Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

fintail

Can't stand Harley riders, the domain of the weekend rebel without a clue in these parts, who drives a beige Camry or useless bloated SUV during the workweek as he toils away for the man. Like the t-shirt says, if loud pipes save lives, imagine what learning to ride that thing would do.

jensad

Well if the turkeys had hit the bikers I guess it would be justice as all of a feather, stick together.

The week end riders are usually out of touch with some drivers. We had several drivers run over these week-enders pain in the back side. I was trained on the old 74 Harley and later owned and rode a 850 Suzuki to get around. I found many drivers loved to swerve to get me to do something other than driver in my lane.

I got knock off my motor at the BART station by a air head driver who just kept coming. I sat for my finals at law school the next three days with a cast on my right arm. But that is part of riding (and taking finals too). But my wife made me get rid of my motor, and it was a good thing too.

I think if I was driving on these scenic roads in Oregon I would have gobbled up all the beauty of Crater and the ocean highway as I could and enjoyed the beauty in the North West. Oregon is a beautiful state.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad :shades:

lumbarpain

I live in Northeastern NJ. small town...lousey inconsiderate drivers. some may be illegally here too....I think the word STOP is going to be written in 5 different languages in the near future here and for the Red lights? HA......what can you do... red is red.. yellow yellow and green green.......well.......maybe not in other countries.

stever

Or if you're color blind. And sometimes the lights are in a row across, instead of up and down. Gets confusing.

fintail

I'd love to have a bike, but not in this area. Too dangerous, so many oblivious drivers. Local (city) LEOs use BMWs, which seems odd to me.

Typical Seattle area Harley rider:



Very inconsiderate when my insurance premiums will go to future skin grafts.

Today while out in the old car I passed an old Protege on a 2 lane residential street because it was going about half the limit and weaving all over the place...I will just say "new resident" driver.

euphonium

Early Sunday morning in Cathlamet some Bikers entered Jims Cafe & noticed a logger eating his breakfast. He turned out to be the target of their taunting & making off colored jokes about how tough the loggers are. One of them picked up a piece of toast, dunked it into the egg and wiped it on the loggers face. Knowing it would be dumb to get into a fight with them, he calmly got up, wiped his face, paid his bill and left. Moments later a very heavy loaded log truck drove through all the bikes & continued on up the hill towards the mill. Stranded bikers never could find out who the guy was. A week later, an independent insurance adjuster couldn't get any information either. This happened in the '70's after a National TT Race in Castle Rock. Bikers are bikers. :P

stever

That sounds like an old joke I've heard a few times over the years. The tag line being "that logger wasn't much of a man, was he? At which point the barkeep says nope, not much of a driver either. He just backed over a bunch of Harleys".

Ah yes, Snopes has it.

snakeweasel

I think it was also in one of the "Smoky and the Bandit" movies.

snakeweasel

OK we went to Lost Wages and then to Arizona last week and saw a few things.

1.) I noticed way to many people making a right turn on red and/or pulling out into traffic way to late almost causing accidents. Almost all of them had California plates.

2.) On state Highway 64 in Arizona heading to the Grand Canyon I got behind a Prius driver who obviously didn't know how o maximize fuel economy. This guy would speed up get well ahead of me then slow down. I was using cruise control so I know that it wasn't me and when he slowed down and I caught up with him I had to slow down too. He must have varied his speed 20-25 MPH each time. This happened three or four times until I was behind him at a point where we had a passing lane and I blew by him. The guy tried to keep me from passing by speeding up but failed. After I got in front of him and resumed my speed he just fell further and further behind.

