Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

jlflemmons · January 2010

Folks who have never encountered one of the big tumbleweeds are probably thinking we are exagerating, but the one I hit was quite a bit bigger than my Blazer. I noticed that out around Amarillo there were two distinct types of tumbleweed. The dark colored ones were no more than about 4' across, mostly smaller and made up the bulk of the lot. But the light colored ones were fewer, but huge, most more than 6' across! It was one of those that I hit.

fintail · January 2010

I spent a good part of my childhood in that region...I remember those things. I lived in a subdivision that bordered an undeveloped area, and there was a field full of those near my house. They'd roll down the street sometimes. Gave the place kind of a "wild west" feeling. That high semi-desert area isn't a bad place...the summers are a bit hot, but I like the winters. You get all 4 seasons there, for sure.

Good area for driving ...straight smooth roads, not a lot of speed traps, and when you encounter a slowpoke, you just pass.

stever · January 2010

I piled up around 3 dozen of the 2 to 3' ones in a corner of the "pasture" here at the end of summer.

There was a rumor going around a decade ago that you could package them up nicely and sell them on eBay to Japanese customers, who would use them for home decorations. Probably just an urban legend.

All of y'all in the deprived Eastern states, make me an offer. :shades:

210delray · January 2010

Trade you for kudzu!

ponderpoint · January 2010

My brother (with the CDL) said the FedEx trucks involve a lot of contracting with independents so if the trucker is "acting like a putz" it's not necessarily FedEx.

I'm sure FedEx is quite aware that their large logos slamming into a mini-van with a family is probably not good for business - especially if the logo is splashed all over the nightly news.

link title

fintail · January 2010

Today's winner. I am headed down a 4 lane road, very light traffic, to be turning left at the major intersection about 6 blocks away. As I am approaching, I swear I see a car stop in the middle of the road and veer into the turn lane. I ignored what I thought I saw, as it was dark and hard to see...but I probably did see that. I get to the turn lane, waiting for the light. The car in front of me is what I guess was a 2006 model 325i...I got a bad feeling when I noticed it was stopped nearly a car length behind the stop line. The long and unsequenced light finally changed, and instead of going, the BMW driver hits their signal. I flash my lights, and they slowly creep away. We turn onto another 4 lane road...and the BMW straddles both lanes, holding up me and several cars, going about half the 30mph limit. I won't stereotype the driver too much...just to say their head was shorter than the headrest at its lowest position. Thankfully I had to turn off the road in a few blocks and escaped the pain. Probably should have called it in as a drunk, even though it probably wasn't...just another one of our beloved new drivers :shades: :shades: :sick:

blu99blzr · January 2010

In the words of Bill Engvall... Here's your sign!

fintail · January 2010

I'd get my own sign today..."I'm in hell".

All I want for Christmas is for people to go at least 90% of the speed limit, and actually know how to drive.

oregonboy · January 2010

Get a grip, fin. You're not in Germany anymore. :P

America: "Land of the Free, Home of the Lowest Common Denominator." :sick:

bolivar · January 2010

Drunk.

fintail · January 2010

I think I should put a camera in my car, make videos, and we can play a game. "Drunk or Stupid?" would be a good title. The latter will almost always be the correct guess.

I don't understand why people who come from less developed places where traffic is insane come here and then drive like they are scared of their own shadow.

I like "Land of the Free, Home of the Whopper"

loncray · January 2010

So my wife and I are traveling down a 4-lane road yesterday with a motorcycle in the next lane over and dump trucks ahead in both lanes. The light changes at the upcoming intersection, and the motorcycle maneuvers to go between the two dump trucks and run the yellow. The dump truck in front of me locked up his rear wheels stopping; the other dump truck goes thru the yellow. The motorcyclist changes his mind and tries to stop - and goes head over handlebars. If he'd been going faster, he'd be dead. His full-face helmet saved his life - the forehead area and the visor were badly scraped. An RN who was in traffic stopped and took over immediate care from me (all I did was tell the guy to lay still and stop moving); police, fire and EMS were on scene in 5 minutes. Just a simple accident but I sure got my yearly dose of adrenaline from it.

ponderpoint · January 2010

"I think I should put a camera in my car, make videos, and we can play a game. "Drunk or Stupid?"

