Four-wheel follies

wolfie · #1 07-25-2012, 04:23 PM

A few incidents that happened on my latest trip:

25 is not 55
I was travelling on a road with a 65 MPH speed limit, when I encountered a construction zone with a 55 MPH limit. Immediately before the road was reduced to one lane due to the construction, a car passed me - and proceeded to drive 25 MPH through the construction zone. If you're going to go that much below the limit, DON'T pass someone before a one-lane section begins.

No room at the inn (or out)
I was making a delivery (related to building renovation) in a small office complex with no loading bay (other parts of the complex were business as usual). One aisle of parking (continues through an underpass where 2 buildings of the complex are joined at the 2nd floor) goes past the door with the service elevator. In this aisle, immediately past the underpass, are the Peterbilt of Natural Selection, a cube van belonging to the installers, and a small gap (a Schwinn could get through, a Harley couldn't). Taking advantage of the weather protection given by the underpass are some carpet installers, rolling out, measuring, and cutting carpet.

A car comes in the opposite end of the parking aisle (can see the obstruction from the point where he made his turn), and gets almost to the carpet before realizing he can't get through, then backs up and takes a different aisle. When I mentioned his stupidity to the carpet guys, they said that on some occasions, cars have driven OVER the carpet that they were cutting.

Look where you're going
I was on a 3-lane (each direction) highway, in the right hand lane. Traffic was heavy (minimal gaps, but not significantly slowed). On the right shoulder up ahead, I saw a cube van with its left signal on, creeping along. There happened to be a gap in the middle lane next to me, so I signalled and changed lanes. The driver of the cube van must have been watching, because as soon as I changed lanes he accelerated. As I (and the gap to my right) passed him, he started changing lanes from the shoulder into the gap (and waved). Checking my mirrors, I saw a white pickup truck (and the car behind it) pass him IN THE LANE HE WAS ALREADY PARTWAY INTO, forcing him back onto the shoulder.

Guys, look at whats happening further ahead than your front bumper, and try to anticipate what people will do - failure to do so is why you hear about 50 vehicle pile-ups. If someone is on the shoulder signalling left, they probably want to get back into traffic. If a semi moves out of the right lane, and the guy starts accelerating, there's a pretty good chance that he wants to get into the gap left by the semi.

AmbrosiaWriter · #2 07-25-2012, 08:33 PM

AHGH!

That has to be one of the few things in driving that will instantly make me see BLOOD. Like shooting out of my eyes if I was in a Hummer (which I hate) I'd ram you off the road (not really but being able to mentally threaten it is good venting) - people who REFUSE to let others into the lane.

This is pretty much the number ONE reason for traffic jams during rush hours; people do not know how, or do not want to, merge properly. Holy crap it's like "GWAH A PERSON IS GOING TO BE IN FRONT OF ME! HO NOES END OF ZEE WERLLDDD."

One of my favorite past times is blocking cars trying to zip ahead of me in the merge so that I can let other people who have been trying to merge safely get into the lane without worrying about someone side swiping them.

wolfie · #3 07-26-2012, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Quoth AmbrosiaWriter

AHGH!

That has to be one of the few things in driving that will instantly make me see BLOOD. Like shooting out of my eyes if I was in a Hummer (which I hate) I'd ram you off the road (not really but being able to mentally threaten it is good venting) - people who REFUSE to let others into the lane.

I assume you were referring to the white pickup truck, and not to me. After all, I had changed OUT of the right lane specifically to make a space to let the cube van in off the shoulder. If I'm mistaken, even if you were in a Hummer, you wouldn't have rammed me off the road - basic physics (Peterbilt of Natural Selection outweighs a Hummer).

AmbrosiaWriter · #4 07-26-2012, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Quoth wolfie

I assume you were referring to the white pickup truck, and not to me. After all, I had changed OUT of the right lane specifically to make a space to let the cube van in off the shoulder. If I'm mistaken, even if you were in a Hummer, you wouldn't have rammed me off the road - basic physics (Peterbilt of Natural Selection outweighs a Hummer).

I was referring to the two cars behind you that immediately hit the gas to fly by the poor cube van and force them back out onto the shoulder. I nearly got run off the road by a big, yellow DHL truck that decided that even though I was two full car lengths ahead of him merging in, he couldn't bare to let my little Toyota Solara be in front of him.

No, for you I'd go all ninja and do something nefarious to you at a truck stop, but seeing as you are a nice person, you never have to worry. (On top of the fact that I do not know anything about you other than you drive a big old truck.)

dalesys · #5 07-26-2012, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Quoth wolfie

Peterbilt of Natural Selection

Or the Kenworth of Darwin's Dreams.

LillFilly · #6 07-27-2012, 07:05 PM

This is what I thought of the first one!

AmbrosiaWriter · #7 07-28-2012, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Quoth LillFilly

This is what I thought of the first one!

BAHAHAHHAHAHA. I always laugh when I see that image, not because of Picard (who I love) but because of Mr. Worf just... standing there... It's only amplified if you know what Picard is doing in the actual scene.

wolfie · #8 08-10-2012, 09:04 PM

Another one. I was going to a pickup in MGBurg/Jaguarville Old Holstein (Brit car enthusiasts familiar with dairy cattle should be able to figure that one out

). To get there, it's a left turn from one local road to another. Coming back to the interstate it's a nasty right turn.

When the advance green for the left turn ended, I was the 4th vehicle in line (first 3 were four-wheelers). Through the vegetation, I saw that there was a truck coming out of the area, so I stopped about a length back from the stop line (some traffic goes straight through rather than making a right, and I didn't see his signal). All 3 of the cars ahead of me entered the intersection (by rights, only the first 2 should have). When the light changed, the 3rd guy to enter the intersection STAYED PUT rather than completing his turn (once you enter the intersection, you have committed to finishing your turn when the light changes, otherwise you'll be blocking traffic).

Turns out that the truck I saw was making a right turn - when he saw what was going on, the "quitter" car backed up into the left turn bay, but stopped when his nose was at the stop line. People, when a truck is stopped 70 feet back from an intersection, maybe there's a reason for it. The truck doing the turn had to do an exaggerated "jug handle" to avoid taking out the railing on the corner, when if the car had either completed his turn, or backed up further, the space in the left turn bay would have made it FAR easier for the truck to turn. Got a wave when the truck went past me - clearly HE understood why I was holding back so far.

Kaylyn · #9 08-10-2012, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Quoth AmbrosiaWriter

BAHAHAHHAHAHA. I always laugh when I see that image, not because of Picard (who I love) but because of Mr. Worf just... standing there... It's only amplified if you know what Picard is doing in the actual scene.

That's the one where he's trying to win Lwaxana back from the Ferengi after her and Deanna and Riker had been kidnapped, right?

*watches WAY too much TNG*