Wrong Way Drivers....

September 28, 2017, 08:07 PM

wolfe 21

FUCK YOU VERY MUCH.
Damn people must get their license from a cracker jack box. On what passes for a major traffic artery in my area, two lanes east & two west bound. Drive it twice daily to get to work. Second time I have had someone traveling east in the westbound lane in two years. Both instances were senior drivers, after dark. I know this because both times I was lose enough to them to see hair color, faces and the first old man's pancake hat. Should be mandatory testing to maintain license after age 55, yearly after 62. We even have the center line reflectors that glow red when lit up from the wrong side. Both cases the driver had to have been in the wrong lane for at least 1/2 mile based on traffic flow and road layout.

September 28, 2017, 08:48 PM

LS1 GTO

Wait a minute - weren't you in your lane??

September 28, 2017, 09:00 PM

wolfe 21

^Amended

September 28, 2017, 10:26 PM

ZSMICHAEL

Impaired drivers come in all sizes. I frankly am more concerned with those individuals driving under the influence of mind altering substances. The number of people driving with opiates,benzos and muscle relaxers in their system is a huge problem.

Perceptual motor skill does not decline as much as you might imagine at age 55. In fact, distracted driving is more common among younger people who think they can talk, text and drive.

September 29, 2017, 12:03 AM

Just have a person hold out his hand and then ask him if he drove through Charlottesville today?!

September 29, 2017, 02:21 AM

SFCUSARET

We've had a rash of this shit on the highways down here in Phoenix these last couple years. I can see how it can happen late at night being drunk and turning short onto the off ramp instead of going the distance to the on ramp. But quite a few have been done in broad daylight. How can you not see where you are going in broad daylight? Been a few fatalities because of this.

September 29, 2017, 03:47 AM

wolfe 21

I will concede some other impairment may be involved. I just really don't take too kindly to getting a close up view of somebody's front bumper @ 60 MPH. THIS ONE did at least realize they fucked up and cross the median back to their own side after stopping both westbound lanes. The last passed me doing about 60 the wrong way in what should have been the slow lane. I just happened to be turning and had merged left.

September 29, 2017, 09:05 AM

IntrepidTraveler

Edith calls her husband Henry on his cell phone: "Henry, I just heard on the radio someone is driving the wrong way on the highway. Be careful!"

Henry: "Hell Ethel, they are ALL driving the wrong way!"

September 29, 2017, 09:21 AM

arfmel

The "main drag"/US Highway through Jerkwater consists of two (2) one-way streets. Probably 95% of the wrong way drivers on those two streets are tourists. Also, many of them seem to think a flashing yellow caution light means "STOP". Consequently, I think tourists should receive special testing at the city limits.

Do it for the children.

September 29, 2017, 09:26 AM

TomS

quote:
Should be mandatory testing to maintain license after age 55, yearly after 62

No thanks sonny.

September 29, 2017, 09:53 AM

V-Tail

wolfe 21 -- I agree with you about re-testing to maintain driving privileges. However, you did not go far enough. You made it age-based.

Every driver, regardless of age, should be re-tested at renewal time. Just like pilots. We (pilots), all of us, from the amateur weekend puddle-jumper right through the 747 drivers, are required to satisfy the requirements of the Federal Regs, Part 61, for Flight Reviews with an authorized instructor, examiner, or inspector, on a regular basis, in order to exercise the privileges of our airman certificates. This is not age-based, the requirement applies equally to all ages, although performance checks are required more frequently for airline types than for those holding entry-level certificates.

In order to operate legally, every pilot must have satisfied the requirements for a flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months. This is the least stringent of the requirements, there are additional requirements for specified types of operation.

If this sort of thinking were applied to driving,

our streets and highways would probably be much safer,
there would probably be a lot less congestion, with fewer drivers on the road,
the cost of driving would increase dramatically, to fund all of this re-certification, and
any legislator who supported this would be committing career suicide.

September 29, 2017, 10:03 AM

henryaz

quote:
Originally posted by V-Tail:
Every driver, regardless of age, should be re-tested at renewal time.

This would be a good standard, if only. Here in AZ, your driver's license is issued with an expiration date of your 65th birthday. Get a license at age 20, and it is valid for 45 years. At age 65, you have to retake the vision test only, and from then on every 5 years.

Despite our proliferation of "winter visitors" here in Wickenburg, the wrong way driver syndrome does not seem to occur much here. More often is the stopping for no reason, or turning left from a driving lane when there is a perfectly good left turn lane to use (the two main drags in town, both US highways, are five lane their entire length, with a dedicated left turn lane).

September 29, 2017, 10:42 AM

ensigmatic

I'm pretty sure I've told this story here before.

I was still a teenager. Had three or four friends in the car. Maybe going to a drive-in? One of the most popular ones around was just up the road a piece. Headed northbound on an ill-lit, four-lane, divided highway. Had been in the left lane. Thought "I really should be in the right lane." Moved over.

Within no more than a couple dozen seconds a car topped the rise ahead and whizzed by us going southbound.

In the lane I'd just abandoned.

My car went instantly silent as everybody wondered if they'd just seen what they'd thought they'd seen. Some turned an looked. Yes, they had. (It had happened so fast I wasn't certain I hadn't imagined it.)

Speed limit there was 50 MPH at the time, ISTR.

There were no seat belts or airbags in those days. Not that it would've mattered in a head-on collision at ±100 MPH.

Missed by sheer luck.

September 29, 2017, 11:20 AM

trapper189

How would you know where they were going?

Ubiquitous Wrong Way Link

September 30, 2017, 12:47 AM

wolfe 21

V-Tail, that is a better solution. If not annually, then every 2 years to maintain the ability to operate a vehicle of any type (private, commercial, bike, moped, etc).

September 30, 2017, 01:58 AM

sigcrazy7

quote:
Originally posted by V-Tail:
wolfe 21 -- I agree with you about re-testing to maintain driving privileges. However, you did not go far enough. You made it age-based.

Every driver, regardless of age, should be re-tested at renewal time. Just like pilots. We (pilots), all of us, from the amateur weekend puddle-jumper right through the 747 drivers, are required to satisfy the requirements of the Federal Regs, Part 61, for Flight Reviews with an authorized instructor, examiner, or inspector, on a regular basis, in order to exercise the privileges of our airman certificates. This is not age-based, the requirement applies equally to all ages, although performance checks are required more frequently for airline types than for those holding entry-level certificates.

In order to operate legally, every pilot must have satisfied the requirements for a flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months. This is the least stringent of the requirements, there are additional requirements for specified types of operation.

If this sort of thinking were applied to driving,
our streets and highways would probably be much safer,

there would probably be a lot less congestion, with fewer drivers on the road,

the cost of driving would increase dramatically, to fund all of this re-certification, and

any legislator who supported this would be committing career suicide.

We should also do with pilots like we do with CMV drivers. All penalties incurred during off-duty time, while driving a POV, will be also applied to the other license. Mess up too much driving a car, loose your ability to fly a plane.

September 30, 2017, 06:43 AM

V-Tail

quote:
Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
We should also do with pilots like we do with CMV drivers. All penalties incurred during off-duty time, while driving a POV, will be also applied to the other license. Mess up too much driving a car, loose your ability to fly a plane.

The foundation for that is already in place. Here's how it works: The form that pilots fill out for a medical certificate, which is required annually for commercial pilots and every six months for airline transport pilots, asks about driving infractions. Lie, and you lose your flying privileges.

I'm not sure what the penalty structure is for pilots with driving convictions (I haven't had one in a long, long, time), but I'm pretty sure that the FAA scrutinizes this stuff.