Tres Wright

So there I am driving my stang home on the highway, surrounded by the usual group of idiots and morons. I'm in the left lane (with my headlights on no less) about 10 car lengths behind another car as we pass a line of about 10 slow moving cars and trucks. Out of the middle of that pack, an SUV suddenly decides things are moving too slow and whips over into my lane with no warning just as I'm about to pass. Of course they are driving 10 mph slower than me, so I have to hit my brakes to keep from rear-ending them. About that time they drive over a piece of tire tread in the road. I see it fly up from their right rear tire and my cat-like reflexes ( ) and the stang's quick handling save the day, we carve left and it misses us. As I center back up in the lane and thank my lucky stars for the near miss, good ol' SUV driver plows over the whole friggin' tread left behind by the same truck and flings it a full 5' in the air straight down the middle of the lane. I hit my brakes hard and pull left, thankfully it was enough to save me some paint work! The tread was flopping and rolling violently when it hit the ground, it struck the sidewalls of both my right side tires (leaving scuffs) and scraped all down the lower rocker on the right side (it's soft plastic on the V6's thank goodness). Let me tell you, if that SUV driver could have heard me they would have melted from the words that came out of my mouth. Hopefully they did get to enjoy the lengthy two-handed single-fingered salute I gave them. Some tire dressing took care of the tires. I had to remove skid marks from the lower rocker skirt! There were tire marks on it from the tread! I got that off and put some vinyl treatment on it, if you get down on your knees you can see some scuffs on it but from a few feet away it looks fine. Man it's infuriating though! The jerk was driving a car so big that I couldn't see around it, pulled in front of me with no warning and inadequate distance, and runs over not one, but two chunks of tire (one of them HUGE) without even trying to brake or avoid them in any way. ARGH!

Thanks for letting me vent

BigWorm2005GT

I've had similar things happen to me, as well.

Makes you wonder if some people get their driver's licenses out of a box of Cracker Jacks... :bang: :bang:

Imatk

Think about how incredibly easy it is to get a license... this is exactly why these things happen. They don't need a box of Cracker Jacks... pretty much any DMV (at least the states that I've lived in) will give you a license if you can read.

I mean think about it. You have to take an ACTUAL driving test when you are 16 after that just written. I really don't understand how an agency can issue a DRIVING license when the test is WRITTEN.

I think if people actually had to take a driving test it might help... but who knows

Heck in California you can even fail three times or something like that before you have to actually take a driving test... incredible.

Imatk

Double post

Tres Wright

One of the things they taught back when I took the DE course (back in the 70's) was that driving is not a right, it's a privilege. One that you have to earn and continue to respect or you will lose it. But as great as that sounds, it's not really true. As you say, any bozo that can read a billboard from 5' away and write their name can get a license. Plus it blows my mind to hear the MADD stories about drunk drivers that have had their license revoked half a dozen times or more (how do they keep getting it back?) before finally killing someone. Defensive driving isn't an option these days, it's a necessity. It's the only way to make it home alive each night.

evilernie

So what state were you in? I wouldn't be surprised if it was Maryland.

Imatk

I would imagine one of the big reasons licenses are SOOOO very easy to get is -- oil.

Government wants to drive the economy. The more people that drive the more gas is bought... the more money that comes in etc. etc.

Could you imagine what a blow to the economoy it would be if all of the sudden 70 percent of people could not pass the drivers license test? (A number that is probably fairly accurate to the amount of ding-dong drivers out there)

This is why I imagine it will never get harder to get a license. Heck in Germany it takes something like six months to get a license and on top of that it costs around 500 bucks... it will never happen here... although it probably should.

04Stang05

I haven't had anything of those sorts happen to my new 05 stang yet thank goodness, (knock on wood), but in my 04 V6 that I traded in on my new one I was passing a logging truck and a huge piece of bark, about 8-10 inches wide and 2-3 feet long, whipped off the side of a log and bounced straight off my right fender. Nobody's fault I guess but I had a few choice words for somebody. Just thought I'd share.

Tres Wright

I'm in Texas, work in Dallas and live in a small town east of Dallas. I have a 35 mile commute one way, so I get to enjoy seeing lots of yahoo drivers!

