small driving pet peeve [Archive]

Arm

03-29-2009, 01:08 AM

Amen to that. One of the reasons I love my extremely old Ford Explorer; it looks like it will eat your car (I've run over another car with it, so it can actually do that). Most people stay the hell away from it. But when I'm out in a different car- I was borrowing a minivan for nine days earlier this month- people do that kind of thing ALL THE TIME.

And it's insane. The minivan and the explorer take up almost exactly the same amount of space on the road. Their blind spots are very similar. But people will do the stupidest things around me when I'm in the minivan. Especially that corner-cutting thing.

Makes me wish for Darwin and his Chainsaw of Natural Selection...

tigger222

03-29-2009, 02:01 AM

LillFilly

03-29-2009, 03:17 AM

Yep, that happens to me at work all the time (in a busy parking lot with inner-and-outer roads). What I love is when the person cutting-over the line expects you to back-up and provide them with more room. I see a lot of larger suvs/trucks doing this, but most often it's any type of car where the Driver is in a hurry!

bookishfreak

03-29-2009, 03:58 AM

:ashamed: I actually did that last week. It was a complete accident, and it was scary, and that will NEVER happen again.

Bandit

03-29-2009, 03:59 AM

This is one of the times I wish I still had the Nissan POS. Or the ultimate commuter car - a '72 Chevy Impala, pre-rusted with lots of dents in it.

Nothing built in the last 10 years short of a bus, semi, or train would survive an impact with it. And it says "Go ahead. Hit me. See if I care." :devil:

B

Kogarashi

03-29-2009, 04:34 AM

What I love is when the person cutting-over the line expects you to back-up and provide them with more room.

I only back up for the CT Transit buses, and that's because they really don't have the maneuvering room here in town. Even when I'm completely behind the stop line, which is set a good carlength and a half back from the intersection, the bus needs just a few more inches to make the turn without taking out a building. Plus they all have a huge gouge down the side from cars they couldn't miss. Ugh. I've learned to watch that particular intersection as I approach it now to make sure there are no buses that will need to turn should I lose the coin toss and get the red light.

All other cars, though, don't get me to move. I'm bigger than most of them. Go ahead. Hit my Jeep tank. We need a new car anyway.

Kyree

03-29-2009, 04:37 AM

It's sad that now days people just don't know how to drive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow-Et4_HW2Q

When I first found that I thought it was a funny joke, but it's reality now :eek:

mattm04

03-29-2009, 05:08 AM

I only back up for the CT Transit buses, and that's because they really don't have the maneuvering room here in town. Even when I'm completely behind the stop line, which is set a good carlength and a half back from the intersection, the bus needs just a few more inches to make the turn without taking out a building. Plus they all have a huge gouge down the side from cars they couldn't miss. Ugh. I've learned to watch that particular intersection as I approach it now to make sure there are no buses that will need to turn should I lose the coin toss and get the red light.

All other cars, though, don't get me to move. I'm bigger than most of them. Go ahead. Hit my Jeep tank. We need a new car anyway.

The only time i will back up or give someone more room is a few intersections where the stop line is too close and it is a frequent route for semis. You wold think they would have pushed the line back because it is a frequent semi route, but no. A semi could make the turn, but it is way too close for comfort.

Cia

03-29-2009, 05:54 AM

I saw a biker go through a red light and turn left in front of a semi. I almost wish the semi had smushed him. Almost cause I didn't really want to see flying biker bits coming at me.

LillFilly

03-29-2009, 11:02 AM

Phew, close, yes. But the skill some of those semi-drivers exhibit in manuvering their trucks is amazing!

ditchdj

03-29-2009, 03:45 PM

Oh God there is an abundance of inbred rednecks that do that shit here all the time. One inbreed in particular made a left turn like that and almost took out my mother-in-law's front bumper and then had the NERVE to get out of her car and tell her she almost hit HER. My mother-in-law laid down about a dozen cuss words at her and she goes, "Well thaink yew very muuuch!" She was gonna confront her at her door until I got out to make sure she didnt.

