Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

xwesx

The other thing that is very similar is when drivers will go slow on a two lane highway until they reach a passing lane. Then they speed up... until the passing lane ends. Then it is back to slow again.

That is the one that bugs me the most, probably because the vast majority of roadways on which I travel are of this type. In particular, I think I recounted a situation that involved this a few years back when hauling a 35' trailer down to Oregon.

In general, I tend to employ fintail's technique with those drivers - I just make a point to pass them anyway. If they keep driving fast in the double-lane area (which they often do not unless others are passing them as well), I am just sure to keep my speed up until the passing lane ends. After that, I resume the speed I wanted to drive originally and the pokey driver usually falls far behind over the next several miles.

I think it is just a space = comfort mentality. You can post a speed limit of 25 in a residential district, but if the road is wide and open, people will fly along at 40-50. Take that same road, shave off the shoulders, and line it with trees, and those same drivers will drive 20. Regardless of speed, you and I both know they would hit a child if one ran out in front of them because they are not paying attention... they're just using their auto-pilot presets. :P

euphonium

Those same drivers slow down when entering a tunnel or a heavyly girded bridge.

snakeweasel

What I really hate is those clowns that come up behind you somewhat slowly then tailgate you. Then when they do pass they just sit in front of you doing the same speed you are.

euphonium

They pass you so they don't have to read your Obama sticker. :mad:

jensad

I agree with xwesx as to the discourteous drivers hogging the roadway. What really gets me going is in addition to the arrogance and control of the road that these irritating drivers, many of them are distracted even more by talking on their cell phone.

I almost forgot, the "death grip drivers" tend to operate out of fear and will try to control the ENTIRE freeway as happened to my wife and I as we tried to get by this male driver on I 5 at 35-40 mph in the left lane of a two lane freeway!

I think many of us here would rather have a courteous driver yield to us and allow us to pass/drive w/o their interference with us.

Oh I don't remember the exact figures, but in Ca, there are millions of drivers on the roadway w/o driver's licenses, underage/legally blind/revoked licenses/fill in here. And I am not kidding as to the millions. When I retired in 1980, the stats said about 3 million or more and they got to be more today.

One thing I noticed when my wife and I were visiting our son in Illinois was coming from OHare driving to Rockford, I observed many more troopers in that small space than I would note in Ca. during my entire trip to LA. I'll count the troopers again this Sept when we fly back to see the family and I'll bet there are still many more than here in Ca.

Good luck to all and stay safe this 4th July period.

jensad

Good luck to all and stay safe.

snakeweasel

If my car had an Obama sticker on it I would crush it into a solid block and drop it in the ocean.

imidazol97

I notice about 3/4ths of the cars with those stickers have taken them off. I think that means something that so many have disappeared already.

oregonboy

I'll bet that I can get an Obama sticker. Where do you park your car when it's not in the garage? Let's test the strength of your disdain for our president.

It amazes me how many people express their dislike for Obama on these forums. It must have something to do with his automotive preferences, since this is a car discussion forum.

snakeweasel

If you think I have a dislike for our current POTUS you should see what I think about all the governors my state has had.

fintail

It is pretty inconsiderate to leave political stickers on after the election, just for the high amount of lameness...visual pollution.

I'd like to get a Nissan Rogue and put a Palin sticker on it...she's about as rogue as a Rogue :shades:

the_big_al

way back in the day when Clinton was in office and the fiasco that involved certain interns, the company I worked for just happened to be a label printer. Of the many varied products they could produce, bumper stickers was one of their high profit low cost items.

One customer ordered up a whole bunch of "Impeach Clinton" bumper stickers... During the setup process, somehow a larger than usual number of set-up stickers were produced. There is always a small amount of setup printing involved to check ink quality, offsets, color matching etc, etc, but this was a plain white sticker with black lettering. Nothing fancy. I, as did a few other people, ended up with a stack of several hundred and a couple made it onto my vehicle and various others of my friends. These stickers floated around for months it seems... I never removed mine from the tailgate of my truck. I often wonder if it's still out there... :shades:

snakeweasel

...and barely missed getting in an accident.

