Stupid driving

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
8,856
Location
Texas
We're always talking about "distracted driving" being a growing problem, and it IS. But I think people are just getting dumber. The other day, I saw the dumbest yet.
I was using a local elevated flyover to exit from one freeway and take onother. Its a one-lane flyover, one-way, but built with enough width for a breakdown lane (and presumably another traffic lane as demand rises in the future. The SOLID WHITE stripe (is fairly close to the outside Jersey barrier, the traffic lane is thus close to the outside of the curve, and the SOLID YELLOW stripe is to the right of the wide breakdown lane. Where the ramp merges into the next freeway, there's a construction zone... not relevant to the stupidity, but relevant to the outcome.

As I exit, there are two cars in front of me. Both enter the one and only lane correctly. But then the middle car (directly in front of me) signals and moves left of the SOLID YELLOW LINE and into the breakdown lane. Breaking down? Should I stop? Well, no, the guy keeps on driving about 60 mph. After about 10 seconds, I realize that this guy thinks its a traffic lane... with a SOLID YELLOW LINE to his RIGHT! I mean, who DOES that??!? I drop back, blink my lights, and do everything I can to let him know something is up. Totally ignores me.

So now the part about the construction zone... where the ramp ends, there are a bunch of the sand-filled inverted barrels. Guess where the breakdown lane ends... yep, in a whole field of barrels, and the guy flies right in among them, locking his brakes all the way. Somehow he missed hitting a barrel, but wound up stopped sideways in among them.

I tell it now and it STILL seems unbelievable. You NEVER drive to the left of a solid yellow line! Never, never, never EVER!
 
I see things like this all the time. People can't negotiate turns without going outside of lines. I hate it when you have two lanes turning left, there's a curved dotted line separating them, but some yutz turns too sharp, and crosses into the inboard lane. Sometimes they just flat out change lanes while turning.

It's also fun when I've been in the left turn lane, somebody from the right is making a left, and they have to swerve to avoid hitting me even though I'm behind the stop line.
 
While driving on the wrong side is bad, driving into a non moving object is worse. I mean look forward... if you see something in your way you need to turn the big wheel in front of you or hit the pedal on the left (the big one).
 
Do you REALLY expect people to pay attention to the road? Come on.

The driver had MUCH more important things to do - like Facebooking and texting.

Or he was one of the drivers that can't stand to follow people. I have seen it and rode with people that do it. They will pass someone, just to go the same speed as they were before but they "can't be behind someone"
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88

Do you REALLY expect people to pay attention to the road? Come on.

The driver had MUCH more important things to do - like Facebooking and texting.

Or he was one of the drivers that can't stand to follow people. I have seen it and rode with people that do it. They will pass someone, just to go the same speed as they were before but they "can't be behind someone"
I'm happy to be behind someone, it's called "drafting"!
 
2 days ago I saw a good one; guy pulls out of a shopping center and crosses all 3 lanes of one of the busiest streets in town at one of the busiest intersections and tries to get into the left turn lanes to turn left onto the intersecting street, only both turn lanes were completely full of cars. So what does he do? STOPS and blocks 2 lanes of traffic with cars hurling towards him at 50+ mph. I immediately saw what he was doing and was able to get into the far right lane and was ready with my window down and horn a blazing.

Next year I'm taking out depreciation do to wear and tear on my middle finger.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT


Next year I'm taking out depreciation do to wear and tear on my middle finger.


And the worst part is I'll bet he gave you a look like, "What else was I supposed to do, I HAVE to block these lanes! What's your problem!"

People seem to think they have the right to do anything they want in heavy traffic.
 
That is pretty stupid.

Who knows why he did that. One time this old lady came out of a parking lot while I was driving by and I almost had to climb up the curb to keep her from sideswiping me.

I was pretty upset temporarily but she was a rather 'advanced' senior so I didn't want to do anything to make matters worse.

I noticed that she was coming from a medical/professional building's parking lot. She could had just had a medical procedure or eye exam.

Even if one person only makes one mistake per year when there are a lot of people concentrated in one area they can cause problems.

I even made a mistake myself, once.

