Strange things/behavior you have seen on the road

Non licenced non insured foreign country driver using his sisters car, turned left and I hit him. Policeman, are you sure the light wasn’t yellow? No sir light was green I turn left and he hit me. 5 years later I got my deductible back so he must have paid off the damages. I remember reading one story about a driver, whose husband could not drive, he made his wife who did not know how to drive or read english drive. She went off the road into a detention pond, 1 child died and they sued california and won over a million dollars because there was no guard rail.

I was heading down a 35 mph one lane in each direction fairly narrow city road yesterday, in sort of a hurry, late to a meeting, and surprise, surprise, the car ahead of me stops right in the middle of the street. No attempt in the slightest to pull over even an iota. Right in the very middle of the road. I figure maybe the car has run out of gas or something. Something must be very wrong. So I watch what is happening. I can’t go forward, so might as well watch.

Now 5 or 6 cars are waiting. Another, another, 10 cars waiting. The car behind me starts honking a little.

The passenger and driver talk for while. Then the passenger reaches over, kisses the driver, opens the door, and carefully and slowly gets out with her dog on a leash, and waves goodbye. The driver waves goodbye, starts up the car – apparently he wanted to save gas so he shut the engine down while the passenger got out – and engages the transmission, and drives down the road.

It takes all kinds I guess.

On I-74 I passed a pervert steering with his knees holding open a Penthouse. What a JERK!

Also on I-55 I noticed a semi weaving all over, onto the shoulder and into the lt lane. I figured the driver was pickled so I called 911. Stayed behind him waiting for the cops but they never showed. I did see one on the overpass but they never pursued. The semi had not markings and was all white so it was kind of hard to pinpoint. Well after about four 911 calls I gave up and passed this putz. He was not drunk but has a leg propped up on the belt moulding of his door and reading a novel.
He had the oppourtunity to hit a stalled car several times on the shoulder.

Just yesterday I was nearly hit by someone who didn’t see the red light. She couldn’t see it because the setting sun was in her eyes. It didn’t occur to her to maybe slow down so she could see what was going on. Her first clue was my car crossing in front of her, at which point she managed to stop halfway into the intersection. At least I was in a rolling steel cage - the guy on the bicycle next to me would have been smoked.

“…so I called 911”

Sometimes I wonder what the State Police do with their time. I saw about 5 motorcycles on Rte 95 North. They spread out across all 4 lanes and slowed to less than 50 MPH. Then they twisted the throttle hard and everyone popped wheelies, which they held for what seemed like a mile or more. Then they did it again. I called 911 and the officer on the other end seemed to be annoyed by the call. I don’t know how it gets much more dangerous than this, but she didn’t seem to care.

I assume they were not Harley’s! I too have seen crazy bike riders, there are 2 types of motorcycle riders, those that have been down, and those that are going to go down. It is dangerous enough without being foolhardy dot period end.

I agree @Barkydog. Bike riding is dangerous. I’ve noticed that anyone riding a motorcycle on a highway near me drives very, very fast. I’d bet that they’re booking 80 or more in a 55 or 65 zone. I suspect that they go this fast to be on the road as little as possible and go around the car drivers that are likely to ignore their existence. When I rode I noticed that a lot of car drivers didn’t recognize motorcycles on the road, and others went out of their way to make our rides hard.

I rode motorcycles for about twenty-five years. Falling off early (at low speed) is unpleasant but definitely heightens vigilance against falling off again. I’m done riding because a week doesn’t go by here in the summer when some ‘experienced’ motorcyclist is taken out by a left turning driver who just didn’t see him or her. Not to mention the absurd cost of motorcycles (and insurance) these days. On the subject of crazy we used to go to the races (on our bikes). Watching hours of knee dragging inspired some pretty ridiculous behavior on the trip home…I don’t know how or why so many of us survived.

Some years ago, waiting at an intersection, about half asleep at 7AM, I saw a tow truck driver go merrily by, dragging a vehicle that was missing its rear axle and shedding more parts every second. The towed vehicle was digging gouges in the pavement and the rear half was on fire. A large rooster tail of sparks was cascading up from it, and flaming bits were falling off as it went by. The tow truck driver obliviously went on his way at a steady speed of perhaps 30 MPH. If there was anyone behind him, they were giving him a wide berth. These were the days before cell phones were widespread, or I’m sure someone would have called it in.

