Sucky Drivers! (longish)

[protege]

I have trouble with the old people in the HUGE cars that like to drive 15-20 miles under the speed limit...in the FAST LANE!

They do that on *every* road here too. There's nobody in front of them, but even if there is...that car is usually about 8 blocks away. Doesn't stop the Buick/Cadillac/Lincoln/etc. owner from maintaining a 20-25mph pace

[ditchdj]

How about some truck drivers that try to "Play Traffic Cop" by blocking interstate lanes on purpose when approaching road construction by pacing each other at 20mph.

Next time that happens to me I'll just them on the shoulder and call the state troopers and tell them they're blocking traffic.

[Pagan]

Here I am sitting at a red light, waiting for an arrow to turn left (in Oz now people, driving on the left here just FYI)

Meh, I spend a lot of time waiting for an arrow to turn left here, too, and we drive on the right....well most of us do. Some find it necessary to take their half up the middle.

So, here's the pool? What drug was she on? Any guesses?

Ooh, ooh! *waves hand* Can I guess? Was it a cell phone?

Hey I'm in Oz as well, and according to people who have driven both here and in the states we are the more agressive drivers.
Apparently they are nice (Compared to us) according to what I have heard

I think someone's pulling your leg. We've got plenty of aggressive jackasses here. Most of them driving TPMs.

Hey, your signature is close to mine! More of us loving the Doctor and his fabulous hair!

But she was definitely charged with a DWI. (At 3:00 on a Sunday afternoon!)

Doesn't surprise me. We had a horrific drunk-driving wreck on Christmas Eve 1992. Killed a woman and her three kids, left the father permanently disabled.

He punches backs up, goes to his left and punches it, hitting the car in fornt of me, and the car in the left lane, crosses the double yellow and enters the CVS via the lawn. He stops when he hits a lamp post and a parked car. He gets out and enters the CVS.

He was arrested for no insurance, no license and hit and run among sever other charges.

I'm sorry, but the visual I get has me about to fall out of the chair laughing!!

my other pet peeve is u-turns... I'm sorry with few exceptions the only reason you should be doing a u-turn is that you are too stupid to plan ahead (I will forgive the people who are going to places where there really is no way but to do a u-turn or are doing it because they are honestly lost)...

Hey! There's some streets around here that are four lane, divided. It is seriously easier to turn right, go down to where there's a left turn bay into a business, and make a u-turn. If you try to make a left-turn across the road you *will* be sitting there all night. Montgomery, Wyoming, Menaul, and Coors (those are all actually 3 lanes each way, come to think of it) come to mind. EvilQueen might be able to help me out here, she's driven in ABQ, too.

This has nothing to do with poor planning or being lost. In fact, a u-turn on some dumb woman's part would have saved me having my one and only wreck! She was trying to turn left across Wyoming (three lanes, two turn lanes where it happened) at rush hour, during Balloon Fiesta, and without being able to see if it was clear.

[protege]

How about some truck drivers that try to "Play Traffic Cop" by blocking interstate lanes on purpose when approaching road construction by pacing each other at 20mph.

They do that crap on the highways here too. Annoying as hell to be cruising along somewhere between 65 and 70mph, only to have to slam on the brakes...because some idiot in a semi is in the passing lane...*barely* doing 55. Then they move back into the right lane, and act surprised when *every* driver flips them off

The best though, are the bus drivers. These fools can't drive at all. On one of the roads I travel for work, the speed limit is a "suggestion." Seriously--it's usually ignored, because cops *never* patrol the road--there's nowhere safe for them to sit. Anyway, one morning, we're doing about 60 or so. I'm in the left lane, there's a car ahead of me, one behind, and one to my right. As we're coming past one of the exit ramps, a school bus suddenly runs the stop sign Car to my right lays white smoke (by pulling the handbrake), car in front of me stomps on the brake (the bus front was in his lane), I literally stood on the brakes, the car behind me did the same, but clips the left median wall The bus kept on going, oblivious he nearly caused a *huge* accident. Couldn't get his number either--brand new bus, no school district lettering, no numbers. Fucking idiot!

[ditchdj]

Yeah Protege but I'm talking about truck drivers that, upon seeing road construction signs several miles back, will pace each other at 20mph, blocking both lanes. The rationale is that nobody will be able to race to the front of the line and be forced to fall back into line on the right. Personally I have a problem with ordinary citizens (especially truckers that like to throw their weight around on the road) taking the law into their own hands and taking it upon themselves to enforce the rules of the road. No to mention that truckers that do this are breaking the law themselves for impeding the flow of traffic and can get a hundred dollar ticket for throwing their weight around.

[Kogarashi]

Hmm. Ditchdj, the only time I've encountered that, I was actually rather glad for it.

