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Them Drivers be CRAZY out there because...

16K views 126 replies 27 participants last post by  vito 
#1 ·
2 days ago: Son is driving home from work, felt tired a bit off and slowed down below the 55mph rural speed limit.

Came up on a 4 way stop sign intersection about 20 yards ahead, and saw an SUV on the cross street blow through at about 70mph!


1 day ago: Im riding home my normal commute. I know the street lights pretty well and how long they stay green or red (after 8 years).

Coming up on an intersection in a residential area, 35mph speed limit. The light is green and I have several seconds to make it. The pickup truck in front of me stops short, because a car blew through the red light on the cross street going about 40mph. It had been red in his direction for more than 10 seconds and he blew right through it!


This morning: Riding past the town High School. All the traffic is backed up in both directions, because a car pulling out of the HS parking lot rear ended a pickup truck.
The pickup truck pulled ahead and off the road, but the lady driving the car STOPPED where she hit the truck, put her emergency flashers on, and got out of the car
because: broken headlight and scratched bumper!

So now there are four people standing in the street directing traffic around her STOPPED CAR in the middle of the lane, because its not bad enough that cars bump into each other just in the normal traffic, now we need to have people standing in the street and cars blocking the lane and cars backed up for two blocks, so the police can come and take 25 eight by 10 color glossy photos of the car with a broken headlight and scratched bumper, and measure the skid marks.

PEOPLE BE CRAZY OUT THERE!

Ride accordingly !
 
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#2 ·
Yikes! Sounds like people in a rush.

And as far as the lady with the broken headlight and scratched bumper, I would think she has a hard case. I don't know about in your state, but in Massachusetts any damage to your front and drivers side are generally considered your fault.

Thanks for reminding us to stay vigilant!
 
#3 ·
so the police can come and take 25 eight by 10 color glossy photos
... with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back on each one explain' what each one was to be used as evidence... :wink:

That is crazy. Imagine how much more relaxing biking would be if we didn't have to constantly be on alert for idiots like that.
 
#10 ·
... with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back on each one explain' what each one was to be used as evidence... :wink:
Yea cause, you can have anything you want at Alice's restaurant, 'cept for Alice.

Driving to work yesterday on a 4 lane road that ended at a T intersection, so left lane had to turn left right turn right. I have a car riding right beside my truck, I have 2 cars in front of me and he had 1 in front of him. I see him hit his turn signal to get in my lane. I keep the same speed. The car in front of him did not move up enough to let him get in front of me. There is NOTHING behind me. The guy kinda swerves his little ecobox POS at me to intimidate me. I laugh at him. So he has to drop in behind me. We get to the stop sign. The first car in front of me stops then turns. The second car rolls through the stop sign. As I am coming up I have a semi coming from my left. So I stop. Ecobox idiot throws up his hands and blows the horn at me. I tell him he is number 1 in my book as I sit there and make sure where the semi is going before I pull out.
 
#4 ·
I saw a guy in a grey mini van coming up on an intersection just as the light was turning yellow/red, and the car coming the other way was waiting to turn left across his path. Im sitting there at my red light watching, the car starts to turn, the other guy decides the light is only slightly yellow, they both lock the brakes and hit head on about 10mph impact.

They both broke their headlights. The guy that was trying to turn, backs his car up by the curb.

The guy with the mini van leaves it right there, under the traffic light, in the middle of the intersection, blocking both streets.

This was at dusk in december, rush hour again. I put my flashers on while the two guys exchanged their info. The guys wife is sitting in the passenger seat of the mini van. I decided this was no big deal and I was going to leave. I gave the one guy my business card, and told him Im leaving and wont be blocking the side of your van, you should move it out of the middle of the intersection.

No no no no no! I cant move the car till the POLICE get here because: Broken headlights and scratched bumper.

I asked him as nicely as I could put it: Can you ask your wife to get out of the vehicle then, so when a truck tee bones it she wont die? Because its just about dark and your van is grey and the lights are broken...

No no no no no!

I have to keep reminding myself that half the people in the world literally have an IQ below average.
 