OK here is the story, I was stopped at a red light and I was talking to the passenger not really paying much attention. The light turned green but I didn't notice it at first. When I first noticed my light was green I started to go through when some clown on the cross street ran the red light. :sick:

The chances would have been good that we would have gotten into a accident if I went when the light changed.

xwesx

Jeez; how often does it work out so well?! Did you thank your passenger for the distraction? :P

All joking aside, I am glad you are okay.

stever

I almost ran a 4 way stop sign yesterday, going about 25 mph here in Taos, where we're house-sitting for a while. My wife saw it and let me know just in time. The two other drivers must have been used to tourists - they didn't even blink as I came to a halt about 10 feet into the intersection.

Speed limits seemed a bit low here at first but the roads are mostly narrow two lanes. 55 and 60 seem fine now that I'm used to it a bit. And I've noticed more cops that I see in Idaho.

I was approaching an intersection a mile away with some increased side road traffic this afternoon and as I was gradually slowing to the marked 45 mph speed limit, I was passed by a Texan still going 60. Late for his spa appointment, I'm sure.

Oh, driving down last week south of Salt Lake City on the interstate, 3 lanes had to merge in a construction zone because of emergency vehicles coming up behind us in the left lane, including a large fire truck. So everyone slowed and moved over and the ambulances and trucks got beyond us. Congestion was heavy - what was amazing was that as we approached the one car rollover on the median, everyone sped up. I still can't believe that no one braked or slowed to rubberneck the injury accident.

tankbeans

I wouldn't put a political sticker of any sort on any car that I drive. It just turns your car into a target for those who feel it's their duty to set you straight on who you should vote for. Why bother?

I would, however, place the famous quote by Mark Twain on my car. "Politicians and diapers should be changed often. And for the same reason." That seems to fit the most.

andre1969

The other day, I had gone out for lunch, and on the way back to work, the road was partially blocked by rescue equipment. When I got closer, I saw what was going on. A fairly new F-150 had left the road and impaled itself on a sign that said "The Aerospace Building". The sign was bent back slightly, and the truck looked like it wasn't too horribly mangled, but still probably totaled. FWIW, the speed limit on this road is 45 mph, but people often go much faster than that. And there are a few side entrances, traffic lights, etc. I'm guessing that someone pulled out in front of this truck and the driver swerved to avoid hitting them. Hopped the curb, and traveled a good 100 feet to hit that sign!

On the way home on Thursday, near the same spot but different side of the road, a couple police cars had the right lane partially blocked and there werre cops standing around. As I got closer, I could see that they had boxed in a small herd of 5 or 6 goats, and were trying to keep them out of the road!

imidazol97

Took a day and made a trek to the neighborhood IKEA Friday. We still have the 3 lane narrowed I-75 for about 10 miles between Dayton and Cincinnati, Four State Patrol cars were helping remind the locals who push, shove, and speed their way through at 70 that the speed limit is 55. The travelers were really heavy on the road too. I wonder what that ticket costs, because the fines are doubled in the construction areas.

Idiot award goes to the older small foreign car like an 80s Datsun or toyota, with two small motorcycles strapped on the back with bungie (spelling?) cords. There may have been other stuff on the outside top of the trunk with the scooters. AND the car had Florida plates. I was tempted to call the State Patrol to have them check that car for safety, but I didn't. Those small cycles were going to break those cords after several miles of bumps and shifts, resulting in the scooters falling off. I'd like to know how far they got before they lost the cycles.

jensad

"I am glad you are okay". Me tool. Things like that are scary and things seem to work out the way they are supposed to.