3.) Heading to the Petrified Forest going down a desert road that is pretty straight and flat with very, very few cars some yahoo comes up fast behind me. So with long flat streches of road with just about zero oncoming traffic you would think he would simply pass me. Nope just rides my rear end for 20 miles.

fintail

Something funny I remember from yesterday - ancient Civil War vet aged man in a Town Car driving up a hill (with his 70 year old granddaughter I think)...rode his brakes 100% of the time while going *up* a hill. He was going slow, but not terribly slow...so maybe it was a malfunctioning brake light switch or something. But maybe not.

re: people pulling into traffic with no room, causing the vehicle on the road with the right of way to brake or swerve...its a disease in these parts, maybe due to the California massimmigration. I wonder what happens when a fintail t-bones a 10 year old Civic at 40mph...hot knife through butter...

hammerhead

Fin: I'll be invading your neck of the woods the next couple days... SeaTac, Burien, Normandy Park areas. I promise I won't be inconsiderate. Get there before PM drive time Tuesday, out before noon Wednesday. You won't even notice me.

:shades:

tallman1

This guy would speed up get well ahead of me then slow down.

The Prius driver may have been using a hypermiling technique to get better mileage. The idea is to speed up and then coast. Do a google search on Pulse and Glide.

euphonium

Sorry Steve, but I spoke with the independent insurance adjuster assigned to the claim by Mission Ins. Co. at the time. He couldn't find anyone to give him a statement. All he had to go on was the loss report filed by one of the bikers.

snakeweasel

Speeding up and then slowing down the way he was wasn't hypermiling, especially when he gunned it when I tried to pass.

fintail

I'm a little north and east of there (which if anything seems to make drivers more oblivious, maybe due to a few demographic issues) so no worries

jensad

These two souls on the m/c are partially brain dead. They got their head covered however, the rest of the body is without protection ergo, slide on asphalt for 50-100 ft. and then pass Go and go directly the the hospital. And those were the kind of t/cs I hated to investigate as they usually had a dead rider on the back.

I hope the two riders stayed safe and had a beautiful ride on an sunny day.

What probably saved my life fintail was the fact that at the CHP Academy in those days, I was trained on the old 74s and when I got hit in that parking lot, I was able to dump the bike and get off w/o any major injuries except my ego and a broken wrist when I slaped the cement, (unconscious reaction to my training in the marital arts)!!

Good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad :shades:

fintail

I suspect they were heading to the HD dealer, which was a couple blocks up the road where they were heading. That's also something that might be local...the dealership as some kind of hangout. At least they'd just be cruising along at no more than ~35mph. The crazy irresponsible sportbikers are an easy target, but these older riders can be just as bad. Maybe I don't get it...I never cared for lame 70s era biker gang movies :shades:

Fortunately, I haven't seen any local LEOs in motorcycle crashes, but others bite the dust here with alarming regularity.

xrunner2

At least they have helmets on. From about May through Sept I see these kind of riders in our area on weekends. When a passenger on board, usually a young woman and without a helmet and with bare shoulders, shorts, sneakers. I say that all high schools in US should have mandatory safety lessons for females on proper attire to ride on motorcycles. This can be part of their phys ed program, gym classes. Maybe show clips, pictures of those who crashed and consequences.

xwesx

That's fair game, and it's hunting season!

stever

Oops, I messed up.

Euphonium, you replied to a spammer (we delete posts with gratuitous links in them).

My aim was off - I deleted your post at first instead of the spam one, and didn't make a copy. Sorry! :sick:

euphonium

That's O K.

fezo

Or if you're color blind. And sometimes the lights are in a row across, instead of up and down. Gets confusing.

When I was a kid the traffic lights in Atlantic City were every which way but normal - square, sideways and - the best - upside down!

tallman1

My aim was off

Better let your wife drive when it is time to move on to the next destination... no telling where you might head.

fintail

Today's winner...older man in a refrigerator white Sonata who got into a turn lane, slowed way down...and then changed his mind and veered back into the straight lane, no matter that traffic was whizzing by 30+mph. This was only a couple cars in front of me and I might have been hit by the shrapnel if there was a tangle.

stever

Better let your wife drive

We decided to keep both cars so we shuttled them to a relative's house a couple of states away. I used the one nav/gps gizmo we have ... and still followed her the whole way. :shades:

fintail

Today I drove for a few miles behind a brand new unplated base model Accord, in white. It turned several times, never used its signal once.