wraiths_crono

03-29-2009, 05:56 PM

one solution: train horn, lol blow it just as they start to get near you, watch em swerve... no no.. ive... uh.. NEVER... done that :angel:

Ironclad Alibi

03-29-2009, 06:57 PM

one solution: train horn, lol blow it just as they start to get near you, watch em swerve... no no.. ive... uh.. NEVER... done that :angel:

Back when I had a Volvo station wagon, I put a new horn in it. The original horn was a meek beep-beep. I got a diesel type horn from an autoparts catalogue and installed it. People noticed it after that. :D

dalesys

03-29-2009, 10:40 PM

one solution: train horn, lol blow it just as they start to get near you, watch em swerve... no no.. ive... uh.. NEVER... done that :angel:

Shades of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brother's Fat Freddy's horn in his VW bug:
1000 Watts of a semi-load of live hogs locking up the brakes!

ADoyle90815

03-30-2009, 12:21 AM

protege

03-30-2009, 03:37 AM

yeah it's a bit scary when a car decides to narrowly miss you by inches, head-on, because they can't turn the corner without getting in the on-coming traffic lane... and then almost glare at you as if it's your fault for being in the way

I had someone do that to me the other day. I'm about 20 feet from the stop sign, when some idiot (and I'm being nice) in a Hyundai comes flying around the corner. Dumb bitch was on her phone, and not only did she come into my lane, missed hitting me head-on, but nearly took out the stop sign too. Then she gave me a nasty look when I gave her the finger... Don't want to get flipped off? Fine, then hang up the damn phone, and don't drive like an idiot :pissed:

PepperElf

04-02-2009, 11:37 AM

I had something similar happen yet again, only this time with a right turn...

I'm driving up a hill and some jerk is riding my butt because I won't speed for him.

Right before a major intersection there's a tiny right hand turn you can take to cut off the intersection, only... you have to be careful cos it's a 25mph road for a reason - got a really tight curve in it.

On the way pulling in to it, I see there's a postal truck in the road but no biggie I can get around him easily.

Make my turn, slow down really hard to twist the car to the right to make the curve.... Look up to the left and realize ... the jerk took the same curve and ...

WTF?

The jerk behind me took the same curve only ... I guess he figured he could go 40mph all the way through and was almost NEXT to me. I stopped and just looked at him, close enough he could see I was thinking, "WTF is wrong with you?"

He backed off and I went on, skirted the mail truck and then went on the road I wanted.

Assdriver kept tailgating though, so I pulled off at the local college in case he was turning into psychodriver and watched him speed off. idiot's gonna kill someone

artifical sweetner

04-02-2009, 03:57 PM

seems kinda strange youd be turning right from the left lane to begin with

Lace Neil Singer

04-02-2009, 08:04 PM

I ride a motorbike and I loathe it when stupid idiots, often either men driving cars that scream "My penis is very small!" or mothers in battle wagons, cut accross me or overtake me on a corner. FFS, I don't want to die cuz of your cretinious disregard for people on two wheels. :rolleyes:

LillFilly

04-02-2009, 08:08 PM

It's funny how much of this type of driving I see in parking lots. You would think common sense would say not to try doing 30 in a place where people and pop-out unexpectedly.

And the drivers that think the speed limits/stop signs in a parking lot are optional. I see 3-4 accidents a year in the same spot. They never learn.

I'm about ready to wrap my car in pool noodles, just to be on the safe side.

PepperElf

04-02-2009, 11:05 PM

seems kinda strange youd be turning right from the left lane to begin with

no in the latest issue i was turing right from a right lane
the guy behind me just didn't pull his ass out of his head and he swung into the left oncoming lane all the way and almost came up beside me

Dreamstalker

04-03-2009, 12:05 AM

One thing that really drove me nuts is when I was doing a dump run in our pickup and several people cut me off while I was in it and this truck is a good sized one and they just acted like I could stop on dime.
The trolley line I take most of the time crosses a couple streets above ground. The signals are set so that greenlights for the trolley and cars rarely coincide (if they do, then the cars have right-of-way as long as they actually have a green light).

