Inconsiderate Drivers II (share your stories, etc.)

xwesx

The original Inconsiderate Drivers suffered some sort of system error that caused new posts to not reflect in the "unread" portion of followers' lists. As such, this thread is no longer visible to most regular users. Having an outlet to vent frustration about those other drivers on the road who just don't seem to appreciate the "live and let live" or "shared use" aspect of our public roads is important for us to keep our sanity (and, at times, keep the rage manageable!).

What sorts of crazy antics have you seen lately?

From the original Inconsiderate Drivers' thread description (from 2002):

Now that we have Inconsiderate Buyers, Salespeople and Service Deparement threads on the Smart Shoppers board, here's where you share your stories, and voice your aggravations, about idiot drivers.

tjc78

None yet today, but thanks for setting up. Bookmark set. 

xwesx

tjc78 said:

None yet today, but thanks for setting up. Bookmark set. 

That's a good thing... right?!

I wanted to launch this thing off with a story of my own, but I drove a whole twenty miles today so far, and everyone is behaving themselves.

ab348

I'll jump in with a couple of stories from about 30 minutes apart from last Friday (Black Friday). In a large retail big-box park, the main route through the middle is 4 lanes in each direction at the main crossroads: 2 lanes straight ahead, with dedicated left and right turn lanes. I wanted to turn right and was puzzled by why the line of about a half-dozen cars ahead of me wasn't turning on the red light when there was no cross-traffic. When the light turned green the mystery was solved: a bozo in a CRV at the front of the line decided they wanted to go straight, so they sat there until the light turned green and then pushed into the correct lane partway through the intersection. I guess they had zero awareness of the cars they were holding up.

Leaving there I went to a large supermarket/drugstore complex down the road. It was busy but I was proceeding along in a line of vehicles in front of the supermarket when it came to a stop. We were waiting for maybe 5 minutes. Finally I saw why: a clown in an Equinox was holding everyone else up while someone took their time exiting a primo parking spot next to the laneway. There were plenty of other spots available, but nooo, he had to get that one.

Being in polite Canada, not a horn was sounded. That seems to be felt as a rude action here.

xwesx

ab348 said:

Being in polite Canada, not a horn was sounded. That seems to be felt as a rude action here.

Probably somewhat similar here.... it is somehow felt that the person who blows the horn is the rude one rather than the person who is actually being rude!

A couple of months ago, after dropping my daughter off at her school, I was heading down a residential street when a school bus coming the opposite direction activates the flashing red lights. We all stop... no children anywhere... , and after about two minutes I finally tooted my horn and gave a "what's up?!" gesture to the bus driver. A moment later, the driver's assistant gets out of the bus and casually walks over to an apartment about twenty yards from the road. The person knocks, waits.... waits.... at this point, another three minutes has passed. I honked a couple of times now, and was just about to go around. About that time, a young woman comes out of the apartment leading a child that was probably three, maybe four years old. The women chatted as they walked along ahead of the child, who is very slowly walking after them.

I finally had enough and just laid on the horn to intentionally be obnoxious (at this point, I didn't mind being rude). However, nothing was moving these dawdlers this morning. All told, it was more than ten minutes that I sat there. There must have been more than twenty vehicles total queued up because of that bus (sadly, most were behind it!). When we finally were clear, I jotted down the bus number and called the barn after I arrived at work. The poor lady on the phone, I blasted her about this driver and requested that she remind her that red flashing was only allowable when children were present, etc., etc.

fintail

Good job xwesx, I see it isn't on the main page, I wonder where it is hidden. The old Inconsiderate Drivers thread popped up several weeks back when there were system issues, then vanished again. I think at one time its existence offended a sensitive soul, and it was kind of tacitly blacklisted.

Had the old car out today. On a virtually deserted residential street (in a very tony area), a Cayenne Turbo S pulls out in front of me, then goes 5 under the limit until it eventually turns. Not a single car behind me in the entire line of sight, and it is a straight road, so a decent line. Must be nice to be rich and oblivious, bootstrapper no doubt.

