Stupid Driver Stories

[jackernapes]

Even worse than going slow on the on ramp is when a car stops. That's right, stop, 0kmh on a freeway on-ramp, waiting for a gap to open up. That's just downright dangerous. I've seen this done many times, they should be shot for being such idiots. I find freeway merging dead easy because I always make sure I'm doing 90/100kmh so I can merge and not cause an accident.

Oh man, there's a little road here in LA I need to tell you about called the Pasadena Freeway.

On-ramps are about 1/2 to 1/3 of the normal length that you would expect for most of the first part of the freeway (the part that was built in 1940 when freeway speeds were about 40 or 50 mph), and there are NO merging lanes. NONE

Oh, right, and there is a stop sign right before the entrance joins with the right hand lane.

I have to say though, great excuse for testing out your car's 0-60 capabilities, that is unless its too slow to reach 60 before the first sharp bend/hairpin. Its the only freeway where I feel a 55 mph speed limit is justified. ...Doesn't mean I still won't break it though :lol:

 

[Doctor Blade]

Here's a note to today's pair of geniuses: That solid double yellow line in the middle of the road? Yeah, it means NO PASSING! It's also a good idea to stay ON YOUR SIDE OF THE ROAD!

*Twitch* I'll be fine, honest. There's a Pontiac GXP and a Honda Fit that are now toast, however. Fortunately, neither was my car.

 

[prizrak]

Here's a note to today's pair of geniuses: That solid double yellow line in the middle of the road? Yeah, it means NO PASSING! It's also a good idea to stay ON YOUR SIDE OF THE ROAD!

*Twitch* I'll be fine, honest. There's a Pontiac GXP and a Honda Fit that are now toast, however. Fortunately, neither was my car.

LOL nice pix?

 

[DanRoM]

Even worse than going slow on the on ramp is when a car stops. That's right, stop, 0kmh on a freeway on-ramp, waiting for a gap to open up.

And actually, that's the law here in Germany in case you can't find a gap while accelerating on the acceleration lane. You then have to stop on the acceleration lane. It's forbidden to just continue driving on the shoulder until there's a gap.
But fortunately, even driving schools teach the exact opposite because the law is downright dangerous, and I know a few Autobahn police officers who told me the police thinks the same way in general. Except for those autobahn entries that don't have a shoulder to continue on...

I've been in the situation of having to start from a full stop, though, due to roadworks. Fortunately, the speed limit there was 60 kph, so it was manageable to get the car going fast enough.

 

[Matt2000]

And actually, that's the law here in Germany in case you can't find a gap while accelerating on the acceleration lane. You then have to stop on the acceleration lane. It's forbidden to just continue driving on the shoulder until there's a gap.
But fortunately, even driving schools teach the exact opposite because the law is downright dangerous, and I know a few Autobahn police officers who told me the police thinks the same way in general. Except for those autobahn entries that don't have a shoulder to continue on...

The law here is you just have to stop, and I've never heard of anyone using the hard shoulder to accelerate. It's common decency though to pull into the 2nd or 3rd lane if you can though when you approach a slip road on the left.

Acceleration lanes are usually quite good though, and services are the only places where you really have to put the hammer down to get up to speed.

 

[Doctor Blade]

LOL nice pix?

Love to, but I was driving and can't operate my cell phone's camera, drive and rubberneck all at once.

I'll think of it next time, since someone's bound to prove that two masses cannot occupy the same space at the same time again.

 

[prizrak]

Love to, but I was driving and can't operate my cell phone's camera, drive and rubberneck all at once.

I'll think of it next time, since someone's bound to prove that two masses cannot occupy the same space at the same time again.

LOL too bad woulda been funny. Though I am guilty of overtaking over a solid sometimes but I usually poke out a little to make sure no one is comming before then. Though I tend to reserve that for those going 15 in a 40 or driving erratically enough to make me want to get away from them as quickly as possible.

 

[NooDle]

re: the "short on ramps" comment.

I live in Belgiumland, where there are onramps/offramps every couple of miles. The worst one so far was a hairpin bend, which anyone if unable to take at anything over 30 kph, followed by all of 200 yards of onramp, with no shoulder. It's hilarious to drive up there, even mah diesel torque car is not quick enough to merge on there , unless it's between truck or something.
of course you do have the people in the Dacias or Rovers, that pull up to the very end of the merging road, then stop and wait for a big enough hole. Which NEVER happens since it's a very busy freeway

Funny thing is, the offramp is the exact same, but mirrored. So to ANYONE who doesn't know what the roads like, they just skid off. The skidmarks at that exit are insane.

 

[Doctor Blade]

LOL too bad woulda been funny. Though I am guilty of overtaking over a solid sometimes but I usually poke out a little to make sure no one is comming before then. Though I tend to reserve that for those going 15 in a 40 or driving erratically enough to make me want to get away from them as quickly as possible.