I'm sure it's well into the future but I think you'll see the day that all vehicles manufactured after a certain date will have to be equipped with mandatory data recording and storage, even to the level of having small cheap pin-cams around the vehicle.

Of course there will be a document you sign (when you purchase the vehicle) stating that you understand that tampering with the VDR (vehicle data recorder) will have severe consequences involving hefty fines and possible prison time and even destruction of the vehicle..

In the best selling book "Traffic", author Tom Vanderbilt writes about a brave new world where nobody gets pulled over for speeding or other moving offenses anymore - police will not be actively involved in enforcement.... Your fellow motorist will!!!! When they see an offense they simply record it and press "SEND" and the infraction is recorded in a huge data base. When it's obvious that a motorist is consistently breaking traffic laws, the offender will get a massive fine/possible suspension on a quarterly or semi-annual basis. The motorists vehicle itself could be "turned off", probably through court order.

The obvious question comes up "What if a neighbor or somebody that knows you has a grudge or another motorist has been stalking you?".... The system would be able to throw out "pattern complaints" even to an extent of warning the "stalking motorist or neighbor" that they themselves could be possibly fined for false reporting.

ebay already employs simplistic systems like this today. Of course those systems in the future would have to be far more complex.

Seems like an Orwellian nightmare but unfortunately, the projections for vehicles increasing in numbers worldwide is staggering. At the end of this decade, the World Health Organization predicts that the third leading cause of death will be...Traffic fatalities!

In an informal way, "big brother" has happened to a relative of one of my friends. I think I may have already wrote about it in a previous post. He was pulled over by police after another motorist called 911. The police observed him for a few miles, pulled him over and inquired about it. Of course he acted completely innocent (wouldn't you?) but after the police left a passenger with him (relative) told him he had a road rage problem. He dismissed the idea until his family ganged up on him and told him, without question, he did indeed, have a serious problem.

I welcome the day that road-ragers will be observed and their sneaky snake-like behavior will NOT be be folded into the anonymous world of the highways we have now.... Already this is desperately required.

fintail · January 2010

It's funny how better driver training would solve all of these problems. Leaving it up to the lowest common denominator motorist to tattle is insane.

And knowing our defective and corrupt legal system, the big brother ideal you mention there and the unjust punishments added aren't outside the realm of possibility. Look for it in England first. I wouldn't trust those systems, the people who develop them, or the people who support them, any further than I could throw them.

Maybe that can be the straw that breaks the camels back and makes people dust off the guillotines and gallows again.

snakeweasel · January 2010

The comedian Gallagher once came up with the "Idiot Gun", its a gun that shoots a dart with a flag that says "Stupid" on it onto a car. When you see someone do something stupid you shoot one of these darts into his or her car. When a cop sees a car with a few of these flags stuck to it they pull the car over and give the driver a ticket for being a jerk (Gallagher uses a different word though).

snakeweasel · January 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku9VCsAJ3pI

fintail · January 2010

A Camry driver stopped in the middle of the road to do something stupid? I can't believe it! :shades:

210delray · January 2010

Hey, I resemble that remark!

(But I don't stop in the middle of freeways.)

Nice cleanup of "litter" by the way.

imidazol97 · January 2010

The article says the police claim they got most of the money back... Yeah. Sure. I don't believe that happened. A lot of people were scooping up bills.

A Detroit happening:
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/its_raining_cash_in_detroit_as.html

Another article says $160,000 missing from the Detroit stimulus operation.

fintail · January 2010

Driving on a 4 lane 35mph suburban arterial last night...I was going maybe 2 over, come up on a blue Lexus RX in the left lane going maybe 31...I pass on the right, and the next thing I know, we are both going 45. I punch it and get back over, and he lays on his horn. WTH? My foot slipped and hit the brake at that moment, and he behaved from there on, dropping back as I continued at essentially the limit. It was a "new" driver here, too.

