It has been a very odd past few days and I have witnessed some disgraceful driving on my travels.
Early Thursday morning I was driving down I-787 near Albany and about to join I-90 west, on the ‘on ramp’ the right lane was closed and access to I-90 east blocked, there were warning signs for 4 miles but it seems nobody saw them, hence sharp braking at the very last moment, then as I neared the split a set of lights come in the wrong direction it is some idiot in a Honda civic, I stop and he has just 6’ on my left side, instead of turning around in front of me he slps by, running the entire side of my truck with his right side scraping on the concrete barrier, then turns around behind me, I get going and he passes me again in the right direction, his front and back right hand wings are missing as are both door skins He didn’t stop
Same day but returning east on I-90 I hear a loud mouth yacking away about how fast he can go and everywhere he has been, after about 10 minutes he comes past me driving a black KW with a reefer on doing at least 90
mph I listen as he brags away for even longer telling of an accident he had last year when his brakes failed on a hill and he demolished a church “I wuz doin’ 115 mph” he brags.
At last I have to say something “You’ve got more BS than G W Bush” I said, “There isn’t a truck built with a speedometer showing over 90 mph to start, and if you’d had an accident like that it might have drummed some sense into you, but seeing how fast you were driving just now I doubt it”
His reply ;- “Jess you -----off back to Austraila”
In NY state when a right turn is very tight the stop line in the road where access is needed has the stop line set well back before the traffic lights to enable trucks to turn in, only half the people take notice of the sign that reads “STOP HERE ON RED”, same day I get to the end of I-787 and want to turn right onto rt 32 north in Waterford NY, this is where such a sign exists, so some stupid woman in the road I want passes the sign and the line and sits there staring at me as I take a wide turn and can move no more and gesture for her to ‘GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY’, she reverses into the car behind As I pull alongside she gets out and shouts abuse at me, the driver behind (The one she hits) is a cop who asks her why she crossed the line in the first place, trying to keep a straight face, and tells me to get on my way as it is all her fault and she is gonna get quite a few tickets
One hour later, after unloading I am driving though Mechanicville NY, taking it easy and admiring the view of the Hudson Valley, I get back to the depot and Mechanicville Police have phoned to compliment my driving
“Thats a first” say’s the boss. This is just one day in New England, imagine how back a whole week is
BTW, I remember once seeing some dumb (mysoginistic comment self-deleted) back up behind the line to let a truck make his turn, but she left in in reverse, so when the light turned green, she floored the gas and smashed into the car behind her.
As far as that Honda was concerned-I’ll bet it was stolen.
Not all those who shouldn’t have a licence reside over your way Pat.Had a similiar brainiac a few weeks ago,on an on-ramp to a freeway I was waiting for the lights to turn green so i could proceed up the fairly steep and long ramp when in the corner of my eye I notice a car that had entered the onramp from the oposite direction hit the brake lights half way up.Made a note to myself to watch him as looks as if he has ran out of fuel,broken down etc and will try and roll back to the emergancy lane,no need as I couldn’t believe this professor of stupidity does a three way turn and comes barrelling down the on-ramp in the wrong way!!!I have stopped and just hoped no-one entered from the other direction and stared in amazement as his car was full of kids,and he didn’t have a care in the world driving past…
Hey Pat,gotta love the way the locals retort"Jess yu… back to Australia" a bit like calling a Kiwi an Aussie or a Canadian a Yank anywhere OS.
The Americans view of the world is still what they see on TV and TV is the last word,we get FOX News on cable here and its the best comedy I have watched in ages with its"Unabiased fair reporting of the truth"
Let’s be careful with the generalizations here boots… Americans are all alike just like Brits are all alike right?.. and I’ve met some ignorant Brits. You wouldn’t believe the people over there who think typical America is what they see on American sit-coms or action adventure movies, or that they’ll get shot walking down the street in any small town they go to…It goes both ways. We don’t all watch FOX news, and we don’t all use the British sitcom marathon on PBS to form our views of the British. I wouldn’t exactly use the worldly knowledge of the typical American truck driver to form my opinion of a typical American…cause most of them don’t have any worldly knowledge. Patricks stories are a bit amusing, I’ll admit that, but he is only describing one interraction out of hundreds that he has… and the polite, positive reactions he gets doesn’t make for entertaining reading…so lets keep it in perspective.
