Driving horror stories

[Laconian]

People are getting worse and worse at driving. Today I witnessed a Jeep pass a car on the right hand shoulder, reenter traffic with a spray of rocks and gravel onto the windshield behind him, and then cut around lanes at a rate of 1 per second. He turned on and off his hazards randomly. What the heck kind of bad driving is that!? The level of suck was so imaginatively terrible I couldn't match him even if I tried!

[giant_mtb]

Sounds like an emergency or meth.

[Soup DeVille]

A small percentage of drivers have basically gone feral, or are prone to (I can't imagine some of the people I see drive line that continuously and are still alive).

Its been decidedly worse since the lockdowns.

[FoMoJo]

When the lockdowns first began, traffic was much sparser on the freeways and I noticed a lot of people driving much faster than normal.  When the traffic thickened up again, it seemed that many still were driving well above the speed limits, but having to weave through traffic. 

[Eye of the Tiger]

This is the bane of my existence, and I only commute two miles. In these two miles, just yesterday a white Honda Civic straddled the double yellow behind me all the way to the traffic light. In the process, I passed right in front of the diner where all the State Troopers eat breakfast, laying on my horn the whole time, but they literally don't care. By the time I get to the traffic light, the Shit Civic faked a right turn just to run straight through the red light. This is all apparently because I backed out of my own driveway and interrupted them doing 50 in a 30 around a blind turn. Someone is going to get murdered over this shit, and I'm not going to be the dead one. Just two months ago, the local State Troopers were quoted as saying that speeding is a huge problem in this town. There were 200 traffic "accidents" in this little town last year. But all they do is set up speed traps on the perfectly safe and mostly empty divided highway that runs out of town (I just ran through a tag-team speed trap on the highway, today), but they don't patrol the heavily travelled, tight, local two-lane roads with 30 MPH speed limits which are literally full of criminal speeders.

[GoCougs]

Just today had a driver do a u-turn right on front of me and another driver on a 50 mph highway. I was a bit back of the driver in front of me, so no real danger of getting mixed up in it had there been a collision, but I'm sure his emergency braking got tripped (of course as the offending driver waited to complete the u-turn, he got at least 5 glorious passive-aggressive seconds of each of our horns).

As such, what I've noticed is a huge uptick in careless vs. aggressive driving - running stop signs and red lights, pulling out into the right of way, not waiting turn at 2+ way stop, left lane camping on the freeway, the above 'shins - and IME it's much more women than men. The aggressive stuff is still there in volumes of course, esp. meth heads in junkers and bros in (diesel/lifted/tire'd) trucks. Of note, the new trend for the latter I see are actually modern Tacomas and 4Runners and middle-aged women in pedestrian SUVs (esp. Mazdas).

This marked uptick in bad driving IMO is simply a byproduct of the precipitous decline of culture - WtP foment infinite violence and disorder abroad and within our politics and social discourse at home, and add to the mix a radical uptick in general permissiveness of abhorrent behavior (from homelessness to drugs to crime to promiscuity) so of course that will surface in our driving.

All this bad driving has sorta made me a bad driver too. I'm always in the fast lane on the freeway to get away from the careless and the crazy, and will bump up into triple digits without a second thought to get away from it if need be (literally happens at least once a day). I also get irked at the morons who insist at racing at every chance, esp. freeway on ramps and pulling away from a stop light on a multi-lane road.

[Laconian]

Hahaha. I use EV insta-acceleration to escape bad driving, but that's because the tailgaters behind me give me no space to brake safely.

And yeah I am noticing the expanding demographics of terrible driving. Driving is in a cultural tailspin, where lawlessness reigns and prudent drivers get punished (passive aggressive brake checks for not going 20mph over, people barging in to safety cushions with no signaling, or people pushing in line at the head of a very long merge queue).

[GoCougs]

This is the bane of my existence, and I only commute two miles. In these two miles, just yesterday a white Honda Civic straddled the double yellow behind me all the way to the traffic light. In the process, I passed right in front of the diner where all the State Troopers eat breakfast, laying on my horn the whole time, but they literally don't care. By the time I get to the traffic light, the Shit Civic faked a right turn just to run straight through the red light. This is all apparently because I backed out of my own driveway and interrupted them doing 50 in a 30 around a blind turn. Someone is going to get murdered over this shit, and I'm not going to be the dead one. Just two months ago, the local State Troopers were quoted as saying that speeding is a huge problem in this town. There were 200 traffic "accidents" in this little town last year. But all they do is set up speed traps on the perfectly safe and mostly empty divided highway that runs out of town (I just ran through a tag-team speed trap on the highway, today), but they don't patrol the heavily travelled, tight, local two-lane roads with 30 MPH speed limits which are literally full of criminal speeders.