Oil drives our political process as well as our cars. I think it's a throwback to when we actually pumped crude right here in the states. We've never really adjusted to the fact that we no longer control the supply. I think we will adjust to it though (by reducing consumption), probably sooner rather than later.

mco05gt

Had the same thing happen to me and my 99 gt.I was not so lucky, the retread was run over by a fox body that I was behind and took out my whole front end from the bumper ,both headlights, passanger side fender, hood,windshield,and right front wheel. So count yourself LUCKY!!!!

Glad things worked out for you.

StangerX

Glad your reflexes saved the day Tres! I've had similar things happen. Heck, I've had an instance where I had an SUV in front of me that was tailgating a Semi. The tire separated and exploded all over the front of the guys SUV. He never ONCE hit the breaks. debris was flying EVERYWHERE. At the first sight of smoke I hit the breaks and started readying myself. Fortunately... I was able to dodge all of the debris.

40 miles each way for me, and I must say that you see some CRAZY stuff out there on the roads when you spend that much time behind the wheel. I just BEG to get off of the interstate and off onto my country roads. I know that's where I can somewhat relax. At least then I don't have to worry about crazy drivers... just crazy wildlife.

That reminds me of another hilarious story... I was driving in to work one morning. It was still dark out (around 6:15am or so). All of a sudden I see a flash out of the corner of my eye and stomp on the breaks. An OWL (Yes OWL!!!) flew right smack into the rear quarter of the car in front of me! Feathers flew everywhere and the guy pulled off to the side of the road. I would have stopped to share in the person's sorrow, but I was running late and had to press on.

MAN that was NUTS! LOL! Like I said... that many miles... you see some crazy hiney stuff!

GhostTX

There's your problem right there...Dallas! Lemme guess...to Rockwall?
Glad you got thru the scrape ok, though.

I have to agree though...to get a drivers lisense is a joke. They need at a minimum some sort of driving simulator. I can only imagine the cost of an actual driving test and the long lines/waits one would have to go through to take the test though. But since its a moving vehicle, there ought to be a skills test of sorts, not a written test of the road, which perplexes me even more 'cause people still don't know how a four way stop works!

JohnP

The only surprise was you didn't say they were on a cell phone. The stuff I see around Atlanta every day ceases to amaze me.

GhostTX

Don't start with Atlanta. I'm here now on business and I am not fond of it already. Can you actually go faster than 50mph around here?

Tres Wright

==the retread was run over by a fox body that I was behind and took out my whole front end from the bumper ,both headlights, passanger side fender, hood,windshield,and right front wheel. So count yourself LUCKY!!!!==

HOLY COW!!!!! I had no idea it could do THAT much damage! Woah, that's unreal! You're right, I'm a lot luckier than I realized. I thought a little paint damage was all that was at risk.

==The tire separated and exploded all over the front of the guys SUV. He never ONCE hit the breaks. debris was flying EVERYWHERE==

LOL! I guess he thought it was a level red day and there was an unusual amount of pollution in the air

==An OWL (Yes OWL!!!) flew right smack into the rear quarter of the car in front of me!==

Crazy! I had something like that happen to me, I was driving about 25 mph through a residential area when a dog sprinted full tilt past a fence right into my quarter panel! He never saw me, man did he look confused! Thankfully it didn't do any damage to him or my car (a '72 Grand Prix with steel thick as tank armor), but it sure made a heck of a noise.

==There's your problem right there...Dallas! Lemme guess...to Rockwall?==

Close, Forney! It was out on I-20 near Forney where this happened, probably a Dallas driver though

ecgirard2

Try to go somewhere at 8 am in the morning. You will have problems going over 10 mph. All other times require 80+ mph.

jwede

On the same lines as this thread. Had a person throw out a Micky Ds cup full of what I would presume to be Coke out their window. They threw it up, not down. I hammered the brakes but it still hit the pavement and exploded all over my car. Man, people stink.

TomServo92

You're lucky you were able to avoid it. I wasn't so lucky. A Dodge pickup kicked up a chunk of tire in front of me and I had nowhere to go. It hit on the right side of the grill on my Mazda. Scuffed it up pretty bad. I had to have the nose completely repainted.

TomServo92

I had a lady in front of me toss a cigarette out of window and I saw it hit the front of my car. When I got to work, I checked the front and sure enough, the cigarette was stuck in the honeycomb grill still smoking! It looked like my Mazda had developed a bad habit.