Really?

My dad is full of stories, so I'm sure I will be sharing many of them on here. When I was 16 and preparing for my driver's license, he told me a story about his co-workers son. When the son was taking his driver's test he ran over a Stop sign. He obviously didn't pass.

Really? How does that happen?

Not Everyone Can Be So Lucky

After posting that last blog I thought of another story my friend told me last year. While driving back to school from winter break he was going 80+ on the highway. You would think he had bad luck when a siren went off and a cop pulled out behind him. Well, thinking he was smart he sped up and got off the nearest exit ramp. As the cop sped up to follow him as he pulled off the exit ramp, the cop hit ice and the car spun out. Needless to say my friend ended up lucky in the end and didn't get a ticket.

Don't be that idiot. Not everyone has that kind of luck. If a cop puts his sirens on, don't try to out-run him... it usually doesn't turn out good in the end.

The Need For Speed

So my dad's cousin once told me a story that I thought I would share on here. One time while he was driving on the highway he happened to look in his rearview mirror and saw some idiot behind him flying down the highway. As he continued to keep looking in his rearview mirror, this guy kept getting closer and closer, swerving between all of the cars. As soon as the idiot got up next to him my dad's cousin looked over to realize it was his brother.

Don't be the idiot that someone actually knows. There's nothing worse that being a dumb driver and later having someone point it out to you.

Petal to the Metal... At Least to the Speed Limit!

According to an article on CNN.com, in several states you can be pulled over for driving too slow. I think this should be a required law for EVERY state. I don't know about you, but I know one of my biggest pet peeves is when the person in front of me is going way under the speed limit. Granted, most of the time this seems to happen the person seems to be on their cell phone not paying attention, but it happens more often than it should.

Close to my parents house there is a pretty sharp curve that is marked on the road. This curved is marked with reflected pillars and flashing speed limit signs that say 30 mph. If there is a flashing sign that says 30 mph, do you think that means the original speed limit was 25 mph or under? Are the flashing lights there telling you to speed up when you get to the sharp curve? NO! The sign is telling you to slow down, meaning you should have been going faster than 25 mph to begin with. The worst is when this one person is going 10 mph under the speed limit, so the huge train of cars behind them has to go even slower.

Please, for all of our sakes, go the speed limit. Those signs are there for a reason.

The Plain Dealer Agrees

Incase you didn't get a chance to pick up a Plain Dealer today and see the front page, be sure to follow this link: http://www.cleveland.com/frontpage/index.ssf/2010/03/the_plain_dealers_front_page_f_275.html


The Plain Dealer hits home with my blog with their front page article titled "Dangers of drivers who talk or text on phones coming under attack"

Just Surge and Merge!

While thinking about a comment on my previous blog about Clevelanders not knowing how to merge, I thought about the one thing that annoys me the most when it comes to merging. This would be the on-ramp. I don't think it sank into very many peoples minds when they were told during Drivers Ed that you have to ACCELERATE when you get onto the on-ramp.

The other day I was getting on 71 to drive to Cleveland. The person in front of me on the on-ramp refused to go any faster than 35mph. I don't own the nicest car, so I really have to be up to the speed limit by the time I go to merge. I can't just gun it once I get up there otherwise my car would probably break down.

What bothers me the most in these situations is that I know everyone already on the highway is probably swearing at me in their own cars because I'm going a lot slower than they are once I merge. I don't want to be that person that is pissing everyone off. I know I personally can't stand those people. Unfortunately, there are times when you get stuck behind someone who just has a hard time putting their foot on the gas petal.

In the Digest of Ohio Motor Vehicles it even says "when you enter the on-ramp, accelerate. If your car is moving 30 miles per hour, it will be nearly impossible to merge with traffic moving twice as fast."

America's Worst Driver

I'm guessing it isn't just a Northern Ohio thing-- Today I saw a commercial for a show on The Travel Channel called America's Worst Driver: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Americas_Worst_Driver

I'm not sure if I'm relieved to know that it isn't just people from Ohio that can't drive, or if I'm more worried to know that anywhere in the world that I drive I will witness dumb drivers like this. I'm interested to watch this show and see if these people drive any worse than the people I'm already witnessing drive. This week is Chicago- I'm hoping it makes Cleveland drivers look better than they really are.

Now don't get me wrong- I wouldn't call myself the world's best driver. However, I can't say I understand how some of the things I witness actually happen. I often wonder how some people managed to pass their drivers test.

Don't Use Your Phone and Drive

I honestly don't know what is worse: talking or texting on your phone while driving, or drunk driving. Just the other day I had to swerve off the road because some guy started veering into my lane while talking on his phone. My dad says in those situations he likes to get as close to the center line to scare the crap out of them. I prefer to just lay on my horn and use other graphic ways to get them to realize how stupid they're being. I will admit that there are times when I wish I had the guts to just let them hit me- getting a new car because some idiot couldn't wait until he got to his destination to talk on the phone doesn't sound like a bad idea. I find it utterly ridiculous that it has gotten so out of control that cities have started making it illegal to use your cell phone while driving. I think it would be common sense to keep your eyes on the road.

Timesonline.com wrote an interesting article about the dangers of texting while driving compared to drunk driving. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/news/article4776063.ece
As if it's not bad enough worrying that some drunk guy is going to hit us while driving, now we have to worry that someone staring at their phone is going to hit us too.

I think I could rant for hours about all of the stupid things people do while they drive. I guess I'll save that for my other blogs.