I hope that got  your attention.  Oh, but you already know that bit of information.  But do you practice that bit of information when driving?  I know from experience that many of you don't.  Here are two examples for you to read.  Realize that I was driving last night.  I took my daughter to school this morning, and then to the doctor this evening.  Two out of three trips...and I witness people not paying attention while driving...and this is not unusual.


Example #1:  


I'm on my way home, and there is a funeral home not too far from where I live.  The highway has two lanes going in each direction, and a center turning lane.  As I'm approaching the funeral home, I see someone pulling out, going across the first two lanes, and I'm thinking they will go into the center lane and merge into the empty lane next to me on my left.  WRONG.   They just slowly  came across all 5 lanes and dropped themselves right in front of me.  Whoa boy...slam the brakes, hit the horn, flash the bright lights to let them know I am there, and try to avoid them by jumping over into that empty lane to my left...all at the same time.  And they acted like none of that every happened as I drove past them.
EXCUSE MEeeeeeeeeee...  You just came from a fueneral home, and  now you try to commit suicide?  Hey, I want to live...I have a wife, two kids, two grandkids, and this website to keep running.  And please don't use that excuse, "oh, I am grieving and not paying attention to my driving."  Then you shouldn't be driving...that is why there are taxi's in this world.  Use one next time...and no, I am not being very nice about this, I am more than tired of people not paying attention to the fact that they aren't the only people on the road.


Example #2:  


My wife and I had to meet at the doctors office for an appointment for our daughter.  This of course meant that we were driving two cars, and as we left for home after the appointment, I naturally followed her.

We pulled up to a red light.  We can't go straight at this light, it is a T intersection, meaning we could only go left or we could only go right.  We were in the left turning lane, and in the left of two lanes turning left.

The light turns green and we all start proceeding into the intersection.  I'm sure many of you have noticed that these types of intersections have little dotted lines to show the lane separations for turning so that people don't run into each other.  Yet, some of you don't pay attention to those lines, as was the case today.  

My wife was in front of me, and I noticed her hitting her brakes and honking her horn.  The car to her right somehow thought no one else was on the road today, and just came on over into her lane.  Now, this is rush hour, there are cars in front of this person, and this person could not have missed the fact that two lanes are turning left, yet he (or she...who knows) just came on over into my wife's lane.  I"m sure that was my wife's voice I heard, it had to be.  

Just moments later my phone rings...

"did you see that idiot coming into my lane?"


Yes dear, it was kind of hard to miss.  I guess he (or she) just had a hankering to be featured on MrRoadRage.com tonight.

These are the kind of things that I see happen all the time.  People are driving, and forgetting that they were given a brain by which they can make intelligent decisions...yet they do this kind of stuff that causes accidents, and sometimes takes the life of another.  

In some cases, they lose their own loved ones.  Then they feel regret for not paying attention while driving.  Sorry, it is too late at that point.  If you are going to drive, then think.

Motorcycles for Breakfast - September 03, 2008

Whoa boy - I almost ate a motorcycle for breakfast this morning. I prefer something a bit more tastier. Down in the south, most people like a couple of eggs, maybe some toast or biscuits, grits, bacon...you know, one of those hearty breakfast's like you find on the menu at Cracker Barrel. This morning though, the menu had an unusual item on it - Motorcycle...and I almost ate it.

I took my daughter to school this morning (that's my job since she has to be there by 7:30, and my wife takes hours and hours to get ready in the morning). It was on my trip home that I stumbled upon the unusual breakfast menu item. I was almost home; I was approaching a stop sign where I would be turning right and my neighborhood would be immediately on the right.

As I was getting close to the stop sign, all of a sudden a motorcycle cut the corner while turning onto the street I was on. Just in case you wonder what I mean by "cutting the corner," he cut through my lane to help him make his turn a bit easier. Hey, I've done it too, but only on streets where there is plenty of room to see that there is no one coming. My neighborhood is a good street for doing that, but the street I was on this morning....a major no-no as there are trees and brush right up to the stop sign, therefore it is almost impossible to see on-coming traffic. If I would have been one second closer (you know...counting 1001 type of thing), I dare to say that I would have been force fed "motorcycle" for breakfast.


