Impatient drivers passing on shoulder

[hbarcat]

I've noticed more and more drivers passing on the shoulder instead of waiting behind another vehicle that is stopped to make a left turn against oncoming traffic. I used to see this on country roads where there is no traffic and some states even allow it where there is a special passing lane marked for the purpose.

But it's always illegal and is especially dangerous when this is done in downtown high traffic areas. A few weeks ago, I saw a woman in a minivan drive on the shoulder to pass two cars waiting to turn left and she narrowly avoided running over an oncoming motorcyclist who had the right of way to turn in front of her. The guy on the bike almost wiped out in his effort to avoid getting squashed and he was so infuriated by her reckless endangerment of his life that he banged his fist a couple of times on her window as she went by and screamed vulgarities at her. I could see her face and she actually seemed oblivious to what was happening and she just kept on driving like nothing had happened.

Then today, I was driving through a busy downtown and I stopped to allow a woman standing in the crosswalk with her child cross the street. This is the law in Illinois and it's vigorously enforced in that town. I looked in my mirror and saw a woman driving a pickup truck with a man in the passenger seat and she was about to go around me on the shoulder. She saw the pedestrians just starting to cross and slammed on her brakes. Then she started honking her horn at me with both of them flipping me off and yelling something that I couldn't hear.

I just shook my head and continued ahead after the pedestrians had crossed. I made a right turn at the next intersection onto the side street where my workplace was and the truck followed me all the way to my company parking lot. The truck pulled up next to my on my left and the guy in the passenger seat started yelling obscenities at me.

"**** you! You stopped all the traffic behind you just to let someone cross the street! You stupid *******!"

I replied (calmly), "It's the law in Illinois that it's required for traffic in both directions to stop to allow pedestrians to cross the street and the police in this town enforce that law."

He said, "We had to slam on our brakes because we didn't know you were going to stop like that."

I said, "If you aren't capable of paying attention to what's happening in front of you while you're driving, then you shouldn't have a driver's license."

Then she drove away while he continued to yell at me until they were out of earshot.

+++++++++++++

What the hey is wrong with some people? They engage in reckless and illegal behavior and then insist they're in the right and act like angry baboons when told they were actually in the wrong.

And I've been seeing a lot of this, recently. It's depressing.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

If you don't like my driving, stay off the sidewalk.

Yes. I hear ya bro. More and more it seems people are just in a hurry to get in an "accident."

 

[David Jayne]

At the risk of sounding political, we are in this country fostering an attitude of 'somebody else's fault/I'm never wrong.'

 

[hbarcat]

On the plus side, I've seen fewer people texting or fumbling with their cell phone while driving. A few years ago, it was rampant and it was causing a plague of accidents. It's now illegal in my state and it's enforced, so I don't see it as much anymore.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

combine this with loss of face & you've really got problems

Once I had a guy in a security guard uniform pull out in front of me from a side street, on a motorbike. I barely missed hitting him, and got as far over as I could w/o hitting the cars on the other side of me.
He followed me around for 20 minutes, until I got clever & pulled into the local police station (where my brother-in-law worked). Once he saw where I was headed he just sped on past & left me alone.

Another time I was making a legal u-turn right near home. There was a guy on a motorbike on the other side of my turn, and he was going the wrong way. He was clearly in the wrong, but he followed me home. He wasn't as obvious about it, so I pulled my vehicle into home before he appeared cursing me & saying he was going to get me.

The next day I drove a different vehicle home, because I put the one from the previous evening in the shop to do some body work. These guys had been patrolling my home all day, the wife had called to tell me so.
I watched them go in one end of the road past my house & I came in from the other end of the road. I nearly ran both of them down, but I was in a truck & they were on a motorbike. You guessed it, same guy from the night before.
After I nearly ran them over & revved the engine in their faces, they sped off & I never saw them again.

I wish they would make it illegal to be on the phone here, as almost every time I have a near-miss the other driver is on their phone.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

combine this with loss of face & you've really got problems

Once I had a guy in a security guard uniform pull out in front of me from a side street, on a motorbike. I barely missed hitting him, and got as far over as I could w/o hitting the cars on the other side of me.
He followed me around for 20 minutes, until I got clever & pulled into the local police station (where my brother-in-law worked). Once he saw where I was headed he just sped on past & left me alone.

