Stopped a little too late.

[Aut]

On my way home from classl today, I get to an intersection where the light turned yellow. The driver, who was well ahead of me looked like she was going to keep going, and I was too (I don't make a habit of it and have ticked a few people off when I don't). But then that driver decided to stop at the intersection. I had to slam on my brakes too as I fishtailed. Still, she ended up 2 car lengths ahead of me....right in the middle of the intersection, where she stayed until the light turned green again. Fortunately it wasn't a busy intersection. But everyone was looking at me like I was the sucky one for shredding rubber. Total sucky driver.

Yesterday, as I was headed over to pick up one of the kids from school, I encountered more sucky drivers. First, they are doing road work on my street, closing one of the lanes in the direction I have to go. So I merge, but then the light at the intersection over on the other side of the house turns green and all these cars take off - fast - trying to race over to the closing lane to get ahead of all us suckers waiting in the open lane and merge in front of us. I hate this me first attitude our state seems to have. But the suck doesn't end there. I take a right at the next intersection and it's not a majorly busy street, but in the last month has been very backed up during rush hour. Always see all kinds of violations going on there, and if it wasn't the street the school is right off of, I wouldn't take it. So I'm stopped in traffic and there are cars that want out of the side streets, so I don't block those intersections and let one through. Only it's not one, it's always at least 5 that come pouring out, even as traffic is starting to move and I should be moving with it. But I can't. Further on down the road, I'm at a red light at another intersection. Mustang wants out of the gas station. I've been waiting there far longer than he's been sitting in his car, but he wants out. Now. He's inching his way out into my van. Light turns green, I go. Must have made him mad because then he flies into the right turn lane up next to me through the intersection. I don't do anything special, just making my way to the school, and he ends up behind me, tailgating. I consider a brake check, like that would make the situation better. I take a right onto some obscure side street to the school (most people don't take that route) and Mustang follows. I start thinking about the pepper spray in my purse. I pull into the school lot and he gives up. There would have been too many witnesses.

Sucky Mustang just needed to wait his turn. Really couldn't have been in too much of a hurry to have to follow me like that afterwards.

[Geek King]

On my way home from classl today, I get to an intersection where the light turned yellow. The driver, who was well ahead of me looked like she was going to keep going, and I was too (I don't make a habit of it and have ticked a few people off when I don't). But then that driver decided to stop at the intersection. I had to slam on my brakes too as I fishtailed. Still, she ended up 2 car lengths ahead of me....right in the middle of the intersection, where she stayed until the light turned green again. Fortunately it wasn't a busy intersection. But everyone was looking at me like I was the sucky one for shredding rubber. Total sucky driver.

In this case, you do have fault. You should always leave enough room between you and the car ahead of you to stop safely without your vehicle's nose diving toward the pavement. If you had been observed by a cop, they could have ticketed you for tailgating and failure to control the vehicle.

My driving trainer always said, "Drive far enough back that you could stop if the car in front of you stops like it hit a brick wall." Of course, he did have a semi fall off an overpass right in front of him once.

[Kogarashi]

Yesterday, as I was headed over to pick up one of the kids from school, I encountered more sucky drivers. First, they are doing road work on my street, closing one of the lanes in the direction I have to go. So I merge, but then the light at the intersection over on the other side of the house turns green and all these cars take off - fast - trying to race over to the closing lane to get ahead of all us suckers waiting in the open lane and merge in front of us. I hate this me first attitude our state seems to have.

But the suck doesn't end there. I take a right at the next intersection and it's not a majorly busy street, but in the last month has been very backed up during rush hour. Always see all kinds of violations going on there, and if it wasn't the street the school is right off of, I wouldn't take it. So I'm stopped in traffic and there are cars that want out of the side streets, so I don't block those intersections and let one through. Only it's not one, it's always at least 5 that come pouring out, even as traffic is starting to move and I should be moving with it. But I can't.

This describes southern Connecticut perfectly. Everyone just has to merge at the last possible second so they can get ahead of all those suckers waiting in line, and if you aren't gridlocking the intersection and are instead staying behind the stop line if you can't get all the way across, fifty cars from the side street pour in to take your place so you can't go. That's where courtesy gets you here. ::sigh::

Like when I was heading up to Boston two weeks ago for a convention. I take I-91 North, then have to exit to get to I-84 East. That particular exit is almost always backed up a fair distance becuase everyone needs to use it to merge and it's only one lane wide. I knew it was coming up, so I got into the right-hand lane two exits before then, which was just barely in time as I very quickly came up to the end of the stop-and-go line. I waited patiently as the line inched closer and closer to my exit, until about fifteen, twenty minutes later, the end was in sight.

And then no fewer than four cars came barreling up in the next lane, pulling into the painted median between the exit ramp and the rest of 91 and wedging themselves into the still-slow line. I could see the lady in the car in front of me throwing her hands up in the air at the audacity of these people, and quietly echoed her sentiments.

