My wife and I just got back from a week in Southern California celebrating our 20th anniversary. I grew up in So Cal and was always proud of being a good driver. That must have really changed since then. I have never been scared driving a freeway before now. Those drivers out there now are NUTS. I never dropped below 5 mph over the speed limit, and yet people were zooming past me like I was standing still. Weaving in and out, tail gaiting, passing on the right, etc, etc. All the while of course talking on their phones. I even saw one lady texting on her phone, while going about 80 mph. I couldn't wait to get out of there. If anybody here lives out there now, you have my deepest sympathy.

Sounds like driving in Toronto.

There must be a common lack of common sense on both coasts. This has become such a problem here, they are now enacting laws that you can't text message while driving. Of course we already have a law about no cell phone use without a hands free set. I guess people can't figure out you need your hands to text message.

I no longer even turn my cell phone on when driving, and I'm looking forward to the end of my contract so I can cancel the damn thing, and return to good old fashion leave a message at my home phone, and I'll call you when I get home, and feel like talking to you.

Oh! You're not alone.
We have a section of highway that loops around the eastern portion Kansas City that's called "291/470" which I drove for 6 years.
People are crazy here too.

It's everywhere, trust me.

I'm sitting in morning rush hour traffic last week, reading the programmable overhead billboard that PennDOT uses. It reads: "Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month"

What do I see in the right lane of oncoming outbound traffic? A kid on a donor cycle doing a wheelie at 70mph.

Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, indeed!

- Frank

Hi Guys

Frank is right. It is everywhere. Its not just on the road. Its in the stores, the sidewalks. Everywhere more than three people gather. Its a total lack of social responsibility . People believe they can act as they choose without any reguard to others. It seams rudness, and stupid behavor has become what passes for the norm. {This is not a politcal rant} Just look at who we elected to national office
Harry

Not to drive this off topic, but Harry's right. I was brought up to be respectful of others, and I know alot of people who were raised the same, but I have to wonder what's happened to what passes for the majority.

I work in an office building and every day, someone invariably gets to the top of the escalators, during the morning or lunch rushes, and does one of two things - stops dead at the top of the steps, with a full line of people being disgorged by the escalator behind them, to either find their security pass or check their Blackberry. Whatever happened to just stepping aside?

Back to driving, I saw a driver the other day, in rush hour traffic on the way home, trying to merge onto the highway. Someone actually left room for him, but he insisted on running down the berm and cutting the guy off in front of where the spot was.

It's days like those that I wished I had Jedi Force powers.

- Frank

Another thing that was killing me was driving for 1200 miles, each way, and having "Click it or Ticket" shoved down my throat every few miles. This is a campaign to get people to buckle their seat belts. (Personally I'm becoming to believe we should let these idiots keep ignoring their belts, and maybe improve the gene pool.) So instead of worrying about if idiots aren't using their seat belts, how about seeing if they are causing accidents by their terrible driving.

Mates, you've seen nothing til you've driven in Asia. Getting around Colombo (or anywhere in SL) is like playing a combination of Need for Speed and Grand Theft Auto. I kid you not. On an average day on a highway you've gotta dodge bullock carts, trishaws (tuk-tuks), stray dogs and cats, buffalos, cyclists, drunken pedestrians and trucks driving on the wrong side of the road.

I was once driving my dad and my father-in-law across the country and was going uphill at about 90kmph (speed limit's 70, everyone averages a 100) with a steady stream of oncoming traffic whizzing past. I reach the top of the hill and am nose to nose with an oncoming car in my lane, also doing almost a 100. On pure instinct I swung the wheel and dropped my left wheels onto the shoulder. We brushed side mirrors. Things like that have happened to me so often.

I thought it was really bad here until some Indian colleagues say that its heaven compared to driving in India.

I keep having this fantasy where I've bought a ticket back to Germany, and I'm driving my self to the airport in a Land Rover Defender. I knock trishaws out of the way, run over all the drunken cyclists and pedestrians, get to the airport, ditch the car in the carpark, get on board and order a double Famous Grouse on the rocks.

Same here in Poland..The family tradition of placing a cross at the site of a fatal car crash or drunken pedestrian losing a ballet dance with a speeding auto is everywhere to be seen..You don't play I.spy you just count the crosses on long road trips:-) 1st November is all saints day and families drive all over to visit the graves of family then go and catch up on news and drink themselves stupid before driving home again??? The news that night is full of car wrecks and more graves to visit next year!!!
Egypt is fun too..They gaffa-tape the horn button down and keep it there 24/7!! Driving licence is an optional extra...
Italy is madness with style...The sight I remember most is the vespa passenger with a broken leg in a cast, sticking straight out like an old style indicator weaving in and out of the traffic....Eye popping!!!! but he was just down the road from the Vatican:-)

Rodger,
Just be glad you wern't in CA on a rainy day - it gets worse - they still drive at 70 and wonder why the car is skidding out of control.

