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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsThe Distracted Driving Menace .......
I swear it's to the point where at least once a day, I have to swerve, stop or take some other evasive action to avoid colliding with someone tapping away at their cellphone and drifting out of their lane. Yesterday I had 3 near-misses. Driving requires so much vigilance these days!
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Fortunately, the dedicated speeders leave the road at a fast pace several times a week.....seriously.
Unfortunately, they often take their passengers with them.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)I live on a 2 lane country road that's about 7 miles long. I've been driving the speed limit (45), seen someone behind me around 1/2 mile, before I know it they're on my ass. Really aggravating.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)I suspect it's probably due to more traffic and people who live in frantic fear that someone might pull in front of them and make them 2 seconds later to their destination.
When someone tailgates me I leave even more room to the car in front of me and/or I simply slow down. It's a pretty good defense against someone who thinks their lack of planning trumps your desire for safety.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)And those huge Ford like pickups drive on my tail..I have a small sports coupe, and all I can see is grill in my entire rear window.
Happily, I do not have to drive to work anymore, so can choose the slowest traffic hours to get groceries.
AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)I can't count the times when I, myself, have been going 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit and I've had somebody blow up on my ass wanting me to go faster. It's even worse if I'm going the speed limit. They pass as soon as they have enough room, and almost always blow up on the next person's ass. What I find funny is, a lot of the time they'll get behind someone who's slower, and they can't pass because someone in the other lane is slow (most likely going the speed limit) -- or, they'll be speeding only to be caught by a red light. I laugh MY ass off when I get behind someone at a light who just HAD to pass me a half-mile back. (This assumes, of course, that they even STOP at red lights.)
Wednesday I was tailgated by a huge pickup truck while in a construction zone.
People just can't stand to slow down anymore. I don't understand this.
Yavin4
(35,445 posts)Studies have shown that their attention span cannot last more than 30 minutes on average. This is why we will need self-driving cars.
Hong Kong Cavalier
(4,573 posts)My phone automatically detects when I'm in a car and it's moving and switches all texts to 'voice read'. I'm a bit surprised that it just doesn't automatically switch text notifications off. I don't know why more phone manufacturers (other than Motorola, which made my phone) don't do that.
'course, I don't ever reply to a text in the car, either
The other thing that gets me is when I see someone driving in a car listening to their iPod. Mainly because they have huge over-the-ear headphones on. I guess I'm weird in that I need to hear the car, the road, and the traffic around me when I drive.
Still In Wisconsin
(4,450 posts)I cannot count the number of times I have almost been flattened or clipped by someone who was tapping away on a phone.
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)Now I drive the least amount possible. I really only go to the grocery store and the vet, stuff like that. I order clothes, etc. online, get restaurant food delivered by Doordash. I live in L.A. so you can just imagine how nuts it is. Can't remember the last time I drove out to Santa Monica. Luckily, a new train line to the beach is coming soon!
AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)Honestly, if there were public transportation available, I would take it and ditch my car. Public transportation in my area ended in May when federal grant money ran out and the cities involved wouldn't come up with the cash to keep it going (but funny, how they can find money for other projects, like widening roads and putting in roundabouts to accomodate even more traffic, etc.).
I now have about a 25-mile commute, and every day I wonder if it will be my last due to all the horrible driving I see. Not just people texting, but just generally acting stupid.
I must have missed the memo that said traffic laws are just suggestions, to be followed as one chooses.
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)I live several miles from grocery stores, even though I'm in So. Pasadena. Too far to walk in the heat! A bus would take half the day. The nearest rail line that goes to downtown L.A. is about 3 miles away, and there's no local shuttle to take you to it. In 4 more years I'll be eligible for the senior shuttle in town, yay! It's just gotten so congested here, all hours of the day. I also wonder about driver's ed. these days. How are some of these people passing their driving tests? I rarely see turn indicators being used. Jeez, I remember being taught hand signals, lol! Lots of aggressive drivers, BMWs and Audis rule the roads, SUVs with tiny Asian women behind the wheel ( can they see?).
I walk my dog all over town in the evenings and I feel like I take our lives in my hand sometimes crossing the streets.
Marie Marie
(9,999 posts)approach a busy intersection, and make a left turn through the intersection while looking down at his phone, hitting buttons the whole time. He was completely oblivious to anything around him. How he did it was beyond me but his luck will eventually run out and some poor soul will suffer the consequences of his self-centered stupidity.
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)I have to make a point to look at the driver when I'm crossing a street on foot, and pray they really see me.
Jokerman
(3,518 posts)I was third in line sitting at a red light. It turned green and the first car started moving but the car in front of me remained stopped as the person behind the wheel stared into her phone. It's a short light and by the time I hit the horn to disturb her from her techno-stupor the light had changed and we both missed it.
Then, amazingly, she held up her phone where I could see it and pointed at it as if to say, "don't disturb me, I'm on the phone".
The unmitigated gall of some people is dumbfounding.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,337 posts)The other day I was behind a woman who needed the friendly "toot" three times at three different lights - I was stuck behind her in traffic. I could tell exactly what she was doing. Each time she would look up and speed off.
On the fourth, I layed on the horn long and loud. She threw up her hands like I was bothering her.
GoneOffShore
(17,340 posts)And you've got a winning combination.
Since we went pretty much carless two months ago, my tolerance for crap drivers has disappeared.
Rented a car last week for a day and I was exhausted by the time I returned it.