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Worst….cameraman….ever
Seriously, a coke addicted monkey going through withdrawals could have done better.
that sort of thing is inevitable given the law of very large numbers
Dumber than the drivers are the pedestrians standing around the parking lot with these 2 yahoos hooning it up. At least the drivers had some sheet metal around them.
Well, I’ve never nailed another car in an empty parking lot, there were a lot of other cars and that was a looong time ago.
Probably the recent one that stands out happened a couple of weeks ago. On the way to the post office to mail packages, going about 20 over, came around a corner and there was an old bearded dude in a Prius starting to pull out of his driveway on my right. I braked and went around him with no problem, but if someone had been coming toward me….
The time I did something stupid in a car was when I was in California recently. I was driving my hire car (a Nissan Versa, when I asked for a Ford Focus. I wanted to see how bad it actually was to a European one) from Cypress to San Francisco. I was told that unless a copper stops you, you won’t get a speeding ticket. So, I was driving up the Interstate-5 and decided (with the information I was told) that since I was in a different country and on holiday, I thought I’d floor it. I achieved the princely top speed of 100 mph!
I was keeping my eye out for any police people, but was having too much fun taking a Nissan Versa to its limit! Anyway, my friend, who was dozing in the passenger seat asked if he could have a sip of my Mountain Dew (I love that drink!), so I took my eye off the road, picked up the can and handed it to him. As I put my eye back on the road, I noticed I was passing a cop car by the side of the road at breakneck speed. Even if I broke it would have still aroused the suspicion of plod. As I drove past them, I briefly saw them with a doughnut in one hand and a cup of coffee on the dashboard having an arm wrestle! They didn’t see me and I decided to tone down my speed. I learnt my lesson.
Another stupid thing I did in the same car on the same trip was when my friend and I decided to go to a club in San Fran with a friend of his who was in San Fran at the time. Trouble was we were in Lake Tahoe at the time (which is about 150 miles way). So we decided that one of us would drive back, I drew the short straw. I had a short sleep on the drive to San Fran, thinking it would be enough to make me stay awake during the drive back. I was wrong.
For 100 miles, I was drifting in and out of sleep. I was struggling to keep my eyes open. That was probably the most challenging drive I’ve ever done, but would never do it again as it was stupidly dangerous as people could have lost their lives. 50 miles out from Lake Tahoe, I gave up. I couldn’t go any further. Luckily, my friend had woken up and sobered up. He took over and we got home, safely.
You haven’t lived until you’ve driven down Interstate-5, with Lindsay Buckingham’s “Holiday Road” (A.K.A “National Lampoon’s Vacation” Theme) blaring on the radio! Happy days….
Wow, I didn’t think the Versa had it in it to hit 100.
This past June, I was turning left onto a very rural, very lightly used two-lane state highway when I got distracted by the scenery (I hadn’t slept much the night before). When I looked up, my car was headed right for a concrete-curbed cattle guard on the highway at about 15 mph. I took out the 4×4 reflector post adjacent to the cattle guard, but the curbing ripped out the right front corner of my Pilot, to the tune of $7500 in repairs (not to mention paying to replace the reflector post).
It was more than a little embarrassing to explain to the responding trooper (and every passer-by, and the tow truck driver, and the owner of the nearby general store) how I had managed to hit the only obstacle for miles around on an empty highway on a sunny, dry day. Thankfully, he had mercy on me and didn’t ticket me for distracted driving, and he even said I could take the reflector post home with me as a trophy for my stupidity (sadly, I didn’t have room in the car).
@Cammy – I’ve done that drive from SF to Tahoe and back. It’s a good one. Unfortunately I was in a Kia Sportage, which was a nightmare, but at least it passed for 4×4 (even though it’s fwd) so I didn’t have to put chains on for the snowstorm in Truckee we went through. First place I’ve ever driven where they stop and make you put chains on if you’re not in a 4×4.
