Talking To The Other Drivers

I'm sure it was quite a 'pleasant' experience.

Hey, I don't drive too slowly, nor too fast, and I'm cautious, but not an old stick either. My husband rarely curses at me, (and he is a speed demon/race car type), and I haven't had a wreck in years. So, I just want to go with the flow and get some place in one piece.

My husband talks to other drivers, too. But he isn't 1/2 as nice as you are!

My coworker on this current trip drives far too slowly and cautiously. I hate putting him behind the wheel but I also get tired of driving all the time when we're on a business trip. If the speed limit is 30mph, I can guarantee that he will not do more than 25mph. As everybody else passes him on the road doing 40mph he will steadfastly maintain his speed. He grips the steering wheel with both hands and will not relax. It's quite frustrating. I just know that I need to double whatever amount of time it might take me to make the same drive.

I calculate about how fast I can go without getting a ticket, based on past experience. So, if the speed limit is 70, I usually go about 78. My husband drives 90. See? I'm not a speed demon, but I'm not an old stick, either.

And, no matter how tired I was, I could not stand to ride with your co-worker. ARRGH!

I usually pace myself with the flow of traffic and make sure that I'm not the fastest car on the road. I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in 15 years so I figure it must be working.

If my coworker drives I usually distract myself so I want let the frustrating aspects of his driving get to me as much. If it's going to be a long drive, I will insist that I drive, no matter whose turn it is. We recently had a 3-hour drive to another city and there was absolutely no way I was going to let him drive.

Dowser wrote:

Well, I guess this probably drives other drivers nuts, but I've gotten into this habit lately of smiling at everyone.

When I see someone driving like an @!$%#, I get out of the way, smile, wave, and say "hi!"

Maybe that is why my trip has become so pleasant... everyone sees me and gets out fo the way! :-)

You, Dowser, would scare the HELL out of me if I came up on you. Not used to that at all, LOL

How well I know that. Once, in NYC, I had an awful rental car and exited off some ramp of the Long Island Expressway, IN RUSH HOUR. At the bottom of the ramp, a policeman was directing traffic, and he made our line stop. The cabbie behind me sat on his horn, screaming and yelling at me.

I got out of the car, walked back to his window, and said, in my sweet southern accent, "Sir, I will go as soon as the policeman lets me. I can't go any faster than he will let me go. Please stop honking at me." (It was a miracle I wasn't shot.)

The cabby's mouth was open as I walked back and got into my rental car. The policeman, stopped all traffic, and let ME go. Not the cabbie. As I drove by, he tipped his hat to me, and I waved. But he Chirped his whistle at the cabbie and made him wait. Off I went, to get lost trying to find my hotel...

Phuggy-- if you lived down here in Louisville, you'd get used to people smiling at you. We have a lot of people from up north that come down here to live, and they all say, without exception, that we're a bunch of grinning fools. But they quickly add, it's nice, it's nice...

Take care, Phuggy! I sure wouldn't want to scare you!

Dowser, I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read that! You go girl!!

The whole time I worked on these projects up in Long Island, I was my usual somewhat hick self. I really didn't know how else to be. No one, and I mean NO ONE knew what to do with me. But that is an article by itself...

That cabbie was just about to have apoplexy, but the policeman, nice man that he was, appreciated being called a "policeman" as opposed to a "cop", I guess. He was really nice, and he made everyone stop to let me go-- of course, I had no idea where I was going. I just went, and eventually found the hotel.

I really need to write an article about a hick from the sticks in New York City. :-)

I really need to write an article about a hick from the sticks in New York City. :-)

I went the other way... from Los Angeles to Cape Cod, 10 million people to 6000.

It is culture shock, either way you go...

I worked with some really nice people in NYC-- people that I would never have gotten to meet, otherwise, and I will always treasure their friendship. They thought I was something from another planet-- but they were very kind to me. No one could have asked for nicer people to be with.