I think maybe periodic driver exams should be more involved. Maybe refresher courses in proper procedures are in line.

Probably some of this could be done with computer simulation, maybe on DOT web sites.

Airlines rely heavily on flight simulators to keep pilot skills sharp and up to date. Maybe we could use auto driving simulators to do the same thing.
 
I don't treat solid or double yellow lines as "hard medians" if I'm driving in an area where I know the traffic pattern. I have to travel a lot of windy "rattlesnake" roads and the state double striped all the backroad highways araound here. How am I supposed to take a fast straightline thru a corner with that slippery stripe in the middle? I must ignore them If I have to pass a slowpoke.
To make matters SUPERBAD for me, the very Not-Wise GVT nannies somehow got funds to dig a rumble strip on the 2-lane RT-111 centerlines solely (thru coincidence) because a woman hit a tractor-trailer head on at full combined speed due to inattention(or ?) and her crossing the double yellow on a wide open road section with perfect visibility.

Stats ~35,000 highway deaths/year in the U.S. sounds Crazy. But now I read in CR about 1/2 million deaths due to Hospital malpractice per year.

That's Outrageous.
 
Last edited:
Years ago I was making a left turn at a light and noticed the car that was at the light on my left as I was making my turn was a young attractive woman sitting in her car and she was crying alligator tears...I mean boohooing uncontrollably. I have often thought of her and what might have been the reason for her sad show of emotions. I try to be understanding of a persons mental state while driving, though some you can't help but think 'what an idiot'!
 
Originally Posted By: gman2304
Years ago I was making a left turn at a light and noticed the car that was at the light on my left as I was making my turn was a young attractive woman sitting in her car and she was crying alligator tears...I mean boohooing uncontrollably. I have often thought of her and what might have been the reason for her sad show of emotions. I try to be understanding of a persons mental state while driving, though some you can't help but think 'what an idiot'!


Driving a car or operating a machine while you're not physically and emotionally fit to do so -> idiocy. Sure, things come up, but if its debilitating you should pull over.

The guy I originally posted about CLEARLY just thought he was in a travel lane, nevermind the yellow stripe to his right.
 
I was almost take out by a late model IS Lexus the other day. Roads had a minor covering of slush on them but not bad really, I had no problem getting around. She is coming around the bend going the other way, way to fast and loses it. Instead of taking her foot out of it she keeps it planted, gets herself into a nice drift than stuffs it into the snow bank. If she just took her foot out and corrected the wheel I'm sure the Lexus traction control system would have saved her.

Even a modern car with AWD which is really [censored] near impossible to get off the road...people manage.

Remember the average person is a moron.
 
Has anyone else noticed a drastic increase in people sitting at stop lights, totally unaware the light has turned green? I've never used my horn so much.
 
Originally Posted By: bvance554
Has anyone else noticed a drastic increase in people sitting at stop lights, totally unaware the light has turned green? I've never used my horn so much.


Yup, around here they are too focused on texting to bother paying attention to driving.

Of course I was stupid a couple days ago. Sitting at a light, and it turned green and I stalled the car. Didn't even realize what I did for a few seconds it had been so long since I stalled a manual.
 
Originally Posted By: bvance554
Has anyone else noticed a drastic increase in people sitting at stop lights, totally unaware the light has turned green? I've never used my horn so much.


ALL THE TIME! I have even sat through stop lights a few times because of this.

I won't beep ... afraid of what the person would do.
 
I had someone pull out in front of me to make a left out of a side street. Ordinarily, they would have been fine and I wouldn't have needed to slow down at all. However, they seemed to forget that their [censored] all-seasons aren't exactly great in the snow and sat there slowly crawling across the road in front of me, wheels spinning the entire time, leading to me needing to drop a decent bit of speed to not hit them broadside.

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: bvance554
Has anyone else noticed a drastic increase in people sitting at stop lights, totally unaware the light has turned green? I've never used my horn so much.


ALL THE TIME! I have even sat through stop lights a few times because of this.

I won't beep ... afraid of what the person would do.


I've been seeing a decent bit of this too (although it's been better since winter set in). I usually give them a few seconds and then lay on the horn, especially if it's a short light.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top