Stupid drivers.......

We had a string of really bad storms come through here yesterday evening. Personally I wound up with 19 trees down, with the largest being a 18" diameter pine that was broken over at the base. Then there was a 16 incher, at least 30 feet from the top where it broke, that came down across my log splitter. Thankfully the only damage I experienced is one piece of metal trim on my siding. Neighbors didn't fair as well and had a HUGE oak come down putting part of itself into their bedroom. There was a crane setting there today to pick it off so no maore damage got done.

But, to the point of this missive, the storms took out power to alot of people, and also took out stop lights all over the place. One T intersection near me really showed how stupid people have become in the last few years. The last time the lights were out, probably 8 years ago, everyone approaching it, from whatever direction, treated the dead lights as a stop sign and stopped like they should. Today 99% of the idiots on the through part of the road never even slowed down, causing those coming into it from the leg of the T to sit and wait forever before they could get onto the main road. When I stopped to make a left onto the leg road, I sat there for a second and finally motioned for the guys setting there ((making a left onto the main road)) to go ahead of me.....Given the 'Stop Sign' rules in effect when a light goes out, he had the right of way anyway....still he acted like I was some kind of saint for letting him turn as no one else was following proper road rules and stopping.

That said, who is training our drivers nowdays? When I was in school, and learned to drive,(((well I learned to drive from my Dad and Grandpa more than I did at or from anywhere else))) most of us went to drivers ed at school. Nowdays it seems 99.999% of the DE cars on the road are private companies. Bad as I hate to say it, this is one instance when it appears that the 'government' program taught new drivers alot better than the private guys are doing now. Simply put, there are way too many 'stupid people' on the roads nowdays....and it's getting scarier every day....

their driving habits are just representative of the rest of their habits - they only think of themselves. A very selfish lot these days.

well said to both nc and kornfused

Ditto....

Gotta be real careful for sure. Don't new drivers get told to leave 3 seconds between them and the car in front of them??? Tail gaters abound in my area. Had a man run a stop sign on me yesterday. It was really close. Five minutes later a car tried to beat a yellow light and the guy in front of me went before he got the green arrow. they met in the middle of the intersection. What a mess.

2 yrs. ago in West Virginia all lights were out for a week. No traffic jams, no horns, traffic flowed better than it ever did with the stop lights. Did the city learn anything from it? No, when right back to the terrible old traffic system like nothing intelligent had ever happen.

Dumb is our largest commodity these days.

I learned to be 1 second /10 mph behind the vehicle in front of me. If you are going 60 mph stay at least 6 seconds behind. I know this in't possible where some people live because if you are that far back, somebody will pull in between. But I live in a rural area and very seldom go to an area that has a traffic problem. That being said, driving home last night, my wife was drivng and we were following a vehicle. She was behind them about 2 seconds, for 20 miles, driving about 60 mph, with her headlights shining in their mirrors. I bet they really enjoyed that. I am not supposed to say anything since I don't know much!!! NO reason to follow that close. Nobody behind us pushing us. We only got home a few seconds earlier by doing that.

I saw a drivers ed car with a high school student driving come onto the expressway. The "teacher" had her pull right into the left lane and stay there. Cars had to pass them on the right. I wanted to get the plate number of the car, but I was driving a semi, and I couldn't legally catch up to them. If they are taught wrong, they will do wrong!

When I started driving over the road. Forty years ago. People were not so bad. But as the years went by. The nuts started to increase.Now that I am retired. I sit on top of a hill overlooking the highway some days. The nuts are really out there today.

Saw one the other day. That was so close to a big rigs back bumper. If the rig stopped the car would be eating steel. Saw two cars try and change lanes at the same time. Didn't work out very well.

Since retirement. I stay off the main highways as much as I can. Plenty of back roads I can take. If I need to get to larger towns around here.

Recently I was stopped at a three way intersection when a man knowingly (by the look he gave me) ran a stop sign. I had the right of way, too. I guess because his vehicle was bigger that gave him the right of way in his mind.

as forest gump said, stupid is as stupid does,,

I try not to judge other drivers or get aggressive towards other drivers that make mistakes or have bad habits, none of us are exempt from being stupid behind the wheel , every one does something stupid one time or the other when driving. never assume the other driver is going to do the correct thing or use common sense, always drive on the offensive.

I disagree. I believe it is more a Monkey see, Monkey do type of situation. People who do not know any better, use other idiots as role models and then we have too many people doing things poorly.
BUT I do understand and respect your opinion.
SDE

Oh,this isn't gonna end well. RayP(Mi) teaches drivers ed. lol

I dont attribute it to stupidity, I think its the prevailing me me me frame of mind in our society. everybody thinks their convenience is what the rest of the world revolves around. Everybody is inconsiderate of others and seldom willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of someone else.

You really have to be more defensive than ever before.

I just appreciate the irony of the log crashing down on your splitter.