Another time I was making a legal u-turn right near home. There was a guy on a motorbike on the other side of my turn, and he was going the wrong way. He was clearly in the wrong, but he followed me home. He wasn't as obvious about it, so I pulled my vehicle into home before he appeared cursing me & saying he was going to get me.

The next day I drove a different vehicle home, because I put the one from the previous evening in the shop to do some body work. These guys had been patrolling my home all day, the wife had called to tell me so.
I watched them go in one end of the road past my house & I came in from the other end of the road. I nearly ran both of them down, but I was in a truck & they were on a motorbike. You guessed it, same guy from the night before.
After I nearly ran them over & revved the engine in their faces, they sped off & I never saw them again.

Idjits!
That's way beyond road rage. That's premeditated terrorism!

 

[Stumbo]

I've noticed more and more drivers passing on the shoulder instead of waiting behind another vehicle that is stopped to make a left turn against oncoming traffic. I used to see this on country roads where there is no traffic and some states even allow it where there is a special passing lane marked for the purpose.

But it's always illegal and is especially dangerous when this is done in downtown high traffic areas. A few weeks ago, I saw a woman in a minivan drive on the shoulder to pass two cars waiting to turn left and she narrowly avoided running over an oncoming motorcyclist who had the right of way to turn in front of her. The guy on the bike almost wiped out in his effort to avoid getting squashed and he was so infuriated by her reckless endangerment of his life that he banged his fist a couple of times on her window as she went by and screamed vulgarities at her. I could see her face and she actually seemed oblivious to what was happening and she just kept on driving like nothing had happened.

Then today, I was driving through a busy downtown and I stopped to allow a woman standing in the crosswalk with her child cross the street. This is the law in Illinois and it's vigorously enforced in that town. I looked in my mirror and saw a woman driving a pickup truck with a man in the passenger seat and she was about to go around me on the shoulder. She saw the pedestrians just starting to cross and slammed on her brakes. Then she started honking her horn at me with both of them flipping me off and yelling something that I couldn't hear.

I just shook my head and continued ahead after the pedestrians had crossed. I made a right turn at the next intersection onto the side street where my workplace was and the truck followed me all the way to my company parking lot. The truck pulled up next to my on my left and the guy in the passenger seat started yelling obscenities at me.

"**** you! You stopped all the traffic behind you just to let someone cross the street! You stupid *******!"

I replied (calmly), "It's the law in Illinois that it's required for traffic in both directions to stop to allow pedestrians to cross the street and the police in this town enforce that law."

He said, "We had to slam on our brakes because we didn't know you were going to stop like that."

I said, "If you aren't capable of paying attention to what's happening in front of you while you're driving, then you shouldn't have a driver's license."

Then she drove away while he continued to yell at me until they were out of earshot.

+++++++++++++

What the hey is wrong with some people? They engage in reckless and illegal behavior and then insist they're in the right and act like angry baboons when told they were actually in the wrong.

And I've been seeing a lot of this, recently. It's depressing.

We have "white hair" traffic scofflaws. Not what you think. It's where younger drivers scout out older drivers,whom they know will obey traffic laws, so they can safely blow through stop signs and red-light right turns among other things.

Other times cars tailing traffic making left turns seem to go on and on. Now I count 3-4-5 cars making a turn against a left turn red light.

One time, while waiting at a red light with another car next to me, two lanes of cars were turning left in front of us. The left turn light lasts twice as long as a normal one because it's a very busy street with up to 50-60 cars turning left with each light.

The guy next to me got impatient and road rage as he started gunning his motor and to head out into the flow of cars turning left in front if us. He cut off cars, almost caused an accident and dodged his way through the flow of traffic to get on his way.

Unbelievable!:***:

 

[Stumbo]

Knowing that people coming up from behind don't pay attention enough or sometimes get the sunlight glare, whenever I stop or slow down where it might not be noticed quickly, I always put my emergency flashers on for a short period of time, especially on the freeway.

As soon as the flashers go on I can see people from all lanes slowing down, especially helpful when traffic is slowing quickly ahead.

 

[hbarcat]

We have "white hair" traffic scofflaws. Not what you think. It's where younger drivers scout out older drivers,whom they know will obey traffic laws, so they can safely blow through stop signs and red-light right turns among other things.