Horn honking is seen as rude and some kind of social faux pas here, too - so I do it when I can. It shocks the timid and inept who make up so many "drivers" here. I honked a few times in the fintail, mostly at people spacing out at lights. The loud horn wakes em up.

ab348

Best horn ever was in my '79 Electra Park Avenue. It was a 4-note horn and sounded like a locomotive. It actually would scare some drivers into action.

fintail

Fintail has dual horns, not as loud as on a W100 600 (remember this):

https://youtu.be/OMNlAbUeTuk

But still much louder than a modern car. Some newer cars have sad horns. I think I saw a late model CRV or similar with a horn note that was kind of embarrassing.

xwesx

My favorite punk driver, the subject of a few posts on the old ID thread, caught my eye again this weekend. I was at a light waiting to turn left when I hear this obnoxious exhaust and knew instantly who the offending driver was likely to be! He was basically just swinging the tail of his Suburban left and right as he glazed over the entire lane(s) in that area of the intersection... for no particular reason other than to show his rear.

Funny, though, I saw him pull into his workplace (next door to mine) this morning calm as a kitten. Amazingly, the chewing I gave his supervisor about his antics seems to have been passed on to him and made at least somewhat of an effect (even if not entirely removing his obnoxious antics, it at least calmed them near his employer's business!).

For reference, here's the video I captured of him via dashcam when he belligerently ran a red light a couple months ago:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdPyvQH9K3Q

fintail

One would think someone who drives like that wouldn't want a loud exhaust. Of course, forethought isn't his forte. Your voice kind of reminded me of the of the "Bad Drivers of Napa Valley" Youtube narrator.

On the road today, got stuck at a light in a left turn lane because distracted dawdlers - nary a horn was honked. Then while on foot saw a dope in a Cherokee make a hilariously illegal and poorly planned (multiple point) U turn on a busy downtown street. Nobody honked. I also saw a delivery truck blocking the exit of a highrise, and causing a queue. People honked.

And here's a fun story of inconsiderate behavior. IMO the settlement funds should come from the undoubtedly insane pension of the offender, but that line will never be crossed, oh our tax dollars at work

xwesx

fintail said:

One would think someone who drives like that wouldn't want a loud exhaust. Of course, forethought isn't his forte. Your voice kind of reminded me of the of the "Bad Drivers of Napa Valley" Youtube narrator.

On the road today, got stuck at a light in a left turn lane because distracted dawdlers - nary a horn was honked. Then while on foot saw a dope in a Cherokee make a hilariously illegal and poorly planned (multiple point) U turn on a busy downtown street. Nobody honked. I also saw a delivery truck blocking the exit of a highrise, and causing a queue. People honked.

And here's a fun story of inconsiderate behavior. IMO the settlement funds should come from the undoubtedly insane pension of the offender, but that line will never be crossed, oh our tax dollars at work

I noted in the video description that I used to find the exhaust annoying. However, after that event, I was rather glad he has it on the rig, because it lets the rest of us know that he's about to do something stupid! Had I not paused to watch him after hearing the roaring exhaust (you can hear it is roaring, even from *inside the car*), I would have started pulling into the intersection about the time he entered it. Granted, at his speed (probably around 50+ at that point), he probably would have gone through before I made it far in, but just the attitude makes him a present danger to everyone nearby.

I remember you or someone posting about that incident when it was fresh. Definitely excessive force, though the part that isn't mentioned is where and how fast the biker was that initiated the incident. I can also see why the officer could view him as a clear and present danger when he first approached. Not that he should have had is weapon trained on the driver, but ready to draw? Not a bad call.

fintail

Good point, the exhaust warns people of his presence. Driving like a jerk to your workplace parking lot is just one step below driving like a jerk in a company-owned vehicle with the name and number plastered on the side - yet it happens constantly.

That settlement should come out of the LEO's pension, IMO. The guy seems to have issues, it'd be interesting to see his history. More reason everyone should have a cam, both police and civilians. Without it, the brave warrior would walk away without accountability, he almost dodged it even with footage. And he'll still retire with compensation that far exceeds what the average wage earner will enjoy.

I know that stretch of road fairly well, and the apparent claim of 100 mph at that time of day is an outright lie, even if the biker was skilled and on a superbike. Simply too much traffic. Of course, in these days of alternative facts, anyone can say anything. That there were no charges against the biker says it all.

xwesx said:

I noted in the video description that I used to find the exhaust annoying. However, after that event, I was rather glad he has it on the rig, because it lets the rest of us know that he's about to do something stupid! Had I not paused to watch him after hearing the roaring exhaust (you can hear it is roaring, even from *inside the car*), I would have started pulling into the intersection about the time he entered it. Granted, at his speed (probably around 50+ at that point), he probably would have gone through before I made it far in, but just the attitude makes him a present danger to everyone nearby.

