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Inconsiderate Drivers II (share your stories, etc.)
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After dropping off my daughter at school, I saw the obnoxious bus driver (mentioned in an earlier post) sitting at the end of the road with the red lights flashing. There was a car stopped in the opposing lane. As I drew closer (probably upwards of a minute later), the car continued on its way while the bus still sat, red flashing, not a soul to be seen anywhere. I took a different route rather than feel the need to do the same thing the other driver did.
Just after that, I was waiting at a red light to pass straight through. A car approaches from the right, turns right onto that road, and has zero lights. I flashed them a few times from behind as they drove away, then planned to catch up once I had green, but as I approached them, and they drove into a section of the road not lit by street lamps, they finally realized their folly and the lights came on. /sigh
Also had a fun one on cam, but I don't think I will post it as I weaved a web of profanity that Darren McGavin would be proud of. I am at a busy intersection, straight lane, sitting on red, lights change - but the turn lanes go first. Late model Lexus RX in front of me starts going anyway, gets honked at by many (including me), then stops and backs up a little. As we are about to get green, the reverse lights are still on. Of course it starts backing up, so I lay on the horn, and it jerks to a stop and creeps forward. Makes me wonder how these cars are purchased. Turn signal use was also awful today, but without enforcement, who cares I guess.
Hey, the good news is that they didn't just lay on the accelerator and slam into you. Yikes.
Here we suffer from a particular malady - "considerate" drivers being inconsiderate. I saw a perfect example of what I'm talking about today. I was waiting at a T-intersection to make a right turn. The line I was in was moving very, very slowly when it moved at all. The reason? People who had already turned on to the street I wanted to get to, or those who had proceeded straight thru the intersection to get there, were pausing to let vehicles enter and exit a couple of different store parking lots. What that meant of course was that the line beyond never moved. Misplaced courtesy at its best. This is an epidemic here generally, with people stopping mid-block to allow oncoming traffic to turn left in front of them, etc. This is especially fun when they do it in the left oncoming lane and there is traffic moving to their right who are unaware there will soon be a t-bone collision in their future.
Shortly after that, I had a terrifying episode. I was on a stretch of 4-lane expressway that was traveling at around 50-55mph. The far right lane leads to an exit to another expressway that has an exit to the biggest single shopping area about a half-mile down that road. Traffic there was at a standstill and it backed up into the right lane of the road I was on for maybe 1000 feet. In front of me was a newish RAV4. Mr. RAV decides at the last second he wants to join that backed-up traffic, so he STOPS in my lane and tries to force his way in. Thankfully I was paying attention and the ATS has good brakes, and nobody rear-ended me either. But I almost had a heart attack.
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But, you had to remind me about the inconsiderate considerates!
I experienced this last night as well. Traffic on a three-lane road (one in each direction with a center turn "suicide" lane), which bisects the local shopping district, was at a complete stand-still. The typical cause of this is a poorly designed three-way intersection a few hundred feet up the road, where the stub branch is quite popular, but it is very short (only holds about ten vehicles before they back up on to the main road) and has a long light. People tend to use the center turn lane for a half dozen or so cars, but then they just stop in the main drive lane waiting for a left, even though they could be in the center lane OR, even better, just go down the road another short distance and use a larger artery to access that other road.
So, last night, traffic is stopped. There is also a long line of vehicles waiting to make a right (merging into my direction of travel) from the local Fred Meyer (Kroger). I was about third in line from being even with this line of cars, and the driver there stops short to let in a large pickup. Now, traffic is really not moving quickly at all, and we might not get more than a movement of ten vehicles before the next light change at that branch road. Yet, this driver just sits there while two cars muscle their way in behind the pickup, and the third looked like he was going to do the same thing.
At that point, I just gave up, spun a u-turn, and headed back the other way (where traffic was still heavy, but moving). The nice thing about being in town is that there is ALWAYS more than one way to get to a destination!
