I am sorry, were you in a hurry?

[Sapo]

Maybe you should have left your house a bit earlier. Now you tried to make time on the road and are even later since you have to change two tires. Changing one tire can make you a bit late, changing two tires makes you much later. Much more than twice as late as one tire, since you probably don't have two spare tires.

You see, passing on the shoulder is never smart. After all, there could be someone, like you now, changing a tire, or two. They are not always easy to see, it is not like they have a gigantic dayglo orange sign saying "Work on the shoulder" like the one you just ran over. Maybe they should put a sign warning shoulder-passing drivers about incoming signs. Wait, that wouldn't work.

Anyways, I hope you really are the stupid asshole I make you to be, and not someone in a genuine hurry to get somewhere important, because you most definitely won't be there on time.

[Stratocaster]

I'm not getting what happened. Did the speeder guy blow out two tires by riding on the shoulder? And now he's getting his ironic comeuppance? Not following.

[Sapo]

Dude tried to overtake a bunch of cars on slow morning traffic. Did so by passing on the shoulder until he reached a "Work ahead" sign which he ran over and blew two tires. It was scary for one second, very funny for the remainder.

[Stratocaster]

Got it. Yeah, I would have gotten a chuckle out of that too.

[neutron star]

Shoulder passers must die. What the fuck do they think? That everyone else is waiting in the long line of traffic because they like it? That they aren't just as late as you are? Entitled assholes. If I had seen what was described in the OP, I'd have slowed down and loudly cheered as I passed by the stuck motorist.

[NurseCarmen]

It is so rare that karma is that instantaneous.

[Really Not All That Bright]

It is so rare that karma is that instantaneous.
Sure, but I just can't imagine what the roadwork sign could possibly have done to deserve this.

[Missy2U]

That is one of my husband's pet peeves. As he IS the poster child for road rage, he handles it by blocking the shoulder if necessary. Which didn't work out for him real well one day when going down Route 53 and he tried blocking a car coming up behind us. It was a cop in an unmarked.

I got a laugh out of it anyway...and he doesn't do that crap anymore.

[lilflower]

I was sitting in a huge traffic jam on the highway and I saw a guy coming up on the shoulder. I eased into the shoulder a bit and so he had to go into the grass to pass me. And he honked at me!

[LurkMeister]

I was on a bus on Lake Shore Drive once during the rush hour and watched as someone drove past on the inside shoulder. Then a few blocks further on I saw him again, sitting behind a police car which was parked on the shoulder.

[Ludovic]

That is one of my husband's pet peeves. As he IS the poster child for road rage, he handles it by blocking the shoulder if necessary. Which didn't work out for him real well one day when going down Route 53 and he tried blocking a car coming up behind us. It was a cop in an unmarked.

I got a laugh out of it anyway...and he doesn't do that crap anymore.

Most of the time I dont mind shoulder blockers but one time I was stuck behind a shoulder blocker when the next exit was less than 1/4 mile ahead and I had decided to take that as an alternate route :mad:

[MsRobyn]

There's nothing quite as good as the schadenfreude I feel when I see the asshole who's speeding past me in a snowstorm end up stuck in the median. It's often one of the few bright spots.

Robin

[Agent Foxtrot]

Dude tried to overtake a bunch of cars on slow morning traffic. Did so by passing on the shoulder until he reached a "Work ahead" sign which he ran over and blew two tires. It was scary for one second, very funny for the remainder.I feel completely vindicated on your behalf.

[Lute Skywatcher]

I was wating at a bus stop one evening when I noticed a pickup in reverse on the nearby overpass, the driver was presumably intending to use the shoulder to back out onto the nearest onramp instead of dealing with the extraordinarily heavy traffic on the 14th Street Bridge. I tried to flag down a county patrol car that came by about a minute later but couldn't get the officer's attention.

[Missy2U]

There's nothing quite as good as the schadenfreude I feel when I see the asshole who's speeding past me in a snowstorm end up stuck in the median. It's often one of the few bright spots.

Robin

Ain't THAT the truth? Or even better yet, on the side of the road with a squad car behind them and the officer writing a ticket??

[Acsenray]

I was sitting in a huge traffic jam on the highway and I saw a guy coming up on the shoulder. I eased into the shoulder a bit and so he had to go into the grass to pass me. And he honked at me!

I think both drivers are displaying an unsettling degree of antisocial behavior.

[HongKongFooey]

I was sitting in a huge traffic jam on the highway and I saw a guy coming up on the shoulder. I eased into the shoulder a bit and so he had to go into the grass to pass me. And he honked at me!Incidents like this are what proved to me there is no value in prayer; it is simply not possible to pray any more fervently than I that some of these jackasses would be smote with lightning but, alas, it has never happened :(

[ivylass]

It is so rare that karma is that instantaneous.

