US Hwy 1 how things have changed

[Frankenkubota]

I had to take new pup to vet and always try for the first appt , of any day. I was on US Hwy 1 heading south, nothing outta of the ordinary.

US Hwy 1used to be the big dog. National geographic actually did a cover story on it years ago.

First, all the traffic was stopped. A big accident had just happened, cops not there yet. a big flat bed with a mini ex and something else was off in the trees, no truck attached. 25 yards up, suv completely crunched, 25 more yards, a econoline van 50 ft in the woods!

This is the 3rd time ive seen an accident where a vehicle ends up deep in the woods. I'm convinced someone is texting, looks up and must swerve off the hwy to avoid rear ending the folks in front. I lived on the road and don't remember seeing that many cars in the woods!

I was bored so i started paying attention to who was passing me. I live in the right lane. This is just an observation so.......38 of the 42 cars that passed were single young gals, maybe 25-35? It was 7:30 in the morning, headed to work?

Last event, US hwy 1......dead stopped again. This time there were long lines of soccer moms dropping off their kids at school, single gal, huge vehicle. Looked like Starbucks drive thru.

Things have changed.

 

[Jstpssng]

I was headed down the interstate a couple of months ago when both lanes came to a complete standstill. It took me around 45 minutes to go 1/10 of a mile, then we slowly got moving again. Apparently somebody had tried to reverse direction in one of those "Authorized vehicles only" crossovers, pulled out and got smacked. Miraculously, there were no serious injuries.
I spent most of that time wishing that I hadn't had that last cup of coffee.

 

[Doughknob]

YCFS

 

[old and tired]

I used to run Raleigh to Laurinburg weekly. Back when it was only 2 lanes... very nice easy drive. Also, drive Hwy-64 to Tarboro basically daily during the summer. Been doing this for 30 years with plenty of miles each summer... This year, I've been stuck in 6 traffic jams - IN THE MIDDLE of the day!?! I'm 100% convinced it's morons doing something other than paying attention to the road. Driving is the only thing you do when you are behind the wheel, period.

In that 30 years, I only remember 1 traffic jam. One truck's engine quit and the new driver didn't know what to do and just let his rig coast to a stop in the slow lane. Another 18 wheeler, also not paying attention, never hit his brakes and plowed into the back of the first truck and was killed. Again it was in board daylight, no rain.

 

[TractorTYMe]

Young women are the ones I see the most with their eyes in a mini screen while driving. If I see a vehicle with irregular driving usually one of those or as DUI'er.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Where I live, big trucks are my fear. I have had to move over nearly into the ditch a couple of times because they came over the center line. Don't know if they are inattentive, or just poor drivers.

 

[old and tired]

...Don't know if they are inattentive, or just poor drivers.

They are poor drivers because they are inattentive...

 

[oosik]

You guys have US HWY 1 - up/down the East coast. We have Interstate 90 going east/west across our state. Bad drivers are bad - no matter where they are.

 

[ljjhouser]

There have been many times that I thought about how amazed my father would have been if he ever saw a cell phone. He passed away in 1986. He would have thought "What a gift and What a tool." The ability to contact our family or get help is fantastic. It makes me sad that such a wonderful tool has been turned into a toy - for games and enterainment. It is like our life was empty and we have to have a phone to fill it. Terrific tool, now a tool and marketing outlet. I know texting is against the law in some places. I have seen this many time. Never seen someone being pulled over for it. I was ran off the road to avoid a lady texting hitting me. She did stop and apoligize - I only said "That is ok, hope there is a lesson here." My wife told me "OK, I've had enough "off roading" for today. we were in our Jeep Wrangler.

 

[Whidbey]

Where I live, big trucks are my fear. I have had to move over nearly into the ditch a couple of times because they came over the center line. Don't know if they are inattentive, or just poor drivers.

That happens all the time on back roads where I live, Big trucks, little trucks, cars. I believe it is looking at cell phones.

 

[Jchonline]

You guys have US HWY 1 - up/down the East coast. We have Interstate 90 going east/west across our state. Bad drivers are bad - no matter where they are.

Exactly. I see contractors (males) pulling trailers staring down at their phones all the time. This is probably more dangerous than a mom bus. Its an age thing, not a gender thing.

 

[Jstpssng]

There have been many times that I thought about how amazed my father would have been if he ever saw a cell phone. He passed away in 1986. He would have thought "What a gift and What a tool." The ability to contact our family or get help is fantastic. It makes me sad that such a wonderful tool has been turned into a toy - for games and enterainment. It is like our life was empty and we have to have a phone to fill it. Terrific tool, now a tool and marketing outlet. I know texting is against the law in some places. I have seen this many time. Never seen someone being pulled over for it. I was ran off the road to avoid a lady texting hitting me. She did stop and apoligize - I only said "That is ok, hope there is a lesson here." My wife told me "OK, I've had enough "off roading" for today. we were in our Jeep Wrangler.

That's my frustration also. I got my first cell phone in 1996, it was a great tool for a lot of reasons. Over time as they "improved" service got inversely worse. 25 years later I struggle to find a signal in places where I once could make calls easily.

All that I want a phone for is to make phone calls; I couldn't care less about games or the latest "APP" craze.

 

[old and tired]

....I got my first cell phone in 1996...

Back in the day, I was rocking a Bag Phone for the longest time. Connected to the (few) towers better. Still have a flip phone, no smart phone. When I retire in a couple years, plan to get rid of the flip phone. And to annoy the graduate students that I deal with, I don't have a data plan so NO texting!!!! (that also pisses off my boss, so two for one!) ...3 for 1, if you count my wife, too.

