What odd things have you seen drivers do ... and get away with?

[Joe G.]

I've seen some crazy things happen on the road. In one case I was going north on US101 just south of Santa Rosa. The traffic was pretty heavy and going slower than normal. I was in the left most lane. The second car in front of me turns on his left turn signal and changes lanes. Right onto the median. Dirt clods and weeds flew!!! All of a sudden everybody is giving this guy plenty of room! Then he puts on his right turn signal and changes lanes back where he was. He just kept on going like nothing happened.

 

[Jeff H]

I was going down I 494. I just got off work 6 a. m. I could see this Super dity F350 jacked up big weely big wheels. Then gets along side of me and kinda passes me really slow. Then he gets back in the right lane. He then speeds back up for a few miles. He was doing about 70 I was doing 65. Then he all of a sudden slows down to 55. I take my foot off the go pedal. Now I'm right on his rear. I'm thinking what are f'n with me or what. Oh jee a cop on the shoulder. The speed limit is 60 now I'm behind him doing 55. Oh great here comes the cop. He picks me. The local law man in Minnetonka thought I was following to close. That a $100 dollar ticket here if any one cares.

 

[Wayno]

Move to the Houston,Texas area then get a job like I got doing maintenance work on the freeways,you will see it all or at least I think I have seen it all. I am sure there is a stunt driver out there that can show me something I have'nt seen yet????????????????

 

[emarsh]

With 4 lanes in my direction, I am waiting in the LEFT turn lane and just before I get the left turn arrow, a car in the RIGHT turn lane decides he wants to turn left instead, so he times it and cuts across (cars are coming from behind, but the street is clear at the crosswalk line) and goes JUST ahead of me. I hit my brakes and off he goes. Everyone at the intersection was in shock. This was a major intersection with 4 lanes in each direction. This is the most blatant moving violation I have seen, with lots of witnesses, this guy had gumption!

 

[sdalton]

I saw a future organ donor on a motorcycle a few days ago. He was standing on his rear pegs doing a wheely for about a mile, going about 65 mph, with cars around him, and passing cars too. I just eased back and waited for him to loose it. He didnt. All I could say to my kid was "look at that FOOL". My 4 yr old son thought it looked cool.

 

[illflem]

I was driving a considerable distance behind an old Dodge Lancer on an empty four lane road at about 60. The car started swerving back a forth and it looked as though the occupants were fighting. Suddenly it spun around about three times and rolled once, right back on it's feet and continued driving. This time it went straight.

 

[Bob Beauchaine]

I was escaping from CA in December 1974 and we were just cresting Siskiyou Summit - there was about 3 inches of new snow and it was snowing with good visibility. I was driving a '69 Dodge Coronet and hauling a pop-up camper - I had my then wife and 3 kids in the car. Having been raised in New York I was familiar with these kind of conditions. The road was obscured when two CA drivers passed me, one on the left and the other on the right. They both moved in front of me and with the slipery conditions they bounced off each other - OH $&#* I said but just like the parting of the Red Sea one slid left the other right and I went between them - they were more shaken than anything elce.

Bob

 

[nickleinonen]

stupidest thing i usually see are tow trucks backing up on the hwy's so they can get into the collector lanes from the express lanes. . although i did one time see a guy in a 1/2 ton 4x4 ford off roading [doing donuts] in the median of the highway just west of missassuga.

 

[Joe G.]

Another one from my travels on US101. I was going north after dark a couple of miles south of the thriving metropolis of Stafford when I met a car. No big deal at first. Then I realized that he was on the wrong side of the road! That stretch of road is freeway and is on a steep side hill so the other side is hidded by trees and the steep slope. I didn't read about any wrecks in the paper the next day so I guess he got away with it.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Winter brings out the finest.

Excavating contractor I worked for leased his tandem dumps to the state with salt spreaders, no plows. One particulary treacherous night, I-80 was solid ice. I am doing about 20. Nothing but lights behind me. Then some road warrior would loose their patience and get brave. They would get out there maybe 30-40 and zip zip zip, out through the scrub brush.



Another time, I would load trucks with salt at the dump. Once the roads got to be in good shape we would take the rubber tired loaders out to clean bridges and other places trucks could not do well. I driving down the road and see this car come out a side road. He sees me, figures he will jump out in front so I don't hold him up. Never saw the car coming the other way that broad sided him.



Saw a lot of people pull over to clean the glass or whatever, never thinking about what they were doing. Shoulder might be solid ice and often as not if they waited a minute, they might have found a better choice. Then they would become real indignent because we would not (could not) stop to help.

 

[Todd T]

on two occasions now i have followed a truck on the back roads to my house that his drivers door wont latch. that's right, he has to hold the door closed while he drives. the first time a ignored it. the second time i took his license number and called the sheriff when i got home.



this is what really ticked me off. they told me they cannot do anything about it unless i come down there and PAY $25 to file a complaint. What a Friggin joke. I wish like hell our state would require annual vehicle inspections and get this kind of crap off the roads.



