Ok, so today I didn't have to go to work, so I decided to save the environment and ride my bike (after using a shovel to move the dust off it) up to the Colonnade shopping center to get some stuff I needed. So, as I was coming back, while I was waiting for the light to change so I could go across, three cars come up beside me. The first is a student driver. The next is is the classic soccer mom. In an SUV. On cell phone. With 3 kids in the back. Watching a movie. The next car is a cop. So, it's a red light, and the cars next to me are all about to turn right. The sign says no right on red when pedestrians are there. So, the student driver waits. Behind him, the SM audibly yells at the kids to shut up about Barney. I couldn't hear the kids or the show, incedentaly. Then the SM looks ahead, sees the light is red, and decides that the SD isn't moving when he should be. So, the SM leans on the horn. THe SD doesn't go. The SM leans on the horn some more. This happened for about 10 seconds, until the SD finally turns while I am still there. Then the SM stands on the gas and her car goes rocketing around the corner, nearly on 2 wheels. Then the cop lets me go across, as the light turned green, and then puts on the siren and pulls over the SM. I found that amusing.

As I am continuing back, I see some skid marks and a dented tree and a destroyed mailbox. Well, not realy dented, but some bark missing. Then there's a camera guy and some reporter. I looked for a news truck but didn't see any. So I went home and popped on the news, and Fox has got this live report about how a guy with an asian-sounding name crashed into a tree on Union mill Rd (where the camera and skid marks are) and died. That was at 4:30 this morning. He was going too fast and crashed. More info soon.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2006 02:53PM by KeepOnTruckin.

good i hate those soccer moms
there was one on the way home today Dulles toll road, going 55 in the fast lane?!?!?@!?@!@!@ DONT DO THAT ill break check you bitch

They're usually the ones bitching about all the speeders in their neighborhood but rest assurred, they don't drive like saints when they're cutting through someone else's neighborhood.

I saw some stupid jackass trying to make a right turn onto I66 east from 28 south.

Only problem is that said jackass was in the through lane blocking traffic. No, he wasn't at the end of the line--that I could understand--he was about halfway up. It's like he didn't know this was where he had to turn till the last possible second.

Attn dipshits that do this(I see it at least once every two weeks or so): just make a left turn on red in front of all those cars and/or get in the middle of the goddamn intersection and wait, OK? That isn't any worse than blocking a through lane, for which a cop will happily write you a ticket too.

Brian, but your description of the directions traveled isn't clear to me... I admit I may not be reading it clearly...

traveling south on 28, you can only make a LEFT to go EAST. Was the guy making some kind of bizarre illegal turn, or what? Or did you mean to indicate a different direction than you did somewhere in there?

Just trying to picture what you mean, because I drive there two times a day and I want to know what to look out for...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2006 04:15AM by RESton Peace.

He was to the right of the left turn lanes, stopped, in a through lane, to try to make a left.

He wanted to go east.

As best as I can determine, he probably came from the ramp from 66W to 28S, wanted to turn around, and couldn't get over in time to join the end of the line, so what the hell, just stop in a through lane and hold up traffic till someone lets him into to the left-turn lane.

That's a 4-point violation if a cop catches him.

So is running a red.

Just run the red.

Let's see if this works:

LL
LL
LL
LLJ
LLT
LLT
LLT

L= left turn cars
J= jackass that wants to turn left
T= cars that want to go straight through

I got it, thanks, I couldn't picture what lane this dope must have been in...

I do see that with moderate frequency during rush hour. The cops are always an exit down at 29, acting as "sticker maids".

Speaking of sticker maids: I think the 45MPH speed limit is too low by the 29 overpass.

Further south, it's 55MPH. In fact it's 55MPH just south of the intersection where the Burger King and McDonald's are. It continues at 55MPH all the way till Compton Road.

I think it was 55MPH before the overpass was built, too.

I don't believe that the 85th percentile speed on this strech of roadway is 45MPH, either.

Incidentally, VDOT has a traffic camera which you can watch on http://www.trafficland.com that is usually pointed at this intersection so I know that VDOT must be aware of the problem.

I hate the soccer moms that have the green light at the intersection, and they are in the right turn lane making a right turn, and they come to a stop, because they see me waiting to make the left turn into the same street.

They have the right away, and I'm waiting for them to go so I can turn left and follow right behind them. They are not helping me out by stopping. They are just being retarded.

People that don't take their right of way annoy me.

They think they're doing others a favor by giving up their right of way, when in fact all they are doing is messing up traffic flow.

Well since we are all bitching about bad driving habits and KeepOnTruckin was talking about the Colonnade...

My pet peeve is that on the Braddock Rd entrance to the Colonnade drivers often either don't respect the right of way for incoming traffic or the incoming traffic doesn't realize that they have right of way. I swear they need monstrous signs there or something.

In Europe they have signs showing which roads get right of way (the "priority roads"). They don't have anything like that here. They probably should.