To all have a peaceful and sparkley 4th. God bless.

jensad

lostwrench1

I was sitting in my car in a shopping center waiting for a friend to return from one of the stores when a lady parked beside me. In her attempt to remove her lacking in proper diet and exercise body from her car she banged her door into mine. As she continued to try to get out of her car she again banged her door into mine. I sounded my horn. She replied with "Oh quiet buddy, my car is newer than yours".

andre1969

Ouch! I hope she didn't do any damage to your car! If that was me, and she had, let's just say I would be getting her license and insurance information, and if she refused, I'd be detaining the be-atch until the police arrived.

fintail

If that happened to me, she'd be picking up her teeth off the pavement...or if I was in the old beast, I'd just return the door bashing in kind...and in that car, I'm gonna win :shades:

Yesterday I laid on the horn because a greybeard boomer in a jacked up diesel truck with his woman and dog (hard to tell them apart) in the front seat turned off a busy 35mph road at about 2mph, causing sharp and dangerous slowing. He had his window down, and shook his fist at me. How dare I ask him to drive like an actual person. These 60 year olds are going to be scarier than hell in about 20 more years. Present company excluded of course.

imidazol97

>Present company excluded of course.

!!!!!!!!!! :P

jwilliams2

Probably the same kind of driver that dawdles away from stoplights...causing 4 or 5 others to miss the light. Some people just don't pay attention, or do things they think are "cautious" that cause problems for others.

Would like to have a rocket launcher to wake some of these people up! And those clowns who during stop and go traffic feel the need to jump over into an entrance ramp, charge ahead, then cut back in all to pass a couple of cars. Morons.

the_big_al

the stoplight dawdling really gets to me. Actually, anything that takes away from the act of actually driving the car really gets to me, but I won't go into that.. Today on my way home I had to go through 3 lights. They aren't timed, but that really isn't a big deal as they don't need to be. The only one that changes regularly is the the light at the intersection to the middle of town on one side and the big fat wal-fart (wal-mart) on the other. The other 2 change as needed when cars pull up to the light from the crossroads. (That is another in-of-itself is an ill thought plan but I digress...)

Anyway, I managed to hit all 3 lights today. At each one was a stack of cars. There is a good half mile between each light and at least 3/4 between the 2nd and 3rd light. The speed limit is 55 the entire stretch. I don't think I got above 45. Not once before having to slow down for the light. The light would change and I traffic just SLOWLY, pulled away from the light like it was a Sunday afternoon or something. Eventually we all reached 40ish some odd miles an hour... oh then it was time to slow down for the light... 300 yards away.

bwright1970

I do see motorcycles driving down the shoulder, center line, etc.

I respect a motorcyclist like any other motorist, but only see few older guys usually on Harleys who respect and drive the way they are suppose to.

These young 20 somethings on crotch rockets play chicken and act irresponsibly. Then when they get maimed or wreck it's always the car drivers fault.

Like if a Rottweiler bites a chihuahua when the little dog instigates. The bigger is always blamed :P

Start seeing pedestrians. 87th Harlem plaza has speed bumps but people esp in SUVs try to run us down

bwright1970

These lights are timed but why don't the ones on side streets change regularly?
Its like they are stuck. I sit there over 10 minutes nothing coming light stays red.

78th Ave Bridgeview is good for that as well as 111th/Roberts Palos Hills. 111th Roberts has red light cam also.

If they are going to install these invasive cams, regularly maintain these lights to make sure they are timed right

euphonium

To Dumpy:"And your car is lighter when you get out of it too." :mad:

fintail

The greybeard I saw the other day riding a gigantic wide-whitewalled Harley Fleetwood Brougham D'Elegance wearing no gear other than a lame pseudo German helmet - he was even wearing jean shorts - might take some of the irresponsibility from the youngins. That generation of rider seems to meet an unfortunate end all too often when the sun comes out around here.

fintail

That would require responsibility and accountability on the part of public sector traffic planners - good luck finding that.

fintail

In the city where I live, those who go too slow from a light aren't a huge issue...although those who wait 5 seconds to go from the time the car in front of them starts moving can be an issue. This is especially a problem among "new resident" drivers, which proves the poorness of our driving license standards. But slow turners...seems to be a universal disease.

xwesx

Come on, fin, have a little patience. It takes a good five seconds to wrap up that last text message! :P

fintail

I swear 3 out of 10 vehicles I saw driving today had phone yappers - and this is after the state has made it a primary offense.

