posted
About an hour ago, I was almost killed. Only good reflexes saved me.
I had about five minutes to get back to work from lunch, and I was coming up an on-ramp onto a major highway that leads back to my workplace.
Suddenly, I noticed that the car in front of me was braking... and that there was a line of about seven cars in front of HIM braking... all stuck behind this one Double-Dumbass who had STOPPED to merge. (the traffic on this highway during the lunch hour averages about 72 mph)
Now, I want to make this clear, especially to any new drivers out there.. you NEVER, NEVER, NEVER STOP TO MERGE!!! ESPECIALLY ON A RAMP TO A FAST-MOVING HIGHWAY!!!!! Drive along the shoulder if you have to, but NEVER STOP! You won't be able to get enough speed up when the next gap comes along, otherwise!
Anyway, this guy had stopped, stopping a whole lane of traffic on the onramp. I, impatient, decided to pull out into the highway, accelerate, and pass the line. (let me point out that at the time I did this, such a movement was safe. I checked all the mirrors, and everything.)
So I did. But, seeing me pull sideways, SO DID EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE LINE! This forced my car, which was already beside them, over into the passing lane... directly in front of some guy doing about 80 mph.
Squeal of tires. Smell of burnt rubber. Voluminous Cussing. Only my realization of what was happening, and last-minute acceleration prevented a crash.
*sigh*
There's a lot of bad driving being done on the roads of Pennsylvania.
------------------ You're just JEALOUS because the little voices talk to ME!
posted
I think poor driving is an affliction throughout the entire US. A few days ago, my father and I were going to pick my car up from the shop where it had just been fixed. We pull up to an intersection where there are two left and two right hand turn lanes. (There is no straight as the road ends there) As we get to the light in the outer right hand turn lane, someone in a Ford SUV turns right, from the left-hand turn lane!!! A half-second earlier they would've hit us. And I don't think they would've been pleased...because they had hit a police car.
Seeing as we were in my fathers car, which has pretty flashing lights on top, we got to pull them over. Turns out the driver was not from Texas but...North Carolina. Seems that bad driving is everywhere.
But it is nice when somebody screws up like that to be able to pull them over right then and there. You hear about some really weird stuff when your father is a police officer.
------------------ "Angels and Ministers of Grace, defend us" -Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV
posted
You think THAT's bad... you should see the way they drive in MASSACHUSETTS! ... My mother and I have nearly been killed almost every time we go out!!
------------------ When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew - Unkown
...if you should die before me, ask if you could bring a friend... - Unkown
posted
I faced my share of driving-challenged people in my frequent drives around the Houston area. I've been a witness to two idiots in big pickup trucks fighting to get ahead of each other on the freeway on-ramp. The result was a shouting match, one truck ramming the other, threats, and crazy driving getting on the freeway and continuing down it. My subdivision used to exit with a stop sign onto a busy four lane road. To get to the high school, a left turn is required. It was quite interesting in the mornings (read: I saw three major accidents and was almost hit ten times by speeders my senior year).
------------------ "Some people call me the Space Cowboy. Yeah! Some call me the Gangster of Love. Some people call me Maurice. Whoo hoo! 'Cause I speak of the Pompatus of Love!" - Steve Miller Band's The Joker
posted
I saw a kid on a bike get run over and partially crushed a few days ago. Neither he nor the driver was paying much attention.
------------------ Josh: I think they're getting to know each other a bit too well, if you catch my drift. Me: Oh, I agree. I think they're spending too much time together, that is of course, if you catch my drift. Asher: I think he's *ucking her, and he's cheating on his wife, and he's risking his marriage, and if his wife finds out about it she'll leave him and take their son, and his life will be ruined. If you catch my drift...
My mom once told me about a story involving one of her co-worker's friends. This woman always wore her seatbelt, and her car had one of those 2-piece seatbelts where the waist piece and the chest piece are separate. She was sitting in the passenger side one day while her husband was driving on the freeway in the carpool lane, and this 18-year old girl tried to get into the lane right in front of them (and it wasn't even a carpool lane entrance). She was too slow, and the husband swerved the car to dodge her--right into the wall. This woman was only wearing the waist piece of the seatbelt that day while her husband wore the whole thing, and she was killed instantly.
------------------ "We offered him unchallenged control of the Alpha Quadrant, and all he could think about was his daughter." --Weyoun, "In the Pale Moonlight".
posted
The worst place that I have ever been -driving wise- is Bombay. Let me fill you in, the population is about 18 million. Road rules exist, but are very hard to enforce. So your best bet is to own an ex army jeep. Why? Well they are easy to repair. Also, when one of those mad taxi drivers slams into you, nothing much happens to you or the car.
Of course it's quicker to walk at some times, as it can take an hour to move a couple of Kms at different times of the day.
------------------ 'Sir, you've been ordered not to take Polermo'
'Ring General HQ, ask them if they want me to give it back'.
[This message was edited by Daryus Aden on May 08, 1999.]
posted
*is giving serious consideration to installing some sort of rocket launcher (like they have on Apache helicopters) on his car*
LOTS of idiots. THIS morning it was an old man (in the required fedora) driving UP the ONE WAY off-ramp. Not even noticing that ALL the traffic was coming the other way, and that people were swerving to avoid him and blaring their horns.
Actually, although the posts are true, I realy started this thread just so I could say "Frickin' idiots!"
Yay, Dr. Evil!
------------------ You're just JEALOUS because the little voices talk to ME!
posted
My biggest paradigm-shift regarding driving came in Korea.
Taxi drivers consider it a point of honor to pass everything on the road.
Right-of-way belongs to the vehicle with the greatest mass (and boy, does he know it!)
If the bus driver doesn't like what someone else does behind the wheel, he can cut that vehicle off, get out and fight the offending driver (Seen it once, heard about it several times).
Some stopsigns can be safely ignored -- but you have to have grown up there to know which ones.
At night, when stopping at an intersection, you put on the "parking lamps" (only) to avoid blinding other drivers. (The only sensible driving custom I observed there.)
posted
If sidelights are visible from all four sides of the vehicle, then yes.
In the U.S., the concepts are the same, but the terminilogy is different.
Off.
Parking lights. Almost never used, these must be a holdover from some time in the distant past when you were required to leave marker lights on your vehicle if parked at the side of the road at night. Now they are only used by ignoramuses who want to have some sort of lights on at dusk, but don't want to "overuse" their headlights. In some states, it's illegal to drive with only the parking lights illuminated. IMHO, it ought to be a capitol (or at least corporal) offense. If it's dark enough to require lights, turn the @#$% things on, fer crissakes!
Low Beams. Most folks consider these the main beams, since that's what they use most of the time. There are a few idiots in this very burgh I live in, who think otherwise, but I digress.
High Beams. Depending on how your car is equipped, these can range in intensity from annoyingly bright to "set-the-bushes-on-fire". It is illegal to blind oncoming traffic with the high beams, and they may not be used when an approaching vehicle is within some specified distance. In NM, it's 450 yards (nearly � km). I have driven stretches of road around here where you could go several hours without having to dim your headlights. Some cretins here in Clovis think that if a little light is good, a lot is better, even when they are driving through residential areas within city limits.
Fog/driving lamps are a subjective matter. When/where you are allowed to use them varies from one state to the next. I don't have any vehicles equipped with them at this time, so I won't worry about it.
--Baloo
------------------ If God Himself walks up to you and tells you to found a new religeon, ask for some I.D. You're probably talking to an imposter. www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/
[This message was edited by Baloo on May 09, 1999.]
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