Around here the two most common types of reckless drivers are young men in their teens or early 20's driving performance cars and middle age soccer moms driving minivans. While most of them are good drivers there is a noticeable minority within and among these two groups to assume they are entitled to the right of way at all times and under all conditions.

 

[slobake]

I've noticed more and more drivers passing on the shoulder instead of waiting behind another vehicle that is stopped to make a left turn against oncoming traffic. I used to see this on country roads where there is no traffic and some states even allow it where there is a special passing lane marked for the purpose.

But it's always illegal and is especially dangerous when this is done in downtown high traffic areas. A few weeks ago, I saw a woman in a minivan drive on the shoulder to pass two cars waiting to turn left and she narrowly avoided running over an oncoming motorcyclist who had the right of way to turn in front of her. The guy on the bike almost wiped out in his effort to avoid getting squashed and he was so infuriated by her reckless endangerment of his life that he banged his fist a couple of times on her window as she went by and screamed vulgarities at her. I could see her face and she actually seemed oblivious to what was happening and she just kept on driving like nothing had happened.

Then today, I was driving through a busy downtown and I stopped to allow a woman standing in the crosswalk with her child cross the street. This is the law in Illinois and it's vigorously enforced in that town. I looked in my mirror and saw a woman driving a pickup truck with a man in the passenger seat and she was about to go around me on the shoulder. She saw the pedestrians just starting to cross and slammed on her brakes. Then she started honking her horn at me with both of them flipping me off and yelling something that I couldn't hear.

I just shook my head and continued ahead after the pedestrians had crossed. I made a right turn at the next intersection onto the side street where my workplace was and the truck followed me all the way to my company parking lot. The truck pulled up next to my on my left and the guy in the passenger seat started yelling obscenities at me.

"**** you! You stopped all the traffic behind you just to let someone cross the street! You stupid *******!"

I replied (calmly), "It's the law in Illinois that it's required for traffic in both directions to stop to allow pedestrians to cross the street and the police in this town enforce that law."

He said, "We had to slam on our brakes because we didn't know you were going to stop like that."

I said, "If you aren't capable of paying attention to what's happening in front of you while you're driving, then you shouldn't have a driver's license."

Then she drove away while he continued to yell at me until they were out of earshot.

+++++++++++++

What the hey is wrong with some people? They engage in reckless and illegal behavior and then insist they're in the right and act like angry baboons when told they were actually in the wrong.

And I've been seeing a lot of this, recently. It's depressing.

Good job, you have my respect. I wish more of us would drive the way you do. I would have stopped for the pedestrians but I am not sure I would not have reacted in a stupid way that would only escalate the situation. Hopefully I would have responded in a similar manner or ignored the @55hole.
I am also glad they didn't run over the pedestrians. I witnessed and almost identical situation yesterday here in San Francisco. I was not involved but my wife and I both gasped because we thought the impatient driver was going to mow down the pedestrians. Fortunately that didn't happen.
Some of us think that when we start up our car that no one has the right to slow us down in any way for any reason.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

The one I love (hate) is the jerk who always has to be first.
First in the line of traffic.
First to sit longest at a red light.
First to cause an accident.
Slow down and get there sooner -Jeeze!

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Knowing that people coming up from behind don't pay attention enough or sometimes get the sunlight glare, whenever I stop or slow down where it might not be noticed quickly, I always put my emergency flashers on, especially on the freeway.

As soon as the flashers go on I can see people from all lanes slowing down, especially helpful when traffic is slowing quickly ahead.

Ooh! Pet Peeve. Driving with emergency flashers on.
Using them as an auxiliary brake light, now that's novel.

 

[hbarcat]

combine this with loss of face & you've really got problems

I've never been one to provoke a confrontation, but when I was younger I would allow myself to get drawn into a dispute that someone else started. Now, I'm too old for that nonsense and I have health reasons for not getting into stressful situations like road rage incidents.

When that couple in the pickup truck followed me to work today, I maintained a calm and non-confrontational attitude in the face of their childish temper tantrum. I thought of an insult I could have used* while the guy was yelling vulgarities at me but decided to keep it to myself. It might make me feel cool to get a good dig in at this d-bag, but the reality is, there is nothing at all useful to be gained and there is always a chance that the guy is a psycho and could attack me with a weapon (or at least damage my car) if I get him too angry.



