Traffic rant

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Today at 1:00pm I was out on I-280 patching holes and depressions with a machine that pumps 160 degrees tar onto the road and mixes in gravel to fill the depression. We had two truck behind us on the shoulder with arrow boards and one truck behind us (in the traffic lane) with a crash mechanism on it. I had just about gotten to the back of the unit when a car hit the crash truck dead on and went airborne into the median. Pieces parts went flying by and before I could even react he was past me and in the median. Our guy in the truck was unhurt and nothing hit me. The driver of the car had some major back pain but that was it, his car was totaled. People will not slow down or move over until they absolutely have to. Each day, we have close calls and four times this year trucks have been hit. It is getting absolutely crazy out there. After the accident we had a bunch of close calls from gawkers seeing if there was something gory to look at...... really makes me mad.:Fire:
OK, rant off.

[wills]

Glad you are OK.

[725]

Distracted drivers are a curse. The eye won't see anything the brain isn't expecting. Something motorcycle riders are painfully aware of. Alert drivers are ready for anything, hence they "see" more. Add the growing number of just plain stupid, underexposed, self-important, fools and the problem gets worse.

[Houndog]

I'd almost bet the idiot was on a cell phone, texting someone, or worse, looking at a computer or some sort of printed material! MOST of the wrecks I witnessed while driving OTR were either caused or were contributed to by at least one item on that list!

FWIW: The NTSB has said cell phone use while driving impairs drivers as much as that driver being legally drunk!

[gunnut14]

5 will get you 10 the driver was talking on the phone, or texting when it happened or just before..
I once followed a guy over 100 miles and he never took the phone away from his ear and spent most of the time gesturing with the other hand.



gunnut14

[Mumblypeg]

All my years in LE people would say,"That's a dangerous job, you could get shot!".The most dangerous part was standing in or by the roadway. Cars will kill you fast! Stand by any interstate highway for just a bit and you will see what I mean. They drive like nuts! More police are killed and injured by vehicles than guns by a long shot, no pun intended.

[Digger]

Or they just seem to have a death wish ....... going down a two lane highway the other day a line of cars about 5 or 6 deep coming my way in the oncoming lane ...... the second to the first car suddenly pulls out to pass ....here I am looking at two cars coming at me ..... WHAT THE &&**^^%% IS GOING ON ! I am thinking as I dive off of the road to my right .
Just as I am making the dirt fly , they pass me and out of the corner of my eyes I see the passing car about a half a car length ahead of the car he is in the process of passing , both taking up the whole two lanes .....
I am driving a company truck , a 3/4 ton chevy with a tool bed painted white ........ What am I ? .. f###$%% invisible ?!!
the guy wants to do a kamakaze and take everyone with him ........
Had to sit there for a while and calm down a bit on that one ......:target_smiley:
Talk about being in the cross hairs ....

digger

[462]

Charlie, glad you and your buddies were not hurt.

A few weeks ago, I saw a lady driver talking on a cell phone, smoking a cigarette, and applying makeup...all at the same time. Another time, I saw a lady eating spaghetti, from a bowl, and driving. About 10-years ago, in a town about 45-minutes from where I live, a lady SUV driver strayed onto the road's shoulder and killed five bicyclists...she was changing a cassette tape.

Digger wrote: "Talk about being in the cross hairs ...."

Sometimes, it's safer in the cross hairs than on the highway.

[troyboy]

All ya need to do is spend a little time in South America, makes the idiots here seem like professionals.

[waksupi]

I'd almost bet the idiot was on a cell phone, texting someone, or worse, looking at a computer or some sort of printed material! MOST of the wrecks I witnessed while driving OTR were either caused or were contributed to by at least one item on that list!

FWIW: The NTSB has said cell phone use while driving impairs drivers as much as that driver being legally drunk!


Absolutely right. If anyone ever so much as scratches my fender while on a cell phone or such, I will own their ***, and everything they ever thought they may give to their grandchildren. I'm not the type to sue people, but if they are going to endanger me, I will sure accommodate them.

