Stupid Drivers

February 20, 2006

One night I was on my way to a meeting on campus, the quickest way to get there is usually a rather congested commercial road with many traffic lights and businesses (but still the most direct). I must have left home about 2 minutes too late because I found myself stuck behind an 18-wheeler with a long line of cars slowly building behind me. Alright no big deal, so I’ll be a few minutes late. Well the guy was going about 15 in a 35 zone (sometimes speeding up on the inclines), but I figured he’d get off when the commercial section ended and the road ran through a wooded farmland area. Much to my chagrin the trucker went right on through towards campus. We reached the first turn and he slowed down to about 7 miles an hour to navigate it (the turn is sharp, but the lanes are very wide). As no one was coming toward me, I decided to quickly and neatly pass the rig. He slowed down a little more for me and I passed with no hesitation, giving a friendly wave out my window! . I look back, expecting to find similar responses from the motorists behind me, but instead they sat complacently behind the truck, crawling at just under 7 miles per hour in a 35 zone!! I saw no other cars for the next 2 miles in the oncoming lane, and when I stopped at the next stop sign, I looked back to see absolutely no other headlights coming down the road, THEY WERE STILL BEHIND THE TRUCK!! Morons!

Stupid Drivers

Stupid Drivers

February 19, 2006

I was driving home from work, and of course, it was rush hour. I had a little old lady driving in front of me, and everyone was driving fast. Then another driver came down the on ramp to merge with the traffic. This lady in front of me slams on her brakes and comes to a complete stop (on the expressway)in order to let the other driver in. Everyone behind her had to slam on there breaks in order to keep from hitting each other. This lady just sat there for at least thirty seconds. The guy who was trying to merge looked terrified to get on the road after seeing what was happening, but the lady wasn’t about to move. One guy gets out of his car (sense we were all stopped) and yells at her to go “before he goes over there and beats her for being stupid.” Then, another driver yells out that he will help the other guy beat this poor little old lady. Terrified, she took off (after sitting there blocking both lanes of traffic) and gets off at the first off ramp.

Stupid Drivers

Stupid Drivers

February 4, 2006

Here in the Norfolk, VA area we have a pair of H.O.V. (Carpool) lanes that run in the middle of the freeway (i.e. 3 east bound, 2 H.O.V. and 3 west bound lanes). These lanes are separated from the rest of traffic by a concrete barrier and the traffic direction can be changed to run either east or west depending on the amount of traffic. Each end of these lanes have a set of six drop down barricades similar to those used at railroad crossings to keep opposing traffic from entering the HOV lanes. There have been three instances where people have been driving the wrong way on the HOV lanes killing themselves and/or others.

The first was an Alzheimers patient that decided to enter the HOV and travel the wrong direction at one of the openings designed to allow emergency vehicles to enter.

The second was two days later when a drunk motorcyclist decided to make a U-turn after he had gotten onto the HOV lanes. He was killed when he was thrown off an overpass and landed on the freeway below.

The third was from a 70 year old who after smashing his way through the first 3 barricades, and carefully maneuvering around the other three, killing not only himself but the innocent driver that he hit.

Stupid Drivers
,

Stupid Drivers

January 25, 2006

I used to vacation with a few friends at a cottage in northern Ontario. The morning of this particular tale we set off at about 8 a.m.; four of us traveling in our own cars, loaded up with the necessary baggage and food for our stay. Three of us arrive at the cottage at about the same time, having made the trip in just over an hour and a half, but our friend Gus is conspicuously missing. Just after noon he rolls up in his shiny new point-of-pride, a CRX.

He casually gets out of his car to a round of questions, everyone wanting to know what’d taken him so long.

He replies “What do you expect, guys, this is a brand new car,” which we’re apparently supposed to take as sufficient explanation. Of course we ask him to elaborate; so he obliges….

“No, I didn’t stop for anything, I just drove slower.” Why? “Well, you know that if you drive slower you’ll put less mileage on your car, don’t you?”

Yes, folks, he *was* serious, and was even offended at our doubting his radical speed/distance theory. He went on to explain, exasperated at our stupidity in the face of reason, “When you’re driving, just look at your odometer, first when you’re driving around town, and then look at it again when you’re on the highway. You’ve gotta notice that the odometer rolls a hell of a lot faster when you’re go’n’ 60 or 70 m.p.h.”

It took us hours to convince him that he was not saving any mileage driving slower. We needed maps, rulers, calculators — it took every resource we could pool, even a demonstration, to make him believe us. But I still think Gus is out there, somewhere, driving around at half the speed limit….

Stupid Drivers
, ,