It's Ok, Don't Look...

[blas]

I mean, it's just a huge mini mall with a parking lot that has several different directions and routes and stores, right?

I was leaving the eye doc today, taking the "easy" way out, just doing a whole straight a way past some smaller stores and the grocery store I worked at as a teenager.

There's an old lady and a seemingly passed out old man in a brand newish Buick Enclave trying to turn down an aisle by the grocery store, and the old lady isn't looking to the sides to see me coming. She has her focus set on getting that spot in the first row, and DAMN if she's going to yield to anyone. Ya know, cuz I'm totally going to the grocery store too, and going to steal that handicapped spot. Or she's just one of those people who is just a moron and doesn't look. I don't mean to get too far off topic here, but it alarms me the amoun of seniors on the road I see who seem to look like they are in dreamland with their eyes open, and don't seem to even move their eyes or head while driving. It's scary.

I almost hit her. Because keeping my vehicle pristine is always more important than being "right", of course I stopped when I realized that the stupid old bat wasn't even looking side to side to see if anyone was coming.

And then this afternoon, someone's idiot dog went running after a rabbit across a busy road and was nearly seconds from being hit by me. Thank God for good brakes. Whomever you are that let your dog out without a leash, you're welcome.

[RealUnimportant]

Argh! Hate hate hate that behaviour... Even worse is when they do finally see you, & wave "thanks"! I feel so insulted by that - you're thanking me for having a sense of self-preservation that you lack? For not killing us both? For respecting my own property more than you respect yours & mine together? What?!

[blas]

She didn't even react. She wasn't even looking.

I think I wore my horn out on a shitty trucker the other day. I laid on that thing for a good 10 seconds or more. I'll post that story later, but because of that trucker and his impatience, I nearly was swiped by him, and nearly went into the ditch going around him.

[mattm04]

I was leaving a local strip mall yesterday and the main road the circles the entire lot has stop signs at the area where you turn to exit the strip mall to go onto the main road.

I stopped, looked saw no one coming and began to make the turn when a older driver casually exited one of the rows near the exit and just blew thru their stop sign, missing me by a few feet. I hit the brakes and laid on the horn and they didn't even look to see where the horn came from.

[blas]

I hear you.

A while back, I was driving home on a Friday late morning, and was trying to merge onto the freeway, there was a van driven by an older guy who would *not* move over despite there being plenty of room. It was too risky to put my foot down and scoot in ahead of him, so I had to swallow hard and hit the brakes and merge at like 45 and still nearly side swiped him.

I laid on that horn for several seconds, and I did not see that guy's head even move. For all I know, he didn't even notice or care.

In my experience, laying on my horn just causes people to give me the finger, or completely ignore me. The last person I honked at before the trucker was someone sitting at a green light. They flipped me off and literally rocketed off down the road.

Edit to add: At any rate, mini malls, regular malls....anywhere there's a lot of commercial area, scares me. Stop signs are merely suggestions, half the time people are only looking straight ahead or just to their left or just to their right.....it's scary how many people just rip and tear through parking lots or ignore stop signs.

[Pagan]

Argh! Hate hate hate that behaviour... Even worse is when they do finally see you, & wave "thanks"! I feel so insulted by that - you're thanking me for having a sense of self-preservation that you lack? For not killing us both? For respecting my own property more than you respect yours & mine together? What?!

I've developed a bad habit of flipping people off when they pull that shit. Dumbass.

Edit to add: At any rate, mini malls, regular malls....anywhere there's a lot of commercial area, scares me. Stop signs are merely suggestions, half the time people are only looking straight ahead or just to their left or just to their right.....it's scary how many people just rip and tear through parking lots or ignore stop signs.

I swear it's because they think they're the only ones in the parking lot. When I was out yesterday, they were all driving down the middle of the aisles. Those things are two way, dammit!

And lately, I've noticed that people backing out of spaces just plain don't look. Or, if they do look, just keep backing. Unless things have changed, I was taught that if you're the one backing up, it's your duty to see if anybody's coming and stop if there is! There was even some yahoo called into the paper* saying that people need to pay more attention and stop for people backing out.

*There's a feature in the ABQ paper that people can call in a short message and they're printed once a week. The Las Cruces paper has the same thing, but it's everyday. I call it the "bitch du jour".

[Pixilated]

I
*snip*

I swear it's because they think they're the only ones in the parking lot. When I was out yesterday, they were all driving down the middle of the aisles. Those things are two way, dammit!

And lately, I've noticed that people backing out of spaces just plain don't look. Or, if they do look, just keep backing. Unless things have changed, I was taught that if you're the one backing up, it's your duty to see if anybody's coming and stop if there is! There was even some yahoo called into the paper* saying that people need to pay more attention and stop for people backing out.
*snip*

I'd bet your second issue is the reason why at least some of the people behave as they do in your first (of course, some just don't care ...)

Many years ago I was zipping down a rural highway. There was a car behind me but it was at a very good distance. As far as I could see, there was nobody behind that second car. I'm approaching (ironically) a cemetery and I see a car sitting in the drive, waiting to pull out. Me: (thinks) "You're not going to ... are you ... ?"

Driver was an elderly woman. And she did. Pulled out right in front of me, going maybe half the speed I was driving at, if not less. Luckily there was nobody in the oncoming lane. I whipped out around her and sat on the horn. She nearly went into the ditch. Frankly I was PO'd enough that I'd have left her there.