#5 ·
The old adage of not moving your car until the police can see it and do their investigation is yesterdays news. They can use evidence left in the road ie, skid marks, pavement gouges etc. to determine what happened. In VA it is suggested to move vehicles from travel lanes in that type of situation. Just took a class the other day and was informed that effective 7/1/17 new VA law will state you SHALL move vehicles from travel lanes when possible.
 
#6 ·
On occasion those light up signs on the freeway controlled by CALTRANS to give messages of road closures n such will display a message to the following:

"In a minor accident, move to the side of the road"

In my years commuting I have seen people on the freeway get into a a minor rear-ender, both parties stop in the middle of the lanes and get out of their cars to discuss it..... idiots.
 
#7 · (Edited)
One of the big red LED signs on the highway here one morning said:

STAY AWAKE
STAY ALIVE

I saw that movie
they come when you are asleep and kill you in your dreams!

More crazy drivers:

There is a little used railroad crossing on my commute by a landscaping outlet store.

The school buses are required to stop at the crossings.

Traffic coming the other way frequently sees the stopped bus by the tracks, and THEY stop too. (no red flashers on the bus, no stop sign out...)

The bus must be picking up the hobo children who live by the train tracks. We better stop too! (there are no houses for miles)
 
#9 ·
There is a little used railroad crossing on my commute by a landscaping outlet store.

The school buses are required to stop at the crossings.

Traffic coming the other way frequently sees the stopped bus by the tracks, and THEY stop too. (no red flashers on the bus, no stop sign out...)

The bus must be picking up the hobo children who live by the train tracks. We better stop too! (there are no houses for miles)
There are a couple of abandoned railway crossings on my way to work that all buses stop at. It's the law here that they have to stop at any railway crossing. Guess it doesn't matter that it hasn't been used in decades. Can't say I've ever seen traffic in the other lane stop too though...lol
 
#8 ·
Saw another one today.

Stopped at red light in the center lane.

Left turn green arrow goes green.

Left lane of traffic starts turning left.

Captain Oblivious in the car in front of me drives off straight through the intersection, in spite of cars starting to turn left coming the other way.

Horns blaring, people waving.... car just kept going.
 
#12 ·
yes as long as there is not a red arrow (and you have a green light)
 
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#13 · (Edited)
Driving my car yesterday, 55mph 4 lane road. In the left lane just after an intersection, there is a median for about 200 ft. The car in front of me kinda starts to head for the right lane... no signals, no brake lights

then just as the median ends, right past the NO U TURN sign, he swings left and does a U turn at about 35mph, right across the double yellow lines.

If there had been anyone coming the other way at 55mph that he did not see, like a motorcycle, he would have nailed them.


Aside from this one guys totally stupid stunt, it made me realize something about drivers. If someone is going to make an illegal move, many people are not thinking "ok, what is the most safe way I can do this"

they are thinking they dont want to get caught, dont want anyone to see them, they dont want to draw any attention to themselves, in case there is a cop around....

so they DONT signal, they DONT brake, they DONT slow down - they just go and do it quickly, unpredictably, unexpectedly... If it was dark out I would not be surprised if he turned off his headlights.

These are the sons of bitches that get people killed.
 
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#15 ·
These are the sons of bitches that get people killed.
100%, speeding does not kill, distracted and very dangerous driving does.... sometimes that involves speeding.

I think you need to start wearing Go-Pro like I do. Check out what happened to me yesterday trying to get home:


https://youtu.be/QywCKzWjwyU
 
#14 ·
Excellent point KCW, those drivers are the one that kill/injure others. Most of those don't have a valid license and/or insurance. Last week I witnessed a very similar incidence as yours. Sad to say that the majority of those kinds of drivers are self absorbed and distracted and we all pay higher insurance rates because of them.


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#19 · (Edited)
Had three events in the last three days.

At one intersection where the single lane goes two wide I know how long the light stays yellow and red>green. When there is no traffic on the cross street I can jump the light just as it turns green if there is a car sitting next to me, and Im gone. This time there was a car coming on the cross street as his light turned yellow.. he is not slowing down... red..then my light turned green and he blew right thru his red light. I saw it coming and just sat there: HE is the guy Im always looking out for!