xwesx

That sounds pretty good to me! I would guess that every other car's driver around here is on the phone. Most of them do okay with it, other than the lack of turn signals. :mad:

tankbeans

How about meandering back and forth across lanes and frequent speed changes? I see that up in MN all the time. Makes me wish I had a large, old SUV so that I could do a brake check in front of a cell phone yapper in their Escalade (but that would make me the inconsiderate driver.)

jensad

It sounds like the driver that changes lanes and speeds up and then slows down maybe are intoxicated, poor eyesight and/or fear of driving on this kind of roadway. If you ever get a chance and pass them, see if their hands are BOTH on the steering wheel and are they looking straight ahead and not to the sides.

When I see that I speed up and stay ahead and/r stay back and hope the get off the freeway as they MAY cause an accident and not be in the accident they just caused.

Of all of the above, fear I think dominates many of the "bad drivers" out there.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad

euphonium

The cocky over confident crotch rocket driver is to be avoided as well.

fintail

I call that the "death grip"...holding the wheel so tight they probably bend it. Good idea to get around those when possible. Usually going slow, so it's not a big problem

Young crotch rocket riders and their fathers on Nimitz-class Harleys are both best avoided, IMO.

I see in my area the stupid "85% of drivers" "thought speed limit doesn't apply to them" pseudo-traffic safety ad is back on the air...such ignorant alarmism...if I could meet the person who made that ad, I'd punch them in the mouth...and my tax money gets to pay for it :sick:

bronsonb

Well, I finally got revenge on a rude driver. The incident happened at a four way stop that's right in front of our home. Our house faces a pleasant two-lane residential road that sees its fair share of traffic during the busy times of the day. The entrance to our neighborhood is right next to our house off of this road, and although our home has a mailing address on the two-lane road road, our mailbox is on the street in the neighborhood since we're a corner lot.

The intersection in front of our home is a four way stop with one road going off at an odd angle, so it's imperative that you know who is "next in line" as you proceed so you don't cut someone off.

As I leave the neighborhood, I always make it a point to come to a full and complete stop at this intersection and make sure it's clear before I proceed. Oftentimes, one car will not have cleared the intersection when the car behind it is already proceeding through, not even letting someone from one of the other streets have his rightful "turn."

Sure enough, a couple of weeks ago, I was leaving the neighborhood, pulled up to the stop sign, stopped and did the mental "one thousand one, one thousand two" count as another car approached from my right. I was definitely AT the intersection first. Before I could finish my two count, he passed by the stop sign, slowing down but not stopping at all.

I turned out into the street and followed him, but it was hard since he was also speeding. I was doing 35 MPH, the speed limit, and he was increasing the gap between us, so that's how I guessed he was speeding. When we got to the next intersection, I was able to snag his license plate and a description of his car.

I then turned him into our county police department using an online form for such complaints. The next day I got a call from an officer who told me they were tracking down the driver and were going to give him a call at work. They can't, of course, give him a ticket, but they CAN tell him, "You've been observed violating traffic laws at such and such location. Please be aware people are watching and drive more safely in the future." The officer just wanted me to know they take these complaints seriously and do investigate them when they are given all needed info. The officer even called back the next day to let me know he'd spoken to the driver who, of course, had no memory of the event. But the cop said I had the description of the car and driver correct so he didn't doubt I'd seen the guy.

Anyway, I bet the guy was trying to cover up, but no matter what, it must sure be sobering to get a call from a police officer like that. The cop didn't divulge my info to the driver, so I have no fear of repercussions, but I told the officer he could if need be.