[wgr]

back when i worked pipe lines we had a lady get out move a road closed sign then cuss us out because she could,nt get past a 14foot ditch in the road

[9.3X62AL]

Lordy, don't get me started. I'm just glad that Charlie and his partners are all safe and well.

[Bret4207]

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. I used to carry a note book in my left hip pocket, the long narrow type. I was bent over looking under a truck one day and I feel a good hard thump. Even though I had an E-350 van parked half over the fog line, Grandma had manged to hit the note book. Shook me and really shook the driver who watched it. Another time I had a tour bus pass a fuel truck while I was inspecting a tractor trailer... all on a 2 lane. The truck driver said how the bus missed me he didn't know, the guy was white as a sheet and I don't imagine I looked much better. That bus I managed to chase down. While the driver, a nice guy but an air head, was getting his stuff, a passenger got off the bus. He ID'd himself as an off duty Corrections Officer and said he'd been sitting right behind the driver and had seen him pulling out to pass and had yelled, "You'll hit the cop!!!!" but the driver kept going. You have to understand that he was taking the girls lacross team to another college for a game. Some things are just REALLY important.

I could tell you a zillion stories about stuff like that.

[fivegunner]

I work for the city of Grand Rapids Traffic Signal department, install and fix Traffic signals . I have seen it all !! been hit 3 times , (and like the posters above ) they are all on the darn cell phones . when people get into their cars they turn into idiot`s

[Trey45]

I live out in the country, and rarely anymore have to deal with city driving. Two days ago I had to take my mother to a doctors appointment, in town, ONE driver had traffic tied up behind him due to his weaving into 2 lanes, driving well under the speed limit, braking for no reason. Finally I get to where i can go around him, this little jerk was TEXTING on his cell phone and laughing about something he was reading! Not even looking at the road! Meanwhile behind him there were two lanes of cars that had to slow down because of his unsafe inconsideration! I'm so glad I live in the country, if I had to put up with that kind of mess on a daily basis I'd lose it.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

After the accident I am in the median trying to help the guy who hit us. He lays down next to the road on the opposite side of the Interstate. Here is a guy laying in the grass, me in my reflective gear a car totaled and smoking and the people are still zooming by us at 70+. No respect of anyone. It's a mentality of ME first. Don't get in my way or try to slow me down. What I am doiing is more important than your life or saftey. Even if the thing they are doing is going to get a burger! What happend to the head nod at the intersection to let the other guy go through, the hand shake that meant more than paper, common courtesy? Guess I'm getting old.

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

Last week I was driving my semi, aproching a construction zone in Deming, NM ... Left lane closed ahead, 45 mph ... I see a car pass another semi behind me at the last moment ... I am already at the point of 1.25 lanes, I check my mirrors to makes sure this idiot fell in behind me ... As I look in the mirrors I see that he is now got the hammer down and is in front of my trailer tires, just as he sends the first of three barrels flying over his hood! I quickly move into the breakdown lane and let the idiot by ... Wish they were steel barrels ... Full of sand!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The driver of the car had some major back pain but that was it, his car was totaled.

I bet any money, the back pain he has this morning is much
more servere than yesterday afternoon....depending on his/her pain meds ?

------------------------------------------------------------
About 25 years ago, I was the mechanic on a
Church youth group bicycle "bike-a-thon" I was 21 at the time.
Part of our route was on a major 4 lane hiway
(State Hiway 10)inbetween the Minneapolis and Brainerd MN.
Brainerd has an international Speedway (Racetrack)
and has races and drags every sunday in the summer.

So on the final leg of the bike-a-thon, 40 Kids/bicycylists were riding on the shoulder
of this normally not very busy hiway...except this was sunday night
and the traffic was crazy heavy (coming back home to the
Minneapolis area from the Racetrack and also Brainerd is
known as a Lake region and many many lake cabins,
people would be coming back from spending the
weekend at a lake as well) and they were going somewhere between
60 and 80 MPH. trailing us was our Van pulling a large trailer with caution lights blinking.