Heading up to NH to visit a friend, I was on I-91 in CT when I encountered a slowdown in traffic. It's three lanes there, and I soon saw the signs on the left explaining that the left-hand lanes were closed ahead, so I move over. Several other cars kept blasting past, most likely merging at the last possible second and causing the slowdown in the first place. (Everyone around here likes to merge at the last possible second, even to the point of crossing solid lines where ramps split, and cause no end of traffic congestion from trying to merge where there's no room.)

Not long after, this semi comes up on my left, doing maybe 3 mph faster than me. He gets ahead of me, then starts pacing the right-hand lane. At this point, there's maybe two merge signs left before the construction (based on distances on the signs). Cars catch up to the semi, and then have to slow down. Some of them even do the sensible thing and merge.

Finally, the semi has to merge, so I let him in front of me. Immediately, another car or three blasts past and almost immediately has to hit their brakes again as they come upon the truck driving slowly with the blinking "merge" arrow sign on its back. So they're stuck trying to merge where it's already congested. I saw at least one merge only to merge left again once it passed said construction truck and roar off in the closed lane.

By the time I got up to Hartford (about half an hour later), I heard a report on the radio of a traffic accident and extra slowdown right around that exit where the construction was.

Now, that semi was doing about 55mph, the same as the rest of the traffic. Two semis pacing at 20 mph because of construction? Not so cool. But frankly, I don't like the yahoos who just have to be three cars further ahead in line that they must merge at the last possible moment and risk causing accidents. People should merge while there's still safe room.

[smileyeagle1021]

This has nothing to do with poor planning or being lost. In fact, a u-turn on some dumb woman's part would have saved me having my one and only wreck! She was trying to turn left across Wyoming (three lanes, two turn lanes where it happened) at rush hour, during Balloon Fiesta, and without being able to see if it was clear.

notice I said with exceptions... that would be one of the exceptions... you're not doing it because you think it will save you 30 seconds over going around like you are supposed to do (ie like the people out of the Sierra Summit in Reno who rather than using the south exit like they are supposed to to go either west or north, yes I know weird but it is clearly signed in several places, will use the east exit which is only supposed to be used by people going south or east and hang a u-turn thus getting in the way of everyone going east when it would take them an extra block or about 30 seconds to go around the proper way). You're doing u-turns because in a weird way that I have never encountered (but will take your word on) is a safer way to do things.

[protege]

No to mention that truckers that do this are breaking the law themselves for impeding the flow of traffic and can get a hundred dollar ticket for throwing their weight around.

I have yet to see a trucker to get pulled over in PA--they seem to be exempt from the speed limit

[trunks2k]

My Sucky Driver story (I may have posted this here before)

For those of you unfamiliar with the area, there are three major highways that run through the downtown area of Philadelphia. There's 95, which goes across the south side of the city then turns North to run along the Delaware River on the East side of the city. There's 76, which runs down the Schuylkill river on the Western side of the city, and meets with 95 on the south side, The two roads basically form a V at that point. A few miles North of the intersection there's 676, which runs straight across the downtown area connecting 76 and 95, so picture the three roads as as making an upside down A. 676 also goes directly to a major bridge to New Jersey. As you can imagine, 676, being a link between 2 major highways, a bridge, and running straight through the densest part of the city, gets very very busy during rush hour.

I was driving home from work, and had to stop off at the UPS Distribution center to pick up a package. The fastest way to do this from the direction I was coming from is to go from 76, across 676, to 95. I figured I beat the traffic since it was still fairly early and it wouldn't be worth it to take side roads instead.

I ended up being wrong - 676 was all backed up and barely moving along. I get towards the end of 676 and I hear a bunch of honking behind me. I look back and see a car, which had just come from the on ramp, on the right shoulder, trying to merge onto the highway. I could see the girl's face and she looked pissed, but the car next to her (let's call it car A) didn't let her in. As we're slowly moving along, I keep an eye on what's happening behind me. I see the girl cut off one car to merge onto the highway, then cut off a second person to get into the left lane, almost slam into the person in front of her as she accelerates to get ahead of car A, cut off car A and come to a complete stop in the lane.

I reach for my phone ready to call 911. The girl GETS OUT OF HER CAR, totally blocking a lane of traffic on one of the busiest roads in the city, and just starts screaming at the girl in car A, who, rather than looking scared is finding it rather amusing. I'm about to start dialing when the girl gets back in her car and starts driving again (by this point there's a good distance between her and me). I get to my exit and start to merge into the exit lane when suddenly from behind me, the crazy girl starts to go around me as I'm halfway through the merge so I almost side-swipe her.

--------------------------

There also is a guy who drives on 76 before the heavy commuter traffic sets in. There's a decent amount of cars on the road at these times, but people are all moving 55+ MPH. Except this guy. I've only seen him exceed 40 once, and it happened for a split second (I was a couple cars behind him), and it seemed that he realized he was exceeding 40 and slammed on his brakes. He gets on via an on ramp on the left lane. Naturally, the guy can't merge or change lanes. He continuously slows down because you know if you can't change lanes because people in the lane you want to go in are doing 30 MPH more than you, the best thing to do is slow down more. If you drive passed him, he looks absolutely terrified.