Kate,
Your pious sanctimonous sarcasim was well recieved.Forgive me as I had a simplistic notion that a basic concept of an open forum is for input from all and sundry.Obviously it is an exclusive club where any critique,intentional or otherwise-beration is mandatory by those superior.
I will endevour to dismount my high horse in any further input,but it sounds folly expecting likewise.
Stereotyping,tsk tsk,
Boots
Frankly, if all Americans know about Britain is what they see on PBS, I’d be worried. These are the British shows that we’ve recieved through the years:
Monty Python
Benny Hill
Dr Who
Are You Being Served?
Eastenders
Keeping Up Appearances
Red Dwarf
One Foot in the Grave
Monarch of the Glen
Very many people in the US are highly ignorant of outside events, and also of the peoples of other nations. Then again, most other nations form their opinions of the US from TV dramas as well. Ignorance is not a US exclusive teritory.
And… there’s something wrong with Fox news? Aside from it being a solidly right wing part of the Murdoch empire… “The network America trusts for fair and balanced reporting”… I listen to Fox quite a bit for their coverage of US events, but if I want foreign news or balanced coverage, I go straight to the BBC.
And given Pat’s topic of nutty drivers, I did wonder if he’d been up my neck of the woods and seen my fine, and regular displays of what axle tramp looks like…
Me and my old GMC truck display this “fine” trait of older trucks frequently on the ND roads. He’s old enough to buy his own beer
Remember guys, as the sticker on my window says, GMC trucks the official trucks of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
boots:
Kate,
Your pious sanctimonous sarcasim was well recieved.Forgive me as I had a simplistic notion that a basic concept of an open forum is for input from all and sundry.
Are you serious? There was nothing pious, sanctimonious, or sarcastic in my response… just pointing out the fact that there are people in all nations who are ignorant of others, its not exclusive to the US. And on this site it seems that all the derrogatory comments are directed toward Americans… as if we’re the only ones with nationalistic attitudes. Doesn’t go down quite as well when its reciprocated, does it?
You seem to have a lot of simplistic notions, nice to see you recognize that. You can make as many ignorant generalizations as you like, if it makes you feel superior… but as you so eloquently pointed out, “an open forum is for input from all”… so I’ll continue my input as well… no matter how sanctimonious you think it is. (now THAT was sarcasm… see the difference?)
“The first time he ran over and killed an aboriginal he was severly reprimanded for stopping and wasting time,so the 6 more abo’s he killed he just carried on driving” Trucknet.uk forum Thursday July 15
“You refrain from calling me a liar” Trucknet.uk Expats forum Monday August 23
“Polite ,positive reactions he gets doesn’t make for entertaining reading” Trucknet.uk expats forum …
Who would scribe these distasteful words■■?
Mmmmmmmmmmmm wonder who,and the context they were written is beyond belief,wonder why Casey doesn’t belong to this site anymore???Please enlighten,and answer all questions instead of ranting off in some tangent that has snide allusions not relating to any topic.
Your “Racist” overtures of myself towards Americans is so full of pap and a very poor diversion to your shortcomings in responding to any queries with selective Ill-informed replies make for very dubious observations that reveal your rationaility to all.
Boots
it is some idiot in a Honda civic, I stop and he has just 6’ on my left side, instead of turning around in front of me he slps by, running the entire side of my truck with his right side scraping on the concrete barrier, then turns around behind me, I get going and he passes me again in the right direction, his front and back right hand wings are missing as are both door skins 