During hurricane season a few years back, traffic was backed up on the Turnpike. It took me over an hour to get home, twice the normal time. So, I'm sitting there when some blonde twit in a black SUV comes flying by on the shoulder.

Grumble grumble...oh my God! What's that, coming up behind her? Flashing red and blue lights! One of Florida's finest, also on the shoulder! Wooohooo!

I made sure, as I inched my way by her, that she saw me laughing at her.

[Joey P]

Shoulder passers must die. What the fuck do they think? That everyone else is waiting in the long line of traffic because they like it? That they aren't just as late as you are? Entitled assholes. If I had seen what was described in the OP, I'd have slowed down and loudly cheered as I passed by the stuck motorist.

Every year it seems we hear about something like this in Milwaukee, often times, it's not the shoulder that they're using, but a construction area. A few years back it was a doctor, in a really big hurry no doubt. She moved over to the construction area where here motorcycle got stuck in wet cement and she went over the handlebars and did a faceplant. Needless to say the result was very bad and involved reconstructive surgery. All so she would get to work 4 minutes earlier.


Oh, one more. The brother of a friend of mine. School bus had it's flashers and stop sign out so all the traffic around it was stopped. He decided to pass all the stopped traffic on the shoulder (I have NO idea if he was on the side with the bus or the oncoming side). Cop saw him, gave him a ticket, and to top if off is was his third strike and he wound up with jail time for it. Idiot.

[Man With a Cat]

Ain't THAT the truth? Or even better yet, on the side of the road with a squad car behind them and the officer writing a ticket??

When I've had that happen and the good fortune to see the ticket being written, I drive slowly by, honk my horn, wave and produce the one finger salute.

Tell your husband it wasn't personal.

[Sapo]

Ain't THAT the truth? Or even better yet, on the side of the road with a squad car behind them and the officer writing a ticket??
You would love the police in Caracas. Since people never pay tickets and there is no way to make them, the police will stop people like that and just leave them standing there for half an hour or so. Much better than a ticket, if you ask me.

[Cuckoorex]

When stuff like that happens (someone trying to pass on the shoulder) I try to imagine that there's a REALLY good reason for someone to do that...but then it gets way harder to keep up that illusion when more and more people, inspired by the first one to do it, start using the shoulder.

I'm still of two minds about it; on the one hand, if an exit is 1/8th of a mile away and so far it's taken over a half hour to go about that distance, I can understand why someone would say "fuck this!" and try to get off the highway lickety-split. And it reduces traffic on the highway, too. On the other hand, I see far too frequently situations where someone rides the shoulder for a while...then cuts back into the main flow of traffic at the first opportunity. Those are the ones I want to get a dose of instant karma.

[Bootis]

Shoulder passers will live on because there is always, always someone who will stop and let them back in. Usually the same person who will stop and let anybody in from a parking lot or side street, no matter how short of a time they've been waiting there. Because nobody should ever have to wait even one second to get onto the main road.

[Maeglin]

I was stuck once on the Major Deegan and your archetypical SUV douchebag was blowing by on the shoulder. I was gritting my teeth, but one of the passengers just suggested we call 311.

So my wife did. She was cheerfully told by an operator that they happened to have a helicopter in the area, so it would only be a matter of time.

I didn't get to witness the outcome, but imagining it keeps me warm some nights.

[Atomicflea]

Does 311 work? I've always wanted to report shoulder-passers for the very reason mentioned in the OP. They ran over a sign and bust some tires, but that could have been someone's father they ran over. Douchebags.

[Merneith]

What's 311?

[Cat Whisperer]

When I've had that happen and the good fortune to see the ticket being written, I drive slowly by, honk my horn, wave and produce the one finger salute.

Tell your husband it wasn't personal.
I sing the "You're getting a ticket" song as I drive by - "You're getting a ticket, and it's no-oot MEEEEeeee!" See, Calgary's version of traffic enforcement is to make ticket costs extremely high (I paid $300 for rolling through a stop sign on a deserted sidestreet last year) with very little enforcement.

[Missy2U]

What's 311?

Well, from a quick google search, it's either a rock band or a city services line you can call for non-emergency stuff - like 911 but not important.

Actually, husband and I have a police scanner and we listen to it in the evenings - you would be surprised just how many people call in on cell phones to report that the guy in front of them is drunk, or what have you - and I would swear sometimes they are doing it just to get that person in trouble because of some "road rage" incident or something. I've heard a number of officers saying that there was no DUI - just someone mad.

[Joey P]

Well, from a quick google search, it's either a rock band or a city services line you can call for non-emergency stuff - like 911 but not important.

