Is it just us, or?

[Kay/NC]

Just had a pickup truck pull right out in front of us at an intersection...in fact, not just is, but a car approachng from the opposite direction, which was even closer to making mpact. Essentially, we had to brake hard, that car screeched to a stop.

This seems to be more frequent these days. Either distracted drvers, impatient ones, or just plain dumb ones.

Are we the only ones with this problem, or do you notice it more, too?

[Suey73]

Since DS is guilty of having done the same thing a week ago.... I'll pass on that one.   He was talking on hands free dealing with his job.  He is fine  Lady that ended up broadsiding him  was texting,  no skid marks at all.  She had a broken foot and finger.    What we see around here is people that will pass you  and then go slower than you were going.   It's like they can not stand to never be   first.   Can't stand to be behind anyone.    Or they pass you like a bat our of  hello,   and then turn off the road a mile later  and you have to come to a complete stop behind them. 

[turkey feather]

We have experienced all of those things lately. I do not know what is cause is but several things come to mind, talking on the phone is a big one, they go slow and then suddenly they are passing and speding.  Aperson has to really be aware of what is going on around them now and it is not just in cities or towns. They will cut right in front of you on the interstate too.

[SLC]

I've noticed the same thing.   Its as if they are in their own little bubble and paying no attention to what is going on around them.    Inattentive driving.   

[farm160]

Have you ever listened to a book on CD (or whatever) while driving?  

It's totally mesmerizing and I'd imagine many phone calls simlarily grab ones attention.

Even tho the eyes are on the road, the mind is somewhere else.

With texts it's multiple distractions of keyboard and thought.

Don't know the answer to it....kind of hard to unring that bell since many are attached to their technology.  

So many factors come in to play -age, familiarity with road, # of vehicles around, weather conditions, familiarity with phone,  use or lack of bluetooth, etc. 

[Kay/NC]

I have this collar-style Bluetooth gadget, and it beats the daylights out of the earpiece type. I use it purposely on trips where GLS is guiding me, with the left earpiece in.

If not on it, I have an app that tells me if a text arrives, who it is from, and will turn it into speech if I say " listen". It will also " type" a return message if I want to, and send when I approve the voice recognition. I really like these functions. If I am too involved with traffic or just do not want to deal with answering, I can just tell it to "cancel".

I am quite capable of ignoring all the technology, turning off the stereo, etc. i think on long stretches of open highway, taking a voice text isn't too distracting. I think the drivers wandering across the center line - we have been behind two this past week within 20 miles of home - are the main reason I stopped riding my motorcycle. I figure with a couple tons of vehicle and passive restraints like airbags, I have a fighting chance.

[manureseller]

We had a near miss with one of our floaters today.  I watched the whole thing and was scared crap less so I can only imagine how the operator felt.  A car passed a semi heading the opposite direction of the way the floater was going and darn near go hit head on with the floater.  The floater slammed on the brakes and luckily there was a field approach to turn into or it wouldn't have been pretty.  The car just kept driving so I followed it to the gas station and chewed some hind end.  It was a young kid who copped an attitude with me until I called his dad and told him what happened.  Normally I would just tell the kid to slow down and take precautions but when he cocked off that was the straw.  Not the best thing I've ever done but his dad appreciated the phone call especially since the floater operator had already called him on it.  Needless to say I believe someone will be riding the bus for a little while. 

[Suey73]

Like+++++.    At our house the rule was 1 month suspension for every person in the car you endangered.   My son got reported to us by a friend... not the cops,  with a car full of friends. .   We took away his license for 6 months.   Now we did not shoot ourselves in the foot entirely.   We held the license and a couple of times  let him drive when he really needed too.   Every kid in the school knew what we had done.   They were all afraid of us.    God was watching the young driver today.... and so were several other people.    He endangered  himself,  floater driver and semi driver.    Luckily that floater wasn't  involved in an accident.... "paperwork"????    Defensive driving by others  saved him.  

[Kay/NC]

Good for you!