There is one vehicle which a person needs to be extra careful when driving, and that vehicle is a motorcycle.

Example: My wife and I used to hear (almost daily) a motorcycle racing through the area we live in. There are lots and lots of neighborhoods off of the main road, and lots of roads leading to even more neighborhoods brach out from the main road too. I kept telling my wife that one day, this kid was going to bite it...someone was going to pull out in front of him not knowing he was going so fast, and since he was on a motorcycle, it was possible they might not see him at all. There are times in life that a person just doesn't want to be right, but in this one instance, I knew that I could wear the "prophet" label.

I was outside one evening. I don't remember what I was doing, but I do know that I was doing something around my car. I heard the motorcycle racing down the road a ways off as usual. Then I heard a sound no one wants to hear. It was definitely a vehicle crash. The racing of the motorcycle engine suddenly stopped.

It was rush hour with lots of traffic heading home. I wasn't sure exactly where he was located, but since everyone carries a cell phone I knew that someone would have already called the EMS, which was less than a mile up the road, so I decided not to venture out in search of the accident. It was less than 2 minutes later that my wife pulled up in the driveway. She confirmed my fears. Just a short ways up the road, a car had pulled out...right in front of the speeding motorcycle. My wife said it did not look good.

I could tell he was going at a rather high rate of speed because of the sound of the bike. My wife didn't think he lived through that accident, and I seriously doubt it too. She didn't witness the accident, but passed it right after it happened. People were already out of their cars tending to things so she came on home. I hate it when I'm right about something like that. I hope no one died that day. At least I didn't have to eat motorcycle for breakfast this morning.



MrRoadRage.com is all about saving lives! Not just in America, but around the world, and not just on our highways, but in other ways as well. Check out MrRoadRage.com and the discussion boards and you will see what I mean! Join our online interactive experience...the life you save may be your own!

August 31, 2008

There are some days that I just wonder what people are thinking when they are behind the wheel of a car. I only say this because it is obvious some of those who are driving certainly do not have their mind on the task at hand. Today, I witnessed an example of this very thing.

My in-laws came to visit today (they live two hours away), and we went out to eat. A few details are fuzzy here, as we went to a buffet and I completely stuffed my face and spent the next couple of hours in total misery. The detail that I am fuzzy over is whether this happened on the way to the restaurant, or on the way home. Oh....since you asked, I will tell you what happened.

I was driving along, driving defensively as I always do (you have to these days) and up ahead I noticed a car pulling out of a gas station. He was coming from my right, and was crossing the road to travel in the opposite direction. He had "plenty" of time to pull out and get into the on-coming lane of traffic and I knew that I wasn't going to have to give him one ounce of brain power in having to make any decisions as to whether or not I might have to take any driving action on my part...or so I thought.

He exited the gas station, but he forgot he had an accelerator. Obviously he took his foot off of the brake, then just ever so slowly drifted across my two lanes. A turtle could have made it across the road before he did. He had plenty of time to get across without affecting any of the traffic approaching him from our side. But...if I would not have applied my brakes and dropped my speed down to the point that I thought I was going to have to stop, I would have plowed right into his drivers side door.

Back to my original point...WHAT was he thinking? Why pull out so slow that people almost have to stop to miss him? He had more than ample time to get across safely, actually, several cars had time to get across, but I had to almost stop to avoid hitting him. Was this intentional behavior? Does he drive like this all the time? I have lots of unanswered questions. Lucky for him I was paying attention. Let's just suppose that I would have been distracted by something just as he was pulling out. Wait, he had so much time to get across the road that I still would have been able to avoid hitting him. The point here though is that this should have never happened.

If we are going to get behind the wheel of a car, we should give some thought as to what we are doing while we are driving. I used to work on cars many years ago. I trained by working with a neighbor for several years after school before going to school for two years to become a mechanic. My neighbor was and is a wonderful man, a man of common sense and of excellent character. On rare occasion someone would bring in a car that didn't seem to have anything wrong with it. I remember him saying more than once..."the only thing wrong with this car is the nut between the seat and the steering wheel. Today, those words rang out oh so true!



