File under "I did not just see that!"

edb1961

I usually keep my comments on the technical side but I have to share this one.

There was a bit of sleet in South Jersey last night so it took a few minutes to clear the windshield. I was about half way to work when a minivan pulled out and cut off a school bus. The van was weaving in the lane as it approached me. I noticed the driver's side door was half open and the windshield was frosted over. As it got closer I saw the female driver hanging out of the van looking through the gap between the door and the van. One hand on the steering wheel and the other on a swinging door makes for unsteady driving. Hopefully she did have any kids/grandkids in the van, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did.

Ed B.

Triedaq

Even dogs are brighter than this woman you witnessed. Dogs roll down the driver's side window and put their heads out to see where they are going. They don't have the driver's side door half open. This way, the dog can keep both paws on the steering wheel while driving without holding the door half open.

circuitsmith

Maybe the window wasn't able to roll down, but at some point one should give in and call a cab.

the same mountainbike

It's illegal in NH to drive with your windows not cleared, but even at that I occasionally see someone driving down the road with only a porthold in the wndshield to see out of.

The best mechanic in history of the world cannot fix a loose nut behind the steering wheel.

mark9207

It all boils down to laziness taking precedence over safety. Some people would rather take a stupid risk like this than spend four or five minutes scraping ice off their windows so they can see. Hopefully a police officer will see this and cite her for reckless driving. That ought to take her off the road for a while.

VDCdriver

In addition to laziness, there are also lots of people who do not believe in planning ahead, so maybe that brainless broad had somehow ignored the reality that winter brings ice, snow, and frozen windshields.

Case in point: Years ago, I had a supervisor who never seemed to have an ice scraper in his car when winter arrived. Each time we would come out of work on an icy evening, he would have to beg and borrow an ice scraper from someone else, thus delaying both himself and the person lending the ice scraper. I imagine that if he was ever the last to leave the office, he probably would have pulled a bone-headed manuever like the woman in the OP's post.

I always felt like asking him..."So, Jerry, were you taken by surprise this year when temperatures dropped after autumn was over?"...but being a wise guy with someone who writes your evaluation is not a good idea.

Anyway, his inexplicable behavior persisted for as long as I knew him. I know that he was a cheapskate, but you would think that after many winters of inconvenience, he would have limbered up his wallet sufficiently to shell out the $1.25 necessary to buy an ice scraper of his very own.

The best part of the story about this guy had to do with his purchase of a new Buick, sometime in the late '70s. He special-ordered it without a rear window defogger/defroster! When I asked him why he deleted that feature, his answer was something along the lines of...you don't really need that feature in this part of the country!

On second thought, maybe he really was too cheap to shell out $1.25 for his own ice scraper.

mark9207

Even if he's too cheap to buy one, he could just stop by most any insurance agent's office and steal one with the company's logo on it. Some banks leave them out for free as well.

VDCdriver

...but that would require actually doing some planning, which was something that this supervisor was not very good at.

Want more evidence? Each year, despite many notices throughout the year from upper management about the absolute deadline for ordering office supplies under the present year's budget, he would put off compiling an order until the last possible day. He would then sit, scrutinizing catalogs, jotting down orders for books, supplies, and various items that were usually outdated, unneeded, or just plain ridiculous--thus wasting money on things that would never be used, and ignoring written supply requests that we had submitted throughout the year.

When we first entered the computer age in our office with one TRS-80, he vaguely knew that purchasing new software for different tasks was a good thing--but his understanding was VERY vague. The result was that, on "deadline day", he would repeatedly barge into my office, shove a catalog under my nose, and ask..."will this work in our computer?". And, in every case, I had to respond..."No, Jerry, that is a VHS videotape, not a disc with a computer program".

No, I am not making this up.
And, yes, he made a whole lot more money than I did.

the same mountainbike

THAT was funny! Thanks for the chuckle.

VDCdriver

Now, I can laugh about it.
However, working for this guy for...about 20 years...was frustrating on many days.

ok4450

That story about the TRS-80 is a good one! Back in the early 80s a car dealer I worked for had to switch to computers much to is displeasure. His attitude was why do I need a computer when the composition book in the desk drawer has all the info that I need to know about the inventory. Tandy sent a couple of guys out and they spent a full week setting this up and teaching the owner's wife how to operate it. At the end of every day she would basically wipe it out and the Tandy guys would have to be called back out. :-)

(I've actually still got a complete TRS-80 tucked away in my attic with DeskMate on it; kind of the WIndows forerunner, as crude as it is.)

That lady in the original post should be hammered by the cops because that's about as dumb as it gets.
A couple of years ago while on the way home a farmer pulled out in front of me and per the usual, traveled at 25 MPH on a 55 MPH highway. After clearing a rise I pulled out to pass him and just as I got about even with the bed of the pickup I see the driver's door swing wide open and this guy was almost horizontal while leaning out to spit out a huge wad of chewing tobacco.
I was very close to taking his door, and possibly his head, off due to that idiotic move. I suppose it does prove that chewing tobacco can be a dangerous habit.... :-)

bscar2

@VDC:
how does that phrase go? "Poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on my part"?

circuitsmith

Constitute, not necessitate.

Bing

This is heresay but from a reliable teacher in town. A couple years ago he reported seeing a lady well into her 80's driving using a pair of binoculars to see with. At least it was during the day. I'm sure she wouldn't drive at night.

katidid79

I live in rural Nevada and I absolutely HATE getting stuck behind Tractors who drive down the highway! I especially hate the tractors that are hauling Hay or Alfalfa on them and all the straw and the grassy parts of the alfalfa blow all over my car and since Nevada has a lot of Two-lane highways and roads, passing a tractor can be dangerous! I can understand a farmer driving a tractor down a rural back road where there's never any traffic but on a highway? Sheesh! In the winter, I always go outside about 5-10 minutes before I'm ready to leave the house in the morning to warm my car up so the defroster has the ice melted by the time I need to take the scraper to it.