[quote name='mission42']You were clearly in the wrong. You were right and I was with you on the whole story till I read you didn't use your blinker. Of course girl was close to you because she probably figured you were going straight and was going to speed up. When you slowed down and came to a stop without giving a blinker she was probably a bit pissed. As for dude not turning out, you didn't have a signal one so if he would have started turning out and you run into him, he's at fault. Without a signal he has no idea where your going or what the
your doing. Use your
ing signals and don't be a douche at people who honk at you for stopping in the middle of the road without any notice.
The only thing that pisses me off more than people who can't drive are people who bitch about the way other people drive when they are the ones in the wrong.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. I wouldn't start swearing at someone, but if I was cruising down the road at 30mph and suddenly some jackass stops in front of me, I certainly
would lay on the horn. That's what a horn is for - to snap people back into reality when they don't realize they are being a jackass. If someone, on the other hand, was in front of me with either their hazard lights or turn blinker on I might think they were a moron for doing it on a small two lane road, but at least I could know what they were doing and thus look up ahead to see if there was any on coming traffic preventing me from passing without stopping behind the douche. In most places, it's illegal to unnecessarily hinder traffic. This would be such a situation, just like pulling out onto a 50mph road, putt-putting along right in front of a car that is heading down the road at full speed. It's illegal and people who do it should drive themselves right off the nearest cliff. Use your damned blinker and don't slow others down.
[quote name='Cracka']I'm not denying i should've used my blinker. But then again the guy turning didnt have his blinker on and the girl behind me was tailgating.
I can fully understand somebody honking at me for stopping, thats not the issue here. If somebody just stops in front of me i might even honk the horn at them, granted i probably would atleast wait a few seconds to see what they were doing before honking. The issue is the fact that i stopped and the girl didnt just honk the horn she went apeshit on the horn honking over and over and over and over. Any way you look at it she over reacted. Do you think if i turned my blinker on she would instantly be soothed and just quietly sit there behind me? I think not. Either way you look at it she was road raging whether I was wrong about the blinker or not.
The other issue is the fact that the guy who sat there blocking the entrance the whole time looked at me as if i was an idiot for stopping to turn in. Considering we all 3 had our windows down and he undoubtedly heard me yelling at the girl that i couldn't turn in cause the jackass was blocking the entrance, you'd think he would then realize what my intentions were. But no he still just sat there in the entrance and in the end what did he do? Instead of pulling out and leaving he backs up and lets me pull in... which makes no damn sense.
So i'll pose the question again, should the girl have gone crazy and started repeatedly honking the horn over and over instantly when she stopped behind me?[/QUOTE]
I felt bad the other day when I read this thread because everyone was ripping on you, so I didn't post. But you are now just going on, defending yourself when you were clearly not thinking either when you were driving or when you were posting this thread. The fact that you are so wrongly trying to justify yourself is why I'm posting now.
How do you know he was turning anywhere? You yourself said he backed up to let you in. Maybe he was waiting in the parking lot for a friend to come out and hop in. And how could that girl be tailgating? Tailgating implies forward motion. There was none here. That was the problem. You said that after you stopped without your blinker on, she pulled up behind you. You're giving two versions of the story here.
Like I said above, yeah, I would honk at you. Yeah, turning on your blinker would have been a signal to me (the purpose of blinkers) that you were stopped for a legitimate reason and I needed to look ahead to try and get past you. So no, I would not have honked at you if you had had your mind on driving instead of whatever you were doing.
Again you are trying to force people to read your mind and also trying to say what other people do or do not know. You can't do that. All you know is what
you know. You know that you were in the middle of the street and not giving either of the other two parties any notification of what you intentions were. I'm not saying the guy in the parking lot was right by any means. If he was turning out, he should have had his blinker on. If he was waiting for a friend, he should have been in a parking stall and not blocking traffic. But you can't do anything about him. All you can do is take care of yourself and make sure you are doing the right thing. The lady shouldn't have yelled at you, but you did wrongfully hinder her and you didn't use your blinker to inform her she would be hindered and then you tried to justify yourself after people pointed out your folly. And now you are claiming what others knew or should have known. That is why everyone is against you. The only legal way anyone could be held accountable for knowing what you were doing is if you had a blinker on. Staring someone down, yelling at them or giving the finger are not acceptable forms of driver communication. There is a reason everyone in the state has to take the same test to drive. So that everyone studies/reads up on the same rules. Your blinker wasn't on, so legally and logically no one knew your intentions. Honestly, I am not going to put my car in front of the driver of another vehicle whom I don't know their intentions. That's a good way to die.