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Monday, August 25, 2008


I was out driving today...yep, it happens. 
As usual, all I have to do is wait, and the unexpected will happen.  I was driving on a road with 2 lanes in each direction with a center turning lane.  The 2 lanes I was in forked like a "Y," and the top side of the "Y" had two lanes on each side as well, and just before the split, we actually had 4 lanes for a moment.

But wait...a mini-van in the far left lane realized that the right lane was the place to be, as they really did want to turn right at the "Y."  But they were in the left lane....I said that already, right?  

There was traffic around, but not too much, but enough that when this person (I am so tempted to use that word "Idiot") in the left lane realized way to late the mistake they had made, they just stopped right where they were, and very slowly (1 mph) attempted to work their way across the lanes of traffic so that they could get to where they wanted to go.  Everyone had to stop for this idiot.  Oooops, I said it, didn't I?  

Solution...

How about next time, don't stop right in the middle of the road. 
You made one mistake, don't compound it by making another. 
THIS is what causes accidents. 
This is why people get hurt...OR DIE
...because IDIOTS make one mistake after another and do stupid things on the road. 

Don't stop when you make a mistake, just go to the next available place where  you can turn around and come back.  YES>>> it really is that easy.  I've done it many times.  But no, this person was right in front of me...MrRoadRage, and now is the topic of my discussion today.  

I was taking my daughter (almost 4 yrs. old) to school this morning, and one of our major roads splits like a "Y." 2 lanes go off in each direction. I was in the right lane just before the split with plans to bear right. Another vehicle in the left lane appeared to be heading left, but just as the road was splitting he decided he needed go to a business that was on the right side of the "Y." So what did he do? You guessed it, he jumped across three lanes of traffic, and turned into the business.

I'm not sure how I didn't hit him, it appeared to me that the sound of metal crunching was inevitable. I hit the brakes hard, and hit the horn. My only guess is that the horn made him accelerate enough to get out of the way in time, thus helping to avoid metal slamming into metal.

I thought about going back, but I had my daughter in the car, and...well, any sane idiot (oxymoron!) knows not to put their child into such a situation. I certainly did want to go back and ask him what he was thinking jumping across several lanes of traffic at the last minute like he did.

It's people like that who cause accidents. Think about it for a minute...he obviously wasn't paying attention and forgot where he needed to be going, or maybe he needed to go there, and it wasn't on his mind until he saw the place. In either case, why risk an accident jumping across several lanes in front of traffic as he did?

The solution is simple...just go down to the next street or the next available place to turn around, and come back.

It is decisions such as the one he made that causes accidents. Accidents cause injury, sometimes death. Have you been to my website yet? If not, then let me share with you something you will find on the site...

"Preventing loss of life... is much better than grieving the loss of life."

Every decision we make on the highways could mean life or death. It could also mean "misery." If you've been in an accident, then you know that it is a major inconvenience for all involved. First, the vehicles are damaged, sometimes totaled. They will need to be replaced or repaired.

Sometimes, the injuries are severe, causing months, even years of rehab, even paralysis. I worked in a Physical/Occupational Therapy dept at a major hospital for a number of years, and I can tell you first hand that the after effects of an injury are pretty bad, sometimes, life lasting.

So you see, every decision you make when driving can affect the lives of people in ways you haven't dared to think. I ask you now to give this some consideration.

So what if you are in a hurry. If you make a stupid decision, you may not make it to your destination at all. It could be the last decision you ever make...or it could be the last moment of another's life. How would you like to live with that guilt for the rest of your life? So what if you are running late...it's not worth the risk to do something stupid just to save a few seconds or minutes.

Here's the hard part...maybe you need to consider leaving just a few minutes earlier to avoid those last minute desperate decisions. Yeah, I know, I hate to hear things like that too...but since I started this website (MrRoadRage.com) I find myself thinking more and more about the things I need to consider changing in my driving habits that line up with the thought I quoted from my website a few paragraphs up...

Preventing the loss of life...
is much better than grieving the loss of life!

Think about it please!

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