On Saturday I was at work - my office overlooks a major highway, and I heard a lot of noise outside. I assumed it had to do with the construction of a building nearby. I looked outside about 10 minutes later and saw an Escalade on its roof, no other cars involved. It even lost 2 wheels in the chaos. I'd bet a phone was involved. From what I can tell, no serious injuries.

fintail

A nice combination of inconsiderate distracted driving and public sector union competence

euphonium

"TriMet officials said Qouchbane had his Oregon license suspended for traffic violations in his personal car but that didn't have any impact on his commercial license.

Why the Hell not TriMet. What are the personal driving records of all your drivers?

fintail

Had the misfortune of driving near the airport yesterday...saw an old couple in a rented Sonata stop and back up an exit ramp to get onto another road. That created a nice backup. Second place goes to a woman covered in traditional garb going maybe 45 in the middle of I-90 as traffic whizzed by on both sides. God bless America :shades:

I was also shocked at the general lack of speed on the roads - and this is usually a slow area anyway. Cruising at 62 in a 60 would have me passing 98% of vehicles. The passenger in my car, back from some time in Florida, thought it was both hilarious and horrifying.

tjc78

Today on the way home in the rain, a new Venza decides to pull right out of a side street in front of me. Thank God for Anti-Lock, slammed down on the pedal and moved over to the right a touch to avoid hitting his rear quarter panel, only missed him by a foot or so. Don't people look anymore before they turn?

snakeweasel

Don't people look anymore before they turn?

Certainly not FedEx drivers as one did the exact same thing to me today, not even coming to a complete stop at the stop sign.

imidazol97

Going about 25 mph on I75 in Dayton..., two large box moving trucks maybe 20 feet each? The first one was towing the rear one with a solid bar; there was no driver in the second truck. The front truck had a Mitsubishi three point emble on the hood.

The rear trucvk had the pulldown door up. Hanging out the rear a few feet was the bed of a Nissan pickup truck. There appeared to be something in the front of the box so the Nissan couldn't completely be put inside.

Oh, the first truck had a Honda that was almost all the way into its box.

And the driver was on the cell phone.

Approx 25 mph.

fintail

Happens to me all the time, especially when driving the fintail...somehow that odd looking old car with all of its chrome and unusual color is invisible to the dumbed down sheeple pulling out from side streets. The under 30 female crowd is especially unable to see it.

Saw two cars run red lights ...one of them a street racing DSM dope that you'd expect it from, but the other was a big tow truck. These weren't changing lights either, but fully red for some time lights.

fintail

And no cops for 20 miles no doubt...

imidazol97

No cops: City of Dayton: All at the donut stands or talking to the prositutes in the alleys. But Dayton has redlight cameras and soon radar speed cameras so everything is safe everywhere. They don't need to actually patrol the major interstate construction with a 45 mph speed limit and cars going through at 70 over wavy temporary pavement lanes...grin.

This truck duo was at the edge of smooth interstate in Dayton and Moraine City.
Moraine City: Their cops are only out to run radar occasionally on this urban interstate strip bordering Dayton City.

fintail

Kind of like here...they are busy speedtrapping at the bottom of hills or harassing 14 year old skateboarders while huge dumptrucks and trailers speed down residential streets at 40mph. Of course, the building industry probably pays for selective enforcement.

Cameras are lazy law enforcement. It's money, nothing else.

the_big_al

The freeway stretch of I-5 I travel a lot is erratic like that. It's about a 20 miles stretch and some days I'll be traveling my usual 73ish (SL is 65) and be getting passed by several vehicles. It's like I'm the slowest monkey on the road. This includes trucks pulling trailers (not semis).

