Professor Zoidy
Urban Legend
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« on: 02-04-2006 15:56 »
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Post whatever happened to you while driving, etc.,etc. I'll start. Ok, so we casually merged onto the freeway after going to town to blow my money on books and mindnumbing videogames. We we about two miles from the exit we needed to get back into or own town. Casually looking in the rear view mirror, we saw a car weave off the road. We really thought nothing of it, until more cars kept doing it. We were arlready nervous, seeing as how people were acting weird next to us. Seconds later, we see these bastards coming about 80-90MPH down the side of the freaking road, not slowing down or having a care in the world. I honestly said " Aww shit, this is it... Some dumbass teen will be the death of me, and I can't even play my damned games!" Luck for us the sped around us. Everyone was trying to box them in, but no luck. When we got off, my mom was shaking (to hell with me being too young to drive!) I swear if I was driving, I'd have got road rage on their asses, ran 'em off the road. Needless to say, my mom was shaking and I was cussing them out, and, had I thought of it, I'd have given them this while the passed. That's pretty much all I've got to say...
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transgender nerd under canada
DOOP Ubersecretary
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I have to face facts. I need to learn to drive. I've had it with the not being able to be anywhere without taking a bus that smells like an old man's toilet. God damn it. I'm sure that this will be the death of me, directly or indirectly. It's one of those things that I've been putting off for the past seven years, and now it's one huge chicken finally coming home to roost. On my shattered skull.
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futurefreak
salutatory committee member
DOOP Secretary
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wow, uber props to you for making this thread. i like it! i hate people who wait til the last minute to merge. whether i let someone in or not depends on the situation. did they have enough time and space beforehand to merge after me? or are they just being a jerk waiting til the last minute so they can cut in front of everyone? these things i consider mostly. that's why i'm constantly checking my mirrors.
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Blane
Professor
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Coming back from north sydney the other night with a friend who was driving, about 10 minutes before the harbour bridge 2 cars just have a head on like 20 meters in from of us. We stopped to see if they were all right. The first car was full of like 20 year old asian dudes and they were all fine, but the other was some shitbox nissin and the girl in the passenger seat was unconcious and bleeding with her head hanging out the window. We had to call an ambo for them all. None of the asian dudes were doing anything, just taking photos with their camera phones :S
Also the other day i saw a cabbie eating a burger or something and was steering with he's knees and one of his elbows.
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DrThunder88
DOOP Secretary
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My worst driving experience ever was when I was driving somewhere in my old Grand Marquis. I was sitting at a stop light on a large and high-speed road. I saw a gigantihuge SUV coming up behind me way too fast. I knew he/she wasn't going to stop in time, so I stomped the gas, cut the wheel to the left and got onto the inside shoulder just in time for the truck to screech to a halt ten feet into the intersection. Just to illustrate how hard I would've been hit, the SUV's rear bumper wound up ahead of my front bumper when the dust settled.
I also had a near-miss on my motorcycle. I was on another road when I heard a siren in the distance. I checked my mirrors and to my sides and didn't see anything. The car ahead of me saw the Deputy coming from straight ahead and, instead of pulling off to the side of the road, slammed on his/her brakes. By the time I saw what was happening, I had to lock up my front brake, which nearly sent me into a lowside.
I don't see as much idiocy on the road as I would if half of my commute wasn't after midnight, but it's there in droves whenever there's anybody driving (except for me, of course).
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Tweek
UberMod
DOOP Secretary
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That is pretty scary Blane, I hope the girl is okay. I never learnt to drive, I'm sure this makes the roads much safer
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TriggerHappyJim
Professor
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I almost got hit by a national joke on wheels once.
You heard about white van drivers?
I was going round a roundabout. This guy storms in just behind me doing about 50 in a residential area!
He literally missed me by an inch and proceeds to lean out the window and swear at me. I was so shocked I failed to respond until I caught up with him at the traffic lights where we almost had a fight!
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ZombieJesus
Lost Belgian
DOOP Secretary
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I guess white van drivers are the same everywhere in the world.
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ZombieJesus
Lost Belgian
DOOP Secretary
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I know someone who loves ticking off drivers that want to pass him where it's not neccesary or even downright stupid (in a 30 kph zone for instance). When they accelerate, he accelerates as well so that it takes them longer to pass.
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Zoidberg227
Space Pope
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I'm in the process of completely replacing the body of my car. Three or so years ago, I rear-ended someone, and had the front end replaced. Two years ago, on my birthday, someone wasn't paying attention and smashed the back end of my car with his early-model Suburban. If you've never seen, it's chromed steel bumpers vs. the plastic bumpers of a later-model Subaru. Oh, and he also moved it 20 feet and halfway onto the sidewalk. Just shy of two weeks ago, someone backed into my car, and now neither of the driver's side doors open. Now all I have to do is roll it onto the right side to get that and the roof replaced. And with only 94K miles on the powertrain, it's like new, right?