It was a hot evening and as we rode by one farm field with the irigation on,
we stopped and took a break. All the Kids went to the irigation to cool
off, including myself. the other adults stayed with the Bikes and Van.
The Van driver, He was an older retired fellow, went to the back of the trailer
to check for something. Just as he opened the rear doors of the trailer,
He seen out of the corner of his eye, A pickup driving on the hiway shoulder
headed right for him and full speed. He tried to jump out of the way and his
wrist watch caught on the Door. Luckily he managed to get out of the way
of the Pickup, which hit the trailer square on....

The seen looked like a land fill...Garbage all over. Our trailer was filled with
camping gear for 40 kids, extra bicycles and my tools. The Pickup that hit
it, had a 3 wheeler in the box and maybe 40 or 50 empty beer cans, coolers
and the such. The pickup, basically drove through the trailer and became
slightly airborne, then clipping the corner of our Van and then into traffic,
there must have been 8 to 10 more cars involved with various damage and injuries.

No one was injured in our group except the Van driver,
His wrist was crushed or acually pulled excessively, Ouch !
He never found his watch, and his wrist Healed crooked and never really recovered,
everytime I seen him in church after that, he always brought up the accident
and complained about the pain.

I never heard if the driver was legally drunk or not ???

I hate heavy traffic !
Jon

[jonas302]

Thank God for your safty trucks
I run a wrecker and as you know there are more stories of itiots than time in the day
Glad your Ok

[Ajax]

I am now living in Pittsburgh, Pa. There are retards all over here. I don't know how some of the people make it thru a day. Between the cell phon calls, texting and eating. I had to make a major adjustment when i moved up here. I was raised to drive in the rural south and we were taught to be polite. You can only drive so polite up here though they will take advantage of you. The freeways are like the indy 500. No one here knows how to do the speed limit its either 20 above or 20 below on the freeways.


Andy

[firefly1957]

Glad you are safe My prayer that you stay that way .

I have often thought that the victim of a accident caused by a fool on a cell phone should have the RIGHT TO SHOVE IT UP THE OFFENDERS REAR. However I believe it would only lead to downsizing phones and then you would have people who would want the phone set on vibrate first! It is not just phones I used to run across a car often on my way home from work with a real estate sign on it. This guy would be reading a book while driving 20-30 under the 55 MPH speed limit !!!! One day as I was preparing to pass a county squad car came the other way I open my window pointing to the car infront of me beeping my horn. The officer pointed and shook his finger at me??? it must have had an effect though I never saw the guy again.

[markinalpine]

Charlie - Glad you're safe!
I found the other's comments edifying, not entertaining.
Mark [smilie=s:

[GabbyM]

Back in 1990 when I was driving a big truck. We law abiding drivers were in the left lane as directed by construction signs approaching a zone at about 45 mph. When a car with a wild eyed middle aged male driver went zooming by on the right running about sixty. Being in a big truck I could see over top of the traffic. It was reducing speed ahead with all the gaps quickly closing. Also a State Trooper was parked in the barricaded off portion of roadway. I watched this idiot zoom all the way to the cones closing off the lane until he figured out he had nowhere to go. He busted through the cones then some wood barricades and orange barrels. Had to make a hard turn to avoid T-Boning the troopers car. That brought traffic to a total stop. So I watched as the Trooper went over to the car, calmly extracted the driver, then promptly cuffed and stuffed him. He needed a ride I guess as his car was all busted up. Duh.

[nanuk]

I personally no longer care if someone wants to drive like an idiot and kill themselves, but I get very irate when they kill innocent others!

I work in the aviation industry. I hear all the time "Oh... he was such a good pilot" and I take the time to correct them, if I know/knew the pilot as to the true nature of the business

[casterofboolits]

Yup! seems there are just too many idjits on the road who don't know the rules or consider them selves to be the "King of the Road" that rules, laws and safety don't apply to.

My wife and I make an occasional road trip to a nieghboring state to a casino and it's all free way. Last trip, a large Chevy pickup towing a trailer with a couple four wheelers blew past us at about 90. I was doing 70 with cruise control. About five miles down the road, we hit a traffic jam and saw him on the side of the road in a twisted heap of ripped truck and trailer parts. The four wheelers had bounced up a bank. Luckily no one else was involved.

