Old people's behavior

The BBQ Pit
#1

Today I jumped on my bicycle to make a quick trip to the grocery store. I was sitting at a stop sign directly across the street from the entry to the store’s parking lot, waiting for a break in traffic so that I could cross. Observing traffic, I saw that I would be able to cross as soon as the pickup truck coming from the right went past.

However, the truck, didn’t pass - the driver instead turned into the same entry I was aiming for. No problem, I’ll just follow the guy right on in.

Except that, instead of just driving into the parking lot, the old man came to an almost complete stop, and then carefully and ever so sloooooowly inched his great big fucking four-wheel-drive pickup truck over the bump made by the cutout in the sidewalk that forms the entry to the parking lot.

Because I had expected him to pull smoothly into the parking lot, I had already started across the street on my bicycle so as to follow the truck in. I certainly was not expecting this old geezer to treat his great big fucking four-wheel-drive pickup truck as if it were made of eggshells! His sudden slowing to approximately two feet per second forced me to hit my brakes, leaving me stuck in the middle of the goddam road, in the path of more oncoming traffic!

His great big fucking four-wheel-drive pickup truck was so long that I couldn’t even swerve to go around him - he was diagonally blocking the whole driveway to the right. I couldn’t swerve left because there were cars coming out of the lot on that side, and that would have put me in the path of the old man’s great big fucking four-wheel-drive pickup truck anyway.

Now, pardon me if I’m showing my ignorance here, but aren’t most great big fucking four-wheel-drive pickup trucks designed in a sturdy manner? Shouldn’t they be able to withstand the slight bump that accompanies turning from the street into a partking lot? Am I safe in assuming that one of these behemoths is not going to shatter if the driver maintains a speed of, oh, four miles per hour whilst making said turn?

Good Lord. The guy went over the bump as if he was driving a low-slung sports car and he was afraid he would scrape his undercarriage if he crossed the bump too fast…

My 60-year-old mother and 64-year-old stepfather are going to buy themselves a pickup and a fifth-wheel trailer as soon as they sell their house. I’m going to sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk with them about this kind of thing at the earliest opportunity.

I’m glad I always wear a helmet when I bike.

#2

I’m going to venture a guess that no, they aren’t. It’s been my experience that most pickups and SUVs today are just cars in a bigger body. Still, it pisses me off to see an F-150 or Explorer come to a complete fucking stop in front of a speed bump before crossing it. In short…

[Bill Clinton]
Ah feel yur pain!
[/BC]

#3

This has nothing to do with age. The behavior you described is common for soccer moms/dads in Escalades.

I don’t understand why people spend an extra $20K on a SUV or a tricked out pickup and then are afraid to drive over a speed bump.

#4

[QUOTE=Phase42Now, pardon me if I’m showing my ignorance here, but aren’t most great big fucking four-wheel-drive pickup trucks designed in a sturdy manner? Shouldn’t they be able to withstand the slight bump that accompanies turning from the street into a partking lot? Am I safe in assuming that one of these behemoths is not going to shatter if the driver maintains a speed of, oh, four miles per hour whilst making said turn?
[/QUOTE]

Perhaps, being somewhat old, he had a great big fucking problem with his back and it hurt to speed willy nilly over speed bumps, regardless of how harmless it would be for the truck to do so?

I have (had) a caddy, which has nice, lovely, smooooooth suspension and awesome shocks. I also have an honest to goodness broken back, in two places. One is caused by the “wings” of one of my lower vertebra, actually being broken off of the main part of the vertebra. The other part is the lower tailbone, broken in two places.

Most of the time, I’m okay, a teensy bit sore, and I have to be careful how and what I lift, but sometimes, it just “goes” and it’s agony. Even to have it bumped a little as in going over a speed bump and having the car jerk even a little.

It’s possible, that this guy, being “old” as you say, may not have been worried about his truck, but painful back or hip problems.

#5

Seems to me you took a chance and got caught out and now you’re trying to blame the results of your incautious behaviour on someone else.

I’m not saying I never place myself in a situation where if my assumptions about another motorist’s behaviour are wrong I’m in trouble, but I try not to do that, and I know who to blame when it goes wrong. And it ain’t the other guy.

#6

Lamar Mundane - And a parking lot entry isn’t even a “bump” in the true sense of the word. It’s actually a fairly gently slope. I hit those things on my bike and a fairly decent speed and hardly notice them.

