Alarming sight to say the least...

[dd74]

While driving back to the office this afternoon, I stopped at a traffic signal on Highland and Melrose in Hollywood. It was typical traffic/typical delays, etc.

I look over to my right, and see a green Sparkletts water truck. As you know, they're huge vehicles, and weigh in substantially more once filled with water bottles, as this one was.

I gaze closer at the truck, actually the cab, and to my dismay see the driver ever-so-slowly, as if lulled by the engine, fall completely asleep right there behind the wheel, in the middle of a red signal light about to turn green.

No - before you ask - I did nothing. I could honk my horn or yell, "Wake the hell up, idiot!" and have him become startled, slip his foot off the brake to the gas, and then broadside crossing traffic, or I could get his license plate number, yet at the same rate, I was hemmed in by slower traffic which made it impossible for me to get close enough to the vehicle to read the plate's numbers.

I simply bolted as fast as I could from his vicinity.

Maybe I shouldn't be so shocked, but even so, it was still quite unbelievable.

[ubiquity0]

I once witnessed some guy nod off & then wake up a few seconds later on a freeway b/ LA & Palm Springs. I thought about honking @ him (after getting as far away as possible) but worried that the shock would cause him to jerk @ the wheel. After pondering for a few seconds he awoke from his 70mph nap. Scary

[ZAMIRZ]

I was on the 101 once and saw 2 kids in an Acura taking hits out of a pretty decent size bong while loping through rush-hour traffic. I too decided to do nothing but GET THE HELL AWAY.

[catuck]

I passed a guy on the highway going 65 driving alone in his car while reading a book!! He was swerving all over the place!

[Cornpanzer]

Originally posted by catuck
I passed a guy on the highway going 65 driving alone in his car while reading a book!! He was swerving all over the place!

Thats insane. There is no way you can give a book your complete attention while driving. I limit myself to magazines and the occasional Readers Digest

[makaio]

Originally posted by catuck
I passed a guy on the highway going 65 driving alone in his car while reading a book!! He was swerving all over the place!

I saw the same thinng a couple days ago on I-5, just North of the Grapevine. Scared the $hit out of me.

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by ubiquity0
I once witnessed some guy nod off & then wake up a few seconds later on a freeway b/ LA & Palm Springs.

the laws are a changing.. in NJ it's manslaughter if a death caused by a nodding driver.. I think also in NY.. it's the latest craze. The driver in an accident used to say he nodded. if they don't know the new laws then........

[dd74]

I'll probably write an article very soon on the ratio of vanity in a given city and the rate of auto accidents. For instance, while I was driving to work one morning, a woman "putting on her face" swerved directly into my lane, mascara brush in hand, lipstick and burning cigarette in the other.

I see a generous amount of rear end accidents because someone is "eyeing" someone else in the next lane, and not paying attention to the traffic in front of them.

And eating: you would think L.A. is the "fat capitol" of the world, and not Columbus, OH.

-- I've seen people wolfing down entire McBreakfasts while going 75 mph.

-- I've also seen men working on their Excel spreadsheets while driving. How did I know it was Excel? Because their laptop screen was at least 17 inches -- kinda' hard to see through the windshield with all those pixels in front of you, huh?

-- By far the best (most dangerous?) was a 240Z and a Golf playing "auto tag" on PCH at about 60 mph.

I mean, c'mon: what the ****?!?!

[Joe Bob]

Originally posted by ZAMIRZ
I was on the 101 once and saw 2 kids in an Acura taking hits out of a pretty decent size bong while loping through rush-hour traffic. I too decided to do nothing but GET THE HELL AWAY.

20 years ago...umm make that 30 years ago I woulda asked them to pass it over.....

[tangerine911e]

In the paper on the weekend they noted that a driver was booked in the UK (I think) for parcticing playing his flute and driving with his feet! All while travelling at 65 MPH!

Scary stuff. Although I have mates who have driven across Central Aust with the cruise control on and feet out the window or on the dash. Not the safest way to go, but with hundreds of kms of straight road with no traffic for hours it sure is one way to break up the boredom (although I'm sure this increased the brains need to sleep!)

Ash

[mwbaum]

MAD is totally fixated on drunk driving (inexcusable of course)....however accidents and deaths caused by MAD soccer moms on cellphones.....sleepy drivers.....and senior citizens who are too old to be on the road go un-heralded....