Two days ago Im passing clover leaf exits over the highway, watching the cars on my right coming off the exit ramps and merging with my street. A minivan coming off the other side into a T is waiting for traffic to clear to turn left into my lane, and she just GOES - starts pulling out. I could not tell if she was going to pull into the left turn center lane, and stop, or try to merge into my lane all in one swell foop... but again I saw it coming and I had to almost come to a stop. Horns were blowing all around me like the brass section in Beethoven's 9th symphony. She got into the left turn lane and stopped and so I S L O W L Y rode past her.

Sometimes I think Im being a little too careful / cautious.... but then yesterday: Im waiting at a red light to turn right into a 4 lane street.

There is a school bus coming from my left, car behind it, and they both have their right turn signals on. I watch them for 3 seconds to make sure they are both slowing down, Im clear to make a right on red, turn the corner - and when Im at any risk pulling out onto a street I always hug the shoulder until I can look in the mirror after the turn....

That dam school bus flew past me in the right lane at 45mph. Didnt turn, didnt slow down, didnt blow his horn. After he nearly ran me over he turned off his turn signal.

If I had pulled into the right lane instead of hugging the shoulder I would be dead now. That is the closest I have come to being killed since I got my license 5 years ago, mostly because when you turn a corner you are vulnerable , you have to look where you are going to make the turn, you cant turn looking over your shoulder the whole way to keep an eye on the other cars on the street.

That pretty much cleared my mind on whether Im being TOO careful.

Never trust someone is going to turn because they have their turn signal on - wait till they are actually making the turn, because whatever they are looking at, they are not looking at you!

Never trust someone on a four lane street to STAY in their lane in an intersection.

And if there is one "left turn only" lane down the middle of any road - its No Mans Land.
 
#20 ·
Have a few this week too. I haven't been on the bike, but really wanted to, but needed to haul stuff around for work.

Just normal idiots to start with. I didn't make a right turn on red, and the guy behind me is blasting his horn that I'm not turning so he can go. I'm going straight.

Another case, I'm turning left, blinker on, and make a left hand turn, WITHOUT slowing down, and the guy behind me is blaring his horn that I'm in his way as he speeds past.

On my way home from work, the oncoming ramp has a yield sign, the person in front starts to roll forward and sees me, and stops. The person behind them floors it right into them. I suppose he figured the first person was going and wanted to rush the gap and make it infront of me.
 
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#22 ·
I don't care if filtering or lane splitting is legal or not, all it does is make bikers look like assholes and piss off car drivers. All in order to save 30 seconds.

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I do not understand how it makes bikers look like assholes. Even before I rode I was happy to see bikes filter up. They get out of the way and that allows cars to move up that much more. Filtering in heavy traffic saves a lot more than 30 seconds. Filtering at a light is safer for the biker due to the traffic already being stopped a lot less chance of a rear collision. I wish it were legal in all states.
 
#29 ·
Its not so much that people are in a hurry. If no one is injured or dead its better to clear the lanes of traffic, because cars in the lane create a situation that can cause more accidents to happen - sometimes more serious accidents than the fender bender that started it all.

Think of it this way: the initial accident happened when the lanes were clear and traffic was flowing normally - people cannot drive safely under normal conditions - and they get worse when cars are stopped in the street.

This is especially true on the interstates: if your car is disabled not only should you get it as far off the road as possible, you should get everyone out of the car and move towards the oncoming traffic, because some people are driving in a mental fog and WILL drive smack into your stopped car at 70mph.
 
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#30 ·
There is no right or wrong answer on lane splitting, because there is no place on earth where people drive with no accidents and no deaths.

No matter how you drive or ride, one end of the spectrum or the other will still be a problem. Studies have been done in Europe taking down all the traffic restriction signs, turning all the intersections into circles, taking ALL the lines off the street, and just letting people drive as seems best to them. Accidents went down, but they did not go to zero.
 