I remember you or someone posting about that incident when it was fresh. Definitely excessive force, though the part that isn't mentioned is where and how fast the biker was that initiated the incident. I can also see why the officer could view him as a clear and present danger when he first approached. Not that he should have had is weapon trained on the driver, but ready to draw? Not a bad call.

xwesx

I had an interesting morning!

For the first time this winter, I came upon a driver in the ditch. The stars were aligned it seems, because he genuinely needed assistance (most drivers nowadays waive me off saying they already called a tow truck and are just waiting for them to arrive). Not only was he in the ditch, but he had his son with him who needed to get to school, the angle of his vehicle and the amount of fuel in his tank resulted in his engine running short on gas, and neither he nor his son were anywhere close to dressed for the weather.

It wasn't too cold this morning, about ten degrees with a slight breeze. That slight breeze, though.... BRR!!!

The driver says he has "a Lyft" on the way for his son to get to school, and that he is contacting friends to see if he can get assistance. However, he makes a couple of phone calls while I am in earshot, and it does not sound promising for him! After a little persuading, I convinced him to stay warm and just come along with me. He was nervous to leave his vehicle (a genuine Alaska "beater with a heater" first generation Explorer with some serious needs!), but I assured him we would be gone less than an hour.

I took him to the nearby gas station a couple miles down the road, where they let him borrow a can and he bought a couple gallons of fuel. He also bought some cigarettes, which seemed like a waste of money to me, but what are you going to do? It's not my life! I then dropped my daughter off at school and took him back to his car.

Surprisingly, the Troopers showed up at some point while we were gone, put out a couple of flares, and tagged his vehicle with warning tape. One of the flares was nearly spent, so I replaced it with another, put the fuel in his tank, shoveled some snow out around one side of his vehicle so it would start moving easier, then hooked him up to the Q7 with my tow straps. After explaining how I was going to pull him out and what he needed to do, I went back to my vehicle, waited for a pair of commuters to drive by, then yanked him right back up onto the road!

All told, very simple, though the road was so slick that I ended up on my keester *twice* as I tried to walk down to detach my straps so he could move his vehicle to the side of the road to let traffic by. Once everything was put away, I bid him good day and went on my way.

After arriving at work, I found his new pack of cigarettes in the rear footwell of my car. Oops!!!

thebean

Good for you, Wes. I believe in karma, so you are building up a nice bit of positive karma.

fintail

Good deed xwesx, may it come back to you.

mrgrtt123

It was an intersection and we all know that you have to yield or atleast slow down to avoid an accident. I am only running 10km/h as I cross the street and I assure that I have seen no car passing by as I continue. Suddenly a blue Ford car pass by so fast that it almost hits my car good thing I immediately step on my car break. I still can hear my Mom scream as she almost thought that it will be her last day on Earth.

xwesx

mrgrtt123 said:

It was an intersection and we all know that you have to yield or atleast slow down to avoid an accident. I am only running 10km/h as I cross the street and I assure that I have seen no car passing by as I continue. Suddenly a blue Ford car pass by so fast that it almost hits my car good thing I immediately step on my car break. I still can hear my Mom scream as she almost thought that it will be her last day on Earth.

It is amazing how quickly those things can happen, even if *you* are not moving fast at all!

Glad it worked out well for you and your mother (as well as the blue Ford?)!

fintail

One no-lighter this evening, a later model Sentra.

xwesx

Oy! You had to remind me about the lights-free movement!

This morning I was behind a Rav4 that had nary a light to be found (other than the DRLs). Flashed the fool multiple times, the driver went by the main Alaska State Trooper building, and TWO trooper vehicles were queued to exit the driveway there... but you think they would pull him over? Nope.

After a half-mile or so, the driver stops in the left go-straight lane (of two, with a dedicated right and left turn lane also present). When the light turns green, he puts on his left signal, waits for a while for the left lane to clear, then moves into that lane before taking a left turn.

I guess the obliviousness was not limited only to lighting. The driver never did turn on the lights. And, mind you, it was full-on dark at about 0900 this morning.

fintail

I wonder if it was a model with automatic lights. I think people who dink around with the settings and disable auto lights should get a special reprimand, kind of like someone holding a phone to their ear in a bluetooth enabled car. If someone is being stupid even when they have the tech to get around it, it deserves recognition. I see the phone to ear in a late model premium car thing all the time around here.

xwesx

fintail said:

I wonder if it was a model with automatic lights. I think people who dink around with the settings and disable auto lights should get a special reprimand, kind of like someone holding a phone to their ear in a bluetooth enabled car. If someone is being stupid even when they have the tech to get around it, it deserves recognition. I see the phone to ear in a late model premium car thing all the time around here.

