Twat on the road

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So after I finished dragging my ass through my shift today, I went to do my grocery shopping.

On the way home, I ended up at a red light behind somebody with no turn signal on. Traffic on the cross street was stopped due to a train, so even though they had the green light nobody was moving.

Finally, the light turned green and the car in front of me....sat there. And sat there. And didn't move. So I gave them a nice long horn blast. They still didn't move. The light turned red again.

Finally, traffic on the cross street started to move because the train had passed, and then the light changed to green for us again. Finally, the driver in front of me put their right-turn signal on and turned.

Is it really so sucky of me to assume that if a car is stopped without a turn signal flashing, it means they plan to go straight?

[derangedperson]

No, it's not. But nine times out of ten, Jackass B. Dumbfuck in front of you is gonna turn.

And he waited until the train passed, even though your intersection was in the clear the whole time? You had every right to be angry.

An idea I've had for a long time--a device that's installed in your car's dashboard. If you're gonna make a turn without your signal flashing, the device activates and your car just keeps going straight. A great idea, but I'm pretty sure 99.9% of the population would be driving in a straight line because of it.

[PepperElf]

slightly OT but that reminds me of a time I was at a red stop light in the right hand lane.... the car behind me started honking at me cos i wasn't turning & taking a right-on-red.

except i never had my turn signal on. ... yep i was going straight.

[Dawnchaser]

Is it really so sucky of me to assume that if a car is stopped without a turn signal flashing, it means they plan to go straight?

From what I've seen, this is a huge problem in my part of Oregon. It appears that we have a lot of drivers who believe that turn signals are entirely optional......as well as people who are just plain indecisive. Should I turn here or not? Gee, I don't know. I think I'll turn a bit and then stop and think about it. Nah, I don't wanna turn after all; I'll just keep going straight now that I've confused everyone.

Maybe this is common everywhere, but it doesn't seem like it when we travel.

[Kogarashi]

In a similar vein, is it too much to believe that if someone is in a right/left-turn only lane, that they are going to be making said turn? I've lost count of the number of people I've seen sitting in those turn-only lanes, with or without blinkers going, and then suddenly go straight when the light changes.

And then there was this one winner who was in a left-turn-only lane with his left-turn blinker going, but as soon as the light changed, he not only swerved in front of the two lanes of traffic going straight, he ended up making a right turn.

[Dave1982]

I have long believed that this and many other examples of driving stupidity need to become primary traffic offenses (that is, something you can be pulled over for) and carry VERY stiff fines of at least $500 per offense. Examples include:

-Failing to signal (as per OP)
-Failing to yield when turning left on a two-way green light.
-Pulling more than 1/2 a car length beyond a stop line.
-Blocking an intersection.
-Failing to remove snow or ice from any part of your vehicle, and having it blow around behind you creating a visibility problem, or having chucks of ice fly off possibly hitting other cars.
-ANY act that is clearly motivated by Road Rage or is overly aggressive, such as tailgating or weaving in and out of traffic.


You get the idea. $500 may seem steep for these sorts of things, but we all know how aggravating they are, and how dangerous they can potentially be. I'd be willing to bet that once people start having to shell out for THESE fines, the behaviors will stop.

[blas]

It's even worse in the winter when the roads are snow covered and people create their own straight and turn lanes.

Oh how many times so far this winter have I nearly been killed because some moron thought that their lane was straight...when the road ahead was too narrow for two cars.....

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Aww shit blas, did you have to remind me?

They're forecasting about 6 inches of snow tomorrow and Wednesday. It was kinda nice not having any snow January and the beginning of February.

So tomorrow it will be time for every to go panic-shopping for bread, milk and TP, so they can make papier-mache or something.

[DesignFox]

In New Jersey you CAN be pulled over and fined for blocking an intersection. I've seen people pulled over for it, too.

Don't get me started on drivers in NJ...or the tourists from other states who don't know how to drive on our roads. (get the fuck out of the way, we're crazy here- seriously.)

