Seen any drivers do anythng really stupid lately? You won't believe what I saw today! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

sfloriII · #1 01-27-2004, 09:28 PM

We have snow and freezing rain on the roads here in the DC area. While standing on the corner of an intersection waiting for the light to change, I heard in incredible scraping sound coming nearer and nearer to me.

I looked across the intersection and realized it was an approaching car. The car came towards me and made a right hand turn in front of me. That's when I saw what was causing such a loud sound:

The driver had forgotten to undo his emergency brake!! His car had front wheel drive and was simply dragging his unmoving back wheels along the icy road!!

I suppose he'll never really know how each rear tire got so worn down in one spot!

engatwork · #2 01-28-2004, 06:18 AM

I saw a guy going north on I75 recently in a 1968 Camaro convertable, with the top down, talking on a cell phone (holding the phone in one hand) and holding his other hand over his other ear where he could hear his phone conversation. He was steering with his elbows. All this while running 75 mph. I wish I had had my camera.

Cap'n Carageous · #3 01-28-2004, 12:26 PM

Yesterday when I went to lunch a Chevy pickup comes barrelling down a side street. I notice he ain't slowin down so I brake hard. Sure enough he drives right through the stop sign and right in front of me. Two blocks later at the traffic light he comes to a complete stop on a green light!! After a few horn blows from me and the cars behind me the guy pulls off and goes 5 MPH for about 4 blocks. He finally turned off the main street and got out of our way. I hope he didn't end up hurting someone.

blackmercedes · #4 01-28-2004, 12:45 PM

I watched a guy turning left end up in the onc-oming traffic lane of a divided road. When he tried to go over the concrete divider, his car got high-centered on the median. In his struggle to get the car off, he tore the right rear wheel assembly right off. With the car in the correct lane, but on three wheels, he started to drive this way and crashed the car into a sign post.

As I was explaining this to the RCMP, I had a hard time not laughing myself silly. The guy was sober. Stupid, but sober.

AustinsCE · #5 01-28-2004, 02:24 PM

A guy driving a BMW.....
And a Lexus IS300 trying to keep up with me on the freeway at 120+. He sure liked them reflectors on the road, he wouldnt keep off of them. Then he took the 25 MPH exit at 70, real cute with all the smoke and screechery.

Zeus · #6 01-28-2004, 02:33 PM

This is pretty stupid...wouldn't happen to a Benz though...

http://patrick.fm/video/www.kicken.com-snowtowcar.wmv

Bruce B · #7 01-28-2004, 03:23 PM

just before Christmas at the local WalMart parking lot a woman driving a BRAND NEW (window sticker) SUV of some type, Toyota I think, Colorado plates turns the corner at the top of the parking row....right into a light post. It centered the driver door and knocked the mirror off, does she stop and back up ?? NOOO, she just hammers the gas and drags the poor light pole all the way down the side. I was still laughing my tail off as she walked into the store........I'm sure glad she was just visiting and that my Benz was in the distance....

G-Benz · #8 01-28-2004, 03:30 PM

Witnessed some kid in a mini-truck weaving in and out of traffic at about 20 over the posted speed in a busy city street.

Saw him coming from my rearview mirror, and sure enough, he blasted right by me (after doing the serpentine moves to three cars behind and adjacent to me).

Figured he was going to eventually collide with something, so I watched intently as the road crested.

Sure enough, in his zeal to get to wherever he was going in a hurry, he ignores the (red) traffic light at the next intersection and t-bones a woman in a Riviera...HARD!

I was already dialing 911 before the accident occured because I saw it coming. Fortunately, the woman was not hurt, and the ambulance was there just minutes from when I called.

I was late picking up my daughter so I couldn't stay at the scene, but I wanted to kick the tar out of that punk!

chazola · #9 01-28-2004, 04:58 PM

come to Philadelphia, PA or drive on the NJ turdpike and you'll see amazing feats of stupidity every day!