* Me: "I notice that your girlfriend is driving the truck and you're sitting in the passenger seat." [Makes whip cracking gesture with arm while doing the appropriate sound effect]

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

We have "white hair" traffic scofflaws. Not what you think. It's where younger drivers scout out older drivers,whom they know will obey traffic laws, so they can safely blow through stop signs and red-light right turns among other things.

Ah come on. What's the more likely scenario?
Young drivers are actively seeking out elder drivers so they can intentionally take advantage of them in order to drive in a dangerous manner?
Or...
Might it just be that there are more instances of older, more cautious drivers, and younger more impatient ones meeting at the same intersection?

If those kids really knew what they were doing, they'd be scared sh*%tless to be taking chances like that on the road with those crazy old farts behind the wheel, who can barely see over the steering wheel and hardly have control of their own faculties let alone thousands of pounds of careening steel, wandering across the line into oncoming traffic while the right turn signal has been on since Christmas.

The first time they have to take dad's car keys away, they'll realize how stupid they used to be. Assuming dad doesn't bury them first.

 

[David Jayne]

I've never been one to provoke a confrontation, but when I was younger I would allow myself to get drawn into a dispute that someone else started. Now, I'm too old for that nonsense and I have health reasons for not getting into stressful situations like road rage incidents.

When that couple in the pickup truck followed me to work today, I maintained a calm and non-confrontational attitude in the face of their childish temper tantrum. I thought of an insult I could have used* while the guy was yelling vulgarities at me but decided to keep it to myself. It might make me feel cool to get a good dig in at this d-bag, but the reality is, there is nothing at all useful to be gained and there is always a chance that the guy is a psycho and could attack me with a weapon (or at least damage my car) if I get him too angry.



* Me: "I notice that your girlfriend is driving the truck and you're sitting in the passenger seat." [Makes whip cracking gesture with arm while doing the appropriate sound effect]

You could tone it down a hair, replacing the punch line with "Lost your license, eh?"

 

[Stumbo]

Ah come on. What's the more likely scenario?
Young drivers are actively seeking out elder drivers so they can intentionally take advantage of them in order to drive in a dangerous manner?
Or...
Might it just be that there are more instances of older, more cautious drivers, and younger more impatient ones meeting at the same intersection?

If those kids really knew what they were doing, they'd be scared sh*%tless to be taking chances like that on the road with those crazy old farts behind the wheel, who can barely see over the steering wheel and hardly have control of their own faculties let alone thousands of pounds of careening steel, wandering across the line into oncoming traffic while the right turn signal has been on since Christmas.

The first time they have to take dad's car keys away, they'll realize how stupid they used to be. Assuming dad doesn't bury them first.

My story is based on facts...nothing but the facts.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

I love driving the speed limit if I know it's pissing off some hothead behind me.

I also feel an obligation to maintain a safe following distance behind me when someone is up my tailpipe.
I slow down so the guy behind me has room to stop for the speed in play.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

When my folks complain about how folks drive around here, I just kind of laugh to myself, because it's nothing compared to stuff I've experienced on the roads in Asia:



When they say "Len Laaw", that means, "the claws are out now" or "it's playtime now"

 

[hondo4life]

I have been crashed into twice in the last two years. Before that, I had only been crashed into once in all my years of driving. And two weeks ago, I was run into the yellow rubber median posts by someone running through a yield sign and crossing two lanes of traffic. Just some scuffs on the paint, thankfully. I am thinkinh about getting a yellow strobe light to mount on my roof, and just leave it on all the time.

As it turns out, my state recently rated highest in motor vehicle deaths, with 1.89 deaths per 100 million miles.
I definitely blame cell phones for much of it, as we have no such laws here in SC.

Fatality Facts

Every day is a fight for survival on these roads.

 

[line6man]

When my folks complain about how folks drive around here, I just kind of laugh to myself, because it's nothing compared to stuff I've experienced on the roads in Asia:



When they say "Len Laaw", that means, "the claws are out now" or "it's playtime now"

*** did I just watch. That was really bizarre.