In my job, (hydrogeologist, looking for water), I worked in huge cities and little teeny tiny towns where it was a 17 mile drive to a public restroom. And everyone was pretty pleasant, all in all. I certainly have few complaints, and I got to see some wonderful things. Even though I don't travel anymore, I have to say this: People in the water industry are the salt of the earth. (excluding me, of course!) :-)

Dowser, you get ready to write that book, let me know, and I will give you some stories to put in there. Only problem is, no one would believe it, and it will have to sell as fiction.

I don't think you would have made me mad. What really pissed me off was the number of people that spent good money on cars and got no turn signals with them. On the Belt Parkway, they would fling their arms out and pont at the road, and after a couple of near misses, I figured out they wanted to move over in front of me. My passengers, when they heard my accent thought I was insane and left me alone.

People in NY are extremely nice. I've been here in NC for 7 years now, and if I went back to Bensonhurst and Howard Beach, I would be greeted with warmth and hugs. I love NY and miss it terribly. It's funny, but I was never afraid to get out at night and walk anywhere I wanted to go. I am down here, and for the most part stay in at night unless there is a hurricane blowing or a lunar eclipse. There are a few of old fogies here that will go out and sit through it.

No turn signals drives me nuts, too! Or turn signals that just come on, but the person has no interest in actually doing what the car says they will...

Collaboration on any book writing would be great! I know you have a lot to add! :-)

I did not feel safe, where I was on Long Island, and the police reaction to my being out there by myself was a confirmation of my gut feelings. But, no one could have been nicer than all the people that I worked with. I enjoyed my time there, despite the fact that the city was so big, teeming with life, and I was so small...

I dont know exactly where you are now, but hurricanes sound south. FL? But, I don't blame you for staying in. Times have changed and no one really knows what is out there, any more.

Take care, Phuggy-- and be careful out there! ((((((((Phuggy)))))))

PS. Is your name pronounced Fuggy? or P Huggy?

It's "Fuggy". I took my dogs name and used it for here. His actual name is Sir Phugley of Ellenville. He is an ugly little dog, but I LOVE him. I am in North Carolina now, and we haven't had a good storm in 3 or 4 years.

Tell you what. I will send a couple of my stories to you through your NV mailbox. I swear on my Bible, they are true.

Please do, Phuggy! Of course, I believe them! There are many strange things out there. And thanks for the pronunciation!

North Carolina is a beautiful state! In about an hour, you can be at the beach, in the mountains, etc. Nice place.

No dog is truly ugly. Even the ugly ones are not truly ugly. At least to me...

Take care--

Tourist is another thing for me. I live on Cape Cod and the roads were not designed for tourist here. It is a bumper to bumper drive almost everywhere we go, they even know the back roads now. If it is tourist season why can't we shoot them? When I play tourist and find myself in an unusual situation I pull off the road and then figure it out.

I can's beat a tornado story....I mean how do you top a Wizard of Oz story, LOL!

Although we get very heavy rains during our noreasters here. There is sudden flooding, and I mean a lake appears in the street from no where. Matt sometimes takes a train to work, that is more direct, but about 15 min away from the house. So we were in the middle of a noreaster, and Matt was on the way home. A branch had fallen on the main road, so he figured he would make his own detour, and went down a dark street.

I get this call...."Perrie....could you get me between Elm and Coventry in East Williston?"

"Why" as I look out at the torrential rain, dreading going out in it.

"Ummm...I sank the car"

Having sank a car once in my twenties, I knew what had happened

It took 40 minutes to get over to where he was (at 10 min drive max). There he stood, like a wet cat, in the pouring rain. Only half of the car could be seen. Matt gets in the car and says, "Now that was fun.....wonder how much THAT will cost" and said nothing more.

Hee hee...couldn't you just picture that in your mind? Help...I'm floating and I can't get out!

whoops, pardon the wierd english

Riding with my ex usually makes me glad they installed all of those handles to hang on to.

