1. Home
  2. Nissan Autos
  3. Moron of the week

Moron of the week

Well here is my moron of the week story -

I was on US-64 heading west at Rock Mount, NC around 1 pm yesterday (Sunday). I am in the right lane doing a little over the speed limit (65 mph speed limit). This part of the road is two lanes in each direction. There is plenty of room to right for a break down lane, but things are really tight on the left (there is a narrow paved shoulder, a little dirt shoulder, and a hard steel guardrail to the left). Uber driver in a 2 Door Civic is carving through traffic. He was probably doing 15 over when he passed me. In the left lane is an Elantra, probably doing 5 over in the process of catch and passing a truck that was going the speed limit (or maybe a little lower). Uber driver never slows down, whips to the right lane, shoots past the Elantra, then literally squeezed in between the Elantra and the truck. The Elantra driver has to hit the left shoulder to avoid a collision. I can swear I saw parts fly off the Civic as he shot through the gap (definitely something long and solid was in the air, may have been off the Elantra or from the shoulder). The Civic never slows. The truck never notices anything and keeps going. The Elantra driver is about to hit the guardrail and then in an act of stupidity locks up his brakes (huge dust cloud). Next he jerks the damn car back onto the pavement. At this point I was sure I was toast. I pictured the Elantra going broadside in front of me. So I started braking hard. The Elantra swerves into my lane, but the driver somehow manages to straighten he car out without hitting anything. Meanwhile the Civic is gone.

This is a perfect case of a jerk Uber driver almost getting someone killed while blithely speeding off. If the idiot in the Civic had waited 20 seconds, the Elantra would have finished his pass and we all would have had a more pleasant day. One last irony, about 10 mile down the road, I caught and passed the Civic (if it wasn't the same car, it was it's twin). The idiot driver (a white guy) was yakking away on this cell phone, although how he could hear anything over the fart can exhaust is a mystery to me. It was louder in my car than my radio. The guy in the Elantra had taken the first exit after the near death experience - probably to clean his shorts.

Ed

Reply to
Ed White
Loading thread data ...

Thanks for sharing. It is not a rare story, unfortunately.

Just like your mom, we're just glad everyone is safe.

-- R Flowers

Reply to
R Flowers

The Civic driver was probably making a 911 call to report that he was hit by a hit and run driver.

Reply to
Willshak

And did you DO anything about uber driver?

Reply to
Ragnar

Reply to
Michael Marshburn

No merging was involved, unless you include the Elantra driver almost merging with the gaurd rail becasue the Civic drived to drive through his front fender.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

What should I have done?

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

Exactly. As frustrating as it is, "doing something" would only make things worse. Calling the police is a lost cause, as they are only interested in illegal behavior they can observe.

-- R Flowers

Reply to
R Flowers

And write tickets for..

Reply to
Steve T

You could have called the highway patrol.

Reply to
Ragnar

Well, no. They will act on a civilian complaint. I've done it before.

Reply to
Ragnar

Hey, I don't have a Civic.

It's an interesting posting, because I suppose most everybody has had similar experiences & observations to stew about.

Usually these things become soon forgotten.

Perhaps they come back in bad dreams days later.

What can be done?

Notification of police

License plate memorization/reporting w/notification to police

Post a note to a n.g. about an un-civic minded sob

and...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Common civilian car mounted cameras a la police cars.

In this age & day of digital this 'n that with beaucoup security cameras a-plenty,

a new market has just opened-up in my humble/oily mind.

Plus a Fox type of viewer vehicle video program, narrated by ...should it be a comedian or a sheriff from Arizona or both?

That dump truck that the brick falls-out-of, or that kicks-up a rock to your peck the windshield--they've happened to yours truly, but I doubt if a camera ...well, what the helle do I know about technical camera stuff.

I hope somebody with a mind should read this and run a grandslam 99 yard touchdown with the concept.

Ed White wrote:

Reply to
Robert Cohen

Can you share the story?

-- R Flowers

Reply to
R Flowers

No story to it. Called the Texas DPS about a guy towing a cattle trailer in an unsafe manner. About 10 minutes later the DPS car in the opposite lane of I-20 crossed over and pulled him over. Don't know if he got a ticket, but he got the point.

Reply to
Ragnar

That's funny because I followed a truckdriver who was obviously very sleepy from Waco, Tx to south of Belton, Tx on I-35. The driver was going from shoulder to shoulder and that is not an exaggeration. I began calling 911 from the time I got behind the truck until I got off I-35 in Belton which spanned a period of at least 30 minutes. I never saw a single state trooper, county sheriff, or city police for the entire trip. Not sure if the driver made his destination. What's sad is Temple, Tx usually has a speed trap set up on I-35 and I notified them at least 10 minutes before we even hit Temple city limits and still not one officer was spotted. I can only hope the driver of the truck made it safely without hurting anyone. Another time, I had a person pass me on the shoulder of the Interstate at over 70 mph because he could not wait for the person in the fast lane to get by me. I notified DPS and they told me it wasn't illegal to pass on the shoulder. I explained that it was on the Interstate and gave them the description and license plate number of the vehicle. The officer told me that since he had not observed the behavior, there was nothing he could do about it. I understood that, but I still don't know why he told me it wasn't illegal to pass on the shoulder of the Interstate at highway speeds. ?? Color me puzzled.

Reply to
~Poorboy~

~Poorboy~ wrote: I understood that, but I still don't know why he told me it wasn't

IIRC, its legal in TX to pass on the right.

Reply to
Ragnar

On the Interstate? It's not like traffic was stopped, we were clipping along at highway speed. The driver was just impatient.

Reply to
~Poorboy~

Nope, perfectly legal. TX state driver's handbook, page 6-2

formatting link

Reply to
Ragnar

Reply to
Larry Colombo

Quote from the above handbook:

-------------------------------- PASSING ON THE RIGHT In Texas and many other states, you may pass on the right only when con- ditions permit you to do so safely, such as:

  1. The road is clear of parked vehicles or other things and is wide enough for two or more lanes in each direction.
  2. You are on a one-way road.
  3. You may pass on a paved shoulder when the vehicle you are passing is slowing or stopped on the main travelled portion of the highway, disabled, or preparing to make a left turn. Do not pass on the right by driving off the paved portion of the highway.

-------------------------- end quote

There are restrictions on when you can pass on the shoulder. I don't know how it's enforced in Texas, using the shoulder as merely an alternate to passing on the left does not seem to be covered. Anyway, the original "moron of the week" was speeding and driving recklessly as well.

-- R Flowers

Reply to
R Flowers

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.