Now about some others' comments about city driving: I would much rather drive in the big city than in a small city or even a town. Sure there are more people and more traffic, but I would estimate that probably 90+% of the people at least know how to drive, whereas close to 0% of people know how to drive in smaller cities and rural areas. People think drivers in big cities are rude. I'm sure there are some that are. But mostly it's just that they know what they are doing and where they are going and they follow the laws to get there. Drivers here in Utah suck so much. It ticks me off when you're in the far left lane of the freeway, trucking along and either some whore in front of you is going 10-15 mph below the speed limit and doesn't move over or when someone in the next lane over pulls in front of you right when you approach them so they can go around someone instead of waiting until the big gap that is right behind you. Either way slows you down, wastes your gas, causes unnecessary wear on your car and is illegal. But for some reason, people just can't realize what they are doing. They are too stupid. Or like I mentioned before when someone pulls into traffic going way too slow or when someone intends to turn and instead of getting into the turn lane (left or right) before braking they slow down and decelerate almost completely in the travel lane before moving over or when you pull up to a 4-way stop at the same time as another car and they are on the right but they wave you through... uh-uh! There is no way in hell I am putting my body or my car in front of your vehicle if you are too stupid to know that the person on the right goes first. I have seen so many near accidents when the person on the right waves the other person through and the other person hesitates because they know going first breaks the law and then they go and by that time the person on the right has decided the other one isn't going to go and starts to roll forward too. It's so nice to visit S. Cal or Vegas (my home) or Phoenix or wherever and be able to drive in the fast lane without slamming on your breaks or be able to come to a 4-way stop and expect that the person on the right will move first.
Anyway, driving isn't a right it's a privilege. And those who can't be damned by adhering to the rules of the road, don't deserve a license. Drivers tests definitely need to be more strict than they are. I turn 29 tomorrow. The first time I was in an accident is two months ago when some guy in a Camaro hit the gas so hard when backing out of a stall that he drove over the front of my car. He immediately admitted fault because he said he had backed into someone else just the week before and both times he didn't look before backing up (idiot). I also have never been pulled over. There is a reason I have such a perfect record. I know the damn law and I follow it.
[quote name='Moxio']Exactly.
People take driving "too seriously" (for lack of a better term). Why the
would you think weaving carelessly through traffic is worth it when you'll probably only take yourself about 30 seconds in the end? Then again, I've never ever seen the need to get so mad about driving to just give someone the finger or anything lame like that.[/QUOTE]
Driving can't be taken serious enough. Weaving is not taking driving serious. It's being an ass that is going to get someone killed (unfortunately not likely the one doing it either). If everyone took driving seriously, there would be few to no accidents and traffic would flow almost seamlessly most of the time.
[quote name='crunchb3rry']I like the assholes behind you in a hurry, so they pass you and you wind up at a red light anyway.
I never pass anyone. I get in the lane I need to turn from later and stay in it. I figure if you are weaving around between lanes you'll just wind up getting blocked out of the lane you need to be in when it's time to turn, this is what causes "asshole moments" on the road, the dickhead that has to drive all fancy and gets offended when people don't give them every courtesy. Anyone who wants to pass me, go right the
ahead. I'd rather they pass than ride my ass like I'm slowing them up, when I'm already going 10 over just to get some space between me and the
tard behind me in case I have to slam on my breaks if a deer or stray infant runs out in the road.
I wish somebody would just invent teleporters. I hate driving.[/QUOTE]
Don't speed up just to please other drivers (unless you are in the fast lane of the freeway - speed up or get out). If they rear end you, it's their fault.
