Hi there everybody! 
I've had my license since February of 2008 myself and let me tell you: there are some CRAZY people behind the wheel! (And I don't mean in the good way. =_=;)
So here's the deal: this world is speciffically meant to relate to all what driving in the real world is really like. (And to share some of the oddities I find. 
) There will be some rantings and there may even be some anime references, but this world will mostely show people, almost anything seen on the side of the road, and (hopefully for anyone paying attention) what NOT to do while in traffic.
For those of you who want to share some of your own experiences, just give me a PM and that's that! If you're not from the US and still want to add a post or two, that's perfectly acceptable too! (Personally, I'd like to hear a few stories to see if the mentality of drivers changes with the country.)
Here's a few things I'd like to clear up right now:
- I live in South Texas
- I generally judge distance by how long it takes me to get there, rather than by actual measurements
- I don't claim to be an expert on driving, I'm just making sure that I can stay alive when traveling from point A to point B
- In a normal week, I total about an hour and a half of driving time per work day (the brunt of it being in rush-hour traffic >_<)
- & I drive a big ol' Chevy pick-up truck (in theory you can't miss it, but if that were the case then I wouldn't be making this world, now would I?)
Enjoy!
Contents of Page provided by:
Shadweh (me! XD )
FrozenAugust (as of December 9th, 2008)
So this is me, yes. Your new Guest Host! *weak fancall*
So... yeah. Anyway.
Driving into work the other day, I nearly got hit. Why?
Because some idiot thought that he could turn into my lane before I passed him. Fortunately I'm a rather passive-agressive driver. I don't use my horn much (at all really :sweatdrop:) and when someone does something stupid, I tend to grumble about it and flick them off privately than make a big show about it.
It should also be said that in nearly three years of driving now I've only ever gotten into ONE accident. Now I don't think that I'm an expert at driving, but I think that that has something to say about what sort of driver I am, considering that over half of teenagers have their first accident within a year of starting to drive.
So in conclusion, being parinoid that every car out there is being opperated by an incompetent idiot = a good way to not get into an accident because you'll be cautious. Also, please, please, PLEASE take a drivers ed course and use some common sense?
Today I went with my mother, grandmother, and Aduro (me sister ) to the Peddler Show over in Fredicksburg (I apologize for my lack of spelling). I thought of bringing my DS along to make the ride "a little quicker," but then I decided against it. When I really thought about it, I realized that it's been ages since we've been out that way and that bringing along portible entertainment would've made me miss all there is to see out there.
I suppose the quickest way to anywhere is along the highway, but I've come to appriciate going along the backroads--which obviously take longer--better. My reasons are because there's usually less traffic, less stress on both the mind and the eyes, and that they're WAY more pretty.
For those who've never been or lived in South Texas and is interested in what it's like, he's a brief overview of what you can expect to find:
- plenty of oaks (due to the lack of annual rain around here, the trees don't get nearly as tall as they do up North. The tallest of the ones around here are either extremely old or grow along the few rivers we have.)
- lots of open fields (almost always on flatlands around in the valleys)
- plenty of livestock (cattle being the main one--this is South Texas I'm talking about )
- an odd critter every now and then (examples include antelope, zebras, and llamas ^_^)
- the occasional deer (like the trees up north, the deer here don't get very big...even though they can still leave a good size dent in your car if you're not careful)
- rolling hills and a surplus of open sky (...wow, that was corny...)
The hill country around here, as pretty as it is during the day, the best time to really take a look at it is at sunset. Words, pictures, and especially Hollywood fail to truly capture what that scenery is like, so I'll just leave that up to your imaginations.
Safe driving, y'all! ^_^
I don't know if this tip works for every city, but when you find yourself having to face traffic before the peak of rush-hour it's actually a better idea to take the axis roads than the main highways.
Why? Simple: not as many people want to drive below 50mph, so fewer people actually resort to them. TTwTT
Just today, as I was driving my sister and I home, we looked at one of the main highways that normally would've taken us a shorter amount of time to reach our destination and found it on the verge of becomming bumper-to-bumper traffic. As I mentioned in my introduction into this world, I'm basically driving a tank around, and I don't feel all that comfortable when I see a huge amount of cars huddled around me. Seeing that, I decided that it would be easier to take said axis road home.
In the end this move not only turned out to be safer, it also resulted in us getting home faster than the ones on the highway (and yes, I was following the 45mph speedlimit).
That's all for now. Later!
Fact: driving skills deminish on payday
Fact: driving skills deminish on Saturday
Mother of all Facts: driving skills deminish the further you get into the Holiday season... =_=;
And good greif, were the fruitloops out today! The city that I live in today decided it best to shut down a portion of a major highway for construction today, so traffic (*laughs sarcastically*) was backed up today. THANK GOD I wasn't the one driving today! I would've probably killed someone for freaking out as much as I did at the parts were it really did look like someone was about to crash into us. (Fortunately, we were in the beast--a 2500 series Suburban that makes my pick-up truck look medium size--today.) These are some of the things that happened to us today:
- We nearly mowed down a small-size car today because they didn't turn on their blinker (*grr*) and decided it best to come into our lane almost at the last minute
- We nearly got hit several times today by medium size vehicles who also didn't use their blinkers (*grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*) and decided to cut in front of us with...hmmm...maybe less than five feet between us?
- If it wasn't for the fact that we STOPPED because of some idiot driving the wrong way in the local Walmart parking lot we would've gone head-to-head with some dumb-ass Tahoe who didn't stop at a stop sign like they were supposed to!
- In that same parking lot, we almost got side-swiped by some old lady who was more than hogging the lane
If you think the ones above were bad, just wait 'till you hear this one that deserves a list all her own:
- When the traffic signal finally went green and the two cars in front of us move on their way, we nearly ran right over the top of this woman in a mini-van with (maybe) four other people in the car because (*heh-heh*) she decides it best to try and pull out of the gas station right in front of us just after we were about to pass that point
- Out of (*cough-cough!*) curtiosy, we let her go first, and she takes next to forever to do so
- Even though the light is still green, she comes to a complete STOP (
)
- After getting past the light, she STOPS again on the other side of the intersection ()
- She then put-puts away at 20mph in a 45mph zone that's void of gutters (so there was no chance we could pass her up for quite some time )
- (Did I forget to mention that--up until this next part that coming up--she didn't have her night lights on?)
- When we finally do get to a part of the road that TEMPORARILY spilts off into four lanes and move into the lane next to her to pass her up, she shows off the fact that she couldn't make up her mind on what to do and nearly side-swipes us on the driver's side (
)
- We finally pass her up, only to discover that she also got into that lane--not realizing that it has a quick end--and nearly rams herself head-on into another car and almost winds up on the side of the road
(Even though I DETEST that woman's driving skills or lack thereof, I really do pray that her and everyone else in the vehicle with her got home in one piece.)
...I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I find it "funny" what you notice about the road after you finally get your licence...
Today as I was driving to school, I barely caught a glimpse of something that I thought was a little kid sticking their head too far out the window. Naturally, I was WAY more than concerned for what was going on so I pulled up a bit ahead of the mini-van that just happend to have this going on.
As it turned out, what I saw poking its head out the window was a really cute-looking dog. ^___^ I gotta say--that was definitely a pleasent refresher.
