Idiotic driving mistakes you have made in the last couple of years...

[A Horse With No Name]

My worst two-

Taking the Miata down my favorite exit ramp (marked 25 MPH) at 73 miles per hour after I pulled off the shaved autocross tires and put on all seasons...one VERY impressive four wheel drift at high speed about two weeks ago. Would have hated to call the insurance company back...

Was driving to work about two years ago, took the Miata...which was a mistake, as it was a level two snow emergency. Good looking thirty something blonde in a Hyundai Tiberon wanted to race me, for some unknown reason i raced her...not thinking that this time I DID have the shaved autocross tires (read-slicks on all 4 corners during a blizzard)...had about three car lengths pulled on her just as we came upon what is usually an Ohio highway patrol speed trap at almost 100 miles per hour...I got slowed down real fast when i realized how stupid I had been.

Put the Blizacks on the Miata when I got home from work.

Come, come, do tell on yourselves.

[Drew Dowdell]

Accidentally ran a red light due to some rather snarled downtown Pittsburgh traffic. Was trying to get through, but hadn't realized that while trying to get around this idiot making a right hand turn from the left hand lane that the light had since changed

[Robert Hall]

Backed out of a parking spot at a Starbucks a few months ago and hit a slammed Jetta that was lurking behind me --couldn't see it through the rear view mirror, should have checked the side mirror. Put a nice wrinkle into his rear wheel arch/rear door...insurance company took care of it.

Made a right turn on red and got caught by a camera in a rental car in Colorado back in June..never heard anything from that.

.

I noticed this morning that my license plate registration sticker had expired in September. Checked on my desk and found the DMV envelope w/ the new registration and sticker....unopened..been busy, I guess.

Edited November 6, 2011 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Was coming around one of these infamous North Carolina horseshoe on ramps (not sure why they're 'infamous' -- because they're everywhere) when the tail broke loose on the Mustang and I damn near lost it. At one point I was turned about 180 degrees and staring at the guard rail on the bridge. Luckily I have quick reflexes... I've always worried about somehow flipping the 'stang because it's a convertible and that day I was top-down headed for the side of a bridge. Doesn't help that the top of my head actually sticks up above the windshield.

Was I pushing it too hard? Probably... But, in my defense, it's a super short ramp and traffic is doing about 70 MPH, so you have to 'pick a spot' and hit the 'go pedal'. PLUS, the pavement increases about an inch in elevation from the ramp to the interstate (where the interstate is more recently paved) and that's what caused the break in traction to begin with.

That same week I was doing about 35 up the suicide lane (for those of you who don't know, that means passing traffic in the right hand lane) beside stopped traffic... It was perfectly legal, as this is a 4 lane highway where my lane was a right turn only. This guy in a Civic suddenly jumps right out in front of me! It was too late to stop, so I saw the hole and gunned it. I bet I threaded his car and the curb by about 2 inches on each side... (Those of you who have been in wrecks: you know that second where you see the sheet metal of the other car PASS your line of sight and you know it's only .02 of a second before you feel impact? DEFINITELY HAD THAT SENSATION!)

The guy pulled into a gas station behind me and apologized (despite me throwing a few nasty words at him during the incident itself) Of course, I was super polite (though I had just been woken up with a serious shot of adrenaline -- it was first thing in the morning) and told him not to sweat it.

A few weeks before that I was coming around I-277 which is the first 'loop' around uptown Charlotte. I was probably doing about 15-20 over (which is rare because I'm not a speeder) and merged to let a new CTS into my lane (he was coming up an on ramp) When I did, the elevation change in the lane put some Gs on the car (I was merging left in a banked left turn) and I was REAL close to biting the inside concrete wall... That one shook me up a bit too.

With my record of totaling a car once a year for roughly the last decade (none were my fault) I almost EXPECT something bad to happen.

Edited November 6, 2011 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[SAmadei]

Nothing spectacular for me.

A few months ago I was driving pretty quickly cutting through a huge parking lot, cutting a huge arc around the backside of our local dying mall as I've done a thousand times. Suddenly, I saw a car headed head on, and I slammed on the brakes in a panic to avoid a nasty accident... to find... nothing.

The combination of high seating and gigantic, low placed rear view mirror in the Grand Prix caused the car behind me to appear as if it was coming straight on at 1 o'clock.

I can only imagine what the guy behind me thought. Seriously, I hate the ergonomics of everything modern... I hate driving with a huge blind spot at 1-2 o'clock, having to duck under the rear view from time to time to ensure I'm not about to mow over a gaggle of school children.

[Turbojett]

tried to take a cloverleaf a little too fast in the Cobalt. Embarrassing spin, but luckily nobody was behind me, and I didn't hit anything.