The CA Legislature recently proposed a law and Gov ARNOLD signed making it illegal to drive with a cell phone. An interseting note - one of the signers to that bill recently was involved in an auto accident - she was talking on her cell phone at the time and did not stop in time.

hey,
Iam not wanting to get in a feud over seat belts,as i fireman for 18 years Ive seen both sides of this issue,not long ago,I got caught up in one of those "click it"areas,and I had just left the store traveling at a very slow speed,I was PO'd.Here in Illinois seat belts are the law,the state SAFETY first,this coming from a State doesn't require motorcycle operators and their passengers to wear Helmets,I could tell you horror stories about their head injuries,the State believes that it should be their choice!I feel the same way about seat belts!My feelings are ,they should do more about the Dam drunks,that are killing ,innocent people ,and the use of cell phones will drivingI couldn't count how many times ,Ive almost got nailed,by these phone users.
on a somewhat funny note,we got called out ,to the scene of a accident,we where told it was head-on,unknown injuries.we get their and here ,two guys yelling at a female,over her stupidity !!she decided ,while driving,to slide over ,to the center of the seat,and using her rearview mirror,choose this,to be the right time to apply her Make-up,while heading in to work

Joe

Try driving in SA.

Usual sights include gun toting mini-bus drivers that have scant respect for anything resembling law. Other interesting sights are pedestrians who are convinced that the lines that run the length of roads are "safe zones". You will normally encounter pockets of 5 - 10 in any single spot.

Accepted speed limits are 120km/hr in 60km/hr zones. Don't worry about the traffic cops. They're probably sleeping under trees.

My all-time favourite sight was the (lady) traffic officer doing 160km/hr down the highway (which has a speedlimit of 120km/hr), steering with her elbows, which speaking on her mobile, and taking notes with the notepad on the dashboard... I kid you not

Rudi

I've found the worst drivers in the states I live in come from Kentucky. I used to complain about them to my wife (who is from KY). She never saw anything wrong with Kentucky drivers until we lived in different areas and then returned. Then she noted how bad Kentucky drivers were.

There is something wrong with a state that can pull you over for not wearing a seatbelt (most states require non-wearing of a seatbelt to be a secondary offense), but allow any knucklehead over 18 to ride a motorcycle without a helmet or any type of safety gear. I could drive down a KY highway wearing a T-shirt and jeans on a motorcycle and be legal. But I could be driving the safest car known to man and get pulled over for not wearing my seatbelt.

Boston, Mass. drivers were very rude, but their maneuvers had a certain level of skill to them. I was amazed at some of the risky maneuvers and impressed at the same time by the level of skill shown in pulling off the move.

Edit: note, I do believe in seatbelt and helmet use.

Well,at least cars don't cut off just us truckers They do it to each other as well

Back in August of last year,I was driving northbound on a two lane highway in Missouri The speed limit had just gone up to 65mph Here comes some motorcycle who feels the southbound traffic is not going fast enough,and starts passing a lot of cars


In my lane

I was accelerating to 65mph I did not slow down he wants to play chicken,bring it on Folks need to understand,these big rigs don't slow down real fast Thankfully a car he was going to keep passing slowed down to let him over at the last minute

An hour or so later,I was still going north on the same highway through a small town It was in a 35mph area Some clown in a black 4x4 pickup towing a camper trailer decides to pull out from a gas station in front of me

Thankfully I was going up a small hill doing maybe 25mph and was able to slow down without hitting that fool

I almost didn't get to go to the IPMS Nats in Kansas City that day

People

Please drive safe Someone is depending on it

Keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your.........tail

Gee, Rob, someone who thinks we Bay Staters are not the worst drivers. Here where a stop sign means, "you might want to think about slowing down because there is cross traffic that doesn't even have to think about it, where the rule of the road at a red light is if the car in front of you made it through, so can you. WE have many rotaries, roundabouts on the other side of the popnd. The rreal rule is the car in the rotary has the right of way. This one has yield signs for the cars that normally have the right of way and stop signs before entering it.
Now, talk about bizarre road rules. In Tennesee, a pacakage store that sells wine cannot sell you a corkscrew for fear you'd open the bottle and drink while driving.However, they can open the botlle for you and partially replace the cork.

I worked in Aden in Yemen some years ago for 6 months and I have to say I had never experienced a driving situation before where I was genuinely afraid for my life CONSTANTLY, EVERY MINUTE ON THE ROADS ANYTIME ANYWHERE.

I was in perpetual fear for my life everytime I got in a car, rode a bus or walked near a road. There was no driver training for the locals, no insurance, no maintenance and no right-of-way for anybody. It was a complete and utterly pure free-for-all with no regard for life and limb. Add to the pleasures the fact that as the day progressed, more qat was chewed and more vodka drunk by the local drivers to the point were it was dangerous to cross the street much less drive. I am a very safe dirver and I know what I'm doing and these guys scared the crap out of me every day.

I hope I'm not offending any Yemeni Armorama members, but it was the scariest 6 road-months of my life.



Bob

Hi Guys

A rude person is a rude person. It does not matter if he is behind the wheel, pushing a cart, or whatever. It comes down to a real basic thing. It don't matter where you might be from or how you say it. "Spare the rod, Spoil the Child." These same kids who were spared a spanking when they were young grew up thinking "the worlds all about me". They grew up thinking they can do or say whatever they want, and the "world" will just let it go.
I hate to go off on a rant, but this is one topic that brings it out in me. I was a cop before I became disabled. I can't tell you how many parents I had, tell me "MY kid would never do that" No matter what that was, or no matter how much evidence we had saying they did. It all begins at HOME. If the child is taught the right way to behave. If he / she is given that basics of right or wrong then everything will fall into place. He will step aside at the top of the stairs. He will slow down and merge with trafffic At the risk of sounding like some kind of smartass, "What the child learns the adult uses.
Harry