Sorry, but a guy going the wrong way down a one way lane does not get right of way.

No.

One of my pet peeves.

Ever drive along and hit traffic that clears up a bit down the road with no obvious reason as to what initially caused it?

It's tailgaters. They are so close they constantly brake check. Get a few of them in a chain and the brake check gets longer and harder. It causes a ripple effect that eventually causes a traffic jam.

I hate them and they are everywhere here so I'm full of hate, a lot.

Uhm yeah, he does.

Let me ask you, had you looked right and seen him would you still have pulled out because "dammit, I've got the right of way"?

No, of course not (at least I hope not).

Not pulling out is yielding right of way.

Actually, yes, just like a jay walking pedestrian also gets the right of way.

If there's someone in the road (in a car or not), right or wrong, then you have to wait for them to no longer be in the road before you go.

If a pedestrian walks out in the middle of the road and sits down in front of you, you have to stop and not run that person over. If you do, then it was your fault.

The laws are designed to minimize the possibility of accidents, injury, death. If you should have the right of way, but someone is doing something stupid, then it's still your responsibility wait for them to stop doing what they are doing before you can take your right of way.

Put the shovel down, sugar. You're starting to make some of us wonder about your decision making abilities....

I know you get it and maybe this is semantics but none of us have the right of way.

I think you meant “before you can take the right of way they granted you”

When my daughter was learning to drive she would do stupid stuff and when I asked her “why would you do that?” She’d reply “I had the right of way”

They don’t teach this concept correctly in drivers ed.

We worked on that one a lot to reverse the false impression she had of what right of way actually means.

Wow, scary day.

I once had an idiot passing another car in a similar situation coming head on at me. I had to stop my car completely and go half way on to the shoulder before what I assume was a drug induced young man looked up from his text looked up and saw me. He smiled at me like "oh wow man" and completed his pass in a double yellow line.

That was perhaps my first experience with a completely distracted driver of that scale.

I mean who passes in a double yellow while not looking up from their cell phone?

Maybe autonomous vehicles are a good idea after all.

Perhaps a heads up display that tracks the vehicles around you that are actively using their cell phones?

Not sure how to detect the other 1/2 of the morons.

I've read that when one drives an unmarked cop car looking vehicle these types of incidents are dramatically reduced.

I know that riding a motorcycle it is an automatic multiplier, also when towing a trailer - they are like an idiot magnet.

Twice, within weeks two summers ago...if I had not yielded to a totally red stop LIGHT idiot....I would have been T-boned on my drivers side....at 55 mph :(. My head is on a swivel as I intersect almost anything now. Like most old farts posting...I have a half-dozen more too.

Hopefully the OP at least has learned that he should look both ways before crossing the street, but it does not look that way.

I've often had this very same thought. Then it occurs to me that one would soon be confused by absolute information overload. Perhaps it would be better to display only the "safe" vehicles, wherein the driver isn't on their cell phone.

I've often thought that all drivers should have state issued paint ball guns, loaded with ammo of a specific color unique to that state issued gun. We each get "X" number of rounds per month. We use the gun to "tag" the morons. This could serve as a warning to others. We would also require that anyone with above "Y" number of "tags" be pulled over, their car impounded, and they get to stand before a judge to explain just how they earned so much love and affection from their fellow motorists.

I had a very similar experience many years ago when I bought my first big Harley "bagger". Some days I would wear a police style 3/4 or half helmet. I always wore the classic "California Highway Patrol" style leather jacket. It was amazing how polite other drivers were when I was dressed like that.

Boy, no kidding. It's always been that way, but in today's world of cell phones and on-board "infotainment" systems, it seems to have gone up exponentially.

It has been well established, through study after study, that "distracted" (cell phone, etc.) driving is actually more dangerous and deadly than drunk driving. I'm eagerly awaiting the day when the penalties are made to be the same. Custody offense, vehicle impoundment, cell phone confiscation as "evidence" until the trial date. Every increase in penalty we have tried so far has had absolutely ZERO affect.

What makes you say that?

The right of way comment?

I'd be buying extra paint balls on the black(open for the PC snowflakes) market.

I'm gonna build me a paint ball factory...sell in bulk directly to Higgins...any extra goes to Pelicans ;)!

They get the right of way,
They get the wrong of way,
You get to live,
You decide...

This.

I think sugar gets it. He's just being his usual pedantic self.

Stay safe out there. I avoid driving the 911 at night or under poor lighting conditions as well.

There was a move to do this in California. Shot down by lobbyists for the cell phone companies

There's a law in Oregon that makes talking on the phone while driving a violation. It's not enforced in any way, shape or form, at least in Portland.
I, too, look forward to the day that texting or talking on a handheld phone is treated the same as impaired driving. Hang up and drive!!

This morning while I was driving around, I noticed that when I make a right turn, not only do I do the LRL, but I also check the mirrors before I go. It's just a habit, and I barely noticed I was doing it until this thread reminded me.

I know that sounds self-congratulatory, but it was really just meant as an observation.

Funny, but I noticed I was doing the exact same thing this morning while out running errands. A rear view mirror check is imperative around here, with so many bicycle lanes on the right hand side of our roads.

Far too many cyclists will go ahead and pass on the right, from a vehicle's blind spot, even if that vehicle's right turn signal in flashing. I'm relatively certain (but not sure) that cyclists are obligated to yield to vehicles turning right from a traffic lane across the bicycle lane. If not legally the case, it should be, what with the huge blind spots on things like delivery trucks, garbage trucks, busses, etc. If not legally the case, I guess their tombstones could always read "I had the right of way"...