[trunks2k]

Hmm. Ditchdj, the only time I've encountered that, I was actually rather glad for it.

Heading up to NH to visit a friend, I was on I-91 in CT when I encountered a slowdown in traffic. It's three lanes there, and I soon saw the signs on the left explaining that the left-hand lanes were closed ahead, so I move over. Several other cars kept blasting past, most likely merging at the last possible second and causing the slowdown in the first place. (Everyone around here likes to merge at the last possible second, even to the point of crossing solid lines where ramps split, and cause no end of traffic congestion from trying to merge where there's no room.)

I used to think that, but in reality, you SHOULD be a "late merger". You're gonna have to merge anyways so the back up is going to take place either way. Merges are supposed to act like a zipper, and if you merge early, you're decreasing the capacity of a the road since you're leaving hundreds of feet of a lane more or less empty, making the backup even worse. If people were "late mergers" and we merged how we're supposed to (one car goes, then one merges, then one car goes), traffic would be decreased by up to 30%.

Granted, if you know a merge is coming up and traffic is light enough and you have an open spot, merging early is a good thing. But under heavier traffic, the backup is going to start no matter what, so merge at the latest point you can, especially if it's already backed up.

Check out the book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do and What it Says About Us, he discusses a few common misconceptions when it comes to driving, "late merging", being one of them.

And being a dork that I am, here's a Report by the Virginia DOT (PDF) that shows late merging results in a significantly increased throughput, specifically for 3 to 1 lane merges. 2 to 1 and 3 to 2 lane merges showed a increase in throughput, but was only statistically significant when there are a lot of heavy vehicles on the road.

[Gurndigarn]

Yeah Protege but I'm talking about truck drivers that, upon seeing road construction signs several miles back, will pace each other at 20mph, blocking both lanes.

I have no problems if they do it when they get to the congestion. It cuts down on the number of drivers making sudden (frequently dangerous) lane switches to try to get around the congestion.

I'm not in favor of doing it several miles back, however.

[ditchdj]

Well the law usually says that when merging it's up to YOU to find the opening.

I have no problems if they do it when they get to the congestion. It cuts down on the number of drivers making sudden (frequently dangerous) lane switches to try to get around the congestion.

You may not like it, but if anyone were to pull that shit with me I WILL pass you on the shoulder if not the median. You are not a cop. I hate people that try to enforce the rules of the road. Here's my thing: Stay in the right lane and don't let me in, but stay out of the left lane and put your Barney Fife decoder ring back in the glove box.

[Pagan]

You may not like it, but if anyone were to pull that shit with me I WILL pass you on the shoulder if not the median. You are not a cop. I hate people that try to enforce the rules of the road. Here's my thing: Stay in the right lane and don't let me in, but stay out of the left lane and put your Barney Fife decoder ring back in the glove box.

Um, as far as I know, if you pass on the shoulder or the median and there's a cop around, you're going to get a ticket.

[Kogarashi]

I used to think that, but in reality, you SHOULD be a "late merger". You're gonna have to merge anyways so the back up is going to take place either way. Merges are supposed to act like a zipper.... If people were "late mergers" and we merged how we're supposed to (one car goes, then one merges, then one car goes), traffic would be decreased by up to 30%.

Granted, if you know a merge is coming up and traffic is light enough and you have an open spot, merging early is a good thing. But under heavier traffic, the backup is going to start no matter what, so merge at the latest point you can, especially if it's already backed up.

Ah, if only it worked that smoothly. Problem is, here in CT it seems that everyone wants to merge at the last possible moment (to get as far ahead as possible), but no one wants to actually let them in once it gets that congested up there. Thus, a lot of the late mergers simply cut off the people who aren't letting them in (bad form on both sides), and it actually causes dangerous situations around here. Every day I hear of backup due to accidents on the highways, often around construction where people are supposed to merge.

And then there're the bozos who merge across the solid lines inches from where the two ramps split into two different directions (north and south), catching everyone by surprise in a ramp with no maneuvering room.

If we could actually get the merging to work like a zipper, great. But so far it hasn't happened. I've actually been stuck at a crawl in traffic like this before trying to merge because no one let me into the one open lane and I had maybe 20 ft. left to my lane. ::shakes fist:: And I do try to merge as soon as I see the lane closure signs and find an opening.

[Bella_Vixen]

it seems that everyone wants to merge at the last possible moment (to get as far ahead as possible, but no one wants to actually let them in once it gets that congested up there. Thus, a lot of the late mergers simply cut off the people who aren't letting them in (bad form on both sides)

If someone wants to be sucky enough to wait til the last possible moment before they merge, I DO NOT allow them to get in front of me. No f*ing way.