Driving stories, complains, and other experiences

[Vezon Dash]

I have seen a lot of interesting posts about people's experiences while driving lately. So if you have a good story, complaints, or other experiences involving wrecks or other shenanigans while driving, go ahead and post them here.

 

 

I have been very fortunate that I have only ever had one wreck. I was stopped at a red light at an intersection when the 58 year-old school teacher in the car behind me decided to put her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake. Needless to say, I got hit.

 

 

Go ahead and post those fun experiences.

[Randox]

Let me start things off with my epic parking job I pulled off last winter. I parked the SUV in the lower right, and what is not clear in the picture is that the snow behind it is about 6 inches deep over 4 inches of solid ice (there was some sliding during the parking). The tire tracks are pretty clear, and I am holding the camera outside the window, so I really was about as close to hitting the car as it looks.

 

What also might not be clear is that not one of the doors can be opened far enough to get out, and if I had tired to shuffle it, I would have hit something for sure. In the end, I popped the glass hatch and reached outside to pop the trunk.

 

 

I'll add more stories later, but I thought I would start with something I didn't just tell in another thread.

 

And the reason I had to do this in the first place was because my house mate, rather than clear the driveway like he was supposed to (in exchange for being allowed to park at the house), decided to just park in the back half of the driveway, which was cool until I had a car for a couple days. The snow was way to high for his car to climb onto, and he needed to get out before I was getting up, and your not allowed to park on the street at night in the winter because you'll block the plows. So I just said '[bleep] it' and parked the damn truck on a snowbank.

[champion]

[bleep] winter driving, that is my contribution to this topic.

[Iamdan]

I'd like to start the thread off with: [bleep] 4wds and fat soccer mums who need to pick a smaller car if they're so hard to drive.

[Vezon Dash]

[bleep] winter driving, that is my contribution to this topic.

 

Winter driving when nobody else is around is the BEST driving. My dad used to take me out in his RWD Chrysler 300 (bulky ass car) and do doughnuts for fun. You can actually get to test just how skilled of a driver you are when the weather is really bad. Learn how to control your vehicle in the snow. It is really a good experience for any driver.

[Kimberly]

One time my boyfriend and I were preparing to go to Ohio for a concert. As we were pulling out of the campus and onto the highway, we saw a pick-up truck coasting down US30 at 60MPH with no tires on his back axles. Sparks were flying everywhere, and he was waving the Confederacy flag.

 

There are still jokes spoken about it to this day.

[Randox]

I love driving in the snow with the SUV in my last picture. I even consider it my civic duty to drive in the less cleared lane, because I can. I think one of my best experiences was driving between 2 semi clear lanes on a multi lane highway, where the snow tracks were so bad I kept getting sucking into them, giving the impression that I was pretty much bouncing off the lane lines. There was also some epic slush flinging going on (I also consider it mandatory to hit deep puddles at speed to create the largest splashes possible, because that's puddle jumping for grown-ups).

 

But then I'm the same person who pulls the truck out of 4wd and intentionally puts it in a fish tale just so I can practice getting it back under control (if I can't, I just turn the 4wd drive back on and it literally snaps back to going forward). Winter is the only time I can pretend I am a stunt driver (with the sliding and whatnot), so I tend to make the most of it when I can. Once I have my own car, and a career going, I plan on learning how to drift for real.

[Kaida23]

I drive a lot (and mean a *LOT*) for work, so I see some pretty bad drivers on a daily basis.

 

Personally, I have a problem with the type of driver my dad dubbed "the weekend warrior". You know, those people who take the bus to work all week and then drive (badly) to the grocery store or their kids' sporting events on weekends confident in their abilities because "I've been driving for 20 years and haven't had an accident."

 

Maybe not, but you've sure as Hell nearly caused plenty. These people can't maintain speed, merge, use their mirrors/signals/brains. They make me wish I could mount machine guns behind my headlights James Bond style.

 

The other group is professional drivers who should know what they're doing but obviously don't. Mostly cab and bus drivers. I actually got cut off the other day by a cab who was changing lanes, without signaling, while speeding through an intersection. I wish I could say that was an isolated incident, but I have to doge these idiots all day long. :wall:

 

If you're going to drive a vehicle, for Saradomin's sake learn to do it properly. If you're nervous, get more practice to raise your confidence level. If you think it's too big, get someone else to drive it. If you don't know how to pull a trailer, DON'T until you learn.

