I saw the worst driver today.

[Rain Man]

First off, I'm not going to tell you age, gender, or race. I will tell you that it was not a person who looked like they had a learner's permit.

But it was pretty funny.

I was driving on a very busy highway in California, two lanes going in each direction with a 60 mph speed limit. I came to a stop because a couple of cars ahead, someone was stopped halfway in the lane and halfway in a driveway to a coffee shop parking lot. It was a nice Audi sedan two cars ahead of us.

I thought maybe someone was trying to get out, blocking them from entering, but I couldn't see anyone. We sat there for a minute and traffic started piling up quickly behind us.

The car just sat there and didn't move. We waited for a while, and then the car ahead of us started honking.

The Audi then backed up onto the highway, most of the way. Then it pulled up again. Then it stopped again.

Then it somehow - and I have no idea how - got a wheel off the ground. I cannot even begin to explain how, but I could see the back tire spinning with no traction. This was in a concrete driveway with no precipitation in good weather. I seriously have no idea how they did it.

Then it backed up again. By this point there were lots of cars behind us, and the left lane was full of people passing the car.

It backed all the way into the left lane, stopping all of the traffic and making cars dodge it, and stopped again. Then it cut the wheels and after about 100 feet it managed to get into the right lane. It took off at about 20 mph in a 60 mph zone. As cars started passing again, it then ever so slowly drifted into the left lane with its right turn signal on for some unexplainable reason, making everybody dodge it again.

We eventually passed on the right side, laughing uproariously. There was a driver and passenger, and they were clearly oblivious to what they were doing.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

I would say they had caught one wheel in the culvert and were probably stuck.

That's why one wheel was off the ground.


I see this happen at least once a week next door at head start. We are always helping parents out of it.

You would think. There would have to be some reason for it. But this is the actual driveway (on the right). I don't understand how they got one tire off the ground in this driveway. I think they just somehow stomped on the gas pedal, but it didn't burn rubber or anything.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

You would think. There would have to be some reason for it. But this is the actual driveway (on the right). I don't understand how they got one tire off the ground in this driveway. I think they just somehow stomped on the gas pedal, but it didn't burn rubber or anything.

I don't think stomping on the gas would get a wheel off the ground in that car...

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

I don't think stomping on the gas would get a wheel off the ground in that car...

Sadly, some people's limited understanding of physics comes from watching The Matrix.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

I don't think stomping on the gas would get a wheel off the ground in that car...

It could have been spinning ie power braking and looked like it was off the ground because of that.

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

This is the world we live in.

1. Phone/texting. ****-put that thing down. You are not that important.
2. Self centered. More ME NOW. see #1
3. Too busy.
4. Give anyone a drivers license. I would hate to know the uninsured drivers.
5. The human brain was not meant to multitask. If you think you can-you are wrong.
You cannot talk and listen at the same time. You cannot chew gum and drive at the same time. FOCUS ON THE ROAD!!!!

This uninsured driver thing is scary, reading the comments section in an article about harsher punishments for uninsured motorists the other day. The number of people who don't think they don't have to have it, say they cannot afford it so do not buy it but drive anyways, or simply brush it off is startling.

[unlurking]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

You would think. There would have to be some reason for it. But this is the actual driveway (on the right). I don't understand how they got one tire off the ground in this driveway. I think they just somehow stomped on the gas pedal, but it didn't burn rubber or anything.

That's a 60mph zone?!?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by unlurking

That's a 60mph zone?!?

Eh, maybe that stretch isn't since it's in town, now that you mention it. It's the Pacific Coast Highway.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by smellypitts

There are those of us who hate driving.
I can't handle having to tolerate 200 strangers around me at high speeds. I can't drive 80 mph like it's no big deal. I stay distant from other cars. I'm the guy considered the one who is a bad driver and piss people off because I'm the one not driving like a race car driver. I can't shut my mind off like everyone else and drive like a robot who doesn't care and assumes everyone else sees me.

As long as you stay out of the left lane, I don't care if you drive 30 in a 60. Slower traffic keep right and pass left. One of the first rules of the road that has been forgotten, mostly by immigrant drivers like the Hispanics in white Ford box trucks with their paint supplies or ladders on the roof!

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by scho63

As long as you stay out of the left lane, I don't care if you drive 30 in a 60. Slower traffic keep right and pass left. One of the first rules of the road that has been forgotten, mostly by immigrant drivers like the Hispanics in white Ford box trucks with their paint supplies or ladders on the roof!

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago. I was driving in a rural area, and there was a car cruising along at around the speed limit in the left lane. I had to pass it on the right, and it was a couple of people chatting.

It got me thinking about a focus group of drivers that I did many years ago. A young woman in that group said that she took off on a road trip, and figured out after a couple of hundred miles that she wasn't supposed to cruise in the left lane. She said, "I grew up in the city. You're supposed to cruise in the left lane there. How was I to know that it's different in the country?"

She actually brings up a good point about our inconsistent lane philosophies. If you're in a major metro area and you're going to travel 20 miles on a highway, you're supposed to move toward the left so it's easier for others to get off and on. But if you're outside a metro area and you're going to travel 20 miles on a highway, you're supposed to stay in the right lane.

I guess maybe the consistent part is that you leave the leftmost lane for passing, whether it's a 2-lane road or an 8-lane road. But even in metro areas you get the idiots who are cruising at a very high rate of speed and they're camping in the left lane.

One might think it's an issue of 2-lane roads versus multi-lane roads, but in a metro area a 2-lane road gets cruisers in both lanes, and that's kind of necessary.

