Steven
Member
It seems that 3 PM is happy hour for drivers rushing home after work.
Yesterday I had gone up to Chicago for an appointment. I had taken the tollway up there and traffic was pretty normal, i.e. too fast, but fairly civilized. On the way back I decided to take I94/I57 back home through the heart of the city, That was a big mistake. It was like almost like watching one of those races where cars smash into each other on purpose, only in this race, it was all about near misses. People were flying through traffic sweeping across multiple lanes of traffic, back and forth only to have to slam on their brakes for the cars in front of them.
I was driving (in a car) in the middle lane of 3 lanes when a car to my left zoomed up and made a hard right turn across all 3 lanes to an exit ramp. In the process he/she almost slammed into the front of my car with the side of theirs. The front of my car was almost touching the side of his/her car just behind the front door of their car. It would have happened if I had not swerved to the right, basically following their path (only for a moment) into the lane next to me. I don't see how we didn't collide, it looked like we touched. If he had hit me, it would have spun me around in the middle of rush hour traffic. I was lucky there was no one next to me when I swerved into the next lane. Had I been on the bike, I would probably been sliding down I94 breaking bones and getting road rash, maybe worse.
I can't explain it, but it's like a full moon syndrome. Ever so often, for some unknown reason, everyone goes crazy and drives insanely. Even when I got back home, people were driving the same way. This has happened before. The last time it happened (same place in Chicago) a Harley rider was riding on the shoulder because it was too dangerous to ride in traffic.
When I'm on the bike, I avoid the Interstates that go through large cities for the reason I spoke of above. I used to drive a truck for a short while and I saw this behavior all the time. These people disregard safety and put themselves and everyone else at risk to save 5 or 10 minutes on their way home from work. I call it amature hour.
OH, on a lighter note, a few days ago I saw a Golden retriever riding a motorcycle... Dont ask it... NO! he wasn't driving, but he was wearing eye protection.
Yesterday I had gone up to Chicago for an appointment. I had taken the tollway up there and traffic was pretty normal, i.e. too fast, but fairly civilized. On the way back I decided to take I94/I57 back home through the heart of the city, That was a big mistake. It was like almost like watching one of those races where cars smash into each other on purpose, only in this race, it was all about near misses. People were flying through traffic sweeping across multiple lanes of traffic, back and forth only to have to slam on their brakes for the cars in front of them.
I was driving (in a car) in the middle lane of 3 lanes when a car to my left zoomed up and made a hard right turn across all 3 lanes to an exit ramp. In the process he/she almost slammed into the front of my car with the side of theirs. The front of my car was almost touching the side of his/her car just behind the front door of their car. It would have happened if I had not swerved to the right, basically following their path (only for a moment) into the lane next to me. I don't see how we didn't collide, it looked like we touched. If he had hit me, it would have spun me around in the middle of rush hour traffic. I was lucky there was no one next to me when I swerved into the next lane. Had I been on the bike, I would probably been sliding down I94 breaking bones and getting road rash, maybe worse.
I can't explain it, but it's like a full moon syndrome. Ever so often, for some unknown reason, everyone goes crazy and drives insanely. Even when I got back home, people were driving the same way. This has happened before. The last time it happened (same place in Chicago) a Harley rider was riding on the shoulder because it was too dangerous to ride in traffic.
When I'm on the bike, I avoid the Interstates that go through large cities for the reason I spoke of above. I used to drive a truck for a short while and I saw this behavior all the time. These people disregard safety and put themselves and everyone else at risk to save 5 or 10 minutes on their way home from work. I call it amature hour.
OH, on a lighter note, a few days ago I saw a Golden retriever riding a motorcycle... Dont ask it... NO! he wasn't driving, but he was wearing eye protection.