Starting in the spring, I'll see a lot of penis extensions trying to cross the tracks and beat the train. The trains take a fair distance to completely stop, and a typical vehicle will lose a fight...a few years ago I witnessed a very messy encounter between a train and two cars (one car's involvement was obvious, not sure how the second one got into it).

One day, the train I was on came across some jerk in an overlarge SUV. He had tried to beat the green and flip an illegal U-turn (east and westbound traffic lanes are separated by the trolley tracks), but the westbound drivers weren't going to (or couldn't) let him in and so he was stuck on the tracks. I was sitting in a seat behind and to one side of the driver, so I got a front-row seat for what transpired.

Train driver stands on the brakes (miraculously we managed to stop and nobody was hurt) and lays on both the bell and horn. Penismobile-man looks right at the driver and flips him off. Favor is returned by driver and even a few passengers, more laying on of horn. A minute or so more of this, then the T driver begins inching ever so slowly forward until the front coupling is almost-but-not-quite touching the car. At this point westbound traffic is stopped, possibly to give idiot somewhere to move to, possibly to watch. T driver gets on his radio.

Penismobile finally notices what has transpired, and that the train is much bigger than he is...finally tucks his tail between his legs and heads westbound...but is pulled over by transit police before he can even start his great getaway.

Mike Taylor

04-03-2009, 12:11 AM

I don't know about y'all, but I was taught to ALWAYS signal when I change lanes. Nobody down here seems to do that and it drives me buggy.

Bandit

04-03-2009, 01:29 AM

I don't know about y'all, but I was taught to ALWAYS signal when I change lanes. Nobody down here seems to do that and it drives me buggy.

Didn't you know that turn signals are options? Especially on expensive cars/penis extenders?

Not many people tend to mark that tick box it seems.

B

Fox One

04-03-2009, 06:17 AM

Phew, close, yes. But the skill some of those semi-drivers exhibit in manuvering their trucks is amazing!
It's necessary. Maneuvering a many-ton vehicle while double-clutching a thirteen-speed transmission ain't an easy job. I wish everyone had to get a CDL before applying for their class E permit here in America. At the very least people would treat these behemoths with respect. Just because you zip in front and slam on your brakes doesn't mean it's even physically possible for that freshly-loaded Peterbilt to avoid turning you into an accordion with the help of the car in front of you.

Lace Neil Singer

04-03-2009, 10:57 AM

Didn't you know that turn signals are options? Especially on expensive cars/penis extenders?

Not many people tend to mark that tick box it seems.

B

Also, if you are a mother, then you're excluded from all rules regarding driving safely.

AriRashkae

04-03-2009, 12:30 PM

It's necessary. Maneuvering a many-ton vehicle while double-clutching a thirteen-speed transmission ain't an easy job. I wish everyone had to get a CDL before applying for their class E permit here in America. At the very least people would treat these behemoths with respect. Just because you zip in front and slam on your brakes doesn't mean it's even physically possible for that freshly-loaded Peterbilt to avoid turning you into an accordion with the help of the car in front of you.

My parents used to haul animals cross-country before I was born. My father still hauls regionally, and my mother drives school buses, usually as a spare, so she's almost never familiar with her route! :lol:

I was taught very young to never challenge anything bigger than me (learning to drive the truck on property once I was big enough to see and work the pedals helps! :lol: ) In fact, one of the courtesy points I was taught was to flick my high beams slightly when a semi was passing and far enough ahead to pull in front of me without clipping me, since their blind spots are so huge. About half will turn their hazards on in thanks. :D

Dreamstalker

04-03-2009, 01:47 PM

Just because you zip in front and slam on your brakes doesn't mean it's even physically possible for that freshly-loaded Peterbilt to avoid turning you into an accordion with the help of the car in front of you.
Two Thanksgivings ago in NJ, my dad and I were on the parkway. All exits are on the right, we were in the center lane with trucks behind us, in front of us and to our right (somehow everyone is maintaining a safe stopping distance).