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#33 ·
In all fairness to klurejr and being a native SoCal boy, Motorcycle lane splitting/filtering has been around out west since I knew what a motorcycle was. If you’ve ever driven in SoCal traffic you’d understand. Last time I was home in LA visiting family, it took me 3 hours and 45 minutes to travel 41 miles starting at 315 in the afternoon. I was envious of the bikers not having to sit in stop and go traffic and I learned how to lane split back home. It’s common and many motorists are used to it. I’ve driven in many major cities in this country and wouldn’t recommend doing it unless the area motorists are familiar with it. Nowadays there’s a whole lot more distracted drivers and more drivers in general. I’ve seen lane splitting relieve freeway congestion first hand, and I never thought it made bikers look negatively. The motorists that do get mad are just envious they’re not riding their bikes.


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#34 · (Edited)
As an adult commuting bicyclist, motorcyclist and driver for 40 years I know the importance of legally having the use of the entire lane on public roads and interstates without being impeded by others. I wouldn't want another car driver to try and occupy my space within my lane nor would I expect any car driver to accept me to infringe on their space within a lane whether I'm in a car, on a motorcycle or on a bicycle. Just because I happen to be on a two wheeled vehicle doesn't make me special or allow me special rights regardless of how I attempt to interpret a particular law to suit my needs. My ethical stance of allowing people to have their full space within a lane as defined by law prevents me from lane splitting or filtering to the front of the queue whether an interpretation of the law permits me to or not just because I physically can or can't. What it boils down to is that I don't claim special rights just because of the vehicle I chose as my mode of transportation... but I expect an equal level of courtesy and respect as to my position within a lane no matter what I decide to ride or drive. Lane splitting may have been a concern back in the day for aircooled vehicles stuck in gridlock traffic when they could overheat, breakdown and then further impede the flow of traffic but nowadays that's a very minor issue. So if you think you're special then go ride the short bus, otherwise suck it up and sit in traffic like everyone else. You are, after all, just another road rat like everyone else.
 
#35 ·
So rather than free up space in this same stop and go traffic you would rather they sit there? That is not a logical reason. MCs are not given special privileges, they are lowering the congestion that is already there. If anything MC riders have less privileges because of society. TBH when lane splitting how are they taking "your lane" when they are on the center line, were you going to use that 3 inches of lane that they might hang over? Who cares? There are still a ton of air cooled bikes BTW, so it is not a thing of the past, including your 650. Lane splitting and filtering should be legal. By your reasoning, there should not be a car pool lane, why are those people special because they have a second person in the car?
 
#37 ·
Since California has the highest number of MCs in the US approx 800k MCs and I am sure they are centered in the high congestion areas and I have watched umpteen million vids of Cali traffic, yes it does. Lets say 1/8th of the MCs are being used for work because they are able to get around that heavy traffic better. That is 80k vehicles that are moving forward to free up space in traffic. I do not think those numbers are too far off. If you want to sit in traffic and melt down your bike it is your choice, you are not forced to filter. Be my guest, but if Florida ever passes the law that MCs can filter at a light I will be at the front of every light I can.
 
#41 ·
Okay, since it is still Dark in Cali right now it is hard to make out, but out of 20 stills from traffic cams that I looked at 6 of them had 1 headlight vehicles in them. Now either they have a rash of people with 1 headlight out or there were MCs in those. Now in those there were an average of 9 cars per cam so that is 180ish cars. So that is 3% of 1 headlight vehicles. Since the total number of MCs in California only make up 2.5% of the registered vehicles that puts the one time statistic well over my previous estimate. Have a GREAT day :)
 
#42 · (Edited)
I understand both sides of the lane splitting debate.

Because of the fact that lane splitting allows you to get where you are going much faster than staying in your lane, your opinion IS biased.

Filtering to the front of the line at a red light does not free up space, only so many vehicles can make it through a green light. If the motorcycles cut up to the front, that means cars they passed may have to wait for two green lights to get through. Motorcycles DO take up a space, they do not stay in the space between lanes. Claiming the 'space' that is infront of other people is more safe than any other space is self serving. Being able to accelerate quickly at the green light doesnt have any real impact on traffic, because the cars will catch up to you at the next light anyway.

