Idiot behind the wheel

[Banshee16]

in the US they have posted limits for a reason. which are backed by tons of data from insurance companies due to accident reports. they also have posted warnings for curves and such with limits listed on those too. they are yellow signs.

everyone thinks they know how to handle themselves better than the posted limit.

The U.S. statistics have the same problem as the Canadian ones though...they're based on faulty premises...or at the very least, an incomplete look at the causes behind accidents.

Speed is not the cause of accidents. It's the interrelation of fast and slow objects on the road. If everyone drove the same speed, accident rates would decrease....and statistical evidence shows that in Europe, accident rates are lower at 120 km/hr than they are at 100 km/hr.

If the insurance companies and policy makers were actually motivated only by saving lives, they'd be mandating that people wear helmets while driving their cars, and wearing 5-point seat belt restraints. Those would reduce injuries and fatalities more than anything else they try to do.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was ragging on you. You're right that every driver can improve his driving skills.

As far as someone using his car as a weapon... I was driving to work on a two lane carriageway, keeping a good distance from the car in front, when the SUV beside him decided to ram him into the central barrier and then drive off! Because of the distance I'd kept I was able to stop safely and prevent the car behind me hitting me. I later discovered that this was a "road rage" incident caused by the car not pulling over to let the SUV on at a previous junction.

All this discussion reminded me of something else I hate with Ottawa drivers....well, two things..

1-When driving on the highway, being in the next lane over from the fast lane, and doing my blind spot check, because I need to move into the passing lane, seeing a car back there that is *not* moving faster than I.....so I use my signal to indicate my intention to move into the lane, and the guy speeds up, so I can't get in front of him.

Really bright. This seems to happen a fair amount.

2-Purely frustrating is when you're on the highway, and you see 3 cars side by side, taking up the lanes of the freeway, travelling at the same speed....which is invariably just under the speed limit.

And from the Quebec side, driving through Gatineau, on a 2-lane highway, and seeing someone pull into the opposing line to pass on a dotted line (which is legal), but then seeing another guy pull out, and try to pass around the guy who's busy passing. And then a *third* guy driving all over the shoulder of the road trying to pass that second guy. This was with oncoming traffic. To this day, I have *no* idea what these retards were trying to pull, but it's really lucky that nobody got killed.

Banshee

 

[Holy Bovine]

It is not madness, you do that to subtly encourage the person in front of you to get out of the way or speed up and to make sure no one can squeeze in front of you. Some think doing that is being an ass, but few things are as enraging as missing a green/yellow light by a few seconds because someone being a slave to the artificially low speed limits.

Oh come on! Are you insane? Or just nuts? 'slave to the artificially low speed limits'? Good gawd that is some kind of crazy you have going on there.

 

[awayfarer]

One short, mildly amusing anecdote...

A few years ago I was working for a company that sold siding, windows, cabinets and such to contracters. I pulled orders together and was assigned a particular truck to load each night. The driver of said truck, we'll call him Ted. Ted wasn't a bad guy but he had a bit of a reputation as a reckless driver.

He was late coming back one afternoon and when asked, the warehouse manager mentioned that apparently Ted had driven his truck (A 20+ foot box truck) into a ditch. It was amusing to most of us given what we knew about him. He pulls in a bit late, apparently being helped out of the ditch by another driver with the company.

Flash forward a few months, Ted is late again. I jokingly comment to the warehouse manager, "Whats the matter, Ted fall in a ditch again?"... apparently yes, yes he did. That guy had one of the newest trucks in the company but I swear, less and less of it came back every night.

Anyhow...

I had a friend who lived in Illinois most of her life and had moved to Connecticut while I was still living there. I remember hearing her comment on how horrible the CT drivers were. I'm not saying there aren't any but I'd lived in CT for 24 years and I've lived in Mass for 3, and if the CT drivers were enough to bug her, the MA ones would likely have landed her in an asylum.

-People will slow to a crawl if there is anything on the side of the road, even, say, something as spectacular as a car. People you've seen cars, you've seen the side of the road. It is not a spectacular thing that the two are together.
-When a light turns red, two more people are still allowed to go.
-I have passed a man who was shaving.
-Twice now, someone has attempted to pass me on an exit ramp.

I gradually went nuts to the point that if someone tried to pass me on the right, I would match their speed until they ended up stuck behind someone in the slow lane. Tailgaters would be treated to long stretches behind me as I slowed down to 55. I was sort of a lame vehicular vigilante. (Slow down evildoer!)

Of course, this behavior is probably just as dangerous as that which was ticking me off. I try not to do anything like it now largely because I no longer have my own car, which broke down last year and was donated when I realized that repairing it would cost five times what it was worth. When I do actually get behind the wheel it's usually my S/O (Merkuri)'s car and I've been trying very hard to be a good boy. But, man, the Mass drivers really do get to you after a while.

 

[Harmon]

Saturday I was in a car accident.

Moving at just about walking speed in my truck down the ile towards the exit, a teen age girl in an Eclipse backed out of her spot into my passenger's side, shoving me into the "lane" on my left. I heard her tell the cop later that I hit the horn, but I do not recall.

Neither I, her, or her passenger were hurt. 911 was called, but as it turns out the police won't come out unless someone is hurt with regards to an accident on private property. So exchange information and go on your way- right?

It appears that this girl doesn't have a driver's license, and no permit on her, so I called 911 back and asked what I should do. The police will be right there.

She has no fewer then six people there before I can finish taking pictures and get her cousin's insurrance information down (nope, she ante got any of that either).

If she hadn't been so freaked I might have thought the car stolen, but she was all tears, and panic (she asked me, begged me not to call the police).

An older women wanted to remove the car before the cops showed, I told her she could, but I would tell the cop and they would get her on "hit and run" she declined to remove the car after that.

The cops cited her for the DL lacking, and claimed her at 100% fault, but my deducable is a $1000 and I do not really have it. My truck, while functioning is scared and its only 3 years old (from the last time I was side swiped when someone backed out of a drive way into my path).

I was calm, cool as ice I think, the cop tried to get me on a lack of insurrance (still waiting on my new card), but I said- "okay, I will have the paper work and the envolope in court with the date on the outside of it," and shrugged. He didn't cite me (thankfully).

THe only thing that annoys me is that now I have to deal with a damaged vehicle.

On the bright side there were no injuries, and she was given a valuable lesson- I hope she learned something, but I don't know. My wife pointed out the obvious thing to be- had it been a person, she would not have felt the impact and might have just driven away.

Kinda glad that it was my truck and not a person, though I would rather she'd hit a light pole.

Watch where you are going people, and try not to meet the drivers around you.