Some ass in--yup, a sports car--realizes about 50 feet from the exit that he does indeed want that offramp. He's in the far left lane. So he floors it and threads the needle between us and the trucks :eek: I wasn't able to get the plate number, I hope someone did.

protege

04-03-2009, 08:03 PM

After seeing what a semi can do to a car, I always try to give them as much room as possible.

For those who don't know, my grandmother got hit head-on by a semi...after some redneck idiot in a gravel truck rear-ended her...and pushed her car into the semi's lane :eek: back in 1994. It happened so quick, there was no way the semi could have stopped in time. At least, he tried to--the long skid marks...which are *still* on the highway...attest to that. Gravel truck couldn't stop either. In fact, he continued...hitting a state-owned (PennDOT) truck, flipping it over. Grandma's damn lucky to have survived--the entire front end of her car was gone. I mean, the bumper was through the windshield, the engine fell on the ground (when we lifted the tarp), and there wasn't a straight panel on it. Hell, the spare tire was folded in half :eek:

With all of that said, it still amazes me that people still think a truck can stop on a dime...and still do stupid shit like that. Trust me, the last thing I want to see in my rearview mirror, is a semi jack-knifed across two lanes of traffic and skidding towards me...because some dipshit in a car just *had* cut him off while hurrying to Starfucks :rolleyes:

Even better are the dipshits who don't give way to the buses on corners. Sorry, but the bus (unless it's one of those weird ones, with the bendy-thing in the middle) *can't* help it. Just about every morning, I get to see the following scenario:

Beechwood Blvd. leads to the parkway (I-376). Quite a few people take that, or one of the many side streets. So does the bus. However, the bus usually has a hard time of it--one of the side streets (the last one with a traffic light before the parkway) is a bit tight. Also not helping, are the idiots who park along the right side--they just *love* to park in the yellow zone.

Every damn morning, and it never fails, this is what happens. The first car at the light, is usually up too far. Bus comes, can't make the corner...forcing the car to either back up (not possible in traffic), or to go forward a bit. Annoying, but workable. However, I've noticed something else. Because I use that street every morning, I know about the bus. I also know that you'll still trip the traffic light...even if you're back a carlength. It never fails that I'll stop back far enough for the bus...only to have some idiot go *around* me...and then have to reverse/proceed to allow the bus clearance :rolleyes:

LewisLegion

04-05-2009, 01:18 AM

I got boxed in by some semis and a road rager once. Driving cross country, middle of nowhere Colorado. I was in the left lane passing a small bug in the right lane and a semi also to the right. There was another semi behind me and ahead of me was a pickup. Behind the bug was a third semi. To my left was a guard rail.

Realize too late as I'm passing the slow semi that he's in the middle of an argument with the pickup driver who is swerving and gesturing furiously. The semi guy is yelling and also gesturing in unkind ways. And apparently he got on the horn to the other two semis because the one behind the bug swerved onto the right shoulder around her and then pulled up beside me. The first semi sped up and got in front of the pickup, nearly running it into the guard-rail. The semi behind me also sped up to the point I could not anything in my rearview but its grill.

So now its a semi in the left lane, the pickup, me, a semi, and a semi blocking the right lane. There are literally inches between my front bumper and the swerving pickup, my back bumper and the tailgating semi, the semi to my right, and the guard rail to my left.

Meanwhile the second truck driver on my right and the pickup guy are still shouting and screaming. I can't slow down...tried, but the semi on my back end stayed right on me and I didn't want to get rear-ended...he would have taken me apart.

For nearly five minutes I'm trapped in this box o' death, going 75 down the highway, wondering when the semi in front is just gonna slam on its brakes and make me and ass driver a road sandwich, or when the ass driver is gonna swerve wrong and create a pile-up, and praying for the guard rail to end so I can pull onto the shoulder and let the whole mess pass.

Finally the guard-rail ends, the pickup swerves onto the shoulder in a cloud of righteous fury, and the semi behind me slows enough that I can get out of the sandwich. The lady in the bug looked at me as I fell in beside her with MASSIVELY huge eyes, pale as heck. She could see everything that was going on and I'm sure she was as ready to witness my bloody death as I was to experience it. Got off at the next rest stop and just shook for half an hour.

