...should be legal to shoot them. Those that have no back up lights on their vehicle...just brake lights that actuate...then back out in front of you. Or asssholes that can't read one way signs and drive straight at you like you are in their way. I guess drivers licenses come in cereal boxes now?

were this the case 90% of DC and ALL of SC would be gone. Just horrible driving around these parts.

Oh yeah...the yankees and mid westerners on their way to Myrtle Beach. Even hanging would be too nice.

I drive defensively.....a 3/4 ton crew cab. Fuggin retard transplants and dumbass teenage divers.

I hate the people that pass you and then slow down to turn in a block or two. It would be one thing if I was going slow. But if now why pass and slow someone else down?

My beef is with those boneheads in Wyoming that don't know how to dim their headlights. Or do know how, but are just pricks.

Yup Scotty or pass you on the highway and then slow down in front of you ....

Not just Wyoming ...bet there are plenty in you locale and everywhere else. Add to that the dumbasses that think driving with their fog lights on is cool.

BTW I see you and trh are buds...explains your snippy response

Left lane drivers make me crazy going the same speed as the right lane drivers or maybe .5 mph faster. Texters at red lights, when it turns green they just sit there, then act like your the idiot when you honk at them to get them to go. I spend lots of time on the road in my company truck and hamblen co. is worse than any in east tn. I had 3 people pull point blank out in front of me in a 600 yard stretch about 2 months ago. Every flippin day some idiot does something stupid on my way home or to work. I stopped riding my bike because of it.

Yep left lane is for passing....some people are just too stupid to realize it..even when signed

Most of the dui and dumb ass drivers in TN are illegal Mehicanos, the booking log is full of "alejandros, and armandos"

I can't imagine the number of idiot drivers in densely populated areas....bad enough here

you mean like DC where they actually use their vehicles as weapons? It's amazing what you see everyday on the beltway.

Looks like a war zone at times.

It's racist to count illegal wetback meskins with either no drivers license or 3 drivers license.

I just try to run my F-250 right up the ass of those idiot left lane drivers. They finally get the hint when they look in their rear view and go, OH [bleep]!!! And I wish I had a freight train horn for the idiots texting at the red lights, when it turns green!

Yep, they're everywhere. But most of my night driving is in Wyoming.

I don't know about other states, but Colorado got rid of drivers ed several decades ago, and the drivers just get worse and worse. I could triple my post count just posting about driving pet peeves.

My apologies..

Aholes that don't use turn signals

All the wetbacks in TX don't even know that there is a turn signal lever in their vehicle.

My pop said in Kenya, that many of the night drivers there drive with their headlights OFF. Because they are "saving them".

You can keep all those wet backs down there.....must SUCK BALLZ!

Ah, crap! Did I miss something I was supposed to be offended by? I'm kinda new to this forum posting stuff, and I don't always recognize when I'm supposed to get angry.

To be honest, I did mention Wyoming partly cause I noticed that's your location. My apologies as well.

And I agree about the fog lights too.

Having a drivers license doesn't necessarily mean one knows how to drive.

I'm living proof of it.

Keith,

I have to admit that I'm one of those boneheads that drives with my foglights on in critter rich areas. Been able to sow down for deer on more than one occasion because the side of the road was better illuminated. I know I would have nailed a few if I hadn't seen them.

anyone driving slower than me is a road hog, anyone faster is an idiot. I have noticed lots of "angry" driving lately, charging stop signs nosing out way too far on side streets, brights (unless it is really dark, then no lights), lane splitting (in cars, not bikes), driving 15 over on streets, tailgating, right turns from left lane, and the occassional driving against traffic.

Turn signals are an enigma, if you use them, a lot of people will speed up to keep you from changing lanes.

OTH, the other day a BMW did slow, and signal me to come on over when I needed to change lanes

However,

I also have low tolerance for poorly aimed headlights, cheap Chinese blue HID kits in headlights that weren't designed for them, and azzholes that won't dip their lights. I can play chicken.