I'm not so sure enforcement does much of anything. Simple look at the bane of DUI. The supposed stats tell us DUI has gotten much better but I don't believe it for a second, esp. what with the radical increase in permissiveness WRT to drugs. AFAIC, as many or more people still DUI, it's just that there are fewer crashes/deaths because of driving nannies and safer cars and roads. DUI is such an epidemic IMO that I try not to drive after 10 pm, esp. on the freeway.

[Eye of the Tiger]

This decline to the most feral shithead kind of "driving" is literally why TUNDRA is here, and why I will invest in heavy gauge steel bumpers so these plastic cars piloted by idiots can just bounce off me and destroy themselves. Also front and rear dash cams.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Just on my way home from my sisters house is 10 miles away, this fucking silver Dodge journey just crawled out in front of me as I'm doing 50 miles an hour having the right of way. They just pause in front of me like they are the only ones around, and I'm just laying on the horn, hitting my brakes and yelling "what the fuck" to myself. How do people live, or tie their own fucking shoes, or wipe their own asses? I don't understand how stupid people are.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I'm not so sure enforcement does much of anything. Simple look at the bane of DUI. The supposed stats tell us DUI has gotten much better but I don't believe it for a second, esp. what with the radical increase in permissiveness WRT to drugs. AFAIC, as many or more people still DUI, it's just that there are fewer crashes/deaths because of driving nannies and safer cars and roads. DUI is such an epidemic IMO that I try not to drive after 10 pm, esp. on the freeway.

This will sound bad, but I can drive better than the vast majority of other drivers when my BAC is 0.20. That is not hubris, that is just how terrible other drivers are.

[giant_mtb]

Today I came across an Accord at a 4-way stop, middle of town. Their nose was sticking halfway into the intersection. They were stopped way, way before I got to the stop sign. I stopped at the stop sign...waiting for them to go. Clearly they were "lost" and consulting their phone map...so nudging into a 4-way seemed like a good place to stop for them, I guess. I stopped at the sign. Gave a quick honk as a "hey, go ahead there, bud," but she just looked up and waved me through as if I was an inconvenience. If I have to turn my wheel to get around you in a 4-way stop, you're a fucking retard.

[AutobahnSHO]

I saw a car stopped in the travel lane of 30mph neighborhood street the other day. There was plenty of shoulder where people park. To top it all off, the road curves left, AND it was in the middle of an intersection.

And I blew the horn a couple days back because someone cuts in front of me in the 4lane 45mph road, I had to brake hard plus as they were coming out (from the right) the hesitatingly moved left, so I couldn't just go around them left or right. No one else behind us for blocks- they could have just waited.

[Laconian]

A decade ago I basically never used my horn. But now I wield it daily. Grr, smartphones.

[shp4man]

Here in southern California, each of the 5 or6 freeway lanes have a speed. Problems arise when individual thinkers, or brain dead idiots, violate those unwritten rules.
This makes a long commute very stressful. That's why I have an Audible account. Listening to stories helps tamp down the stress.

[Morris Minor]

There's a three-way stop near here. A straight road that we were on, intersected by another that comes down a steep hill at a very acute angle - almost like an on-ramp merge. We were at it yesterday, stopped at the sign, started moving off, and a guy in a Range Rover just blows down the hill from our right without stopping. If we'd moved a couple of seconds later he'd have side-swiped us & probably killed my wife. It's a 2010 Infiniti so prolly not as well armored as current practice.

[GoCougs]

I'm remotely self-enjoyemploymenting in Tucson, AZ (primarily for mountain biking to escape the Seattle dismality) and sweet baby Jesus I have never feared for my life as I have in driving here (I-10). TBH after a time I got drawn into it - do I run hard to escape the morons (not a good idea with 500 lbs of stuff and two bikes on a hitch rack) or sit back and take my chances (I alternated between both actually). And now that I'm here, the driving is awful too. I was warned that Tucson is rather rough (and it is). Thing is, it's majority women who are the offenders. So many stories of cunts driving like absolute fucking psychopaths. WTF.