DGoddessChardonnay

04-07-2009, 12:59 AM

Phew, close, yes. But the skill some of those semi-drivers exhibit in manuvering their trucks is amazing!

Or positively scary, depending on one's perspective.

Try to imagine the back of our shopping center. It's kinda narrow and there's a line of trees on one side (we have several apartment buildings behind us) and the trucks have to drive past the back of the store and then back up to the dock, which is on the side. Meaning the truck has to aim toward the left and then straighten out to get to the dock just right.

One Wednesday morning, back when we were still receiving our Keebler deliveries on that day (since changed to Mondays now as of this week) we had a SEFF truck (SouthEast Frozen Foods) truck that was parked behind the store and a Nabisco truck at the dock.

In flew Chuckie with the damn cookie truck (28 foot box trailer, similar to the Miller beer distributor's trailers size-wise) and FLEW by that SEFF truck (and it had a 53' trailer that took up quite a bit of length) so fast (SEFF driver let Chuckie go first for some reason) that I swear there had to be maybe 3 inches width between the two trucks.:eek:

Then after passing the back of the store, he shifted and started backing up (we already had the roll up door on the dock raised up, so we could see what was coming) and more or less flung the trailer to the dock. It's a wonder he didn't hit the dock (we have those plastic-covered foam buffers on the sides) and really cause some damage.

Even worse, he was bouncing around the dock worse than Beavis doing the Great Cornholio mumbling he'd overslept/the baby kept him and the wife up all night/he had a bunch of stops and he couldn't slow down for one second . . .bloodshot eyes, the works (we were actually suspecting he might be on something and that's dangerous behind the wheel for EVERYONE.)

Some people shouldn't be behind the wheel . . . . :help:

PepperElf

04-07-2009, 01:18 AM

that's true. sometimes driving tired/exhausted is just as bad as driving under the influence
your reaction time is down and you aren't really focusing properly

Arm

04-07-2009, 05:15 AM

AMEN!! Not only do people tend to get close to the cross traffic lanes while turning left, there are plenty of drivers who don't understand that the bike lane is for BIKES only, even if you're about to turn right, you should look over your shoulder to make sure there's no cyclist there. It's so bad that if I want to ride a bike, I do so only on the bike path at the beach, or at the gym.

speaking of which...

what the hell is WRONG with most cyclists around here, anyway? The cars are BIGGER, it doesn't matter if the cyclist thinks they have the right of way, that's not a fight they can get into and win, you know? Yes, the driver that hit them will get a ticket and/or possibly jail time, IF the cyclist did in fact have the right of way, which usually they do NOT, but the cyclist will be incredibly lucky if all they get is a few months in the hospital.

We have bike lanes. So, they don't use them. They'll ride on the sidewalks and make the pedestrians dodge. OR, they'll go the WRONG WAY down the bike lanes. Because that giant white arrow clearly doesn't apply, right? And stop signs? Those are for cars, man. Bikes don't stop! Man, that thing weighs like twelve pounds, you can't stop THAT. Just gotta ride through the intersection and hope my two-ton Explorer can dodge, right? Doesn't matter if I didn't see them- why should a cyclist try to pay attention to blind spots?

There's a four-way stop sign near where I live. It's not unusual for me to come up to it, stop, start to go, and have a cyclist from one of the nearby apartment buildings just zip across in front of me, going down the cross street. I assume it's the same one each time... Darwin will catch up to him eventually, but hopefully not while I'm driving.

Kogarashi

04-07-2009, 11:07 PM

The cyclists do that all the time around here as well, Arm. Some, to their credit, will at least look as they approach the intersection, but then they still zip across, running the sign/red light. Makes me want to smack them and remind them that bikes in the road are subject to the same rules as cars.

RootedPhoenix

04-08-2009, 11:25 AM

Makes me want to smack them and remind them that bikes in the road are subject to the same rules as cars.

Indeed, they are. I always tried to pay attention to what was around me. Can't be right if you're dead, you know?

