A bunch of useless crap
Published on August 9, 2006 By MasonM In Blogging
Today while rolling across I 24 in TN, cruising along at about 70mph I see that a couple of cars are coming down the on ramp. I check to ensure the center lane is clear, hit my signal, and ease over into the center lane to allow the cars to safely merge onto the interstate. Pretty routine.

The first car comes on out and I notice that it's not moving all that fast. This usually gets my attention as it indicates someone who clearly doesn't know how to merge onto an interstate highway. I am keeping my eye on this one as I draw closer. This person, as I expected, does something incredibly stupid and moves right on out into the center lane. There is nothing at in front of her in that right lane, so there was no reason for her to do this except for some morbid desire to be run over by my truck which is now right on top of her and moving far faster than she is.

The second car is now in the right lane, there is faster traffic coming up in the left, so all I can do is hit the brakes and try to not kill this mental midget. I managed to get slowed down but at this point I am much too close to the rear bumper of the poor car being operated by an inceredibly stupid person. This is when the woman realizes there is a 40 ton truck trying to take a bite out of her bumper and she immediately cuts into the left lane, cutting off the oncoming higher speed traffic in that lane. Good grief! At that point the right lane was clear and she could have easily stepped to the right and been safe instead of still attempting to cause a crash.

One car, seeing what was happing, came around on my right and several followed, thus prevent me from moving over there while I attempt to get back up to speed so I continue in the center lane and start slowly building up speed again. The idiot is still on the lef't, just about even with my drive wheels.

I look in my mirror just in time to see her make a sudden move to the right, directly at my drive wheels. She was actually trying to change lanes with a semi right next to her. I couldn't swerve due to traffic on my right and just cringed and waiting for the crash. The cars behind her all slammed on their brakes and dropped back obviously expecting her to hit. She suddenly cut back to the left just before hitting me. She didn't miss by more than half an inch.

She swerved all the way over onto the left shoulder, then back out into the lane again. At this point I slowed down so I can drop back enough to get her license plate number and then called it in on my cell phone as a possible drunk driver. I then sped up again and got way out ahead of her.

I have no idea if she ever made it to her destination, got pulled over, or got killed. I just know that woman has no business driving a motor vehicle.

Comments
on Aug 09, 2006
Congrats on avoiding a wreck.

I wasn't so lucky last week with a moron that was riding over in the 4th of 4 lanes (right most lane) on the Washington, D.C., area beltway. That idiot wasn't paying attention, started to move left without noticing the larger pickup truck in the lane beside her (immediately parallel to her). She swerved back into her original lane but over-corrected getting there, wound up on the right shoulder and then spun out and did a fish hook maneuver across all 4 lanes to wind up smacking my front bumper, then the drivers side front quarter panel, and finally after bouncing off the concrete jersey barricade/wall bouncing into my drivers rear quarter panel.

I get the fun of the body shop estimates tomorrow, but the adventure won't end there by a long shot. Apparently the insurance information she provided to the police may not have been accurate or she may have been driving a vehicle that her parents had excluded her from. Either way the insurance company has been less than cooperative. It looks more and more like I'll be dealing with my insurance (the Gecko) and having them get the blood from the turnip for this one.

Idiot drivers should be subject to instantaneous death penalty if they aren't paying attention. I'm fairly sure my particular idiot was yackin' on a cell phone as one was on the ground near the driver who got out of her car on hands and knees. I'm not sure if it was her that called her moms, but someone got her mother there for her. From where the phone was sitting, I'm guessing about the yacking as it almost seemed to have been dropped there by the shaken up driver.

Anyway, again congrats on trying to stay safe and do the right thing. It sounds like the idiot deserved to just be run on through, but better for you that you didn't have to waste time dealing with the paperwork for a wreck that wouldn't have been your fault.
on Aug 09, 2006
I have always said that if I win the lottery, I'm going to use the half time show at a major ball park as a venue to screen an infomercial telling people exactly what the on ramps are for along the interstate, and how to properly and safely navigate a traffic circle.