[r0tor]

I saw someone today doing about 30mph over the speed limit driving in the suicide lane for a good mile straight

[veeman]

I'm remotely self-enjoyemploymenting in Tucson, AZ (primarily for mountain biking to escape the Seattle dismality) and sweet baby Jesus I have never feared for my life as I have in driving here (I-10). TBH after a time I got drawn into it - do I run hard to escape the morons (not a good idea with 500 lbs of stuff and two bikes on a hitch rack) or sit back and take my chances (I alternated between both actually). And now that I'm here, the driving is awful too. I was warned that Tucson is rather rough (and it is). Thing is, it's majority women who are the offenders. So many stories of cunts driving like absolute fucking psychopaths. WTF.

What are they doing specifically?  Just curious.  Prepandemic I spent a week driving in and around southwest Utah and adjacent Nevada and Arizona and I didn't find anything especially alarming about the drivers compared with the Northeast U.S. but I was only there for a week and not in Tucson.

[CaminoRacer]

I think Utah drivers have gone back to normal for the most part. Thankfully!

[FoMoJo]

A lot of people want to rebel (against the law/society) and driving like an idiot is an easy way to do that; or public urination.  Shooting people for a perceived threat is an extreme.

[Eye of the Tiger]

A lot of people want to rebel (against the law/society) and driving like an idiot is an easy way to do that; or public urination.  Shooting people for a perceived threat is an extreme.

I'm fine with public urination, just find a nice dumpster or alley. You don't want to get uromictisis poisoning.

[AutobahnSHO]

https://www.wrdw.com/2023/04/19/rash-road-rage-raises-concerns-columbia-county/

[r0tor]

Tonight.... Dumbass wearing headphones driving an e-bike up the middle of the on-coming lane of traffic (2 lane road) and then decides to randomly switch to the right lane without looking when they are about to have a head on collision and then immediately switch back into the oncoming traffic lane....

I watched this rinse and repeat 5 times

[Eye of the Tiger]

https://www.wrdw.com/2023/04/19/rash-road-rage-raises-concerns-columbia-county/

Just reading that gives me exteme anxiety and PTSD.

[CaminoRacer]

Road rage and guns, great combo

[AutobahnSHO]

It's not like this area is crime central, either. The first incident took place in Evans, GA- just a few years back:

"Money's No. 1 pick for Best Places to Live this year is Evans, Georgia, which is brimming with good-paying jobs thanks to its proximity to Augusta as well as affordable homes, top schools, access to arts and culture, and a diverse population, which some residents attribute to its military presence. In June, Evans residents saw a low unemployment rate of 5.2%, which was well below the 11.1% national average.  Evans also had the lowest cost of living of any place with similarly high-income levels."

https://www.columbiacountyga.gov/Home/Components/News/News/4723/4850#:~:text=Contact%20Public%20Relations-,Evans%2C%20Georgia%20ranked%20%231%20by%20Money%20as%20Best,Place%20to%20Live%202020%2D2021&text=Columbia%20County%20Board%20of%20Commissioners,Place%20to%20Live%202020%2D2021.

[Laconian]

Road rage and guns, great combo

The only solution... is more guns cowbell

[FoMoJo]

Might be a good time to get into the armoured car business.

[GoCougs]

What are they doing specifically?  Just curious.  Prepandemic I spent a week driving in and around southwest Utah and adjacent Nevada and Arizona and I didn't find anything especially alarming about the drivers compared with the Northeast U.S. but I was only there for a week and not in Tucson.

Oh, the usual stuff - passing w/poor sight lines, shooting the gap, inconsistent speed, tailgating, left lane camping, taking offense at every perceived action (such as getting gapped when trying to follow my lead when passing - my favorite), and then of course the odd out-n-out road rager - but this becomes 10x more dangerous when the legal speed limit is 75-80 mph on highway literally running for miles and miles in the middle of nowhere, which means traffic (like two lanes packed solid for miles) is moving at 85-100 mph. I was NO saint after a time sorta losing my shit in trying to get away from the psychopaths and a few even got the horn and the middle finger even.

Oh, the cunts. One in a Q5 would pass me at literally 110-125 mph (I doing 80-85 mph) and then after a few miles would slow down. I'd eventually catch up to her doing like 70-75 mph. I wait for a passing zone (i.e., single lane opens up into two lanes), pass, and she'd rage at me as I passed. Then a few miles later, here she comes again ranting as she passes. Same with another in a new white Maxima and in a purple Dodge Dart (new style). Each of these cunts carried on for many miles. Now that I'm here in Tucson the roads definitely compound the problem - wide, straight, 35-40 mph 3 lane roads everywhere, and people simply can't contain themselves. Shit's fucked.