 

Wow, that became a rant pretty quickly, didn't it? :lol:

[Alg]

I live on a very curved street. There's a sign that says "15 MPH" a couple of houses down. When there are cars parked on the street, there is barely enough space for one driver. People still feel the need to go ~30 MPH.

Result: Aversion to driving.

[Vezon Dash]

My dad and I were coming back to my college campus, and I saw this really crappy car in the opposite lane behind us. It looked like he was tailgating the guy in the other lane. I turned to my dad and said "That guy behind us is a really shitty driver." He was like, how do you know? The guy proceeds to cut us off, going at least 15 miles above the speed limit. About 30 seconds later, he hits a concrete curb on the median, sending sparks and his hubcap flying, and continues to speed up the road. My dad was like. O.o

[Furah]

[bleep] tailgaters, [bleep] idiots who cut me off, [bleep] people who can't follow the limit, and [bleep] people who text and drive. I had to put up with each kind of driver today, firstly an idiot cut me off, to get in front of me and then drop to 10 under the limit. 10 minutes later I ended up nearly getting rear-ended on half-a-dozen corners because some dickwank thought it was his right to be so close that my side mirrors couldn't pick him up, and I have them showing the sides of the ute so that I can reverse better. After he finally overtook me, the woman driving behind him nearly rear-ended me when I had to turn because the need to text her bffl was more important than her life, her passenger's life, or my life.

 

I'd like to start the thread off with: [bleep] 4wds and fat soccer mums who need to pick a smaller car if they're so hard to drive.

I'm constantly complaining about them too.

[Sbrideau]

Meh, I don't really have stories about driving, but I have to say since they started working on the lights downhill from home last week, and shut them off so they'd flash as if they're a stop sign, people here don't seem to know how to deal with a 4-stop that has more than 1 lane per side (which one with more lanes is pretty rare around here).

 

Appart from that I see people do some bad things a lot, and am starting to think about getting a dashcam so that I'd have a witness that doesn't lie with me all the time. I just drive in a way that makes me ready for any kind of stuff that could happen, and has saved me from a few accidents since I moved here.

 

Anyway, i just love my car, small car and doesn't take much gas at all, and still runs like a new car. It's a 2002 Toyota Echo, and after driving my Uncle's 2008's Pontiac (well another small car) I can see that my car runs better than it. Also still on the original Clutch and transmission. Picture below just shows how much KM I have on my car (picture got taken last weekend) and also how I don't have anything (such as the check engine light) showing up (except for the light about the car still being cold).

 

[hide][/hide]

[Low C]

Well the scariest situation I've gotten in has been hauling shit. One was when I was with a coworker and we were hauling 4 full size jeeps/trucks on a car trailer and some idiot lady decides to run a red light in front of us. Needless to say we had to replace the brake pads when we got to the shop because of them being wore to the metal from slamming on the brakes while almost killing the lady.

 

The other incident was hauling a single jeep on the back of my truck using a car dolly. A deer ran out in front of us and I braked and the entire jeep started fishtailing violently into the other lane and the shoulder of the road. Needless to say I missed the deer and somehow didn't lose the Jeep, I was pretty shaken up though from that experience.

[Howlin0001]

The only one I have happened yesterday when I was going for my driving test (I didn't pass). I was driving to the test centre and what does my front L plate decide to do? It decides it doesn't want to be on the windscreen any more and almost flew off. I was going about 80km/ph at that stage so I had to pull over and stop before it fly off. The next problem I had was to try find a place that would sell L plates. I found one in the end.

[obfuscator]

I have my last test on friday, actually.

[Sbrideau]

Dang, wondering if people got their wellfare checks today here in N-B Canada, just going from college to home, a 5 minute drive, almost got T-boned by someone running their stop sign, and almost got T-boned by someone going before they had the right of way at a light that is flashing (meaning that it is a 4 stop).

[Randox]

I'd like to take a minute to talk about construction crews, and where not to put you [bleep]ing stop sign.

