# If you miss the exit, don't back up **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 15, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574 "2004-09-15T18:25:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/41 "2004-09-16T22:33:39Z")
I’m impressed – unlike almost every other driving practices rant (seatbelts, carseats, tailgating, driving in teh fast lane, high beams) not a single doper has come in to defend the practice! Mark that one down, we have a point of common ground (I think this is the second one, right next to “cannibalism of the unwilling is usually wrong”). And, in honor of my friends celebrating Rosh Hashanah today: ;j ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/42 "2004-09-17T01:00:27Z")
> [@Jadis](#): > > Don’t you listen to Jimmy Buffett?? **Everybody** ’s got a cousin in Miami. 😉 Guess I should have posted my story in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=274956) therad instead! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Lillith\_Fair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/43 "2004-09-18T13:58:03Z")
I’m also in Ohio (Canton), and I think Ohio drivers are just a class all their own. I’m originally from Richmond, VA and lived in Brooklyn for four years, so I’m used to aggressive drivers. Ohio drivers just seem oblivious - like nothing around them can touch them. Ava [/QUOTE] It’s particularly bad around Columbus. I saw someone miss an exit there where it was divided from the highway by a curb. He/she basically turned right and drove right over the curb. I always make sure I’m really alert when driving through Columbus. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/44 "2004-09-18T19:04:01Z")
Of course, if you’re driving in New Hampshire or Vermont, this can be fairly annoying, as there are stretches where the exits are 10-15 miles apart. That’s always a learning experience… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/45 "2004-09-18T19:19:30Z")
I used to do work for the local fire brigade looking after their computer equipment. I’ve seen some **really** nasty pictures (‘Hey, our scanner isn’t working and we need to get these pictures into the report’ - please wait while I swallow hard). So people, read this thread and think to yourself: ‘_I am not in a hurry to get myself killed_’. It is better to be late than to be dead - or worse. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/46 "2004-09-19T10:50:23Z")
Unfortunately, the maneuver described in the OP is standard procedure in Vancouver. In fact, Vancouver drivers will back up _anywhere_ they feel like it-- which is how I suffered my one and only motorcycle accident. I was stopped a car length behind a minivan, waiting to turn left, when the driver in front of me decided she no longer wanted to turn left, so backed up. The feeble horn on my bike didn’t grab her attention-- but neither did her _passenger_ screaming “Stop” so loud I could hear :eek: I dunno if she was a caesarian birth, but she was a midwife… ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/47 "2004-09-19T11:13:05Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > No offense intended, more like curiosity-what the fuck was she doing driving then, if she’s older and suffers from Alzheimers? > > Damn. Just…damn. Heh, _so_ glad I wasn’t the only one wondering wtf she has a license if she has Alzheimers. > [@neuroman](#): > > I’ve seen numerous freeway congestion points here in Texas where so many people have gone off-roading to exit that there is a set tire tracks etched into the grass. Maybe it’s all the pickups and SUVs around here. Heh. I see this All. The. Time. These people don’t even have a clue what real traffic looks like (something I, having lived the majority of my life in downtown Chicago am well aware of), and they _still_ can’t be hanged to wait in it. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/48 "2004-09-19T11:15:22Z")
A contractor I hired for an engineering project was killed this way, along with his wife and child, and a co-worker and family friend also in the car. They were on a weekend “driving holiday”, missed an exit, stopped on the shoulder, and backed up. Only he (according to witnesses) didn’t back up straight, and suddenly turned half into the lane, and was rear-ended by a truck going about 70mph. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574/49 "2004-09-19T17:37:03Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > Furthermore, if you’re only one lane away from the exit, do not come to a sudden and complete stop until someone lets you in to the exit lane. This happens constantly here in the San Francisco area. There is a one-lane exit lane from 880 to 205 and every other day I’m crusing past the long line of cars to see someone PARKED in the lane ahead of me with their turn signal on. WTF?!?! DON’T STOP ON THE HIGHWAY for God’s sake! As for offramps: When you get to the end there is “Yield” or there is “Merge.” LEARN THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-miss-the-exit-dont-back-up/264574.md?page=2)