I was almost in a similar wreck a couple of months ago. I was coming on the the highway, and I could see that there was a little neon in the right lane with a semi almost alongside her in the left lane, so I slowed up, planning to merge onto the right lane after the neon passed me. The first stupid thing she did was slow down to try and let me on. The second stupid thing she did was merge left without looking....less than a foot in front of the semi. The trucker slammed on his brakes and that load started to come around on the right, and I honestly thought I'd not only see that girl in the neon die but I'd get sideswiped by the back end of the loaded trailer as it came around. Luck was on our side (and I cannot attribute the non-event to anything else BUT luck) and everyone went on their merry way. I thought I might have to go home to change my underwear and shook visibly for about an hour afterwards. You know as well as I do, Mason, that once you've been in a catastrohic vehicle accident there are certain triggers that remind you of the wreck and give you a fright...and that semi was enough to trigger that reaction in me.

You did the right thing in reporting her. I do that fairly often too....once I had the state police call me back and thank me for the tip; the car they pulled over had half a pound of meth in it and the driver was tweakin' hard. I was on duty at the time I called it in, and got a letter of appreciation for my actions.
on Aug 09, 2006
That bites.

My husband will be on the road this morning at 3am driving to Georgia for business. A short trip, only about 5 days or so...but I hate that he wants to drive. He despises waiting at the airport and wasting time, and says driving actually only takes about two hours more.

Tonight he jokingly told me where the life insurance policies are, then I come on line and read this.

He's in a green Camry Mason with Ohio tags....you never know, you could see him!

Anyway, be careful....
on Aug 10, 2006
All I can say is PHEW! They'll give anyone a licence these days.
on Aug 10, 2006
I did something like that the other day. I was merging onto the highway, and I saw a gas tanker truck coming in the right lane. I thought I would get out in front of it, but it was next to me when I got to the top, and it was going faster. The problem was, this onramp is almost non-existent at this point, so I had to hit the brakes... probably scared the crap out of him, you know, with all the paperwork from an accident, but we didn't crash so no big deal. Learned my lesson and won't try it again. I hate that highway entrance. Can't see who is coming 'til it's too late...
on Aug 10, 2006

Sorry Terp!  That is a bummer, and why I hate driving in your area.

But I think you are right Mason.  If she was not drunk, she will be dead soon.  Driving is not where you try farding around.

on Aug 10, 2006
#1 by terpfan1980
Wed, August 09, 2006 7:50 PM


Bummer. I hate insurance companies.
on Aug 10, 2006
#2 by dharmagrl
Wed, August 09, 2006 8:19 PM


Those close calls suck, especially when it's caused by some moron and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
I know what you mean about being reminded of a bad crash. Happens to me now whenever I have to drive in foul weather.
on Aug 10, 2006
#3 by Tova7
Wed, August 09, 2006 9:08 PM



I've had some flights that I literally could have driven it in less time.
on Aug 10, 2006
#4 by dynamaso
Thu, August 10, 2006 01:13 AM



[dynamaso]
All I can say is PHEW! They'll give anyone a licence these days.


Sadly so.
on Aug 10, 2006
#5 by Jythier
Thu, August 10, 2006 07:01 AM




Never, ever try to race someone, especially a truck, from a ramp. Adjust your speed to come out way ahead of them or behind them. What you did is a good way to get killed. I'm glad it came out ok and you learned from it. Many don't.
on Aug 10, 2006
#6 by Dr. Guy
Thu, August 10, 2006 08:27 AM



[Dr. Guy]

Sorry Terp! That is a bummer, and why I hate driving in your area.

But I think you are right Mason. If she was not drunk, she will be dead soon. Driving is not where you try farding around.


Sadly, when it does happen she'll probably take someone with her.
on Aug 10, 2006
Personally I feel that if someone wants to commit suicide that's their business. Just leave me out of it.