SS: Another rude driver rant

[Markel]

Scene: 8:40 a.m. Sunday morning, intersection of two 4-lane roads. Light for cross traffic has just turned red (meaning that the left turn arrow for the oncoming traffic has just turned green). I'm making a right turn onto the crossing road, so (after I stop) I see the "oncoming" left turners starting to move, and I take my turn into the right hand lane.

A few seconds later: I hear a cheap 4-banger winding out on my left as the first left-turner strains his car to pass and get in front of me. He then proceeds to slow down unnecessarily. I move into the left lane to go around him, and I (and my family) notice him giving us the finger (he took a right hand turn down the road). A few remarks are exchanged in my van, and my youngest (11) asks why he gave us the finger. I explain, "Because he doesn't know how to obey the driving laws, and he is blaming us for it."

People that don't know how (or more likely, are too lazy) to turn into the correct lanes is one of my major driving peeves. But people who think they've been wronged when they are prevented from their driving rudeness (and have to drive correctly) make me want the built-in flame thrower on my vehicles. :mad3: :mad2: :angry: :yell: :splat: :mad:

p.s. Wow! there's quite a collection of similarly-themed smileys!

[navyones]

I am glad that you and your kid are okay. It is sad that your kid had to see how rude people can be on the roads.

[speedracer120]

Yeah, I've always thought it odd that the stupid odd mofos who are breaking the law always add the finger. Freaking bastards all deserve a nice beating.

[brainsmile]

Drivers are getting worse for sure

[gear02]

Some days I wish I drove a bumper car...

[BigJon]

I often times wish I had a "car-electrical-system-disabler" tazer that I could shoot at the cars with bad drivers. BANG! ZAP! *sputter sputter* *kaput* Just like that, car dead on the road.

The good news is, half of them are already on cellphones while driving...that way they can just call for a tow.

[speedracer120]

No, I'd like a narrow beam EMP to disable their cell phones, and maybe their reproductive abilities as well.

[InfiniteNothing]

I don't know why he was mad at you at all.
PS. I had a car with more than twice the engine displacement try and race me today on a freeway on ramp.

[speedracer120]

That's why they're rude and clueless. I had an idiot in a Suburban try to run me off the on-ramp as well today. I swear, is a full moon near or something? I'm starting think the lunatic theory is true or something. More and more people have been acting all whack as of late. Someone tell me, is the moon near the full phase?

[Jeffbx]

Because he doesn't know how to obey the driving laws, and he is blaming us for it.

:stupid: x 1000

OK, anyone who doesn't know this yet (because this causes that vein in my forehead to pop out when people cut me off): YOU NEED TO STAY IN YOUR LANE WHEN YOU TURN! I busted out my l33t MS Paint skills to give an illustration:

http://home.comcast.net/~jeff_bowden/pics/baddriver.JPG

See, if you're turning from the inside lane, STAY in the inside lane. If you're turning from the outside lane, STAY in the outside lane! You don't cross lanes when you turn! If you've done this in the past, you may want to print this picture & tape it to your dashboard so you don't forget.

If you're very familiar with this rule of driving & it peeves you off when people turn wrong & cut you off, feel free to print a batch of these up, and maybe present a copy to the offending driver at the next stop light as a public service.

[whitak24]

best. MS. paint. ever.

i especially like the "hooray" and "nooooo" captions :heh:

[Markel]

I like the idea of the diagrams! Here's the one that I wish 95% of the drivers around here understood:

http://www.littleboyinc.com/uploader/uploads/Turns.jpg

[raimin]

I like the idea of the diagrams! Here's the one that I wish 95% of the drivers around here understood:

http://www.littleboyinc.com/uploader/uploads/Turns.jpg


but the person making the left turn can legally turn into either lane.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/pgs25thru29.htm

[Markel]

but the person making the left turn can legally turn into either lane.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/pgs25thru29.htm
Too bad that California has capitulated to the lazy drivers. Here in Illinois, the rules state:


LEFT TURNS: The following steps apply to a driver who wants to turn left:

-Give a left turn signal from the proper turning lane.
-Obey traffic signs and signals.-
-Yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and vehicles in the intersection.-
-Check all approaching traffic.-
-Point the wheels straight ahead until you actually start to turn.-
-Complete the turn into the lane closest to you going in your intended direction.

Taken from:
http://www.sos.state.il.us/publications/rr/rr_chap03.html#signaling_and_turning

(emphasis added)

[DaFunkyUnit]

whats annoying is when the inside (ie rightmost) turn lane leads (ie after the turn) into the freeway onramp lane. then you are forced to either a) turn into the freeway onramp lane, then quickly get out of that lane or b) do the "wrong" turn where you turn right from the inside lane but end up on the outside lane (as per Markel's diagram)

if anyone is familiar with the Cherry/Spring intersection in Long Beach, then you know what i'm talking about.

[Hopper1]

My personal favorite is the person making the left turn to the outside farthest lane then quickly changing lanes back into the inside closest lane. If they would have turned into the correct lane they would not be cutting me off. Unfortunately it has almost become a standard to just choose the farthest lane when turning because people are lazy. On certain turns on my way home I have to do this or else I cannot make the next right turn because of the 30 people behind me turning into the outside lane.

Had a friend get hit making a left turn into the proper lane when someone making a right, turned into the far lane.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Markel, here in Minnesota, you would have been in the wrong. When waiting to make a right turn at a red light, you must wait for *all* traffic to clear, even those turning left on a green arrow into the wrong lane. Yes, bird-flippin-boy would have been wrong, but your's would have been the greater infraction.

While I'm not a big fan of a larger Federal government, I think it would be prudent to have a standard nation-wide traffic code.

[speedracer120]

:stupid:

Traffic laws are such, that the minor differences between municipalities because there is simply too much of which to keep track. Take for instance, here in SoCal, Fullerton started using a blinking yellow left turn arrow. I wouldn't have known for sure what that was supposed to mean but for the fact that I saw on the local news that it was to yield. But what irks me about that is, if they had just added a plain green light to the signal instead of overthinking it and adding the blinking yellow arrow, I would've known that I was to yield to oncoming traffic before turning, which the blinking yellow also indicates. It all goes back to overly complicated thinking by city engineers.

I really really liked that article from Wired, where common sense ruled over bombarding drivers with signs and cues with which only the traffic engineer who thought them out really knows about. Get rid of stop signs add traffic circles or something. Make things simpler not complex.

[gear02]

:stupid:

Traffic laws are such, that the minor differences between municipalities because there is simply too much of which to keep track. Take for instance, here in SoCal, Fullerton started using a blinking yellow left turn arrow. I wouldn't have known for sure what that was supposed to mean but for the fact that I saw on the local news that it was to yield. But what irks me about that is, if they had just added a plain green light to the signal instead of overthinking it and adding the blinking yellow arrow, I would've known that I was to yield to oncoming traffic before turning, which the blinking yellow also indicates. It all goes back to overly complicated thinking by city engineers.

I really really liked that article from Wired, where common sense ruled over bombarding drivers with signs and cues with which only the traffic engineer who thought them out really knows about. Get rid of stop signs add traffic circles or something. Make things simpler not complex.

I agree with everything but traffic circles. I don't think the american driver can understand circles...they just drive on there like madmen.

Plus here in DC some moron decided to put traffic lights at circles... :shrug:

[Markel]

Yeah, traffic circles (a.k.a., "rotaries" to those of a British persuasion) have been eliminated in many areas due to the problems they create. Too many crossing paths in a short space....

[speedracer120]

While I'm not married to the idea of traffic circles, I only think people are reticent and dangerous around the circles because they're just not accustomed to them. Once again, it goes back to common sense.

Here in HB, there's a street called Heil, that ends rather abruptly and idiotic high schoolers who live around the area keep running into the walls. It's not like they don't see the huge brick wall, nor do they not know the street ends. They just act the fool because they have a) no sense and b) they're just speeding.

[nate el bueno]

haha, those pictures are really funny. Sebulba had flames on his podracer. how wonderful. Yeah, dad if you and mom hadnt been in the car and i had been driving....
i usually try and avoid hitting walls, but hey, it happens stupid kids...

[Markel]

:stupid: x 1000

OK, anyone who doesn't know this yet (because this causes that vein in my forehead to pop out when people cut me off): YOU NEED TO STAY IN YOUR LANE WHEN YOU TURN! I busted out my l33t MS Paint skills to give an illustration:...
Jeffbx, you must live near Detroit. I've never seen so many "turn right then take two left turns" in order to take a left turn anywhere else.

[gear02]

While I'm not married to the idea of traffic circles, I only think people are reticent and dangerous around the circles because they're just not accustomed to them. Once again, it goes back to common sense.

Here in HB, there's a street called Heil, that ends rather abruptly and idiotic high schoolers who live around the area keep running into the walls. It's not like they don't see the huge brick wall, nor do they not know the street ends. They just act the fool because they have a) no sense and b) they're just speeding.

That's hilarious! It's almost wile e coyote!

[speedracer120]

Oh yeah, the point of the story is that after a while the city got sick of it. So instead of just a regular intersection with the stop sign. They put in a mini-rotary. Problem solved.

[Airencracken]

AHHHHH it's a roundabout! not a rotary. that's what's in a rx-7!

[Maarchk]

I was going to say, it many states, you can turn into the lane that you choose, unless specifically there are multiple turn lanes and thus you must turn into your own lane. Otherwise, making a left or a right, techincally you can slide out a lane... Even though its dumb and can create havok for others... but then again, in cali i can u turn wherever i feel like it unless its posted not to. In oregon, i can NOT turn a U anywhere unless its posted that i can.

[speedracer120]

Dude chill out. It's called a rotary in some places, and we all know a rotary engine is in the Mazda RXs.

[Hypnotist]

Ingnorance is bliss?... No... Ignorance is DANGEROUS! Your answer to your son was very good IMHO. Mostly, I smile and wave. Just because someone wants me to share some... I choose not to accept their stress. :)

[Markel]

Mostly, I smile and wave. Just because someone wants me to share some... I choose not to accept their stress. :)
I know someone who recommends puckering up and "giving" them a big kiss (motion). They probably don't know how to react to that. :heh:

[speedracer120]

My family tries to give a big stupid grin and thumbs up.

[Jeffbx]

best. MS. paint. ever.

i especially like the "hooray" and "nooooo" captions :heh:

Thanks! I couldn't let my 3rd grade art class go to waste any longer!



Jeffbx, you must live near Detroit. I've never seen so many "turn right then take two left turns" in order to take a left turn anywhere else.


Ha ha - you know it! "Michigan lefts", people call them. They are a little confusing, but it seems to keep the traffic flowing. At least they're better than the New Jersey 'jughandles'!

[justbeachin]

Scene: 8:40 a.m. Sunday morning, intersection of two 4-lane roads. Light for cross traffic has just turned red (meaning that the left turn arrow for the oncoming traffic has just turned green). I'm making a right turn onto the crossing road, so (after I stop) I see the "oncoming" left turners starting to move, and I take my turn into the right hand lane.

A few seconds later: I hear a cheap 4-banger winding out on my left as the first left-turner strains his car to pass and get in front of me. He then proceeds to slow down unnecessarily. I move into the left lane to go around him, and I (and my family) notice him giving us the finger (he took a right hand turn down the road). A few remarks are exchanged in my van, and my youngest (11) asks why he gave us the finger. I explain, "Because he doesn't know how to obey the driving laws, and he is blaming us for it."

People that don't know how (or more likely, are too lazy) to turn into the correct lanes is one of my major driving peeves. But people who think they've been wronged when they are prevented from their driving rudeness (and have to drive correctly) make me want the built-in flame thrower on my vehicles. :mad3: :mad2: :angry: :yell: :splat: :mad:

p.s. Wow! there's quite a collection of similarly-themed smileys!

Do you realize that, unless the turn lanes are marked all the way through the intersection (more than one left hande turn lane), that a driver making a left can complete the turn in any lane they want? But, when you're making a right on a red, you must yield right of way to other traffic..., also you must start and finish a right turn in the lane closest to the curb. So all these drivers that make a right turn and end up in the left hand lane, are technically making a right turn, and making a left lane change at the same time.

[Markel]

Do you realize that, unless the turn lanes are marked all the way through the intersection (more than one left hande turn lane), that a driver making a left can complete the turn in any lane they want?
I realize that according to Illinois driving laws, you are incorrect. See my information lower down in the thread.

[Airencracken]

Dude chill out. It's called a rotary in some places, and we all know a rotary engine is in the Mazda RXs.

j/k dude. :) Shoulda put a smilie in there or sumfin.

[nate el bueno]

I know someone who recommends puckering up and "giving" them a big kiss (motion). They probably don't know how to react to that. :heh:
give him both back! :johnwoo2: :duh:

[Jeffbx]

I know someone who recommends puckering up and "giving" them a big kiss (motion). They probably don't know how to react to that. :heh:


I do that too... someone gives me the one finger salute, I wink & give them an air kiss. I think the finger is overused.