My fog lights have their own off/on switch but they're also wired to the dimmer. When I hit the dimmer the fogs also go off. Hit the brights and they come back on.

I like the way you think!

Yes, but they are trying to save electricity and turn signal bulbs. That's NWAs buds by the way.

I figure that anyone going slower than me is an idiot and anyone going faster is an a-hole.

I suggest you do not move to Korea.

You can always spot a new fresh wetback driving in TX. They all drive about 10mph below the speed limit, hoping they won't get pulled over.

My favorite are the idiots that pull out in front of you and when you pass them they flip you off and tailgate you.

Or the folks who pull out in front of you, then never get up to the speed limit. It really bugs me when I'm the only car on the road, and they could have waited 2 seconds and got behind me.

That was you???

I never have figured out why "Keep right except to pass" is so damned hard to understand.

no place in America can top Miami/South Florida for bad drivers. Period. End of discussion.

Like Badger, I have zero tolerance for drivers that have no concept of dimming their lights for oncoming cars. I have two sets of lights on my 4Runner. The smaller ones are 50 watts each, the larger are 100 watt Hellas. Those will get your attention.

i drive like a bat out of hell but am touchy as hell bout passing someone....either had to lock them up, crowd the ditch or taken the ditch from idiots passing when they shouldnt...

I always get pissed at the idiots that don't slow down when you meet them on gravel.

While taking their half out of the middle?

You know who I'm talking about Richard!


Probably a dozen plus rock chips on the pickup windshield.

Those "blue" lights are gawd awful. I have a hard enough time seeing at night with my retinas being assaulted with those fuggin' things.

Want to see crazy driving. Go thru Boone, NC when the first good snow hits and all the people from Florida and all the college kids get on the road headed up to the ski resorts.

It can be near suicidal.

Those that don't realize that as they get onto the highway - it's THEIR job to merge with traffic, not those already on the highway and doing 70's job to slow down and fit you in.

Feel free to friken check the lane before you simply come up the ramp and move left at 40 mph azzhole!

It is standard operating procedure in WA state to brake heavily and slow down to 40mph when merging onto the highway!

And Fuggin' school buses!

I hate school buses!

I'll flash once for the high beam dumbazzes (No, not THAT kind of flash ), and if there's no response, I'll watch 'em bake.........

You where over this way and you didn't get ahold of me for lunch? Shame, Shame.

We used to have an F250 that would squat a little when pulling a loaded 20' stock trailer. I think it messed with the headlight angle because a lot of cars would flash us.
Pretty sure my dad finally took it into Ford to get the lights adjusted, not sure if people quit flashing.

Amazing how many People don't realize this or just don't give a phugg.

And how exactly do you check out the lane when you can't see the lane until you're well up the ramp and committed?

Both of you guys sound like you're the kind of azzholes who speed up to keep somebody from getting in the lane in front of you.

If you're already at highway speed half way up the ramp, then finding a slot to merge into is a lot easier for both you, and for the drivers you'll be merging in front of.

It takes two eyes and a right foot...

along with the headlights, a real bitch with me is large diesel pick up trucks. You know the ones, lift kits, custom parts, stupid decals, expensive mag wheels and mud tires. AMostly around here, you find them parked under an Oak Tree, next to a double wide.
They always run those damn driving lights and their brights at the same time.
They will NOT dim them. I have burned out the retinas of more than one F250 SuperDuty driver with those 100 watt Hellas of mine when they don't ease up with the lights.

Over the summer I drove cross country as there were some middle America states I'd never seen. I can live with the green light minnie comas of Fla., the I have the right away/didn't you see me driving Chinatown' ers, the 100 mph hey it's Utah Mormons having to go make another kid... but hands down, Missouri has the biggest collection of worst drivers period. Ignorant, dumbfuks never bothered to learn the rules of the road people you've ever met.