Don't get me wrong, with traffic moving that slowly, it is appropriate to allow turning traffic like this to zipper with main traffic. But, the guy waiting in the main line was inconsiderate to block road traffic to let an endless stream of parking lot traffic into the road, and the parking lot traffic was clearly inconsiderate to assume right of way indefinitely.
Got off work early today, no no-lighters, but I saw a goodie: Model 3 in a left turn lane, changes mind after stopping and sitting, veers right across 2 lanes and turns right without a signal. Yeah, these are savvy with-it people who know what they are doing.
What happens around the holiday? Do people forget how to drive?
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Trip back to the metro area wasn't as easy as the exit - jammed traffic in the south sound, inconsiderate drivers (especially non-semi box and industrial trucks today). I think the trip home took around 25% longer.
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Jerky MB driver could be one of those lucky generation transplants, but the locals are the same when it comes to jerkiness.
Plenty of excessive speed on display coming back up through Kentucky on I-65, last minute moves from the far left lane to the exit ramp, even an 18-wheeler straddling the lanes on a couple of curves.
For example, locals can be timid and creep along at 5 under, and will freeze up at a 4 way stop. Transplants freak out when it rains and try to speed when traffic volumes don't allow.
It seems like it actually makes the roads more slick in conditions other than a very narrow band of freezing: If it is warmer than freezing, then moisture (or lack thereof) means the roads are going to be much more slick than otherwise, and if it is colder than about fifteen degrees, then the road is going to freeze anyway, and the surface will also be much slicker than if there was none of that gunk on the road. It used to be that we could always expect the intersections to be exceptionally slick during the winter (shocking, I know!), but the rest of the roadway was fairly decent. Now, that intersection level of slickness can be found anywhere they apply the chemical deicer.
This phenomenon is particularly present in the "spring" (March, most often), when the temps are still relatively cold, but the sun is actually providing warmth again. This deicer, often applied months prior, suddenly makes the road a fair imitation of "Columbia Basin black ice." In other words, so slick (and at a moment's notice) that it is nearly impossible for a vehicle to gain any purchase on the surface at all. How does this make for better driving conditions?!
The roads crews here have started using brine prior to snowstorms as a preventative measure but to my non-expert eye it seems utterly useless.
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For example, (to make a long story short) on the snow roads leading to Lake Tahoe, CA, the bean counters that be, with regulatory agencies approvals, used (cheaper,) non-indigenous VOLCANIC sand mixtures instead of (slightly more expensive) indigenous sand. Fast forward a few years later, the federal, state, county and local agencies, dropped a little less than $2 billion in remediation due to use of non-indigenous volcanic sand in road mixtures.
If it’s not obvious that it was probably WAY cheaper than a little less than $ 2 billion remediations over whatever saved (per ton) to use a “normal” sand mixture, I got $ 2 billion in lottery tickets I want to sell, knowing I am already going to win.
https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2016/08/31/obama-burnishes-environmental-legacy-lake-tahoe/89678112/
Well I and many others appreciate the improvements what a gigantic money well I am appreciate the improvements, what a gigantic waste of money.
I know I posted this before, some years ago, Seattle over-did it with the de-icer, and it made a real mess - if I ended up on the wrong end of this, I'd lawyer up so fast lightning would look slow, and I'd end up with a free house.
Happy new year to all !
Well, ...there We were ... The sign just jumped out in front. The car didn’t have a chance to stop. 😱
😳🤣👍
The question looking forward is now: how long will the new sign last IF/WHEN repaired?
Drivers here are a mixed bag. Many better places out there, many worse.
Today, though, two things: One, big white Ford pickup in the left lane of two. I was behind, we passed a few vehicles, then I resumed the right lane because it was more clear of snow. A short while later, the pickup slows down a bit. I was maintaining speed, so I ended up pulling along side. Then, pickup driver decides to move into the right lane. I beeped, he swerved back to his lane, lurched ahead, and abruptly pulled in front of me (no signal of course). Thankfully, he kept speed and moved along until the next light, which had just turned green. I took the left lane prior to getting there, swept through due to no traffic in that lane, and was on my way sans white pickup.