The time before a big pickup blew past us and a few miles down the road a trooper had him pulled over writing him a ticket.

I have turned into a defensive driver in my old age. The wife and I have coined a new word for these dangerous, clueless drivers. Iceholes, because holes in the ice are a danger to one and all.

[bob208]

i used to run i-81 around harrisbureg pa. speed limit 65 mph. i would be doing 70. they would blow by me like i was draging an anchor. now that was not too bad but when you saw them with a book jamed in the steering wheel, shaving doing their eye brows chaing clothes. i wonder why there not more maulticar pile ups.

the best was i was going north lookup and see some idiot comming south in my lane. and yes it is a divided hiway.

[cobroller]

After the accident I am in the median trying to help the guy who hit us. He lays down next to the road on the opposite side of the Interstate. Here is a guy laying in the grass, me in my reflective gear a car totaled and smoking and the people are still zooming by us at 70+. No respect of anyone. It's a mentality of ME first. Don't get in my way or try to slow me down. What I am doiing is more important than your life or saftey. Even if the thing they are doing is going to get a burger! What happend to the head nod at the intersection to let the other guy go through, the hand shake that meant more than paper, common courtesy? Guess I'm getting old.

I thought IL had a 65 mph limit. Do you think they were actually speeding through the work area?

Several years ago a neighbor was working on a MODOT tractor near the far edge of the right-of-way. Driver cleared the ditch and killed her.

Another neighbor was killed when a bus (driver only) hit the MODOT barrier truck near Halltown, MO

A state patrolman was killed while doing accident investigation in a work zone near Springfield, MO. Driver dodged the blocked lane and hit him in the median.

Be safe out there.

[Rockydog]

I thought IL had a 65 mph limit. Do you think they were actually speeding through the work area?

cobroller, I take it you don't drive in Illinois much. I drive from Central WI to our office in Indianapolis about 6 times a year. The speed limit in a construction zone can be 45 or 50 and I have to drive at least 60 to keep from being rear ended. If I do the 45 people are cussing and swearing as they go by, giving me the one fingered salute etc. I drive about 75 miles out of my way just to avoid Chicago. RD

[white eagle]

the dude was probably texting someone or the other
I can not believe that some people are actually able to drive
it should not be a written law that you are entitled to drive
there should be some kind of dexterity and mental competency testing done
other than a simple get the people out of here test given by the DMV
glad you are ok and no one was hurt
but that guy will just buy another car and maybe the next time actually hurt some one or worse
again rant over

[cobroller]

Rockydog.
Maybe once a year in IL, IN, and OH.
But to get there I drive on 70 mph I-44.
But if I go west it is 75 on the OK turnpike.
Kansas just raised US69 to 75mph.
When you reach the reduced limits near any of the cities,traffic goes at least 10 over the posted.

[redneckdan]

glad you are okay. I always wondered what those yellow things hanging off highway trucks were for. I figured they were some kind of tool box.

[fatelk]

If I were a traffic cop, I think I would get a large amount of satisfaction out of writing some tickets. I would have warm fuzzies going home at night after slapping the cuffs on a drunk or reckless driver. I drive a lot now commuting to work, and am convinced that at least 10% of drivers have absolutely no business with a driver's license.


No respect of anyone. It's a mentality of ME first. Don't get in my way or try to slow me down. What I am doing is more important than your life or safety.
Isn't that the truth?! On the other hand, I sure appreciate the courteous drivers a lot more now.

The world is full of jerks. The best you can do is try to avoid them, and try not to be one. What scares me is that you can't always avoid them, and my family drives those roads.

Several years ago, about two miles from my house, there was a bad crash. It was the Friday afternoon before Labor Day I think, and I was on my way home when I got caught in traffic backed up because of the accident. A couple guys, it seems, had gotten their weekend started early by getting plastered drunk and road-racing each other at 100 mph+ on a busy highway. I don't know who they were but remember hearing that they both worked for a news station or something and had a lot of connections. Anyhow, the one guy goes airborne over a hill, flies across the median, and kills himself and an entire family in the car he hit. The guy in the other car went to jail, IIRC.

