Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

dougd7

"Are you refering to those Charles County, MD rednecks. ?"

Oh heck yeah! I can understand the out of area drivers (NJ, NY, CT, etc) but the locals like to drive at 55-60 at exactly the same speed or slightly faster than those in the left lane. If you dart into the right lane to try to get around no one will let you back over so those that want to go faster (65-70) line up behind the LLC as the try to wait patiently for him to pass the driver in the right lane. It just seems to have gotten worse over the past few weeks. Summer, maybe?

 "These are the same ones who when stopped at a red light, wait 15-20 seconds before moving when the light turns green.
  If green lights are a problem for them, why would you think those Chuckites would know what lane to be in ?"

Maybe I am expecting too much. On the other hand there has been a fair amount of commercial buildup between Waldorf and La Plata. I believe they have added at least 2 -3 new signals with at least one more about to go online. And of course the Waldorf residents rejected a bypass. It's steadily getting worse.

As to terrified drivers - haven't seen many around here(southern MD, northern neck of VA). More like oblivious to what is going on around them.

pat84

Of course synchronizing those stop lights for through traffic on 301 through Waldorf and LaPlata is out of the question.
"What's synchro-whatever you said" - Charles County resident

For those of you unfamiliar with the roads, I-301 goes through Charles County, MD over a bridge and into King George County, VA. Both of the counties used to be rural, mostly farm land. Then a few strip malls and a few homes blossomed into fairly large bedroom communities. 301 is mostly divided 2 lanes each way, until heading through Waldorf toward DC where it becomes 3 lanes on each side.
 In the 2 lane each side past Waldorf, through LaPlata and into VA, are some of the worst LLC's on the planet.

dougd7

Not to mention that the bridge (Harry W. Nice Bridge) over the Potomac is a two lane bridge (one way each way) with a toll for the southbound lanes ($3.00 and $.60 for commuters). To top off the LLC's one has to deal with heavy traffic on Friday evenings during the summer as half of the DC area residents try to bolt out of Dodge City...........

And I had a real inconsiderate driver yesterday. Prior to getting on US301 I exit the infamous Capitol Beltway and turn on to Ritchie-Marlboro road. R-M road is a 4 lane divided hwy which then splits (at a signal) into White House road and R-M road with R-M road branching to the right and becomes a regular 2 lane road. At the signal prior to the split I am in the right lane and have to clear the intersection before moving over to the right turn lane. Anyways a Jeep Cherokee is in the left lane beside me. As the light turns green he accelerates hard cutting across the lanes left to right while I'm accelerating into the right turn lane. And then the idiot keeps coming over. Had I not slowed his right rear qtr panel would have met my left front qrt panel. After the turn he then has the audacity to travel barely 5 mph over the limit. The way he cut me off one would have thought he was in a fired up hurry. At least there wasn't any LLC's south of La Plata yesterday.

pat84

As you enter Charles County, there is red light camera at the intersection just past the Wawa store on the right. I see that thing flashing pictures at night of those running the yellow.
  It's on the island looking into Charles county. Take care.

dougd7

Yeah, I've known about that one for some time now. I go through a few others up in the Marlton area near Osborne Road.

PF_Flyer

I had one of the more...errr... interesting 30 seconds behind the wheel than I've had in a long time this morning. Coming down a two lane road, back side of a shopping center on the left, apartments on the right. A rear exit from the shopping center is directly across from the entrance to the apt complex. I'm the only car on the road. As I approach the intersection a car coming out of the shopping center stops before coming out on the road... and then proceeds to pull out directly in front of my as I get there. She goes straight across into the apts, not missing a single word of her cell phone conversation as I lock up all four wheels and JUST miss her. Close call avoided for the day, right? WRONG. I continue another 100 yards and make a right at a traffic light. Again, I'm the only car around. A bike rider (college age male) on the sidewalk suddenly turns off the sidewalk like he's going to cross the road without looking. Again, I lock them up. This time it was REAL close. His left hand winds up on the hood of the car!! He orders one beer in MY direction and pedals off.

