S2000 Street Encounters Stories of on-the-road exploits and encounters.

Close calls

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Old 08-21-2002 | 04:59 AM
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Man, what is up with women drivers?!? I've nearly been killed (literally) twice in the past three days by women being stupid.

The first time was Monday on my way to work - I was approaching an intersection which has a completely clear view of all traffic coming and going and some people are making a left turn across my side of the road. Two cars go through and by then I'm fairly close but some lady in a Saturn decides that she's going to try for it. I'm only about 30 feet away by this time (doing 50mph!) and she starts her turn. I swerved slightly right (didn't have much room) and she went right as well, essentially going straight instead of completing her turn. She might've stopped 3 feet away from my nose, if that.

This morning, again headed to work, I was trying to pull out onto the road. I'm on the side where traffic is in ONE lane going against me, so I'm waiting patiently for a break. A guy stops and gives me the opening and so I cautiously pull out, watching the opposite direction to make sure I don't get creamed from traffic coming the other way. I see that it's clear, so I pull out slowly only to immediately stomp my brakes as some lady intent on getting to the road ahead (where it splits into two lanes) blows in front of me in her Ford Contour. She missed me by maybe a foot, easily doing 40mph! She was half in her lane, half in the lane of opposite traffic (and straddling solid double lines to boot)! What in the world was she thinking?!?

Anyways, I'm sick and tired of stupid drivers and these days it seems to be women more and more often. I don't know why the stats say that men get in more accidents because EVERY accident I or my family have been involved in has been caused by a female. No exceptions. Ugh!
Old 08-21-2002 | 11:50 AM
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hmmm... sounds familiar: yesterday, i was going down FM2920; it's a two-lane road where traffic is isually brisk - posted speed limit is 55 but the norm is 65. so i'm running in the right lane at the front of a pack of cars doing roughly 70mph, and this lady in a CR-V pulls out in front of me. she wasn't more than 50yds from me, so i was like OH SHIT!

so i stand on the brakes, stall the engine, and for the first time get an idea of what ABS on an S2000 feels like. i'm forced onto the shoulder; i pull dead even with her... and it was a woman on the cell phone! of course, i was scared shitless, not to mention the people behind me!

grrr...
Old 08-21-2002 | 12:04 PM
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I had a guy do that to me the other day - just sort of pulled out without looking. Handheld cellphones should be banned.

I travel a lot on the highway and I'm CONSTANTLY having to brake relatively hard when people pull out in the "fast" lane (where I am) without looking or making a judgement on my speed compared to theirs. I seriously wonder how people got their licenses without having shoulder checks, mirror checks (I check my rear-view mirror about once every eight or ten seconds on the highway, less in town since there's more going on in front of me), and signalling a bit before you make a move (as opposed to doing it simultaneously). A lot of people aren't even signalling these days...

A careless driver is definitely one of my biggest pet peeves (if not THE biggest). My wife is starting to make comments about bad drivers now, just like I constantly do - I'm so proud.
Old 08-21-2002 | 12:30 PM
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a lot of states are trying (not sure if any passed them yet) to pass a law requiring hands free use with cell phones when you're driving. hands free sets are coming more and more as standards with phones now too.

i totally agree with you....i've had ppl do some STUPID things, later to find that they just weren't paying attention b/c they were on the phone....both men and women. yesterday, a bmw (new 7 series) pulled out in front of me in a 45mph zone ( i was actually going 45 too).....RIGHT when i got about 15 feet of him!!!!!!! i SLAMMED on my brakes and BARELY missed his azz. he pulled out REALLLLLL slow too (after about 5 sec, he was probably going 25-30 mph and so i tried to move to the next lane!) i'm like "WTF?????" the whole time i was braking. anyways, after a few seconds, i realized the guy never even knew what he'd done. i honked at him....not for what he had done, but b/c he was driving in TWO lanes the whole time!!!!! sheesh! some ppl can't do two things at once...phones are just worse for some of them.
Old 08-21-2002 | 01:52 PM
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Stupid people are an every day thing.. if they don't cut me off they are riding me @$$ or something. Today for instance I was making a left hand turn on a 2 laned left turn. The furtheset left lanes is the "On Ramp" the one on the right of it is to go straight once u turn... well when we turned the chick next to me thought that no one was there (HELLO!! How can you miss a BRIGHT YELLOW CAR!!) and began to get in my lane EXCEPT I was where she wanted to go.. I slammed my brakes swerved to the left to avoid her hitting me. So I hauled @$$ to tell her off needless to say the wench was with her right hand on the Cell phone and acting stupid as if she didn't do anything wrong... UGH dang wench!