I plan to try to capture tag numbers on cars more often now knowing the cops are happy to pay a visit or give a phone call where needed. I know this isn't the best solution to the problem, but since the cops can't be everywhere all the time, this is a good substitute.

oregonboy

I see that type of driving often: rolling the stop sign, because coming to a stop will then require yielding right-of-way. There are, of course varying degrees of "rolling". Some drivers are more blatant violators than most. :sick:

I believe that MOST drivers commit a minor "roll on the stop", if there is no need to wait. It is easier on the equipment (slightly), saves fuel (slightly), is more comfortable for the passengers (slightly), and usually goes unpunished. I don't think that it is necessarily a bad thing, if done with care. :shades:

imidazol97

That's a great procedure. If the cop feels you're credible, they call the perpetrator and the perp gets a wakeup call that he's been noted.

In the end that should make a few people more alert to doing the right thing at stops and speeding.

fintail

Today's winner - older man (old boomer or younger "silent generation" law and order type), Honda Ridgeline, special "Law Enforcement Memorial" license plates, moving along at maybe 45-50 in a 30, weaving in and out of traffic, bullying some to get around, nearly hitting a MDX while going around a bicyclist. I wonder if those plates would exonerate him if a local revenue collection officer pulled him over...or maybe he's an old revenuer himself. I was waiting for someone to brake check him as he tailgated, but nobody went for it. Too bad.

Runner up - "new resident" female in a Q7 making an insane U-turn on a fairly narrow street. Drivers licensing standards must be insanely low, or maybe some just buy their paperwork.

Honorable mention - accident involving a C-class and a cyclist. I only saw the aftermath...ambulance left empty, so apparently nothing serious. Knowing some of the aggressive [non-permissible content removed] cyclists in the area of the incident, I'll bet a good sum of money that the bike cut in front of the car.

Regarding calling in the scofflaws...it's good in principle, but IMO too easy to abuse unless you are tailing a suspected drunk and can point out the bad driver in action. And a good reason to have an unlisted number or no landline at all. If I got a call or a letter about an anonymous voice calling in an unspecified infraction committed by me, I'd laugh and hang up and/or put the paper in the recycle bin.

the_big_al

I often may or may not do things that may or may not be "legal" in the sense that if I were observed, I would probably be pulled over and issued a revenue collection ticket. Rarely however do I do anything unsafe or something that would create an unsafe situation such as the afore mentioned 4-way stop. It galls me to no end that there are stoplights at intersections that limit when you can turn (when along that same "busy" road there are unprotected turns that you can make when ever you please), that there are barriers to prevent one from making certain turns and that there are speed limits set so low any attempt to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time would result in a serious infraction. I am all for "law and order", but only when it increases the safety of the roads, not some arbitrarily set law in the guise of safety, but really it's for generation of revenue.

I don't need a dedicated arrow to tell me when it is safe to turn (helpful at BUSY intersections) a right turn only because it is "unsafe" to turn left so now i have to go WAY out of the way just to make that left, a speed limit that says I can only go so fast on a wide open stretch of highway, etc, etc,.....

I do however go slow in school zones, make my complete stops at 4-ways, don't speed egregiously and pass only when deemed safe to do so (often not coincided with markings on the road).I don't think I am an unsafe driver, just one who refuses to be inhibited by so called "safe laws" and those who think they actually know better. Not that I know better than they do, but I do know my limits and abilities and my vehicle's limits and abilities so I feel that I have a pretty good idea of what is safe and what is not...

elias

that is a great technique - I've been on both ends of those phone-calls.
also one can install a car-vid-camera and capture the plate #s later, and provide a video to the cops and your local TV station or bad-driver dot com web site.
"it happens!"
ps - Al sounds like you and I drive similarly... See you at the 4-way stop where we may be the only two who actually come to a complete stop, utterly baffling all the other drivers.

fintail

I drive pretty much the same. I speed much of the time - but not to a tremendous degree, and not in unsafe conditions or school zones etc...and I think my lack of accidents and tickets says something. I will also go against red lights when there is no cross traffic and no hints that I will get the green in the next few hours. I also agree that a lot of the "rules" are meant for revenue generation purposes, masquerading as safety to the lowest common denominator - which sadly is a huge share of drivers. I am similarly irked to see speed traps on wide open roads or at the bottom of hills etc, and not in actual dangerous areas...shows what it's really all about.