 

On the highway to my parents house, its one lane in each direction, except when going up a couple of the hills where you have a dedicated passing lane going uphill only (mostly to get around big rigs). This is where almost all passing on this highway occurs, which means that most of the time the middle lane going up hill is doing about 20 km/h over the speed limit.

 

So one day, they are doing construction on one of these hills, on the downward side (the side you can't see) for outgoing traffic (ie the direction all the traffic is in as people go home). They put their pylons over the crest of the hill where no one can see them until they are 100ft away, and the stop sign halfway down the hill (the construction was actually in the two lane section, which was why they needed to stop highway traffic). Me and my parents were at just right point in time that the line of cars had not yet crested the hill, which means you saw that cars were stopped maybe 150ft away, while doing 100km/h. We stopped in time, but I turned around to look and one car ended up bailing onto the shoulder of the road, and 3 cars were forced to pull out into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid read ending people, with one car actually ending up on the shoulder on the other side.

 

Basically, these ass clown construction workers almost caused what could have easily turned into a 20 car pileup, and if the the cars had been forced into oncoming traffic 30 seconds later, they would have cause at least one head on accident at highway speed. They nearly killed a whole bunch of people because they couldn't move their [bleep]ing signs the side of the hill that people could actually see. And they don't even know that they almost cause a major accident, because this all happened to far back for the people halfway down the hill to see.

 

 

On a slightly more hilarious note:

 

Same highway, on my way home with my Mom after church (Sunday drivers suck btw). We are coming onto the highway, and this car blows by us with another car on his ass, and its fairly obvious they are racing. Then the 3rd car goes by a second later. So that's cool. Then this maroon coloured Impala goes roaring by like 4 seconds later, and I recognise it immediately as one of the local ghost cars. So basically, there's 3 people are driving fast enough to get charged with stunting, and their is a ghost car right on their ass, obviously keeping up to see where they can go. I don't know if they called in a road block or what (they pulled off at the first exit), but I thought it was absolutely hilarious.

[Star.]

^ Construction crews are trained to know where to put road signs aren't they? :S These ones must have been super retarded then, just to lack common sense like that.

 

 

 

 

I hate impatient drivers, like 5 freaking seconds is such a waste of your life?

 

I ride a bicycle (I know some cyclists are tools but I adhere to the rules of the road) and I've been hit by wingmirrors a couple of times due to cars squeezing past me.

[Giordano]

I never had an accident in the year and a half I've been driving. Lets hope it stays that way, or at least, lets hope *I* never cause one.

 

Anyway, a big middle finger to those who make truckers lives harder. [bleep] you.

[Sbrideau]

 

Anyway, a big middle finger to those who make truckers lives harder. [bleep] you.

Agreed, these people are [wagon] and think they own the road, while it's the truckers that have the most experience most of the time.

[Randox]

You'd think. Placing the stop sign where the line is going to back up onto a blind crest on a highway is just the most stunning display of stupidity I have ever seen. And if it weren't for people yelling at them as they drove by, they wouldn't even know they almost got a few people seriously injured or killed, and tens of cars written off. They didn't even have the signs that warn about upcoming construction zones in the right place. We didn't see any until the line started moving (they also don't know how to direct traffic. The line up they created was like 2 km long, because they can't see over the [bleep]ing hill. So they look at the other side and think its the same length, when in fact one line extends 1.5 km back out of view (which some really pissed off people also yelled at them on their way by). They pissed people off so bad doing that I'm surprised someone didn't try to run the construction crews over.

 

I think construction crews should be required to take a class on how to direct traffic. Because holy shit do the people around here suck at it.

 

 

Drivers just hate cyclists. The ones that hit you, while they probably aren't trying to, also probably don't care cause they think you deserve it. Personally, I hate people who cycle in the winter, because then I have to worry that your going to hit ice or snow, fall, and end up under my front tires.

 

Also, and this is brilliant (and I'm not saying everyone on a bicycle is retarded, just some of them).