Another one:

my nieghbor and his dad are farmers. they have an old 68 Ford tandem axle dumb with a sixteen foot bed on it for hauling grain. i used to help these two out on the farm (until i started to notice the more work i did, the less those two did) and drove that truck several times. first of all it has NO and I mean NO brakes. secondly it has special fasteners and bolts that hold the axles in the truck. Kinda like a Dana. well a few of them fell out on both sides and he just replaced them with grade 3 bolts and not the special fasteners. the last time i looked, on one side it had 2 of these grade 3 incorrect fasteners holding the axle in. that was it.



now remember, i told you it has no brakes. the only way to stop the truck is to downshift and let the engine pull you down. problem with that. it keeps shearing those bolts off the drive axle and you CANT STOP IT. poor old farmers My butt, get those damn trucks off the road or fix them. I dont care who you are!!



the grand ol state of Illinois has no clue when it comes to knowing what is traveling our roadways.

 

[DHRA]

At a stop light in Indianapolis, guy in front of me opens his door, stands up, using the door as cover and took a leak. People were honking, pointing and laughing.

 

[E7mack96]

driving north on Spring Grove Ave... . Guy in frony of me all of a sudden makes a hard turn right... ... right into a telephone pole. He hit it hard enough to make the back end of the car come off the ground then fall back down. . I couldn't believe my eyes.

 

[Joe G.]

I have a friend who lives in Hamilton. I would not be surprised at anything someone in a car does around there.



Another one from the boondocks of northern CA. I was headed east on SR299. I know about a blind curve with an entrance to a saw mill so I slowed some when I came to the turn. It's a good thing I did! Right in the middle of the turn was an old guy in a huge motorhome backing into the road to the saw mill. The gate was closed (Sunday) so he barely had room to back up clear. So I almost slid the wheels getting stopped without hitting him. Here I was sitting in the middle of a blind turn getting ready to be run over by something big and fast. BIG pucker factor! Amazingly he got backed up ok. Then he gives me a big smile and waves me on. I left in a cloud of smoke!

 

[JSmith]

It is raining ,I am sitting at a stop light waiting to make a left turn. I watch a guy standind on the corner. I say to myself, I hope this dip does not run across the red light. He runs,a small car hits him just as he is almost across the street. the guy was knocked 50-60 ft or more down the street,I saw him bounce off the curb and street.



Was driving towards an intersection and noticed a car coming at me,on the wrong side of the three lane road. The hood was up and this guy is driving like everything is ok. I swerved into the Derweinerdog lot and barely missed paying customers.

I turned and watched as this elderly couple continued down the road with thier hood up into oncoming traffic.

 

[merryman]

I did not see it buy I heard the case (way back in the '70s when I was in misdemeanor court).

State trouper stopped a guy who was weaving badly--thought he had a drunk.

As the car responded to the officers lights, a womans head suddenly pops up.

Now, Oregon has a law that prohibitis driving while encumbered, which is defined basically as any situation that unduly interfers with or DISTRACTS the driver. This guy went to trial maintaining that what he and his girl friend did in the privacy of his car was no business of the state.

I agreed with the officer that he was "encumbered" under the distractions aspect.



Vaughn

 

[milehiscott]

When I lived in the mountains I worked near a ski resort. The resort had large front end loaders that the used to clear the large parking lots. This was usually done at night. When they had to drive down the US hwy, they would get a pickup with lights on it to follow it so that the back end was lit up for traffic. One night, one of our wonderful out of town guests blew past the chase truck, signaling that he was #1, cut him off, and slammed into the back of the loader. The loader had a skid plate on the back. So the car just squished under it. The loader stopped. The car backed out and drove away. The front wheels were angled out badly.



At a different point in life, I rode an ambulance. One of my favorite calls was called out as an auto-pedestrian. When we got there, the story we were given by the cop went like this: The lady was driving and realized that she didn't have her seatbelt on. As she tried to put it on, she realized it was caught in the door, so she opened the door to untangle the belt. As she did this she fell out and ran over herself.

I'm still trying to figure that one out.

 

[Extreme1]

I pulled into a gas station several years ago in Madison. It was right after a 3-4 inch snowfall and the roads were slippery. As I filled up my car I watched a van at the light at the intersection. He was on a slight incline and couldn't get moving. The light would turn green, he'd floor it and hold it there unil it turned yellow and then red.



When I drove away I went past him, same program. I could see where his tires had cleaned of a small area behind them but he just kept flooring it.



It's amazing some people know enough to breathe!

 

[johnrv4]

I was driving south from Milwaukee on I-94 on a Sunday afternoon(lots of traffic). I noticed a car stopped in the emergency lane next to the center median. As I got closer, I could see a guy standing behind his car taking a leak and aiming it towards the traffic. I couldn't believe that someone would do this in the middle of the day with all the traffic. I assume he was probably full of beer and didn't really care

 

[Bob Cochran]

East Bound I-60 around Tempe or Mesa Arizona. Don't remember the on ramp. I am doing 65 in high speed lane. Looked in mirror and I see 2 guys each on motorcycles. Ninja type maybe Hondas not sure I was so surprised. They was coming on freeway. 1 guy gets on it does a wheelly blowing by me on rear wheel like I am standing still. I think his buddies jaw :--) as he sure did not follow. Well when he got in front of me he backed off quick and front wheel hits the ground. Course it was not turning and I see smoke when it hits before wheel speed catches up and almost pitchs guy over handle bars. Goes squirrely for awhile I am way backing off so I don't run over him when he hits the ground (used to ride myself). Well he did not spill but when he got off next exit he stopped and was shaking his hand I think he jammed it. He was one very luck dude. Not sure I could have stopped if he spilled it even though I backed off early.