Worst case of a bad driver you've seen?

Apis_Mellifera wrote: There is a very long straight section of highway between Marrieta, OH and Charleston, WV I drive once or twice a week. I routinely get one of them stuck on my bumper a car length or two away while cruising at 75. No one else for miles in front of or behind us. He's doing 65, I pass, he speeds up and tailgates me. I speed up to 85 or 90 and get a half mile buffer and resume 70. Thirty seconds later, Mr. Ohio has sped up and settled back in behind. I hit decelerate on the cruise control every few seconds until I'm down to 50. He slows. We're both going ridiculously slow and it's obvious and intentional . Eventually he passes and speeds up to 65. I speed up to 75 and pass. He speeds up, falls in, and it starts again.

I've seen that a few times in Michigan, usually out of state plates, Ohio or Illinois, I'll usually just exercise the H rated tires, and then slow down on a hill where there are likely cops hiding.

Once I was cruising down 94 around 80mph (nowhere near the fastest car on that stretch of road), using flash to pass to clear idiots out of the way, and some moron in a clapped out Accord decided to take offense to my polite asking of him to get out of my way. So he slows to 35 ON A INTERSTATE HIGHWAY, forcing me to follow him as cars fly by on my right. This goes on for a few miles, I decided to be the bigger man and NOT try to kill him. I cant remember if Mr. Dickless got out of my way, or I found a gap and passed on the right out of frustration.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Once I was cruising down 94 around 80mph (nowhere near the fastest car on that stretch of road), using flash to pass to clear idiots out of the way, and some moron in a clapped out Accord decided to take offense to my polite asking of him to get out of my way.

No offense, but in my area that would have the same meaning as laying on the horn and an extended middle finger out the window. I still wouldn't react in the way that person did though, letting them by as soon as its possible to do so safely makes much more sense.

Not the worst by far, but why do people feel it is necessary to swerve to the outside (or farther) of their lane before making a turn? Is everyone that lazy to turn the wheel a few more degrees and keep going straight?

I hate people who "flash to pass". It's especially dumb when I'm the last car in a line of cars in the passing lane. It's like saying Hello! DB comming through. I have these 3 devices on my car soley dedicated to enabling me to see behind me. I check them frequently and when I am not being impeded myself by a car in front of me I do not spend time int he left lane. If I am passing a car at 78mph and you are doing 85mph and I have not safetly executed my pass I'm very sorry you will have to slow down to wait the 10 seconds it will take me to provide the courtesy of a little breathing room to the car I am passing. I'm not going out of my way to inconvienence you. I appologize that my speeding is not sufficent for you but I will get out of your way as soon as possible. I do not need to be remided of that with your little High beam berkeley you.

nocones wrote: I hate people who "flash to pass". It's especially dumb when I'm the last car in a line of cars in the passing lane. It's like saying Hello! DB comming through. I have these 3 devices on my car soley dedicated to enabling me to see behind me. I check them frequently and when I am not being impeded myself by a car in front of me I do not spend time int he left lane. If I am passing a car at 78mph and you are doing 85mph and I have not safetly executed my pass I'm very sorry you will have to slow down to wait the 10 seconds it will take me to provide the courtesy of a little breathing room to the car I am passing. I'm not going out of my way to inconvienence you. I appologize that my speeding is not sufficent for you but I will get out of your way as soon as possible. I do not need to be remided of that with your little High beam berkeley you.

You'll be glad to know I dont do any of that. Doing 65 in the left lane of a 3 lane sparsly populated highway? Yeah, you'll get a blip, I'm not slowing down if I can avoid it, gas costs money and brakes turn gas into heat. Im also above weaving through traffic like some kind of damn lunatic.

