Women...please stop driving

[Iron_Dreamer]

On a funny note, the car that hit me was a Dodge Durango SLT and it had to get towed because it was leaking fluids and wouldn't start haha

That is a rather ironic twist, since your car at least looks to still be drivable.

[justin]

That is a rather ironic twist, since your car at least looks to still be drivable.

yeah, the lights all work. the problem is the car is worth $2200 private party value, since it was "Fair" condition, but to actually get the same car with similar mileage, engine and mechanical condition, a dealer is going to want $4000-5000. plus i probably would have to go 100 miles to northern VA where the good selection is.

im guessing they're going to assess the damage at 3k and then offer me a check for $2200 and tow it away so they can part it out and profit on it. i'll have to try and negotiate from there. id like the 4-5k plus a rental car for 30 days to give me enough time to find a replacement. theyre supposed to have some bodily injury person call me tomorrow too. they got real interested when i told them my back was a little sore and i had x-rays on it 2 years ago. where's Mike?

[Grand Enigma]

That is from all the bending over a work bench and inhaling solder fumes.

[John E Woven]

As someone who has worked in a gas station in the past, these two actually are not particularly rare occurances. Usually though, the part of the nozzle that goes into your car breaks before pulling the hose away. As for managing to get stuck on that thing though..

[fordgtlover]

Here are a few more piccies

[boomana]

I like how the guy politely closes the door at the end of the video like it matters at all.

Sorry, Justin 'bout the accident. As for women drivers, I've been hit four four times in Florida, minding my business at stop lights, stop signs, etc, once as a pedestrian, walking in the crosswalk in Manhattan, and once in Michigan in an intersection when someone left turned into my car. Only the Michigan driver was female. The rest were all men under age 25.

[SDM]

I was talking about the first number 9!

If you look a little closer she is actually 69, which is even better.

[909]

looking at your pic again, you're lucky your rear window didn't break.

[Jeepster]

If you look a little closer she is actually 69, which is even better.

I know but we only have 15 minutes to edit.

[Knuckledragger]

[catscratch]

I had something similar a year ago. Driving a fairly new G35, just came to a stop at a traffic light, when this Asian woman slams into the back of my car because she was talking on a cell phone and didn't pay any attention. She had an old Elantra and the airbags didn't go off, and to make matters worse, she had 4 kids in the back 2 of whom weren't buttoned down so to speak, and they hit their foreheads against the front seats/headrests/etc rather hard. So, she's screaming, kids have cut up and bloody heads, the street is brought to a halt, and it's up to me to sort it all out. Not a pretty scene... but hey, she was alright, her kids were ok save for a few stiches, and her insurance fronted the $15,000 repair bill on the car, so it all worked out in the end.

I'm not prejudiced against women drivers, but I do hate bad driving in general. Our laws for who we allow on the road are far too lax. If we had a stricter program, then we wouldn't have to have these kinds of speeding laws and these draconian insurance policies (at least here in NJ).

P.S. I love the older Integras. Such a beautiful car. My current CL is more of a grown-up version of it, but I still miss our old Integra from back in '92, that was an awesome car. I hope you get yours fixed up nice and new.

[Torpedo]

In Spain, and I think other eurpean countries too, it's forbidden to drive while speaking on a cell-phone. You can do if you have installed a free-hands system, but if they catch you with the cell on your hands driving, you get a fine and you may lose some credits of your driving license.

If you have an accident and you're drunk, were using the cell-phone or other factors considered aggravating, you can go to jail.

You also cannot drive wearing headphones, and they're considering to forbid smoking while driving too.

For all the things you've been telling in this thread, I think you'd need a law forbidding the use of cell-phones while driving. Looks like most people overlooks how dangerous and concentration demanding is driving.

[boomana]

Most states have a similar law, but I'm not sure it's enforced. We don't have that law in Florida, but then it seems it wouldn't matter much anyway. We have a real problem in my area with folks driving with no license or insurance. My neighbor just killed a pedestrian in a hit and run. She left the scene because her license had been suspended. I've seen her in her car pretty much daily for years, so that suspension didn't mean a thing. One of the people who hit me had a suspended license, and the cop didn't even give him a ticket, saying he couldn't because he hadn't seen the accident.

[Torpedo]

I had the idea that US authorities were quite severe enforcing the law, especially traffic laws, and the people more respectful to them. When I was there I found intriguing everybody was so respectful with the speed limits. We've needed a lot of radars installed, harder laws and personnel to enforce them to get people speeding below the limits or driving alcohol free.

If a traffic agent gets you driving without your license, you're in serious trouble here.

[deepak]

In Spain, and I think other eurpean countries too, it's forbidden to drive while speaking on a cell-phone. You can do if you have installed a free-hands system, but if they catch you with the cell on your hands driving, you get a fine and you may lose some credits of your driving license.