I've had to do it rarely, but it'll happen in a situation like you say: I'm really in the mood to get away from someone wreckless and slowing down ain't gonna cut it.

Otherwise, my rule of driving boils down to "An emergency on your part does not mean an emergency on my part.".

 

[NooDle]

Oh, found another one : TRUCK DRIVERS.

Now before any truck driver reading this goes and destroys me (either irl or on the intertubez), let me clarify something.
There's a certain percentage of asshats in the world, who drive around like they made the rules and are somehow exempt from general traffic laws, laws of generally being nice, and even the laws of common sense. Some of these people happen to drive trucks for a living. These are the people I am talking about. (About 85-90% of truck drivers are cool though)

They do stuff like this (all stuff that actually happened, verified by yours truly)

1) overtaking a truck that has just overtaken you. Srsly, fuck off. The other truck took chances, dove into the fast lane, overtook you (a move that takes 10 minutes at least, and causes people to miss their exit), and you just have to overtake him back....WHY do you need to be 50m closer to your destination than the other guy?

2) leaving distances that can be only measured in inches between whoever's driving infront of you, so you can't merge in

3) As soon as they see you're accelerating on the onramp, swerve violently so that you cannot merge infront of them.

4) drive with 2 feet (!!) hanging out the window, while reading the paper on the steering wheel at the same time.

 

[prizrak]

^
5) Start merging into your lane when their cab just passed your front bumper and they are hauling a trailer and ignoring the horn. (thank god for hawk pads)

 

[MacGuffin]

Not exactly a stupid driver story but a customer complained to us today, that Hertz in France gave him a dented car as a rental...

I was tempted to say that dents are part of car culture in France and that he should be glad not having gotten a burned out model but I could contain myself.

:lol:

 

[2Billion]

Driving Protip: You don't have to brake at an intersection if the other guy has a stop sign, Dark Grey Corolla.

 

[ChrisSRT4]

So as long as you think there are going to be no cars coming then it is fine to turn into traffic on a red light without looking.

 

[prizrak]

If ALL of your car is already in the street while going through a stop sign FUCKING GO ON AND CROSS ALREADY I WILL STOP FOR YOU CUZ I HAVE NO OTHER FUCKING CHOICE!!!

 

[Cowboy]

Oh, found another one : TRUCK DRIVERS.

Now before any truck driver reading this goes and destroys me (either irl or on the intertubez), let me clarify something.
There's a certain percentage of asshats in the world, who drive around like they made the rules and are somehow exempt from general traffic laws, laws of generally being nice, and even the laws of common sense. Some of these people happen to drive trucks for a living. These are the people I am talking about. (About 85-90% of truck drivers are cool though)

They do stuff like this (all stuff that actually happened, verified by yours truly)

1) overtaking a truck that has just overtaken you. Srsly, fuck off. The other truck took chances, dove into the fast lane, overtook you (a move that takes 10 minutes at least, and causes people to miss their exit), and you just have to overtake him back....WHY do you need to be 50m closer to your destination than the other guy?

2) leaving distances that can be only measured in inches between whoever's driving infront of you, so you can't merge in

3) As soon as they see you're accelerating on the onramp, swerve violently so that you cannot merge infront of them.

4) drive with 2 feet (!!) hanging out the window, while reading the paper on the steering wheel at the same time.

1/2 : basicly same reason , dificult to explain, If your behind a guy who's limiter is set at 2 km slower than your's and you DON'T overtake the trucks behind you will do so, thinking YOUR the slow one (because they cant't see the guy infront) ..... realising their mistake they will merge between you and the guy who was originaly infront off you if you leave a big enough gap, forcing you off the gas because you have to leave another gap, and then the whole story repeats itself ......end the end off a long trip that '50m' each time results in several miles off lost ground,.... hard to imagine and even harder to explain, but in a truck colonne like you see em on our roads its always a good idea to be the guy infront providing your limiter permits it, mine does so I will overtake whenever I get the chance (never in rushour offcourse, always make sure I don't hold up to many people but some delays are inevidable)
When missing exits is concerned , plan ahead, If you know your exit is coming up stick to the first lane.....dont drive like an idiot trying to overtake that truck at the last possible second and you will be fine....