Hey PEOPLE... time to become aware of your surroundings!! Not only does the world NOT revolve around you, if you keep it up, the world is going to flatten you like a pancake!



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akangl

I know that feeling. I thought I was going to eat an Echo the other day.

Driving south on the Parks Hwy near the Sheep Creek Rd turn off (road is to my right), I'm going about 65-70 (in a 55, I know I know) and I see this red Echo(northbound) turn on the left turn signal. Gut feeling says "UH OH" and sure enough, 2 car lengths from me getting to her she begins her turn, crosses the center line and suddenly realizes that Yes, there is indeed a RED Ford Explorer fixing to make her a hood ornament. She slams on the brakes and I squeeze between the front of the Echo and the front of the Suburban waiting to turn off Sheep Creek. Scared me half to death, I really do like my Explorer and really do not want an Echo for a hood ornament. Some people's children!!!

hammerhead

Bob: My wife often claims that she wears an invisibility cloak whenever she's driving - be it her old van (RIP), my Subie or even her Suburban - I can't imagine a Suburban being invisible, but the actions of other drivers around her seem to bear her out!
They used to teach situational awareness when I took driver's ed (circa 1972, aka the covered wagon era)... maybe they don't anymore

Cheers!
Paul

PF_Flyer

...when I feel invisible out on the road. I've often felt that the current vehicle I'm driving (dark teal '96 Sentra) is under the radar... literally. There have been several occasions where I came around a bend at a "ticketable" rate of speed where they had me dead to rights if they wanted me...

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carlisimo

Nothing quite so dramatic happened during today's commute, but it was a more tiring one than usual. I did enjoy a couple more instances of people in front of me testing their brake systems... traffic ahead of them is slowing, everyone's brake lights are on, and these drivers decide that people aren't slowing down fast enough and slam those brakes. I'm braking at the pace of the majority of traffic and then I see the car ahead fill my windscreen, I slam my own brakes, and try to keep the car steady. One of them was an SUV that I couldn't see past, so my first thought was "woah, something serious just happened" but no, nothing.

Then during a stretch of relaxed traffic (driving between from the office to my construction site around 11am) I came accross some LLCs. I'm not mad at them (the flow of traffic was really fast, so they were still pretty illegal), but I could tell a couple of other drivers were impatient like me, and we were hopping past cars where we could and really understing each others' moves. That was a good feeling. And where there were hills you could see the effect that LLCs had... vast expanses of roads in front of them, and a mass of congestion immediately behind. Interesting stuff.

sockpuppet1969

I got a ticket for driving 48 in a 35 yesterday. 2 lane country road at night, 2003 Honda Accord. I told him this was my first ticket in over 10 years and I certainly wasn't driving recklessly. I also told him that I was an ED doc and that we take special care of cops when they come in (we do). I had no chance of changing his mind, he made up his mind to go through with the ticket before he walked up to my window as far as I could tell. He was all business. He did only write the ticket for 44 though, keeping it less than 10 over the limit. I go to court on July 30. The cop told me to bring a copy of my driving record and to make a "prayer for judgment". Hope it works.

This was an area where there are never any accidents as far as I know. I understand that writing speeding tickets is a significant source of income and maybe I am just venting here but couldn't this officer's time (and our money) be better spent doing something that would actually protect the public? For crying out loud, patrol the highway where drivers are actually endangering the lives of others (as can be attested to by the postings on this board).

fintail

Good old fashioned revenue generation, gross misuse of publicly funded resources by people who are never held accountable for their actions.

ruking1

To me that equates to fight able! The judge just might throw it out!

imidazol97

Were there signs posting the 35 speed limit?

5 over, maybe; 10 over, maybe.
13 over, -- you got a ticket.

Maybe by policing the speed in the area is how they have no accidents. A two lane road with ditches is more dangerous than a 6 lane interstate.

Be happy you met a policeman, not a Black Angus or a deer.