I saw a "women" once driving some piece of E36 M3 '90s GM car. She had a cigarette hanging out her mouth, a coke in one hand, no seatbelt, cell phone in her ear and a baby in her lap.

nocones wrote: I hate people who "flash to pass". It's especially dumb when I'm the last car in a line of cars in the passing lane. It's like saying Hello! DB comming through. I have these 3 devices on my car soley dedicated to enabling me to see behind me. I check them frequently and when I am not being impeded myself by a car in front of me I do not spend time int he left lane. If I am passing a car at 78mph and you are doing 85mph and I have not safetly executed my pass I'm very sorry you will have to slow down to wait the 10 seconds it will take me to provide the courtesy of a little breathing room to the car I am passing. I'm not going out of my way to inconvienence you. I appologize that my speeding is not sufficent for you but I will get out of your way as soon as possible. I do not need to be remided of that with your little High beam berkeley you.

I would not use FTP in the situation you describe. Heck, I can see there's no place for you to go. I will flash folks who are going considerably slower than I am and have a clear path to get over. A couple flashes are all I need. Either you're getting over or you're not. If not, I'l use that clear lane on your right to go around.

As an aside, I had a woman on Facebook (a friend of a friend, posting in our mutual friend's thread) who was quite insistent that passing on the right was the embodiment of all that is evil and my kids were certainly going to die in a horrible crash because there was no circumstance where this was OK.
I'm not sure what makes it more dangerous than passing in a left lane, given that I'm not zipping around aggressively or changing lanes like an idiot. You're cruising in the left land and I'm just going around in the open lane... no big.

cwaters wrote: As an aside, I had a woman on Facebook (a friend of a friend, posting in our mutual friend's thread) who was quite insistent that passing on the right was the embodiment of all that is evil and my kids were certainly going to die in a horrible crash because there was no circumstance where this was OK. I'm not sure what makes it more dangerous than passing in a left lane, given that I'm not zipping around aggressively or changing lanes like an idiot. You're cruising in the left land and I'm just going around in the open lane... no big.

You wouldn't be passing on the right if they were following the rules.

I was almost hit by one just a few minutes ago. A nurse in a minivan pulled into the far right (curb) lane, at a stoplight. I was in the left, with an old man in a Geo Metro between us. When the light turned green, she zipped ahead of the Geo, barely missing parked cars ahead. I caught a glimpse of her looking at her phone. At the next light, she had her head buried in her phone. Keep in mind, texting while driving is illegal in WI. She didn't even flinch, when I tooted my horn. She eventually started moving again, shortly after the light turned green, this time, which meant she was behind me, fortunately, quite a distance. My driveway was a mile from the light. I had my signal on, to make a right turn into my driveway. Knowing how distracted she was with her phone, I kept an eye on my mirror, as I was slowing to turn. I turned to my right, to ask, "WHAT THE BERK ARE YOU DOING?!" as she was bearing down on me, on the shoulder!

This is the second time someone has tried to pass me on the shoulder, as I was making a right into my driveway. WTF

Streetwiseguy wrote:

cwaters wrote: As an aside, I had a woman on Facebook (a friend of a friend, posting in our mutual friend's thread) who was quite insistent that passing on the right was the embodiment of all that is evil and my kids were certainly going to die in a horrible crash because there was no circumstance where this was OK. I'm not sure what makes it more dangerous than passing in a left lane, given that I'm not zipping around aggressively or changing lanes like an idiot. You're cruising in the left land and I'm just going around in the open lane... no big.

You wouldn't be passing on the right if they were following the rules.

plus 100 Billion!!!

On the 400 Hwy heading in or out of Toronto, I quite often get in the right hand lane and motor along at a nice 120 km/h, while everyone else is in the middle or fast lane doing 110 km/h.

Middle-land bandits are the cause of this.

I was in evening traffic on a 4 lane divided hiway. Noticed that the clapped out Pinto ahead of me was impaired (weaving, bobble head, etc.). So I'm giving him room until I can figure out a safe way to be somewhere else. Meanwhile, we approach a red light, and I see a State Trooper stopped ahead of him. He managed to slow down to about 2 MPH before rear-ending the Trooper.

