Those interesting drivers are still out there!

[larrybuck]

A couple of days ago, I was on an up, and down twisty 2 lane road w 2 vehicles behind.

I wasn't particularly ecomodding at the moment, as no passing was allowed, and I wasn't trying to rile anyone.

I'm

starting to climb 30% grade hill, still going 48 in a 50mph. zone, when the 2nd vehicle pulls out to pass both at once.

All uphill this clean '80's 2wd Toyota PU with only about a 4mph gain on me

passes me at the point where the curve is completely blind. Uphill, with a guard rail immediate to his left, deep ditch to the right, on this narrow road that has no shoulders at all!

I could only stare in amazement as he was given the gift of continued life!

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by larrybuck

A couple of days ago, I was on an up, and down twisty 2 lane road w 2 vehicles behind.

I wasn't particularly ecomodding at the moment, as no passing was allowed, and I wasn't trying to rile anyone.

I'm

starting to climb 30% grade hill, still going 48 in a 50mph. zone, when the 2nd vehicle pulls out to pass both at once.

All uphill this clean '80's 2wd Toyota PU with only about a 4mph gain on me

passes me at the point where the curve is completely blind. Uphill, with a guard rail immediate to his left, deep ditch to the right, on this narrow road that has no shoulders at all!

I could only stare in amazement as he was given the gift of continued life!

As Einstein said, there is a limit to human intelligence, but there is no limit to human stupidity.

Several years ago I was driving on a local street in a residential neighborhood where there is literally a stop sign at every corner at 8 AM (which is considered rush hour in suburban NYC). I am not a cultist hypermiler, nor am I what anyone would call a "slow" driver. But there is no point in driving rapidly to a stop sign, as there is nothing to gain from it. So as I was slowing while approaching a stop sign the car behind me was getting antsy, attempting to pass me. It's as if you can see it coming. The driver (who was a young woman, probably in a rush to get to work) floored her car, passed me at full acceleration over the double yellow line, through the stop sign without slowing at all, and crashed into a car that had the right of way, entering the intersection from the cross street after having stopped first. I was the sole witness. Fortunately there were no injuries. That's passing over a double yellow line, failure to stop at a stop sign and failure to yield right of way, causing a collision. I told the police and her insurance company that it was a case of absolute, incredible recklessness and that people as reckless as her should not be driving.

If you drive for many years sooner or later you will see this sort of thing happen and be prepared to try to steer clear of it. Just make sure your can stop or swerve to avoid the collision that happens right before your very eyes.

[GRU]

a person that passes like that deserves to be put in a hospital, i just feel bad for those people in the incoming lane that have no idea what's about to happen because an idiot wanted to pass someone

[ace0snipe]

I live near Montreal, Quebec. This is a place where they have removed the privilege of turning right on red because the people are too stupid to check for on coming cars. That however does not stop anyone. The roads may as well be cobble stone and the people drive like it's Liberty City...

[Frank Lee]

Many rural intersections are being converted to 4-way stops and not only that, I guess those huge red stop signs are not up to the job so they bring electric service one way or another to the intersection so they can ring the huge red signs with flashing christmas lights. I suppose the day is coming where the christmas lights will be deemed inadequate and all intersections will be equipped with railroad crossing arms. Then those will cease to be effective and all intersections will be equipped with the signs, flashing lights, arms, and parking lot style tire flattening teeth. And On Star engine disabling. All because people are too dumb to yield and/or look for cross traffic.

There will be no such thing as cruising straight through from A to B anymore. How un-eco is that?

[nemo]

Originally Posted by larrybuck

I'm

starting to climb 30% grade hill, still going 48 in a 50mph. zone, when the 2nd vehicle pulls out to pass both at once.

All uphill this clean '80's 2wd Toyota PU with only about a 4mph gain on me

passes me at the point where the curve is completely blind. Uphill, with a guard rail immediate to his left, deep ditch to the right, on this narrow road that has no shoulders at all!

When seeing a situation like that unfolding, back off. Just because the guy is an idiot don't get yourself or someone else killed.

[cbaber]

Reminds me of a couple recent idiots I had to deal with. The first one as I pulled out of my driveway onto a 35 MPH road. I saw a guy coming down the hill toward me and I had plenty of room so I took off out of my driveway and accelerated normally so as not to make this guy mad. I was up to 30 MPH before he began to approach from behind me. Instead of coasting a little or tapping the brakes he passed me going up a hill. This is on a regular city road! How impatient are you that someone going 5 MPH under and still accelerating deserves to be passed illegally?

Next one was a couple weeks ago on the interstate. I was going up a huge hill. So huge my little Civic cannot hold 60 MPH in 5th gear so I usually bleed the speed off to about 52 MPH up the hill. Anyway, this chick in a minivan got stuck in behind me while a couple semi's were passing in the left lane. Rather than wait until it was clear to pass, this girl tried to use the onramp lane (the one that merges into the highway) to pass me on the right. She didn't have enough steam to make it past me all the way before the lane merged to the highway so she ended up slamming on the brakes and getting stuck behind me again anyway lol. Some people just amaze me...

[Frank Lee]

I live on a "residential street" although many think it is part of the interstate highway/trucking system... but anyway, technically it is a residential street with a 30mph limit but on many occasions I've seen people going highway speeds, and I've seen and heard people floor it to pass, and I've even seen a punk of a sportbike ride a wheelie past someone he thought wasn't going fast enough. Heh heh, found out that sometime later the little **** crashed doing that sort of thing- oh, the schaudenfreude!

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I live on a "residential street" although many think it is part of the interstate highway/trucking system... but anyway, technically it is a residential street with a 30mph limit but on many occasions I've seen people going highway speeds, and I've seen and heard people floor it to pass, and I've even seen a punk of a sportbike ride a wheelie past someone he thought wasn't going fast enough. Heh heh, found out that sometime later the little **** crashed doing that sort of thing- oh, the schaudenfreude!

Time to hand out the (drum roll, please...) DARWIN AWARDS Also, for those who might not understand the concept, click here.

I say give 'em enough rope to hang themselves. But then, I'm not a 'Nanny State Liberal'.

[Ecky]

I was typing this post a few days ago but got lazy and closed it, but I had an experience like this a few days back.

I had just left my college and was on an 8 lane, 50mph road. The light about a quarter mile in front of me turned red so I put my car in neutral and started to coast in. When traffic started to brake I was going about 5mph slower than the cars around me (~40 vs 45 in a 50) and I saw in my rearview mirror, a woman in a car behind me was shaking her fist and pounding on her steering wheel, cursing at me because I had left maybe 5 or 6 car lengths between me and the guy in front of me. She put on her blinker and immediately tried to merge into a lane next to me, almost causing an accident. She eventually got in her lane of choice but traffic had already stopped at the light - she ended up about 9 cars behind me.