You're in the Sierra Nevada foothills, I believe. Lots of places in this country, entering an interstate means all lanes have traffic. It also means you can have cars behind you on the ramp coming up to highway speed and jamming on the brakes to come to a near stop can cause real problems. Under these circumstances, drivers in the right lane can't easily change to the left lane to give entering traffic more room.

It also means that if you're any kind of decent human being, you compromise a little on maintaining speed. You - sometimes - ease up or even touch your brakes to allow entering traffic to merge - even if the sign on the ramp says they should yield.

It's not only polite, but it also keeps traffic moving safely.

Of course, some people are selfish fuqqs by nature, don't give a schidt about anybody but themselves, and would cheerfully run a soccer mom into a guardrail before giving up a single car length of space.

I'm sure you're not a selfish fuqq, of course.

I hate pricks that aren't smart enough to know their foot can come off the gas like the road is just for them. Selfish.

If you wanna see idiot drivers, drive thru that $hithole Houston,Tx. I dont see how people do it. They could never pay me enough to drive thru that daily. Worst traffic in the USA, well maybe besides Los Angeles!

As you come up the lane - the shiny thing hanging off your driver's door is a MIRROR - will tell you what's happening OR you can simply look over your left shoulder. It's not difficult to tell if you're matching traffic or not. People do it every day, often enough that when people DON'T - it sticks out.

What I'm talking about are the aholes who come up the ramp, never look anywhere (I can see your head turn or not, your absence of a turn signal is noted as well) and simply just merge left while being 25 to 30 mph slower than prevailing traffic.

Asking me, in the right lane and doing 70 in a 65 with traffic to the left and right behind me to simply drop my speed 30 mph so you can get on is damned dangerous.

If you can see them approaching, don't you try to immediately make space for them?

You probably do, know I do. Some people do make it hard, but when I see merging traffic (as I'm usually in the right lane unless passing), I start trying to make a space for them.

Nah. Been through Houston, Miami is worse.

Do if I can - I practice the SMITH system of driving. Drilled into my head when I got my CDL 17 years ago but there isn't always room - particularly as we're on year 3 of a 10 year construction project in this town on 41. (give or take)

Point is - don't do 35/40 up the ramp and simply move over because I GUARANTEE if you pile into someone - you're at fault.

Houston/San Antonio aren't much fun. I never minded Chicago traffic.

Lump 'em all together, and explain to me again,
how there's no legitimate use for automatic weapons.

ever watch Canada's WORST DRIVER on TV ,blow your mind it will.



norm

The angles and curves on a ramp I use pretty continuously are such that you can't see traffic until you're WAY committed - the state DOT needs to add a merge/acceleration lane there.
BTW - I mostly drive 65 on the interstate, as it saves me about 15% on fuel - and I typically spend between 12, and 14 thousand a year on fuel.

Take your meds...you're making zero sense. You just showed yourself that you don't know the rules of the road. You're "That Guy" LOL

Pretty clear from this thread that the problem drivers will not change their ways.
It's so simple to merge, but it's easier to demand that the drivers already moving with the traffic flow get out of the way.

We better not discuss parking lots

If you think I was making zero sense then you are quite drunk right now.

Agree 110% [with the caveat that in some instances, you have to make room for the person merging if you're in the right lane].

This doesn't mean you should need to slam on the brakes, but it's a 2-person process to make the 'zippering' process happen correctly. Needing to hit the brakes and drop from 60 to 40 so some special person can mergo into 60mph traffic at 40mph should never happen. That said, the person merging needs to do their damndest to get up to speed ASAP. They merging party are the ones who have the responsibility to YIELD but, everyone also has the "we live in a society" obligation to make this fast and easy... if that makes one bit of sense.

It takes a village. And every village has their idiot. In fact, I'm sure they all have more than one.

And those idiots all have obama bumper stickers.

You should see the Johnny-Rebs tryin' to navigate roads with snow on em' up here.... Lotsa people would buy tix to see it..

When I have to go down thru California, you can really feel like you are in a zoo... same thing going thru Potland and Seattle...

Potland and especially Seattle can be a real parking lot...in any direction...

When I go thru California, I set the cruise control on 5 mph under the speed limit, stay in the right lane and watch most of the world go by... less stress and I am not competing with the rest of the traffic 'jockeying' for position...

around town and on rural 2 lanes, I have learned to be a defensive driver long ago, and not get in a hurry... that avoids a lot of stress associated with competition of trying to maintain 5 mph over the speed limit, or people just hauling azz thru town...

we have tons of old ladies around here that blow right thru stop signs and red lights with their head in a fog...or the ones that burn thru traffic like some 17 year old teeny bopper...

me and my son have learned to make jokes about those types...
either they are late for bingo starting or they have to get home before their cat has an anxiety attack, because they stayed too long at Walmart...

gotta admit tho, people with California plates or Washington plates bother me going thru our town, totally ignoring speed limit signs like the ones on Hwy 199 or 99 that are 6 to 8 feet high.. like it doesn't apply to them....firing thru red lights just as they change, or your light changes to green, but you have to wait to make sure 3 more cars aren't flying thru the intersection...usually Having Washington or California plates..

To me, it all comes down to common courtesy, or lack of.

I spent a few hours on the Interstate this weekend. The usual annoyances going out - people who get all horned up to pass you, then they pull back in your lane and slow down. Never have understood why more people don't use the cruise and just make a steady speed.

Or the ones who like to drive alongside big rigs, matching their speed, to make sure no one can pass them. Eventually they get clear of the truck, they speed back up to make it harder for you to pass them.

Or when and how to turn on the headlights!!!

I saw something I'd never seen before this past Sat.

Was driving south on I-15 (left lane) and some goober had front-ended the guard rail on the left side (probably texting and drifted over).

he was trying to move from the left ER strip to the right. yes, across 5 lanes of traffic doing 80MPH

he was crossways in our lane, about 3 cars ahead.

FYI, my antilock brake system is working just fine, thank you

You can tell who's a native Idaho driver - he's the one that just begins to use his turn signal long after you already figured out where he's going. The other half of that game, lately, are those who close the gap as soon as you signal your intention to change lanes.

I drive every day by an on-ramp that enters the interstate uphill and blind. It takes a certain amount of unjustified faith for people to attempt to merge there at any speed. Drivers approaching the ramp on the interstate can see this early enough to accommodate, but few do. Instead, they do their best to leave a little less than a car length behind the car ahead of them. I always move over to the left lane when approaching this ramp - incurring the wrath of those "left for passing only" drivers who think My 5 over the speed limit isn't fast enough.

BTW - Idaho has no "left for passing only" law. We do have lanes designated as such by sign - but not a universal law or rule.

Driving really is easy, if you lose the ego, put down the phone, and just pay attention.

BTW - I'd say the phone is one of the biggest driving problems - but it isn't just a driving problem.

My long-standing pet peeve has been the driver who is too stupid to make sure he won't get hit by a train (another easy task that some just can't make the effort for). And if he survives, has the gall to say he didn't see/hear it coming.

But my current irritant is all those drivers who can't figure out how to use a roundabout.....refuse to figure it out....and/or campaign against the construction where they make sense, on the basis that "roundabouts are stupid anywhere". One of the best and most cost-efficient time and gas saving devices - and these people are too scared to use them. If they are too ignorant or afraid to learn to use them, they should just go another way and let the rest of us benefit from them.

Our first winter storm hit this morning. Very icy with blowing snow. Lots of energy workers here from other states. Some are getting a quick lesson about the coefficient of friction.

Or Minnesota...

Man, you guys are sure describin' them MN drivers to a TEE... '


LMAO..

Snow is one thing, ice is another.

I can remember cautiously driving I-80 thru Rock Springs Wy. one time, while admiring that carnage of what you speak...