It wouldn't surprise me. This was probably 8-10 years old, but I remember back in 1985 that our Camry's lights could be set to 'on' all the time, just like our Subarus. When you turn the car off, the lights turn off upon removal of the key from the ignition.

So, lack of lights was definitely a driver choice there, and inability to turn them on, even after repeat flashes from me (I wasn't at all subtle about it), is just indicative of someone who truly needs to NOT be on the road.

fintail

Lightless today: newish XC90 (these must have auto lights), late model Escape, also an ML with parking lights.

I've given a flash with no results as well, people aren't even in the same galaxy.

ruking1

False senses of security happen when the choices for “automatic “ lights on are too many.

I’ve never liked all the choices. One should be able switch on lights outside and the inside cabin lights.

fintail

No lightless dorks on the road yesterday evening, at least none that I saw.

I suspect we'd have more no-lighters if so many modern cars didn't have automatic lights. Disabling them should be deep down in a submenu somewhere, so the unwashed won't mess it up.

ruking1

Normally to me, when flashed, lights are either OFF, or the high beams on. So yeah a high %b of drivers are zoned out.

fintail

I did see a high-beamer, I want to say it was a Civic, but I don't remember. When you don't notice that blue light near the speedometer, you're not paying attention.

xwesx

I see quite a few of those. Overall, I would rather over-lit than not at all. However, with all the jacked up pickups around here with their aftermarket blind-other-drivers HID setups, it's hard to say what is and is not brights these days.

fintail

There needs to be enforcement of headlight aiming on trucks.

ruking1

Indeed, I would agree!

So I was reading that testing agencies such as Consumer Reports indicate the current lighting standards are easily seventy years old. They are not even met or exceeded by today’s lighting “instruments”. To upgrade even a fraction of USA’s 288 M passenger vehicles are daunting @ best? In passing, I have also read that the lighting is adjusted for 55 mph and less on/FOR dark rural roads. So for me this explains why oncoming tractor ( USA, app 300,000) -trailer rigs really do not elicit a negative reaction.

ruking1

Today (Sun.) was a dark overcast and rainy day, as we headed to the SFO airport area, to see family. CA for better/worse has/has had a MANDATORY law “lights on” when windshield wipers are required. I’d guess, fully 2/3% of the cars did not comply.

xwesx

ruking1 said:

Today (Sun.) was a dark overcast and rainy day, as we headed to the SFO airport area, to see family. CA for better/worse has/has had a MANDATORY law “lights on” when windshield wipers are required. I’d guess, fully 2/3% of the cars did not comply.

I would say that easily the worst offending times are those where rain, fog, and other factors dictate the use of lighting, where the absence of those things would mean it is reasonable to not use lights. It is a little frightening to consider that this is simply a reflection of how many drivers out there are operating vehicles on the roads without any thought for the concept of "defensive driving." They simply assume safety and/or don't care one bit about the safety of others.

ruking1

Humidity was @ 83/85%, translation: danger of fogging the inside windows. So A/C was directed to inside windshield window. Traffic, 4/5 lanes each direction was heavy, but moving briskly most of the way. So in my case, the task was to “deconflict” situations one cant necessarily see & pay attention to what other drivers are “advertising”.

kyfdx

Maybe, we could just re-name this discussion, "Drivers without headlights".

ruking1

Well I don’t know. In addition to vision degradation, lateral G steering & stopping distances are diminished (by 15%-30%). So with someone signaling, I will do reasonably what I can letting them in or pass them, creating the space they need to merge. Non-signalers can create distress and surprise where non/none existed before.

It goes without saying that what should’ve been @ most a two car accident, can be 4, 5, 6, etc. very easily.

xwesx

kyfdx said:

Maybe, we could just re-name this discussion, "Drivers without headlights".

LOL Well, discussions need to run their course. Pretty soon, we'll be on to LLC again.

fintail

Even here where it rains 80% of the time at this time of year and it is still dim at 8am and getting dark at 4pm, I see wipers with no lights. People need to be taught that lights aren't there just to help you see, they are to help you be seen.

ruking1

fintail said:

Even here where it rains 80% of the time at this time of year and it is still dim at 8am and getting dark at 4pm, I see wipers with no lights. People need to be taught that lights aren't there just to help you see, they are to help you be seen.

That’s “spot on”, given WA also has that lighting law. For the (“can’t fix stupid”) set ...enforcement!?

xwesx

ruking1 said:

fintail said:

Even here where it rains 80% of the time at this time of year and it is still dim at 8am and getting dark at 4pm, I see wipers with no lights. People need to be taught that lights aren't there just to help you see, they are to help you be seen.