And then one day back in probably '07 or '08 I hydroplaned around* a corner in a rain storm and curbed it bretty bad. had to have the whole right front suspension replaced, but of course the insurance company was going to nickle and dime me on parts that "needed to be replaced" but were really just fine. I did NOT need a new door panel, front fender or windshield, thank you Progressive. frikkin' a-holes.

(*term used loosely)

[Robert Hall]

Going back a while,

I dented the left rear quarter panel and cracked the bumper cover on my Jeep in '05 by backing into a concrete parking garage pillar whilst on the cell phone. Never got it fixed.

Also in '05, swerved into a freeway construction barrel to avoid rear ending a Volvo wagon that cut in front of me at the merge point of a freeway entrance ramp..ripped off the passenger side mirror and broke out the passenger side window.

And about 20 years ago, I braked hard on a freeway in Ohio in traffic to avoid a big piece of a truck tire, may have inadvertently caused a 3 car crash behind me...

[balthazar]

Nothing to report....

[ocnblu]

I was drivin' down a 35 mph 4-lane road in the right lane on a sunny day in August, going about 25-28 mph behind a guy who was talking on his cell phone drifting along in a Chrysler minivan when I got impatient and went around him. Sadly I did not see the Dodge Nitro stopped in the left lane waiting to turn left at an unmarked intersection before making my lane change. I went under her right rear corner with my left front corner and totaled my 2011 Ford Fiesta.

[Cory Wolfe]

You all probably remember my snowplow incident.

Recently, I had a lapse in judgement with the Legacy, making two lanes into three. I was merging onto the interstate following two other vehicles when the guy in front slams on the brakes right as he was about to merge. There was a semi coming up quick that must have scared him. I, on the other hand, already had my speed built up and decided I had enough room to merge even if he didn't. So I merged sans issue, passed the car inbetween us, and once I was in my lane, he finally decided to merge himself right as I was coming up beside him. I now had a car to my left, and once again decided I had the room. This time, I didn't have all that much actual room as he merged beside me, but I came through unscathed, missing him by what must've been inches.

[§carlet §wordfish]

My school's AIGA planned a trip to Pittsburgh last Thursday for a studio tour. I offered to drive since the Express could fit everyone who was going. Getting in I was having a very hard time navigation the city roads. I glanced down at the GPS and heard a few people mention something about there being a red light. I tried to cruise through but a lady an Elantra was making a right turn into my lane. There was an oncoming car in the lane opposite me so I couldn't swerve to avoid her and she hit my front passenger side door.

No one was hurt, everyone drove away, but I was thoroughly embarrassed and my enjoyment of the rest of the trip was severely diminished. And my peers probably won't want me to drive them anywhere again.

[Northstar]

Was behind a semi on the on ramp. Who himself was behind a semi. I let them gain some ground on me going down the ramp so that I could get up to speed before getting on the interstate. When I had plenty of room in front of me I gave it some gas to get up to speed and proceeded to merge two lanes over so that I could get ahead of the semis who were going much slower and I didn't want to wait on them.

Out of nowhere the second semi (the one directly in front of me) decided he wanted to get up to speed more quickly than the lead semi and proceeded to do the same thing as I did. Almost ran me off the road but luckily I was able to slam on the brakes and avoid any incident.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Getting the fire department's Traffic Unit (2006 Ford Super Duty F350 Crew Cab 4WD) stuck in mud when I heard but not listened to the captain telling me to not pull into a rained-soaked field, but backing up on the edge to park. It requiring another fire department to pull me out with their much older '90s Ford F350 Crew Cab.

[daves87rs]

Interesting I read this today...

Years ago ( first starting to drive) I had my parent's full size chevy van...with a nice 350. Thought I'd be cool and blast around a corner in high speed. It's the only time I've had a car (in this case van) up on two wheels.....

[caddycruiser]

Getting the fire department's Traffic Unit (2006 Ford Super Duty F350 Crew Cab 4WD) stuck in mud when I heard but not listened to the captain telling me to not pull into a rained-soaked field, but backing up on the edge to park. It requiring another fire department to pull me out with their much older '90s Ford F350 Crew Cab.

First weekday I had my new 2009 Avalanche Z71 2wd...drove home from work. My father had the driveway blocked, for some sort of landscaping. It had just snowed a week before with small remnants and still wet ground. I pulled in the front yard edge, just off the street. Nice. Went to move after...let's just say a locking G80 axle and one hefty truck made for a few very deep mud holes and slinging everywhere. Could not get it to budge an inch to the street.

Took the Legacy AWD wagon with a tow strap to tug Mr. 1 day old Avalanche a few inches forward to pavement. Bad. Very bad. Never again did I touch anything but street & driveway. The neighbor was fascinated to watch it all...

Dad? "Ha. Maybe you should have gotten 4wd..." Sure, Mr. Subaru. Mud=bad.

Edited November 24, 2011 by caddycruiser