Other days I'll be traveling my usual and I feel like I'm a speed demon. So I'll back off a bit to around 68ish and still be speeding past the majority of cars. One day I decided to test and see how fast people were going. So I slowed up so that I was "going with the flow". It wasn't really the flow so to speak as I wasn't munching anyone's bumper nor having to weave in and out, but miraculously everyone that was slow was in the right lane. These cars and they were not your rattle-trap rust buckets were barely doing 55. The truckers speed limit. Even the truckers were having to pass them. Road conditons were good, visibility good, weather was good and there was no reason that I could see that these cars should be going so slow other than "I don't think I'm going to go the speed limit today"... I couldn't even see a speed trap, nor did I witness anyone pulled over, and I didn't get pulled over doing my 70ish (once I gave up trying to figure out the deal)... so I knew I wasn't doing anything egregious....

the_big_al

Nope ... and this is what happens...

See more Car Pictures at CarSpace.com

This was a couple weeks ago... Lady decided I was a phantom vehicle and turned left in front of me... Unfortunately I couldn't stop in time.

tjc78

Ouch! I have an S10 like that too (99). I guess that was a total loss, hope you are OK.

fintail

I love seeing trailer pullers (especially boats) going 75+ on 405, can be found north of 520 almost every Sunday, no matter the weather.

The slowness seems to really be a western WA disease...I encounter it a lot, especially in more built up areas where city dwellers who rarely venture onto the highway decide they want to come out and play.Merge onto an interstate at 35 and then go 50 in a 60. Incredible. No speed traps, no bad weather, no obstructions at all, just oblivion. I'll be heading east of the mountains for several days in a couple weeks...I can't wait for the empty smooth roads and clear weather.

I hope you weren't injured in that crash (can't call the idiot who cause it an accident) and that you got a fair settlement.

the_big_al

No injuries... settlement fair. Actually if it plays out right, I called on another S-10 for sale in my neighborhood for just $1000 more than what I am receiving. Same year, same trim level and has 1/3 of the miles. It just depends on if that S-10 has the V6 or the 4-banger. I won't do the 4-banger. It's a gutless wonder that can't even get out of it's own way.

fintail

I hope it works out for you.

I always wonder what I'd do if my car was claimed by an idiot and I had a nice settlement check in my hand...if I'd just buy an old car and keep the change, or buy something fancier with a big down payment.

snakeweasel

Well if it were me it would be either from the Saturn which isn't worth much so no big down payment, or the Sebring in which case I would use the insurance money to hide from my wife who would blame me for destroying her dream car no matter who was at fault.

xwesx

Hahahahah!

Somehow, I don't think that money would last very long. I could set up my tent in the forest behind my house. You could come up and hide out there on the cheap for quite some time, or at least until the winter drove you out! She'd never find you!

euphonium

The speed limit is 60 maximum and you're not to be in the HOV lane, the 3rd inside lane & the motor homes with a toad are the worst offenders. :confuse:

andre1969

but give him time...

I ran out for lunch, and since I was in the area, did my weekly beer run. There was an old guy in a Ford Ranger pickup in the parking lot. I parked next to him, didn't really pay him much mind. He looked like he was reading something that he was holding up in front of him.

Well, when I come out of the liquor store he's still there, still reading. Then I happen to notice that he's lifting a Coors Light up to his mouth to take a sip!

I KNEW this would happen the second they started letting that stuff east of Texarkana!! :P

snakeweasel

Then I happen to notice that he's lifting a Coors Light up to his mouth to take a sip!

Well at least he is not drinking beer. :P

euphonium

After a day of skiing, a Canadian Kokanee at Merlin's, Blackcomb is the best.

And everybody up there is always very considerate.

fintail

When you get out of Van, anyway

Today's winner - douchey middle aged guy in a new looking Boxster weaving in and out of evening commute traffic. He mustn't have been from around here where it is often impossible to beat the negligently sequenced traffic controls...try as he might, he could never gain more than a car length or so by the next light, no matter how he revved and weaved. Midlife crisis in action.

fintail

And another today. This jerk was in a big 2500 series looking Dodge 4x4 diesel, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, revving his engine. Couldn't get anywhere as the lights were even worse than usual today (I caught every single red on the way home this afternoon)...it was pretty lame. Really, I have nothing but ire for both the truck driver and the overpaid suck "engineers" who are in charge of traffic controls.