Stupid Driver Stories

Where I used to live, this would have been a freaking legal requirement. Pedestrians had the right of way period full-stop no questions asked. It was STUPID! No matter where you were people would just step right out in the road expecting you to stop no matter what. I can't imagine how people weren't killed right and left.

That's the rules around here too, but you get so abused for doing it that most people (aka those in their right minds and who are also considerate of others) tend to stick to crossings. Mind you, a lot of people refuse to walk the extra 10 metres to the corssing and risk their lives darting between the traffic :rolleyes:
 
Where I used to live, this would have been a freaking legal requirement. Pedestrians had the right of way period full-stop no questions asked. It was STUPID! No matter where you were people would just step right out in the road expecting you to stop no matter what. I can't imagine how people weren't killed right and left.

This is true everywhere that I'm aware of - pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way. However, in most sane places the pedestrian can then be cited for jaywalking if they're crossing outside a marked crossing or against signal devices.
 
Not anyone driver in particular, but I love when people find a way to cut me off and then brake check me because I'm now suddenly on their ass. It would be nice to have some time to back off first.

Utards...... <_<
 
Go to Holland. There cyclists always have right of way.

Much, much worse than pedestrians...
 
Go to Holland. There cyclists always have right of way.

Much, much worse than pedestrians...

Depending on local/state law, bicyclists are either pedestrians or OTHER CARS as far as right of way is concerned. When they're pedestrians, they always have the right of way because pedestrians always have the right of way. When they're cars, they have to follow the same rules that you do - and never do.
 
2 in two days:

Arrival at a T intersection, I'm headed for the left turn slip lane to merge with the main flow of traffic. Truck and Vitara in front of me. Truck as stopped at the 'Turn Left at Any Time with Care' sign. There is no traffic. Not even a duck crossing (lots of ducks at this intersection as it's near a lake). Vitara beeps. We wait. I beep. We wait. Finally, the lights at the next intersection (100m+ down the road) change to green and the truck finally moves off. He then turns off before the next intersection.

Coming home tonight, guy at the side of the road with his two dogs. He watches the Magna coming from his left go past on the far side of the road and then steps straight out in front of me (I'm doing 80 kph coming from his right). My ABS works. So does my heart.
 
Depending on local/state law, bicyclists are either pedestrians or OTHER CARS as far as right of way is concerned. When they're pedestrians, they always have the right of way because pedestrians always have the right of way. When they're cars, they have to follow the same rules that you do - and never do.

Here bicyclists pretty much have a de facto right of way because if you are in a car and hit a cyclist you are fucked. Only time that you are not is when they are not wearing helmets or have the required lights.
 
Sometimes I like my home country's tendency for regulating anything :)

Cyclists are equal to cars here, so they have equal rights but also have to stick to the traffic rules.

Pedestrians have to use zebra crossings or traffic lights to cross a street. If they don't, it's their own risk.

There are, however, especially indicated zones in residential areas, marked by this sign:

150px-Zeichen_325.svg.png


There you are only allowed to drive at walking speed and all traffic participants have equal rights. For cyclists of course that means they'd have to dismount but guess how many are doing that ;)
 
Last edited:
Sometimes I like my home country's tendency for regulating anything :)

Cyclists are equal to cars here, so they have equal rights but also have to stick to the traffic rules.

Pedestrians have to use zebra crossings or traffic lights to cross a street. If they don't, it's their own risk.

There are, however, especially indicated zones in residential areas, marked by this sign:

150px-Zeichen_325.svg.png


There you are only allowed to drive at walking speed and all traffic participants have equal rights. For cyclists of course that means they'd have to dismount but guess how many are doing that ;)
Cyclists are technically equal to cars here but this is the land of the lawsuit so even if you are not guilty in the criminal sense the fact that you are in a car makes you guilty in civil court.
 
It's similar here: The "operating danger" of a car is much higher than that of a bicycle, so in case of an accident between a car and a bicycle, the car driver almost always has to pay some of the damage even if the accident was the cyclist's fault. :(
 
^this is true and what's wrong with the world today.
If someone wants to commit suicide and chooses your car to jump infront of, you're fucked, even if there was nothing you could do to prevent it.
 
