbeciles at 95 to 105 MPH while weaving back and forth lane to lane.

My estimation of their speed is accurate, I did it for a living for 31 years, and had to use shovels for pickup occasionally. Recall once we set up a roadblock for one of these yahoos coming from some miles away on I-271, one of my guys yells out in his radio he's gonna set up the spike strips.

I about had a heart attack, if he would have done that it would have been a guaranteed fatality with us as the cause. As I recall, that one we never did catch.

Anyway, every year this phenomenum increases, am wondering if nice year around climates have this problem constantly or is it the long winters that bring it out.

fintail

I've only seen the light blue on the Genesis coupe...I think its a nice color, I think that might be the one I'd pick. I like blue, it's unique, and a lot lower maintenance than a dark blue.

Yesterday evening I had an older white Chevy panel van run a stop sign, nearly hit me, then proceed to go about 60 in a 35 (I paced him...guess I am guilty too :shades: ). Funny thing was there was a long light up the road, and I ended up catching up him. Sadly, I had to turn there...I hope he ended up as a single vehicle accident to remove him from the driving population. The white box van/big truck crowd can be terrible reckless aggressive drivers around here, always speeding and weaving.

Also an aggravation of mine flared up yesterday, people who virtually stop while turning. Are the g forces generated by turning at more than 5mph more than some people can handle? These weren't octogenarians either. Why can't some people turn, especially off a 35-45mph road, at a normal speed?

fintail

Every year in these parts the local news media will have a few stories of the crotch rocket Russian roulette players who will travel in a small pack at 100+ on a relatively crowded road, or the loners who will cruise along at 120+. Sometimes they get busted, sometimes not. The boomer Harley crowd isn't immune to two wheeled idiocy either...IIRC that's the motorcycle demographic with the greatest increase in casualties - but their issues seem to be around being oblivious to surroundings rather than insane speed. As we have 6 months of dreary rain here before summer, I think it might be a climate based event.

tjc78

Why can't some people turn, especially off a 35-45mph road, at a normal speed?

I hate that too, maybe they are afraid they will spill their coffee....

snakeweasel

We have them here too. Its just punks trying for a thrill. A while ago there was one that ran into the rear end of a flat bed truck, the police said he waws doing in excess off 100 MPH. Not exactly smart.

The strange thing is many of them ride wearing nothing but shorts and shoes (sometimes even sandals). Talk about a major road rash waiting to happen.

imidazol97

My son and I drove to the very large cruise-in for the area Friday evening. On the way home I commented that we'd read again this weekend of some fatal or severe accidents on their motorcycles. They were buzzing around us on a nice sunny, temperate Friday evening. This was the first Friday of nice weather after 3 Fridays of cold or rain.

Sure enough it happened.

fintail

Crazy local biker crash

3233

I bet some of the almost-stopping-while-turning people have a bunch of fast food precariously balanced in their cars. That's the one (rare) time where I'll go really slow around a turn, thanks to the fact that the single cupholder in the front row of my car allows anything larger than a 12oz can to fall over unless you baby the car. Of course most of them probably are just overly cautious drivers who have nowhere to be in a hurry.

What car do you drive by the way? I know it's a classic Merc, but what year/model is it? Thanks

ingvar

Why not if road permits? I-90 in IL has 55mph limit, but even cops are driving 75mph.

fintail

That could be it...I wouldn't know, as food and drink are pretty much banned from my cars :shades: . I think the "nowhere to go and all day to get there" syndrome applies too, as well as a fear of feeling a slight g force around a turn. In a few days I get to travel to podunk, where people drive painfully slow and strangely - weird things like using parking lanes as turn lanes.. It should be amusing.