What do you think is under the snow? It was 65 F yesterday, warm pavement. Rained at 2 AM then temperatures plummeted. Rain turned to snow but pavement is still warm what forms when snow melts the freezes? It is currently 14 F and dropping..... you guys and your ice is slick but snow isn't

I bitch about the long winters, having to plow the driveway, high heating bills and all that stuff that makes winter fairly miserable, but I do love that we lose about 80% of our traffic when they all go back down South. Shaves a good 10 minutes of my commute just being able to drive the speed limit.

Saw that exact thing happen in Billings once. On a hill a few miles west a truck lost traction and blocked the right lane. I got by (in a pickup) but I guess another truck tried to pass and got stuck beside him. Shut down the entire West bound.

At least the ones you lose are smart enough to leave. We lose about 20% every winter too - but only until they buy the replacement for their wrecked vehicle.

to me there are two types of drivers in Minnesota...

Those from the Twin Cities Metro Area, and then the rest of the state... I don't have much of an issue with 'the rest of the state's" drivers....

my biggest pet peeve about Twin Cities Drivers, is what I use to call the Minnesota Left Lane Hangers Club...my ex wife was one...

They come off an exit ramp on 494 or 694, go straight across to the left lane, without signalling and oblivious to anyone else coming up behind them.... then they get in the left lane and drive 5 mph UNDER the speed limit, and then 200 yds from their exit, they cut across the other lanes of traffic, again with no turn signals and take their exit ramp...

My ex was typical of the type... she's doing 5 to 10 mph under the speed limit in the left lane, and I'd tell her to speed up or get over to the right lane... her response is "I'm going fast enough, if someone behind me wants to go faster they can pass me in one of the other lanes..." would drive me nuts....

They know what turn signals are in Minnesota.. they don't use the manual ones with the car... they use Telepathy Blinkers... everyone behind them should know which way they are going to go...

When my ex wife's car had one burn out or a head light, I'd tell her she had to stop by the auto parts store and get either some more Blinker Fluid or some Head Light Fluid... the low beam stuff as the high beam fluid was still good...

Correct. Since when did it become the guy doing 70s responsibility to move over.

However, about two months ago was behind a local police car and watched him roll thru three consecutive stop signs. Brake lights came on, but just for a tap and go.

Can't be half as entertaining as spectating the Freeways in places like Tennessee or Georgia when they get ice storms....

you'd think they'd learn they don't know how to drive on that stuff.. but they never seem to...

Cash cow for the automotive repair business....

It may not be that guy's responsibility (depending on state, I guess), but it's also pretty stupid to not avoid a collision that you can see coming right out your front window. Demanding or expecting another driver to give way to your rightful place at 70mph is not a plan for longevity.

I know...defensive driving has gone out of fashion.

I always thought, if vehicles are coming down an exit ramp, it was common courtesy to yield to them, as they are having to look over their shoulders and those approaching the merge lane are looking forward...

for some reason, people are in just too much of a hurry, even if they are only going a few exits down the freeway...

how much time do they really save, in ratio to the stress of acting like they are in some sort of race....

Central Indiana - so like that kiddie course they call Indianapolis? Yep, that whole 65/70/465 thing you got going on there is rough. Like a bunny. A cuddly, cuddly bunny...

I've spent a bunch of hours behind the wheel in: DC, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Chile, San Francisco, Minneapolis/Saint Paul, New Zealand, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Edinburgh, NYC, Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Denver and the absolute kicker of them all: China. Heck, China is so crazy, that I once got off a flight at JFK straight from Hong Kong, drove through Manhattan, and was amazed at how disciplined and courteous the NY drivers were.

The thing is, in all those places, life was better when merging traffic entered the slow lane at the speed of traffic. Whether that be at 1 mph in a jam or 80 mph (the speed limit on I15 south of SLC)

Planning on entering at 30 mph below the speed of traffic flow, and you're a moron, as well as a menace to those other drivers that will have to jam on their brakes instead of making minor speed adjustments to let you in (if they have to do anything at all). Sure, sometimes major adjustments need to be made to let someone enter. But to hobble yourself by planning on entering at a huge speed differential to the flow of traffic is the act of (as the thread title states) an "Idiot Driver".

