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Having an attitude makes accidents. Driving on a like it is a race course in areas where there are tight merge areas and NOT anticipating or letting people in means ****s gonna ****ed up. The need to "MOVE" is exactly what causes STOPPAGE. Some prick wanting that extra 15-30 car lengths ahead of a slower guy and they wind up ****ing themselves and a lot of other people in the process. RAIN(do not underestimate its effects) serves to exacerbate the proneness to accidents. Slippery roads+******* driving= more wrecks.
The OP's attitude is, in the hands of many drivers, an enabler of more accidents. Because of the need to move, someone rams into another guy because of tailgating or just wanting to move faster when the situation is NOT conducive to such actions.
Rt. 295 in DC and Maryland is a road where you can be certain at least one major accident, perhaps more every ****ing year. The merge areas are all ****ing dangerous, and the speed limits and lack of enforcement means huge speed differentials. And that merge areas are tight and suddenly pop up. All while speedsters are just cruzing down the area. A recipe for disaster that keeps repeating itself, sometimes tragically.
It's funny, a friend and I were having this discussion the other day. This day-in-age, distracted driving is a big problem. People see open highway and think they can text, Instagram, whatever and be fine. These are the clowns you see weaving into other lanes or slamming on the brakes at the last minute when somebody signals into their lane. When you lose spatial awareness like that, things obviously become dangerous.
I seem to find less accidents during heavy rain or snow. People drive more careful and pay more attention. On days the weather is nice and sunny there are more accidents and more fatalities. Just too many of those accidents where the driver hits a tree, pole, or guard rail on their own.
That's debatable. In heavy rain, maybe, but that's mostly because mos people slow down in order to see. In snow? Forget it. The only reason there's less accidents in heavy snow is because there's no one on the roads. Light snow? 10+ hour traffic jams here in the DC area.
That's debatable. In heavy rain, maybe, but that's mostly because mos people slow down in order to see. In snow? Forget it. The only reason there's less accidents in heavy snow is because there's no one on the roads. Light snow? 10+ hour traffic jams here in the DC area.
Actually, the traffic jams in the DC area were caused by lack of pre treatment and/or huge recent storms dumping a **** ton of snow. Combine that with the fact that DC is not a snow tire-aware place, and you have those disastrous traffic scenarios.
The biggest cause of accidents on freeways and delays is tailgating. Nothing else causes more problems. Think about the problems that would be saved if people simply followed other cars from a safe distance.
Actually, the traffic jams in the DC area were caused by lack of pre treatment and/or huge recent storms dumping a **** ton of snow. Combine that with the fact that DC is not a snow tire-aware place, and you have those disastrous traffic scenarios.
The most recent event was a lack of pre treated roads, as you said, but it was not a major snowfall. The problem was that it froze into ice when it hit the ground. The big snow came a couple of days later. Driving on the ice is harder than on snow. Some people (not you), apparently, do not know that and focus only on the number of inches that fell.
I was driving through the Smoky Mountains last week when a large rock came bouncing down the interstate, aimed right at my windshield. Luckily, I didn't react wildly and swerve. I simply braced myself and it hit the bar on the front of my Xterra. I suppose if I'd been reactionary, I would have driven all over the road, trying to 'avoid' the projectile, causing people to plummet to their deaths. That would suck.
Also, I saw an alarming number of people with phones in front of their stupid faces as they're going upwards of 80 mph. You simply cannot pay attention to the road when you have a phone in front of your stupid face. And then there are those who just NEEEEEED to be ahead of everyone else, even though traffic is moving along nicely. But they simply have to weave in and out, trying to get the best "position," for some reason. You know the ones... left lane has cars passing those in the right... but that one car has to come zooming up way too fast and then has to apply the brakes. They zip into the right lane, even though the semi that was in the left lane was trying to move over so the line of cars behind it could pass freely in the left lane. Let the semi get over. Pass in the left lane. Wait your turn. It's simple. This is the kind of crapola that causes wrecks.
One thing that has always bugged me--wrecks on the Interstate. Now, I will admit, first and foremost, with the exception of the "rat running" practice which I oppose (and thus don't practice myself), I view all roads as a means to get where I'm going and dislike any delays, ANY. To me, the roads are for one thing--moving. Period. If it's not about that, I want it out of the way. Funeral processions, stopping traffic and telling people to pull over "out of respect"--phooey, to heck with it, someone died whom I don't know, what do I care? If I want to pay my respects I'll go to the funeral itself. People who drive slowly in the mountains--you see a line of cars behind you, move over. You can't drive the speed limit because you're too old or frail--sorry, but you can no longer drive at all.
