UncleRob's posts about:
Traffic
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They are waiting for you ...
Jul 13, 2008 | 2:12 AM PST
Category:
Traffic
A female relative was driving 441 the other night -- late. Very few other cars on the road. She's in the middle lane.
A car comes up on her left relatively fast, pulls alongside and slows to match her speed for a few seconds. She figures it's a cop. But then the car accelerates, pulls right in front of her and applies the brakes. Happily, she's alert enough to brake in time to avoid a collision.
What happened? The other driver was obviously hoping to be rear-ended and:
- looking for a quick cash settlement or an insurance co. payout;
--or --
- as driver information was being exchanged, he was looking to rob her, or worse.
Bottom line? If you're alone at night and you're involved in a minor accident, do NOT get out of your car. Call 911 and get a cop there ASAP.
If you don't have a phone, exchange info through the window. If the other driver is menacing at all, drive away, if you can, and go to the nearest Police Station. Make note of the other car's make and model and plate number, if you can.
Predators are out there, and they're not just going after children.
In Florida, it's illegal to have your emergency flashers turned on while the car is moving.
I feel that's one law that flies in the face of common sense, and I don't think very many states have such a law on the books.
It seems logical to me that, in a poor-visibility situation, it's hugely important to be seen by other drivers. Flashing amber lights are more noticeable than steady red.
If more people had had their emergency flashers on that foggy morning on I-4, maybe there would have been less carnage.
Whaddya say lawmakers? It's a law that should be repealed.
Another lawyer to hate.
Apr 5, 2007 | 2:18 AM PST
Category:
Traffic
Item in the newspaper on Wednesday:
Man drinks a half-liter (a little over a pint) of vodka on an empty stomach. He then climbs behind the wheel of his car and runs down and kills two teenage girls as they were walking on the side of the road, on their way to the movies.
His lawyer is thinking of filing a motion to dismiss the charges because the driver claims he can't remember what happened that day. He's also contemplating the defense of pathological intoxication, which implies that a person can intoxicate himself unknowingly due to medication. In other words, the lawyer is going to try any sleazy trick in the book to set this guy free.
It is my fervent hope that a particularly hot corner of hell is reserved for that driver, and the lawyer, and the judge, should he prove to be so deranged as to allow the motion or defense.
Driving = white-knuckle riot.
Feb 15, 2007 | 6:46 PM PST
Category:
Traffic
Watching all these yahoos zooming around these past two days, playing "bumper cars" with each other has been a white-knuckle riot. "White-knuckle" because I'm out there trying to stay out of their way! "Riot", because sometimes, when watching from a distance, you just have to laugh.
The same tragic comedy plays out every year:
"Gosh Mildred, do you suppose all this white stuff is slippery?" -- as they plow into the rear of the car/truck ahead.
"You don't suppose we should have slowed down a little and left a little extra room between us and the guy in front?"
"Do you think I should pull out in front of that tractor-trailer that's bearing down on us? He can stop on a dime, can't he?"
The funniest snow-related traffic event I ever witnessed happened a few years back:
I was taking on some fuel at a gas station on a slight hill. It had snowed the night before, and the street hadn't been completely cleared. There was a middle-aged woman in an Oldsmobile trying to drive up the hill from a red-light intersection. When the light turned green, she floored it. The engine bellowed and the rear wheels spun furiously while naturally, the car did not move an inch.
She eventually let up on the gas, and as the tires slowed down, they gained some traction and the car started to move forward. Sensing the car's movement, she immediately floored it again and the car, of course, stopped moving. Again, she backed off on the gas and the car, once again, inched forward.
And so it went, with her alternately gunning the engine and then inching forward. All the way up the hill, with a train of about twenty or thirty vehicles following slowly behind.
I was laughing so hard I was crying. I wanted to run over to her and suggest that she not floor the accelerator, but I was too weak from laughter. That memory will stay with me for life.
There are some people who should not be allowed to come within ten feet of a car, never mind drive one. She was one. Unfortunately, there are plenty more out there.