In our area it's the policemen who keep those FOP tags on their license plates and speed and cut in dangerously because they feel exempt from the laws.

sockpuppet1969

I'm not sure if there were signs (I'll certainly go back and check). That's not the point anyhow. The point is that I was not driving dangerously. You know as well as I do that 13 over the limit under most circumstances is not at all dangerous. I'm not disputing that I was breaking the law. The point is that every single one of us speeds every day. This board seems to be dedicated to whining about those that don't (LLB's, LLC's, LLD's, etc.). Thanks, for pointing out the obvious - I know I got the ticket. I drive this stretch of road several times a week in both directions and this is the first time I have seen a cop there so, no, this is not why there are no accidents at this location. I never said there were ditches either (there aren't). And most of the serious trauma I see on a daily basis IS from 6-lane interstates, not 2 lane country roads. So strike 3. Better luck next time. Oh, BTW, no roaming blank angus in the area either. One last comment, I do support the FOP and had the sticker in my window, didn't do me any good.

I got the ticket soon after accelerating from a stoplight. I guess I hadn't settled into my cruising speed yet and he got me at just the right time. Oh well. I will throw myself on the mercy of the court and hope for the best. I was speeding and if the citation sticks so be it.

ruking1

The other thing is that unless you know the EXACT speed, you should state that you don't know exactly how fast you were going, but were going safe and prudiently for the conditions. You can truly and truthfully say that from (acceleration, dont use accelerate, this sounds FAST ) the stop light to the speed at which the ticket says (not what he says you were actually going) 48 vs 43) that the average speed was as a min, less than the posted speed limit. ie within safe and prudent averages!!!!

I am also thinking that it might not hurt to mention your professional efforts in that it is a nexus showing deep awareness of the consequences of accidents which is what theoretically anyway is what the laws are designed to prevent.

seminole_kev

but in everyone else's area, does anybody actually stop at the white line when at an intersection anymore? For whatever reason (a lot of the times I notice they're on a cell phone though) people come up to the intersection slowly enough to stop at the line...but just roll past it and then stop. See it all the time. Is it some sort of rebellious behavior, simple inattention, stupidty, what?

I know it is such a small detail, but it is just part of the bigger picture of poor drivers.

Also, a relative of those drivers is the "creeper". You've probably seen them. The ones are stopped at the intersection, but while the light is still red, they start creeping ahead into the intersection well before the light turns green. Sometimes they literally will be in the middle of the intersection creeping when the light finally turns green. Not sure what the hell that is.

ruking1

That is an interesting observation. While at a major phone company, since I had to supervise folks in the field, one of the training items for vehicle safety was to stop BEHIND the white line so that you could see the white line.

The spin off benefit is if you spot behind and take off from there it is a no brainer if you are stopped and have to go so far as to fight it in court, that you already did stop but the officer either did not see it or expected me to stop twice (which is not legally mandated)

oregonboy

You didn't say how the officer established you speed. Stationary radar? Mobile radar? Pacing from behind?

If stationary radar, he was there to write tickets. (Unless he was sampling average speeds for a traffic study... highly unlikely). So once stopped, you are going to be cited, because that was the whole point of the exercise.

If mobile radar or pacing, he was probably just having a slow night and you were over his "cut-off" speeding point. Whether or not you get a ticket in this case depends on how the cop is feeling. Are his superiors pushing for more citations? Did he have a fight with his wife that morning? Do you bear a resemblance to the neighbor kid that picked on him when he was little?

Since you said that he had decided to write you up before he approached your car, my guess is that it was stationary radar and he was there to write tickets. Generally such "speed traps" are set up in places that are NOT particularly hazardous. Rather places are chosen that are "easy pickin's"... times and places where the posted limit is low relative to peoples comfort level: wide shoulders, good viability, low traffic density. The same factors that make driving safer, make writing tickets easier.

