Driving Nuisances

[007steveb16]

I know, I know I should let it go over my head...life's too short right? But sometimes it just really grinds my gears...like the following all too frequent occurrence that happened while I was out today.

Who doesn't love a nice, calm, leisurely drive. I get it, but there is a time and....a road....not the highway.

Was following someone between 2 towns on a main highway today, 80 km/r speed limit and they're doing 70! Too many S bends for a pass....

The best part?!

We come to a town, speed limit 50 km/h.......yup let's still go 65 the whole time we're in the 50 zone!!!

This mind frame/awareness/lack of awareness/insanely contradictory style of driving is beyond me.........

[rosscd57]

So - did you slow down?

[007steveb16]

Haha, I knew someone was going to ask that.

Yes I slowed down, I always do and could tell pretty much that they were still going around 65 by how much distance they were putting between us.

[cumos55]

Relax... Stop for a cup of coffee, a drink of something, a munchie,  or a washroom break...

Your turn will come.... You will get there... Others may not.... 

The dangerous part is not that you are travelling "too slow"

It is the people who gather behind you, and want to pass no matter what

I do remember  from many years ago... Cars in a line on a highway, behind a large semi-trailer, and unable to pass

Classic old car went to pass....  and very quickly turned into the ditch on the other side of the road...

Why?   Appear that a large Greyhound bus was  ready to crunch that old car... with me a potential part of that mess..

Keep your distance  and let the dumb-dumbs do their stupid thing

I have travelled many miles on the roads acrooss Canada, mainly western Canada....  and have seen lots of stupidity.....  and have learned not to be a part of any stupidity

[cumos55]

Sometimes you have to stop somewhere  and let the stupidity carry on up the road....I never like to be anywhere near other vehicles, both big and small on a highway.

It is better to be last in a long line  of vehicles  than second... for you may end up the first in an accident.... 

[westernstargifts]

I remember many years ago when DH and I were driving into London one evening.  We had been following a car doing 65 on the highway.  Naturally he did not slow down either when he drove into town.

Then we watched him drive right through a red light.  He must have realized what he had done because he stopped on the other side of the intersection, waited until the light turned green (behind him) and the went on his merry way.

?:| 

[007steveb16]

See for me this isn't a situation where I'm all nutter about wanting to fly by this person.

This is about what is going on in that persons head that they drive that way, sharing the road with me and my family.

Driving slow where you can go faster and then driving faster where you should bleeping well be slowing down...

[007steveb16]

Relax... Stop for a cup of coffee, a drink of something, a munchie,  or a washroom break...

Your turn will come.... You will get there... Others may not....

You've got my stance on this slightly pegged wrong. I'm an extremely relaxed, experienced, respectful and vigilant driver.

It's the mind frame of that type of driver scares me whether I'm behind them or even anywhere near them.  It's the fact that they're on the road, period, doing this.

[cumos55]

Agreed ..  My comment is for those that chose to force the issue....  and try to beat up on that slow vehicle.... and may end up beating themselves...

Nothing like coming over a small hill and seeing a Greyhound bus passing such a slow car... with that bus in "my lane"..  A chin-dropping experience...That is when I hit the shoulder and stopped... and prayed  a bit...Luckily there was a shoulder

Some people drive like they are pulling an anchor...One foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake..

Others like they are driving on eggs.... forget how to use the accelerator

Imagine such a slow vehicle in the inner through lanes on the 401 in Toronto...  The semi's will beat it to pieces... a scary thought....

I am the type of driver that does the following.

Travelling from Edmonton to Calgary... four lane divided highway.  A semi is coming behind me...  I cut to the inside lane  and the semi speeds through without having to swing out and pass me....

Imagine trying to beat up a semi pulling not one, not two but three trailers... on the prairies.  I suspect they appreciate those little courtesies...

and I always speed through a semi's blind spot..... Only a few months ago  I saw a car sandwiched under a trailer... with the roof partially sheared off.  Looked painful.  Trailer has swinging  out left  to turn right,,  a wide rtight turn and car went under the trailer....

Here is a most interesting situation....   no problem  but it was a wake up call

I was travelling north over an overpass on the inside lane of a four lane divided highway.... 

Two semis  travelling east went under  the overpass and came up to my level via the cloverleaf.....  Both semis are now to my right in the outside lane...

One went in front of me, and the other went behind me  in my inside lane...

Why?  Because a third semi  travelling west came up the cloverleaf  and settled in  the lane beside me.

There I was .. me in my little Aveo.

 One semi in front,  one semi behind me  and a third to my right...

and me boxed in....  got out of there as quick as I could   ... too many blind spots to work with.

If you cannot visualize this  make a drawing... and cringe...

[ilurkthereforiam]

It's because of drivers like them that I always use the 400 series highways when I go to the cottage.

My concern is as much about getting behind thrm or meeting them coming from the opposition when someone behind them gets so fed up with them and passes them at the wrong moment at the moment I encounter them.

[cbsalesnb]

My father drove a semi before he retired. One of his biggest pet peeves were the people who would take forever to pass him.

If you're on a 2 lane highway, and only going slightly faster than the semi and decide to pass, speed up get by him quickly, then go back to your desired speed.

It's not so much the danger of a car riding beside a semi, but that the semi driver must be extra vigilant the whole time you're there to keep you safe. Get by him, then he can breathe easy again.

Also, ever notice the shredded rubber of a blown semi tire on the side of the highways? You've probably seen this enough to realize that it's not too uncommon of an occurance. Did you know that the force of the rubber flying off that semi when the tire blows is enough to go straight through your car's door? (Or at least, it can be if the circumstances are right) Another reason to get the heck by those semis.

[cumos55]

Passing a semi....

If there is a vehicle in front of me... I wait until it has passed the semi  and is well ahead of the semi.

Then it is go... accelerate.. get by and do not slow down until well beyond the semi.... 

If someone follows me as I pass I accelerate even more....

Many people do not understand how the trailer travels  and can wiggle....

That is why I move over to the left lane on a divided four lane highway  when a semi passes me on the right.....  just watch how the trailer moves if  the semi swings left and then passes in the inside lane....

and.. there is a blind spot  for that semi driver.

And   never cut too quickly in front of semi after it has been passed...

and... in the city... I hate being in front of a semi, especially if he is about to stop, 

or behind a semi, a pickup truck, or behind a van  where I cannot see more than two vehicles in front.... 

This is after many decades of driving....