So it makes me wonder. At what point when you're departing a metro area are you supposed to make the philosophical switch and never cruise in the leftmost lane?

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago. I was driving in a rural area, and there was a car cruising along at around the speed limit in the left lane. I had to pass it on the right, and it was a couple of people chatting.

It got me thinking about a focus group of drivers that I did many years ago. A young woman in that group said that she took off on a road trip, and figured out after a couple of hundred miles that she wasn't supposed to cruise in the left lane. She said, "I grew up in the city. You're supposed to cruise in the left lane there. How was I to know that it's different in the country?"

She actually brings up a good point about our inconsistent lane philosophies. If you're in a major metro area and you're going to travel 20 miles on a highway, you're supposed to move toward the left so it's easier for others to get off and on. But if you're outside a metro area and you're going to travel 20 miles on a highway, you're supposed to stay in the right lane.

I guess maybe the consistent part is that you leave the leftmost lane for passing, whether it's a 2-lane road or an 8-lane road. But even in metro areas you get the idiots who are cruising at a very high rate of speed and they're camping in the left lane.

One might think it's an issue of 2-lane roads versus multi-lane roads, but in a metro area a 2-lane road gets cruisers in both lanes, and that's kind of necessary.

So it makes me wonder. At what point when you're departing a metro area are you supposed to make the philosophical switch and never cruise in the leftmost lane?

When there isn't an exit every 1/4 mile.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

When there isn't an exit every 1/4 mile.

The nearest large-ish city to me with that driving situation has it marked. There are signs up that say "Through Traffic Left Lane OK" or something like that. California is one of the 29 states (as of this 2010 article) where you are required to move over if traveling at a slower speed than normal traffic:

http://jalopnik.com/5501615/left-lan...e-by-state-map


The most popular law follows the Uniform Vehicle Code, which says a car driving below the "normal speed of traffic" should be driven in the right-hand lane. Because it indicates "normal speed" instead of saying "speed limit" a driver going above the speed limit but slower than most traffic is still in the wrong.

[Demonpenz]

I will be the first one to admit I am not a great driver. I recently got a car over an SUV because the SUV was totalled andthe other day I looked in my review and side mirror changed lanes, didn't hear a honk or anything, just had a sense that someone was still on my left. I look over and this guy I ran off the road was just rolling with me on the shoulder. I swerved back over and he came back on the road and out of the corner of my eye I could feel his burning eyes. I was a bit worred because he was driving a plumming truck and I know he had some pipes that he was going to hit me over the head with, but I pulled into a sushi place and he yelled stuff and drove by.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago. I was driving in a rural area, and there was a car cruising along at around the speed limit in the left lane. I had to pass it on the right, and it was a couple of people chatting.

It got me thinking about a focus group of drivers that I did many years ago. A young woman in that group said that she took off on a road trip, and figured out after a couple of hundred miles that she wasn't supposed to cruise in the left lane. She said, "I grew up in the city. You're supposed to cruise in the left lane there. How was I to know that it's different in the country?"

She actually brings up a good point about our inconsistent lane philosophies. If you're in a major metro area and you're going to travel 20 miles on a highway, you're supposed to move toward the left so it's easier for others to get off and on. But if you're outside a metro area and you're going to travel 20 miles on a highway, you're supposed to stay in the right lane.

I guess maybe the consistent part is that you leave the leftmost lane for passing, whether it's a 2-lane road or an 8-lane road. But even in metro areas you get the idiots who are cruising at a very high rate of speed and they're camping in the left lane.

One might think it's an issue of 2-lane roads versus multi-lane roads, but in a metro area a 2-lane road gets cruisers in both lanes, and that's kind of necessary.

So it makes me wonder. At what point when you're departing a metro area are you supposed to make the philosophical switch and never cruise in the leftmost lane?

The worst are those shitheels who purposely stay in the lane to keep others from going faster as if their self-annointed traffic hall monitor. Only to be topped by the people who pace the car next to them!

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago. I was driving in a rural area, and there was a car cruising along at around the speed limit in the left lane. I had to pass it on the right, and it was a couple of people chatting.

It got me thinking about a focus group of drivers that I did many years ago. A young woman in that group said that she took off on a road trip, and figured out after a couple of hundred miles that she wasn't supposed to cruise in the left lane. She said, "I grew up in the city. You're supposed to cruise in the left lane there. How was I to know that it's different in the country?"

She actually brings up a good point about our inconsistent lane philosophies. If you're in a major metro area and you're going to travel 20 miles on a highway, you're supposed to move toward the left so it's easier for others to get off and on. But if you're outside a metro area and you're going to travel 20 miles on a highway, you're supposed to stay in the right lane.

I guess maybe the consistent part is that you leave the leftmost lane for passing, whether it's a 2-lane road or an 8-lane road. But even in metro areas you get the idiots who are cruising at a very high rate of speed and they're camping in the left lane.

One might think it's an issue of 2-lane roads versus multi-lane roads, but in a metro area a 2-lane road gets cruisers in both lanes, and that's kind of necessary.

So it makes me wonder. At what point when you're departing a metro area are you supposed to make the philosophical switch and never cruise in the leftmost lane?

If there's more than 2 lanes in a metro area then the far left lane is still the "fast lane".

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth

The worst are those shitheels who purposely stay in the lane to keep others from going faster as if their self-annointed traffic hall monitor. Only to be topped by the people who pace the car next to them!

I call them "block-jobbers"