I actually witnessed one of the dumbest pieces of driving ever on that trip. On the winding mountain road in Truckee there was a huge snowstorm, about a foot of fresh snow on the road, this guy coming towards us decides to mess around and takes his big lifted truck off to the side of the road, then jumps back onto the road. Well he was doing about 40 and lost it, slid sideways right into a tree directly in front of us. He hit on the driver door and the whole truck folded around, bounced off and nearly hit us. I know the fool did it on purpose (except for the hitting the tree part). Maybe he lived, I don’t know, there was a police truck behind us so I didn’t stop.
A month ago, driving down a country road way too fast, I approaced an intersection blinded by very high cornfields on every corner. At the same time a Semi-tractor pulled halfway through the intersection as well. There was no way I could stop so I swerved to miss the front of the truck. He was going slow enough to stop, and I happily went on my way relieved I didn’t t-bone a western star.
Can’t remember the last specific incident (besides actually crashing) but going for closing gaps is something I try to avoid doing, not always successfully. It doesn’t get you anywhere and just annoys others.
I was going to college at the time, driving up I-95N in Connecticut in my ’99 Sunfire… I was approx one car length behind the SLOW moving Camry in front of my in the left lane. We were probably going about 55mph. The Camry suddenly swerved to the right, moving halfway into the middle lane to reveal an orange barrel cone that was misfortunately placed 1/3 of the way into the left lane.. I had a very quick moment to do a lot of visual math – cone approaching fast, if I dont move to the right I would hit it head on. Car in the middle lane to my right, severely limiting any room for me to swerve into the middle lane. I closed my eyes tight, moved to the right as much as I thought possible given the quick glance I had at the car next to me.. And then I heard *BAM*, opened my eyes to see my left side view mirror flapping back and forth like the pointer on the Wheel of Fortune wheel.. I had managed to fit between the cone and the car next to me and only clip my mirror. To this day, reliving that story is still exhilarating.
I’ve driven when I was too tired to drive. And we’ve driven through the night. The latter is always bad, IMHO, for people who don’t work nights routinely.
I’ve seen the meat wagon pull up to two different accidents, near my house, where the cause was the driver falling asleep at the wheel, so you’d think I’d know better.
The dumbest thing I’ve seen recently:
I drive a Jeep Wrangler. We’ve had a lot of localized street flooding around Houston, which makes me very glad for high ground clearance and fording ability. I was creeping through some fairly deep water about a month ago on my way home, deep enough that it was seeping in my door sills. It was in a very affluent neighborhood, and the driveways slope down to the road. The rain had stopped, but the water had not yet receded, which usually takes about 30 minutes. As I’m cruising through, I see a guy coming down his driveway in an R8. He stops at the water’s edge and gets out. As I pull by him, I yell out the window that he should probably plan on being late to wherever he’s going. Before I even get to the next driveway, I look in my mirror to see him inching into the water. I pull into the driveway to get my muffler out of the water, and watch the show. He pulls his R8 right in to the water, where it dies. The water is up to the windshield! Insurance fraud, anyone?
Back in 1976 I was driving to Wisconsin from Michigan, it was about 3am and I was in a 76 Corvette on I94. I remember a semi in the left lane and I was passing him in the right lane. I dozed off and when I woke up seconds later I was starting to drift under the semi trailer. Let’s just say that was like a big shot of caffiene. That scared the crap out of me and kept me awake for the rest of the trip.
Funniest dumb thing. I used to be in pharma sales. One of my colleagues was leaving a medical clinic when another pharma sales rep (a rather spectacular example of the female species) walked past his car. He was in the process of closing his door but reflexively his head whipped around to get a look at her receding (trust me, you would too). He slammed the door on his own head and knocked himself senseless.
I have too many.
The first was when – showing off for my friends – I did a tire-burning U-turn in the rain, and plowed the front end of my dad’s new ’78 Fiesta into a curb.
Then I totalled that Fiesta by running a stop sign, sideswiping another car, who then collided head-on with a third car. Final tally: 2.5 cars totalled in seconds, thanks to my haste. Injuries were very minor, thankfully.
