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[OLD]Driving stupidity


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Ok recently, I went to a local mall (Willow Lawn) to pick up a couple of friends and their son to take them back to their trailer.  Was on the phone with a friend of mine, discussing bad drivers.  Sure enough, proof of the topic came up quickly.  In the parking lot, near the Tower Records store, on the front side, there is a stop near an enterance/exit.  Those coming INTO the mall and those heading in the opposite direction have the right of way (the main path, as I refer to it).  Person ahead of me comes to a stop, and then proceeds to take a left (heading away FROM the exit), cutting off a person who had just entered the parking lot.  If that person had breaked even one second later, there would have been an accident.

 

Ok so I make my pick up and we are all headed out of the parking lot, onto Broad St (out of the exit I just talked about), heading east bound.  Next exit up, someone whips out of the parking lot in front of me, then has the audacity to wave his hand as though I allowed him to do it.  Geez.  I kept an eye on this person, and he was always quick to change lanes if he felt it served his purpose.  What a jerk.  Right after he had pulled in front of me, by the way, I was referring to the phone convo I had been HAVING about bad drivers, and the bf of the couple made a reference to me being a bad driver.  Oh gee, thanks.  Even in jest.  Geez.

 

Ok so finally on the interstate (Powhite Parkway, southbound).  This merges in with traffic FROM another inner city interstate, called the Downtown Expressway.  Here's how it works out.  The three lanes FROM the PP merge in and become the 3 right lines while the DE merges in and becomes the 2 left lanes.  So 5 lanes of traffic, merging all together and going over the James River.  The 2 right lanes become exit lanes after we cross over the right, so the PP become 3 lanes again.  So before the merge, I get INTO the left lane, so when the DE merges in, I'm in the middle lane.  Right where the two merge is the back of the rush hour traffic, partly due to the tolls past the river.  So the two right lanes are flying by, and you see people scooting up ahead and then merging to the left to not have to get off on the exit.  Ok that's all cool, I can deal with that.  This lady slowed down and was originally trying to merge in front of the car ahead of me, but the way she did it failed, she wasn't far enough ahead to even try.  Upon see this, and sensing this womans self centered determination, I kept real close to the vehicle ahead of me.  This woman, in her stupidity, still tried to merge over.  I honked my horn, steered left a little to avoid an accident, to which she seemed intent on causing, and moved past her.  What she doesn't realize is that if there had been an accident, it would have been her fault, because she failed to yield right of way (among other things).  Basically, she was being completely stupid and self centered.

 

*whew*

 

Ok so she merges in behind me, and after a couple of minutes of slow traffic, I see an opportunity to merge one lane to the left, which I do.  And amazingly, she does too.  Hmmm, stalker now, is she?  Maybe not, she merged INTO the far left lane after that, and started to actually pass me...  at first.  Then the lane I was in moved up some, and then I took that opportunity to merge INTO the far left lane, getting in front of the vehicle that was in front of that woman.  I don't think she was pleased with losing that little battle, which she gave off signals of wanting to fight.  But that was the last of her (thankfully).

 

And thank who-ever invented SmartTag!  Ok so after the bridge, but long before the toll booths, the traffic clears up and we are flying along at a decent speed.  Why was the traffic backed up if there was nothing happening?  We thought it was the tolls causing it, but the tolls were more clear than anything.  Ok so flew through that (again, SmartTag is wonderful!)  For those that don't know what SmartTag is, its this small "key" that is velcro'd to the inside of the windshield just on the other side of the mirror.  When you drive through a supporting toll booth, the key gives off a response signal, it looks up the account, deducts the amount of the toll, gives you a green light, and you keep going.  No need to come to a complete stop, roll down the winder, toss the coins, and then wait for it to process it.  I've estimated that in a line of 20 cars to go through smart tags, we would likely be through it in about 30 seconds, where as only 5 cars may make it through a regular toll booth in the same amount of time.  IF that many.  It's wonderful.

 

Ok so continuing on, about 7 or 8 minutes later, when getting INTO the right lane to exit the interstate, and then getting ready to merge INTO the exit lane (which is also an acceleration lane for about 1/2 a mile distance), the pickup truck ahead of us drops a dresser/mirror combo right in front of me.  So, hitting the breaks, but not slamming them, I start steering towards the right, getting INTO the exit lane, and still slowing down quickly but without being harsh about it.  The dresser, with it's sparks of glory on the ground, was doing the same thing.  End result?  On the shoulder (paved), with the dresser about 10 feet ahead of me.  Never once hit it.

style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

I am so happy about that.  Now, while the people could have held down the dresser better, I seriously doubt that they did anything stupid.  I have a feeling that they did what they honestly thought would hold it.  The guy gets out (and a woman is with him, so I am assuming husband/wife).  He quickly walks the distance to my vehicle, I roll down the window, and tell him basically that we're all ok and that I was just sitting there, with the hazards blinking, to help alert other cars to keep someone FROM getting hit by a passing car.  Ok the move it off to the side, either they didn't want it any more (it broke apart in a few places but was repairable), or they were just going to come back for it later.  Either way, none of my business.  So after they get close enough to their vehicle, I go ahead and take off.  I should note that during this last event, a certain bf of the couple agreed that I was not a bad driver as he had originally joked.

That was worth it all. hahaha.

*whew*

had to get that off of my chest.