My "normal" car is a W210 E55 AMG...not really a classic yet, just unusual...my oldtimer is a late W111 220SE, 1964.

xwesx

Notice pictures show a black Oldsmobile

EPB-9633; Gotta love the internet! :P

snakeweasel

I-90 in IL has 55mph limit

That would depend on where along I-90 you are at. Going through the downtown area its 45 MPH. From Elgin to the Cheddar Curtain its 65 MPH

elias

in florida while returning to new england, i'm pretty sure i saw an LLC get cited southbound on I-95! he pulled over in the left lane, just like an LLC i saw get pulled over by state cop on I-495 in MA years ago.
i'm pretty sure that cops HATE IT when people pull over in the shoulder of the highspeed lane, and provide yet another citation for that one.

jensad

Here is CA/Disneyland, its a year round event. I.e. as long as the roadway (which is many times constructed to channel h2o off the roadway) is available, the m/c crowd hits 75-110 mph. Especially on the freeways and connector roadways. And splitting traffic is an assumed art form here.

And yes I always carried gloves to pick up the pieces and let the ambulance crew to the heavy lifting. I think when I was a Berkeley officer, it was more difficult to handle a suicide, however, with the arrival of the coroner, it facilitate bagging the pieces much faster. Yes I know its sounds strange, but whether it was a freeway or someone's residence, its the relatively same tragic ending that most of us get used to. And many times it made me sad to see a tragic loss of life.

Good luck to all and stay safe. Enjoy the beautiful day in your locale and enjoy life.

jensad

snakeweasel

Just across the street from work today a car ran off the road and into a retention pond. Unfortunately the man died, not sure if it was the accident that killed him or if he had something like a heart attack that caused him to drive off the road. We actually watched the rescue work take place from the window right by my desk. From the layout of the pound and the area around it the guy had to be going at a good pace.

snakeweasel

Naperville police patrol officer curbed a gray, two-door 2000 Honda and arrested Shahin Karimi for driving 101 mph in a 45-mph zone.

And after he was finished writing that ticket, the officer cited Karimi again, for driving 87 mph in the same area only minutes earlier.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2230350,Naperville-speedin- g-101_NA050310.article

jensad

That "driver" should have been booked in jail and not collect $ 200 when he passed go. I.e In Ca, this would look like reckless driving.

Glad no one was hurt or killed.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad

xrunner2

Rush hour traffic on I90 today and it was raining medium intensity. Of course lots of spray from semis in right, traffic going 55-65. As usual, a certain amount of inconsiderate and dangerous drivers not having their headlights (and of course taillignts) on. I have observed this on interstates, local rural highways, in suburban areas. Without having a willing wife to record data and make legitimate study, it appears to me (seat of pants) that on a percent basis, majority of offenders are driving American branded vehicles. Hopefully, auto/vehicle makers will make standard on all vehicles that headlights/taillights come on "automatically" when windsheild wipers are operating.

euphonium

That little feature should have been standard before the "autopark" was introduced. :confuse:

the_big_al

That little feature should turn the headlights on every time the ignition is turned over. Some might say it'll burn out bulbs faster, but I have yet to replace a bulb on my Impala that has DRL's running all the time and it's over 5 years old... my S-10 hasn't had a headlight go out in several years either. With the intensity that these bulbs burn at, I would imagine that a lower intensity bulb like a taillight or park like could last MUCH longer... negating the argument that having the lights on all the time will shorten bulb life.

imidazol97

The GM's DRLs run at about half current, so the wear on the filament is negligible.

On my 98 the DRLs are on when the wipers are on.

On my 03 the rain-sensing wipers keep the low beams or high beams on even when there's no wiping due to moisture--so it's overkill.

But wipers on should turn the regular headlights on automatically.

jlflemmons

Our 2010 Hyundai Tucson has an "auto" setting that turns on the lights anytime amibient light is dimming. My 2010 Elantra Touring just lets you leave the headlights on. When you turn off the car, the lights all turn off about 30 seconds later.

Bulbs are cheap. Cars and hospitals, and doctors are not.

the_big_al

I don't know why some people complain about and auto light feature. This is one technological feature that I love. I would have this over a keyless start. I have autolamps on all 3 vehicles and have to rarely manually turn on the lights. Only sometimes on bright cloudy days when it's raining and the reflected light bouncing around the clouds keeps the lamps from turning on.

fintail

How to Drive Safely

xrunner2

Where the heck is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? What advice do they have for drivers using sell phones? Well, have to take my afternoon coffee BRAKE now.

fintail

It's from Pakistan. I think a lot of people here could take some of that advice. Nothing like seeing morons brake for a gentle turn on an interstate.

elias

that link/page about driving the Pashtun/Pakistan province was fantastic - one of the best I've ever read. It was accurate, humorous, concise, considerate, and applicable to local drivers here in USA too.

jlflemmons

Near my house is a very odd intersection. A 3 lane northbound feeder intersects a 4 lane, bi-directional roadway. Just at the intersection, there is a railway running parallel to the the 4 lane. On the opposite side of the railway is a two lane bi-directional road. I know, really confusing, but cannot figure out how to draw it for you.

