<VV> RE:opinions no vair.

[Tony Underwood]

At 05:06 hours 12/15/2004 -0500, srmarti wrote:
>For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure it's primarily the responsibility of
>the driver entering the highway to accelerate and merge safely.  Yes,
common  

It is.   They're required to yield right of way.    

>sense and courtesy would be move left adjust speed etc. as necessary.

Those are the magic words...  "sense and courtesy"...   

>Assuming the left lane is open (Just because I'm doing 55 doesn't mean some
>in the left lane isn't passing me at 56 or 80!) I'll move left or whatever.
>The rule is supposed to be keep right, except to pass.

True enough.    Then again, I-581 is three lanes wide for its entire
length, and for good reason.    There's a lot of entrances and exits...
that center lane serves a purpose IF people would exercise sense and
courtesy.    Some do not.     


>I get ticked off at the dummy that pulls out onto the highway doing 45
>causing me to slow down.   

So do I...  

>Sometimes there's nobody visible behind me for
>miles, but he HAD TO  get on in front off me. Then  he slowly decides to
>accelerate to 65 over the next several miles.  You either have to learn to
>live with it or find alternative transportation.  That's just reality.


My beef stems from the folks who ride that right hand lane knowing full
well that I-581 is a "busy" stretch of road and that they can sure as HELL
expect to see busy entrances.   I've watched these people zoom up on other
people's backsides and ride along 6 ft behind them at 60-70 mph in the
*right* lane...  they've done it to me too.   When they do it to people
trying to get onto 581 and blend with traffic yet offer not a chance in
Hell of allowing someone to get on, then it becomes my problem should there
be an altercation between these two vehicles that spreads over into my
lane.   

Again...  a week seldom passes that I don't get to see several cars banged
up, sitting at  an entrance ramp on 581.     

Now, before there's an opposing argument about how right of way remains the
privilege of the car already in the traffic lane, it's still a matter of
common sense and safety to consider that the intersection ahead is likely
gonna be offering up a string of vehicles trying to gain access to the
Interstate.   Thus, vehicles in the traffic would be wise to avoid hugging
that right side lane because they should *know* there's gonna be a crowd
waiting for them.   *I* stay in the middle lane,  never have any
troubles... but I've more than once had to swerve to avoid somebody who
waited until the last minute to suddenly dodge into that middle lane a few
feet ahead of me so as to avoid another dimwit who decided to barge right
out into traffic believing that approaching traffic will yield.   


Case in point:   

On one occasion on this very stretch of I-581 at the exact intersection
I've been grousing about, I'd shifted to the middle lane in anticipation of
vehicles merging.   A white Cadillac approached me from behind going a bit
faster than me, changed to the *Right* side lane and then passed me briskly
on the right, and I was going ~60.   Just ahead, a light blue Malibu was
accelerating up the ramp and merged into the right lane of 581.    The
Caddy never slowed down nor did I see any brake lights... it rammed the
Malibu with a bang, tail lights and such sprinkling onto the road, Malibu
fishtailing and ending up sliding sideways (into MY lane) whereupon THEN
the Caddy brake lights came on.   I was a bit behind the meeting, having
started slowing when I saw the Caddy roaring up onto the Malibu and had
plenty of room to dodge the blue Chevy.   There wasn't much traffic,
nothing ahead of me in the middle or left lane and only stuff 15-20 car
lengths behind me coming up from the rear, nothing much ahead... the road
was fairly clear.   The Caddy never as much as tapped his brakes until he'd
already smacked the Malibu.   What's more, the Cad was going about 20 mph
faster than I was when it passed me on the right and was maybe 7-8 lengths
ahead of me when it ran up the ass of the Chevy that had been unwise enough
to pull out in front of the Caddy, which had plenty of time to swap lanes
and go on around the Malibu.    

I passed the both of them...  wondering the whole time why in the Hell the
Caddy didn't slow (plenty of time to have done so) or just change lanes
(also plenty of time) instead of maintaining full speed and running right
up the ass of the Malibu.   I considered stopping but another car that had
been behind me was approaching the two subjects and it was close enough to
have seen what happened...  the intersection is in plain sight...  and it
was pulling over; sufficient witness for the ticket that somebody was gonna
get.   Both the Caddy and the Malibu got off the road before I was too far
down the road to see what was going on...  driver of the Malibu was already
exiting the vehicle and checking out the remains of his back bumper etc.
I didn't see what the Caddy driver did when he got out.      


It's people like this who evidently will go that extra yard to insure that
it's their privilege to drive in such a manner.   Trouble is, they stand a
good chance of getting ME mixed up in their mess should one or the other
make a mistake.    In that instance both of them made mistakes because the
accident was preventable by both people, neither of whom should have done
what they did but they both did it anyway.      
   

It's these people who are my peeves...   and I shouldn't have to be
worrying about the antics they might perform on the highways but I end up
doing so anyway, because they do.    And it's NOT just "now and then".
Every day to or from work on I-581 and I-81 somebody usually will do
something that causes me to mutter "...what the Hell!?"  

It's no wonder that VDOT has labeled the stretch of I-81 through the county
of Roanoke as a "Safety Corridor" where excessively high  mandatory fines
are applied for violations/citations... too many people don't seem to know
how to drive on it.        



tony..