Some times I wish I’d carry a case of assorted light bulbs in my truck ( maybe fuses too ) !
'Round here I could make a kiiling, hopefully before one of ‘them’ does for lack of lighting.

ALL of the possibilites present themselves at least a dozen times a day. The top/third brake light being the most common yet the least imperetive to fix, right now today.
The worst being NO brake lights, like I’ve seen in just the last week. no right or left lamps , just the top one. - no left or top lamp and as they tap on their brake in heavy traffic , the right one looks like a turn signal !
etc.
etc.
etc.

I’ve seen a few cars that still use those black out plastic pieces to cover their taillights around here. Not so much the headlights, but the taillights I’ve seen. It’s a wonder they haven’t been rearended yet since those things make it very hard to see even in broad daylight; can’t imagine them driving at nighttime.

I was on Kingshighway Blvd, St Louis second automotive row, in the mid 80’s and heard a horrible noise coming my way. I spun around and saw a car transport truck flying down the street with the rear ramps extended out draging the ground. A few seconds after that STL police came flying by lights/sirens on.

On that same corner I heard two cars revving engines prepping for a drag race. Problem was these engines sounded like crap. Walked out the door to look and when the light turned green a Chrysler Kcar and a VW bus started screaming down the street racing each other. Pathetic!

Wow. Drag racing with a VW Bus is scraping rock bottom and the K car isn’t much above that. I can picture someone in that bus bouncing along a rough road at speed with a two-handed death grip on the steering wheel… :slight_smile:

Last year in OK someone towed a pickup and started 4 separate brush fires with it which then required a large number of firetrucks and firemen to extinguish.
The pickup that was being towed only had 4 steel rims on it with no tires. The shower of sparks from the bare wheels set the brush on the roadside ablaze and the guy who did the towing was arrested after police followed the marks on the asphalt to his house. I don’t know if he was ever charged for the fires or not but was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

On a similar note, someone not too far from here towed a car last week with a flat tire and the ensuing sparks from the wheel rim on the pavement started a brush fire which required equipment from 3 towns to put out.

Walked out the door to look and when the light turned green a Chrysler Kcar and a VW bus started screaming down the street racing each other.

They were filming the Special Olympics outside your house?

Who won?

When I was in high school, I was riding with a classsmate who was driving his parents’ 1947 Chevrolet. Another classmate came along in his parents’ 1951 Pontiac 6. The Pontiac had the Hydramatic automatic transmission. At any rate, we had a drag race. I thought it might be a pretty good match, but I was wrong. The old vacuum shift linkage on the Chevrolet made the gear shifting pretty slow. The Pontiac left us in the dust. Neither of the cars could reach 60 mph in under 20 seconds.

@ the same mountainbike
Who won?

Don’t know which car won but I can tell you neither driver was a winner ( :

OK, the only time I popped a wheelie on my triumph 650, stopped at a sign and I hear the skidding screeching sound of somebody who obviously did not see a stop sign. Full throttle pop the clutch to get out of harms way, and yes that trumpet did a wheelie. Believe it or not

Where to start… Driving on a freeway on the right line cruse control set to 62mph. The speed limit is 60 and I am not in a hurry.
The freeway has 3 lanes and at one section there is a lane coming from an another road that is looks like a merging lane but it is not. From that point on the road sports 4 lanes going on each direction. Now as I stated in the right lane doing 62 when a car coming from this side road. Stay on his lane I am in mine still cruise control set to 62. I am about two car length ahead of the driver. Suddenly the car speeds up and cut in front of me. Then manages to slam on the brakes. Now it was early evening the road was not busy , the closest car is 300 yards ahead of me and one more about 500 yards behind. He could have waited and pull behind me, or speed up and get ahead of my after increasing the distance let say maybe a comfortable 50 yards?!?
I just do not understand what is going on these people minds…

You’re lucky Barkydog. A dentist I used to see many years ago had a custom 3 wheeler and was sitting at a traffic light one Saturday evening. Someone in a car just ran into the trike from behind and shoved him clean out into the intersection where a crossing car plowed into him; killing him instantly.