It's similar here: The "operating danger" of a car is much higher than that of a bicycle, so in case of an accident between a car and a bicycle, the car driver almost always has to pay some of the damage even if the accident was the cyclist's fault. :(

Well, if the cyclist is on the road and not on the cycle path, without lights at night and on the wrong side of the road coming right at you, I don't see how the car driver get any fault.

Because that's an enconter I had the other day. Obviously he wanted to do a short cut by going on the left side of the road (!) to be faster at the Aldi store. I nearly flattened him.

I almost wish I had...
 
Last edited:
Well, if the cyclist is on the road and not on the cycle path, without lights at night and on the wrong side of the road coming right at you, I don't see how the car driver get any fault.

<lawyer>Cars have headlights. DUH!</lawyer>
 
Luckily lawyers (and judges) here don't think that way.
 
I had a kind of mixed bag today: a stupid driver in a great car. It was one of these 110%-fast-lane-guys who starts to overtake people on the wrong side when traffic is not going fast enough for his liking. An idiot clearly, endangering him and others on the A3 in quite heavy traffic this morning.

The only good thing was that he blasted by me in an Audi R8 (V8) at full throttle. Man, that things sounds awesome! :shock2:
 
The gear linkage for my windshield wipers has been broken for years. And guess how much that sucks? *points to my location*

I loathe driving in the rain. But thank god for Rain-X.

I think this post belongs in here.

* Location = Washington state.
 
So a few of you have mentioned honking/flashing/waving at these idiot drivers. Anyone ever actually confront someone?

I live in a small, quiet subdivision with narrow streets. It's mostly young professionals but there are a dozen or so school aged children and probably another dozen that get walked in strollers by moms. We only have TWO stop signs. Really, is it too much to ask to expect people to STOP at them? Or at the very least slow mostly all the way down? I was fully stopped at the 4 way tonight and this idiot in a Toyota slows marginally, looks dead at me, and accelerates straight on through faster than I drive around here normally. She then pulls into a garage right across the street from me and proceeds to sit in her car with the engine going for at least a minute or two so clearly not in an emergency. I was "this close" to going over three and chewing her out, but I don't want to start something. Heaven knows if I accidentally do something against the rules, forget to bring my trashcan in or some such. I don't want to be the neighborhood bitch. But seriously there are PLENTY of kids here not to mention other cars and adults out running/walking.

Would you have said something?
 
Last edited:
Yes. And I have.

On the street where my Mom lives and I grew up there is a 2-way stop. Our street is very steep and has the right of way because in the winter it's just not possible to stop there some of the time. The cross street is about the same size, but it parallels a major 4-lane commuting road about two blocks away. When that street gets backed up some drivers decide that the residential street (passing 3 churches and a school) is a good place to make up some time. They tend to roll through the stop or pause and then drive out without looking.

I have chased down a couple and given them an ass-reaming for it. The last one was on his phone and pulled out right in front of me, causing me to stomp the brakes. I may have intentionally locked up a bit to scare him. I followed him about half a block until he pulled over. To his credit, he knew he fucked up - in fact, he said that his wife had actually been t-boned at that intersection because she was talking on the phone and ran the stop. Apparently he thought that this would convince me he had learned his lesson. I just looked at him for a second and said, "So are you just a fucking idiot then or do you have another excuse?"

Back in California a woman ran a stop sign and nearly hit me when I was on my moto. We were both going to the same parking lot and as I was taking my gear off she walked right past me.
"Excuse me, but do you realize that you ran a Stop back there and nearly hit me." It wasn't a question.
"I'm sorry, I'm from Pennsylvania."
"Do they not have Stop signs in Pennsylvania or are they a different color? You don't get it, you nearly hit me with your car. If I hadn't expected you to be Retarded, I would have pulled out as you ran the Stop, you would have hit me, I would have gone to the hospital, you would have gone to jail. Get it?"
"But I'm from out of town!"
"You're a douche-canoe, you know that?"
 
It would be more of an excuse if they were from in town, assuming the sign had just gone up. I have done that before. No sign for years then suddenly SIGN. Or traffic light, god. Year of going back and forth to school every day then suddenly the town decides to put up THREE new traffic lights all on the same street, all for barely used intersections. 20 feet, light, 20 feet, light, 20 feet, light. I ran one of the at least 2x because I wasn't used to it being there and logically they never should have put them up.
 
This sign had been there since before I had moved it, almost four years prior to the encounter.
 
Top