Entering off a ramp at 30 under the speed limit would indeed be idiotic. My MIL is one of those - but I actually see very little of that. The ramp I mentioned earlier is uphill steep enough that some of those lacking in power do good to get up to about 55 in a 65 though (also some commercial vehicles that barely make 45), and it amazes me that so many drivers - many of them "professional" - do nothing to allow them a safe entry. Yeah - I avoid that on-ramp if I'm pulling a load...but not everyone knows how bad it is before they're committed.

Hard to courteous when you have another vehicle passing you on the left. They make side mirrors for a reason and the person merging should know how to use them without turning their head.

At one time up here people would blend into the traffic flow. Today it seems to be a lost art.
I'll move if I can and depending on the situation slow down if necessary. However, with a tailgater in the rear and a car on the left things can get interesting.

Best driving safety tip I've found is to try and maximize the amount of air between you and other vehicles while still going somewhere around the speed limit, but I'll temporarily drive over it to become surrounded with air if it is possible.

Well, a couple of points here...

If you think that using the side mirror is sufficient when merging, then you are also part of the problem. That's another thing I see that people do that gets them in trouble. That mirror has huge blind spots. You sure you didn't know that?

And the other point is that if you are thinking ahead and looking ahead, you can be where you need to be to help others around you without having others in your way.

Oh - a third point. It's easier for you to delay that person speeding in the left lane or behind you in the right than it is for the merging traffic to squeeze into that moving two vehicles length that you left in front of you.

Defensive driving is as much about using your head (for driving, while driving) as it is about following a set of (sometimes questionable) rules or "rights".

I know my mirror has blind sports, but as you mentioned I plan ahead and don't rely on them at the last second.

As far as your last sentence you missed the point. I'm not about to have or cause a wreck because of what may or may not be my rights. The point was many around here just automatically assume I will find a way to let them in and to hell with the rest of us.

Funny that I for some reason don't have trouble merging onto the highway and finding my place. Of course Pittsburgh is small beans compared to what goes on in other places. On the way Grouse hunting we went around Chicago during heavy traffic. Insanity and a friend said it is only a matter of time until there is a wreck. Which only took around 30minutes or so to happen ahead of us.

Come up from NJ on what I think is I 295N during rush hour. Traffic flowing at around 80mph and everyone on each others ass. Yep not to long until some played bumper cars. I'll take the long way home next time if I am going to hit rush hour traffic. Is that defense driving?

There's worse around the country, but it's busy here most of the time.

During the day, traffic is too heavy for everybody to fit into the right hand lane. Doesn't matter what the traffic regulations say, mathematics says everybody keeping to the right is impossible.

Lots of on-ramps around here are near blind or close to it. Use the side-view mirror, somebody said? That's really funny.

Lots of times, you've got traffic tight in the right hand lane. Traffic in front of you on the ramp is also tight. You get up to the right lane, you pick a spot between two cars already in the right lane and you nose your car into it.

The guy behind the spot you're aiming for? Most of the time he's cool about it. He eases up on the gas and lets you in because a few minutes before he saw you, he was entering traffic the same way you just did and somebody let him in.

Every now and then, though, there's some raging hemorrhoid who's screaming, "Hey! Hey! I'm doing speed limit! It's not my responsibility to let you into the lane!"

And then he's leaning on the horn, shouting obscenities, rolling down the window to flip you the bird, then pulling in front of you to make sure you can see him flipping you the bird.

Some guys just need to be pistol-whipped in the face.

There is a wildcard to this; having that egg eyed semi driver 3 feet off your rear bumper just because you're going the speed limit in the far right lane. They kinda fudge the equation.

Well, it's nice that you have a place. I see people struggle with that every day on a couple of our older ramps, where visibility is very short. The drivers who refuse to give way or even watch what's going on around them make it very difficult to merge. We have these two particular ramps like this that everyone knows about, yet even the locals still insist that they must stay nose to tail in the right lane while the left lane is vacant. Pretty easy to sympathize with the driver trying to jockey his way in through that.

