If you can't see, SLOW DOWN.

[notalwaysright]

The title is pretty much my point. It was foggy tonight. In some places it was normal "oh look, pretty fog" and in others it was "hey, where did the street lights go?" fog. So I'm on a main road where the speed limit is 35. It the street the mall is on, and Mal Wart, 4-8 lanes wide.

I go into a particularly thick patch of fog and slow down. Most other driver do this, too. Yay! We're all being smart! Oh wait, here's a dork speeding up. We quickly lose sight of him. *phew*

Now I pull into the parking lot. It's not very full, but the few who are there are driving as if it's bumper cars. Speeding around then going "ACK!" because they are so surprised by the CAR! Yeah, there is a car in a parking lot! Oh, the hysteria! I need drink more.

[taxguykarl]

Glad you weren't hit, NAR. Definately have a drink after that.

[shanarocks]

Some people should not be granted a driver's license. They are the ones who seem to lack common sense.

[greek_jester]

They are the ones who seem to lack common sense.

I can think of a few like that around here. I live on the coast, and our town is bracketed on all side by rivers (you literally can't get to us without crossing a river, even if it's been channelled into a tunnel under the road). As such, there are usually a couple of days in autumn or spring where we have real pea-soupers. Despite that, there are always twits who insist in driving their white or grey vehicles at speed without any frigging lights. Every damn year, despite all the local radio stations blaring warnings about turning the damn things on.

On the up side, when the idiots in their 4-wheel drive sports jeeps go zooming past in one of our frequent "someone knocked over God's bathtub" showers, you occasionally get to see them with a couple of wheels in a ditch. Sorry, dear, but 4 wheel drive only works if the wheels are in contact with the road, rather than hydroplaning. Ah, instant Car-ma

[mikoyan29]

We had a few multicar pileups here....yet people don't slow down in snow and ice.

[eltf177]

We had snow Tuesday, first one this year and heavier than predicted. And boy did it show! It's been a while since I seen such a huge number of idiots:

1) Not using headlights, especially white/light-colors that practically disappear in the snow
2) Driving _way_ too fast for conditions
3) Driving _way_ too slow and stopping for no good reason
4) Doing things like pulling out directly in front of people/not signaling/running lights and stop signs - dumb enough in good weather but deadly in these conditions
5) Can't get up that hill? Just turn around and go back THE WRONG WAY!!!

The biggest problem was that the school's in the county where I work decided to open on time, getting buses and transporting mom's on the road at rush hour, then more than one bus got stuck or got into a wreck. Both this county and the adjoining one where I live who did the same thing are now getting a lot of flack about that...

[BPFH]

Ah, multiple examples of people who think that headlights are there solely to help them see. :P

[Crossbow]

Ah, multiple examples of people who think that headlights are there solely to help them see. :P

There's a reaason my headlights are on at all times, and most of the time it's not to help me see...

[Shalom]

It's funny, I was just thinking this same thing, while watching this. (Warning: mild swearing in Russian.)

[HawaiianShirts]

I go into a particularly thick patch of fog and slow down. Most other driver do this, too. Yay! We're all being smart! Oh wait, here's a dork speeding up.

Happened to me once when I was delivering pizza. There was a very rural part of my town where, if fog was going to develop, it would always start here, linger longest here, and be thickest here. I was driving through that area in the thick fog. The speed limit on that road is 55mph, but because I could barely see, I had slowed down to about 35.

Cue big pickup rumbling up behind me. Guy gets right on my tail so all I can see in the rearview are his headlights... which he promptly flashes at me. Since it's only two lanes divided by a double-yellow, he can't pass, and he knows it, so obviously he wants me to go faster, which I'm not willing to do. 35 is as fast as I think is safe in these conditions, and I know there's a four-way stop not far ahead. So I give him a kind of "back-off" wave. He flashes his brights at me again and honks his horn.

That's when I turned into a jerk. I yelled (yes, I know he couldn't hear me) in his direction, "Fine! You want to play that game? I can play it too." And I took my foot off the gas. I coasted the rest of the way to the four-way stop. I got lights flashed and horn honked at me the whole way, but I didn't care; I'm not risking my neck for some idiot.

Right after the four-way stop (he went the same way I did), the double-yellow changed to a dashed yellow, so he passed me as soon as he could.

[eltf177]

Right after the four-way stop (he went the same way I did), the double-yellow changed to a dashed yellow, so he passed me as soon as he could.

And hopefully ended up in a ditch...

[Jay 2K Winger]

And hopefully ended up in a ditch...

Or... (let's imagine Truck Guy's running monologue after passing Shirts)

"Stupid @#%$ing idiot, the @#$% is he doing driving that @#$%ing slowly, if you ain't got a @#$%ing brain you shouldn't be @#$%ing driving, stupid @#$%ing jackass, I hope he-- TREEEEEEE!!!" (CRASH)

[Argus]

That's when I turned into a jerk.

You weren't being a jerk. You were simply ensuring that he wouldn't be going 55 behind you when the stop sign inevitably surprised him.

[protege]

"Stupid @#%$ing idiot, the @#$% is he doing driving that @#$%ing slowly, if you ain't got a @#$%ing brain you shouldn't be @#$%ing driving, stupid @#$%ing jackass, I hope he-- TREEEEEEE!!!" (CRASH)

I've actually seen people do that. They'll blow past me because I'm going "too slow," only to end up in trouble later. Hell, one morning on the way to work, I got to see some idiot take himself out. This guy was somewhere behind me in a beat-up, white van. I say "somewhere" because he wasn't directly behind me. Wherever he was, he decided to pass me on the bridge leading into town. A bridge, that not only was very slick, but had a nice 90-degree left turn at the end. 4 lanes of fun.

So when the van moved into the left lane and sped up to pass everyone, we weren't the least bit surprised. Nor were we surprised when the van's rear end suddenly swung out. What we *were* surprised by, was the van's nose suddenly plowing into the central divider He plowed into that head-on, swerved away from the divider...and plowed into the wall on the *right* side of the curve Again, he swerved away, went around the curve (backwards, mind you), before going across all four lanes, ending up on the sidewalk near the railroad yard

All of that because some idiot was in a hurry. I sure hope he was able to explain the wreck to his boss--it was a company van!

[mikoyan29]

So when the van moved into the left lane and sped up to pass everyone, we weren't the least bit surprised. Nor were we surprised when the van's rear end suddenly swung out. What we *were* surprised by, was the van's nose suddenly plowing into the central divider He plowed into that head-on, swerved away from the divider...and plowed into the wall on the *right* side of the curve Again, he swerved away, went around the curve (backwards, mind you), before going across all four lanes, ending up on the sidewalk near the railroad yard

At least he didn't end up *IN* the railroad yard. I would love to see the Operation Lifesaver link for that story though.