Makes my day to hear that some Soccer Mom finally got ticketed. Usually their all over the road and talking on a cell phone.

FYI - In FFX County you must stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk if the speed limit is 35 or less. So if you see someone standing in a cross walk ready to cross stop and let them cross!

Speaking of stopping for pedestrians, two of the least pedestrian-friendly shopping centers are Fair Lakes and Union Mill. Fair Lakes had to finally resort to a series of stop signs and crosswalks, because so many drivers simply fail to let people cross.

It's doubly annoying when you stop to allow a pedestrian to cross--only to have them stop in the middle of the street, because the asshole driving the other way is too busy talking on the phone to notice them.

Wow ! 15 messages in this thread without Gravis making some inane anti-police diatribe. I am impressed!

This is what Municode says about Fairfax county's pedestrian ordinance:

Section 82-9-2. Right-of-way of pedestrians.161

__________
161. For similar state law, see Va. Code Ann., § 46.2-924.

__________

(a) The driver of any vehicle upon a highway or street shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing such highway or street within any clearly marked crosswalk, whether at mid-block or at the end of any block, or at any regular pedestrian crossing included in the prolongation of the lateral boundary lines of the adjacent sidewalk at the end of a block, or at any intersection when the driver is approaching on a highway or street where the legal maximum speed does not exceed thirty-five miles per hour, except at intersections or crosswalks where the movement of traffic is being regulated by law enforcement officers, uniformed school crossing guards, or traffic direction devices where the driver shall yield according to the direction of the law enforcement officer, uniformed school crossing guard, or device.
(b) No pedestrian shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic.
(c) The drivers of vehicles entering, crossing, or turning at intersections shall change their course, slow down, or come to a complete stop if necessary to permit pedestrians to cross such intersections safely and expeditiously.
(d) Pedestrians crossing highways or streets at intersections shall at all times have the right-of-way over vehicles making turns into the highways or streets being crossed by the pedestrians. (3-13-63; 1961 Code, § 16-222; 37-76-82; 35-02-82.)

Basically, the 35MPH rule does not apply at a signalized intersection (one with a traffic light).

Stupid Excursion mama whores Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I hate the soccer moms that have the green light
> at the intersection, and they are in the right
> turn lane making a right turn, and they come to a
> stop, because they see me waiting to make the left
> turn into the same street.
>
> They have the right away, and I'm waiting for them
> to go so I can turn left and follow right behind
> them. They are not helping me out by stopping.
> They are just being retarded.

I hate people like that. There's 2 lanes for a reason!

Genevieve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well since we are all bitching about bad driving
> habits and KeepOnTruckin was talking about the
> Colonnade...
>
> My pet peeve is that on the Braddock Rd entrance
> to the Colonnade drivers often either don't
> respect the right of way for incoming traffic or
> the incoming traffic doesn't realize that they
> have right of way. I swear they need monstrous
> signs there or something.


THe intersection of Braddock, Day care, and Colonnade is the worst ever designed. People from braddock comming east (from 28/BK) go fast and can't se around the curve, causing us waiting to turn out of Collonade to slam on brakes or stand on accelerator to not get hit. Plus, theres a huge line of people waiting to go on the light whihc is alwasys red for Braddock.

brianl703, was he behind where the turn lanes are? i know how backed up they can get and usually pour out into the left through lane. now if the bastard just stopped in the middle of the road up past where the turn lanes begin, i would pray that someone would take him out.

having said that, i also wish death to all soccer moms out there. including the bitch in the jaguar that almost took me out recently. small, two-lane road, traffic backed up going opposite direction, she's trying to take a left onto it (where there was little traffic, just me) and without trying to make sure it's clear she flies out like a bat out of hell. i had no way of seeing her behing the stopped SUVs, and if there wasn't a little patch of gravel for me to swerve into, she would have been nailed; it was really close as it was. oh yeah, the cunt had an infant in her back seat too!

"now if the bastard just stopped in the middle of the road up past where the turn lanes begin, i would pray that someone would take him out."

That's exactly what the bastard did.

His windows were down, so I gave him a good blast of my horn as I drove past him.

But did she have the all-important Baby On Board sign in the window? Because, you know, that gives her carte blanch to do whatever the hell she wants.

I would like to the see more uses of hand free cell phones on the road. I'm not saying make it a law, I'm just saying driving with one hand and messing with your cell phone in another is a safety hazard.

When mobile phones were first put in cars there was a mic installed over the driver and a speaker mounted in the dash. You could keep both hands on the wheel or shift gears and not have a problem driving like a drunk all over the road.

Learn how to use your speakerphone on your cell if your going to talking while driving. You'll thank me.

I'd like to see more drivers that actually think ahead as to where they're going and whether or not a stop is required before they make a turn.

ITs because there all chinks and spics.

^^^ This nigga waited a decade to drop that burn.

Holly sheitt.

I'm calling it; older white man, half retarded, on aol dial up.