Hilarity ensued.

I once saw a K-car I was following pull a maneuver that put it up onto the two left wheels all by itself on a reasonably straight section of I285 here in Atlanta for no apparent reason. I really don't know how he did that but when I decided it was safe to floor it to get away from this maniac, I could see that the driver was totally afraid for his life. Just dumb luck that he didn't go over and collect me. But that's commuting in the big city.

Once saw a bunch of tire smoke over the wall on the other side of I20. Just caught a glimpse of the Kia over there with an extension ladder sticking out of the windshield. Ladders on the roadway used to be a daily occurrence here, before the economic recession.

93EXCivic wrote: I saw a "women" once driving some piece of E36 M3 '90s GM car. She had a cigarette hanging out her mouth, a coke in one hand, no seatbelt, cell phone in her ear and a baby in her lap.

Britteny Spears?

Appleseed wrote:

93EXCivic wrote: I saw a "women" once driving some piece of E36 M3 '90s GM car. She had a cigarette hanging out her mouth, a coke in one hand, no seatbelt, cell phone in her ear and a baby in her lap.

Britteny Spears?

True story: I met her on her 18th birthday. I even have a personalized autographed photo of her. She went on a date with one of my buddies, who ended up on American Idol (Robbie Carrico). She was hot back then.

I live in Southern California...I see horrid drivers every day.

Texting, yapping on the phone, putting on makeup, reading a damn book or fiddling with their radio or GPS.

And this is in a rural area! It gets worse the closer to Los Angeles I (unfortunatly) get on occasion.

Old man in an emareld green Lincoln MK5 on I93 in Plymouth, NH, 35mph down the fast lane in a 55. Going the wrong way. It was on one of my old trucking routes, saw him do it more than once.

Forced out of the fast lane into the hard median today on my way to work by a clapped out purple Voyager with no sense of what mirrors are about.

My mum used to commute with a woman who drove a 5 speed Alliance. Coffee, bagel, cigarette, no cupholders, driving with a knee so she could apply the cream cheese. Man, that's talent. I'd burn my tongue, face, and nads all at once.

Oh, I just remembered another one I saw a while back. I was getting onto the freeway, and there was a late-90s or early-00s Mercedes C or E class in front of me, running on relatively large aftermarket (chrome?) wheels. As we merge onto the freeway, all of a sudden the Benz does a complete spin across two lanes with no apparent provocation. The driver, naturally, gets out and walks across traffic to the side of the road to call a tow, leaving the car in the middle of the road. I still can't figure out what the hell caused the spin. I went back the same way a few minutes later and the car was still there, causing a huge jam, with no flat tires or anything.

nocones wrote: I hate people who "flash to pass". It's especially dumb when I'm the last car in a line of cars in the passing lane. It's like saying Hello! DB comming through. I have these 3 devices on my car soley dedicated to enabling me to see behind me. I check them frequently and when I am not being impeded myself by a car in front of me I do not spend time int he left lane. If I am passing a car at 78mph and you are doing 85mph and I have not safetly executed my pass I'm very sorry you will have to slow down to wait the 10 seconds it will take me to provide the courtesy of a little breathing room to the car I am passing. I'm not going out of my way to inconvienence you. I appologize that my speeding is not sufficent for you but I will get out of your way as soon as possible. I do not need to be remided of that with your little High beam berkeley you.

Whether or not "flash to pass" is offensive or not depends entirely on how it's used. If you're steaming up behind me and not even waiting to see if I'm going to yield, then yeah, you're a DB tool. I'm a good boy and even if I am at the back of a line trying to pass, I will shove over to let you move through the pack.

But I do have to use it a lot on the main freeways here in Delaware. People will pile up in the left lane and just camp. If there are several cars in the left lane, I try to give everybody except the idiot at the front the benefit of doubt. But if a mile goes by and they are all just blindly pacing the car in front of them, I will start flashing to try and clear the decks.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

cwaters wrote: As an aside, I had a woman on Facebook (a friend of a friend, posting in our mutual friend's thread) who was quite insistent that passing on the right was the embodiment of all that is evil...