I think the worst example I encountered was driving down a 4-lane road near the city, a woman a couple hundred yards away from me on the other side of the road decided she was gonna make a u-turn. instead of waiting for the traffic on the other (my) side of the road to pass, she lurched across, but i guess her crappy saturn didn't have a good enough turning radius so she didn't make it. So her car is sitting front end to the kerb at an angle, arse end out across both lanes, with me apprioaching rapidly. Just when I thought she couldn't be more stupid I see her reverse lights go on just as I'm about to pass her and her car moving back. I had to swerve out onto the other side of the road, luckily with no cars coming. Needless to say I exhausted every swear word in my vocab and used colourful hand signals to convey my displeasure to her. She just looked at me like 'duh'.

How do these poeple get on the roads?!

Bruce B · #10 01-29-2004, 04:36 PM

You ask how do people like this get out on the roads? My answer is license by PhotoMat, or KMarts Blue Light Special. IMHO most driver education in this country today is simply Mom or Dad handing the keys over to Junior and saying something like "...have a good time and see ya when you get home..." The way some folks drive (can you say Mario Andretti), it's no wonder the kids drive the way that they do, learning by example. I for one, have and will continue to teach my kids the proper respect for an automobile. Not meaning to blow my own horn but I have a clean driving record with zero points, don't drive like a maniac, and show courtesy to other drivers (I drive a dump truck). THANKS Dad FOR TEACHING ME.

euronatura · #11 01-29-2004, 04:58 PM

Just this morning, after dropping my daughter off at school, I was driving down a two lane, one way street coming upon an intersection with a light. A van, coming from the intersection, from my right, blows "his" red light, and makes a left, going against the flow of traffic and coming straight at me in my lane some 20 meters away. I hit the brakes and then the guy in teh van makes a left hand turn into a parking lot. Mind you, the left that he took, from the road that he was on, is at a diagnol from the road that I was on, therefore, making that left was totally blind.

Obviously, he did this to avoid going around the block and approaching the parking lot from the correct flow of traffic.

Granted I live in a part of the world that driving skills and habits are probably one of the worst that I have ever seen anywhere in the world. But still. Taking a blind left hand turn to oncoming traffic on a read light really takes the cake. All because he wanted to save two minutes of his life in not going around the block like a decent driver would.

Iggy

P.S. No offense to the soccer moms but, these are the ones that really scare me. - 1.3 kids in the back the other kid (making the traditional 2.3 kids) in the dfront seat no seat belt on, drinking her Cafe Latte, talking on the cell phone, putting on make up all the while driving the car and telling the kids to calm down. Oh did I forget to mention that they usually brake very unexpectedly?

gemoore · #12 01-30-2004, 01:52 PM

How do these people get on the road?

Well, they get in a car, turn the key and drive off.

No license? No problem. No insurance? No problem.

BTW, some of these people are under the influence of illegal substances.

Legalize pot? By all means. That will increase the number of drivers under the influence, and then more people will have "fun" on our highways.

G-Benz · #13 01-30-2004, 03:56 PM

An addendum to the "emergency brake" thread starter.

Years ago while traveling through a predominantly-Black neighborhood (yes this is pertinent to the story), I spotted an elderly White gentleman in a Buick on the lane adjacent to mine. I could smell the burning brake pads as he drove past...even managed to catch a glance at the E-brake light on his dash.

So I tried to catch up and get his attention to point out the anomaly...but apparently he thought I pulled up alongside in order to rob him or carjack him or something...after all, he was traveling through "hostile" territory and probably feared that he was about to be assaulted by a young Black man.

He sped up to avoid eye contact, so I sped up and honked my horn to get his attention. He sped up even more, and by this time we had gone about a mile or so and now smoke was emanating from the rear wheels...

...so I had to give up and let him go before he would either lose control and collide, or start a fire!

chazola · #14 01-30-2004, 11:57 PM

hehe... never underestimate the white man's irrational fear of the black man.

Bruce B · #15 02-02-2004, 12:34 AM

Driving home the other day, Saturday, a woman pulling a horse trailer turned across the highway into her "horse yard". I guess she forgot about the trailer (with horse) being behind her. The gate wasn't open and she didn't think about the three feet or so of trailer that she left out in the highway. IMHO she could/should have waited for me to pass by but thankfully I was able to stop before taking out said trailer and horse. Needless to say I laid on the horn but this didn't even seem to faze her in the least. I saw one of the drivers that was behind her shaking his head.......