One of the driving behaviors that always mystifies me is the phenomenon of people who don’t seem to understand that they need to park their stopped vehicle as far from a travel lane as is possible.
What am I talking about?
I am referring to people who pull onto the shoulder of an expressway, and despite the fact that the shoulder is 10 to 12 feet wide, they decide to park their disabled vehicle right on the line separating the shoulder from the travel lane, thus leaving 4 or 5 feet of unoccupied shoulder on the side away from traffic.
How dim do you have to be to not understand that you need to move your stationary vehicle as far as possible from vehicles that are traveling at expressway speeds?
I think part of that is ignorance and part culture. I’ve noticed that Florida natives park on the grass. They have no issues with putting 2 wheels on your lawn and 2 on the street. It is normal behavior. I’ve noticed broken down cars parked almost all the way in the grass on medians and shoulders in FL. Maybe because the grass is hard to kill and the sandy soil supports tires.
Northerners take a bit of offense when people park on the grass and stay off of it, They also seem to shy away from any grass on breakdown lanes and medians. Wet spring lawns in the north can be very soft and sink a car to the axles pretty quickly. Plus, most people can’t judge the width of their cars very well.
Just my observations as a transplanted northerner living in Florida.
I not necessarily disagreeing with you, @Mustangman, but I have observed the same line-hugging/flirting with traffic behavior in other situations where there is no grass involved. Specifically, I am referring to left turn lanes on busy streets and highways.
In my town, there is a wide avenue–complete with dividers between northbound and southbound lanes–that has a few left turn lanes that are controlled by traffic lights. When I am in one of those left turn lanes, I stop as close as possible to the divider to my left, in order to be as far as possible from the traffic that is zooming along in the left travel lane at ~50 mph. However, I always observe that a substantial percentage of the other drivers in the left turn lane will stop their cars–literally–only a few inches from the traffic in the left travel lane, while leaving a couple of feet between their car and the center divider.
I’m sure that this has to do with ignorance, but how can one ignore the reality that some of the drivers in that left travel lane might not be paying full attention and could wind up hitting the car of the ignorant driver in the left turn lane who is sitting only a couple of inches away?
Why would somebody NOT place his stopped car as far as possible from moving traffic?
New cars don’t have the ornaments on the center of the hood or on the front fenders like the old days. Those made it easy to judge just where the edge of the car was on the road or shoulder. The few times I’ve pulled over on the road, I have been concerned about a soft or muddy shoulder.
Why do people buy Jaguars?
Why do people play golf with Top Flite balls?
Why do people listen to rap music?
Why are some people staring at a cell phone all day?
Why would somebody have 3 dogs?
Five cats?
Why … ? CSA
Believe it or not, that’s legal in my state. Bikes don’t have to stop for stop signals if they can make it across the street before cross traffic gets there. I find that insane, personally, but bike riders use and abuse that privilege all the time.
We had a cyclist going downhill (fast for a bike) run a red light as an on-coming Ford Explorer was turning left on a green arrow T-boning the SUV. The cyclist was not seriously injured. The early TV news reports stated the cyclist was struck by the Explorer. There seems to be a myth that bicycles have right of way over motor vehicles. They would have to be riding on navigable water as sail over power is a maritime law.
Yes, I understand that there is frequently no explanation for many (perhaps most?) types of human behavior, but none of the behaviors that you mentioned are potentially life-threatening, whereas failure to place your car as far away as possible from traffic is potentially life-threatening.
Yes, I have seen that, too. Baffles me as well. Seems like common sense to give 'em all as much room as you can. But “common” sense isn’t so common anymore!
Why do people ride motorcycles without helmets?
Why are people choosing not to buy health insurance?
Why are people smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco?
Why…? CSA
My BIL has always been a Ford fan, period but he bought a Jag because it was made by Ford. On his last trip a lot of little bells were going off for some unknown reason. I didn’t say anything. He really likes the car.
I never have figured out the groups of 10 to 20 vehicle travelling close together on a nearly deserted interstate. Herd instinct? I would follow at about 1/2 mile in blissful and safe solitude.
I used to complain to a highway patrol acquaintance that the 55 speed limit caused too much clustering on the interstate because there wasn’t enough speed differential possible. Maybe it was just a learned thing from the old days or something but I sure don’t understand it. Even in storms they like to cluster together 20 cars in a group so if one car does a 360, four or five will end up in the ditch.
