Missouri drivers suck!

[Imogene]

I'm not sure if both of these actually count as SC sightings, but they certainly do embrace the SC spirit.

I was driving to class one morning, and, as I came to a left turn signal, and a red light, I was slowing down to stop, when out of nowhere (okay, the lane on my right) a green station wagon suddenly pulled out to make the left turn in front of me, nearly hitting my front bumper in the process. This car, of course, ran the red light (illegal) from a straight lane (illegal), and cut right in front of me to do it (illegal, but not because it was me, but because it could've caused an accident.)

Another time, I had just come out of the Bullseye, as a customer, and had parked my '97 Taurus next to a mammoth of a van on monster truck wheels. I was backing out of the spot, and heard honking coming from somewhere on the other side of the van. Now, my car is tiny, and it was nowhere even close to being in the aisle yet. Not to mention, I couldn't see around the van, and I was going very slowly. As I finally get clear of the van, I get met with another honk, and find another car, inching along toward me. I stop at that point, and the driver pulls around my tail and zooms further into the parking lot. All the while I'm thinking, "If you could see me, and I obviously wasn't responding to your honking, why the hell are you still trying to drive through me? I obviously couldn't see you, as you couldn't see me. How was I to know you were honking at me?"

[blas]

Vans are truly the bane of my existence on the road.......a lot of people who drive them must be missing a common sense portion of their brain, because every time I see a van going down the road, it's going at least 15 mph over the speed limit, cutting people off, swerving all over like a drunk driver (it's probably just a breeder Mom trying to eat, talk on her phone, and smack her kids all at the same time), and tailgating people worse than hillbillies in big pickups do.

[Ryu]

dont fret, maryland drivers suck too
everyday on the way to work i have to get into the right hand turn lane which is also an exit ramp from a highway with a yield. Guess how many yeild, whether they are going right or getting into the straight lane? Not very many at all...

[Imogene]

Vans are truly the bane of my existence on the road.......a lot of people who drive them must be missing a common sense portion of their brain,

Hey!

I used to drive a van, back when my family owned one...
But I was extremely careful with it. Oh, no, it wasn't until I got to use the Taurus that I even thought about speeding (5-10 MPH over the limit, I swear). Of course, the van could never have imagined that type of speed... it was a lunker at best...

[One-Fang]

In regard to the second problem, I never understood why our parking garages here have "do not reverse into your spot" in them. Why not? That way I can see who's coming when I leave! Much safer to do your reversing from in the lane to out of it, while you can see, than from in the park to the lane, when you can't.

[Crosshair]

Lucky me that we don't have many people like that here in ND. Actualy we do, they just wrap themselves around a tree in the wintertime so the problem generaly solves itself.

[gundam40]

Your left turn story really mirrors (literally!) the incident I saw a few days ago.

Was driving home, reaching an intersection where I had to turn right. Unfortunately, there was a bus stopped to allow passengers on and off, so I waited patiently behind it to finish. Another driver in the lane to my left (so NOT the right turn lane), suddenly cut in front of the bus to make a right turn, JUST as the bus was leaving. That almost caused an accident, just because the dumbass couldn't wait for 10secs for the bus to move. What an asshole.

[protege]

Your left turn story really mirrors (literally!) the incident I saw a few days ago.

Was driving home, reaching an intersection where I had to turn right. Unfortunately, there was a bus stopped to allow passengers on and off, so I waited patiently behind it to finish. Another driver in the lane to my left (so NOT the right turn lane), suddenly cut in front of the bus to make a right turn, JUST as the bus was leaving. That almost caused an accident, just because the dumbass couldn't wait for 10secs for the bus to move. What an asshole.

I've seen people do that...usually with predictable results. Just the other day, some idiot in a riced-out Honda cut in front of a moving city bus...which promptly knocked said Honda on its side. The Honda was totaled, while the bus just had a cracked windshield and some minor front-end damage.

Then there's the redneck in the pickup that nearly offed himself last night. This guy, just *had* to get past the semi ahead of him, and also the bus in the left lane. So, what did he do? He whipped his truck into the left lane, cutting off the bus, then cut back in front of the semi....with inches to spare I thought for sure he was going to cause a serious accident--the rest of us would have had to slam on the brakes and possibly get into the wreck as well.

I don't like being behind vans either. They're usually plodding along at 15mph under the speed limit in the passing lane.

[Think Blue]

All this good stuff belongs in driving rants

[varmintjane]

Lucky me that we don't have many people like that here in ND. Actualy we do, they just wrap themselves around a tree in the wintertime so the problem generaly solves itself.

Ever been to Minot? I moved here in the middle of winter and the speed limit along Highway 83 is like 65 in some places. I was going 60 because of the snow and was getting passed by idiots doing 75 on a single lane. It's even worse in the summer when the motorcycles come out and they do some dangerous crap. I had some old lady in a Buick put her left signal on and then try to swerve into the RIGHT lane where I just so happened to be. I had to swerve a little and hit the brakes to avoid getting scraped. At least no one was tailgating me at the time.

