Calgary Drivers and Traffic Stories

[4X4]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Dude in a pickup towing a trailer in morning traffic today, is in the right lane and needs to get into the left turn lane. Manages to get himself stretched across all 3 lanes. Left turn lane is open, he has lots of room, just needs to pull forward, but doesn't drive forward to get out of the other two lanes until the light turns green and all traffic in all 3 lanes in front of him has cleared. Presumably because he doesn't have a lot of comfort with the dimensions of his trailer.

That was mildly irritating.

I wonder if his half assed, lazy driving, resulted in a line of cars spilling out on to another thoroughfare. He probably never thought of that, and I'm sure he's at home feeling justified in his habit of accumulating plenty of space before moving his foot from the brake to the gas.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Those people would only have had to wait another 30 seconds for rush hour to end.

Haha I know it does sound silly but when a city only has one main road, it gets busy as all hell. Throw in terribly timed lights and a traffic circle that the locals don't understand how to use and you get a legit rush hour ####show

[octothorp]

Driving along 16th ave NE in the right lane last night, I come up to a red light by North Hill, and I notice that there's a car two lanes over, sharply cutting across into the center lane (no signal, of course). I figure she's probably trying to get all the way over in to my lane, so I stop. She does come over in to my lane, never even looking over her shoulder to see me until I'm well into my lane. Light turns green and she starts out right on the bumper of the car infront of the car infront of her, and then lane-changes back into the center as soon as she's cleared the car in the center lane... again, not signaling.
So as she's working her way up through the traffic, a truck decides that he's going to do the same to her. He starts trying to work his way up through our cluster of vehicles, but doing exactly what she was doing, cutting in front of others without signalling, as though cutting off other non-offending vehicles was . And then a third vehicle, an SUV, starts doing the same, I'm not sure if because he was cut off by the car, by the truck, or just saw everyone else doing it and wanted to do the same. It was absurd, as though all regular rules of the road had broken down for a few blocks. I slowed down and hung back, some other vehicles did as well, and another one of these and I just looked at each other and shook our heads.
Eventually, just past 10th street the truck finally made his way in front of the car, slammed on his breaks to bring her to a stop, and then sped off.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

In the span of roughly half an hour just now I've seen 3 separate vehicles trying to drive down 7th Ave SW.

[woob]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Eventually, just past 10th street the truck finally made his way in front of the car, slammed on his breaks to bring her to a stop, and then sped off.

Ah yes. The "I'm going to teach you a lesson" driver. They're often times worse than the original traffic offender.

Kudos to you and the others for just hanging back while this unfolded.

[psyang]

Originally Posted by woob

Ah yes. The "I'm going to teach you a lesson" driver. They're often times worse than the original traffic offender.

Kudos to you and the others for just hanging back while this unfolded.

I witnessed something similar a couple years ago. I'm on a residential road (two-way traffic, no painted lines). I was halfway through a playground zone going 30 when a car passes me on my left going at least 60. It was pretty upsetting. Right after the playground zone (like, 2 houses later) is my destination, and I need to turn left into a driveway. I signal, slow down, no oncoming traffic - but just as I'm about to turn, a second car passes me on my left again going at least 60. A split second later he would have plowed into my turn. I was pretty angry by this time.

I pull into the driveway, get out of the car and look down the road where the two cars sped by. I see the second speeding car coming back, so I flag him down. He stops, and tells me he raced after the first speeder to try to get his license plate for driving recklessly through the playground zone. Incredible.

[Nyah]

I love it when people flip you off for beeping the horn at them when they were playing on their phone and didn't notice the light turn green in front of them. You have a nice ####ing day too, #######.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Nyah

I love it when people flip you off for beeping the horn at them when they were playing on their phone and didn't notice the light turn green in front of them. You have a nice ####ing day too, #######.

That's my second highest reason for honking. If you're staring at your lap and not paying attention, you get a honk. If you're glancing down multiple times while going slowly etc, you get a honk. I'm not an ass about it and lay on my horn, I usually give a quick couple honks to catch their attention.

[Wormius]

Another random thought - have distracted driving laws been successful?


