Yesterday, Paul and I traveled almost 200 miles round trip on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to visit friends who live near Philly. Every time I come home from a turnpike trip, I feel lucky to be alive!
These are the three most dangerous things I see on the turnpike:
1. People do not use their turn signals while changing lanes. This baffles me because using a turn signal isn't a hard thing to do! This is especially dangerous because a lot of people....
2. Cut you off to pass in the right hand lane (without using their turn signal to at least warn you that they are about to cut you off!) I understand sometimes someone is being slow and you just have to pass in the right hand lane, but don't cut off the driver who is already in that lane, minding their own business!
3. RIDING. ASSES. I see people do it all the time. They speed up right behind another car. There is barely five feet between them and they're going 75. I get it, it's the car's way of saying "I want to pass you, get out of my way!" but it's sooooooo dangerous! This doesn't happen to me a lot since I stay in the right hand lane, but I see it happening.
I feel like I have to drive very defensively on the turnpike. It's not a highway you can zone out on, in my opinion! In fact, on the way home last night we passed an accident. An SUV was upside down halfway up (yes, UP) a grassy embankment and a sedan was right side up on the embankment, totally smashed. When we passed, there were police officers but it didn't seem like there was anyone in the cars and there were no ambulances. My guess is any passengers had already been taken to the hospital. It was so surreal to see. I hope everyone is okay.
What are the most dangerous things you see drivers do?
Are you guilty of any of these dangerous habits?
Are you guilty of any of these dangerous habits?
Commuting into Miami 5 days a week over a 5+ year span I dealt with all of these things. You definitely learn to drive by picking up on habits people exhibit outside of the legal norms. For example you can tell someone is probably going to get over a lane even if they don't signal if you see their head look to one side. Driving in rush hour traffic I learned to look for and pick up on all these little habits. I always would signal because I don't trust other people to put in the effort to look for these little things and plus they shouldn't have to.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I hate most is when someone is driving super fast and weaves in and our of traffic by just barely squeezing in and out. That's putting other people's lives in serious danger and is so inconsiderate. They may trust in their own driving skills or even be trained in it but when you make such close calls you don't know how the cars around you will react. What if you scare someone and they do something unexpected and you cause a multi-car crash? It makes me so mad.
I bet there are so many behaviors we predict other drivers are going to do and it isn't even conscious anymore, we just do it on instinct. I can usually tell when someone is about to cut me off but it is ridiculous that I am the one that has to look out for that.
DeleteI see weavers too! I mean, I probably only saw like 3 weavers on this trip, but I agree with you, it's so dangerous, especially the scare factor. I get a huge rush of anxiety that comes over me when a car speeds up on me out of nowhere and rides my ass. I am instantly a worse driver because I know they are there and I worry that if I go to get over, they are going to quickly try to pass me on the right. Because that has happened before almost causing a crash because they can't just wait two seconds for me to get over....
I know there are LOTS of cars accidents and driving is VERY dangerous, but I am surprised there aren't even MORE accidents...
I hate how expensive it is to drive on the turnpike now! I see these things on all busy highways though so I feel like I always have to be a defensive driver which scares me because I need to pay attention to my own driving let alone watch out for everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThe scariest thing I think I saw was on route 80 ( I think). This was many years ago. We got passed by a grey eclipse sports car going VERY FAST and I remember saying "that car is going to get pulled over or have an accident". Well, when we met up with it further up the road it was laying on the side of the road on its roof!
It cost us over $30 round trip to take the turnpike! It is getting really expensive!
DeleteOMG your story about the eclipse is so scary! Something similar happened to me once. I wasn't on a big highway, so the car was prob only going like 70, but is was VERY fast for the type of road we were on. Later down the road I saw it hit a tree and the driver was climbing out of it! I called 911 and that was the first time I ever had to dial 911.
I only drive into work 2 days per week but I used to drive up I-25. Not anymore. Way too stressful. I can take a really scenic drive to work and I think it is like 5 minutes longer. Totally worth it! Totally.
ReplyDeleteOmg with only 5 minutes difference, I agree that would be way more worth it! I take "back roads" to work as well. So much less stressful. And I NEVER hit traffic.
DeleteBad drivers are my biggest pet peeve and there are EVERYWHERE.
ReplyDeleteAnd they are definitely in california!
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