I have NEVER seen a radar trap during rush hour traffic even though it's often 15-20 over the limit at high density. There is no way the cop could identify which speeder was responsible for the high reading on the radar unit, and the very presence of the patrol car would soon have traffic slowed to a bumper to bumper crawl.

jrw

dougd7

I generally try to stop before my tires touch the white line, especially when raining or winter weather. If I do stop on them in such weather these stop lines are so slick I will spin the front tires without hardly trying. Sometimes panic stops make it hard to stop behind them such as when the light turns yellow suddenly.

seminole_kev

I pretty much keep my car behind the white line. Pretty sure that's how it is supposed to be.

imidazol97

"So strike 3. Better luck next time. Oh, BTW, no roaming blank angus in the area either. One last comment, I do support the FOP and had the sticker in my window, didn't do me any good."

Sorry you are testy about the ticket, but like my neighbor said about his ticket in a 35 going more than 10 over (4 lane, middle spacer turn area) it'll slow him down and make him more careful. Chalk it up to experience.

ruking1

My experience has been, as has been alluded is that officer's have tremendous discretionary range. In a 65 mph zone that happens pretty regularly, I have seen cops cruise right by with traffic at 80-95 mph. Other times, (not by personal experience) failure to acknowledge their presence have earned folks a ticket at 1 mph over the speed limit. Some folks going under the speed limit have been stopped and that was considered suspicious behavior.

Traveling on two lane highways (one lane each way ) in NM and in the same trip was going 75 in a 55 mph zone and have been passed by federal police, tribal police, state police and the final indignity; city police!

I have one speeding ticket in 38 years and it was checked for going "over 55" in a 55 mph 4 lanes each way freeway (65 mph nowa days with average traffic going 80-90 mph!

ny540i6

Must be great to be you. I am not trying to be overly personal, however the issues of safe and prudent, responsible behavior, etc, are more than the black/white, ticket/no ticket world that you are trying to make this. Is it not arbitrary that 10 over is ok, but 11 is unsafe? Personally, I sometimes feel that 5 below could be unsafe, depending on conditions.

fintail

To some people, a law is a law, and there's no room for logic, discussion, or responsibility. Deference. A law isn't good in and of itself. If speed limits really were for safety and not potential revenues, they'd be set to maybe 40-45 mph, where most decent vehicles can smash up and the restrained occuptants can live. It's all about the money and power trip.

black_tulip

To some people, a law is a law, and there's no room for logic, discussion, or responsibility.

There is a flip side to that. Some, when they disagree with a law, simply practice civil disobedience by breaking it, instead of working towards getting that changed or revoked. Both are equally irresponsible.

fintail

I thought the US was founded in civil disobedience. If a silly revenue-boosting speed limit can't be justified, it shouldn't exist. And the "safety" lie should stop.

I don't think most individuals have the means to make such changes take place. And unless the powers that be can prove their case, they shouldn't have to.

carlisimo

Today I saw a pickup employ an alternate method of getting an LLC out of the way: approach at 30mph more, begin honking at several car lengths' distance, slam the brakes at one car length's distance, continue honking until car moves over to next lane.

Just to make it worse, the car wasn't actually going slower than the one ahead of it; it was just keeping a larger than average distance.

gee35coupe

It's funny. I always have gotten my tickets after I have slowed down from cruising speed. You can drive all day long at 100 mph but at a hightened sense of awareness, then after you've slowed down to a more normal 80 or so, you get a ticket.

When I'm cruising I watch for the oncoming cars blinking warnings, I slow for hills and curves, and I watch for panic braking ahead. I've been so successful at this I stopped using radar detectors almost 10 years ago.

imidazol97

You just described perfectly the LLD (left lane dominator). The car was a safe driver using the left lane -- they were just using a safe trailing distance instead of tailgating without a reasonable assured clear distance. But the LLD had to dominate someone and using his "truck" is a good way to help satisfy his urge to dominate someone.

Those are the ones we need to get off the road before they kill or injure someone else.

black_tulip

I don't think most individuals have the means to make such changes take place.