[blas]

I had to remind everyone, Irv. We are supposed to get anywhere from 2-6 inches.

December will have its revenge on us. We snuck by with a frigid but relatively snowless January, and a pretty mild February. We now must pay and make up for what snow we didn't get the last two months. I am really not looking forward to this, as more snow is forecasted for Friday as well. Damn, that trend will be back again. Snow every other fucking day. Great.

Tomorrow morning I will have to take the old highway home, because like clockwork, sometime before 8 am, some moron will be flying down the freeway at 80 mph on the newly snow covered roads and will slam into the guard rail trying to pass someone or will hit another car and cause a pile-up.

[Pagan]

Is it really so sucky of me to assume that if a car is stopped without a turn signal flashing, it means they plan to go straight?

I've become convinced that turn signals on cars are not optional and not standard equipment. Someone made the comment here one time about not using turn signals because it confuses the natives....except I'm a native and would appreciate them.

slightly OT but that reminds me of a time I was at a red stop light in the right hand lane.... the car behind me started honking at me cos i wasn't turning & taking a right-on-red.

except i never had my turn signal on. ... yep i was going straight.

We've got an intersection like that where the right hand lane isn't a right turn only but most people use it like that. I've gotten the horn before and my dad once complained about someone who wasn't turning right. I tried to explain to my dad that the driver had every right to be going straight but my dad still bitched about it.

Oh, how I hate those people! Some of ours here do have a green arrow for when the left-turn signal is on the opposite way. HOWEVER, it's still a straight through/turn lane. I can't count the number of times I've been honked at because I have the temerity to be going straight (generally because I have to turn just after said intersection).

Some yahoo even called in to the "bitch du semaine" column in the paper complaining about people going straight. Whining, "you're in ooooour waaaaaay".

[Alpha Strike]

My funniest road-rage story resulted because of a lack of a turn signal.

A few years ago I was driving home and was on the final leg of my trip before turning in my parking lot. The car ahead slowed and then came to a complete stop, which was strange since there were no lights or stop-signs where she had stopped at. It crossed my mind that maybe the person was turning but she had a couple of opportunities and had just sat there, so I gave her a quick toot of the horn simply to remind her that there were others behind her.

Her car continued to sit there so I moved around her in what little space she left on this two lane road and turned into the parking lot - which happened to be just another 200 or 300 feet further down the road. As I'm parking, I look up and see that this same car has finally turned left and then has pulled back onto the road - and is coming up the road! She actually pulls into my parking lot and gets out of her car - and it's this shriveled up woman 1/3 my size and looking to be 75+.

She rushes over to me and immediately starts berating me for my actions. She wants to know why I honked the horn, and what was I thinking, and was I complete idiot and so on. I was a bit irritated at first to be chewed out by some brain-dead twit who couldn't even figure out what a turn signal was but looking back I always get a good chuckle out of it.

[mariamousie1]

My mom once was driving behind a car that kept turning without using the signal. By a coincidence, she and the other woman both stopped at the same supermarket and my mom said to the other woman, "I was behind you for a while, and your turn signal isn't working. Just thought you should know!" The woman gave her a really dirty look for some reason. I don't know why, my mom was just trying to help!

[siead_lietrathua]

-Failing to remove snow or ice from any part of your vehicle, and having it blow around behind you creating a visibility problem, or having chucks of ice fly off possibly hitting other cars.

this one they have put into a fine-able offense here. a lot of the accidents here in winter are caused by doofuses who can't see where they are going, so the regional police finally got sick of it. hooray for the NRPS!

[blas]

Meh, cops don't even signal around here. I am so waiting for the day that I get pulled over by a cop who didn't use his turn signal when he started following me or continued to follow me.

Yeah, speaking of which, a few Friday nights ago.....that guy was a dick. He was going to turn right, until my car drove past him. Oh, look at the little Neon, only car on the road going that way, I'll follow it. He cancels his right signal, DOESN'T signal left, and follows me. Proceeds to follow me for over a mile.

Every turn I made, he did not signal, but kept following me anyway.