Anyway, there are signs clearly posted on the 3 lane, one way northbound feeder instructing drivers to not block the 2 lane bi-directional road when waiting for a train or for the light to change at the 4 lane road on the other side of the tracks. For the most part, drivers do this so that cross traffic can get across the feeder.

Then, there's the airheads who will pull up and stop right in the middle of the intersection and block the cross traffic.

Yesterday I was running an errand and was on the 2 lane cross street when the light went red for the 3 lane feeder. After three cars filled the lanes to the left of the intersection, the drivers in the far and near lanes both stopped short of the intersection, leaving the cross traffic lanes open. But not the airhead in the middle lane. Even though she had room to go across and leave the intersection open, she stopped right square in the middle with a good 25 feet in front of her, more than enough room to pull forward and give the cross traffic right of way.

I couldn't resist. She was staring straight ahead, oblivious to everything around her. So I very, very slowly rolled forward until my front bumper was about three feet from her door. She still was off in never-never land....

so I blew the horn. :shades:

She moved. Probably had to clean her pants, too, but maybe next time she will pay attention to the signs, the other drivers, and show some common sense.

oregonboy

I hope that you have a nice, LOUD horn.

fintail

Fun had yesterday...all while in the fintail. First winner: old man in a late W211 E350 pulls out from a driveway right in front of me, 35mph road, no cars behind me for at least half a mile. A few blocks later he turns left, and IMO does it intentionally slow to irk me as I got close to his bumper. I hope next time he pulls out in front of a speeding dump truck and never drives again. Second winner: alikely "new" resident in a Sienna who didn't take his turn at a 4 way stop. My turn came, I turned left in front of him, he lurched out, I tooted my horn (not a long honk, just a beep to alert him I was taking my right of way), and he honked back. So I honked again, and he starts screaming at me. It's good we allow anyone who can fog a mirror to drive. Third winner: Old man in an immaculate 84-86 Caravan, pulls out from a parking lot directly in front of me as I am going about 40 in a 35 - which irked me even more as it was uphill, so I had to work to get to that speed. No cars behind me for the entire line of sight, a good 5-6 blocks at least. I slammed on my brakes, and then just passed him. Within a minute he was so far behind me I could barely see him - he was literally going 10-15mph. The world dumbs down a little more every day.

ponderpoint

I am ecstatic to report for the first time in my entire life and the amount of times I have uttered the phrase "Where's a cop when you need one" was finally answered the other day!

The sacred and treasured drive home from work is usually enjoyable.... Usually. I got off the interstate and joined a county route for the last segment of my drive home. Coming down off a hill and into a straightaway I viewed a dark green Jeep closing at an alarming rate towards me at speed obviously not prudent and illegal.

They appeared to be young adult males, possibly teenagers and proceeded to tailgate and menace me, frustrated because they couldn't pass because of oncoming vehicles. Another vehicle behind them closed in at a high rate of speed also and I thought; "Oh, just great - another car with teenagers and they appear to be road racing or something...."

The second car was not more teenagers and in a wonderful "Christmas gift" display - lit up like a Christmas tree!

jensad

Once in a while, I would be making a stop on a speeder, ie. 90 + and people would slow down and wave, smile, and/or say thanks for stopping and citing this scoflaw.

I appreciated catching these 90 + and above since I had discovered many of them were professional speeders. I.e. they do it all the time, every day, and many times in the slow land so they could observe any cops coming up in the far left land. Oh, they also knew the shift changes and were speeding about 30 minutes prior to the shift change as they knew we were short handed at that time.

Hey good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad