My kid’s just finished the classroom part of driver education and it prompted a discussion of crazy things we’ve seen other drivers do.
The craziest thing I saw, many years ago now, was I came up behind a guy driving a Ford Ranger pickup and could see through his rear window that he was doing tricep extensions with a dumbbell in his right hand. I was more surprised as I passed to see he was shaving with an electric razor in his left hand. I don’t really know how he was steering.
Kiddo said they were told personal grooming was the fourth leading cause of accidents.
I saw someone who mantained the legal speed limit and safe following distance.
In Attack of the Clones, Kenobi probably broke a handful of driving laws.
I hate when I leave an actual stopping distance between me and the person in front of me and someone else just decides to dart in and then tailgate the person in front of them.
This has gotta be made up!!!
I saw someone who used their turn signals.
Everyone knows that you save on car battery lifespan and look 134% cooler without turn signals
Besides the orange light doesn’t fit the paintwork and whole aesthetic and you turn too fast and too often anyway
I remember commenting about people going over the speed limit here on Lemmy, and getting so many downvotes from people who could never explain to me why they thought they deserved to go over the speed limit. Emergencies, with your emergency lights on? By all means! Going over the speed limit because you got up or left late for work? No bueno.
To be fair, most speed limits aren’t very accurate to the design of the street. If you wanted, you could speed up for straightaways and slow down for turns. Obviously though, they aren’t going to put a speed limit sign every 5 feet, so it won’t match the street design everywhere.
Case in point the freeways where I live are limited to 65MPH but you cross the border into either neighboring state and magically 70-75MPH is the safe limit. It makes no sense apart from generating revenue from speeding tickets. Most commuters do 75-80MPH depending on traffic.
The low speed limit also has the side effect of causing those slow, oblivious drivers to immediately crank the wheel over into the left lane the second they merge on the highway and then set their cruise control to 62MPH while they get passed by every car around them causing massive congestion behind them and lots of lane changes.
While I understand both of your points and views, the fact of the matter is that the speed limit is set to whatever it is, whether it be 65 or 70. You are aware of this, and daily commuters are also aware of this. In my eyes, that means it is not a surprise, or shouldn’t be, to anyone except travelers. This also means that you should be prepared for that commute at that speed limit. Unless it is an emergency, just follow the speed limit. It’s as simple as that.
why they thought they deserved to go over the speed limit.
So I don’t obstruct traffic? To improve safety by driving consistently with other vehicles. Yeah, sometimes I speed but most of the time I’m over the speed limit is to go with the flow of traffic.
My bigger annoyance is construction/school zones. I’m not compromising there but it is frustrating to get honked at, or have other drivers try to pass
This is specially egregious since most speed limits are too high
Ooh, thought of another. I once saw a gentlemen driving down the mountain who must not have known that riding his brakes all the way down would cause them to overheat and fail. He was free rolling and honking his horn, weaving in and out to avoid hitting people. Sheer panic on his face.
Fortunately, he had the wherewithal to steer up one of the emergency offramps. I caught up to him a couple mins after he passed me. He was standing, leaning against his car, and just breathing. He was not a white guy, but somehow he still looked so pale. Glad no one got hurt with that one, that could have easily led to one or more deaths if things had happened just a little differently.
That seems more like a crazy situation caused by an honest mistake rather than a person doing something crazy, but I upvoted anyway.
Wait I never knew that you could overheat and fail if you rode it down the mountain. Holy shit
Yep, you want to do engine braking. That’s when you downshift and the engine slows the car. Even with an automatic transmission, you can downshift to 2nd so long as you’re under 50mph or so. You want to be slower than 20 before shifting down to 1st gear.
If you ever have a chance to drive up Pikes Peak in Colorado, 1) it’s gorgeous and 2) they have a stop halfway down where park rangers will check your brake temps with an IR thermometer. If you’re too hot, they make you sit there in your car for a while for the brakes to cool off and they give you tips on engine braking. Lots of flatlanders driving in the mountains for the first time and learning lessons the hard way.
Wow that’s crazy. You have taught me a valuable and potentially a life saving lesson today. I really appreciate your knowledge here.
So I have an automatic so how do I keep it under 50 or 20 without using the breaks?
My dodge will engine brake if I use the cruise control. Down near the bottom (or far side) of your shifter you should have a low gear that isn’t first. You can shift into it under 50 and let off the gas, your car should slow down. Test it’s rpm range on some flat ground first by accelerating to around 50… On the mountain is not where you want to first try it.
At minimum, shift out of overdrive into regular drive.
I have a versa so I’ll have to take a look at that later
You can use your brakes to slow down to where you can then engine brake, you just don’t want to use them for miles all the way down a mountain.
Once you’re under ~50 and you shift down to second, your engine does the work. It will keep the car slower. Maybe you need to tap on the normal brakes here and there, that’s fine, but you shouldn’t have to keep them pressed the entire time.
I also had no idea, even thought it’s completely logical. I just never would have considered that.
they have a stop halfway down where park rangers will check your brake temps with an IR thermometer
My wife’s family did that once and the ranger was apperently shocked at how cold the breaks were from very effective downshifting
If I were a ranger at those stops, I would totally turn it into a game based on make and model, which state they’re from, and judging the driver.
“Soccer minivan from Illinois? They will have no clue how to drive in mountains, their brakes will be hot”
“Ice cold, dude, I’m up by three, next Coke is on you”
Yeah when (normal) brakes get hot after a certain point that loose significant breaking force up to the point where they just fail completely. You usually should notice it before failure through when the pedal starts feeling soft and squishy.
Was at a red light with a cop behind me. Some guy rolls up behind them, braking just late enough that the front bumper of his car love taps the rear bumper of the squad car.
Both officers immediately jump out and open fire on the poor guy. He was hosed after a couple of rounds. The cops just casually get back in and drive off like it was nothing.
This was in Los Santos btw.
The fact that I could believe it right up until the moment they just drove off is telling…
Just last week, a car had missed their turn on the motorway, so decided to REVERSE up the hard shoulder.
Reminds me of a saying I heard: “Good drivers sometimes miss their turn. Bad drivers never miss their turn.”
I can’t agree more. I always say if you miss a turn or get in the wrong lane then “own your mistake and go around”
Too many times I see someone got in the wrong lane so they turn on their signal and wait or just plow over to the lane they wanted and cut others off. Nobody understands the solid white line. If it’s sold white you can’t cross it!
If it’s sold white you can’t cross it!
I see this shit far too often. It makes me wonder if they’re aware their gps can get them rerouted without having to risk their or anyone else’s necks.
On Sunday there was a crash blocking an Autobahn. 50 cars turned around and drove back to the nearest exit, on the emergency lane kept free for the ambulance.
I’ve seen elderly folks do that a few times. Not on the shoulder, but still in their lane, backing up into oncoming traffic. (Yes, I did spend some time living in Florida.)
Late '70s, on a winding paved backroad heading into town, a smaller car coming in the opposite direction lost traction (a light, misty rain had just gone through) and rolled twice in a field before landing upright.
My buddy and I quickly pulled over and ran towards the car to make sure everything was alright.
They drove off before we got to them…
Ok…I want THAT car!!! Forget airbags, and modern safety standards. This dude rolls his car TWICE and just drives off.
…until you get in a collision and the car crumples up and squeezes you out like red toothpaste.
Cars like that don’t crumple up, you just bounce around inside till you die
Oh they sure do. They really like shoving the steering column through your spine.
Ya, iirc, it was something like a Datsun or Toyota compact car, which were a lot smaller and fragile than today’s compacts.
This is one of those events that you chalk up to pure luck.
Crazy luck, 70s imports in the US were very fragile. buddy lost a wheel and most of his suspension hitting a curb in a cvcc.
While stopped at a red light, a taxi casually got onto the right sidewalk and drove on it to get to the front of the line.
Seen too much shit.
People driving and: texting, watching movies, reading with books or newspapers pinned to the steering wheels, working on a laptop with those steering wheel laptop holders, applying makeup, shaving. Sometimes more than one of these things at a time.
The cellphone video/text/surfing is a multiple times a day occurrence. People drive with their phones in their hands and use them all the damn time.
Seen two people deceased, one hit while attempting to cross a busy road well away from a crossing area, another thrown from the car after rolling it because they’d clipped a car while they were speeding and weaving through traffic.
People backing up in breakdown lanes on freeways to make an exit. People crossing multiple lanes rapidly, cutting off other cars, to avoid missing an exit. People OUI weaving in a lane. People nearly coming to a full stop in traffic to avoid missing an exit or turn.
Yeah, think that’s most of it. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some. I’m sure I’ll see more tomorrow.
working on a laptop with those steering wheel laptop holders
Remember when they were an onion-style joke to begin with?
I’ve seen a lot of bad things. But one that has always stuck with me was a guy studying.
I’m not talking about glancing down at a book. He had a textbook propped up on his steering wheel and was using a highlighter to mark in the book.
Was back when I was 19 or 20, was hanging out with my buddies from home over the summer while on break
We were at a McDonald’s at 1:30 or 2 am. Kid around our age comes screeching into the McDonald’s parking lot, going over curbs and everything, sparks flying from two wheels. He had punctured both his front tires and was riding on rims. Turns out one of my friends knew him - he takes a look, looks at the guy, goes “yo man, you probably don’t wanna drive on those”
Kid goes “yeah well I really want McDonald’s I’m gonna go home after”
My friend goes “you live about 15 min away, you really shouldn’t drive.”
He gets his shit and starts driving, sparks still going off. Were a little concerned so we follow him. 200 feet later he gets pulled over, so we pull over behind the cop. The cop looks at us and goes “do you guys know this idiot?”
My buddy’s like yeah…
Cop says you should get him in your car.
Kid refuses. Drives 8 miles home in rims. Smoke everywhere, most awful sound you’ve ever heard. We follow him home, I find out he’s dumb rich.
We go into his guest house, which was bigger than all of our actual houses, smoke one, then leave.
Bro wtf? Even if I’m rich AF I don’t want to wake up the whole fucking neighbourhood and doing such damage to my car.