If you have an accident and you're drunk, were using the cell-phone or other factors considered aggravating, you can go to jail.

You also cannot drive wearing headphones, and they're considering to forbid smoking while driving too.

For all the things you've been telling in this thread, I think you'd need a law forbidding the use of cell-phones while driving. Looks like most people overlooks how dangerous and concentration demanding is driving.

Driving under the influence is a damn joke in most US states. It's just a fine and short period loss of license for a first time offense. Maybe traffic school

[wrecked_porsche]

One of the people who hit me had a suspended license, and the cop didn't even give him a ticket, saying he couldn't because he hadn't seen the accident.

WTF?

How about other eye witnesses? Were there any?

The traffic cops in SF are that lax in enforcing the law? I never knew that! I always had this impression that the cops in the U S of A were very, very strict.

My situation here in Malaysia is almost the same is Torpedo. The laws here are VERY similar. Only difference is that most of the cops here are extremely corrupt, so if they catch you speeding or talking on the phone, they will threaten you with the max amount of fine, unless of course you want them "help" you.

They normally threaten with a $100 fine, then say they can "help" you out for $30. Because of this, many people here don't care about the traffic laws since they can always be "helped" by the cops.

I've heard of tales where some cops even have the impudence to ask how much $ you have in your wallet at the moment...

[deepak]

I remember Singapore was very strict with their driving laws.

[wrecked_porsche]

Yeah, Singapore is just next door, when I step in there its TOTALLY different.

There, the pedestrians have right of way at zebra crossings. Here, when drivers see people crossing, they step on in. They'll try to beat the pedestrians.

I'm not kidding.

Everyday I have to cross a zebra crossing to get to Uni, I have to wait till its totally clear before I cross, no way in hell have they ever stopped for students to cross. On days where I'm late, I have to dart across the road.... I've got the timing and distance estimation thing down to a T since I get sooo much practice.

[immtbiker]

On Friday, I was driving in the left lane in a sea of cars all in a row, all doing 85 on the NJ Turnpike northbound. A woman in the middle lane, who had nobody in front of her in her lane, decided to "sandwich herself" between me and the car in front of me with only one car distance between us. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision, which caused the person behind me to smoke his brakes.

After I exhibited as much road rage as I could, she moved back into the left lane and as I passed her, I saw her looking down, smiling, texting someone.

-------------------------

This is the epitome of stubborn.

Just imagine the events that transpired for it to get this bad. They both had to think in their head "If it's the last thing I do, this mutha-fuckah ain't getting in front of me!"

Now we have 2 people frothing at the moth with blood streaming from their ears, and neither one can get out of their car

[grawk]

That's definitely not the case anywhere I've lived. DWI is automatic 12 month suspension + potentially jail time around here.

[boomana]

DWU/DUI is a mandatory suspension around here as well and taken pretty seriously, though you'd be surprised how folks can slide through the legal system. It's not uncommon where I work to see people with 8 DUIs still with their licenses.

As to the guy not getting a ticket in my above post, there were lots of witnesses, but all of them just kept driving on. Things to do, places to be, I imagine. But it's happened to me since them and with witnesses. The last accident I was in, and my car totaled, I was rear-ended near a busy intersection. My car was sent spinning up a small hill and finally crashed into a fence surrounding the play area at a McDonalds. I was pinned in, and a lot of people came to help. Not only was it obvious what had happend (the rear of my car had been pushed into the front seat and the guy's car had no front end anymore), all witnesses reported what they had seen. Still, he got no ticket because the officer said he hadn't witnessed it. Fortunately, he wrote out the police report accurately, so it wasn't really an issue when the insurance companies and lawyers got involved.

[tkam]

In Spain, and I think other eurpean countries too, it's forbidden to drive while speaking on a cell-phone. You can do if you have installed a free-hands system.

Many states have similar laws now but honestly they are a complete waste. The problem with peopling talking on their cell phones isn't holding up the phone it's that driving and talking at the same time is too difficult a task for many people.

[Salt Peanuts]

There was a guy here in Mass that was recently arrested for DUI/DWI for the 14th time, with 9 convictions, when he was found driving the wrong way on a highway. The worst part was that at the time of the arrest, he still had a valid license, albeit with 7am-7pm driving time restriction. I'll see if I can find the news report.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Many states have similar laws now but honestly they are a complete waste. The problem with peopling talking on their cell phones isn't holding up the phone it's that driving and talking at the same time is too difficult a task for many people.

I guess the next thing we need to do is ban talking to one's passengers

[Grahame]

From the car talk web site

"Dear Tom & Ray,

You keep pushing those "Hang Up and Drive" bumper stickers. I think they are sending the wrong message. I want to propose an alternative: "Please Multitask