Why are some people still alive?

Here are 2 things that I saw recently, and I have to wonder why these people are still alive and uninjured.

I was stopped at a 4-way intersection. I was in the lane to go straight. To the right of me was the lane to ONLY turn right. There was a woman in a Honda Civic in that lane. She did NOT have her turn signal on, and I had a gut feeling she wouldn’t turn, and would instead drive straight ahead. Sure enough, when the light turned green, she drove straight ahead, without even once looking to see who’s next to her, and what they’re doing. Because I sensed she might be an IDIOT, I was prepared and there was no incident. I wonder if she even knows that she’s a dangerous driver . . . ?!

Next case in point, and this is very common. I was driving along on a very busy multilane street, and a guy blatantly jaywalked. Not even close to an intersection, crossing, light, anything. He was on the phone. He didn’t even look before he stepped out onto the curb. He did not turn his head even one single time, to see the cars that were about to hit him. On his jaywalking journey from one side of the street to the other . . . 6 lanes, I believe . . . he never once took his eyes off of the phone. Everybody had to come to a screeching halt because of this IDIOT. It’s a wonder that there were no fender benders.

How do people like these two survive unscathed?

The more they do it without getting hurt, the more convinced they become that their behaviour is good and normal . . . ?!

By the way, our local news channel mentioned that selfie-related deaths are on the rise . . . that’s more related to the guy jaywalking, I would think

I do believe in guardian angels and also defensive driving so it take two errors together to cause a problem.

@Bing

You nailed it

Those 2 IDIOTS I mentioned had guardian angles

And I was practicing defensive driving

On my trip home Thursday evening, I was in the inside lane of a four lane road with a 55 MPH limit. I was doing 55, honest I was. It is a divided road with a concrete curbed median. I was in the inside lane because the road narrows to two lanes at a stop sign ahead, and if one is going straight, one must be in that inside lane. The right lane only turns right, the center lane goes straight, and the short left lane only turns left.

I saw the “lady” as she pulled out of what I assume is HER driveway. I think she saw me because she stopped, blocking the two east bound lanes, before coming through the cut in the median and turning directly into the lane I was in. Then she accelerated to all of about 20 MPH. There was NO east bound traffic. She could have stayed there. She should have stayed in her driveway. Normally I’m a pretty laid back driver. I don’t flip people off, but I did it to her. I also gave her heated piece of my mind as she was stopped beside me at the stop sign. She had nothing to say.

Why are people like that still alive?

It’s because few people they pull out in front of carry guns, and they usually kill others, not themselves.

How many of us consider ourselves lucky to be alive given the way we sometimes drove as youth?

People that do unsafe things survive because they are surrounded by others who are looking out for people that do unsafe things. I look out for them now because I used to be one of them.
If someone could invent a machine that could do remote dope slaps, we’d have something then.

I witnessed this accident yesterday. I remember distinctly calling the guy an “idiot” in the red Mustang as he passed me at about 65mph in the rain. When I finally got near my intended destination…this is what I saw: The headline in the local paper this morning reads: “WET WEATHER CRASH: Police: One injured, no charges expected.” The results could have led to fatalities but thank goodness there was none.

Those people are put on this earth to keep us all on our toes.

If there were not idiots like this, we would get complacent and fall asleep on our way to the store, work, or home.

Besides you can always pat yourself on the back and say “Wow I’m amazing, I saw that one coming”.

I see those types all the time…every day.
That’s why I keep my eyes closed while I drive!!!

Yosemite

I few years ago, I was almost hit while walking across an intersection. The woman driver was on her cell phone, ran a red light, driving a large SUV, and had two kids in the car.

This moron was DUI, missed a stop sign and hit a person in a wheel chair, there was no traffic light but he said he had a green light. If you want to drink, call Uber for a ride home!

I think boilereng “nailed it”. Because the rest of us watch out for idiots, these people survive in spite of themselves.

The sad part is that so many innocent people die and so many suffer crippling injuries because of these idiots.

+1 to mountainbike’s comments.
Previously, I have mentioned a particular driving behavior that infuriates me and which endangers everyone, but I think that it bears repeating in this thread:

I am referring to the Kamikaze drivers who suddenly veer into oncoming traffic in order to avoid a bicyclist, or a parked vehicle.

Please allow me to elaborate. In my semi-rural area, most of the roads have either no shoulder, or have a shoulder that is only ~5 or 6 feet wide. When UPS/Fedex trucks, or utility repair trucks, are parked in order to take care of their business, it is often necessary to steer around them.