The next was when I pulled on the dash-mounted emergency brake to observe how it stopped a Maverick, and nearly careened down a very steep hillside.
Lastly, in 1993 I rear-ended a stopped Accord in broad daylight while in a hurry, costing me and my insurance lots of money.
A couple of decades later, I’m a lot more cautious.
MontanaVista– it is inevitable and nearly unavoidable that the car going slowly in front of you is a Camry. Old, young, male, female– it matters not, the driver is going well below the speed limit driving every other motorist crazy.
That was kind of funny. At least the cars they wrecked were already crappy.
The last time I did something stupid hmm…. this morning..
Its been raining hard around here for the past 2 days…
And I decided to do what I normally do… (in good weather) and take a badly banked onramp onto I-95… in the left lane through a bunch of water.
And before I know it.. my “ass” gets loose, I do or have done for me.. Two consecutive 360s and get dumped out into the middle of I-95 N…. sideways.. at about 615a
No power.. no nothin.
Tap the gas.. nothin.
Turn off the lights, put on my flashers..
Turn the car off..
Restart it.. tap the gas… change gears.. and Im good.
All I gotta say is..
Holy shit.
A few years ago, and with my first car (a 1992 Chevy S-10 Blazer. God I miss that truck). Having only owned it for about a week, I wanted to play with the 4X4, get a feel for how it handled and what not. At an intersection near my house, there is a small gully near the stop sign, and I figured “Hey, how cool would it be to do a circle around the stop sign, pop back onto the road, and go on my way”.
Well, the tall grass hid the fact that it was a rather deep ditch, and before I knew it, after having almost rolled the damn thing, the roof line of the truck was about a foot or so under the road surface. After realizing that I was an idiot, I decided to try and “claw” my way out with the 4X4, because 4X4 obviously makes everything better and safer. However, the tires were damn near bald. I ended up backing my way into the adjacent field, through someones yard, onto their driveway, and back onto the road.
I am amazed that 1) I didn’t roll the Blazer, 2) I managed to get out of the ditch, and 3) that no one passed by on the road to witness my “adventure”. Dodged more than one bullet there.
Only a little stupid in that it could have gotten my license shredded, but I had to make a trip up I-95 to far northern Maine for work this week. Decided to find out exactly how fast my ’08 Saab 9-3 SportCombi will go once I hit the deserted reaches past Bangor. Pretty darned fast, I have to say (exact speed once the statute of limitations runs out), and very comfortable with it. Luckily, not a cop in over 125 miles.
Top speed is the same in 5th or 6th, as I expected. :-)
krhodes:
Funny…
I know EXACTLY where you are talking about. There are whole stretches of highway.. where there are no lights, and no one around for a good 20minutes.
I used to take trips up there in a A Class Winnebago a coupla years ago.
Place made me be afraid of the dark.. knowing if you get stuck..
Literally.. you are stuck.
dolo54: Here in Washington State, the WSP makes everyone stop before they get to a mountain pass (such as I-90) and check to see if you have chains. If you don’t, you don’t pass! Hey, I just made a pun!
ChevyIIfan, Accords and Toscha: Funny!
I hate to admit it, but while testing a brand spanking new Z4 Sdrive 23 the other day, i decided to swap places with the guy that usually takes the shots and told him to do some 50kph passes over a very dusty road so we get a trailing panning shot… he did, on the last pass, he decided to have fun, and floored the car while the DSC is turned off and kinked the steering to supposedly step the rear out. and the Z4 responded with the graciousness of a short handle sledge hammer started to spin and headed towards a 100ft drop… thankfully a tree was there to stop him… total damages 2500$ bumper, headlight, one kidney grill. and as my career flashed before my eyes, the dumbass steps out of the car and urgently says, don’t worry it will buff out… he’s paying, and i got out scott free… lesson? never loan a loaner… especially to another person that doesn’t understand the loaner concept…