WRONG! One individual alone does not have the means but collectively we can. There are many grassroots organizations(NMA for example) that you can join. How do you think 55MPH got repealed?
The real reason is that it is much easier to break the law, pay the fine and blame the cops.

fintail

So how would this person get a limit changed on a rural 35mph road, hmmm? This isn't a national policy, it's a municipal moneymaking tool. It's really not much different than a disguised tax. "Laws" like this are impossible to really justify. But the irresponsible appointed through tenure and connections powers that be who support such legalities don't have to justify anything. Don't really blame the cops (except we all know if sockpuppet was a cop, he wouldn't have been ticketed...some people are above some "laws"), blame those who tell the cops what to do.

sockpuppet1969

I went back today to see what type of signage was there. The speed limit before the traffic light that I was accelerating away from when I got the ticket is 45mph. It changes to 35mph about 50ft after the light. The cop was sitting on the side of the road right after the speed limit sign. The road conditions did not change a lick. This was clearly a speed trap designed to do nothing other than make money.

I realize that the cop was just doing his job. I don't really blame him. I do think it is somewhat demeaning to him that this is what they have him do. Afterall he is a highly trained law enforcement officer who is willing to put his life on the line if need be. I have a lot of respect for those guys. I'm just think he could have better spent his efforts doing something else.

imidazol97

gee35coupe

within 500ft of a speed limit change. And the limit can only change 10mph per 500ft. Kinda cuts down on the speed traps.

sockpuppet1969

carguy58

As I said on this a few times I went to Virginia last weekend. I don't know people just drive how they want to drive nowdays. Traffic doesn't flow as it should. You get some people who just pass on the right, pass in the left lane and some people just use 2 lanes of a 3 lane roadway(I guess they are scared of the 3rd lane.) Its like nobody's disciplined anymore.

stickguy

Very inconsiderate ALB on I95 in Delaware today. Parked his/her minivan upside down in the northbound lanes, which didn't do much for traffic.

Oh, ALB is All Lane Blocker.

Man, was there a traffic jam of cars trying to get off in Elkton. Good thing I was going south, and just got subjected to a rubbernecking delay.

eharri3

"You just described perfectly the LLD (left lane dominator). The car was a safe driver using the left lane -- they were just using a safe trailing distance instead of tailgating without a reasonable assured clear distance. But the LLD had to dominate someone and using his "truck" is a good way to help satisfy his urge to dominate someone."

You never know what may be running through the mind of that guy in the truck. Maybe he's a volunteer fire fighter. Maybe he just got a call that one of his loved ones has suffered a heart attack, gunshot wound, that there's some other crisis that's come up, and he now needs to get somewhere asap. I could see tailgating as the behavior of some impatient creep, but to actually honk to get another vehicle out of your way is faster is highly abnormal, even for the most impatient drivers, and indicates to me there may have been more than meets the eye. Imagine how you'd feel if you got a call that someone you love is in trouble and you want to get there as fast as possible, but you're stuck behind someone passing at an .0005 mph speed differential.

highender

I agree with eharri....

some people have no idea that the left lane is the passing lane, and should be reserved for passing only, especially on freeways of 3 lanes or more. They just cruise there in the fast lane at 55 mph, slowing all traffic down.

Some people have to get somewhere in an emergency, some are just cruising around....so let the people who need to get to their destination asap to go about their ways....

pat84

I once got stopped by a State Police Officer for going 68 in a 55. He was about 20 feet in front of his Police Cruiser. He had no radar gun in his hand. I had a radar / laser detector in my vehicle at that time and had not detected anything prior to getting stopped.
 The officer had decided I was getting a ticket.
 I asked
"How did you determine my speed ?" He said "How did I determine your speed ,what ? "
 He implied I was supposed to add the word "sir" to the end of my question.
 I re-asked the question and instead of "sir" I added a word for a cetral part of the posterior portion of his body.
 I went to court.
 When I asked the cop how he determined my speed, he looked at the judge and said, "He cursed at me."
 I said , "Your honor, I did not curse at him, but did use vulgar language. This was after he had issued me a ticket and had nothing to do with why I got the ticket in the first place.
 The judge said "How fast were you going. ? I said. "Maybe 5 over".
 The judge then asked what I called the cop. After I said that word, the whole court started laughing.
 I got 1 point and was fined court costs of about $15 . A 13 over ticket should have been 3 points and over $60. I did get 8 hours community service for what I had called the cop.
  It was worth it.

