Why are these people even on the roads?!

[Falcon_LS]

Thanks a lot to some moron, I now need to get my front bumper painted!

I was driving home on a major highway this evening, and had to take an exit to merge onto another highway. I have a habit of switching lanes a kilometre before the exit, and that was exactly what I did this evening.

As I took the exit, I look in my rearview and notice a Sierra with off-road HIDs coming at me like a bat out of h3ll. I immediately checked my left door mirror, and merged into the left lane of the dual lane exit, only to see an old Mazda 626 that was going much slower than I was (60 km/h-40 MPH)! I couldn't switch back into the lane I was in, so I took another left - only to see a whole batch of poles in front of me (used to prevent people from shoving in). I slammed on my brakes after checking my rearview, and my front wheels immediately locked. Before I could release and reapply, I drove right through 15-20 poles.

My immediate thought was, I need to get my car towed because it's probably leaking all its fluids right now. But upon inspection, the undercarriage is spotless and the poles were plastic breakaway ones. The paint on my front bumper is all chipped and cracking right now though (previously painted really badly before I bought the car), which is obviously much better than a damaged undercarriage. But so much for obeying the law and being a safe driver. Could have been much worse, but this just gets on my nerves like there's no tomorrow!

I guess I can now get off my soapbox.

 

[J_Sap]

I feel for you, at least it is only cosmetic damage and you are okay. I was almost rear-ended a month back by someone in a truck who was on there phone and failed to noticed that I stopped for a red light; he swerved into the other lane of traffic and ran the light and then proceed to yell at me from the other side of the light for not going through it. There are a lot of people who drive large cars like they own the road and don't care realize that 1. everyone shares the road and 2. bigger cars/trucks have longer stopping distances and can't maneuver as well as smaller cars.

 

[rpn453]

Who is the moron; the scary guy in the truck, the slowpoke in the 626, or the person who installed the poles? You seem far too concerned about a truck that you are not responsible for. How did you not know about the 626 or the poles in the middle of the road before you changed lanes? Maybe you need to focus more on what's happening ahead. Driving defensively is one thing, but I think it's a little extreme to perform unplanned evasive maneuvers to avoid being near an aggressive driver in a large vehicle.

 

[Falcon_LS]

The majority of drivers on the road here think they own the road, and drive in a rather uncivilised manner. Nobody gives way, everbody barges in front of the other and what have you. Those poles were installed for exactly this purpose, so some idiot does not come and cut other people off who are in the correct lane.

A few years back, I was sitting at a traffic light when I noticed a Land Cruiser in my rearview mirror coming up really fast. Thankfully, the lane to my right was free, so I moved immediately. A moment later, the Land Cruiser blasted past with it's nose diving to the ground and wheels locked. So you can probably see where I was coming from when I moved out of the truck's way. There's no saying what you can expect when you drive in this country.

As for the 626, there was a Pajero in front of me and I only noticed the 626 after switching to its lane. The Sierra blasted past me, and overtook the Pajero using the emergency lane. That said, if I stayed in my lane, the truck would have either rammed into me, because it couldn't slow down fast enough, or it would have had to jump the curve before there was an emergency lane.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
The majority of drivers on the road here think they own the road, and drive in a rather uncivilised manner. Nobody gives way, everbody barges in front of the other and what have you. Those poles were installed for exactly this purpose, so some idiot does not come and cut other people off who are in the correct lane.



That sounds exactly like the drivers in Miami-Dade and Broward...Driving from Miami-Dade to North Broward is a suicide run everytime.

The Hummer is the best vehicle for South Florida.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
The majority of drivers on the road here think they own the road, and drive in a rather uncivilised manner . . . There's no saying what you can expect when you drive in this country . . .


Yeah, sorry if I sounded harsh. I don't know what your roads and the drivers around you are like. My driving conditions are pretty tame compared to that of many on this board. My priority is to ensure that I am simply not at-fault in any emergency situation, and I couldn't imagine thinking that someone in a large vehicle might ram me from behind at freeway speeds! I hope you are able to find a better body shop if you decide to re-paint the bumper. A good body shop is not easy to find anywhere.