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futurefreak
salutatory committee member
DOOP Secretary
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Originally posted by Zoidberg227: You're right. It should be 18. As much as I enjoyed having that bit of independence when I turned 16, I probably shouldn't have had it. And as many young kids I hear of getting killed behind the wheel, I think it's good reason to make sure people are more mature before getting behind the wheel alone. I don't know, 16 is kinda young to have a license (since you learn to drive even before that, with a permit at 15) but if you had to wait til 18 i think the mistakes you made at 16 would just be carried over at 18, except by then you're off on college, away from parents and people who could help you out...i dunno. i'm glad i had 2 years of parking experience and aggressive/defensive driving experience at crowded high school, it really prepared me for the seriously congested places of college roads and parking. I'd hate to have just learned driving and then be thrown into that archie: yeah, i play both sides of the coin too. i hate those who wait last minute to merge, yet i hate those who won't let me in when i need to merge. it's a real hassle on both ends. it's one thing if there is no room to merge, and the cars have decided they won't let anyone and made that decision a few lights back, but what i really hate is when people speed up just because you want to merge, when they were going slow this whole time. that's why i don't turn on my signal until there's already enough room for me to go or i'm already inching over and it's too late for them to go unless they want part of the front of their car missing. because once you turn that signal on, no one will let you in (ironic, because the signal was designed for exactly the opposite purpose...) i won't let someone in if they're being an ass and can easily get in behind me. but even then if it's close to the light, i'll usually relent and let them in if they want to be jerks about it. if i'm zoning out and left almost enough space so that they think they can sneak in, then it's my fault and i let them in. People were trying to do that from a freeway onramp the other day, and i saw them and i knew they had to merge so i was slowing down to let them in, but then they sped off ahead of us like i wasn't going to let them in! That happened twice to me! it's like hey, i wasn't being rude i was GOING to let you in if you had stayed for 5 more seconds... bottom line is, if you're ever on the road with me don't cut me off or piss me off otherwise. i had a road fight like that once, where either I or he cut the other person off apparently and then all of a sudden we were switching lanes back and forth and cutting other people off to cut in front of each other again...this happened all the way to the freeway onramp... some car was literally tailgating me on a freeway where everyone was going 75 or higher (its a 65 mph limit). i was probably going around 75 mph and he was still tailgating me, so close that i couldnt even see his headlights in my mirror. seriously wtf? if i had to brake youd be in the trunk of my car you ass. and then they finally decided to go in another lane, the carpool lane apparently, and i saw them doing the same thing to the car in front of it who was going even faster than me...california drivers are nuts... i was in the carpool lane with my mom the other day, and a car about 2 cars ahead of me was holding everyone up. and so when the carpool lane divulges into two lanes i see the white truck that was behind me go in the other lane and like, come up beside me, like hes gonna cut me off before the lanes merge again, like it was my fault that we were going slow...so i kept going my speed and really revved up the engine. he was forced to merge again behind me
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M0le
Space Pope
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Nobody's ever been stupid enough to put me behind the wheel of a car*, but I haaave been involved in what I like to call... PEDESTRIAN TALES OF HORROR[/u]! I might have raised your expectations slightly by that last paragraph - I was only shunted by a car driving slowly by an old person (gender is not an issue at 180) and I fell in the gutter and hurt my foot slightly. It wasn't really that scary. *30$ for a learners permit and I have to have a responsible licence-holder with me? Pffft!
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Archie2K
Space Pope
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Maybe it's because there's nothing to hit in Newfinland?
In Greece, or at least on the island of Kos, everytime there is a fatal or permanently crippling auto accident, a small shrine is set up, usually in the form of a miniature church by the side of the road to commemorate the victim. Kos, like most Greek islands, is essentially a mountain that appears out of the Aegean Sea and so the roads are mostly along the flatter coasts, but usually still have steep drops and no crash barriers. These roads are littered with small churches, because a tyre blowout or some kind of loss of control is always going to end badly.
Infact I would wager that of all the countries I've visited Greece has the worst drivers. The taxi guy there I distinctly remember pulling 120kmh in an urban area (it was 3am), passing on both sides of the road in his powerful Mercedes. I've never been so scared. Riding a bike around Kos was something of an experience too. I like Greece because litigation culture hasn't got there yet. I hope it never does because it's nice being treated like an adult in museums and such.
That said I imagine driving the Alaska Highway in winter is even more terrifying, and I want to do that for a holiday too.
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ZombieJesus
Lost Belgian
DOOP Secretary
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When my sis was in Greece the taxi drivers were either playing with plastic (prayer?) beads or texting on their mobile phones.
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Squeaky
Liquid Emperor
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Originally posted by Archie2K:
That said I imagine driving the Alaska Highway in winter is even more terrifying, and I want to do that for a holiday too.
It's not as bad as you think; for me atleast, I'm used to the road conditions and know how to drive on icy/slick roads. First thing is that you should not get nervous on the roads because that will just make things worse and also understand that you need to start to brake a lot earlier than under normal conditions. Other than that, it's really not that much different than say driving in the rain or what not.
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