Be careful out there.....

[wings&wheels]

Had two incidents over the past week, both maddening, one a bit troubling;

I was on 495 late in the evening, lite/minimal traffic, ~80 in the center lane. I come up on a car in the left lane doing ~65 and drifting into the center lane and left breakdown lane. I figured DUI, so I get into the left lane (don't pass on right unless I have to) and flash my lights from quite a ways back. Nothing. Second flash as I'm closing and the car jerks over to the middle lane. I speed up to pass quickly and notice the young woman had her 'phone suction cup mounted to the windshield, dead center, above the cluster at roughly eye level, she was watching a show.

Driving the Elise, I am taking a right exit at this somewhat confusing merge and split. As I am about to exit, I hear a car accelerating from well behind and this old SUV passes the car behind me, me and then cuts over into the exit forcing me into the breakdown lane. It was close. At the same time I hear "#@&* you" then the driver drives the next couple hundred yards saluting me through the sunroof. I have no idea where they came from, I always keep my head on a swivel, and especially in that car (so low) and near as I can tell, they sped up from a ways back just to do this.

'They' are out there...be careful.

 

[BISCUT]

I'm betting you are a fellow MASS HOLE I've been in NY about 24 of my 48 years of life! And they truly are out there! I drive in NE often. Once you cross from 84 in CT to I-90 in MA it's a whole new driving experience! 495 Can get a little CRA CRA!

 

[mclasser]

Rather than get behind the first person and flash my lights, I would've just passed on the right to quickly get away from them.

 

[aquariuscsm]

One day driving up the highway,I come upon a soccermom mobile driving slow in the left lane, merging side to side. I go to pass. It's this 20-something year old chickadee holding the steering wheel steering the car with both her bare feet, and both hands holding her phone texting, with this ear to ear smile on her face. I was like,wt*????

 

[mclasser]

I'm betting you are a fellow MASS HOLE I've been in NY about 24 of my 48 years of life! And they truly are out there! I drive in NE often. Once you cross from 84 in CT to I-90 in MA it's a whole new driving experience! 495 Can get a little CRA CRA!

In NE, you can be going 85 in the middle lane and still have someone riding your bumper rather than just going around.

 

[wings&wheels]

Rather than get behind the first person and flash my lights, I would've just passed on the right to quickly get away from them.

I generally use the proper lane for passing and only use the right if someone just won't move over or if I really think some idiot is DUI in the left lane and I want to put one or more lanes between us for the pass. Never pass on the right in significant traffic unless I have no alternative or at interchanges though.

 

[LeakySeals]

I'm betting you are a fellow MASS HOLE I've been in NY about 24 of my 48 years of life! And they truly are out there! I drive in NE often. Once you cross from 84 in CT to I-90 in MA it's a whole new driving experience! 495 Can get a little CRA CRA!

Driving in CT was a whole new experience for me. Highway off-ramps in the left lane, what we consider the high-speed lane up here! It was messed up when somebody was slamming on the brakes in front of me trying to get off the highway.

Mass driving is crazier than ever right now because half the people are lost. Mass had to change all the exit ramp numbers to the National system or lose Federal funding starting a few months ago. The rte 3 exit near me on the NH/Mass border went from 36 to 91!

 

[HangFire]

I drive near DC often... nothing new around here. A toxic mix of roid ragin' don't-pass-me-ever BroDozer rednecks, squids (kids on motorbikes doing wheelies), old people driving slow, Bimmers, MB's and sports cars trying to cruise at 100, girls texting, and folks who learned cultural driving patterns from the Old Country and never gave them up.

 

[Donald]

Driving in CT was a whole new experience for me. Highway off-ramps in the left lane, what we consider the high-speed lane up here! It was messed up when somebody was slamming on the brakes in front of me trying to get off the highway.

Mass driving is crazier than ever right now because half the people are lost. Mass had to change all the exit ramp numbers to the National system or lose Federal funding starting a few months ago. The rte 3 exit near me on the NH/Mass border went from 36 to 91!