That’s “spot on”, given WA also has that lighting law. For the (“can’t fix stupid”) set ...enforcement!?

Oh, but that's so much work.....

xwesx

How's this for inconsiderate?!

I finally took the time last night to set up my timers for the vehicles' block heaters. The unit for my wife's car seemed to work just fine, but the one for my Q7 did not turn on. So, fifteen below zero, I started that poor thing and it was NOT happy with me.

You might not think that a few heating pads for an hour or two would make that much difference, but my fuel economy when I arrived at work was a full four mpg lower than on Friday (when temps weren't a whole lot different). Ouch!

Plus, it took several miles of the trip to my daughter's school before the engine was warmed enough that we were getting reasonable heat inside.

I am going to have a little heart-to-heart with that timer tonight when I get home....

ruking1

Indeed ! Sorry to hear about COLD winter related issues. Diesel fuel, motor oil, car batteries benefit (better mpg, etc.) from being warm in the cold. Please let us know what about the timer caused the problem.

xwesx

Checked the timer and reset everything last night. Got up this morning and checked again.... time was nearly the same as light night when I set it! So, it is the timer that does not time. Great. Well, I guess it could be worse.... it could be user error!

Funny thing, though... it worked just fine when I tested it inside, so apparently it just doesn't work when it is cold. How useful!

xwesx

My wife had an incredibly close call this morning. I reviewed the dashcam footage..... and oh my it was close!

She took my son to the bus stop out on the main road at about 0650. There were two other cars sitting in the pull out that they use for the bus stop, one with its lights on (and pointed at her as she waited at the stop sign on the main road). She needed to turn left onto the main road, then loop around back into the pull out.

She stops, looks to the left, then goes.... and wouldn't you know it... there was a car coming in the right lane! It had one headlight out (driver side) and, according to her, the passenger side light was "extremely dim," so she didn't notice the car there just to the right of the stationary car in the pullout with all its lights shining on her.

So, basically a person driving to work in the dark using only parking lights. In. Sane. Thankfully, they did not collide, though I have to suspect it was darn close. Sadly, she doesn't bother clearing her rear window, so the rear camera view is mostly useless for this event. The front camera did capture the other vehicle for a brief moment, but the angle on that one (being out the front) was fairly poor, too.

I'll see if I can pull a clip on it tonight - the entire sequence might be five seconds long!

fintail

I can't drive without cleared windows - when it snowed while I was in MI last month, I had to clear them before driving, it really irks me.

Wasn't out during the dark today, no lightless sightings, but I did see a red light sitter get honked at pretty hard, which always pleases me.

Michaell

I just got back from a couple of days in Houston, and have to report on an interesting driving habit. Happened to us several times. 

In slow lane on highway, with an exit lane to our right. Seems like folks like to use that exit lane for passing traffic, then swoop to the left at the last minute to continue on the highway. 

ruking1

See any good close calls?

Michaell

ruking1 said:

See any good close calls?

You mean, other than the ones we were almost involved in?

They loved to do it right when the lane exited from the highway, and the lane stripe changed from dashed to solid.

tjc78

I have a name for drivers like that.... it’s not appropriate for this forum. 

fintail

Never driven in Houston, but I've heard stories - not an entirely first world experience.

Michaell

fintail said:

Never driven in Houston, but I've heard stories - not an entirely first world experience.

Having cut my teeth on LA traffic, I was surprised at how many highways exist in Houston. It didn't help that the airport was on the north side of town, and the office was on the south side.

We chose to avoid toll roads, so went through Houston proper. Something like 4 or 5 different highways. The only good thing was that the bulk of the travel was mid-day, so didn't experience a lot of rush hour traffic.

xwesx

I have only been through there once - when picking up the Q7. Happily, we did not need to drive from the airport, but, like your experience with a lot of different roads to get to the south side, we did do a lot of changing to get where we were going. The driver seemed to handle it well, despite the fact that that the inside of the windshield was so dirty I am not sure how he even saw through it!

We had no issues leaving the metro area, though. To me, it seemed no different than any other urban landscape.

ruking1

...”To me, it seemed no different than any other urban landscape....” I would agree !

Yes, the last time I had driven Houston Metro was when Hurricane Katrina hit landfall. I’m really glad I had GPS during that horrid rainstorm.

I’m very glad you had a near miss, better that a definite accident.