I saw something considerate too...late last night I was drying up 405, which is an insane stretch of road as people drive so slow on it...there are no hazards on this other than volume at weekday rushour, but at any time of day, any day, people will be content to go 45 in a 60...must be some scenery I am missing. Anyway, I am headed north, and when I was blasting along earlier I picked up an Evo that would then kind of play with me...passing me quickly, then dropping back, then encouraging me to do the same...all in fun. As we were traveling tandem (probably no more than 10 over at this point), I see a slowpoke Explorer probably going 50 in the left lane. It sees us, and moves over! That's a very rare event in these parts.

pp2009pp · January 2010

Icy road, top of the hill, decent amount of traffic and few people with snow tires.

SUV stopped at the corner decides to beat the cars going across the intersection on a green light and turns right at high speed ahead of them. It hits the icy slope and does a nice spin of more than 360 degrees. It then proceeds to go down the slope sideways, perfectly perpendicular to the road.

It is incredibly lucky that there were no cars parked on the side of the road or coming up the block in the other direction as it would have pinballed off of all of them on the narrow street. Sheepish driver - maybe minor heart attack happening - finally got the car under some control and pulled into a driveway.

There was plenty of traffic so no one was going to go more than half the speed limit under these conditions...maybe 15 mph...so what exactly was the rush?

bolivar · January 2010

He was trying to drive safely on a icy road. If he had stopped, he might not have been able to restart because of the ice, which would have impeaded traffic and possibly caused an accident, so he just ran the red light.

I can make these up all night.

snakeweasel · January 2010

Nope what happened is that he was driving a Toyota and it just took off. Thats my story and I am sticking to it.

stever · January 2010

The sun finally came out a few minutes ago after a morning of snow, followed by rain, with gray skies most of the day.

We went out around 1 and someone pulled out in front of me and then proceeded to run the red light a block away. Then another driver must have been late for the movie as s/he was flinging around downtown driving too fast for conditions and cutting people off. Another truck decided to ease their two right tires over into my lane at one point too.

Usually the drivers around here are better than that.

A couple of them did have Oregon and Washington plates. :shades:

euphonium · February 2010

And you're in Idouhno?

jensad · February 2010

What always scares me is when a big set of doubles, i.e. truck with trailers, abruptly comes into my lane as the BIG tires start their crossing at my left/right front end. They are so big, compared to my low slung Acura RL, I get abit nervious.

Years ago, I was riding my motorcycle on IS 80 and my wife was behind me in our old Merc 4-dr "tank". I observed in my rear mirror a "Safeway" truck turn right into the side of the Merc. My wife kept control of the car and got to the right shoulder. I stopped to help her and the truck jus kept going. There was a truck tire mark on the driver's side door which was still on it when I sold it to our neighbor.

This all took place just in early Jan, just afterthe holidays. When I thought about it, I rationalized it as the "Xmas driver hangover" that seems to last with bad drivers for two to three months. But then we live in the Bay Area which has tremendous amounts of driving variations.

I guess Steve, this 'disease" has swept northward to your neck of the woods.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

jensad

euphonium · February 2010

Avoid Oregon where triples wander all over. The state with a gas jockey at every service station - because it is too dangerous to fuel your own vehicle.

210delray · February 2010

New Jersey has no self-service either. I hate it, especially if you're forced to wait in line, as on the NJ Turnpike. But the prices can't be beat because of lower gas taxes than in surrounding states.

the_big_al · February 2010

If I miss anything about living in a state other than Oregon, this has reason alone has got to be one of the top ones.

You would think it would be great not to have to pump your own gas and it is to a certain extent. No more smelly hands, no more having to get out in the bitter cold or sweltering heat, sometimes you get your windshield washed, etc, but often I would much rather be able to do it myself. Especially if I have gas cans to fill. I would spend less time at the station too. I think I could cut the time I spend in half if I could pump my own gas. Sometimes you get a flunky who doesn't seem to know his gas cap from his pen cap, but I have narrowed my station choices down to a couple where I know the guys that work there but if I am ever out of town or happen to be in a different part of town away from my usual places, it's a crap shoot as to if the guy is going to be able to know what to do...

