stupid drivers

[O2BBubbleFree]

Hi all,

I've lived in or visited a lot of places with bad drivers (Mexico, Thailand, etc.) but having spent the last year in Ankara, the Turkish take all prizes. I saw at least one wreck per week on the 5 km drive to work. Here are the most common ones I saw:

1. You regularly see someone driving on the wrong side of major roads. If they're entering a divided road and can't turn left, they just drive down the wrong side. I saw several head-on collisions on divided boulevards. Very common to see two-way traffic on BOTH sides of the median. Can be very interesting if the median stops, and the road goes back to undivided.

2. Cruising down the highway, if they miss their turn they just hit the brakes and throw it in reverse. Doesn't matter what might be coming up behind. I came off the highway doing about 45km on a blind exit ramp and some bright individual was backing back down the ramp. Guess he didn't want to exit after all... Good thing I wasn’t exiting at normal Turkish speeds.

3. Turning right from the inside lane of a three-lane road, without checking who's beside you or in your blind spot. Just wait 'til the last minute and crank the wheel. Very common sight.

4. Not driving related, but indicative. You may have heard that during the big elections last year in Istanbul. Whoever was responsible for inflating several hundred balloons evidently couldn’t find (or maybe couldn’t afford) helium so used hydrogen. Guess he never heard of the Hindenburg. Best guess is that someone popped ‘one’ of the balloons with a cigarette...

If there are Turkish listening, I apologize if I have offended, but you guys really need to learn common driving practices and courtesies used by the rest of the world if you expect to benefit from all your outstanding tourist opportunities. I don’t blame individuals for not obeying your laws when so many of you don’t even know them, and no one is held accountable to them.

 

[dlndavid]

I saw a car that police were attempting to stop on a freeway. The (ahem) woman driving stopped in the middle lane of the highway. Transports and cars were all swerving to avoid running both down. The officer yelled at her to pull onto the shoulder so eventually she did about a click further down the road. The officer then reamed her out for a good 5 minutes for being stupid.

Diverlady

I encounter stupid drivers all the time, and they always seem to have a Raiders sticker somewhere on their vehicle.

 

[LAWDIVER]

Here is another good one, I was stopped at a red light one time and the next thing I know I have been rear ended so hard that I was pinned between the seat and the steering wheel and had to be extracted by EMS (I had minor injuries). My car ended up 75 feet from where it had started. The women who rear ended me said she did not see me. It's kind of hard to miss my car green and gold stripes down the sides, big words that say sheriff, and if that is not enough the light bar with blue lights on top should have been a clue. Two witnesses that stayed with me while awaiting EMS said she was talking on her cell phone at the time of the collision.

 

[simbrooks]

It's kind of hard to miss my car green and gold stripes down the sides, big words that say sheriff, and if that is not enough the light bar with blue lights on top should have been a clue.

So you are an Australian policeman then??

Sorry to hear about that, i have been rear-ended once and it was my ex-GF's truck, thankfully i was only pushed 5ft into the huge van in front, but still a good shunt.

 

[cornfed]

We were talking about stupid drivers at work and I was wondering about the fools you have run into. The pros, police, firefighters, EMTs, and insurance people, must have some real good stories.

I posted this in another section a while back...

I'm a volunteer fireman and I was at the station the other night when got a call for a wreck. In the middle of packaging up the patient we heard tires screaching on the other side of the median. I turned around just in time to see someone barely miss another car that had STOPPED (not slowed down but completely STOPPED) in the middle lane on a 6 lane highway. I guess he couldn't see what we were doing so he figured he should stop to get a better look. *shrug*

 

[FreeFloat]

Wow, that pales in comparison to the only real good stoopid driver story I have.

Driving down one of the Interstates in IL - we're doing about 65 mph, and this SUV blazes by us as if we were standing still. The driver is steering with his wrists or knees or something - because he's busy playing a hand held video game. Guess just driving wasn't 'challenging' enough........

 

[CBulla]

When I get time, I've got a few dooozies from my vollie time at the beach fire dept

 

[chrisch]

Recipie for disaster.

1. Motor vehicle
2. Human being

I read somewhere that the modern automobile has a 128K processor in the engine management system. That makes the car the smart half of the duo.

Not driven in Turkey but Italy is worst of the EU countries. The Netherlands is best.

US drivers are awful and brainless but at least slow.

I'll be pleased when the yanks finally use up the last of the gas....

Chris

 

[LAWDIVER]

So you are an Australian policeman then??

I live in Florida, here all Sheriff's offices use blue lights on their vehicles.

 

[LAWDIVER]

I can't count the number of wrecks I have worked were rubber-neckers are so interested in what I am doing and not watching the road that they cause another accident.