We were all 19 or so and he was an idiot idk lol
I didn’t really hang out with him or know him before or after that night
The cop just let him go? I have a hard time believing that especially if you guys were right there in another car.
My driving instructor ran a red light, driving with one hand (sometimes even no hands on the wheel for a few seconds), texting and calling while driving.
Surprisingly, when it came to the lessons, he’s the strictest instructor I’ve ever had. Teaching me good habits and forces me following the laws by-the-letter.
I passed my driver’s license with max points.
My driving instructor always told me: “you must follow all the rules of the road until you get your license. Then you can break them all you want, but be prepared for the consequences.”
That’s shitty teaching.
When you break the rules of the road, others have to live with the consequences, too.
Picked up my daughter from her school parking lot years ago and while waiting at the stop sign to turn back onto the road a car goes by with their back tire smoking. I thought it was locked up from braking, but it was punctured and tearing apart. They made no effort to stop or really even slow down much. They continued on and the tire shredded to the point they were driving on the rim. They kept going and onto an even busier major road, which is when I lost track of them as we were turning the other way.
Was waiting outside the student union one afternoon. Loads of other students about. Student guy drives past slowly in an old Vauxhall Nova or similar, thinking he’s pretty cool. Then the front wheel falls off, and starts rolling down the street. The car slams into the road loudly and the guy gets out and starts chasing after the wheel. Didn’t end up looking as cool as he’d hoped.
Cops on laptops/phones while driving on the highway and getting a pass literally every time they’re driving distracted and kill or injure someone.
Every single year in my city someone gets smoked by a cop car/SUV, and the internal investigations always determine via CCTV + phone activity logs that yes their officer was on their phone/laptop, yes they were speeding, yes they went through a red light, yes they failed to have their 🚨 on, but… No, they’re never found guilty and the whole internal investigation is the furthest thing from transparent to the public.
A DEA agent near me recently hit and killed a mother on her bicycle after running a stop sign. He was given qualified immunity.
Should be given something else
Driving super drunk. Like, super drunk. I saw the guy getting pulled over and the officer helping him out of the car. The guy literally just folded down to the ground and passed out. I have no idea how he was moving the steering wheel and stepping on gas and brake because he seemed to have no control over his limbs.
I know a guy who got pulled over drunk as fuck, and told the cop “you don’t want any trouble officer, get back in your car and drive away”. The cop told him to get out of the car, so he opened the door, forgot to unbuckle, and did a faceplant on the asphalt with his ass still in the car seat. Then he told the cop to drive away again. Needless to say, he got a DUI.
Locally it’s not uncommon to find a vehicle abandoned on a Saturday or Sunday morning after being involved in a single-vehicle accident, usually because the driver was drunk and snuck off to sober up before collecting their vehicle and figuring out their consequences. Drinking culture and driving culture are a very deadly combination of course
What’s this from? Zelda CD-i?
I think so
When I lived in Thailand, I lived next to an apartment building where quite a few bargirls and trans women who worked im the red light area lived.
Regularly you could watch them come home in the early morning hours, driving up with their motorbikes without any issues but then having major diffficulty walking the few meters to the door. Sometimes they didn’t even manage to get off the bike properly and just fell off it. But you would have never guessed from their driving.
Reminds me of a story from college when some friends were high out of their minds on various things. They got pulled over for speeding by a cop who appeared to be running beside their car. Turns out they were only going a few MPH and the cop stopped them for driving way too slow. They got arrested for DWI, obviously. No idea if it was true or not, but still a funny story.
Tommy Boy?
Here in Japan, I saw a dude pulled over by a cop. Of course, I didn’t see him driving, but the dude was absolutely legless. Like had problems standing. That was the one and only time I ever seen Japanese cops actually doing their job.
There was a vehicle I’d see on my daily commute for awhile. It would run every red light on one of the larger streets in my city, but the driver would slow down to make sure no one was coming.
The unfortunate thing was that due to the timing, I could easily and legally follow about 3-4 seconds behind the vehicle as the green lights are timed and the driver just happened to be a bit ahead of the cycle. I witnessed them more than a few times.
but the driver would slow down to make sure no one was coming.
Sounds like pretty safe driving to me.
Comparatively yeah. It just sticks with me because apparently those 3-4 seconds made all the difference.
It was a welcome addition to the conversation (just in case you took my previous comment negatively).
No negativity taken. I’m sure I’ve seen worse regularly… Too regularly. To the point that I don’t bother committing it to memory at this point. People driving on the median or opposing traffic as a shortcut? Daily. People holding up an intersection to show off their sick burnout skills? A couple times a year.
Most of what I’ve read in here though? I haven’t seen anyone so absorbed in not driving while driving.
Tailgating is the most dangerous thing I’ve seen.
Once I saw 5 cars travelling at 80+ mph each with barely a few feet between them
Safe-ish, until some other driver on the crossing road approaches way faster than estimated, sees the light go yellow and floors it. Sure, they might see it in time, but there’s a risk they don’t. My dad once didn’t see a crossing car at a yield intersection despite looking that way and got T-boned. He didn’t think he was doing anything unsafe either.
Still safer than just blazing through though, so I guess partial credit for being carefully impatient?