dougd7

Pat - you'll love this one. As you know there have been several new signals installed on Rt 301 through the Waldorf area. The newest one just north of the county line has just gone "active". Last Friday was the first Friday with kids out for summer vacation. With many locals trying to get out of dodge, traffic was much heavier than usual - even for a Friday. Anyways by late afternoon with very heavy traffic on US301 and Md 5, both of which converge 1 mile prior to this signal, the traffic on both hwys had extended backups for at least 6-7 miles due to this one traffic signal that appeared to not be in proper sequence with the other existing traffic signals. Took me over 1 hour to go from Chelteham to the northern most light in Waldorf. Once I cleared the 'bad' signal, traffic flowed better than normal.

fintail

Wow, pat's incident is pretty funny. More of that sham of a justice system. And people wonder why there is massive disrespect for out of control power tripping cops and crooked judges.

scotian

I remember bicycling around Lake Calhoun here in Minneapolis, and a cop was stopped on an electric scooter by the path, which had recently gone to 10 mph. As I passed him he yelled at me to slow down. Since he had no speed measuring device, I turned around and asked him how he had determined my speed. He said that since I had earlier passed another bike, I was going too fast.

What an idiotic situation.

vtsurfer

Ah, the Vermont Myths propogated again In areas where people actually live and drive in Vermont, the proportion of traffic to the small population is rather embarassing. As an aside, the driver who felt that his drive from Vermont to Florida was memorable due to the speedy lane changes here in Vermont must have seen a very rare day. The first rule of thumb for Vermonters passing is to slow down, clog the left lane as they match the passed car's speed, and eventually pass after screwing up the day.

It takes a long time to exit Chittenden county nowadays, and the only new road designed to bypass this misery has been cancelled for another two years. FYI, this project was concepted in the 1960's !

fintail

Today I was behind a c.1990 Century driven by some redneck looking guy. I was behind him, he turned left onto a lightly traveled divided suburban street that moves at about 40mph. He dawdled when he got out, so I got into the right lane quickly to get around him. He then decides to punch it, and I do likewise, and blow past him, when he promptly accelerates as normal again. Dangerous game, especially in such a non performing car. I was so tempted to veer in front of him and go slow, but lord knows he didn't even have insurance.

carguy58

I was going to the Jersey Shore on Tuesday. I stopped to go into a McDonalds in Point Pleasent, NJ on RT 35 for 5 minutes. My car was parked in the WaWa parking lot next door. There was a truck that was parked right outside the Wa Wa. I come back about 5 minutes later and there was a Saturn SL(I think it was) right under the truck. I'm going I was just gone for 5 Minutes and this happened. Maybe the person in the Saturn lost control of their car and couldn't stop.

isellhondas

I got my first ticket in fifteen years last March.

Typical speed trap. They had just lowered the speed limit from 35 to 30. As I exited a tunnel I saw a motorcycle cop standing there. He had just finished ticketing another driver and he waved me over. I was totally caught off guard since I drive that way every day to work and I had never seen a cop there before...or since!

Anyway, he was a cocky little sort and I didn't argue with him. Wrote me for 44 in a 30...no break or anything.

So, I decided to fight it in court. The only court date I cold get conflicted with a high school reunion in California so I was stuck.

I then was told that in Bellevue Washington, they have a program where IF you have a clean driving record, you can opt to pay 100.00 and the ticket gets deferred. This means it doesn't show on your record. BUT....if you get another ticket within a year, they BOTH show up!

It's now been over a year and I've stayed clean unlike the days of my mispent youth when I once managed to amass three tickets in the same week!

Don't ask.

Maybe your area has a similar program?

gee35coupe

Me too when I was 16. That was a great week. :::sarcasm:::

isellhondas

Two out of those three were in the same day by the same cop!

Another motorcycle cop...got me coming to school at 7:45 and after school about 3:30.

Funny now but not at the time.

I think I got nine tickets that year.