Losing my faith in humanity, one driver at a time

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So last year in late August I was involved in a terrible accident. Some may remember the pictures. I was in a neck brace for a while and was in PT forever. It was a life-changing event. And not in a good way. Well today, on the way home from celebrating our 11th Anniversary, my wife and I were rear-ended on the highway. Seriously, I didn't make it a year before some dip sh** ran their car into me. WTH?

Were you in a car or both of your cycling?

We were in a car this time.

Oh man, that sucks DS. But yeah, drivers tend to be a test of one's faith in humanity.

Sorry to hear, DS. Are you both OK?

Sorry to hear that DSGamer. I was rear ended at very low speed a while ago and from time to time I still relive that jolt of the impact. Horrible.

Someone I used to work with ran into the back of another car. When they got out to exchange details the driver she'd run into said, "I knew I was in trouble when I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed that you had both hands over your eyes."

Wow. Sorry to hear about this DS. It seems like when it rains, it pours for some people. I wish drivers here could put down the multi-tasking ethic when driving and just FOCUS on looking at the road. A lot of people I have driven with are usually doing a bunch of other things while driving: drinking/fumbling with their stupid drink holders, adjusting mirrors mid-flight, adjusting radio/picking songs on an iPod, looking around at buildings or objects that have no bearing on driving, etc.

FOCUS!

Sorry to hear that, man. It's always a hassle, but hope the insurance will take care of that? Is your car driveable?
In other news, none other than Major Nelson was rear-ended two days ago. I don't know if that serves as any kind of consolation. Still, you've got yourself a company!

I know what you mean DS I was in an acident a few years ago. I was sitting in the back middle seat of a honda civic Not wearing a seatbelt. (I know what your gona say about the seatbelt but read on and you may be surprised.) The reason I wasn't wearing a seatbelt is because the middle seat belt did not buckle and I origanaly got into the left seat but at 6' 4" there wasn't enough room for me when my mate got into the passenger seat (In New Zealand we drive on the left side of the road) so I moved to the middle.

We were sitting at a U-turn waiting for traffic to clear less than 100 yards from our destination with a pile of xbox games on my lap when the nissan nivara with bullbars crashed into the back of us. The rear window came in and snapped over the back of my head closley followed by a bull bar. I was wedged between the two front seats with my ankles twisted at some odd angle.

The car 2 behind us was fortunatley packed with Army Medics on there way to town so they stopped and gave us assistance and called the amublance. In the end I walked away with 2 twited vertabre they missed (Thats another story) twisted ankles, 13 stitches in the back of my head, 4 cracked ribs from hitting the seat because of my lack of a seatbelt and a crushed Guns'N'Roses cd that was in my pocket.

I was informed by the very friendly policeman it was a good thing I changed seat to the middle where the belt did not work because if I had stayed in the left or shifted to the right seat (in his words) The bull bar would have squashed my head like a melon against the front seat.

Opps I didn't mean to write this much sorry about that. I hope your feeling better after yours.

Jeeze. Sorry to hear that DS. Are you guys alright?

I find the idea that some people still have faith in humanity to lose quite shocking.

When I moved to Philadelphia a few month ago I was shocked and a little terrified at the completely terrible driving that happens here. It's not too bad in the suburbs of the city, but the closer you get to the center the more {ableist slur} people get.

Aries wrote:

Sorry to hear, DS. Are you both OK?

My wife is doing worse than me as she bore the brunt of the impact. My shoulder hurts, my lower back hurts.Otherwise I'm just achy all over so far. My wife, on the other hand, is in a lot of pain. But nothing broken separated or torn as of yet. We'll see.

Yonder wrote:

When I moved to Philadelphia a few month ago I was shocked and a little terrified at the completely terrible driving that happens here. It's not too bad in the suburbs of the city, but the closer you get to the center the more {ableist slur} people get.

That's pretty standard for cities in general, at least in my experience. Whether it's Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Detroit, Washington DC, Orlando, or Ft Lauderdale, drivers in cities are assholes.

I have never been in a city that was reasonable to drive in. It's like people just lose any civility they may have once had the moment they enter city limits.

