This was on the Today Show this morning. I thought someone else would post this before me.
check out the link to the NY Times article embedded in this article.
Of course a jerk can drive any make/model this article (I saw the same thing on /yahoo) does have a certain amount of credibility.
Are we concluding rich people are a**holes? This obviously is a novel thought.
On the other end of the spectrum are zombies that take 2 minutes to get up to the speed limit, are apparently oblivious to traffic signs, turn signal use, and resolutely meander into your path, not out of malice, but apparently due to a complete unawareness of their surroundings. These seem to normally be drivers of Buicks and minivans, especially Ford Windstars for some reason…
Around here the really bad drivers are in the fast lane on the freeway and suddenly cut across the other 3 lanes, without signaling and without even turning their head, because they want to exit
I agree with @oblivion. It seems like the people who drove Rambler Americans, and Dodge Dart Swingers, and Chevettes and Volvos and Saturns and now Toyota Prius like to drive about 34 miles an hour and go straight through yield signs and yellow lights and go the same speed on freeways and city streets. Turn signals are a sign of weakness and apparently undermine one’s self righteous convictions that this way of driving is safe, mature, and above all safe.
BMW drivers do seem to behave badly, but they do keep going and seem to understand the idea of maintaining the flow of traffic.
End of rant. Guess I’ll go rest now.
Well, I read the article on yahoo yesterday and right after that were going out with the kids for the last burger before school opens. Right there in the middle of the 4 lane road, there was a 3 series coupe, wandering between lanes. It slowed down from 50 to 25 in front of a minivan a few times, almost felt like it was intentional/wanting to cause an accident. Then did the same to me. Cut in front of me 3 .times with the lane changes. These was nothing that triggered this behavior that I know of. I took the license plate and asked my kids to call the police, but the line was busy and we let it go.
Generally, many of the wealthy can have a feeling of entitlement . They can also afford the accident and higher insurance preminums. They can also afford the persription drugs some are on while driving and buy their way out of trouble when accidents do occur. IMHO, a check of their arrest records and violation summary while driving is a better indicator then the cars they own.
There are some who are poor who are just as bad. I am a big proponent of taking cars away from habitual offenders and not just suspending licenses. At least with the rich and a new Beamer in tow you have the potential to save a lot more tax dollars money to recover expenses when they eventually walk.
Let’s face it. There can be a simpler reason. One reason a BMW is driven aggressively is, it can. Drive a minivan that way and you could end up in a ditch.
@wentwest: “straight through yeild signs and yellow lights…”
Uh, you realize there is no requirement to slow or stop at a yeild sign unless there’s a traffic conflict, right? It just means the other guy has right-of-way and its your job to sequence yourself out of their way. Heck, you can even speed up as a means of “yeilding right-of-way” in the right situation.
As for BMWs, the joke (which I hope survives moderation) goes:
Q: What’s the difference between porcupines and BMWs?
A: Procupines have their pricks on the outside!
Everyone has their moments. Those ever-so-sedate drivers that stop 3 or 4 car lengths robe hind the car in front are as inconsiderate as anyone else. Just today some dumbasabrickgrannygumdropslostintheozone fool stopped 3 car lengths back in a 3-lane parking lot on I-95. This prevented anyone behind it from exiting the highway. What, don’t you trust your brakes to stop you from 15 MPH? Did you forget that there are a thousand cars behind you?
Some vehicles are driven by people who feel they are better than you, all different Makes and Models. I’ve seen big 4x4’s (often lifted in black) bully their way through traffic as well as Bmw’s or other sporty cars who do it because they think they are in a huge hurry and getting them to the meeting or whatever is more important than your life.
I can’t stand those punks who weave in and out of traffic at 85mph on the freeway without signaling or even turning their head to look who is next to them, in front of them, behind them, etc.
Their weaving in and out forces other people to slam on their brakes when they suddenly enter a lane
And the highway patrol is never around to bust these POS drivers
I sometimes wish the highway patrol could bust them and give them an extra ticket just for being an inconsiderate POS driver
And these guys usually display this behavior when traffic is moving at a good clip. So there’s no way in hell that it can be justified.
Was it George Carlin who wondered why it was that everyone driving in front of you is crazy and everyone behind you is a jerk? Or the other way around?
Actually my opinion is the worst drivers are in their early 20’s to 45 +/- and drive smartphones.
PRIUS
drivers are the worst.
For some reason the feel they MUST impart their tree hugging philosophy on the roadways at 15 mph below posted.
For what it’s worth counting the drivers that have cut me off lately I count 3 pickup trucks, two BMW 3 Series, several econo boxes driven by girls on their cellphones.
Yeah, around here the are a lot of pickup drivers going fast, tailgating, weaving. But you can say that about just about any car or truck type on I-95. Earlier this week there was a Charger that wanted to go well over 80 during the morning rush. He’d rush right up to someone and get about a car length away, even though the guy in front had no room to move up. Then he weaves through traffic, cutting through spaces that he barely fit. All this while traffic was moving at about 70. At least he got away from me quickly.
On average, it seems the Prius drivers around here could be considered as bad if not worse than BWM drivers and it’s not because of slower speeds. Flat on the floor, darting in and out of traffic, and so on appears to be the norm.
^
I’m glad that somebody besides me has noticed a newer generation of Prius drivers, namely those who act like total anal sphincters.
Most of the time nowadays, when I see a Prius, the driver is passing almost everybody on the road, is tailgating, and is cutting from one lane to another. This may seem counterintuitive, and it certainly isn’t the way that I saw Priuses being driven when they first came out, but now–at least in my neck of the woods–the Prius drivers are in the same category of reckless drivers as those piloting Beemers and VWs.
Around here the worst drivers seem to be soccer moms in suvs, and 45k dollar pickup drivers. I have seen some priuses drivers being idiots as well. Its pretty well rounded here.
I drive a pickup, caprice, and a prius. I am a pretty tame drive now a days, I go the speed limit because I have a CDL to protect, and Im not in a big hurry. I leave an obscene amount of following distance because I am used to driving a big International truck that doesn’t stop on a dime with its drum air brakes and all, and I try to be courteous.
I see priuses being raced red light to red light as well, i want to tell those people its kinda stupid to drive any car like that let alone a prius. However prius are common here and I would say most are driven wonderful, just blend in with traffic. Theres probably 10-20% that drive like idiots though.
The absolute worst around here by far is the jacked up pickups usually with diesel engines blowing raw diesel out of the exhaust stacks because it looks cool. The guys that drive these fall into two categories, the have big wallets and small … or they live in a dumpy trailer or a dumpy house and every last nickle they make goes into funding that truck. Meanwhile their kids are in the front yard with their diapers sagging because hey, you know diapers are expensive, gotta get yer monies worth. Oh… lets put 150 a week of fuel into the monster truck, but not pay our electric bill cause I aint drivin some lame car. I see it all the time folks.
I have actually seen two guys at the diesel pumps bragging to each other how much they spend in fuel, one guy spent 600 a month, one spent 800 a month, now they guy that spent 600 a month on fuel, I recognized, he lives in a dump, always gets his utilities shut off for non payment and his kids always look dirty and are running around the yard in heavy diapers. but he has money for tattoos, beer, smokes and the “American freedom diesel” truck.
These guys usually tail gate, pass every thing in sight, race from red light to red light and since they usually have a cooler of beer in the truck with them at all times they tend to flip their trucks every now and them, every few weeks I like to go to the wrecking yard and look at the jacked ups that have been flipped or rolled. There was a nice dodge 2500 there yesterday. its like clock work.
They drive this way and weave thru traffic cutting people off no matter what they are driving, I have seen it driving a 35k lbs international truck, down to the prius which some make special efforts to “roll coal” around, never mind there’s elderly people or little kids on the side walk, smoke them all out. screw em.
Some times when I end up catching up to them at the red light the will look over thinking they are cool and tough. I just stare em down and usually they look away and stay looked away. big tough guys.