The only change in behavior seems to be that instead of being obvious about using their cell phones, they're staring into their crotches and driving like sloths. Would the people who are distracted by their cell phones drive better if they were not trying to be sneaky about it?

[woob]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Another random thought - have distracted driving laws been successful?

My purely anecdotal observation on the matter: I would guess probably not, as the level of enforcement likely isn't there. I'm in the camp of people who didn't need such a law to make me pay attention while driving a large mass of metal combined with speed, but there's definitely a large portion of people out there who could do with some enforcement of that particular law. Someone may provide you with some real stats though.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Another random thought - have distracted driving laws been successful?


The only change in behavior seems to be that instead of being obvious about using their cell phones, they're staring into their crotches and driving like sloths. Would the people who are distracted by their cell phones drive better if they were not trying to be sneaky about it?

I'm reading this on Deerfoot so I'm guessing now.

[Lubicon]

SB on Sarcee this morning approaching Richmond Road. Light turns yellow and the guy two cars in front of me brakes to stop, which was no problem as he had plenty of time. Buddy behind him (and directly in front of me) punches it, swerves left into the turning lane, cuts off the last car turning left, and blows the by then red light - accelerating through the intersection as he goes.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

SB on Sarcee this morning approaching Richmond Road. Light turns yellow and the guy two cars in front of me brakes to stop, which was no problem as he had plenty of time. Buddy behind him (and directly in front of me) punches it, swerves left into the turning lane, cuts off the last car turning left, and blows the by then red light - accelerating through the intersection as he goes.

There could be a thread dedicated to this intersection.

Yesterday, a car in the outside turn lane from WB Richmond Rd > SB Sarcee inches through the intersection on a yellow, as traffic on Sarcee is backed up, thereby blocking both EB lanes on Richmond Rd.

Now, it's a gear grinder that people run yellows to squeeze into a backed up road and block traffic (can't ya just wait for the next light cycle?)... The extra grinding of gears in this case came from the vacancy in the inside lane. Instead of cutting a tighter corner and moving to the inside lane where there were several car lengths, from the outside lane, this driver chose to just stay in her lane, where she remained backed up and blocking the intersection through the EB light cycle.

[Leeman4Gilmour]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Oh man, I hate those total dopes so much. The worst is when you're on the highway preparing to pass a struggler and they drift over into the shoulder to "allow" you to pass. No thanks, you struggle along in the lane and I'll pass when it's safe. I'm not going across the double solid while you flail along in the shoulder.

Growing up, this was the common thing to do. At least in the country. I remember my father getting angry if someone didn't pull over onto the shoulder to let you pass. Not justifying it, as it's silly in hindsight. Old habits.....

[GoinAllTheWay]

Depending on the road, it can be quite dangerous too. Soft shoulders can pull you in pretty quick.

[Wormius]

I think it helped give the person a clearer view ahead. Not a good idea when there is gravel on the shoulder or there is no passing allowed anyway.

[woob]

Yup, definitely happened regularly back in the day. I remember in my not so bright driving youth, playing a game of passing with a friend in another car. I'd pull over to let him pass, he'd pass and then would pull over to let me pass. Went on for about 15 minutes. Yes, we were idiots.

[Wormius]

This morning on Peigan and Barlow this GMC is stopped in the left turn lane, no hazards or anything (maybe the battery died). The driver just gets out and walks away. Driving on my way back it’s still there, cars still pulling up behind it. What a cluster fata. Not so bad now, but gees.



edit: looked like a tow truck came by at around 10 and finally took it away.

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Another random thought - have distracted driving laws been successful?


The only change in behavior seems to be that instead of being obvious about using their cell phones, they're staring into their crotches and driving like sloths. Would the people who are distracted by their cell phones drive better if they were not trying to be sneaky about it?

Insurance companies are jacking the rates on people with distracted driving convictions, the fines might not deter people but when they renew their insurance they will start to think twice if they can even afford it.

Edit: Also apparently you may not qualify for collision coverage anymore either.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

Insurance companies are jacking the rates on people with distracted driving convictions, the fines might not deter people but when they renew their insurance they will start to think twice if they can even afford it.

Edit: Also apparently you may not qualify for collision coverage anymore either.

Good.