Then, I stopped at Fred Meyer to fill the Q7 (diesel). I used a fuel discount ($0.30 per gal), swiped my card, activated the pump.... and trickle! I could not get the auto lock to engage, plus I had to pull the handle with substantial force to get it to dispense ANY fuel at all, and very slowly at that. I'm talking a minute per gallon slow (literally). At minus ten degrees, and looking at a 21-22 gallon fill, I was not a happy camper. This obviously did not just magically occur, yet no lockout or sign on the pump!
After six tedious gallons, I was fuming and went inside the little attendant's hut. I first informed him of the issue with the pump, to which he replied, "Yeah, we've had a few people who have had problems with it today." At that, I became a little irate and chewed him out regarding my current predicament due to the business' unwillingness to actually do something about it to inform customers. He didn't say a word and avoided even looking at me.
But, I still had a lot of fuel to fill, so I went out and spent another 15 minutes or so wearing out my grip trying to fill that silly thing. To add insult to injury, once I hung up the nozzle and told the machine to print a receipt, it failed to do so. At this point, I was no longer livid and instead just laughing at the complete ludicrousy of the situation. I went back inside, apologized for yelling at him, asked for a receipt, and also asked for a nozzle bag to warn other customers that it was out of order. Since it was cold, he was the only worker, and I was walking past the pump again anyway, I was happy to help out. The guy still never said a word, but he gave me the receipt and the bag.
I put it on the pump handle and was finally on my way. My son, under-dressed as teenagers insist on doing, was sitting in the barely-warming-before-we-arrived car the whole time (and was duly chilled at this point!).
Ah, what a day.
My city has two bridges spanning its harbor. The larger and newer (circa 1970) of the two is the only one that trucks over a certain size (3 tons I believe) can use, so it gets lots of truck traffic. There is a toll plaza with 7 or 8 lanes going in each direction and the 3 rightmost on each side are larger and taller lanes to accommodate trucks.
In the nearly 50 years it has operated there have been only a few occasions where trucks have had mishaps at the tolls, until the last couple of years when it has begun to happen every couple of months. These always involve a truck trying to use the smaller car toll lanes. The latest was earlier this week with the expected result:
It is difficult to pinpoint why this is suddenly happening much more frequently. Inexperienced drivers for sure, but it is hard to miss the many signs directing truck traffic to the larger toll booths. Perhaps impairment by marijuana use thanks to our lax enforcement of the use of that newly-legal substance? Distraction by cellphones and texting? Who knows. Whatever the reason, it is becoming expensive both for the owners of the trucks and the agency that operates the bridge. They are now looking into new and undoubtedly costly measures to try to idiot-proof the toll area.
ETA: This link has a good video of the situation with new info on some of the other incidents. 14 such crashes this past year, I had no idea there were so many. Sorry for the Twitter link, I couldn't find a direct link to the report.
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I am usually on foot when I see the no-lighters. When possible, I will try to make eye contact with the driver, and point at the front of their car. It almost never works.
Anyhow, -37C here this morning (~ -35F). I didn't realize that Fairbanks still grew cold every once in a while!
https://youtu.be/USu8vT_tfdw
(there are many other videos of this spot)
I blame poor driver training/ability and distraction. Probably a case of getting what you pay for.
It is remarkable to see on others how the truck can be brought to an immediate stop upon contact. Amazing the bridge hasn't been damaged by the force of such impacts. That must hurt.
THIS ONE at 10' 6" is even more lethal. I like the food truck with the slogan "Setting the Standard for Excellence" that gets destroyed.
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I wonder why drivers of trucks with dump bodies leave them upright?
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2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
Indeed it would be (wickedly, don’t try this at home ) funny if everybody started directing lost oversize trucks in the direction of the underside overpasses.🤪
In CA, the custom has been for generations: someone has to die (in specific places) before actions (logical or mostly ill) are taken.