[digilight]

In regard to the second problem, I never understood why our parking garages here have "do not reverse into your spot" in them. Why not? That way I can see who's coming when I leave! Much safer to do your reversing from in the lane to out of it, while you can see, than from in the park to the lane, when you can't.

There are three reasons for this requirement.

First so that you won't back up into the building or railing.

Second to avoid getting exhaust fumes on the building (if the parking spaces back up to a building or some type of wall). Some vehicles put out more smoke than my brother in law after a couple of beers.

Third, its an easy way to check for potentially abandoned cars. Here in the states all cars have to have license plates on the back (most states you have to on the front as well), you also have to have the registration stickers on the back plate. This way when the guards are patroling they can see that there is a car with a 2004 sticker and it should now have a 2007 sticker (red flag).

[Crosshair]

Ever been to Minot? I moved here in the middle of winter and the speed limit along Highway 83 is like 65 in some places. I was going 60 because of the snow and was getting passed by idiots doing 75 on a single lane.

Minot is a real pain in the *ss to drive in IMHO cause you have alot of steep hills that, in the wintertime, are not fun to drive on. Here in Grand Forks, the biggest hills are at the golf course so I don't have to worry about making it up/down an icy hill road. On another note, I do see alot of dumb drivers in the winter. However my dad has it best. He has to drive 30 miles to work and will often have people pass him at high speed and then he will find them 5 miles down the road in a ditch when their car couldn't make the curve with the road conditions. SUVs mostly according to him.

Another story:

My brother works for a company that does lights, sound, and special effects. They can do everything, from doing the lights and sound for presidential appearances (Brother got to go do that.), renting you a fog machine for a party, or anything in between. They have a store in both Fargo and here in Grand Forks. (Probably elsewhere too, but I don't remember.)

My brother was working on a big event in Fargo and was driving their moving van full of equipment with a co-worker down to set up. It is the middle of winter and the wind is strong. It is snowing lightly and alot of snow is blowing across the road. The Semi-trucks are driving slow because there is a big risk that they could be blown over since the wind is going straight across the road. Ahead of my brother is a semi in the right lane and a car in the left lane. My brother is in the left lane. The car in front is passing the semi and goes into the whiteout that the semi is leaving behind/beside it. Now, if you are in this whiteout, what would you do?

a) Maintain speed until you clear the whiteout ahead of the semi.
b) Let off the accelerator until you fall back behind the semi and its whiteout.
c) Change the radio station.
d) Slam on the brakes.

Well, this woman chose D and needless to say, a moving truck full of heavy light and sound equipment does not stop, nor manuver, very well. They where lucky that only the cars rear was crunched up to the back seat from going under the truck and the truck had some front end damage. (The truck was road worthy, I don't believe her car could drive afterwards, I'm going from memory here.) This woman was a grandma with her two grandchildren in the back. The cop who came to the accident (A woman cop) was royaly pissed at the grandma for doing something so dumb. The cop really chewed her out, but had to give my brother the ticket because he had "hit" her. She really watered down the ticket though because she knew that my brother was not at fault. My brothers boss was cool about it, all he cared about was that he had kept it on the road and not wrecked the truck/gotten hurt.

[Knightmare]

All you people in other states that are missing bad drivers, that's because the rest of them are down here in Florida. Not only do we get the senile seniors that should NOT be driving in any shape, way, or form, we get tourists and the people that moved down here. I am a transplant, but I was never a sucky driver.

But people down here? Forget it. Every day I pray I make it to work in one piece.
There are so many accidents down here... and I'm not even in a metro area!

[XCashier]

Not only do we get the senile seniors that should NOT be driving in any shape, way, or form, we get tourists and the people that moved down here.

Same here. We also get a lot of people who, for some reason, think stopping at red lights is optional. Twice in one week I've nearly been hit by some idiot who blasted through a red light, then looked at me with a moronic grin. Pay attention to the road when you're driving!

Phoenix is a bad driver's paradise. We get people who move here from all over the nation and bring their bad driving habits with them. The impatience of the easterners, the snail's-pace of the Midwesterners and the speed demons from California all on our thousands of miles of overheated blacktop. Plus we've got one of the highest car theft rates in the country, so the cops are kept very busy.

I can't wait to move out of here!

[Slave to the Phone]

Phoenix is a bad driver's paradise. We get people who move here from all over the nation and bring their bad driving habits with them. The impatience of the easterners, the snail's-pace of the Midwesterners and the speed demons from California all on our thousands of miles of overheated blacktop. Plus we've got one of the highest car theft rates in the country, so the cops are kept very busy.

I can't wait to move out of here!

Not only do you have all of the above, you get the snowbirds too. People who live there year round tend to adjust, the ones who go home for 6 months relearn all their bad habits and bring them back.

Are you planning to stay in the state? If so, don't move to Prescott. We gots all of the above bad drivers, crammed into narrow roads and inadaquite highways. You don't even want to know what happens when it snows