I could pit soccer moms, too. I have thrice nearly been creamed while biking straight through an intersection. All three times, it was a woman driving an SUV, turning left. My bike is bright red, and I wear light or bright clothing, and a brightly-colored helmet, but they don’t see me…

CanvasShoes - I empathize with your back troubles. I also have constant back pain, thanks to a slight birth defect in my spine. But, while riding my bicycle I regularly hit bumps much more significant that a parking lot entry, and they don’t bother me all that much. Granted, my back condition is nowhere near as serious as yours. But I would expect a big truck like that to absorb the shock much more efficiently than my bicycle does. Incidentally, the street this man had just driven up is undergoing a bunch of work, and is quite bumpy in spots. He drove it at the same speed as everybody else (I could see a long way down the street).

Princhester - You make a good point. I wasn’t in any danger - had the need arisen I could have turned to the right, into the parking lane alongside the sidewalk, and been out of the path of traffic. So I wasn’t exactly being “incautious”. I was just extremely annoyed because I wanted to go straight into the parking lot :wink:

#7

Uekte? Is that you?

#8

Oh dear god,

How do “OLD” people get that way?

Mostly by not rushing head long into situations that could get them killed.

Take note whippersnapper.

#9

The shock absorbers on 4X4s are remarkable stiff and unabsorbing of shocks. This is to prevent scraping the oil pan and other under-innards when off-road. Even slight bumps throw passengers about when passing over. Caution is essential.

Other than that, I agree - old people should just recognise their proper place in the scheme of things and just be neither seen nor heard. Hell. they should observe tradition and just die, like their parents did. :eek:

#10

[indent][indent]great big fucking four-wheel-drive pickup trucks[/indent][/indent]

:rolleyes: [sup]Just thought it needed repeating one more time.[/sup]

#11

Didn’t you hear? They enacted a new law: you no longer have to look the direction your heading if you’re turning left into traffic. I mean, I think it’s a new law, since that would explain why I had morons pull out in front of me off side steets while looking the other way three fucking times in the past week. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought it was customary to see if there was anyone coming straight at you before deciding it was okay to cross a lane of oncoming traffic. What good does the lane you want to be in being clear do you if you’ve got my car imbedded in yours since you pulled out 5 feet in front of me? It really was “Give anyone who wants a license one” Day a couple of weeks ago, wasn’t it. :rolleyes:

#12

I’ve done my fair share of cussing under my breath at drivers who don’t do what I expect them sensibly to do, so please take these comments in context, Phase42.

  1. People are not their cars.
  2. Age, weight, social class, etc. don’t signify much either.
  3. There is no #3. Have a colonic spasm.*

I’m not a huge fan of huge honkin’ SUVs but they’re no more ridiculous than any other trendy car. Their advertising is ludicrous: fording raging rivers, crossing mountain peaks and polar ice caps, etc. But it’s not qualitatively any more ludicrous than other car ads promising glamour and sex appeal and envy just for driving a hunk o’ metal.
Fair’s fair. Some people drive SUVs because they’re fashionable, but a fair number of them have a pretty fair grasp of what the cars will and won’t actually do. Idiots believe they’ll hold traction on icy roads at 60 mph. They tend to wreck. Most understand their cars will survive bumping over curbs and small obstructions. But folks who’ve ever winced at maintenance costs for shocks, realignments, etc. may try to minimize the impact anyway, no matter what they’re driving.

IME, aggravating drivers come in all flavors, so just choose yer perception. Over-confident kid, over-cautious geezer, distracted soccer mom, oblivious cell phone blabber, aggressive gray-suiter/trailer-denizen, blah, blah, blah.
The hard fact is, just about all drivers drive unpredictably at times.

That’s why I’m a defensive driver. Doesn’t matter the car type, or who’s driving it. Odds are at least a few of 'em will do something weird at any given time. Kindness can blend very well with acute paranoia.

*Board joke.

Veb

#13

Yep. Defensive driving means that you don’t head your own vehicle into a spot until the spot is there.

The Jeep Sahara that I drove could climb over lots of stuff. But it did toss me around quite a bit in the process. Too hard on my joints.

Be grateful you can still ride a bike without your tailbone aching. You’ll be old and pokey in the wink of an eye.

Glad you survived.