Road Rage Random Thoughts Thread

[CyberLurch]

The feeling of abject terror from some of the respondents was almost palpable.

With good reason. We have several of them within a couple of miles of my home here in Toledo, and while they do tend to keep traffic moving, it's amazing how many people are utterly clueless about how to use them.

It seems the big issue here is folks entering the roundabout from the wrong lane, and then making an impromptu lane change, usually without signal or even looking first. Ad a little rain or snow or that early-morning/late-afternoon glare to the equation it's guaranteed to be 'interesting'.

A couple of these in close proximity to the freeway ramps adds up to great fun.

[KellyHabersham]

*a brief incident from the other day*

I had gone to the nearby grocery store during my lunch hour, and as I was walking back to the library, I nearly got hit by a guy riding his bicycle down the sidewalk. Reason being that he waited until he was right behind me before making this "HeyHeyHey!" sort of noise, and I had NO idea he was there.

I will admit to flipping off the guy as he rode away....normally I would not do that, but I hate it when cyclists do that sort of thing.

[Dreamstalker]

Now my town has those electric scooters. People just leave them anywhere. A law has been passed that says you MUST wear a helmet and ride in the street, but good luck enforcing it. I can't count how many times I've almost been run down on the sidewalk by those things. At last if you're paying attention it's generally possible to know of an approaching cyclist, but these?

[Kittykat]

I almost creamed a trailer tonight because the idiotic truck driver that was pulling it turned, but didn't have lights on the trailer and I didn't see it until I almost hit it. I admit I flipped him off and cussed him out.

[Tanasi]

The city and county are adding bike lanes everytime they repave a road usually at the expense of auto travel lanes. In the areas where there are both bike lanes and sidewalks cyclists still ride on the sidewalk and ignore traffic laws. Some cyclists also will just about run you down if the opportunity presents itself. One part that chappes my hiney is neither the city or county require cyclists to ride in the bike lanes instead of the sidewalks. Heck even the bike LEOs don't obey traffic laws so why should anyone else?
The city now has two different companies with those electric scooters. The city mandates helmets and to keep them off the sidewalks, they just don't enforce the rules. Nashville recently told their scooters vendors to get them out the city.

[MadMike]

Some cyclists also will just about run you down if the opportunity presents itself.

Tell me about it. A few years ago at the beach, we were crossing the street, with the WALK signal going, and two guys on bikes just blew right across our path. One of them muttered "excuse me", but they didn't even slow down.

[Nunavut Pants]

A lovely gentleman decided to tailgate the car in front of him so that there was no room to merge in between. He had been several car-lengths back until the "merge" sign came into view, of course.

He pulled the "I'm looking rigidly straight ahead and not acknowledging that there is anyone there so any incident cannot be my fault" thing as he went by.

[Valentinian]

"Dear" driver who was behind me earlier tonight:

Yes, I was driving slower than the speed limit. Yes, I was doing 50km/h in a 60 zone. Yes, I could tell that you were annoyed about that, since you flashed your high beams at me several times and then just turned them on and left them blazing.

Did you not notice that everyone else was driving with their fog lights on? Because of the, you know, ridiculously thick FOG? Did you also not notice the other cars in front of me driving at the exact same speed, so even if I wanted to speed up for your convenience (I didn't!) I couldn't?

I guess you didn't notice all those things.

I hope you at least noticed the expressive gesture I made out my window at you.


No love, you wearer of gluteal haberdashery,
Me.

[catcul]

Pickup Fallout

I always get nervous when I see a pickup truck with its tailgate open and an unsecured load in the bed. My fears have been realized when a pickup with landscaping tools took a right turn off of the freeway onto another highway. A bucket of wire flew out right into the path of a tractor trailer truck. It barely affect the big truck, but the truck destroyed the bucket.

At least the pickup pulled off the road to retrieve the wire.

[Buzzard]

That's one of the joys of the big trucks: Not as many things will stop them, including the vehicle that darted in way too close and stopped in front.

As to the unsecured load... effing moron got lucky it was just a bucket and no injuries.

[catcul]

Why do you have to stop in the middle of the road to check your phone? Couldn't you pull into the nearly empty parking lot that was inches away?

[notalwaysright]

First, at a three way stop I wait because the person across from me should take their turn. I see what looks like the "wave you on" motion, so whatever I start going. Right at the same time they go too??! So either the person was gesturing to the passenger or I thought it was the wrong motion, but JEEZ people. It was a car-share rental from the Country to the North. Maybe they hadn't driven recently or were lost.

Second, on the same drive home I saw a car with their blinker on to move right. Problem was, there was a semi there. This car was dead in the center of the semi, in the next lane. They stayed exactly there for a while, so long I thought maybe they had forgotten the blinker on. But then suddenly the car breaks sharply and jerks behind the semi. Like. Were you mad at the giant truck that probably can't even see your blinker for not magically moving? Why do I share the road with these people, it scares me.

[protege]

A bucket of wire flew out right into the path of a tractor trailer truck. It barely affect the big truck, but the truck destroyed the bucket.

At least it was just a bucket. I had some idiot in front of me lose a BBQ grill at 70mph on the highway once I stood my grandmother's car (a '95 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera) on its nose avoiding that. Had I hit that, it would have been fatal. Either the impact would have killed me...or my grandmother would have killed me for totaling her car

[catcul]

Have you ever driven up to a situation and wonder what is going on?
I'm wondering what the police is doing.

[notalwaysright]

I just can't win in my complex parking lot recently. First, I see a guy driving toward me and I know he likes to back in, so stop back far enough that he can swing around. Instead of doing that, he stops where he is and abruptly waves me on. *sigh* Soooo, his car is basically right in the middle of the road directly in front of where I park. I end up having to take two tries to get into my spot because I had to squeeze past him.

Second, I'm following a guy into the lot and he pulls in oddly, like sideways, so I think he's going to turn around and back in. He comes nearly to a stop, so I continue around him. But THEN he swings out into the road and he has to hit the breaks because I AM THERE.

Finally, I'm just trying to make the turn into the actual lot and there's a guy right in the middle, blocking it so I can't get in. He's half pulling out, which means that instead of letting me just stop and let him out, I end up just going a little past and making a U turn and going back. I could have stopped, but I sort of was half turning already (you can't see very well until you're right there, but if a person is in there own lane this is never an issue) when I saw how weirdly the other person's car was so I just noped out.

ARG. These happened within the past couple weeks and it's getting on my nerves.