QOTD: Who Are the Biggest Road Buffoons?
Yesterday, Matt brought us a story about one Bhavesh Patel, a man who was found was sitting in the passenger seat of his Tesla Model S while his vehicle traveled down the motorway. He pleaded guilty and was slapped with a driving suspension, community service, and monetary fine.
Far from the only individual on this earth to take leave of their most basic common sense when behind the wheel, we’ve all seen people make questionable decisions on the road. Bonehead driving, applying Dame Edna levels of makeup, sketchy securing of a payload … there’s no shortage of road buffoonery.
Sometimes, vehicular hubris takes the simple form of venturing out when conditions are fit for neither man nor beast. A last blast of winter coated Toronto in a fine film of ice earlier this month. Despite local authorities and the constabulary pleading with drivers to stay home, no fewer than 1,600 crashes were reported in a single weekend. The vast majority of them involved people who ignored the warnings and hit the road when they could have stayed home.
Texting and driving is the current offense-du-jour, with estimates kicking around that a driver is 23 times more likely to get in a wreck once they pick up their smartphone. VW recently paired up with a Swedish marketing company to produce iPhone cases made out of sheetmetal from cars damaged in text ‘n drive mishaps. Given the predilection of drivers to continue stabbing their thumbs at a phone screen instead of paying attention to driving, they’ll surely have an inexhaustible supply of raw materials.
Dumb maneuvers, slapdash repairs, apathetic driving — we see it every day. What’s your example of egregious on-road activity?
[Image: Tesla]
Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.
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What’s the deal with no reason highway brakers? You’re driving down the highway with nary a car in site and...tap....tap...tap tap. What’s going on?
How about the people that brake check you when you flash to pass in the passing lane? Has happened to me too many t times to count. What about the people that think when they are in a merge lane, that means they continue on into the through lane (while not signalling) while you have to wait for them. They have right of way after all in their minds. Has happened so many times to me.
This sounds like all you Mazda/Golf/Civic guys need to settle this once and for all. Meet at the Sonic parking lot on Friday night and race for pink slips. Heh heh...
One instance I witnessed: It was snowing and the road surfaces, while slick, could be navigated with care - reduced speed and allowing for longer than normal braking distances. I watched as the driver of a 4X4 with oversize tires decided he/she did not need to reduce speed to be able to make the right turn they desired. The brake lights came on at a point, if on a normal dry road surface, that would have worked. Not this time. Instead of turning the vehicle proceeded in the direction it was currently going, the 4X4 sliding past the intersection fortunately not involving another motorist. Physics!