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This guy was real lucky.... He actually DIDNT wreck... but almost did a head on crash with us one day..

 

When I was riding down a very busy road in Florida, some guy was trying to do one of those swift passes when he doesnt even have enough room to cut in front of the person in front of him... So he still does it. Just to find out, he tried to do his swift move, but couldnt, and to "avoid a wreck", he slammed the breaks hard. His car was an older one, not equipped with antilock breaks, therefore he slid accross the road, over the median, to our side of the road. He was going at a speed of about 40 MPH, and if he hadnt regained control of his car, he would have hit us hard head on... We were lucky, so was he. style_emoticons/default/wink.gif style_emoticons/default/wink.gif style_emoticons/default/wink.gif style_emoticons/default/wink.gif style_emoticons/default/wink.gif style_emoticons/default/bud.gif style_emoticons/default/bud.gif

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Ok long overdue here..

 

Before Christmas, dropped off a couple of people for a special Christmas Luncheon(sp).. Then to pick them up.. I was approximately 12 feet away from the intersection, blinkers on, so that the small amount of traffic would know to avoid me. Light turns red for me, and a single car moves into the left lane to get around me, and then steers back in front of me so that the back end of their vehicle is still partially in the left lane (both lanes are going straight, ie, left lane is not a left-turn-only lane). Ok, guy is already a moron for doing that instead of just staying in the left lane, but oh well. Ok, light changes to green, then one block on, we are both at a red light, with me behind him still. Ok, no big deal. Light changes green, and still two seconds later, the rocket-scientist hasn't started moving yet, as I can clearly see he's busy carrying on a one sided babble conversation. So I gently honk the horn just to get his attention, and the bastard flicks me off as though he was doing something important. I have no choice, I have to be in the right lane, since I am making a right at that point. This moron is continuing straight, and he could have stayed in the left lane (from before). Could definitely have used that James Bond Extra Options vehicle - shoot out a couple of tires and let his "too-important-for-meer-mortals" tail think about things for a bit. Maybe that would teach him to not be so arrogant and self centered. I had the courtesy to turn on the flashers until I knew I would be moving again. He did everything he could to put himself in front of others.

 

Sheesh!

 

Ok, moving on...

 

Was returning from this couples home, and making a stop at a Wal Mart that is just a little off the route. Three lane high way, at a point merging to two lanes. This lady had the nerve to race up on my left, and then force herself into my way. I honked my horn, which caused her to jump (she started moving away from my lane) so she knew she was doing something incredibly stupid. Ok so she forces her way in front of me, and then proceeds to flick me off... WITH kids in her car! So let's review... She was stupid to race up to cut me off, stupid to force herself into a spot that was risky enough without others in the vehicle and downright idiotic to flick me off because I could have been some nutcase that carries a gun and shoots people like her. And then by putting innocent kids at risk, it made all of her actions downright criminal. Geez.

 

New Years Eve.. Ok, I don't think I need to really get into all this, but on the interstate to make a trip, a few people sped up and cut in front of me without really making sure that they had enough clearance to make the lane change.

 

After midnight (heading home), I was going through this tunnel where you are supposed to stay in your lane until you exit the tunnel (2 lanes, no changing lanes). About mid way through, this vehicle approaches quickly and is riding my tail, I'm estimating about 5 or 6 feet off of my rear, at about 65MPH. As soon as lane changes were permitted, I got out of the jerks way and let them pass. Watching them and how they would swerve, I called the state police and reported the behavior. Then I made sure to keep my distance behind to fool, so that if something happened, I could be an excellant witness to the matter. Forutnately, nothing happened before they got off on an exit onto another interstate.

 

Oh, and this isn't all of the situations.. Just a synopsis of them. Didn't want to spend an entire page to describe one and then not give the same consideration to the others. But in short, it seems as though the holidays brings out the most stupid of people to have behind the wheel. And those are the same people that think that they are one of the best drivers in the world.

 

Yeah

 

Ok

 

Keep on thinking that people..

 

For that lady who feels she's too imIL

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Okay so yesterday, (Thursday Jan 08 2004) my mother was driving me home from school. At the time we were on a road that is a no passing zone, which is indicated with a double yellow line in the middle of the road. The city was even nice enough to put up a little friendly sign on the shoulder of the road indicating that it is a no passing zone. Anyway we were driving at 50 MPH when the speed limit was 45 MPH and some guy in a real old junky car passes us in the no passing zone. Thats a nice sized ticket right there... But it gets better. When we were finally out of the no passing zone, we were greeted by a red light. This particular intersection had 3 lanes, and we were in the center lane. Both the right and left lanes were full of cars, so we couldnt go and move over to one of those lanes. The same passing in the no passing zone guy is still in front of us. The light turns green and we waited for about 5 seconds and the man did not move. So my mother gave him one of those friendly honks to wake him up or whatever. Still doesnt move. So I roll down my window to hear if his engine is even running. When I did I heard his starter arolling and apparently his car wouldnt start. So we had to slam her in reverse, and get out of that lane to bypass the man. A little review: He passes us in the no passing lane. Then his car stalls in front of us and he cant get it started again. So we had to wait for all the cars in the right lane to pass by before we could cut into the right lane and go again...

 

If someone is going to do something that stupid, they should at least be using the correct equipment! Gosh!!!

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