Rude Dangerous Drivers

[gwinger]

I have to tell you a satisfying story that you will appreciate!

Several years ago, I was driving my motorhome through downtown of a fairly large city--maybe Charleston?? I was in the far right lane of a freeway in heavy rush hour traffic in the middle of one of those long bridges that go over a railroad track and maybe a couple of streets--lots of stopping and going. The driver of the car behind me was clearly anxious to get to wherever he was headed and even honked at me a couple of times, as if I was the cause of the backup.

The irritated driver behind me decided to drive on the shoulder to get to the exit a few hundred feet ahead, so he passed me on the shoulder, followed closely by the two cars behind him!

What none of them could see was that there was a police car directly ahead of me! As they passed him, he flipped on his flashing lights and siren and got all three of them in one stop!

Yea!!!!! That made my day.

Similar on I40 near Knoxville. Huge traffic jam and one guy was in a big hurry.
He pulled onto the berm and floored it. He didn't see that there was a storm culvert sticking out onto the berm about 40 feet away. OUCH

 

[John From Detroit]

Similar on I40 near Knoxville. Huge traffic jam and one guy was in a big hurry.
He pulled onto the berm and floored it. He didn't see that there was a storm culvert sticking out onto the berm about 40 feet away. OUCH

We had a lane closed due to Construction on I-75 In Detroit.
Mr. Violator though "Gee if I run in the closed land I'll make better time.. And so he did.. Till he spotted the troopers who had been watching him for the last half mile.. Then he figured "I'd better get into the legal lane before they see me (too late dude) and dang near caused an accident for doing so.

He got tagged for being in the closed lane. and unsafe lane change and I don't recall what else.. They piled 'em on.

 

[gwinger]

We had a lane closed due to Construction on I-75 In Detroit.
Mr. Violator though "Gee if I run in the closed land I'll make better time.. And so he did.. Till he spotted the troopers who had been watching him for the last half mile.. Then he figured "I'd better get into the legal lane before they see me (too late dude) and dang near caused an accident for doing so.

He got tagged for being in the closed lane. and unsafe lane change and I don't recall what else.. They piled 'em on.

One citation may have been for just being stupid.

 

[Firstime RVer]

I think what we are currently experiencing in the US is the consequence of an increasing population of angry and unhappy losers. They are angry and unhappy largely because they are losers. They are losers largely because they made bad personal life decisions. They apparently get some deranged self-satisfaction and higher self-esteem if they can also make other people angry and unhappy. And the US is rapidly becoming a very angry and unhappy country to live in...which is why we now live 50% of our time in Costa Rica and New Zealand...

https://apnews.com/article/world-ha...ghanistan-us-b41c1712448762d98fe9e4f80233c15f

As much as I hate to admit it, it seems that way to me too!! People seem less considerate than I remember, and more prone to intolerance and anger at others!!
Safe travels and all the best.

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

Texas is the only place I ran into rude drivers. One time a car was entering the freeway and did not understand who has the right of way. He got really pissed when I did not move over to allow him to enter the freeway. Florida drivers are not too good either. They love to honk their horn if they think you made them slow down.

It's funny, everybody has their own story. Mine, last Spring traveling through Texas, they had the nicest, most courteous drivers we've encountered in probably all of our years RV'ing.

Miami was some of the worst

Now, this is a quote I will agree with 100%. They're nuts. I'll throw in that their road construction signage and lane change warnings leave a lot to the imagination also.

Popular topic because Everyone has a road rage or A.H. driver story to tell.

 

[Tom]

Everyone has a road rage or A.H. driver story to tell.

So true, and I'm sure there are folks who tell such stories about me

I'm occasionally reminded of telling a work colleague such a story and his response: "When I see that stuff, I think of the one time a month when I make a mistake".

 

[RayIN]

I agree. And rude driving is getting worse everywhere. It seems the whole of the U.S. is pissed off.

It's been around for a loong time IMO. In California, if a driver is past your front door and wishes to change lanes, you'd better have good brakes, they're coming over. That was in 1978.
I agree, ever since Jan. 2000 it seems the pandemic caused many drivers to do as they wish.

This reminds me of when our kids began driving. I sat each one down and explained it like this:
You are learning to drive on the same streets and roads I learned to drive on, the difference is traffic is several times more dense than when I began driving. This means driving is much harder for you verses when when I was your age. Please keep that in mind when driving, and come home safe.

 

[Kirk]

What none of them could see was that there was a police car directly ahead of me! As they passed him, he flipped on his flashing lights and siren and got all three of them in one stop!

