Idiot Drivers - Hazard Lights Mean Nothing To Them

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Transit Buses will sometimes put their hazards on and stop in the right lane for a few minutes because they are running early and they have to adhere to strict schedules. Frequently car drivers will pull up behind them expecting them to move. They will even pull up within a few feet of the rear bumper of the bus so that when it eventually dawns on them that the hazards mean that the bus is not going to move, they have to back up first before they can go around the bus. This can take some time when others idiots have lined up behind the first one.

Yesterday I was in the right lane on a four lane road (two lanes each way) and at least a hundred feet before an intersection I noticed a bank with an ATM which I wanted to use to my left. I put my hazards on, foot off the brake, and waited in the right lane for traffic to clear so that I could move left and turn into the bank parking lot. Traffic was quite light (a car every few seconds), so the visibility for the drivers behind me was good. My truck has clear windows. Yet vehicle after vehicle would pull up behind me and wait for some time before realising that a stopped vehicle with hazards on was unlikely to move and then go around. Some would pull up so close that they had to back up before they could go around.

Why do they not pay attention to signals? My theory is that their lemming like behaviour is due to them being on auto pilot, wanting to devote the least amount of attention to driving and would rather devote more attention to their radio or passengers.
 
So you are camped out in the right lane with your hazards on instead of staying with the flow of traffic and looping back around so you can be in the correct lane to make the turn?
 
Yeah, no. You don't just get to stop in traffic lane and justify it by turning on your flashers. The traffic lane is for motion. You want to stop, turn around, gawk, or slow the flow in any way, get off the road. That's what parking lots are for.
 
When you want to move left, what should you blink? Hint: Not the hazards.
 
There was not much traffic flow. As I said a car every few seconds. With a clear lane beside me, nothing prevented cars from going around me instead of pulling up behind me and wasting their time. If I see a stopped car with hazards on I go around it instead of pulling up behind it and expecting it to move. You would rather stop behind the car and waste your time rather than just go around?
 
Why didn't you just keep driving, turn left at the next opportunity, then turn around and return to the bank that way?

Freezing up in a travel lane with hazards on is not what most drivers expect.
 
Sorry OP, in that situation you're more in the wrong than the other drivers.
 
City drivers and suburban drivers. That stuff happens all the time in the city. The regular city drivers know people double park like that all the time and can recognize it. The out of towners or people that don't know how to drive just tend to be clueless overall. They'll figure it out eventually when they're behind enough cars with their blinkers on. Around here, people will do it without even turning on their blinkers and most people just figure it out.
 
You stopped in the middle of a road because you didn't know where you were going and waited for traffic to clear to go across the road? That's ridiculous. What you should have done is kept on going and made a U turn in a parking lot further up the road. It doesn't matter if other people are stupid too and pull up behind you, you're in the wrong.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
You stopped in the middle of a road because you didn't know where you were going and waited for traffic to clear to go across the road? That's ridiculous. What you should have done is kept on going and made a U turn in a parking lot further up the road. It doesn't matter if other people are stupid too and pull up behind you, you're in the wrong.


Yeah, he was too nice. In the city, that would mean jam on the brakes, cut in front of the guy in the left lane and at least signal that you're going to take a left turn. If traffic was light, he probably didn't even need to cut anyone off.
 
I don't quite get it? If the traffic was light enough for people to go around the OP, why wasn't he able to just move to the left lane like he wanted or needed to ??
 
I did not stop in the middle of the road, I stopped in the right lane with a clear lane beside me.

What most drivers would do, as Wolf359 mentioned, is jam on their brakes and get in the way of somebody in the left lane and possibly hold someone up. I figured the way I did it nobody had to slow down, they could just go past me and I could make my turn when the road was totally clear.

After reading the responses to my post I now see why so many drivers pull up behind transit buses, wait and waste their time and then go around. Me, as soon as I see the hazards, I am going around the bus. This thread has certainly been educational to me as to the thought processes of some (most, if the above responses are a representative sample) drivers.
 
Originally Posted By: old1
I don't quite get it? If the traffic was light enough for people to go around the OP, why wasn't he able to just move to the left lane like he wanted or needed to ??


Traffic was pretty light but I was very close to the entrance to the bank parking lot and did not have the luxury of moving to the left lane at some speed, signalling a left turn from the left lane and then completing my turn while ensuring there was no opposing traffic. This was not a main thoroughfare by any means, it was a residential street coming up to a busy street. Rather than rush the turn, I figured I would wait till the road was clear.
 
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Looks like FL is not the only place Canadians can't drive. "Hey lets stop in the middle of the road and call everyone else stupid."
 
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I can't believe someone is actually trying to justify stopping in the right lane because they want to make a left turn.

I see this occasionally, people who can't simply continue driving until they can safely turn around, they must either stop dead in the road or suddenly swerve across traffic to MAKE THAT TURN!
 
Originally Posted By: ozric
I can't believe someone is actually trying to justify stopping in the right lane because they want to make a left turn.

I see this occasionally, people who can't simply continue driving until they can safely turn around, they must either stop dead in the road or suddenly swerve across traffic to MAKE THAT TURN!
Come on man. It's pretty obvious that someone stopped in the right lane of a busy road with their flashers on is wanting to turn left to get to the ATM.
 
Us country boys don't know about dbl parking. That's just an excuse for pushing and shoving
laugh.gif
 
First Mistake you made...
You want to go left, use left blinker. second mistake you have your hazzards on and your still in the lanes, your supposed to be in the break down lane to your right.
Seems to me you the one in the wrong.

Women drivers are the worst.

Originally Posted By: George7941
I wanted to use to my left. I put my hazards on, foot off the brake, and waited in the right lane for traffic to clear so that I could move left and turn into the bank parking lot. Traffic was quite light (a car every few seconds), so the visibility for the drivers behind me was good. My truck has clear windows. Yet vehicle after vehicle would pull up behind me and wait for some time before realising that a stopped vehicle with hazards on was unlikely to move and then go around. Some would pull up so close that they had to back up before they could go around.

Why do they not pay attention to signals? My theory is that their lemming like behaviour is due to them being on auto pilot, wanting to devote the least amount of attention to driving and would rather devote more attention to their radio or passengers.
 
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Already been drilling into my kids heads (who do not have a drivers license yet by the way) that the proper course of action if I miss a turn or can't make a desired turn is to drive on, find a way to circle back, and do so legally and without impeding other traffic. You never stop in moving traffic, or even worse, back up.

Expecting that turning my flashers on makes whatever I am about to do ok is ridiculous.

And no, you aren't a bus, who usually have specific laws that cover their actions.

That being said, yes drivers do very poorly at reacting to unexpected changes in front of them.
 
Well, at least you were not driving with the hazards on.

Still trying to figure out how being stopped in the right lane with hazards on relates to wanting to turn left from the left lane.
 
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