Raptelan's 1974 450SE

[Casey]

Today is snowy and the roads are salty, so I'm staying home from work.

This is what happens when you drive in snow around here:

[oversize]

OMG how did that collison occur?  Are you still driving it around?  So sad...   

[Casey]

OMG how did that collison occur?  Are you still driving it around?  So sad...   

No, won't be driving it anymore, except to move it to my new garage/warehouse once the lease begins in another week and a half.

It occurred driving down the freeway, very near the place where I had the previous close call that resulted in a very minor depression to the rear bumper mount point on the rear driver side that I previously had a thread posted about here.  It's a dangerous section of freeway, because the freeway first goes from 3-lane to 4-lane, then splits off and is suddenly reduced to 2-lane and depending on the day and time and how many jerks decide to get ahead in an improper lane and then cut in at the last second, random sudden stops and accidents are not uncommon.  I'd been driving that route since starting my new job because it's more direct than the way I used to take to the previous job, but at this point driving the nice 450SEL, I'm taking the little longer way, as it's a less risky choice and I'd rather spend an extra 5 or so minutes driving than have another run-in like this.

I've lived all over the USA, and this is pretty much the worst I've experienced in terms of discourteous dangerous drivers.  Nobody uses turn signals here, they just wait until there's barely room and then change lanes suddenly by jerking their wheel very hard.  On several occasions, I've seen somebody turning into me and had to drive onto the shoulder unexpectedly to avoid them hitting me.  It's usually not *that* bad where I have to drive, but on the rare occasions I have to drive closer to DC and get on the Beltway, it's really scary.  Most people tailgate very close, and because I don't, it just seems to aggravate them to see a few car lengths in front of me and so they just tailgate closer, usually following up with multiple blinkerless sudden lane changes to get around me, even if you're on a two-lane road with no legal passing for miles, just to get one car ahead.  Really makes you want to pull a "Lost Highway" move sometimes.

Pickup trucks tend to be the worst - people buy large heavy-duty V-8 trucks, raise the suspension, install 6 inch wide exhaust smokepipes that loudly spew blue gas-smelling smoke every time they accelerate, all sorts of off-road gear, and then proceed to commute aggressively in them, clearly trying to show off the power of their vehicles.  They tend to be the most aggressive sorts on the road, and I don't understand this at all, because the laws and police are fairly strict here, and the trucks are usually newer models so it must be an expensive proposition to get one set up in this way, not to mention that such exhaust systems are in no way legal here, so they must change over the system in order to pass emissions checks every couple years, or bribe someone.

[Casey]

I've lived all over the USA, and this is pretty much the worst I've experienced in terms of discourteous dangerous drivers.  Nobody uses turn signals here, they just wait until there's barely room and then change lanes suddenly by jerking their wheel very hard.  On several occasions, I've seen somebody turning into me and had to drive onto the shoulder unexpectedly to avoid them hitting me.  It's usually not *that* bad where I have to drive, but on the rare occasions I have to drive closer to DC and get on the Beltway, it's really scary.  Most people tailgate very close, and because I don't, it just seems to aggravate them to see a few car lengths in front of me and so they just tailgate closer, usually following up with multiple blinkerless sudden lane changes to get around me, even if you're on a two-lane road with no legal passing for miles, just to get one car ahead.  Really makes you want to pull a "Lost Highway" move sometimes.

That's in decent weather.  If there's any snow at all, it's a million times more ridiculous, with a 45-minute commute turning into 2+ hours, with a half dozen car wrecks per mile lined up along the roadside, even though they over-salt the roads even in advance of any snow just because the forecast suspects it might.

[W116-M117]

Sad to see a W116 in this condition... I do not like SUVs and that's the demonstration why I don't like: too aggressive, rear bumper was unuseful for most of cars. I always wonder what would happen if, driving my Alfa Romeo Spider (known as Graduate in USA), a light truck will smash on my boot... probably it will cut my head.

Your 450SE can be fixed, nevertheless I understand your point: I repaired a Fiat sedan paying 3-times its value, but there was a reason, it's a family car (my mother's one) and it was in wonderful condition before the crash (not a dramatic one, but the car value is very poor, 500-1000 Euro).

[ZCarFan]

Yeah, drivers in the Baltimore-Washington corridor are pretty aggressive.  They were when I left 12 years ago, and I bet they are worse now.  it was not that way when I was growing up there.   The influx of money during the 80's brought a different bunch of people to the area.  I miss the old Maryland.  it's not the same as it once was.   


That intersection sounds like getting from 340/15 on to 70 East.  As the traffic increased, the number of near-incidents there was a bit worrying.  You had people coming from left and right at varying speeds. 

As you know Casey, here in the ATL metro they drive fast and close, but not so hateful.