My dog's name is Leo. Believe it or not when I get to bad weather driving he will come out of the sleeper and sit in the seat to make sure my driving is up to par. At night when it gets dark he come's to my seat and barks a couple of times to tell me it is time to go to bed. When I tell him I have to keep working he just looks at me with the "oh well" look and crawls up on the bed and goes to sleep. It kind of p's me off when I am tired and he is back there snoozing away.

When I get frustated, I think about playing Grand Theft Auto where you can just ram cars in the way, pull the driver out and beat him up, then steal his car. LOL!!

I've often fantasized that if money were no object, I'd get the biggest, ugliest truck I could find. Then I'd put a big ugly cast iron bumper on the front end. Then I would hit the highway and just go off on anybody who does something stupid or gets in my way.

ME TOO! Daddy had an 'invention'. A giant spatula that would come out from under the front of the car, up under the car in front of him, and then he'd hit a button and FLIP! The car would be shoveled off to the side of the road... I've always wanted one, too.

Hey I promised I wouldn't do it again! ;)

Oklahoma drivers have nothing on New Jersey drivers,I've never seen anything like that bunch anywhere else.

What gets my profanity going is someone entering the interstate at 35 mph when everyone else is doing sixty five or seventy.The result is they run out of ramp and then drive down the breakdown lane with their turn signal on or you suddenly find yourself breaking along with 30 other drivers because the newcomer cuts off the guy in front of you doing 65 while he's still at 35 mph.

Another one famous throughout the land is the slow down and look drivers who see an accident on the other side of the interstate having nothing to do with our side at all.This sucks at rush hour and Oklahoma City area has rush hour from 7am to 7pm.

As for speeding there are a few but The Ok.Highway patrol,Ok County Sherriffs,The Okc Police and all outlying cities like Edmond,Moore,Norman,El Reno,Bethany,Mid West City and so on are always out on the interstates and streets doing radar,especially 35 south out of Okc.and Broadway Extension north.

Oh yeh and people that pay more attention to their cell phone conversation then the road and traffic around them.

Don't you hate that! The worst ones are the ones who just start moving over without looking, because they have reached the end of the ramp.

That's one behavior I just don't understand. If you overshoot your exit you can always reorient yourself at some point. If you can't do it by seat-of-the-pants navigation, a GPS can always reroute you to where you're supposed to be.

The worst ones are the ones who just start moving over without looking

or, immediately after turning on their signal, as if that action gave them total control of ALL lanes!

:D

Our big highway is a two lane road and the ones I hate are the ones that stop at the point of merging. With most of the people living here are the retired elderly and most times you can't see who is driving, just a poof of white hair sticking up from the headrest, Q-tips we call 'em.

Not around here they don't. we only have one main highway in thesae parts and most of it is only 2 lanes, 1 in each direction. We get the 25mph's in a 55 zone with no recourse but to take the side streets. 6 one 1/2 dozen the other. Luckily it is for only 3 months of the year.

Dave,

Oklahoma City is just one big web of interstates and the Ok.Highway Patrol is always out there.

The ones I find most amusing are the regular commuters that get busted for speeding.I mean if you travel some of these highways two days in a row you get the picture of enforcement being taken seriously by the many different police agencies.

And its a great source of revenue.I just do the limit and always seem to end up where I was heading.

I haven't had a speeding ticket in some time but I have had a lot in my younger days.

Ok.Highway Patrol

And they are not smiling either.....

First year I had 11 high speed tickets from the Ca. Highway Patrol, the 2nd year 7 more all over 81 mph with one over 165 mph and the 2nd year a ticket for 135 mph in a school zone at 2 am the judge didn't think it was humorous and tagged me with 3 days in the slammer and $1000.00 fine. I finally figured it out and only had 2 more speeding tickets in the last 34 years. Yea I was a hellion behind the wheel. The only accidents I got into were on the racetrack.