All of that being said, I understand how wrecks happen in the city limits, but I've never understood how people wreck on the Interstate. Understand--I'm not talking about very crowded LA freeways etc, I'm talking of Interstates where there's a 70 mph speed limit and everyone is moving right along. It makes no sense to me how people wreck in those situations. There are no school zones, no stop lights, no points of interests (malls, shopping centers, schools, places of work, restaurants etc) which people are pulling into (they will exit off the freeway to do so), no people making turns--everyone is just moving. The roads are straight, typically not icy or such, and with all of those complicating factors not being a part of the situation, it would seem very easy driving that would not involve wrecks.
And yet, people wreck on them, ALL the time. It makes no sense to me.
I will admit that it bothers me, yes, mainly because of how it inconveniences me. When these wrecks happen, they create a HUGE amount of traffic backed up and I'm thinking "how can you people wreck on such easy roads? Now thanks to your incompetence I'm stuck here for an eternity." That also brings me to another problem--they don't do enough to detour people around the wreck many times in terms of sending someone 2-odd miles ahead of the wreck with detour signs to route traffic away from it. If you happen to have someone as a passenger who is "co-piloting" with Google Maps or the like running in "bird's eye" view with the traffic "layer" enabled, often-times they could warn you of an impending log-jam and then re-route you around it. Otherwise, you will go right into it not aware and find yourself in an awful mess.
Yesterday was a good example of that, I was riding with someone but thank goodness I knew ahead of time, due to looking at a local news site, that there was a wreck on the Interstate. Thus, I activated "Road Warrior" (an alternative maps app that, nonetheless, seems to "piggy-back" off the Google Maps engine) on my phone in "bird's eye" view with the traffic "layer" enabled, and was able to see the areas highlighted in red indicating huge traffic. I was then able to use the "routes" option on Google Maps to quickly find other ways to get where we were going (whereas, otherwise, Google Maps will always direct you to the Interstate). Had I not known, we'd gone right smack dab into it, most likely.
Thoughts?
love this^^^
I'm tired of everyone acting as if my time being important to me is somehow wrong.
Call it rude, entitled, etc. I couldn't care less. We ALL have places to go and the roadways should be clear and fast moving so that we can get there quickly without wasting precious time.
As far as why people wreck on the interstates though.. that's easy. It's distracted driving. And anytime there is even a hint of congestion everyone crawls on top of everyone. So when one taps the breaks it's all a chain reaction and inevitably because someone was DISTRACTED they fail to slow down and cause a huge wreck.
I use the Waze app every time I get in the car now no matter how short the drive because I need to know if there will be a slow down and how to avoid it.
I was driving through the Smoky Mountains last week when a large rock came bouncing down the interstate, aimed right at my windshield. Luckily, I didn't react wildly and swerve. I simply braced myself and it hit the bar on the front of my Xterra. I suppose if I'd been reactionary, I would have driven all over the road, trying to 'avoid' the projectile, causing people to plummet to their deaths. That would suck.
Also, I saw an alarming number of people with phones in front of their stupid faces as they're going upwards of 80 mph. You simply cannot pay attention to the road when you have a phone in front of your stupid face. And then there are those who just NEEEEEED to be ahead of everyone else, even though traffic is moving along nicely. But they simply have to weave in and out, trying to get the best "position," for some reason. You know the ones... left lane has cars passing those in the right... but that one car has to come zooming up way too fast and then has to apply the brakes. They zip into the right lane, even though the semi that was in the left lane was trying to move over so the line of cars behind it could pass freely in the left lane. Let the semi get over. Pass in the left lane. Wait your turn. It's simple. This is the kind of crapola that causes wrecks.
The other week, my son and I were on our way to dinner at a place about eight miles away. We were on a county highway driving the speed limit. It's 40 mph in that section because there are business on both sides of the road. Some idiot zooms up behind us and brakes when he's so close that we can't see his headlights. My son's eyes keep flicking to the rear view. The guy kept dropping back and getting too close. We were less than 100 yards from a light which was obviously going to be red when we reached it. The person ahead of us (Eureka!) found the place they were looking for, hit the brakes, and turned right. My son nearly hit the guy ahead because he was concerned with the guy behind.
The other week, my son and I were on our way to dinner at a place about eight miles away. We were on a county highway driving the speed limit. It's 40 mph in that section because there are business on both sides of the road. Some idiot zooms up behind us and brakes when he's so close that we can't see his headlights. My son's eyes keep flicking to the rear view. The guy kept dropping back and getting too close. We were less than 100 yards from a light which was obviously going to be red when we reached it. The person ahead of us (Eureka!) found the place they were looking for, hit the brakes, and turned right. My son nearly hit the guy ahead because he was concerned with the guy behind.
Man, stuff like that just bites. I'm glad that you were able to avoid that happening. Frustrating.
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Not the interstate