I think what annoys me is the older drivers (for the record, I'm 56) who complain that they shouldn't be required to take special tests to prove they can still drive safely (they always cite the reckless younger drivers who don't have to take similar tests). Well, fine. But then when a senior does cause an accident, don't start wailing that his/her age should be a factor in sentencing.

[Pagan]

I should mention, too, that I haven't noticed any particular age group doing fool things here. The idiocy goes straight across the board!

I think what annoys me is the older drivers (for the record, I'm 56) who complain that they shouldn't be required to take special tests to prove they can still drive safely (they always cite the reckless younger drivers who don't have to take similar tests). Well, fine. But then when a senior does cause an accident, don't start wailing that his/her age should be a factor in sentencing.

You mean like this?

Driver in Fatal Crash Declared Incompetent
By Julia M. Dendinger / Valencia County News-Bulletin on Fri, Oct 21, 2011

LOS LUNAS – A vehicular homicide charge against a 91-year-old man whose car struck and killed an infant two years ago was dismissed last week when it was determined that he was not competent to stand trial.
Michelle Stafford, mother of Sebastian, the baby who died in the crash on July 10, 2009, said the decision by District Court Judge William Sanchez left her “outraged and furious. To put it mildly.”
“Everyone who knew (Sebastian) has said this is such a disappointment in the justice system.” Charles Sieber of Los Lunas, she said, “didn’t even get a citation, not a blip on his record for committing murder.”
The car driven by Sieber, 89 at the time, struck Stafford while she was walking on Otero Road in Tomé.
She was carrying 9-week-old Sebastian in a chest pack at the time. The infant was thrown from the carrier and landed about 10 feet away on the road. He was pronounced dead at an Albuquerque hospital later that afternoon.
In June 2010, Sieber was indicted on one count of vehicular homicide by reckless driving, a third-degree felony.
“I never wanted jail time. We just wanted to make sure the case wasn’t slipped under the rug,” Stafford said. “This (decision) sets a precedent that if an elderly person is driving and hurts or kills someone, they’re incompetent even if they know they shouldn’t be driving.”
In a phone interview, 13th Judicial District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said the judge found Sieber to be incompetent, which means he didn’t understand the nature of the charges against him and he could not aid his attorney in his own defense.
“When the judge found him incompetent, he dismissed the charges,” Martinez said. “We argued they should stay. We fought it. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, which means they could be refiled in the future. We will have to wait and see.”
But Stafford wonders whether anyone will be around to see whether Sieber drives again. According to Stafford, during the competency hearing, Sieber’s son “guaranteed” that his father would not drive again. She said Sieber has moved into a home near his son.
“He lives in Albuquerque now. He’s out of their jurisdiction, and no one is going to check,” Stafford said. “To let him drive was just plain irresponsible on the part of his kids.”
Stafford’s two older children, Kayla and Raymond, were walking with her. Neither was injured.

[SuperDan]

Wow, Pagan. Just wow.

I am surprised the family of the victim hasn't engaged in civil action against the family of the old man on top of criminal proceedings.

[Pixilated]

I should mention, too, that I haven't noticed any particular age group doing fool things here. The idiocy goes straight across the board!



You mean like this?

Sorta (if he truly was incompetent that's a whole new can of worms) ... but I'm also thinking we are edging perilously close to fratching here -- I just read the definition on another thread.

If that's so ...

I will try to remember in future to take my soapbox over to the fratching site.

[blas]

My mom, who is still fairly new to driving (only a few years in), experienced a semi regular WTF that most of us encounter.

She was coming down a hill, where at the bottom, someone was rolling through the stop sign. Mom tooted the horn, the idiot stopped, and she proceeded with caution, as the idiot honked back at her.

She asks, "Why do people honk back at you like that?"

Dad says, "A lot of people refuse to admit that they made a mistake."

Similar to the sitting at a green light not paying attention, and flipping off anyone who honks at you to go.

[Pagan]

Wow, Pagan. Just wow.

I am surprised the family of the victim hasn't engaged in civil action against the family of the old man on top of criminal proceedings.

Oh, they did and settled out of court in March 2010. Naturally, the terms are undisclosed.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Those "don't look" a-holes (both drivers and pedestrians) were the reason I started exiting the shopping center around the back when I worked at the wholesale club. I'd park in front for my day shifts, but when it came time to leave, I would drive around behind the stores and cruise through there until I got to the exits, where there were proper street signs that people obeyed.

I got sick and tired of having to keep jumping on my brakes to avoid t-boning someone who turned out in front of me, or plowing over some family that just waltzed out into the street to get to their car.

[BrenDAnn]

Oh hell. If we're talking about parking lots, I have a good one. I was leaving a grocery store parking lot, with my oldest nephew in the passenger seat, and had to stop at the end of the aisle to wait to turn to go toward the lot exit. As I come to the end of the aisle, my nephew screams and cusses. There was an old man in a car backing out toward us. I was literally right behind him, and he somehow didn't see me at first. Luckily he did, but still...Wow. How do you miss a big black car sitting right behind you??

[blas]

I had to go back and pick up my glasses/contacts today. It's the same old story every day with these places. You're supposed to look when you back up, look before you go...........or not, I guess.