What's the most unsafe thing you've seen on the road?

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BooneRebel

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2001
2,229
0
0
A couple 'coupling' in the drivers seat traveling westbound on the hwy doing about 90 - man facing west & woman facing east.
 

Kenji4861

Banned
Jan 28, 2001
2,821
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I don't know about other places, but in Santa Cruz...

pedestrians take the advantage of having the right of way... they'll start walking on the road, even if you're going 25-30. They don't care.. they just expect you to stop for them, they don't even look.. hella dangerous, I'm surprised I haven't seen accidents yet.
 

Parrotheader

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 1999
3,434
2
0
Maybe not the most dangerous thing I've seen, although it was dangerous and definitely interesting at the time. About a month ago on the way to work, I got behind this pickup. The guy had hit right arm up draped over the back of the bench seat. So he was driving with only one hand. That's fine. I do that every now and then too, but this guy seemed to be twitching a lot and was swerving all over the place and seemed to be slamming on his brakes periodically for no reason at all. This was on a 2-lane side road during rush hour so I couldn't get around. I just backed off a little assuming he was probably intoxicated or something. This continued on for a couple more minutes until a woman's head suddenly popped up who had obviously been leaning over toward the driver's side. :Q Apparently she had been, um, enhancing the morning commute experience. It was funny once I realized what was going on, but scary before that as the guy was not paying ANY attention to the road. Just pull over somewhere and take care of business if you're both in that much need of it ;)

As for the most dangerous, when a car was going the wrong way on a rural (but crowded) stretch of Interstate. It was just after dusk and fortunately this idiot had his lights on at least so I could see the headlights coming. But it made me cringe thinking what might have happened had he met somebody else coming head on over a hill or something :(
 

Wallydraigle

Banned
Nov 27, 2000
10,754
1
0
An airplane made a crash landing about 50 feet behind us on the freeway once. That couldn't have been too safe.
 

Zedtom

Platinum Member
Nov 23, 2001
2,146
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What is it with people jogging that makes them think that they have a right to run in the street? When a person is out running early in the morning or at dusk, its really hard to see them. If you were standing in the street or even walking, people would honk or tell you to get out of the way...but if you have running attire on- oh, then its okay.
 

Aves

Lifer
Feb 7, 2001
12,232
30
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A car heading towards me on the wrong side of a busy street that barely avoided getting smashed.

That was 2 weeks ago on my way home from work.
 

deerslayer

Lifer
Jan 15, 2001
10,153
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My friend and I riding down the road on the hood of a car. It was fun though, till he fell off! :Q
 

smp

Diamond Member
Dec 6, 2000
5,215
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Originally posted by: lirion
An airplane made a crash landing about 50 feet behind us on the freeway once. That couldn't have been too safe.

:Q
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Originally posted by: Hayabusarider
Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
Whats wrong with drdving 60mph in the snow ??? Around here on the expressways most people do at least 60 in mid to heavy snow ... only when the visibilly is Crap do people slow down to less than 60.

You are driving 60 mph, everyone following at the traditional Boston distance when a one car spins out of control. Guess what happens next

The reference to SUV's is this- Most vehicles spun out in the ditch seem to be SUV's least round these parts. I know an EMT, and he remarked to me about this. He often was told by the driver something like "I don't understand, I have four wheel drive".

lol yup. 4 wheel drive is for starting in slush or whatever, not handling at 60mph:p not to mention all cars have 4 brakes anyways, so the suvs going to take even longer tos top: then tip over wee:)
 

RaySun2Be

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
16,565
6
71
Hmmm, where to start.