My version of that was a long time ago, before I retired, I drove a lot in a van making service calls all over most of WY and part of NE. I was driving at or a mile or two over the speed limit on I80 as I was passing a truck that was running the speed limit but climbing a hill so lost a few mph. Because I wasn't lot faster the pass took a while and another driver came rapidly up behind me and began honking and flashing his headlights. After completing the pass but before I could move back to the right lane, he swerved to the right very close to the truck, honked and flipped me off and went on down the road. About five or ten minutes later we topped a hill and there he was on the shoulder with a HP officer. As I passed by I then honked and wave to them both!

Dash cam caught it all.

There was an incident in Dallas last week where a car was making a protected left turn at the traffic light and a speeding driver from the other direction ran the light, struck the lady's car and killed her. Fortunately, the car that was just behind her in the turn lane had a dash-cam operating and recorded the accident. The driver then gave the police a copy when they arrived and the offending driver is now facing charges of vehicular homicide.

Before I retired, I drove more than 1/2 million miles in company vehicles as well as extensive personal travel and 12 years as a full-timer, yet just yesterday I had an experience that I had not ever had. My son was leading with a U-Haul truck on I-30, east bound and traveling at65-70 mph and I was following in his personal van. The speed limit there is 75 mph and we were passed by a funeral procession, complete with stretch limo, hearse, and a dozen or so cars, all with 4-way and headlights operating.

 

[RayIN]

OK, I gotta tell this. I have 2 cousins retired from Indiana state police. One of them is a jokester at heart.
He told me one day he was approaching an interstate exchange when a woman on her CB radio asked for a smokey report between that location and Indianapolis. He said by the sound level she was quite close. Just then he noticed a car whiz by on the interstate, so he took the entrance ramp. He slowly gained up to behind that car. She again asked for a smokey report. He keyed his CB mike and said look in your mirror, and turned on his red lights.
He said he thought she was going to wreck her car it surprised her so much.
When she pulled over and stopped, he said he tried with a straight-face to ask for her license and registration. She was shaking so bad she had trouble getting them..
He said he didn't have the heart to issue a ticket, so gave her a verbal warning and sent her on her way.

 

[old RV guy]

My version of that was a long time ago, before I retired, I drove a lot in a van making service calls all over most of WY and part of NE. I was driving at or a mile or two over the speed limit on I80 as I was passing a truck that was running the speed limit but climbing a hill so lost a few mph. Because I wasn't lot faster the pass took a while and another driver came rapidly up behind me and began honking and flashing his headlights. After completing the pass but before I could move back to the right lane, he swerved to the right very close to the truck, honked and flipped me off and went on down the road. About five or ten minutes later we topped a hill and there he was on the shoulder with a HP officer. As I passed by I then honked and wave to them both!

There was an incident in Dallas last week where a car was making a protected left turn at the traffic light and a speeding driver from the other direction ran the light, struck the lady's car and killed her. Fortunately, the car that was just behind her in the turn lane had a dash-cam operating and recorded the accident. The driver then gave the police a copy when they arrived and the offending driver is now facing charges of vehicular homicide.

Before I retired, I drove more than 1/2 million miles in company vehicles as well as extensive personal travel and 12 years as a full-timer, yet just yesterday I had an experience that I had not ever had. My son was leading with a U-Haul truck on I-30, east bound and traveling at65-70 mph and I was following in his personal van. The speed limit there is 75 mph and we were passed by a funeral procession, complete with stretch limo, hearse, and a dozen or so cars, all with 4-way and headlights operating.

The driver in the Dallas accident was intoxicated with a history of DUI as well. Statistically a driver charged with driving under the influence has done it 80 times before being caught.

 

[John From Detroit]

The driver in the Dallas accident was intoxicated with a history of DUI as well. Statistically a driver charged with driving under the influence has done it 80 times before being caught.

Had one fatal that cost me some sleep (Translation I stayed over at work taking 9-1-1 calls about him. 7 Times Charged with DUI original charge plus 6 "Second Offense" had a prosecutor charged him with 3rd. (A felony and a year in prison) it might have made a difference.. He got 20-Life for Homicide however. but How much better if his victim had never even been in an accident because he was not there.

 

[old RV guy]

Had one fatal that cost me some sleep (Translation I stayed over at work taking 9-1-1 calls about him. 7 Times Charged with DUI original charge plus 6 "Second Offense" had a prosecutor charged him with 3rd. (A felony and a year in prison) it might have made a difference.. He got 20-Life for Homicide however. but How much better if his victim had never even been in an accident because he was not there.