My worst experiences by far were in Ft Lauderdale in Florida. Those people are absolutely insane. People are constantly honking their horns. They change lanes three or four at a time all in one big motion. I saw people swerving around turns fast enough to slide the rear end of the car into oncoming lanes, and all other kinds of crazy. I could not believe it.

DSGamer wrote:
Aries wrote:

Sorry to hear, DS. Are you both OK?

My wife is doing worse than me as she bore the brunt of the impact. My shoulder hurts, my lower back hurts.Otherwise I'm just achy all over so far. My wife, on the other hand, is in a lot of pain. But nothing broken separated or torn as of yet. We'll see.

A friend was hit very hard from behind. It just about demolished his car. The nurse told him the U shaped bruise on his chest was from his jaw bone hitting him. Hard to believe that's even possible but it speaks to the force of the impact.

I hope you both recover ok.

Some jackass nearly ran me off the highway last week, deliberately. At first I thought it was accidental, but the look they gave me was definitely not a "oh sh*t, oops!" look. In hindsight, I wish I'd just let them sideswipe me, as I had right-of-way.

It's very rare for me to actually want to commit genuine physical violence on someone, but I wanted to pull that jackass out of his car and beat the sh*t out of him.

Sorry to hear about it, DSGamer. We were rear-ended a year or so ago, and I still get paranoid waiting at stoplights.

I just don't understand aggressive drivers. It's incomprehensible to me why someone would actively work to prevent a person from entering their lane, weave through heavy traffic, or zoom through a crowded parking lot at 30 miles an hour. Those people should thank their lucky stars for the kindness of smarter drivers and pedestrians who make way for their idiotic stunts.

KillerTomato wrote:

Sorry to hear about it, DSGamer. We were rear-ended a year or so ago, and I still get paranoid waiting at stoplights.

I just don't understand aggressive drivers. It's incomprehensible to me why someone would actively work to prevent a person from entering their lane, weave through heavy traffic, or zoom through a crowded parking lot at 30 miles an hour. Those people should thank their lucky stars for the kindness of smarter drivers and pedestrians who make way for their idiotic stunts.

When folks deliberately get into the exit lane in bumper to bumper traffic in order to jump further up, I tend to squeeze forward and give them the Jersey greeting. Call it aggressive if you like, but I just don't like asshats.

Paleocon wrote:

When folks deliberately get into the exit lane in bumper to bumper traffic in order to jump further up, I tend to squeeze forward and give them the Jersey greeting. Call it aggressive if you like, but I just don't like asshats.

As long as traffic's moving slow, there's no real danger, so screw those guys. In that scenario, they're the ones being aggressive asshats.

The drivers I'm describing are ones who deliberately ignore my turn signal in fast-moving traffic, zooming forward in order to drive six inches behind the car in front of them. Awesome - he managed to save himself 0.000005 seconds, protect the holy sanctity of his lane, and only at the minor cost of potentially causing a fatal accident. Great job, dips**t!

KillerTomato wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

When folks deliberately get into the exit lane in bumper to bumper traffic in order to jump further up, I tend to squeeze forward and give them the Jersey greeting. Call it aggressive if you like, but I just don't like asshats.

As long as traffic's moving slow, there's no real danger, so screw those guys. In that scenario, they're the ones being aggressive asshats.

The drivers I'm describing are ones who deliberately ignore my turn signal in fast-moving traffic, zooming forward in order to drive six inches behind the car in front of them. Awesome - he managed to save himself 0.000005 seconds, protect the holy sanctity of his lane, and only at the minor cost of potentially causing a fatal accident. Great job, dips**t!

Okay. That I can get behind.

I live and work around the DC area and travel that stretch between 95 and 29 on the beltway every morning (traffic goes from 6 lanes to 4). You'd be surprised how many folks think it is okay to pass the mass on the shoulder and cut in wherever they please. Makes me wish I had a panzerschrek sometimes.

KillerTomato wrote:

Sorry to hear about it, DSGamer. We were rear-ended a year or so ago, and I still get paranoid waiting at stoplights.