I spend many miles a year on the road around 45-50K, which is plenty, I bet the OTR truckers see way more stupidity than I could dream of.

This week alone I had a total of 4 people either drift into my lane (highway) on go from 72mph down to 60 as they were texting. I see kids all over the car instead of a car seat. Saw one almost fall out the window when he rolled it down.

I drive a full size truck. I have often thought of getting a little smaller vehicle, but I figure I want all the protection I can when someone rams into me. I wanted to get another motorcyle, but I think that is completely out of the question.

Rick

Everyday I hear some guy on the radio saying we need less laws and less intrusion in our lives.
He must not be driving on our roads. I for one would like to see more enforcement of the traffic laws before one of these lawless drivers kills me or my family.

Whatever happened to tickets for reckless driving?

Right on Edd, I wish they would make distracted driving, texting, ect as big an infraction as DWI.

Since post is on driving i would be interested in what big rig driver schools are teaching in regard to proper way for a loaded or unloaded truck to exit a freeway.Reason being there seem to be a lot of role overs these days. I am asked why an have my reasons but will keep them to my self for now.

Here's a link to a crash that just happened here the other day. No doubt idiots following one and a half car lengths behind like they tend to do. Or playing with their phone and not paying attention to the road ahead of them. Take your pick.
Carson City woman dies

I know 'here' drivers ed isn't mandatory. Lots of kids complete it and lots don't. Those that take it can get their license to drive alone 4 months earlier, which I think is why I think alot of kids take it. It is handled by private companies, which is actually very surprising. I think it should be handled by the government. The driving instructor should be both the instructor and the person that signs off and gives them the license. That way he/she will see how the new driver drives/handles the vehicle for 25-50 hours rather than for 15 minutes. Anyone can put a show on for 15 minutes. That said, I haven't seen that really bad drivers that you have. There's too much deterrence both in the size of the fines and the implications it has on insurance premiums. A speeding ticket for a young male driver can easily end up costing him $4000

But he DID have the "right of weight"-- laws of physics nnalert legislative acts.

It is amazing what you see Driver's Education cars doing sometimes. In the late 1980's I worked in Nashville, TN. Interstate 24 South ussually backed up into stop and go driving morning and evening. Every few minutes a motorcycle or a jacked up pickup would pass everyone by driving down the right hand shoulder, but very few cars would do this. One morning a lone car comes screaming down the shoulder at a high speed. As it passed I saw a just one older gentleman in the car and a Driver's Education sign on the trunk. That explained a lot about Nashville drivers.

A lot of people like to complain when the nanny state tells than what to do, then they complain when it doesn't tell other people what to do. We can't have it both ways.

Two experiences I had recently: First; going down the road I saw the chair of the school board run the stop sign to come out onto the main road, then turn down his road and take off well over the speed limit. I could see that his teen son was with him. Second; I was on the interstate where the speed limit drops from 65 to 55 I dropped to 60 and the Drivers Ed car full of students goes flying by. Yes! The kids are being taught!

Are you talking about the City of Crashville, in the People's Republic of Tennessee?

9 years was about 7 too many. People hear I used to drive truck and say "so and so here" or "this company over here" is hiring. I don't tell them no thanks, or even h___ no, but F___ NO!!!!
Oh, who you driving for?
NO ONE!!!!!
I'm farming again and glad for it. I can deal with physical fatigue and aches and pains a heck of a lot easier than mental fatigue.

I have the experience of being in the first year of classes for driver education in Lubbock, Texas. I was in the 7th grade and it was offered in the summer. The car we drove was a '61 Dodge that had been a state car (one of those they used to remove the trunk lid and put a metal box in to carry stuff). It was a six cylinder standard and was worn out from one end to the other. We drove that car for two hours a day, changing drivers about every 45 minutes or so. The education was keeping it running. After the class was completed, I still had to take the written test and then take a driving test with a state trooper in the car with me.

Jump forward a generation. My son took drivers ed during school hours, one day a week for about six weeks I think. They had a donated car from one of the new car dealers, brand new, automatic, air, everything. After the class was done he applied for and was issued a Texas DL, no test, written or otherwise. This was in about 1990.

Now, to go back, my dad was in the army in WW2 and after boot training they were asked who could drive. He said he could drive a tractor and was issued a military DL, which he converted to a Texas DL after the war. He never took any kind of test and drove until his death in 1998.

C N Wayne, you can't fix them, you can't fix stupid, but you could adopt my plan and live FAR from the nearest traffic light!

I also do NOT fear avalanches, tsunamis, sharks, or plane crashes! If enny of that crap is gonna happen, they've gotta "git 'er done" without ME!

That's the place! Fortunetly, when I was there most traffic didn't move fast enough to have many terrible crashes, mostly slow speed fender benders. Everyone seemed to complained about Atlanta's traffic jams though and they were grateful than Nashville didn't have those problems.