A DUI here ends up costing the driver $20,000-$25,000 in the short term. Long term costs are likely much higher with higher insurance rates etc. A DUI in instances where driving a company vehicle or driving as part of the job is even more devastating. Most companies I suspect would fire anyone with a DUI citation, as a liability, I know I would.

 

[jymbee]

A DUI here ends up costing the driver $20,000-$25,000 in the short term. Long term costs are likely much higher with higher insurance rates etc. A DUI in instances where driving a company vehicle or driving as part of the job is even more devastating. Most companies I suspect would fire anyone with a DUI citation, as a liability, I know I would.

I would like to think that such a fine would be something that actually acted as a deterrent. No excuse for drinking & driving.

 

[old RV guy]

I would like to think that such a fine would be something that actually acted as a deterrent. No excuse for drinking & driving.

None

 

[John From Detroit]

A DUI here ends up costing the driver $20,000-$25,000 in the short term. Long term costs are likely much higher with higher insurance rates etc. A DUI in instances where driving a company vehicle or driving as part of the job is even more devastating. Most companies I suspect would fire anyone with a DUI citation, as a liability, I know I would.

Well..... Being as the odds of me ever getting a DUI are (Tea Totaller or to be more precise Coffee-holic) ZERO.. I do not know the total cost... I know it's expensive.. and as I said the guy in the fatal had six or 7 of them.. What pisses me is with the exception of the first two which were properly charged NOBODY HIT HIM WITH A 3rd Offense.. They let him plea down to 2nd over and a over and a over again. Both the Prosecutor and the Judge are guilty of conspiracy in that young lady's death.. She was supposed to be going to her wedding a short time later.. NOT her funeral.

Note: HIs record of drunk driving was published so I can talk about it.. His name I can not mention.. (NDA's apply)

 

[RayIN]

I would like to think that such a fine would be something that actually acted as a deterrent. No excuse for drinking & driving.

Often they never pay the fine, and since the U.S.A. has no debtors prisons, he isn't out anything.
I used to have a SIL that was a confirmed drunk and addict. He had lost his driver license, but drove anyway, rode a <50c scooter during warm months, his wifes car cold months. He totaled that car, left the keys in the switch and walked away with injuries. No-one could prove he was driving so got away again.
I agree, I have no sympathy for a drunk, they knowingly did it to themselves. I hate it because they usually hurt/kill a sober person.

 

[JudyJB]

Yesterday, I was driving on 58 between Boron and Tehachapi. (It is a two-lanes on each side freeway, in case you are not familiar with it, that goes through a lot of desert.)

Some, but not too much traffic, and I was in the right, trucker's lane going about 60 MPH. Suddenly a car whizzed past me on the shoulder. It had to be going at least 80-90+ MPH, and it was dragging something on the right rear. It was so fast, I could not see what it was, but it might have been part of the right rear fender dragging some black fabric. Pretty startling!

About two minutes later, a police or sheriff's car went past on the left lane with lights and siren blaring. I did not see that he caught anyone, but I certainly hope he did.

And by the way, whose brilliant idea was it in California to allow motorcycle drivers to speed past you between lanes of cars? And are they required, for some reason, to have motorcycles with very loud mufflers? And since most of them do not wear helmets, I am amazed that so many of them survive this kind of driving. (It's a little like the time on a deserted two-lane road when two big Air Force jets came up behind me flying very, very low. Took me a few minutes to recover.)

 

[Tom]

Yesterday, I was driving on 58 between Boron and Tehachapi. (It is a two-lanes on each side freeway, in case you are not familiar with it, that goes through a lot of desert.)

We've driven that road many times.

And by the way, whose brilliant idea was it in California to allow motorcycle drivers to speed past you between lanes of cars?

They call it 'lane splitting', provided for in the CA DMV Drivers Handbook. I rode a motorcycle for many years before we came to CA, but I think that's the dumbest thing. IIRC there's a max speed limit of traffic above which lane splitting is not permitted, but that doesn't seem to limit when motorcyclists do it. Scares the heck out of me. Having it done on both sides of me at the same time is even scarier.

And since most of them do not wear helmets ...

That's something they've been required to wear for many years; I rarely see anyone riding a motorcycle without one.

 

[bigbAZ]

They call it 'lane splitting', provided for in the CA DMV Drivers Handbook. I rode a motorcycle for many years before we came to CA, but I think that's the dumbest thing. IIRC there's a max speed limit of traffic above which lane splitting is not permitted, but that doesn't seem to limit when motorcyclists do it. Scares the heck out of me. Having it done on both sides of me at the same time is even scarier.

I think lane splitting in moving traffic is a bad idea too. In AZ we have lane filtering which is like lane splitting except it is only allowed in stopped traffic.