 

[jmc]

Well, one other good thing about cell phones is that criminals who forget to turn them off leave a slime trail:

Heard an interesting follow up on how Australian law enforcement rescued the 4 YO girl a long way from the campground she was abducted from. Someone there reported hearing a car near the campground at 3AM. After reviewing the cell tower records, one number was an outlier for that area and they tracked him home.

 

[Jstpssng]

Well, one other good thing about cell phones is that criminals who forget to turn them off leave a slime trail:

Heard an interesting follow up on how Australian law enforcement rescued the 4 YO girl a long way from the campground she was abducted from. Someone there reported hearing a car near the campground at 3AM. After reviewing the cell tower records, one number was an outlier for that area and they tracked him home.

I was wondering how they found her.

 

[Oaktree]

There have been many times that I thought about how amazed my father would have been if he ever saw a cell phone. He passed away in 1986. He would have thought "What a gift and What a tool." The ability to contact our family or get help is fantastic. It makes me sad that such a wonderful tool has been turned into a toy - for games and enterainment. It is like our life was empty and we have to have a phone to fill it. Terrific tool, now a tool and marketing outlet.

Or might have been appalled that so many people voluntarily carry a device with them 24/7 that's capable of tracking every movement they make. If the government tried to mandate such a device there'd be a revolution.

Its an age thing, not a gender thing.

Not even an age thing. I see 70 year olds just as addicted to their cellphones as 20somethings.

That's my frustration also. I got my first cell phone in 1996, it was a great tool for a lot of reasons. Over time as they "improved" service got inversely worse. 25 years later I struggle to find a signal in places where I once could make calls easily.

All that I want a phone for is to make phone calls; I couldn't care less about games or the latest "APP" craze.

I didn't have one until 2004 or so (and that was one provided by my then-employer). Even now, all I have is a Tracfone flip phone, and 99% of the time it sits in a drawer at home.
Can't really comment on coverage then vs. now. When we bought this house in '05 there was no service here, even now it's pretty iffy. Regional coverage, almost non-existent then is OK now.

 

[DieselBound]

I once saw a woman pulling on to Hwy 9 from a busy intersection (stop sign from her direction only), truck [newer diesel I think it was] pulling a medium-sized horse trailer and she had a cell phone in her left hand as she was cranking the steering wheel and pulling out on to that highway! How in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks does a new vehicle NOT come with Bluetooth?

The main highway I drive (530) is a death zone. Lots of big trucks. Crackhead drivers. Rich city folks coming out to race around in the countryside. Motorcyclists who believe they have different driving laws, that it's OK to pass in a no-passing zone (and do so around corners!) as well as just generally all over the place. Aggressive, tailgating drivers who believe:

Tailgating is my pet peeve. Had someone recently pass me with an oncoming car. I wasn't very far from a car in front of me, which had been going a bit slow. Ther passing car gained perhaps 1 second in that move. And then the same car passed a couple more cars as oncoming traffic had to veer off to the shoulder a bit. All this to then only turn off on a side street a handful of seconds later. And this was at night! Even IF there was an emergency it was less than a mile stretch till that side road came up! 60 mph means a mile a minute. Perspective!

And, of course, the young women/girls who have ZERO clue of physics, who have zero depth perception, whose parents utterly failed them how to drive properly. It's this as much as it is inattentiveness (though that's in play as well).

When people are killed we're always hearing about folks praying for the families. My wife and I say that they should be praying that folks educated their family members on how to drive properly!

Speaking of things changing, I know that older eyes are a bit more sensitive to light, but it's just amazing how many vehicles are running around with mis-aimed, non-working and just flat-out obnoxious lights. Add in those who can never seem to dip their headlights and all I can think of is that I'd like to just be at home.

Cell phones and driving... I won't use a cell phone unless hands-free. When getting a new stereo a couple of years back (for my now 21 year-old car) I got one that supports Apple Carplay and Android Auto. I'd got one for my wife's previous car some time before this and had ample time to watch her fumble around with cable connections and dash/window phone holders and all and I thought that there had to be a cleaner way to all this. I came up with a solution that uses a magnetic cable and adapter which greatly simplifies the phone-to-cable hook-up. Long and short of it is that I shove my phone into a slot in my car's dash and it automatically connects such that I have full function of Android Auto (Android phone)- my music, phone, texting (though one can only reply- voice-to-text) and navigation (which one has to poke one's fingers at- not used all that often, and when I do use it it's before setting out or my navigator/wife does it). ALL this was because I will not take my eyes and concentration off of the road!

I went a long time before getting a "cell phone." Basic one at first. And when I met my current wife she got a more advanced phone which she then passed along to me: cell phone use picked up dramatically when she was diagnosed with cancer- I was in high tech and I hate it, but when one actually finds real value in something I don't care! Anyway, my "phone" is mostly used for music and for taking pictures (I love taking pictures of scenery, especially of our place; and, documenting things as I work on them it an invaluable tool). I could do "Luddite," but will straddle worlds until the time comes in which it's necessary.

 

[rademamj1]

Use of cell phones is ubiquitous today. Everyone has them, and even some people often carry 2 or 3 cell phones. As a result, many Police departments use cell phone records as the first peice of information for solving most crimes. Multiple cell phone towers by triangulation can put specific phones at a crime scene at a specific time. Its an unbiased eyewitness to the crime event.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^
They also have built-in GPS which is surprisingly accurate.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Exactly. I see contractors (males) pulling trailers staring down at their phones all the time. This is probably more dangerous than a mom bus. Its an age thing, not a gender thing.

i believe it's more a gender thing.