You wouldn't be passing on the right if they were following the rules.

I had a friend in college that drove exclusively in the left lane. She would watch her mirrors, and if someone tried to pass her in the right lane, she would say "Don't pass me on the right, shiny happy person" and move right in front of him, then go back to the left lane after the poor shmoe had finally gotten around her on the left. I eventually stopped trying to smack sense into her and just drove instead. Unfortunately she was a horrible passenger, too, and would sit alone in the middle of the back seat and lean forward to talk to us, completely blocking my mirror.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

cwaters wrote: As an aside, I had a woman on Facebook (a friend of a friend, posting in our mutual friend's thread) who was quite insistent that passing on the right was the embodiment of all that is evil and my kids were certainly going to die in a horrible crash because there was no circumstance where this was OK. I'm not sure what makes it more dangerous than passing in a left lane, given that I'm not zipping around aggressively or changing lanes like an idiot. You're cruising in the left land and I'm just going around in the open lane... no big.

You wouldn't be passing on the right if they were following the rules.

Unless you're from Michigan. For some reason everyone in Michigan likes to pass on the right. You can be steaming along in the center lane of three going well over the speed limit and they'll come up behind you and drop to the right to pass. I finally got into the habit of dropping to the right lane as they came up behind me, and get this, half the time they would change into the right lane anyway and then run up onto my bumper! Like it confused them, they can't figure out why someone isn't cruising left and passing right.

As it happens... You all know the deal with people from lower Michigan showing you where they're from using their hand......I learned to drive while living at top right corner of the middle finger nail. So yeah, that may be it - Midwestern passive aggressiveness.

Duke wrote: I had d a friend in college that drove exclusively in the left lane. She would watch her mirrors, and if someone tried to pass her in the right lane, she would say "Don't pass me on the right, shiny happy person" and move right in front of him, then *go back to the left lane* after the poor shmoe had finally gotten around her on the left. I eventually stopped trying to smack sense into her and just drove instead. Unfortunately she was a horrible passenger, too, and would sit alone in the middle of the back seat and lean forward to talk to us, completely blocking my mirror.

I hope she was at least hot...

In reply to bgkast:

No, but she was easy.

Bah, too many to list!

One of the most memorable was when I was working security at a hospital. I was walking the parking lot during a particularly hot summer, and heard the telltale "bomp bomp bomp" of a muted V8 bouncing off the rev limiter. I started running toward the noise while calling it into our control center, and crested the hill just in time to watch a Town Car get dumped into drive and race across 50 feet of parking lot at full throttle before blowing both front tires and getting hung up on the curb he crashed into.

When I reached him, he was trying to put the car in reverse to get out of there. I got into the car, reached over the very elderly and combative driver, and shut it down. The paperwork surrounding that particular clusterberkeley was unbelievable.

Ok I can add one.

Over the weekend I came to a stop at a traffic light. It is a rural intersection with corn fields all around. As you get to the lights there is a left turn lane in the center. Anyway I come to a stop and there is a car waiting across the intersection to make a left turn. Another car then pulls up next to me (I assume it is going to make a left turn) The light turns green and the car across the intersection does not move. The car next to me pulls away with me and I assume it was turning left so I pay it no mind. Just as I get parallel to the drivers door of the car that was waiting to turn I hear a huge crash. I come to a stop and look in my mirrors. I am flabbergasted to see that the car that was next to me that I thought was going to turn left went strait and crashed head on in to the car waiting to turn.

I still can not figure out what happened. I hung around for the police as both cars were damaged to the point of not driving away. Everyone was ok but the person in the car that was next to me seemed a bit "off". Not sure if it was cause of the accident or possibly impaired driving? Hit hard enough to pop the air bags in both cars.