Not a fan of the law, but I guess it does provide jobs. Then again so does McDonalds.

xrunner2 · February 2010

New Jersey has no self-service either.

Here in Illinois, we have had self-service for decades I think. The most stupid drivers at gas stations are those who leave their engines running while filling up. Seems like more often than not, they have old pickup trucks. So, far, have not seen a running pickup driver smoking a cigarette, on cell phone and filling up. If, when I do, I will run.

stever · February 2010

They don't do that around here. There's always the emergency shut-off switch.

xwesx · February 2010

Running while filling is the norm here during the winter months. In fact, I tend to get sideways glances when I shut my car off to fill - especially if it is -20, -30, or colder. People tend to pull up, jump out, put the filler in and set it, jump back in, wait for the "click," and then jump out again to finish it off. It is just a waste of fuel as far as I'm concerned; neither the engine nor the interior cool off significantly enough during the time it take to fill it up.

I despise the gas attendants in Oregon. It takes two-to-three times as long to fill up there as anywhere else in the US. A few years ago I pulled into a station at about 0300 in Pendleton on our way to Portland to catch a flight. I sat there for about five minutes without any sign of life. I finally got out of the car and pressed the call button. A voice came on and said, "I will be right out!" So, I waited exactly one minute, then filled my own gas. As I was pulling out of the drive, the attendant came out of the store. :mad:

fintail · February 2010

The last time I went to Oregon, I made sure I had plenty of gas before I arrived. I don't trust strangers to fool around with my car...I am a little more OCD than most :shades:

210delray · February 2010

That aspect used to bother me too. But in NJ now, it seems all gas station jockeys just let the pump shut off by itself and don't try to force more in. I also make sure to park so that the filler is on the same side as the gas pumps -- I don't want them dragging the hose over the trunk of my car.

Also, with pay-at-the-pump nearly universal now, your credit card is always in sight and back in your hands immediately.

xwesx · February 2010

Yeah, it really bothers me, too. I always get out of the car as I would if I did it myself, then check my oil and hover near. Once they start the flow and walk away, I take it from there. I had one fella yell at me once as I was hanging up the nozzle, saying, "Hey! That's illegal!" I shot back, "Buddy, if I lived here I might actually give a s***."

Mostly, I can't stand having my time wasted by their inefficiency. Usually the stations are all backed up because you have one or two attendants covering six or more pumps. Each car sits at the pump for 4-5 minutes as the employee makes the rounds. It really highlights the pointlessness of it all. If it were a matter of safety (which it should be, if it is mandated by law), they would not be allowed to start the pump and walk away. If something were to happen, I suspect reaction time would be far slower than the majority of owners who would be only a few paces from the nozzle. So, really, why is it that I should tolerate them wasting my time? Because it's law? Hahah; I don't think so.

fintail · February 2010

I do have to wonder what the point of such "laws" are. What does it really do?

I don't want someone dripping gas down the side of my car or messing up something else.

the_big_al · February 2010

I think anymore it has to do more with provided people with jobs now more than it has to do with "safety". Indeed if it were not a law, I would wager that 98% of the stations would lay off 98% or their work force. Of course, it would be nice if you were able to fill up at 3 am too... it's hard to find a station open at 3 am in the smaller towns. That happened to me once when traveling through the night and we got to the point where we needed gas, but in the small town we were at, there wasn't anyway to do that. Now if it were a normal place, they just leave the pumps on and you slide your card and away you go. In Oregon?? NO WAY...

stickguy · February 2010

hey, gas jockeys are one of the best things about NJ. Especially when it is overly cold like now.

Most places wont even try to fill if you park on the wrong side. They make you turn around.