[DCP]

Here in IL the laws a pretty strict
You can’t use a cell phone in a construction or school zone (big fine)
Big fines and prison for those who hit a construction worker.

Now with that being said. What about these construction workers and utility workers

Who (I have seen all of these 1st hand)

Power line workers in a cheery picker without stabilizing jacks out, no warning cones or sign holder parked 2 feet in the traffic lane and it was snowing in the construction zone. They were running new power lines.

Construction workers holds signs with his back to oncoming traffic and stands in the middle of the road with a stop sign when I was the 1st vehicle not knowing if I was going to stop. (This is happen to me 6 to 8 times)

Then we have the construction workers who will run in front of you vehicle or step out in front of you as your drive by.

I would really like to know what they are thinking. Maybe they should make some more new laws.

These workers need to work in a safe working environment. Don’t they have training or anyone looking out for their safety?

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Laws in Illinois are NOT strict! They don't enforce them. You will see workers using their cell phones in a construction site. That is because we don't have radios that work. I have to use mine all the time. Their may be a few that are unsafe but nothing like the driving public. We don't need new laws, we need to enforce the ones we have. People are mad about red light traffic cameras. Why? Because they do not want to stop if there is any chance of getting through. Inconsideration is the norm anymore. Me first, you second. If I can get by with it, then it's ok, Obey the law only if the police are around. It's just a sign of the times. Too bad it has to be like that.

[Down South]

Absolutely right. If anyone ever so much as scratches my fender while on a cell phone or such, I will own their ***, and everything they ever thought they may give to their grandchildren. I'm not the type to sue people, but if they are going to endanger me, I will sure accommodate them.
It wouldn't surprise me if the guy was yacking on or messing with a cell phone. I used to think that people could talk on a cell phone as easy as to a passenger while driving but my thoughts have changed over the last couple years. Since working in Houston for a year now, I see all kinds of near misses. Most of the time the one causing the near miss was on a cell phone. And it seems that about half the people that I see driving have one glued to their ear, especially women.
Folks on phones just don't pay enough attention to detail.
And the problem just seems to get worse. I guess by now every family member of every family has a cell phone. It's impressive to me that we got by so long without them and now they are a must have or you can't function in the modern day world.
Somehow, someway these things need to be outlawed while driving.
I have a factory hands free system in my truck but it even requires some of my attention to operate.
The only things that used to divert most of us guys attention before cell phones was scratching the family jewels, booger hunting or finding a better radio station. Hmmmm, of course a nice shaped lady scantly dressed on side of the road was a big attention diverter.

Now my rant is over and getting back to the topic of the thread.
I don't see how you guys do it. That is to work on a major highway that is live without barricades "Concrete" to protect yourselves. Whoever came up with the idea of those crash trucks that follow behind the work in process needs a big pat on the back.

[DCP]

Charlie I am so glad you and your co workers weren't hurt or worse

Charlie here are the FACTS as of June 2009 (best I could do for now)

http://www.dot.state.il.us/press/r062409.html

To date, over 8,000 citations have been issued across the state. In addition, drivers who hit a worker are subject for up to a $10,000 fine and 14 years in prison.

“If you are caught speeding in a work zone, at minimum you will be looking at a fine of $375, and while some may think that’s harsh, you cannot put a price on a life.”

Two-time offenders are subject to a $1,000 fine, including a $250 surcharge to hire Troopers, and the loss of their license for 90 days. Tickets received in a work zone require a mandatory court appearance.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I appreciate that dcp. I'll be glad when I retire and may just move and buy a horse.

[blackthorn]

dcp said--"In addition, drivers who hit a worker are subject for up to a $10,000 fine and 14 years in prison."

The problem with that is the "UP TO--"!!! Fine and sentence should be automatic and non-negotiable!

[35isit]

I turned onto a country road one time unaware som repairs were being made. Driving slowly I came upon an oil truck sitting on the side of the road. As i approached the driver exited the vehicle and I could see he was armed with a hand handgun. My cousin happened to work for this company at the time. So I mentioned to him what I had seen. His reply was that many of the crew members of that company that worked on the ground carried openly. He said drivers seldom shout at or try to run over armed workers.