Oh sorry venting...
Old 08-21-2002 | 02:50 PM
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hehehe, i'm back... and i have another story to tell...

i was picking up my little bro from school, so i was waiting patiently for him to come out, reading my newest issue of CAR magazine. so he finally comes out, he squeezes into the car, and we're off. now, we're in a school parking lot so i'm in no rush (which turns out to be a VERY good thing); i'm driving through the pull-through carpool driveway thingy, and as I go around the corner, here comes this white Expedition hauling butt through the grass (btw, this is illegal)! the driver glances at me as soon as she's about to broadside me, and i simultaneously jerk the wheel hard left and brake (as in my previous incident). the driver DID see me, but as her car is bigger than mine, i guess that gives her the right of way? (or so they all think)

my point is, down here in texas, SUVs (when I say SUV, I mean Excursion and Suburban, not some dinky Escape or Rav4) outnumber cars 3:1. anyway, they think they own the road, and sure as hell act like it.

and you guys thought driving in the snow was hard! try in a pack of 5000-pound SUVs!
Old 08-21-2002 | 02:51 PM
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JonBoy, another thing about Texas (Houston at least): If you want to switch lanes, you do NOT use your turn signals. All they do is make the other drivers speed up to not let you in.

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Old 08-21-2002 | 03:27 PM
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I'm glad I'm not in Texas, then - it's illegal here and you can be ticketed for it. Making a lane change without signalling is a two point ticket, I think (you get 12).
Old 08-21-2002 | 07:38 PM
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I could give you guys stories like this all day. I could go out right now for 30mins and come back saying somthing about some dingbat who shouldnt be on the road. I would like to add a few things though. One thing that I hate is how everyone in my age bracket 18-25 has to pay through the nose in car insurance. Like the first post in here it is usually women drivers in their huge suv's. Maybe you actually have a need for them in texas, but here where everything is flat and sits 10ft above sea level they are useless. I think women should be paying more for car insurance then men. Also I think old people should be paying the most of all. They do the most insane things known to man out there. Not to mention driving 45mph in the fast lane.

Spa02S2K I dont know how you can have a problem with people tailgating you. For me its the other way around. I like to tailgate suvs while in turns right in the blind spot area, switching from left blind spot to right blind spot. They will have no idea where you are and this will make them nervous. You have no need to worry about slamming into the back of one if they slam on their breaks because your car weighs 3000lbs less and has bigger brakes. as long as you have good reaction time. just make sure there is nobody behind you.

One last thing that I am going to say that I hate the most are these people that will drive 20mph on a side street but not fricking fully stop for a stop sign. What the frick is that? They are obviously not in a rush so why the need to blow stop signs. Those are the same people that will slam into you because they didnt see you.

I think Ive put in my $ .02. I get carried away when it comes to this subject.
Old 08-22-2002 | 06:26 AM
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Originally posted by skynet
Spa02S2K I don't know how you can have a problem with people tailgating you. For me its the other way around. I like to tailgate SUV while in turns right in the blind spot area, switching from left blind spot to right blind spot. They will have no idea where you are and this will make them nervous. You have no need to worry about slamming into the back of one if they slam on their breaks because your car weighs 3000lbs less and has bigger brakes. as long as you have good reaction time. just make sure there is nobody behind you.
Well see thing is in Miami.. the speed limit is just a mere suggestion. So it's not like I'm going 55 in a 55 I'm already going 70/80! But there are ppl who just want to go FASTER than you.. and tend to ride your ass. Other things I get is when you want to change lanes to go around a slow person or to get to a lane to exit there are ppl in the lane you want to get into going reallllyyy slow that basically BOX you in.. this is what happened to me going home from work. YET the guy boxed me in to look at the car. I'm like DUDE you can look at the car later... now MOVE!!! (of course I didn't say this I was just thinking this to myself).

But I agree there are just too many idiots out there now a days.



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