[quote name='Dawgs00']Whether they're assholes or not, you should move to the right lane as soon as it's safe to do so instead of forcing them to pass on the right. You are aware the law states that slower traffic keep right? It doesn't matter if you're going 20 miles over the speed limit; you should still move to the right for someone who wants to go even faster. Let the police deal with those assholes. The left lane is considered the passing lane. If someone is going faster than you, you are required by law to yield that lane to them. Just like speeders are breaking the law, so are people who camp in the left lane and refuse to move out of the way (no matter what speed they're going).
I tend to drive 10 mph faster than the speed limit, which is faster than most. If I'm in the left lane and I see someone approaching in my rear-view, I always yield the left lane to them just as I expect slower traffic in front of me to yield to me. I'm not the police, so it's not my job to regulate the road. Besides, it safer to just let them be on their way instead of causing road rage by blocking them. And, I'll repeat, it's also the law.[/QUOTE]
I disagree. I'm not going to get on anyone's case for speeding (a little) on the freeway or open desert highways as long as they are a safe driver. I see someone coming, I'm a gonna move either forward or to the right and let them pass without a second thought. But speeding on surface roads is not acceptable. Too many lights and pedestrians and opportunities for vehicles to pull out in front of you and other distractions. If someone is going to drive 30 on a 45 road, that is one thing. They need to take another road or not drive at all. But if I am going 45 in a 45 and I see you coming up behind me at 55, well I'm not going to move into your lane to block you or anything, but I'm certainly not going to move into another lane to let you by when I'm already in the lane I need to be in. I have never heard someone refer to the lanes of surface streets as passing or fast lanes until now. And the reason is I'm pretty sure that you're dead wrong with your opinion there. Highways and freeways are governed by those rules. But regular city streets certainly are not. And it is dangerous to act like they are.
[quote name='Dawgs00']I'm not riding your ass about failing to use a blinker. I merely mentioned that you were at fault in this particular case. As for my speeding, I am comfortable driving at the speed I do, and apparently the police are fine with it also. There are countless times that I've been driving my 10+ in the right lane because some other guy wants to go even faster, only to see him slam on his brakes because of a cop. I continue moving along at my 10+ speed, and the cop doesn't bat an eye at me.
I've spoken with quite a few cops and an attorney about this, and the police will not bother you for driving 10 over the limit so long as you aren't pulling dangerous manuevers. I always use my blinkers, make full stops at stop signs, never weave, very rarely answer my cell phone in the car, and rarely tailgate (only to inconsiderate slow drivers in the left lane; this is tongue in cheek, fellas, don't get upset). I am a safer driver than most. Speeding is not necessarily dangerous. It is when there are vast differences between 2 drivers on the road.
If the speed limit is 55, and I am going 65, you are going 55 and were both paying attention to what the hell we're doing, no danger at all. If I am going 85 and you are going 55, then we have a problem, just like we'd have a problem if I was going 55 and you were going 25. I am completely aware of my surroundings while I'm driving.[/QUOTE]
You are on crack, boy!
I don't care how many cops/lawyers/judges/POTUS's you have talked to about the situation. It isn't a situation set in stone. It all depends upon the particular mood of said cop that day. I have known people being pulled over for 2-3 over. I myself have been in a pack of cars that approaches a traveling police/highway patrol car. Everyone except me slows down and I sail right on past (w/i the speed limit) and there becomes a clog in the road behind me until the cop either speeds up or turns off the road. People are too paranoid or try to figure out how to cheat the rules when the only clear answer to being safe is following the law. If a cop is going 25 in a 35, I don't understand why everyone slows down to 25. Just the same, I don't understand why everyone thinks they on't be pulled over for going 5/10 over. It's sheer stupidity.
And differences of speed don't make things dangerous if everyone pays attention. I've been in a car where the driver is going down an open highway at over the speed limit and passes a car going 50 or below. No harm, no foul. The problem is with dangerous drivers or slow drivers who think they own the left lane. But again, none of this pertains to driving on city streets.