There is a downside. I always pay cash (not wanting to give them my Cc), and yes, they will jam as much as they have to to get up to an even $ amount. Not quite as big a deal when the prices are high, but sometiems it can end up bieng 2/10 or 3/10, if you don't yell at them to stop. Even then, it usally happens, sicne they don't speak english (usually).

But, at least I don't have to freeze my tail off!

xwesx · February 2010

Haha; good point, but there are full-service stations here (all Chevrons). The difference is that the "full service" is optional! Even those stations have one island (closest to the building) that is full service and a second (and sometimes third) that is self-service. As such, the driver has the choice of what they prefer and the service is good! If I recall correctly, the price-per-gallon for full service is $0.10 higher.

fintail · February 2010

Today's commute home - no inconsiderate drivers. No weavers, no slowpokes, no yappers, no turn-out-in-fronters...and with a little bending of speed limits, I made almost every light. This happens maybe a few times a year.

Of course, this morning at 0530 I got to just slow down for a red light because a car making a free turn triggered the negligently maintained sensor.

xwesx · February 2010

That's amazing. Twilight Zone? :P

Yeah, I hate those errant sensor-triggerings. One lazy turn and it costs me a couple minutes of my life - that is definitely inconsiderate.

fintail · February 2010

I probably should have bought a lottery ticket on the way home :shades:

The light in question probably shouldn't be turned on until 0600-0700, and should be a blinking red/yellow at night. The small town where my mother lives does it like that, from 11-7 the lights just blink. Here, the lights are on 24/7, which is lame as the place is very dead from 11-7, I go to work early and rarely see more than a couple of other cars on my commute.

the_big_al · February 2010

I would love it if the politicians would come to their senses and realize that. I would love to have blinking lights after 11. Around here they would probably have to turn them on at 6, but still, that would be better than nothing.

blu99blzr · February 2010

I wonder if this lack of moronics is related to Oregon's passage of the "Hands-Free Only, No Texting" law? (Which while well intended is completely stupid imho - No cellphone usage should be allowed by DRIVERS at any time)

Is this question in the wrong thread?

Please discuss.

fintail · February 2010

Yep, we have a very active thread devoted to the yappers. Phoning will driving is more than inconsiderate, and is discussed here:

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0f6321/3907

fintail · February 2010

I don't know if it is politicos or control-happy public sector lifer types who implement and maintain the lame traffic controls seen in so many places.

There's no excuse to be forced to sit at a long light with no cross traffic. It is extraordinarly wasteful of both time and fuel.

snakeweasel · February 2010

Which while well intended is completely stupid imho - No cellphone usage should be allowed by DRIVERS at any time

Then do you support a ban on drivers talking to someone in their car?

euphonium · February 2010

Visiting between two in the front seats caused the vehicle to overshoot their destination by 150 miles a month or two ago. They are still suspended.

I'd be for a ban on passengers talking to the driver. That would have driven my MIL nuts.

fintail · February 2010

Today's winner...."new" driver in a 90s Altima at a major intersection with a long light, who refused to take a free right turn no matter the lack of cross traffic. Only created a quarter mile or so backup.

the_big_al · February 2010

Sitting at a backed up light waiting to make a right turn. 4 lane rd with a median and dedicated turn arrows. NO right turn lane. Not even a bike lane. This intersection is one of the busiest in town.

I am about 10 cars back waiting to make a right turn. Because there is no right turn lane, you must stay in the through lane until the intersection. So I am there and all of a sudden on my right comes an F-250 pulling a trailer and holding his shin nipper in his lap. Barely scraping by. I'll bet his tires were hitting the curb as he tried to pass all the cars in the right lane so he could make a right.

As he started to pass me the line started moving and as such he was right where I needed if I wanted to turn right. I hung out trying to figure out what he was doing and then deciding whether to punch it and get in front of him, but that wasn't possible because of the cars in front of me or hang back to get behind him and essentially let him "cut" in line. I tooted my horn at him to let him know he was a moron and I watched his little nipper jump up and start yapping. The only thing I decided I could do is slow down, holding up traffic behind me and get behind him so I could make my turn.... :sick:

Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

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