1. My dad. He has macular degeneration, was legally blind in one eye, couldn't see out the other, only has periferal (sp) vision, but somehow the License Bureau idiots in Oklahoma gave him another drivers license. :Q:| So he kept driving. He and his SO were travelling all over the country in a van towing a 20 foot trailer. He would drive and his SO would read the signs and help watch during merging. :Q:Q:Q
Fortunately for all on the road, he no longer drives. (that I know of). Well, except for tooling around on a Honda scooter that can do 45mph. He's only almost hit 1 pedestrian so far. :Q

2. Potholes in Kansas. We were coming back to Kansas City in an International, running bobtail, hit a pothole that threw me up against the top of the cab, and broke the welds on the external battery mount. Fortunately we were able to stop and make repairs. :Q

3. Saw a hotshot on a crotch rocket zoom by me doing 75mph+, doing a wheelie at the time, on the highway, moderate traffic. :Q

4. Boom truck I was driving, trailer hitch broke, large air compressor on wheels takes off down the highway. Fortunately, the only thing it took out was a light pole. Which the city charged the replacement to the company I worked at. Which then turned around and sued the welding shop that had fabricated the hitch (same day we picked it up it broke)

5. Dump truck, full of gravel, towing a backhoe on a trailer, lost the brakes. No emergency brakes, no pumping them up, nothing. :Q Fortunately, I wasn't on the highway, only doing about 40mph, the light turned green right before I got to it, no one in front of me, steep hill after the light. Finally got it slowed down enough to pop into granny gear, then crept to the nearest place I could pull off. :Q

6. Seen numerous trucks/cars pulling trailers that had too much weight forward, lifting the front of the vehicle almost to the point the tires lifted. Very little steering capabilities at that point. :Q
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
81
I kid you not, this actually happened...

A honda Civic gets on the freeway, dents on all four fenders directly above the tire. Drivers seat leaned WAY back (which I later observe to be so she can pay attention to the baby in the back). Driver's not paying enough attention to the road, reading her mail is more important. My guess is she had cruise control on because she was holding traffic up with her swerving between lanes at 70MPH but on the grade when traffic slowed down she was tailgating everyone. A couple miles later she almost runs a 3/4 ton, extended cab, 4wd truck into a guardrail (must be some important mail).

I bet she wonders why her car has so many dents.
 

Aves

Lifer
Feb 7, 2001
12,232
30
101
Originally posted by: LyNx01
My friend and I riding down the road on the hood of a car. It was fun though, till he fell off! :Q

I've done crazier than that, I just choose to forget that I was ever that stupid.
 

Spamela

Diamond Member
Oct 30, 2000
3,859
0
76
people driving while reading, shaving, putting on makeup, having sex (not all at the same time) - during 18 years of commuting 100 miles/day i've seen just about everything.
 

phantom309

Platinum Member
Jan 30, 2002
2,065
1
0
Idiot doing 75 on freeway in a VW Thing with the top down and an 80-pound dog in his lap - grinning and waving like he was in the fsckin' Shriner's Parade....

Mousy middle-aged woman weaving all over freeway at 70.....flossing her teeth and driving with her elbows.

Assorted w!ggers running people off road because their seats are so far back they can't see out of car.
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,864
2,029
126
Amish people are #1

Number 2 is hilarious. It was a giant Peterbuilt Rig pulling a huge yacht down the main drag in Bedford. This thing was enormous, and the dude was going down to the square. I hate driving on the square in my Festiva. That had to be terrible.
 

Azraele

Elite Member
Nov 5, 2000
16,524
29
91
If you live in my area, the most dangerous thing on the road is my neighbor's father. He's notorious for his poor driving. Once he ran a stop sign and almost hit me. :Q

The second most dangerous thing is people who talk on cellphones (not hands free) while driving. I saw a lady take her hand off the wheel to scratch her head so she wouldn't have to put her phone down.
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,864
2,029
126
Originally posted by: Flashram
Any senior citizen driving a Lincoln Towncar. F'ing idiots.

That too. We get plenty of those here. They also stare at me since I'm new in town, and don't watch the road.
 

RayH

Senior member
Jun 30, 2000
963
1
81
NYPD truck doing about 55mph in front of me has police sawhorse type barricades made out of wood piled about 10' high in the back and they're not tied down. Truck merges onto highway and one of them flies off the top luckily into the lane next to me.

Pedestrians walking in the road when there's a sidewalk right next to them.
Pedestrians crossing highways.

Family of ducks walking next to a solid concrete center median with no shoulder on a 4 lane highway.