Taking video of every bad driver is a slippery slope - should we then have cameras every 50 feet like the Orwellian nightmare of Britain (where it is about both control issues and revenue)? And the right to confront an accuser? There's not enough server space in the world to document every idiot driver.

bronsonb

Elias - I love the camera idea! I have threatened to sit in a lawn chair by the intersection with my camcorder capturing people who completely blow through the stop signs or go through two at a time.

This is a residential area, and I have no problem with people cutting through our nice residential streets to save a few minutes. I only ask that they observe the traffic laws. We know it's bad at this intersection because we can hear the horn honking of folks who've been cut off throughout the morning and the afternoon rush hours.

At the same time, I do get frustrated when I have to wait 2 - 3 minutes at a light for it to change when there's no traffic whatsoever. I have been known to make a legal right turn on red, drive down one block, and then make a legal U-turn, proceed back to the intersection and turn right to continue on my way.

Of course, I have found that if I can find something to occupy myself at a red light, the time passes quickly. In the spring time, I'll shut the engine off on my Expedition to see if I can go 30 seconds with no engine running. It's supposed to start saving gas at that time versus idling. They key is paying attention to when the cross-traffic signal goes yellow so I can crank my car back up so I am ready to go. But there's always the fear it won't start :P

Oh well...thanks for listening!

jensad

Thks. the_big_al for the reminder regarding school zones. We have crossing people that hold their stop sign up and help the children get safely across the streets adjacent to the primary school.

In my former profession I observed drivers just keep on going and disregard the school crossing person, and the children and apparently did not see my patrol car. So they got zapped.

In retirement I have observed the wonderful crossing persons go out of their way to protect the children due to "inattentive" or irresponsible drivers that sometimes barely miss hitting the crossing people. I respect and value these crossing people.

Thks the_big_al for bringing that up as it it to me, an important reminder of caring for our children.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad

stever

That reminds me of a construction zone we went through a few days ago. There were warning flags a mile ahead on a two lane highway and it was high desert so you could see the start of the construction a good ways off.

We were the first car in line since we missed the pilot car by a few minutes. As we got close to the first "slow down" flagger, she held out a red flag and pointed it to the left lane. So I moved over. The "stop" flagger waved me back over. I commented to her that the other flagger's signal was confusing.

So a few minutes go by and there's now about 10 cars behind us, and we can see the pilot car approaching. All of a sudden the flagger stops chit-chatting with us, steps out into the left lane a bit and starts waving her stop sign emphatically. Sure enough, someone coming up got "diverted" to the left lane, passed all of us stopped cars and was heading for a head-on with the pilot car when the flagger reeled them in and made them cut in front of us and stop.

Good trick to get to the head of the line I suppose.

fintail

The moronic WA state traffic safety "slow down or pay up" ad is back on, the one stating 85% of crashes are because of going too fast for conditions, while showing an old TL going around a yellow signed corner at maybe 35mph on a sunny day and randomly crashing. Who makes this garbage,and why are they allowed to burn tax dollars? Good enough for government work. Let's not go after the actual dangers out there.

Today while on a deserted 35mph road I had a dirty 3-series pull out from a side road right in front of me, line of sight good for at least half a mile and nobody behind me. When I went around them at an intersection ahead, they got to hear my horn...if I only owned an Uzi :shades:

xwesx

Hey, Steve.... glad to hear the flagger was able to reel the person in and nobody was injured!

I just returned from my annual fishing trip on the Kasilof River... and actually did not come across any notable roadway lunatics! That says a lot, you know, given summer traffic on the Seward Highway! As for the people at the beach itself, well, best not to discuss that on this forum. :P

Although, the guy in the jacked-up, big-tired F250 that decided to go onto the soft sand of the beach pulling is 20' RV trailer was pretty hilarious.... That fella was a special breed of stupid.

stever

lol, that's hilarious. Too bad he wasn't below the high tide mark. :-)

Are they still using those big honking John Deere 4x4 tractors to launch boats down there? That may have been Clam Gulch or a bit further south.