3: I have never seen swerving personaly, but more then often I have been forced on the brakes by some douchebay in a commuterbox pulling infront of me (at 5 m! ) on the onramp while doing 75.....where you doing 75? ......
I'n my case its easy, I'm going 90....If you can't match that speed on the onramp your place is behind me instead off forcing me to brake , and yess I will 'inforce' that rule ...better to come across as a douchebag then to have to e-brake, skidd, hit your ecobox from behind killing you instantly and causing mayhem on the highway.....not to mension I would be home late

4: that's simply inexusable.....revoke license for life, that is all

Now I hate to come across as one off the asshole's you where referring to, but I no doubt do, thruth be told so help me god I actualy am a very cautious and considarite driver, always letting people infront of me when I can do so safely, keeping to speed limits , never ever endangering anyone on purpose etc.....ask anybody.

Fact off the matter is that most drivers off passenger cars have no idea off how to behave around trucks, cutting in, driving nervous and unpredictable....whe have a huge mass and an enourmous stopping distance so whe try to plan ahead as much as possible....but some people just don't understand this and keep cutting us off at the last second....then when we get upset where the douchebags 'for not letting them in'....

With all do respect, from your posts I indicate that your a rather 'sporty' and energetic driver, and you have a daily ,no doubt stressfull highway/ringroads comute , ad a diesel familycar to the mix and what you end up with is the stereotype off the people I'm talking about, now I'm REALY NOT saying your are one, I'm just saying you could be.....consideration works both ways, that's all i'm saying....not that where without mistakes, VERY far from it.

Know someone who drives a truck? ask him for a ridealong for a day ......you would be amazed at the stupid shit whe see people do from our cabs ofted at inches away from us, and how many times a day we have to avoid crushing someone out off nowone elses fault but their own....I'ts a real eyeopener.

 

[Doctor Blade]

Driving Protip: You don't have to brake at an intersection if the other guy has a stop sign, Dark Grey Corolla.

Corollary: Make sure the other guy knows he's supposed to stop, first.

 

[NooDle]

lotsa text

Iknew there'd be a reply from you here, which is why I said that 90% of truck drivers are cool. I usually get along fine, and I'm not the asshat that cuts people off...

But to go over and flatout BLOCK a car from merging had my blood boiling. What's the point? Even if we're going to the same destination i'd get there first since I can do 91 kph (and a LOT more) and he can't.

I've also seen truck drivers just driving on the lay-by (pechstrook) to stop people from using it at standstill traffic. That's just to piss people off...
When I'm in standstill traffic, and the exit is a couple of 100 yards away, fuck you, i'm taling the lay-by. It means I get home sooner, and the traffic jam shortens. Why would anyone willfully stop people from doing that.

Note : I'm talking about doing this for a couple of 100 yards to get to an exit, not the asshats who just use it as another lane to pass everyone.

 

[SirEdward]

Hey, Belgian wars has started!

-----

ok, seriously, the main problems with lorry drivers is they are bigger than everyone else. They're not really THAT terrible at driving, only they have a fat big vehicle, and everything they do shows up. They can't hide, and when they make some mess, they turn into quite a few tonnes of hard-stoppable destruction.

It is the same for cars and motorcycles, or cars and cyclists: the drivers are pretty much the same, but if the car does some stupid move, it causes more problems, so everyone else is going to see the car acting stupidly and not the "poor" bycicle driving terroristically.

Unfortunately, this is a good thing: bigger vehicles require more skill, more practice and leave less room for errors, so their drivers must be more pointed at than those of smaller vehicles when something wrong happens. But that doesn't mean they really are worse, only they have a higher required driving standard.

If every lorry driver would drive like cyclists do here, for example, human race would get extinct in a couple of months, even if lorry drivers are the one who get despised as bad drivers.

(Note: all my thought is willingly neglecting those underpaid lorry drivers from eastern europe who infest the routes and use drugs as a substitute for sleeping).

 

[Cowboy]

Iknew
But to go over and flatout BLOCK a car from merging had my blood boiling. What's the point? Even if we're going to the same destination i'd get there first since I can do 91 kph (and a LOT more) and he can't.

Right, so are we talking about standstill traffic here? because now I am confused? in a traffic jam I don't see the point either, passenger cars never stay in the first lane in a jam so you just go ahead and let one in, the whole zipper merging thing you know...., works wonders if used propely.
If where talking about fast moving traffic I stand by my point, either go faster then the truck at the moment of merging, or back in behind it.

The driving on the shoulder thing ( a lay-by is a parkinglane by the side if I get this correctly btw)....if everyone started doing that it would be a ripe old mess wouldent it? I don't bother blocking people but I find it extremly dangerous..... people who actualy have the patience to wait until the off-ramp starts are suddenly faced with asshats popping up on the right in a place they have no right to be, and one after another if everyone starts doing it......
I'm sorry but this is precise the type of unpredictable nervous behavior I was talking about earlyr.....ever see how most accidents (and huge trafficjams) on the highway start? because someone somewhere was trying to get home "a little faster while shortening the jam"
Newsflash: everyone there is trying to get home, just stay in line.