But…Wouldn’t you think that people would first look to see if there is oncoming traffic before veering into the opposing lane?
Unfortunately, fewer and fewer drivers in my area seem to take that precaution.

The result of this ongoing driver behavior is that when I see a vehicle parked on the opposite side of the road, I now slow down and hover my foot directly over the brake pedal, in anticipation of somebody suddenly heading straight at me. And–guess what?. At least once or twice a week, I have to apply the brakes with great force in order to avoid one of these morons.

Should I have to do this?
IMHO, no I shouldn’t have to do it, but because I want to avoid having a head-on collision, it is simple self-preservation on my part. I haven’t been in a car accident (except as a passenger) for 45 years, and I intend to keep it that way. In the process of keeping myself safe, I have probably saved the life of a lot of dangerous drivers, as well as their hapless passengers.

As to why I keep seeing this type of bone-headed behavior on an ongoing basis, I attribute it to people focusing only on what is in their lane, and not bothering to look at what is coming toward them in the opposing lane. Or…maybe they are just too stupid to be behind the wheel…

The only way these morons will stop this dangerous behaviour, is if they veer into oncoming traffic, and are clobbered by a Freightliner

If they survive, I can almost guarantee you they’ll rethink their driving behaviour

The only sad part of this scenario, is that the Freightliner driver would come under close scrutiny by his employer, even if it was clear that he was in no way to blame for the accident. And he might even be fired, even when/if it was established that he was “in the right”

Db, I wish I could believe that getting their clocks cleaned by a freightliner would be enough to get them to change their behaviors…

^
Absolutely!
Because failure to accept responsibility for one’s own actions (or inactions) is at epidemic proportions nowadays, if those morons managed to survive a head-on with an 18-wheeler, they would undoubtedly blame the truck driver.

Defensive driving saved me! And idiot driver that decided to pass me on the left while makeing a left hand turn, or lady on cellphone turns right on red without slowing down while have the walk signal, a small jump backwards for a man, a giant leap into the world of trouble for that woman if she had hit me, light turns green, does not mean go, so may drivers are running just turned to red lights it is ridiculous, then have to wake up drivers with a honk cause they are on the cell, and light has been green for 4 or 5 seconds, Not to mention arund milwaukee for some reason after improvements there are mor people driving the wrong way then ever on the interstate.
Link to wrong way driver stories

http://fox6now.com/?tag=milwaukee-county-sheriffs-office&category=news&s=wrong-way&year=2015&monthnum&day

@Barkydog

“have to wake up drivers with a honk cause . . . light has been green for 4 or 5 seconds.”

Years ago, I was stopped at a red light, and when it turned green, I guess I wasn’t fast enough off the line. The guy behind me honked several times, and flashed his high beams. To my defense, my car at the time had 1 liter 4-banger with about 55hp. Even if I had tried, that car was simply a slug. Yeah, I was still in Europe at the time.

As soon as he was able, he legally passed me.

Anyways, a little further down the road, I see that guy stopped at a red light. As soon as I was behind him, I let him have it. I gave him a dose of his own medicine. I honked my horn and flashed my high beams. He was obviously taken off guard, because he immediately put the car in gear and floored it . . . RIGHT THROUGH THE RED LIGHT

This was a very rural road, with no kind of traffic at the time.

the only danger was that he might have been caught by a red light camera . . .

:joy:

^
It appears that those wrong-way drivers (or at least most of them) were drunk, and–unfortunately–no amount of road improvements or warning signage is likely to change the behavior of those who are driving while drunk or stoned.

In the NYC metro area, there was a horrendous crash a couple of years ago, in which the female driver and 3 young children in her van were killed when she drove the wrong way on an expressway. She also killed a couple of people in the car that she hit.

The autopsy revealed that she was extremely high on marijuana, and a nearly-empty bottle of vodka was found on the floor of her vehicle. Her husband’s reaction was…“The lab tests are wrong. My wife would never have used drugs or consumed vodka”.

Yeah…right.
“Denial” is not just a river in Africa…

I keep thinking of a million dollar lawsuit in Ca. Illegal alien, no license convinces this wirfe to drive as he was not sober, She did not have a license or even know how to drive, wheel comes off the paved surface she overcorrects, spins out into a detention pond, 2 kid drown, and they got over 1 million due to the fact there were no guardrails. You can’t fix stupid, but sometimes it pays well.

On a related note, I offer this information regarding what happened to an outspoken opponent of mandatory seat belt laws when he was involved in a collision: