Idiots on the road I saw yesterday

Towing always seems to bring out the idiots in Droves.

Yesterday, towing my boat from almost Canada to almost the southern tip of NJ reminded me of exactly how idiotic they can be. From people tossing cans out the window at my tow rig to people tailgating and trying to "draft" a full keeled sailboat.

The worst was the lady in the Subaru Forester who waited till the boat was almost passed her before she tried to drift in behind me. Watching her in the mirror (and bracing for impact as I had nowhere to go). She literally had the nose of her car -under- my boat before she saw it and jerked the wheel back hard enough to almost lose control.

This same lady then proceeded to hold up traffic in the far left lane as a trooper was working his way through. He eventually got stuck behind her and when he lit them up to get her to move.. she slammed the brakes and swerved into the left shoulder. Why he didn't pull her over, I will never know

Other notables were Quebecous who when towing their own trailers, barely allow enough space to clear my front bumper before swing into my lane and one guy in NJ who was so enamoured with the looks of my antique sailboat that he would not move from next to is. I really needed to be in his lane and neither speeding up or slowing down would get him from sitting right next to it. I finally hit the signal and started to drift his way. That was when he finally moved

mad_machine wrote: Towing always seems to bring out the idiots in Droves.

Well, don't drive through the town of Droves next time!

My parents have a big hardshell trailmanor popup camper that will pull behind damn near anything with 6 or more cylinders(weighs maybe 4000 lbs, but its a good 16 feet long collapsed). I remember once we went to pass a rather slow truck towing it with a big red grand caravan, with tow mirrors, came back into the right lane and then a pissed off kid in a ratty DSM shoots by us on the right shoulder, to this day I have no idea how he got in there. Did he really think we were gonna camp in the left lane in a 9000lb combined weight tow rig with 180hp?

had some similar experiences towing my two seadoos up to arkansas and back last weekend. most annoying was the people driving right next to the trailer. worst incident was some old guy that pulled out in front of me on a 4 lane road, just pulls out slow and stays on the shoulder like he's going to wait till i pass to move over, then starts moving into my lane as i'm about to pass him WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING. i stomp the brakes and lay on the horn and he finall looks over all suprised, moves back, slows down, then punches it, doesn't have enough to get ahead (was a saturn wagon) and then starts moving over again, forcing another brake check.

one minor freak out was when the extra strap of a tie down came loose and started flapping in the wind. all i saw was bright orange tie down strap wisping in the wind from the front of the trailer and my first thought was "oh crap what's on fire!" the bright orange at first glance looked like bright orange flames whipping up from the tongue of the trailer.

On the way to work this morning on 6A (on Cape Cod) there was an undercover CrownVic setting the pace in the left lane passing a long line of cars doing about 70mph when a Jeep XJ (not realizing he's a cop) comes roaring up behind him and settles about 5ft. from his bumper. The cop moved over to the right when there was a break in traffic, the Jeep flew past and then the cop lit 'em up. The CrownVic in question wasn't all that stealth either, tinted windows, a big antenna and you could even see the lights in the back window; what an idiot.

I was cruising in the slow lane in the P71 yesterday, when a young lady decided that she needed my lane more than I did, and swerved hard into the space I was occupying.

Thankfully, I was doing the whole, "Expect everyone to do the dumbest thing possible" style of driving, and rolled off the gas and onto the shoulder.

After pulling behind her and giving a honk and a WTF? gesture, I got the finger.

If I had another car and it wouldn't be such a PITA, I might've.

foxtrapper wrote:

mad_machine wrote: Towing always seems to bring out the idiots in Droves.

Well, don't drive through the town of Droves next time!

Didn't Mike Brewer buy an old Fiat in the back country of Droves???

Racer1ab wrote: If I had another car and it wouldn't be such a PITA, I might've.

You don't have a bullbar on a crown vic?

"Driving for Dummies" must have been written with California in mind......

In reply to Kenny_McCormic:

Nah, it didn't come with one, and I didn't want to be "that guy" when it comes to owning an old cop car.

I thought "that guy" came with the CB radio and spotlights, and only having the bar was ok, but living in deer country might be part of that.

I've considered it for the deer, but I would probably be better off building some sort of Mad Max style cow catcher instead.

These threads make me nervous as I sometimes expect to see a picture of me........

Ever tow a 8,000lb Bobcat in Chicago? Your stories pale in comparison.

Every single person I passed towing the racecar to the east coast and back tried to kill me. Every. Single. One.

Hug the middle line? Check. Speed up when I'm passing? Check. Cut in front of me reducing my braking distance? Check.

HiTempguy wrote: Every single person I passed towing the racecar to the east coast and back tried to kill me. Every. Single. One. Hug the middle line? Check. Speed up when I'm passing? Check. Cut in front of me reducing my braking distance? Check.

Because Racecar.

I think one day a month I should be permitted to climb in a '75 Impala with welded on I-beam bumpers and take of these kind of people.

EastCoastMojo wrote: Because Racecar.

I mean, the Evo does draw a crowd, but more often than not it was some oblivious soccer mom who speeds up to 120km/h when there is a dedicated passing lane and slows down to 80 when it ends.

Duramax's pass with authority whether empty or towing 7k pounds

HiTempguy wrote:

EastCoastMojo wrote: Because Racecar.

I mean, the Evo does draw a crowd, but more often than not it was some oblivious soccer mom who speeds up to 120km/h when there is a dedicated passing lane and slows down to 80 when it ends. Duramax's pass with authority whether empty or towing 7k pounds

Hwy 17 (Ontario) between North Bay and Ottawa every idiot that is doing 91 km/h (limit is 90) speeds up to 120 km/h at every passing lane.

Eww, 50-55mph speed limits? berkeley that noise.

yamaha wrote: Eww, 50-55mph speed limits? berkeley that noise.

Ontario

2-lane highways - normal speed - limit 80 km/h (50 mph)

2-lane highways that are part of the Trans-Canada - limit 90 km/h (55 mph)

Multilane - limit 100 km/h (62 mph).

Pretty much accepted OPP ignore 20 km/h over the limit - go beyond that then the mobile cash collectors kick in.

NGTD wrote: Pretty much accepted OPP ignore 20 km/h over the limit - go beyond that then the mobile cash collectors kick in.

I had a couple pucker moments doing 108km/h in a 90, OPP did not give a berkeley. I was pretty happy once I realized they didn't care (110+ is only a $97 ticket and 2 demerits, is there actually anything below that??)

I will never drive the northern route in a truck and trailer again, it ain't worth it!

Appleseed wrote: Ever tow a 8,000lb Bobcat in Chicago? Your stories pale in comparison.

Used to work for a mobile equipment service company. My boss was a former marine that was basically a TC for the tank recovery vehicles. Apparently they are also responsible for transporting the tanks via truck when they have to be moved stateside, the stories he told about moving tanks through major cities gave me the willies.