The following driving incident happened two weeks ago and I still shaken up by it. I was coming off the 1-495 exit ramp in Franklin, MA following a large SUV when he suddenly swerved close to the end of the ramp. I only had a millisecond to process what I was seeing. A was a driver was attempting to to enter the limited access highway going in the wrong direction. That is essentially certain death to both the driver and passengers in the car in question as well as anyone that is unlucky enough to encounter them on the way down. We have people killed every single year in horrific wrecks from the same thing because the closure speed is over 130 mph at the end of the ramp if you meet traffic going the wrong way.
The large SUV and I slammed on the brakes and happened to come to a halt in a V formation blocking the road. We tried to yell at the driver of the car going the wrong way that he had to stop but he would not listen. He honked and tried to push past us even with limited space to work with. I finally had enough and jumped out of my car and told him he had to turn around or he was about to kill some innocent people. I still didn’t know who I was dealing with. It could have been a bank robber, a gang-banger or just a typical drunk but I have no fear when I get truly angry.
He still tried to maneuver his way around us so I finally had enough and opened his car door and grabbed the back of his coat and shirt. He inched forward so that it choked him. Like pulling the reins on a horse, that stopped him dead in his tracks.
It turned out that it was just a fairly old white guy that didn’t know the area yet still almost managed to put a whole lot of people in serious peril because he was stubborn and didn’t know what he was doing. I would have made a citizens arrest right there but I don’t know how to do that in Massachusetts. The driver of the other SUV and I kept traffic blocked while I gave him orders on how to turn around and he did that.
It worked out in the end but that is an example of how your day can be going fine one second and innocent people are laying dead all around you the next just through simple stupidity. Be careful and also question other people if they are going to put others in danger. Take any action necessary if you think the danger is eminent.
If you want a visual of where this happened or if you don’t believe how it could, here is a Google maps visual of it. I-495 outside of Boston is an 80 mph road by convention and cars hit the bottom of the ramp going 65 mph+ so you never want to go down the wrong way.
Here in Ithaca, we have a large transient population (college students and their families), particularly around the holidays. I’ve seen probably 10 separate incidents of people driving the wrong way on a clearly-marked one-way road. Only once was a cop in sight to pull the driver over. The speed limit in town is only 30, so fortunately deaths aren’t a regular occurrence when that happens here. Still, it gets my heart going every time.
This is a good reason to not drink and drive during the holiday season (well, you shouldn’t do it any time, but especially during heavy drinky season) - you really need your wits about you to deal with all the OTHER idiots on the road!
I really didn’t know what to do. Like they always say, it happened so fast. I didn’t even plan on jumping out of my vehicle and physically force him to stop and turn around. That was just an impulse decision and the right one I believe although that could have gone badly given other circumstances too. By the time the other driver and I blocked him in and I made him realize what he was attempting to do, I was just happy that people weren’t seconds away from death anymore. When he took off the right way again, I had to get back in my car and unblock traffic. He was gone by that time. All I could think was that I should have at least taken down his license plate but I didn’t have anything to write with and my hands were shaking so badly I don’t think I could have written it down let alone remembered it.
He may have been drunk for all I know. He was definitely old so it was either that or senile. This was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and lots of people who don’t normally drive more than 5 miles from their house decide to have a few drinks and head off across the state to see the kids and grandkids and that sometimes doesn’t end well for anyone. Be careful out there.
I live in a resort town and our snow bunnies and tourists are arriving for the holiday- I was at a stop light waiting to turn left onto the 1 road that runs north/south and witnessed a car going north in the southbound lane. Before my light even turned for my left, I saw ANOTHER ONE and they weren’t even following each other. I’ve learned always to drive in the right lane (the wrong ways are always coming at you but a lane over and you have a chance at swerving off right but theres usually no left shoulder). Terrible and scary. I’ve had them coming at me with headlights in my eyes twice.
Having come from California, which Knows How to Do Roads, the things that northeast drivers accept as normal makes my hair stand on end. Especially in roads that started as horse paths around towns 300 years ago, there are sudden turns, forks, parallel roads and a hundred other things that require maximum attention and judgment at all times. Highway entrances and exits are short and/or twisty. Even GPS instructions can be difficult to follow because there are 3-4 possible right tuns between your position and the street you want - driveways, alleys and tiny byway streets.
Even the biggest and newest sections of major roads have short signage distances and warnings and not nearly enough things to prevent misjudgments like the OP reports. Add in the charming local custom of putting things like parking lot entrances and exits in semi-hidden, illogical places so that by the time you’ve seen the store and its sign, you’re past the entry and have to circle back to get there… which means a lot of sudden, stupid moves by drivers who don’t think the rest of us matter.
I have a 20yo daughter who just moved here, with 3 years driving experience in CA, and I am trying to patiently drill her into understanding just how counterintuitive and dangerous the roads are here. We were in DMV getting her a CT license, and the number of completely doddering oldsters getting licenses renewed was terrifying, including one clearly demented woman in a wheelchair. CT has stronger rules about getting doctor’s certification for elderly license renewal than some states (CA: virtually none at all) but the thought of sharing the road with these feeble-minded souls was terrifying. It sounds like the OP’s encounter was with someone really too old to be driving.
And, of course, while some of these folks might normally drive two slow miles to the grocery store and such, they are now out shopping for gifts, not the best mental state for any of us to be on the road. Good post… I wish there was a better solution than combat driving.
Looking at the map, I see it was the Rte 140 exit and I can totally see it happening there. Someone just thinking that light was to turn left onto 495 instead of the second one.
Either way, that was still crazily dangerous and I’m glad you managed to stop him. I can only imagine the mess on 495 that would have caused.
Thanks for the head’s up. I take that exit 3 times a week. Were you going North or South on 495? It would seem to be a bit more confusing coming from Stop and Shop direction rather than the Industrial Park/T Station direction.
Although when I first read the OP I was envisioning the old person coming off 495 and going turning into the lanes on the wrong side of the dividers on the bridge.
I was exiting off of I-495 South approaching 140 on the ramp. The driver turned onto the wrong 495 entrance ramp from the Stop and Shop direction which is more confusing as you note.
Yeah, those old people are a real hazard. :rolleyes: So is everyone else who isn’t paying attention. Like the young woman who cut the corner on a left hand turn the other day and plowed headfirst into a car waiting at the stop sign. While I applaud your actions on this, it has nothing to do with age or the holiday. Knuckleheads come in all demographics and at any time of year.
Age can have something to do with it, and I don’t think it does any good to flatly deny it. When my dad hit his eighties, he found it hard just to stay in the lane, and if he had to take his attention off the road to read a street sign or look for an address, it was trouble. Of course, he was too proud to admit it, and too scared of losing the independence that driving gave him to stop, but after a while, my mom finally took the steps to get him disqualified from driving. He was lucky to have only one fender bender out of it.
I have to agree, though, that being white had nothing to do with it.