[Andara Bledin]

As much as I loathe the assholes who run up and merge at the last minute rather than waiting their turn, I hate the people who let them in much, much more.

^-.-^

[Shalom]

And then no fewer than four cars came barreling up in the next lane, pulling into the painted median between the exit ramp and the rest of 91 and wedging themselves into the still-slow line. I could see the lady in the car in front of me throwing her hands up in the air at the audacity of these people, and quietly echoed her sentiments.

They used to do this at the single-lane exit for the Brooklyn Bridge off the FDR Drive south. Result was that both right and center lanes would grind to a halt, sometimes all three if a really entitled @$$hole tried to cut over from the far left lane. Drove me crazy, really, because what they're saying is, "I am more important than you, therefore I have the right to go ahead of you despite your having waited your turn patiently like you're supposed to." Once in a while there's a cop car parked on that median not letting anyone cross, but not often enough.

(I don't go that way anymore these days: I get off at the previous exit and follow along under the highway. If there's bad traffic up top I'll usually beat it, even with red lights to deal with.)

As far as not letting them in... we do our best, but sometimes you can't help it if you don't want your front bumper clipped off.

[Pagan]

First, they are doing road work on my street, closing one of the lanes in the direction I have to go. So I merge, but then the light at the intersection over on the other side of the house turns green and all these cars take off - fast - trying to race over to the closing lane to get ahead of all us suckers waiting in the open lane and merge in front of us. I hate this me first attitude our state seems to have.

Sometimes I don't think it's so much a "me first" attitude as they don't believe the signs or don't think the sign applies to them.

I remember once when there was work being done on I-10 in the Spaghetti Bowl in El Paso which required one lane to be closed. There were signs as far back as the Sunland Park exit, which is about 15 miles back, telling you that lane was going to be closed. There were still people waiting until the last minute to merge. And it's not as though this was a short notice type thing, the work went on for months....I'm still not sure what exactly they were doing.

[Summerfly413]

Once I took the wrong exit off a highway, and I had to cut through a large University to get where I was going. At an intersection within the school grounds was a light I had to stop at. There was a lady sitting in the middle of the intersection, at least a car length or two after the line where you stop. And she had plenty of room to back up. But she just sat there until the light changed.

Also, when I was waiting on a road at a light, I saw two cars, at two completely different times do this: Stop correctly at the light. Wait. Pull up. Stop. Pull up more. Stop. Pull up so they are practically in the middle of the road and almost under the light(the cross traffic roads had no cars...but still). Then when the light changed they went like normal. I don't see why either of those cars didn't just decide to run it, since they ended up halfway across the road anyway.

[Magpie]

The best I can say for people who wait until the end to merge is that they're driving for less traffic than was on the road. I know it used to be taught that that was the proper way to merge, but I don't see how it is feasible in modern city traffic.

[phantasy]

Also, when I was waiting on a road at a light, I saw two cars, at two completely different times do this: Stop correctly at the light. Wait. Pull up. Stop. Pull up more. Stop. Pull up so they are practically in the middle of the road and almost under the light(the cross traffic roads had no cars...but still). Then when the light changed they went like normal. I don't see why either of those cars didn't just decide to run it, since they ended up halfway across the road anyway.

I utterly hate when people do this. It seems like they're trying to inch their way across, hoping that the camera doesn't snap their photo for running the red light.

Even if there's no traffic, it isn't an excuse to be stupid on the road. What if a car came to that crossroad and wanted to cross, but they couldn't thanks to the first car thats now in the middle of the road?

[Pagan]

Also, when I was waiting on a road at a light, I saw two cars, at two completely different times do this: Stop correctly at the light. Wait. Pull up. Stop. Pull up more. Stop. Pull up so they are practically in the middle of the road and almost under the light(the cross traffic roads had no cars...but still). Then when the light changed they went like normal. I don't see why either of those cars didn't just decide to run it, since they ended up halfway across the road anyway.

Gah! I hate creepers! Really distracting when they're next to you. I don't know why they're creeping, not like it's going to make the light change any faster. Not to mention that's got to be extra wear-and-tear on your brakes.

And there's a sub-group of creepers....the ones that stop a car length back from the car in front of them and then spend the time waiting....creeping....up.

[Kogarashi]

And then there's the Anti-Creepers. These aren't just people who don't creep at all, no. These are the people who stop a whole car-length behind the stop line and then...just sit there. It's like the Universe is trying to balance out for all the people who creep into the intersection.

I once got stuck behind one on a Sunday who wasn't anywhere near the light sensor, just sitting there having a smoke as the ten cars behind him waited through what should have been three or four light changes, before someone behind us got out to tell the yahoo to pull forward onto the sensor if he wanted to get anywhere.