Dumb things drivers do....come in and share!

[fonzinator]

This is not crazy/dumb, but funny nonetheless...

One of my good friends is Lebanonese. His mom was visiting him at college for a few weeks. I agreed to take her to the airport (about an hour away) when she was headed back to Lebanon. She hadn't spent a whole lot of time in the US and her English was very minimal. Anyway...we're driving down the interstate and I'm going 71 or so in a 65. I won't go any faster because I know I'll probably get pulled over. We're driving along and chatting as we go. My friend's mom begins to mumble something to my bud in Arabic. He laughs, and turns to me to translate, "My mom wants to know why you are driving so slow??" Now she can understand English if you speak slowly and clearly. So as clearly as possible, I explain to her, "See, there are speed limits in the US (unlike Lebanon). If you drive too much over the speed limit, the police will pull you over and make you pay a big fine." At that very instant, this POS car goes flying by us on our left. I quickly point to illustrate, "See that guy...He'll get pulled over if he keeps driving that fast." She then nods her head in under head in understanding but sits back a bit disgusted that we have to drive "so slow." Wouldn't ya know it, about 10 minutes later, that POS car that blew by us was pulled over on the side of the road. My buddy's mom sees this, her eyes light up with excitement, and she stares at the pulled over speeder with a big smile on her face until it was out of sight. After that she was perfectly understanding of my "slow" driving and smiled the rest of the way to the airport.

 

[fonzinator]

Originally posted by: palad

That trucker had to have been doing about 70mph when he lost his load.

That could have been a messy accident. :Q



I pulled a stupid myself one day. Overnight we had had about 10 inches of snow. In the morning on the way to work, the lanes had ruts cleared in them by traffic, but there was still quite a bit of packed snow on the road. I was going along at the speed limit and passing just about everybody else (two lanes each direction). The last time I tried to change lanes, I went over to fast, spun the car about 270 degrees and slamming my my hubcaps into a high curb. Even popped one of them off. And of course, while I'm sitting there, everybody I passed was driving right by, making me feel even more like an idiot.

The only thing damaged was one of the wheels, and it wasn't even bad enough to really affect anything, mostly cosmetic, so I head on into work. On the way home, I am being very careful to drive slowly and safely, when I try to go around a curve and spin the car right off into the ditch. No damage done that time either, but I am sure a lot more cautious about slick roads now.

Dude...sounds like you need some better tires. What you ridin on now?

 

[palad]

Originally posted by: fonzinator

Originally posted by: palad

That trucker had to have been doing about 70mph when he lost his load.

That could have been a messy accident. :Q



I pulled a stupid myself one day. Overnight we had had about 10 inches of snow. In the morning on the way to work, the lanes had ruts cleared in them by traffic, but there was still quite a bit of packed snow on the road. I was going along at the speed limit and passing just about everybody else (two lanes each direction). The last time I tried to change lanes, I went over to fast, spun the car about 270 degrees and slamming my my hubcaps into a high curb. Even popped one of them off. And of course, while I'm sitting there, everybody I passed was driving right by, making me feel even more like an idiot.

The only thing damaged was one of the wheels, and it wasn't even bad enough to really affect anything, mostly cosmetic, so I head on into work. On the way home, I am being very careful to drive slowly and safely, when I try to go around a curve and spin the car right off into the ditch. No damage done that time either, but I am sure a lot more cautious about slick roads now.

Dude...sounds like you need some better tires. What you ridin on now?

Oh, that was years ago, using one of my parents' cars. That one was sent off to the Old Cars Home quite some time ago.

 

[RettaGuy]

I was driving down a little two lane road(one lane each way). Tried to pass up two of my friends that were in front of me by going around them. When I began going around them my friend in the very front began to move over so i couldnt pass him, mind you i was going pretty quick. Then a car began coming head on towards me. I slammed on the breaks and tried moving over to the edge of the road, I ended up flying though a stop sign...

after all this, i didnt call the cops, they found out it was me through neighbors, i got out of it all! the cop threatened with a misdeamenor and license revoktion and all that...I called him up later that night and he said he would just forget about the police report!!! never showed up on my records..as far as i am concerned...legally, it never happened

 

[Fausto]

Funny, it seems most of these stories are from Atlanta too...

There are a LOT of dumbasses behind the wheel here....it's not just a myth.

 

[Yeeny]

My ex-husband is the worst, driver ever sometimes. One time we pulled up to a redlight, and in the lane next to us, a car hit the one in front of it in the rear. My ex looked and said "Holy sh*t, did you see that hon? That guy just hit the other guy right in the a**. He no sooner said that and he crashed into the car in front of us. I just ducked down under the dashboard.....