Too bad Google maps has not caught up quickly when they re-number exit ramps. At least a few I have come across in RI. But thankfully they put up a "old exit xx" sign on the exit.

What is the National System based on?

 

[Wolf359]

I drive near DC often... nothing new around here. A toxic mix of roid ragin' don't-pass-me-ever BroDozer rednecks, squids (kids on motorbikes doing wheelies), old people driving slow, Bimmers, MB's and sports cars trying to cruise at 100, girls texting, and folks who learned cultural driving patterns from the Old Country and never gave them up.

Around here in the city, there's a bunch of kids on bicycles riding in the streets doing wheelies. It's like what's the point kid? You're on a bicycle...

What is the National System based on?

It's based on the distance of the exits. So if the start of the highway is at 1 and you end 100 miles later, then you have exit 100. In theory it's supposed to help you figure out how far apart the exits are.

 

[PimTac]

We have had a constant stream of wrong way driving on the freeways around here. Most have ended up in bad ways. The other night one was a driver in a pickup. He made it a fair ways before slamming into a dump truck. Sadly a motorcyclist who was close by got hit as well. I think 12 cars involved, 2 dead.

These kind of accidents happen now and then but when I keep hearing about them on almost a daily basis I start to wonder. There were three such accidents this week alone.

Suicide? Drugs? Maybe both?

 

[92saturnsl2]

The highway numbering based on mile marker does make sense. It makes billboards somewhat useful, at least for fuel, you immediately know how far away the exit is.

When I was in New England over the summer I noticed many of the signs marked with "old exit number __". Vermont hadn't changed yet, 120 miles upstate and you're still at exit numbers in the late teens and 20's.

 

[SZR48207]

I really wish cruel and unusual punishment could be doled out to people who text and drive.

 

[PimTac]

I really wish cruel and unusual punishment could be doled out to people who text and drive.

Not likely these days. You can throw a Molotov cocktail at someone and get released almost instantly. Looting, firebombing, hitting someone with a baseball bat, you get arrested, processed and right back out for more.

 

[opus1]

Around here in the city, there's a bunch of kids on bicycles riding in the streets doing wheelies. It's like what's the point kid? You're on a bicycle...



It's based on the distance of the exits. So if the start of the highway is at 1 and you end 100 miles later, then you have exit 100. In theory it's supposed to help you figure out how far apart the exits are.

You reminded me of a trip I took to Boston in the mid-90's. I don't remember exactly where I was but I remember getting on 495, passing an exit and doing the math that since the exit I was looking for was a number 15 greater than the one I just passed, I expected to get where I was going in 20-25 minutes. I finally figured out that unlike around Chicago, the exit number was the actual sequence of numbered exits, and not a mile-marker where the exit was. Welcome to Boston.

 

[dlundblad]

I really wish cruel and unusual punishment could be doled out to people who text and drive.

Im tempted to get a train horn and hide it in the shrubs by the road. Run a line from my 60 gal. compressor.

 

[Leo99]

Things are a little crazier than usual out there. I've noticed it.

 

[Wolf359]

You reminded me of a trip I took to Boston in the mid-90's. I don't remember exactly where I was but I remember getting on 495, passing an exit and doing the math that since the exit I was looking for was a number 15 greater than the one I just passed, I expected to get where I was going in 20-25 minutes. I finally figured out that unlike around Chicago, the exit number was the actual sequence of numbered exits, and not a mile-marker where the exit was. Welcome to Boston.

Yeah, and there's a few exits where they added a new one so you have exit 11a and then exit 11 a few miles later, same as exit 10a then 10 later on.

 

[02SE]

Not likely these days. You can throw a Molotov cocktail at someone and get released almost instantly. Looting, firebombing, hitting someone with a baseball bat, you get arrested, processed and right back out for more.

What's the problem? They are just 'peaceful protestors'.

 

[gathermewool]

Not likely these days. You can throw a Molotov cocktail at someone and get released almost instantly. Looting, firebombing, hitting someone with a baseball bat, you get arrested, processed and right back out for more.

This sort of drivel is beneath you, brother.