[HawgRyder]

I have also seen the make-up lady...at 30 mph....bumper to bumper on the QEW near Toronto....doing make-up....talking on the phone....writing in her journal....I figured her for a real estate agent....and yes...she hit the vehicle in front of her, a newspaper delivery truck, the one with the giant rear bumper.
The police were not amused...she was livid that I took the time to stop and make a statement to the police...and point out her phone and book to them.
They arrested her on the spot!
Bob

[Paul Franssen]

Reading this reminds me of an incident "happened to me" (or is it "caused by me"?) back in 1976.
I had a BMW 600 cc cycle in those days, and booked a hotel room in Paris France. I left the office via home in Antwerp Belgium after work on a Friday, and arrived in Paris only to learn that the booked room was not there...so I went for a drink in Pigalle (yes, right accross the Moulin Rouge) during which I decided to just ride (450 miles/700 km) straight through to the Pyrenees mountains without sleeping (it was midnight by then...). So I set off on the N-20 (not a superhighway, rather a "normal" city-center to city-center road back in those days). There were some foggy stretches and by 5 am it got pretty damn cold. So, at around 8-9 am, I'm in the Cahors region (get your maps out... ), the sun is climbing up the sky and warmth building up.
A truck honked me awake whilst right into an sporty "S" curve, in the left lane, fast asleep, must have been going about 80 mph/120 k... I immediately stopped, laid down on a convenient parking lot right next to the road (didn't even take my helmet off) and must have slept like a log for the better part of an hour. Scary.
It is a known fact that it is very common for people to fall asleep for a few seconds or even less. There's even (experimental?)detection systems in avoidance of that happening, but the market seems to be responding with indifference, as is the case most safety issues that cost money...

Originally posted by catuck
I passed a guy on the highway going 65 driving alone in his car while reading a book!! He was swerving all over the place!

The exact same thing has happened to me only this guy was reading a newspaper instead of a book!

I honked the horn at him and showed the "are you crazy sign" at him. He just stared at me for a second or so, then he looked down at the newspaper again. Amazing

[Mark sP]

All these irresponsible drivers make me mad.

I regularly drive whilst talking on the phone, drinking coffee at the same time as smoking a cigarrette, and reading the map book, I NEVER do this at speeds above 50mph! That would be reckless.

Seriously though, these morons make me MAD.

[VaSteve]

Originally posted by Cornpanzer
Thats insane. There is no way you can give a book your complete attention while driving. I limit myself to magazines and the occasional Readers Digest

Panorama is the perfect size for that!!

I was riding shotgun once on the interstate and this woman was putting on makeup while being on the cellphone. I rolled down the window to yell at her and she's like WTF? She kept on driving like that.

[rcm]

I travel interstate 89 in NH everyday, I pass folks reading all the time. Mostly doctors heading for Dartmouth and the hospital. I watched two kids in a piece of ***** pick up wind back and forth thru traffic at 80 miles an hour last week , had to be high or loaded. Got into the median twice. Do you call the police or not?

[makaio]

dd, it must be fate that you brought this topic up, becasue I just returned from a traffic accident. The driver of a Semi-truck fell asleep at the wheel, and woke up to find his truck and trailer performing a 50-50 grind on one of the gaurdrails of a bridge over the Sac river. Long story short, the truck went over the gaurdrail, dropped about 30' into the water, driver was DOA, and there's produce floating down the Sac river right now towards the delta.

Now that I think of it, I see the results of these scary things all the time.

[dd74]

Interstate truckers aren't as much my worry, because I'm hardly on the freeways they're on, such as the 5. Albeit, they drive at crazy speeds for semi trailers, but yet, I keep a very wide berth of them.

Just as large a concern of mine are the high-speed chases we're plagued with in L.A. County. I think it ridiculous for LAPD, CHP, The Sheriff and the other law enforcement agencies to "chase" suspects in as impacted a city as L.A.

To worsen matters, if an innocent is hurt or killed in one of these pursuits, evidentally the LAPD is automatically exonerated from legal implications.

That to me is completely unfair. What are police radios and helicopters for? The suspect can easily be contained without 100+ mile-an-hour chases through residential school zones and along freeways.

[concentric]

Originally posted by ZAMIRZ
I was on the 101 once and saw 2 kids in an Acura taking hits out of a pretty decent size bong while loping through rush-hour traffic. I too decided to do nothing but GET THE HELL AWAY.

Reminds me of my drive to my second job last week... Some dude in a **** box Civic with dents all over the place but with ricer exhaust and no hubcaps is weaving all over the place on a 4 lane surface street. We get up to the light and because I'm in my VW bus, I get a bird's eye view of this guy snorting quanitiy of meth out of a little plastic bag. He sucks the whole thing into his nose, throws the bag out the window and roars off when the light turns green, weaving like a maniac. I should have gotten his license plate, but I couldn't see it because of traffic. One of the most horrifying things I've ever seen a driver do. Still gives me the creeps.

JCM