Jason Hayes wrote:
>The discussion here is amusing. I'm looking forward to seeing just how
>bad the drivers are in a few months, when I arrive. I haven't driven in
>Arizona for about 14 years, so things will undoubtedly be different from
>when I last drove there.
>
>I would have to agree with Donn on Boston though. My clearest memory of
>driving in Boston is looking over to see the gash running down the side
>of a tractor trailer that was merging into my lane at 70 mph. He was
>coming into my lane whether I was there or not. No signals - no warning
>- just merging.
>
>
I am actually amazed that people seem to think AZ/PHX drivers are the
worst drivers in the world. I've lived in a number of large and small
cities.
I'll have to say the people that think Phoenix drivers are the worst are
going to be sourly disappointed if they move someplace else. AZ/PHX
drivers are neither bad nor good, I'd say compared to 'bad', they are
actually 'good'. In my experience, the dumbest drivers I have lived
around and dealt with on a daily basis were in New Mexico and Russia (St
Petersburg and Moscow to be specific). You can pretty much drive into a
wall and nobody will think anything of it. Heck my house in New Mexico
had 3 cars crash through my back and front yard in 3 years. You wouldn't
believe some of the things I saw there, here are a few things that
happened to me. Perfect driving record in every other state I have lived
in but New Mexico before and aft.
[ WARNING; THIS IS A LOOOONG RANT ABOUT REALLY BAD DRIVERS ]
In my life, I have been in 3 accidents where I was at the wheel. All New
Mexico and more if you include the other New Mexico drivers I used to
ride with.
Accident #1
- I got rear ended trying to turn onto my residential street by a girl
tailgating me and doing her makeup. Best part was I could see it coming
in my rear view mirror AND I saw her doing her makeup and was 'afraid'
this might happen when I try to make the turn. I tried reaaaaal hard to
get out of her way but she was homed into my bumper and was going to hit
it if it was the last thing she did. I had no chance. Her boyfriend was
a university traffic cop, she calls him and he promptly comes to grill
me out of his jurisdiction somehow saying I was partly at fault for
getting rear ended. I basically take it until I can't take it anymore. I
tell him to put a cork in it and to get back to his job on the
university. This obviously did not make him or I better friends. You
could just see him trying to figure out a way to give me a ticket or
arrest me for not caving into his BS. I had actually called the city
police about the same time she called her boyfriend so luckily I didn't
have to deal with this clown for too long. The city cop shows up and the
boyfriend keeps butting in until the city cop re-affirms my 'put a cork
in it and get out of here' attitude. (just with authority this time) All
went well with the city cop.
Accident #2
- I was at a dead stop at a stop sign and some drunk came around the
corner and just drove straight into the side of my car instead of
turning. After he hit, he didn't really know what happened so he kept
trying to push my car out of the way so he could make the turn. When he
was done tearing the side of my car off he kind of slowed down (I guess)
wondering what that bump was or something. Maybe he wanted to see if I
was dead or not, who knows.. Oh well, he decides it was nothing and he
is back on his way. My car (no longer in working order since the front
wheel was caved over) is just sitting there and I make a
<sarcastic>random</sarcastic> guess that he might be headed to the
casino that was right by where I was when he hit me. So I leave my
girlfriend with the car and make the half mile run to see if maybe I see
him in there. Yep, there he was playing some blackjack. I was so mad, I
can barely remember what exactly I said to him, all I remember is that
it contained a lot of obscenitys and almost a few fists. But somehow I
come to my senses and found a security guard to tell about the
situation. I do that and the guard tells me that we will go talk to him
about it. The drunk trys to convince the security guard that he didn't
know what I was talking about, gives him his SSN number and says he
doesn't have ID. I almost resort to violence again but instead ask the
security guard to duh "call the cops?". They think about it and decide
that "yep, lets call the cops", After about 15 mins of watching this guy
play blackjack very badly, the cop shows up and I tell him what
happened. The cop can barely believe it. So much that I don't know if he
even believed me until we went out to look at the guys cougar. Sure
enough, the front left corner was smashed to pieces and covered in black
scrapes (my cars color). So the cop trys to talk to the guy about it who
has some completely stupid excuse to where he got the damage and then
gives the cop a different SSN number than he gave the security guard and
says he doesn't have ID. So the cop tries to give the guy a field
sobriety test and the drunk refuses to take it over and over. So
eventually the cop arrests him and goes through his pockets to find
about 250 dollars in casino chips, an expired license with a SSN
different than that of what he gave the cop and the security guard, and
a little bag of cocaine. So anyways, he gets taken in and later that
year I get a subpeona. I go in to be a witness for the DA but the cop
doesn't think there is any reason to show up. So we all go home and they
do it again a few months later. This time I get a cancel call that
morning because the cop wasn't going to show up again. So the state of
New Mexico decides to try again a few months later and the cops boss
tells the DA that he will show up for sure on this next one. Nope,
doesn't show up even with the cops boss's word so the judge tosses the
case out. Meanwhile "captain drink-a-lot", big pink and porous nose and
all, is sitting there scott free. Turns out he had 4 DUI's already, his
license was revoked, it wasn't even his car, nor was it insured. The DA
started telling me that I could take him to court myself if there was
more damage on my car than my insurance paid for but in NM, you kind of
have to just give up hope for things like this. To this day, I still
don't know what to make of this whole event. I can barely believe it
happened let alone happened where I was involved.
Accident #3
- Yes, another drunk is driving along next to me in the middle of the
day. He decides to merge into my lane with me there in a big ol 4 month
old ford explorer. So he trys to get in there and keeps pushing against
my car like he's trying to push me off the road. We are both kind of
jacked in the center resting against each others cars at 40 mph until
the idea that he is hitting somebody finally defeats the lead paint in
this guys head. So he goes back into his lane and floors it. I chase him
for about 2 or 3 blocks until he finally pulls over to 'talk about it'.
I ask him what his problem is, he of course smells like hard liquor and
says I hit him. He also says he is going to cut me a deal because he
doesn't want the insurance/cops involved so his premiums don't go up.
(aka, he has no insurance) So it is basically my word against his at
this point. I am afraid to go into the bank from the wells fargo parking
lot to call the cops thinking the guy will just take off first chance he
gets. LUCKILY some lady who was driving behind us finally caught up and
stopped to help out. She tells the guy he blatantly drove right into me
and that nobody had anyplace to go in bumper to bumper traffic. I was
appearantly right against the concrete barrier trying to avoid him and
she thought I hit on that side but it didn't show if I did. I don't
really remember, all I remember having what seemed to be a staring
contest through the window while I was yelling lots of obscenitys and
trying to keep my car on the road. He just kept on smashing into the
side of my car with one the dumbest looks I have ever seen on a persons
face. Thankfully the lady had a cell phone and called the cops when she
saw him start bolting. The cops show up and all goes well there but
guess who doesn't have insurance? (nobody in New Mexico gets insurance I
guess) In the end he really didn't do much damage to my car beyond
popping the body panels in and my insurance promptly fixed it. His car
on the other hand had lots of damage.
then Russia.... You just don't drive in Russia. Driving in Russia is a
Lada free-for-all. Every man for himself is the rule. Lines, lights,
signs on roads mean nothing to anybody. You just try to avoid things
(except people, they are expendable if they aren't in a chair with
wheels and a lot of metal surrounding them.) Most people avoid the cars
and ride the Metro. But you flag anything down if you want to ride in
one for a change, all cars are really taxi's in disguise.
Ok, that is enough for now.
-Mike
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