Then, on our first date, he hit a Chinese delivery man, who didn't speak english very well yet. The guy was parked, my ex pulled right up, and bam! hit him in the ass. So, the delivery guy keeps saying What, you stupid? You stupid man?" My ex keeps apologizing, but finally the guy was like "You go away, I done." I was so embarrassed.... thank God the guy really was nice about it, and didn't report it.

 

[fonzinator]

This was way back in high school....

It was a Tuesday and the next day was one of those days where we didn't have school, but everyone else did. My best friend and I hop in his mom's minivan (augh yeah) and head to a friend's house to hang. We stay there until 12:45am or so, then take off for home to make it back by 1am. We're drivin through town down a road that my friend thinks is a 40mph zone, so he's drivin 45 (turns out it is a 35mph zone). We pass several cars going the other way. All of a sudden, lights come on - one of the cars was a cop! He is a ways past us at this point and flips around in the middle of the road. I say, "Oh crap! A cop!" Now you must understand that my friend's parents were WAY over protective of him. The thought of him getting a speeding ticket and facing wrath from his dad was unthinkable and filled him with much fear. To boot, we were out past our curfew's. Back to the story...As soon as I yell "Cop," my friend's mind fills with fear of the speeding ticket/parent's wrath. His instinct is to run so he mashes the gas to the floor. We accelerate as quickly as the van will allow, and the next street my friend sees, he brakes and quickly turns down it. He then remashes the accelrator as we head into some random neighborhood at top speed. I look at him with shock and yell, "What the heck are you doing?!? The cop saw you!! Pull over man, pull over!!" My bud finally comes to his senses and pulls over about 200 feet down this side street. The cop pulls up behind us, and walks up to the window. My friend rolls it down and the cop says, "What the heck were you doing?" My fear stricken friend quickly replies, "Just trying to get out of the main flow of traffic, Sir," of which there is abolutely NONE at 1am. The cop runs his license and registration then returns and asks, "Do you boys know what time curfew is?" We look at each other with fear and quickly say, "No." We really didn't, so we weren't lying. "Well it's at 11pm on weeknights. You better get home right now." With that, he lets us go without even a warning!! My friend made me promise to not tell his parents. I didn't until 5 years later at his wedding rehearsal dinner. I told the whole story to the entire wedding party. His parents thought it was funny.

 

[gistech1978]

this is a road that has a 55 mph limit on it.
i was crusing down the road at the speed limit and this woman was just tailgating me like crazy
i hate it when someone is so close i cannot even see their headlights, so in that situation i just slow down more.
usually 5-10 mph under the speed limit just to piss them off more.
so as she eventually passes me she makes a motion with her hands and mouths 5-5. i blow it off.
a few miles up the road, guess who i see pulled over with a smoking engine?
hehehe, i just gave her a wave and the honk-honk and went on my merry way.
i love it when things like that happen.

 

[teddymines]

Well, let's see...

The countless roadhead incidents. "I wonder why that car with one occupant is swerving? Drunk? Wait a sec, now there's 2 occupants. Now there's only one again. Oh..."

A Ford Ranger pulling a 4-ton trailer with pintle hitch and no aux brakes. On the trailer was a backhoe. He was averaging about 15 mph.

Another Ford Ranger going 70 on 390, pulling a trailer with a minivan on it. Again, no aux brakes.

Didn't witness this, but a tractor trailer hit a deer and punctured one of its fuel tanks. Drizzled diesel for about 40 miles until he got pulled over. Had to shut down the expressway for cleanup.

 

[Zedtom]

My neighbor was having transmission problems, and he couldn't get his car to operate in any forward gears. So he's driving around in reverse to go to the store, etc. He finally got some money together to replace his tranny, and he picked the coldest day of the year, (10 degrees F), to switch it out. What an idiot.

 

[palad]

Okay, these two are more amazing than anything.

Years ago, when my wife was still in high school, she had about a 45-minute drive to get to a community college where she was taking some dual-credit classes. She was speeding about 5-10 miles over the speed limit coming into a banked curve, when one of her tires blew out. Without really thinking, she slammed on the brakes, and wound up rolling the car from side-to-side, and flipping it nose-to-tail. During the process, the sunroof popped out in one piece, and some engine parts that were in the trunk punched through the side of the car. It landed on its side, and she climbed out through the sunroof and walked away without a scratch.

Then, when she was in college, she was driving home (across Colorado) in the middle of the night. Her headlights picked out an elk in the road, and she swerved to miss it -- right into a huge buck. When the car finally came to a rest, she was in the grassy median facing back the way she had come, and the engine was still running. There was not a solid piece of glass left in the car (including mirrors), and all that could be found of the elk were small bloody patches of fur. She was out of it for a second or two, and when she came back to her senses, she realized she could see stars straight up -- the roof had been peeled back by the force of the impact. She turned the car around and got off at the next exit (Vail, I think), where a patrolman pulled her over and got her to the hospital. Total injuries -- bloody knuckles from flying glass and a broken nose. (She had been wearing wrist braces for tendonitis, which probably saved her from broken wrists.) The car, of course, was a total loss.