I just don't understand aggressive drivers. It's incomprehensible to me why someone would actively work to prevent a person from entering their lane, weave through heavy traffic, or zoom through a crowded parking lot at 30 miles an hour. Those people should thank their lucky stars for the kindness of smarter drivers and pedestrians who make way for their idiotic stunts.

The self contained space of the car provides a sense of a territory which some people feel the need to protect. This combines with the relative anonimity when driving the automobile to create a sense of territorial aggression that isn't tempered by the traditional sense of social restraint. These conditions mean that people who are unlikely to bowl somebody over on a crowded street, or at least feel remorse at doing so, often do not have the same restraint when driving. We're also very unlikely to admit that we may have made mistakes in driving that brought us into conflict in the first place, because again there is little direct social interaction (much like the internet, actually)... at least until an accident actually occurs.

Combating this takes a conscious effort to remember that there are actual people in other vehicles that you might otherwise find perfectly reasonable, and that we all do boneheaded things on the road from time to time.

My daily commute constantly reaffirms my faith in humanity.

There is something about getting behind the wheel of a vehicle that I think changes the way everyone thinks and acts. All of a sudden, people get a sense of entitlement that allows them to think they can do no wrong, can let no one ahead of them, and that everyone else is a horrible driver. This is not everyone mind you, as there are many sensible, cautious, and safe drivers out there. Unfortunately, the bad out weight the good. I don't think I will ever understand people who are in such a hurry, that they feel justified to ride my bumper when I'm going the speed limit and are angered because i have a empty cars length between me and the next vehicle. Why does that justify you passing me like a bat out of hell, flipping me the bird, and then causing me to hit my brakes as you squeeze into that little space of tar in front of me. Is the 10 seconds of his driving time really that important? It all boils down to that sense of power that comes from controlling a vehicle I guess. Good drivers, are like Spiderman, and we realize that with great power comes great responsibility. Normal drivers are like Venom, where they may be overly aggressive, and are always looking out for number 1, but will occasionally help others, and not be a total psycho. The rest are the asshats that are like Carnage. Get out of their way, cause they only care about themselves and will take pleasure in ticking off the cautious good driver.

LtWarhound wrote:

My daily commute constantly reaffirms my faith in humanity.

You work from home too?

MikeMac wrote:
LtWarhound wrote:

My daily commute constantly reaffirms my faith in humanity.

You work from home too?

Or he has faith that people are terrible.

Yoreel wrote:

There is something about getting behind the wheel of a vehicle that I think changes the way everyone thinks and acts. All of a sudden, people get a sense of entitlement that allows them to think they can do no wrong...

I think it's more likely that most people feel like this all the time. It's just easier to tell when someone takes personal control of a 2000 pound machine.

Maybe I'm too cynical though.

Am I an ass for fantasizing about a virulent pandemic every time I get stuck in DC traffic?

Paleocon wrote:

Am I an ass for fantasizing about a virulent pandemic every time I get stuck in DC traffic?

I like to pretend I can use telekinesis to pick the cars up and toss them miles away..

Paleocon wrote:

Am I an ass for fantasizing about a virulent pandemic every time I get stuck in DC traffic?

At least you're not in a cargo van, with big company logo's all around it. It's like giving them an invitation to be even worse than normal. f*ck a virus... that's not nearly violent enough for some of these bastards.

My faves are the ones who drive like asshats and have political bumper stickers. Here's a tip: If you want to win folks to your cause, start by cutting out the driving like a fcukwit.

I thought I was a terrible person for wanting to be able to throw remote detonated mines on their cars.

I have also at times thought fondly of the possibility of a tremendous fire destroying everything in Pennsylvania. I am sure that most of the frustration on the road comes from the terrible layout of so many of the streets due to the 300 years of ridiculousness. That's what is nice about states like Arizona, the cities were laid out specifically for automotive transportation and it shows.

Paleocon wrote:

My faves are the ones who drive like asshats and have political bumper stickers. Here's a tip: If you want to win folks to your cause, start by cutting out the driving like a fcukwit.

My favorite example of this lately:

"Change we can belive in" on a window sticker in the back window of an Escalade doing 90+ in a 55 zone.

Best counter-example: "Honk if I'm paying your mortgage" on the back of a brand new Corvette Z06 doing dead on the speed limit in the center lane.

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