This is why guys who demand some sort of unbreakable honor to the left lane just crack me up - almost as much as the ones who are afraid to use it when it makes sense.

Driving around Chicago makes you a good driver.



Travis

Sorry, I can't do anything about your goofy weather

Or else. I've always maintained that driving in the California cities does the same.

They do ok. But they're not as skilled as somebody that has driven around Chicago.

They're not nearly as polite either.



Travis

They can't handle anything that even looks like ice either.

Because it's always sunny and warm in Kalifornia...

I kid you not, about 20 years ago, I saw some sort of front wheel drive car pootling along with a single chain on one rear tire. This was at Mt Pinos in Ventura County, to the north of LA. There was a "Carry chains beyond this point" sign on the road, and dozens of "El A" folks were chaining up. It was dry all the way to the top, save for a couple 25 yard stretches that the GF's Jetta did with its eyes closed. Sometimes momentum is your friend

Battue - the curves, angles, and altitudes of my "favorite" ramp are such that an 18 wheeler can be beside you, and you can't see them. Even when slightly behind, the through traffic won't give you a break - even though it's just common sense! I believe that our truckers (as a whole) have become some of the worst on the road - a crying shame as I filled out many a logbook, back when society actually cared for more than just themselves.

I've driven a fair amount in a lot of places. One snowy Saturday in Michigan, when I had to drive from Detroit to Muskegon, I was passed 3 times by people who I later re-passed, when they had slid off the road.

Another time in Connecticut, traffic had ground to a halt in a snow storm, on a 2 lane road. There were four of us there for a training class. We're a 1/2 mile from the hotel, and stuck. I spot a parking place and suggest we park and come back for the rental car after dinner. We park, start walking to the hotel, and see the cause of the traffic jam. A guy in an old rear wheel drive car is sitting crossways in the road, blocking both lanes. Both hands on the steering wheel, and he's staring straight ahead in a catatonic state. The rear wheels are spinning about 130 mph and the car is just sitting there. No one seemed eager to approach him

Yankees can't drive in the winter any better than Southerners

That reminds me Pat of one time I was driving down thru Illinois on I 55 or 57, and there had been a blizzard...

In weather like that, I use to be able to do 45 mph relatively safely in my old Volvo 240 Wagon, when the snow plows had sorta been out.... hydrophilic snows on the back of it..

heading toward St Louis, I got passed by some Afro Ghetto Guys in a Beat Up Buick Electra, semi bald tires on it... 4 of them, barreling along, shucking and jiving, getting stoned ( you could see them passing the joint around)...

the storm had been bad enough, the highway didn't have many cars out on it...

but these guys passed me, and ended up buried out in the median down the road...

FOUR TIMES before I made it to St Louis...


have driven many a long trip on winter Midwest Interstates...being a salesman covering 5 to 7 states...

in non metro areas, the same thing would repeat itself all the time... I'd be going down the interstate doing 40 to 45 mph in my trusty Volvo...I'd be passing most of the cars on the road..

a string of traffic would be following me...

then someone in a heavy loaded semi or a 4WD big vehicle like a full sized pick up or Suburban would pass me and everyone would start following them... and pass me...

Down the highway, the lead vehicle and several following him would end up off the road... and then everyone would slow down to a crawl again.. and I'd pass them again, doing my 40 to 45 mph...

and that would be the scenario 500 to 700 miles home...

even in snow country, people tend to have no confidence so they end up following someone else, instead of setting their own safe speed on their vehicle...and tend to want to follow the person making the best time, until that vehicle loses control, and then they are back at a crawl again...

I always did that... drive AROUND Chicago...

WAAAY AROUND it...

only time I'd go thru Chicago on a trip is if it was after midnight, and the roads were relatively clear, and make sure I was thru it before 4 AM...

Same with NYC or when I go thru LA going down to my folks who retired NW of San Diego...