 

During the summer, I was driving home for lunch, and this bicyclist pulls out in front of me. Now, normally this isn't a problem because the lane is super wide (its two lanes wide) to accommodate parked cars. You just pull out, turn right and only pull out to get around parked cars. This stupid [bleep]ing woman pulled into the middle of the god damn lane. Like, she pulled out so far before she turned to go with traffic that I could have probably passed her on the inside. She also did this without looking, and right in front of me. The only satisfying thing about the whole ordeal is that a car with horn blaring and tires squealing as it tries not to run you over is enough to scare her back to the side of the road. I've never been tempted to run someone over before (or since), but holy shit if it weren't for the legal issues and the damage it would have done to the car, she sorely deserved to smoked by a car for that. A Mini Cooper is not [bleep]ing invisible, and there is no way she couldn't have at least heard me coming. It's a testament to my skill and the Mini's maneuverability that she didn't get hit whether I wanted to or not.

 

In SUV, I had someone try to make a left tun in front of me in the rain, but there was no space for them to pull in so they ended up blocking the intersection. Add to the fact that I was watching the pedestrian counter and knew the light was about to go yellow, so I was speeding up to make the light, and I hit the brakes so hard that I ended up sideways on the road. That was probably the second scariest moment I have ever had while driving, and I had a similar brace for impact as when that ass hat merged on my bumper on the highway. At least I learned that in the rain, anti lock isn't enough on its own to keep it pointed the right way (it is on dry pavement, as that person who pulled out and stopped in my lane to make a left turn proved. I didn't think it was going to stop in time either (and by the look on their face, the other driver didn't think I was going to stop either).

 

Seriously, I am going to get a [bleep]ing hummer just so people stop cutting me off (my brother had one for a while, and said there was a major reduction in both cars and pedestrians cutting him off).

 

And no, I am not even close to running out of stories yet. Some, like the rain one I was partially at fault for making things dangerous by being in a hurry, but for the most part, I am just really good at dodging shit, possibly because I actually practice it when I can (like potholes in the dark). I also take the SUV into empty snowed over parking lots and practice testing the limits of its control without the risk of running into anything. You don't want the first time you use anti lock to be in the snow, or your going to crap yourself and drive off the road.

[Randox]

Also, this sort of sums up how I feel about stick shift driving, since this is also about general experiances:

 

 

Stick shift is da bomb.

[Giordano]

 

Anyway, a big middle finger to those who make truckers lives harder. [bleep] you.

Agreed, these people are [wagon] and think they own the road, while it's the truckers that have the most experience most of the time.

Exactly.

 

Not only that, but generally in courts they favor the non-commercial vehicles: it was the truckers fault. So please do them a favor and stop cutting them off for no reason.

[Randox]

Who the hell would cut off a trucker?

 

It obviously has the right of way by virtue of you dieing if it runs into you.

 

Another one is on the highway, if you get passed by a big rig hauling a trailer, flash your high beams a couple times once their past you so he knows he can pull back in. Most truckers will flash their tail lights in thank you if you do this too. This just makes everyone's lives easier.

[Hamtaro]

Back in the days when my brother drove me home from school (we went to a private school ~30 minutes away), we were almost [bleep]ing attacked once.

 

Back then, my brother used to drive with his left index finger and middle finger together on his cheek when we weren't going all that fast. Then some middle aged guy cut off my brother, sped up in the left turn lane, and then proceeded to back up in the left turn lane as we stopped for the red light. This guy apparently thought my brother had flicked him off and got out of his truck to try to attack us (trying to rip my brother's door off while screaming at him). Luckily, the only causality was the moon-roof on our car, which he smashed shut. As soon as the light turned green and the traffic cleared, we sped away without the guy's license plate number. I don't know if the police ever found the guy, but that was by far the scariest experience of my life.

 

Michigan drivers are terrible in general because we have a lot of new immigrants here and even more people who think they're professional drivers because they work for a car company. It makes for a dangerous mixture of drivers when half the people want to go 10 under and the other half wants 10 over the speed limit. Then on top of that, throw in the snow/ice 6 months out of the year.

 

So other than the daily people who make left turns from the right lane, run stop signs, turn out in front of you, etc., I've only had one other particularly bad experience. I was driving to a hockey game last winter in 3 feet of snow (no big deal in my SUV) and I started to drive up a hill when a mini van started sliding down the hill toward me in my lane. I barely made it over into the wrong lane to avoid being hit when I was almost hit by a guy backing out of his driveway. Granted, the car sliding down the hill wasn't really the lady's fault, but I'm sure you can imagine how shook up I was after that.

 

So yeah, [bleep] Michigan driving.