OOoh, Dave. I thought I was bad, but next to you I look like an angel. LOL

That was a long time ago, but I still drive a little faster than most. I at least know I won't get hit from behind. The fastest I went was on a motorcycle 187 Mph in the California desert past Mojave.

If I had been in that car with you at 165, you would have had to either junk it or have a haz mat team clean it up!

I used to give "joy rides" to people in the canyons of So. Cal. at night. 100' drop offs with no barriers one one side and sheer straight cliffs up on the other side. Nothing like going sideways at 130 mph headed toward a cliff to get their attention. When I would put on my seatbelt they would ask "what are you doing that for?" I would tell them I wanted to stay in the seat. They would quickly put theirs on.

I'm with Phuggy! EGAD-- but my husband would love to ride with you!

It was only a short 30 minute ride, 46 miles, hairpin turns at 25 sideways in some parts and 135 in others. We would have 5-6 cars racing at the same time. Always at night so you could see the oncoming trafic coming down and or up the canyon in front of you. We did use the whole road and then some. Not too many gaurdrails to keep you on the road. It would take me a little longer these days though. LOL

In my area it's the rain. Non-natives just don't know how to drive in the kind of heavy sub-tropical rainfall that we get. It's different from rainfall in other areas. Non-natives will try to drive much faster or much slower than they really should be going.

How about black ice.

I've had my moment with that stuff spinning in circles down I-44 and into the ditch at 60 mph.@night.

I'll second that! We get a lot of the stuff, even at 40° air temp the ground is still frozen.

Oh, it is!

Take care, Ben--

not over it, we must have learned from the same tapes!

:D

grandma

Uh humm - do you know how many grandmas are on NV? Maybe that could read 'people of a certain age.' lols

Uh humm - do you know how many grandmas are on NV?

No offense to all the grandma's out there unless they are actually the grandma in front of me. :)

grandma in front of me

Notoverit - I was joking.*grins* I also get irritated when the older folk (who can't see over the steering) go soo slow and just plod along in front of me.

Or stop to merge, whoa that can really throw a person for a loop if you are behind them and certainly not expecting it.

I may have a more sever problem than the rest of you. I was being nice earlier but I have a confession to make. I practically raised both my sons in the car. I was campaigning door to door back in those days. Apparently kids are quite impressionable when they are just learning to talk and apparently mommy had a little bit of a potty mouth when on the road with all mindless, unaware, slow ass, jackass drivers in the world.

My oldest sons first word (other than mommy and daddy) was humana itch, which was little sweet baby boy talk for son of a bitch.

I tried to tone things down when the next son arrived so his first word was tupit batart, stupid bastard for the rest of us.

Thankfully their speech was not very good and my husband and I were the only ones that knew what they were saying. :)

Oh, my stomach hurts from laughing so hard!!

Sometimes I do the same thing, it's like putting a rabbit out in front of a dog race.

LifeTravler

"Hey, you want to pass me and go faster than me? Please do. Make my night! I'll just hitch a ride with you............let the po po catch you down the road before he gets me."

This is my favorite ploy. I wait until a stuntman zooms past me and I follow him at a distance safe enough to detect an eventual policeman coming out of his ambush spot to get him.

We call this "trolling for cops". When someone zooms past, we sort of follow for a while, at a distance, just to see if the person catches any. :-)

My primary technique for avoiding speeding tickets is to let someone else who is willing to go faster than I'm willing to go take the lead. I'll drop back far enough to keep them in sight and watch for brake lights. So far I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in over 15 years. The other key component of avoiding speeding tickets is to not use a radar detector. When I had a radar detector I typically averaged 2 speeding tickets a year. After getting rid of my radar detector I've gotten none. That speaks for itself.

Please delete the double post.

I like to get in between a couple of trucks - stay kind of hidden that way. But it doesn't work on hilly highways because they have to slow down to get up the hills. lols