Things that happen during the day that make you think....

[dave1949]

NY has your ins co tell them that you have ins coverage. If your ins co doesn't send in proof of ins to the DMV they will suspend your license and registration. If you drop ins coverage before turning in your plates they will also suspend your license.

Aaron Z

ME requires insurers to notify the DMV if your policy is cancelled or lapsed. Changing insurers will cause a notice from the state that you have to prove you have insurance.

Still many traffic accidents involve suspended and uninsured drivers. One enforcement technique that works is random roadblocks where every vehicle and driver is checked but those aren't very popular. Too big brother/intrusive for many I suppose.

On the other hand, if that keeps a habitual drunk driving on a suspended license from killing someone it may be worth it. People don't calculate the odds such that it sounds like it's worth being inconvenienced to toss more offenders in jail and confiscate their vehicle to be sold.

It's a fine line and open to police abuse.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

saw one today, driving down the interstate and there was a car stopped at the end of the on ramp, waiting for no traffic so she (old white haired lady) could enter. The semi behind her, that now had to enter from a dead stop probably enjoyed it also...
Course this isn't always an age thing, I see lots of people stop at the end of on ramps that don't know how to merge into moving traffic.

 

[chad22]

At what age should horses stay off the road or take an annual find their way home test.

lol. That's a good one.

A lady who's in her 80s is a very good driver. Her kids don't want her to drive anymore. But she's not willing to give up the keys.

She was having a problem with her car not starting and she had it in our shop to figure out what was wrong with it. We finally found the problem to be the starter ignition switch on the steering column.

We replaced it and got it running again. When I returned her car to her and sat down in her house and visited with her. She told me that her kids were actually hoping that we couldn't find the problem so she wouldn't drive it anymore. lol

She said that still wouldn't stop her. She said if we couldn't have gotten it running again she would just go out and buy another car.

One day she was at the doctors office and her car wouldn't start due to a dead battery. It was a new battery that she had installed that day at walmart and I found that the bolt that bolts the battery terminal into the battery post was stripped out and wasn't tightening down to make good contact.

I put a new one on it and charged up her battery and had it going again.

My dad and me followed her home with the car and she went right down the highway and I could tell she was/is a great driver.

 

[texasjohn]

Two things lately.

Some chairs jumped out of the bed of a pickup and skittered down the road the other day. Just luck that following vehicles were able to evade because EACH one had sufficient space following the pickup and in adjacent lanes. This was in an adjacent lane to me, 4 lane interstate, 60 mph. Apparently, the furniture was improperly tied down for the wind resistance at that speed. Traffic was very heavy on the road...have wondered since if the "accordion effect" of braking ultimately caused vehicle accident after we got past.

Saw a car flip onto its top and scoot down the road swapping ends ... about a week ago. Can't say for sure why. Texting and driving is my current theory. I think driver veered into concrete barrier which is wider at the bottom than the top, rode up on it and flipped over. Happened in a construction area with the concrete barrier separating oncoming traffic, 3 lanes going my way, speed about 45 MPH, sunny, dry, 3pm on a Sunday. Again, appropriate following distances for me and car in front of me, and cars in adjacent lanes. Suddenly, the car in front of me is stopping fast and I notice that the car in front if it is upside down and still rotating down the highway on its top. No other vehicles struck the car, best I could tell. Others may have seen more or differently....that's why things are investigated.

Nevertheless, both of these recent events are a reminder that bad things can happen and careful vigilance with good judgement is the only thing an individual has to tip the scales in their favor to avoid bad things.

 

[MossRoad]

I was taking my kid to work the other afternoon and we were sitting at a stop light. A pickup with a bunch of junk in the back came through the intersection right to left... and a couple steel T-posts about 6' long bounced out and went skidding down the hill. Cars tailing him stopped and swerved, etc... and he just kept going. Hate to see the next cars come along and run those over. Too much traffic for us to do anything about it.

5 minutes down the road, a box with empty oil bottles flies out of the bed of a pickup we were following. I hit the brakes and nailed my horn. The guy saw it, slowed down a bit, then just kept going and turned off at the next street. I thought he was going to go back and pick them up..... nope.

 

[riptides]

Coming home last night on the interstate. Pickup truck way in front looked bed heavy. I mean from a distance I saw it. Hit some rough patch on the road, stuff starts flying out. I did not know what it was, but it was exploding on the highway. Turned out to be cinderblock! Lucky it did not hit me, but I saw a few others taking hits! OMG. As I drove by the guy, he was oblivious.

 

[texasjohn]

Hmm... a somewhat common theme seems to involve habitually watching further down the road while leaving enough open space to allow evasive maneuvers if something happens. And that things can happen unannounced and quickly. That doesn't guarantee problem avoidance, but certainly increases the chances.

Example.... who expects the interstate bridge you are passing under will fall on you?? This recently happened just a few miles from me. New bridge but for some reason only 14' 3" high and recent information shows it was actually some six or so inches LOWER than that. Truck with cargo somewhat oversized, but it had a permit, hit the bridge, killing one.

Deadly Highway Bridge Collapse in Salado, Texas | Watch the video - Yahoo News

 

[Creamer]

Bah. Nobody should be driving them new-fangled automobiles. Get a horse. At least they know the way back to the barn on their own.

You would think so but a few years back there were a couple of Amish buggies in a collision. It was late at night and apparently both drivers were asleep or not paying attention. They both came to a corner and one horse T-boned the other. They had to put both horses down - both drivers were hurt but not seriously. All of us around here were wondering how that could happen but apparently with the blinders on the horses just kept going until they could not stop in time. So much for horse sense!

 

[Cat_Driver]

This has happened more than a few times in my life. Foe "some reason" I delayed pressing on the accelerator when the light turned green, on a vehicle I was driving because I was distracted by "something". Sure enough BAM the car next to me that did take off when the light turned green immediately got T-boned.
Most recent was a few weeks ago. I was in the left lane at the light of a three lane road, the light changed and I was "dreaming" , the guy in the middle lane went, and BAM he spun around three times in front of my eyes shooting past me to my left from the center of the intersection, then into a utility pole.
One other memorable time is I delayed take off and a guy comes SCREAMING through the intersection a full 5 seconds after the light went green. I called the wife and said - " I came THIS CLOSE" to not being here.

Then I always think of all the WHAT IF's. What if I wasn't dreaming, what if I left the house a little earlier, later, what if I didn't go back in the house because I forgot something. Seems like a few seconds this way or that way can change a persons life forever.

One other that scared me was when a wheel and tire came off a trailer going down the freeway, I was in a tight grouping and nowhere to go, the tire kept bouncing like a rubber ball down the freeway right towards me. I had to time the last bounce swerve within inches of the guy next to me as the tire bounced over my vehicle and hit the guy behind me.

 

[Redneck in training]

Good judgement is a key. Our son then little over 16 years old had right of way. He saw a pickup truck coming from a side road and obviously could guess form its speed and distance that he is not going to stop. Nevertheless he entered the intersection because he had right of way. He T boned the pickup, totaled the car but was not hurt. Then he told us it was not his fault because he had right of way. I asked him if he thinks that because he had right of way he couldn't kill himself.

Just today we were on third lane of four lane exit ramp from a freeway. Third and four lanes were supposed to turn left but a guy in a tractor truck on our left (in fourth lane) started to turn left but then decided to get back on the freeway and proceeded to go straight chasing us on the freeway entrance ramp with him missing collision just by inches. There was no way that he could see us in his mirror but he could assume from the traffic that there will be a vehicle on his right attempting to turn left.