 

[Fausto]

That second one reminds me of another funny cycling story. A friend of mine was zipping down a hill on his road bike (bicycle, that is) and doing 30-35mph by his estimate when a deer popped out of the woods on his left. He brakes, swerves, barely missed it and (as he was telling me the story later) was thinking "Whew....that was close!" and then..

WHAMMMO!

He hit the second deer (that he didnt' see) broadside. Knocked him off his bike and knocked the deer for a loop too. He said it got back up, bolted for the woods, hit a tree, fell over, got up and kept going. Some guy in a truck saw the whole thing, stopped and was trying to make sure he was OK but was laughing so hard he couldn't get the words out.

My friend was fine, BTW. A few scrapes, bruises and a good story was the final outcome of the collision.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Fausto1
That second one reminds me of another funny cycling story. A friend of mine was zipping down a hill on his road bike (bicycle, that is) and doing 30-35mph by his estimate when a deer popped out of the woods on his left. He brakes, swerves, barely missed it and (as he was telling me the story later) was thinking "Whew....that was close!" and then..

WHAMMMO!

He hit the second deer (that he didnt' see) broadside. Knocked him off his bike and knocked the deer for a loop too. He said it got back up, bolted for the woods, hit a tree, fell over, got up and kept going. Some guy in a truck saw the whole thing, stopped and was trying to make sure he was OK but was laughing so hard he couldn't get the words out.

My friend was fine, BTW. A few scrapes, bruises and a good story was the final outcome of the collision.

Dang, I only read about it and I cracked up. I don't think that I'd have been able to talk through the laughter either if I had been a witness.

ZV

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Fausto1
That second one reminds me of another funny cycling story. A friend of mine was zipping down a hill on his road bike (bicycle, that is) and doing 30-35mph by his estimate when a deer popped out of the woods on his left. He brakes, swerves, barely missed it and (as he was telling me the story later) was thinking "Whew....that was close!" and then..

WHAMMMO!

He hit the second deer (that he didnt' see) broadside. Knocked him off his bike and knocked the deer for a loop too. He said it got back up, bolted for the woods, hit a tree, fell over, got up and kept going. Some guy in a truck saw the whole thing, stopped and was trying to make sure he was OK but was laughing so hard he couldn't get the words out.

My friend was fine, BTW. A few scrapes, bruises and a good story was the final outcome of the collision.

Dang, I only read about it and I cracked up. I don't think that I'd have been able to talk through the laughter either if I had been a witness.

ZV

We were teasing him about bringing the deer home strapped to his handlebars hunter-style if he'd actually killed the damn thing.

 

[imported_Tomato]

This morning as I was driving to work on the 10, I SAW A WOMAN PUTTING ON MASCARA IN THE FAST LANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One hand on the wheel, the other with the mascara wand, staring intently into the rearview mirror.

Scared the bejeebers outta me, I steered clear out her way.

 

[stonecold3169]

Hmm... not a dumb story, but it was sorta sucky to me at the time

Coming home from university one break, I was driving north on i-87 at 2 or 3 in the morning on a nice warm spring night. Anyone who's been on 87 knows that it must be THE pick for deer and other animals to hang out on at night. So I see a buck, standing right in the middle of the road, taking up both lanes. I come to a complete stop, hoping that sometime soon he plans on leaving. I flash my lights at him eventually, and let 10 minutes go by. This stupid deer has no plans on moving (87 is really dead btw). So I finally honk my horn. Apparently, there is a trained deer calvary because as soon as I honk, 3 does from the woods on the right come charging out, BAM, broadside my car. 2 of them were fine, got up, alked around, and then took off with the buck. The other one had hit me head first, snapped it's neck and was dead.

It gets better. I now have three big dents in my car from kamakazi deer, and I get to call the police to report this dead deer in the road. The cops come, and not only do they not believe me, they pull me into the nearest barracks to question me about trying to get away with insurance fraud (apparently thought I hit or had been hit by 3 cars)....

I finally convince them that it wasn't insurance fraud when they opened up my passanger door and tons of fur fell out... of course, this was at 7am or something, they wasted 5 hours of my time, never appologized or anything.

Although it really sucked at the time, insurance picked it up, and it makes for a decent story.

 

[palad]

Apparently, there is a trained deer calvary

Is that where they crucify deer?






I think you meant 'cavalry'.

 

[Siddhartha]

Tailgating or driving with less than a half a car length between you and the car in front of you. Most of the accidents I see are caused by tailgating. I have started tapping my brakes when the car behind me is too close. Some times the jerk behind me catches on right away and some times it takes a number of fake sudden stops for them to realize they need to back up.

 

[AvesPKS]

In Chicago? Drive.