Actually, husband and I have a police scanner and we listen to it in the evenings - you would be surprised just how many people call in on cell phones to report that the guy in front of them is drunk, or what have you - and I would swear sometimes they are doing it just to get that person in trouble because of some "road rage" incident or something. I've heard a number of officers saying that there was no DUI - just someone mad.

You'd be surprised at how often the 911 operators don't care if you call in a drunk driver. I've called in several over the years and TWICE the operator said "Okay, we'll send an officer out there right away" to which I replied "ummm, would you like to know where I am?". After telling that story I've had someone else say that happened to them as well.

[Really Not All That Bright]

What's 311?
I assume it's the other-state equivalent of *FHP here- ie., the highway patrol hotline.

[Lute Skywatcher]

I assume it's the other-state equivalent of *FHP here- ie., the highway patrol hotline.Up here in the Mid-Atlantic it's *77. I've actually used that once to report some Evel Knievel doing at least 100 MPH on the Jersey Turnpike.

[ricksummon]

A friend of mine said he saw a guy doing 70 MPH on the shoulder of a highway in the dead of night — a guy who promptly crashed into an abandoned car on the shoulder and lit up the night with an explosion!

I've never seen anything like that, but I have seen plenty of shoulder drivers — and a lot of abandoned cars that don't exactly have lights.

[Merneith]

thanks for the 411. I've never heard of 311 before. I wonder if it works in NE Ohio? I don't want to call just to find out but it is a non-emergency ...

[Maeglin]

Does 311 work? I've always wanted to report shoulder-passers for the very reason mentioned in the OP. They ran over a sign and bust some tires, but that could have been someone's father they ran over. Douchebags.

Yeah. 311 in NYC is serious business. People call to complain about noisy neighbors, request social services, even to find out who won American Idol (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/answers-about-311/).

[Sapo]

You'd be surprised at how often the 911 operators don't care if you call in a drunk driver. I've called in several over the years and TWICE the operator said "Okay, we'll send an officer out there right away" to which I replied "ummm, would you like to know where I am?". After telling that story I've had someone else say that happened to them as well.
Hah, I had that happen to me once. I called to report this guy who was doing everything you expect from one of those 2Fast 2Furious kids. Except that he was driving a dump truck. The operator gave me the "Yes sir, we are on our way. Have a good day" without asking where I was.

[UncleNito]

The problem is, what are they supposed to do? I see it going down something like this:

Me: *sees flashing lights* WTF? *pulls over*
Cop: The dispatcher tells me that another driver told her that you cut that driver off about 10 minutes ago.
Me: Interesting.

Now what? If I fight the ticket, and I will, they have to get the original driver to show up for court at the appointed hour. If the driver no-shows (likely), the ticket is no good. Even if the driver does show up, it's likely to boil down to "Did not!" "Did too!," which the court will probably resolve in the defendant's favor. Admittedly, the dispatchers could do a better job making callers feel like they are doing something.

Having said that, I actually called 911 from the highway once and it was a waste of time. I saw a car at the bottom of an embankement on an interchange and called it in, not knowing if the Trooopers already knew about it. I had to jump through a voicemail tree just as if I was calling Customer Service. I'm not sure being a Good Citizen is worth the effort.

[mischievous]

The problem is, what are they supposed to do?As I understand it (and I am in no way involved in any aspect of law enforcement), they can't ticket you at all on someone else's word - they can only ticket you on something the cop actually sees. So, if that driver was being a jerk to you, but then went on his merry way, there's not much you can do about it. OTOH, a drunk driver/serious speeder/road-rageaholic will frequently continue to drive dangerously further down the road, so if the cops actually mobilize, they are likely to catch someone in a ticket-able offense.

[TheScogg]

I'm also of two minds about driving on the shoulder - depending on the circumstances.

I was not in support of the yahoo who, at 11 o' clock at night on an unlit highway, decided it would be a good idea to zoom around me on the right shoulder at 80mph. This was on a 3 lane highway with fairly light traffic (it was the Kentucky Turnpike in the middle of the night ferchrisakes).

Conversely, I was once stuck in nearly standstill traffic in the middle of a 5 mile traffic jam on the same highway. After moving 5 miles in an hour and a half, I was nearing an exit. A few people decided to drive on the shoulder the remaining 1/8 mile and I followed suit. Well, I was pretty pissed when so dogoody asshat decided he would block all of us by driving halfway in the rightmost lane and halfway in the shoulder at half a mile per hour. He even got off at the same exit. I still don't understand why he didn't join us in driving 5mph towards the exit instead of deciding he was going to be the enforcer of highway etiquette by slowing everyone (including himself) down.

[MsRobyn]

Ain't THAT the truth? Or even better yet, on the side of the road with a squad car behind them and the officer writing a ticket??

That's fine for better weather, but the possibility of damage to Asshole's car makes it more worth it.

Robin