If you want to take up less space on the highway, then all motorcycles should be required to ride side by side in one lane.

If you want to claim that motorcycles need to be allowed to lane split and filter up for safety issues, you are saying motorcycles riding in traffic are inherently less safe that driving a car. I dont think you want that conclusion to be acted on. You may not like where it leads.

Can this all be resolved? Ever drive in Europe? Ever been on the Autobahn?

I think it all comes down to a matter of culture. Some people are obsessed with traffic laws, thinking the goal is to drive in harmony with yellow lines, and colored lights and signs. The purpose of the laws is not to make people stop at red and yellow lights and signs, and to go on green lights, and to stay between the lines.

The purpose of the traffic laws is to prevent accidents and injury and death. The traffic laws are a means to the goal, they are not the goal.

No matter how you look at this there is no black and white answer. Every angle has its advantages and its drawbacks.

As the title of this thread points out, no matter how you ride or what you do, accidents will continue, and some people will always be angry and think that motorcycles should not be allowed on the roads, because Them Drivers DO be Crazy out there!

From my own experience, if you timed me from the second I walk out my front door, till I sit down at my office desk with a cup of coffee in hand, I would guess it takes me 10 to 15 minutes longer on the motorcycle than driving one of my cars, on my 15 mile commute. It takes me time to put on my gear compared to putting on a jacket, to check the lights and brakes on my bike when I start it up, and I can accelerate faster from a stop on the MC, but Im much more cautious in traffic on my bike, making sure people turning and pulling out see me.

Im not riding a MC to get anywhere faster, I ride because I love riding.

BTW, I dont have a link for the traffic experiment in europe where they took down all the signs and removed all the lines on the roads. I think it was in Holland, read it in the news a few years ago.
 
#43 ·
I understand both sides of the lane splitting debate.

Because of the fact that lane splitting allows you to get where you are going much faster than staying in your lane, your opinion IS biased.

Filtering to the front of the line at a red light does not free up space, only so many vehicles can make it through a green light. If the motorcycles cut up to the front, that means cars they passed may have to wait for two green lights to get through. Motorcycles DO take up a space, they do not stay in the space between lanes. Claiming the 'space' that is infront of other people is more safe than any other space is self serving. Being able to accelerate quickly at the green light doesnt have any real impact on traffic, because the cars will catch up to you at the next light anyway.

Because you can accelerate away quickly just as many cars if not more can get through the light than if you were sitting in the middle of them. So that frees up traffic.

If you want to take up less space on the highway, then all motorcycles should be required to ride side by side in one lane.

This takes the same space as a car and can be more dangerous if there is something in the road and the MC has to swerve. If they are lane splitting they are not taking the space of a car.

If you want to claim that motorcycles need to be allowed to lane split and filter up for safety issues, you are saying motorcycles riding in traffic are inherently less safe that driving a car. I dont think you want that conclusion to be acted on. You may not like where it leads.

Motorcycles are less safe than driving a car. That is a fact, not anyones opinion.

Can this all be resolved? Ever drive in Europe? Ever been on the Autobahn?


No, but I do know the Autobahn does have less crashes because they leave more room traveling at that speed, but when they do crash the death toll is higher than a regulated highway.

I think it all comes down to a matter of culture. Some people are obsessed with traffic laws, thinking the goal is to drive in harmony with yellow lines, and colored lights and signs. The purpose of the laws is not to make people stop at red and yellow lights and signs, and to go on green lights, and to stay between the lines.

The purpose of the traffic laws is to prevent accidents and injury and death. The traffic laws are a means to the goal, they are not the goal.

No matter how you look at this there is no black and white answer. Every angle has its advantages and its drawbacks.


I agree with this 100%


BTW, I dont have a link for the traffic experiment in europe where they took down all the signs and removed all the lines on the roads. I think it was in Holland, read it in the news a few years ago.
Easier to answer this way :p
 
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