AriRashkae

04-08-2009, 11:21 PM

Sounds like it's time for a discreet call to the local PD. Something along the lines of "danger to themselves and everyone around them." :angel:

Hey, if the best friend's neighbors can piss and moan and get a speed trap set up for cars (and end up getting caught in it themselves! :lol: ) why can't you drop a line about this "dangerous" intersection?

Buglady

04-17-2009, 03:49 AM

Makes me want to smack them and remind them that bikes in the road are subject to the same rules as cars.

Those of us who do keep that in mind are just as pissed off at the idiots, if not more so. I've been known to sprint to catch up to a light-running idiot and chew him out.

(I ride a 25 year old 5 speed English style bike. I do NOT look as though I can catch up to a racer wannabee. They are usually so shocked that they just let me lecture them... :p)

Cyclists who behave dangerously are in the minority, but the hostility they engender affects ME, and I'm not happy with that.

But - yes, bikes in the road have the same rules as cars. They also have the same rights. So please refrain from buzzing close and/or yelling at us if you are driving and you haven't actually witnessed the individual you are yelling at breaking a traffic law, thanks! Not all of us are idiots and we appreciate it when drivers help to keep the roads safe for everyone :)

Kogarashi

04-18-2009, 12:35 AM

Thank you, Buglady, for being one of the sensible people. :)

I only ever yell at the people who I see break the rules (otherwise, how do I know they broke the rules?), and they can't hear me anyway because I keep the windows up and don't follow them or anything. It's more to let off steam. I get that from my dad, actually. The most "road rage" he's ever done is yelling and smacking the steering wheel with his hand, but he doesn't drive crazily or get out of the car shaking his fists or anything like that.

And the last thing I need is to accidentally hurt someone while trying to "teach them a lesson." Bad mojo all around there.

EricKei

04-24-2009, 03:10 AM

The trolley line I take most of the time crosses a couple streets above ground. The signals are set so that greenlights for the trolley and cars rarely coincide (if they do, then the cars have right-of-way as long as they actually have a green light).Trolleys? We call them "streetcars" down heah. They actually have their own, separate set of lights. I believe they just automatically get right-of-way here (there are a couple fo intersections which explicitly say this), and, even if they don't, woe be to the fool, who tries to cut them off >_> I think they may actually have devices in there that allow them to turn all other lights to red so that they can go thru, at certain intersections.

Salted Grump

04-25-2009, 04:07 PM

It's kinda sad, but in my only experience with a Dipshit bicyclist, the Moron Doored Himself on my car, then tried to claim he'd sue me. I simply countered by waving at the traffic camera that picked up the whole thing, Combined with a polite rebuttal about deliberately ramming a parked car when someone was getting out of it.

Said moron slunk off, tail between his legs and a useless bike trailing along behind him. (he put a nice crease in the door, but hit the underlying frame perfectly; the Front wheel of the bike was roughly eight inches off from circular.)

PepperElf

04-25-2009, 05:06 PM

I think they may actually have devices in there that allow them to turn all other lights to red so that they can go thru, at certain intersections.look for some kind of strobe light atop the trolly/streetcar/bus

:)

Dreamstalker

05-01-2009, 12:43 AM

I believe they just automatically get right-of-way here (there are a couple fo intersections which explicitly say this), and, even if they don't, woe be to the fool, who tries to cut them off >_>
Yup. I've seen it posted as well, but even if it's not, that's just common sense, yannow? You'd think that after the handful of publicized messy accidents over the years people would learn -_- Although, watching a penismobile trying to argue with a streetcar is amusing (I'd love to see a staredown between a penismobile and a Red Line train--aren't the other lines apart from the Green largely centrally controlled? I know the doors don't care what they close on).
I think they may actually have devices in there that allow them to turn all other lights to red so that they can go thru, at certain intersections.
Huh. I've seen the separate signal lights here, but the transponders might be an urban legend (I've heard that emergency vehicles have them, not that it helps in the major intersection here--the longest it's taken a hot-running ambulance to get through a two-block stretch was just under three minutes). There are strobes and what looks like some sort of receiver on traffic light arms, the strobe usually triggers before you can actually see the fire truck/ambulance.