Pissed off and it's time to do something about it...

"deekster_caddy" (deekster_caddy) 03/18/2015 at 17:52 • Filed to: None

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Every day I am out walking my dog in the morning before I drive my daughter to school this red Jeep Liberty flies down our street. It's a high school aged female driver, usually with similarly aged passenger. Small neighborhood street that connects around to make a square block, I'm pretty sure she's picking up a friend who lives on the other side of the block.

I usually just give her a dirty look because she's driving way too fast for such a small street, but yesterday morning she crossed a line. I hear 'phwap phwap phwap vrrrrrrrrrr' and look up and sure enough, here she comes zooming along, but this time with her front right tire COMPLETELY FLAT.

Being the nice guy I am, I try to flag her down. I step into the street waving, making the universal "STOP" symbol with my hand, getting closer to her side of the road (street is too small for yellow lines or anything). She definitely sees me. She does not slow down, veers away from me, tears off around the next corner (leaning very precariously, since it was a left turn and her front right tire is flat...) and zooms away.

I guess I frightened her? I was going to offer air, or even help her change to spare. I have floor jacks, air lines, impact guns all at the ready and could have had her away on her spare tire in 5 minutes or so, or even just put air in her flat in much less. I might have mentioned her general speeding, but it wasn't high on my list.

Well, I've had it. I'm getting her plate number next time I see her and going to stop by the police department to have a chat with the detective. He can contact her parents or something, I'm sure she's a minor. I am generally a nice guy, but goddamn it I AM PISSED OFF now.

/rant

tl;dr - girl who always speeds down my street had a flat, didn't stop when I tried to flag her down.

mazda616 > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 17:55

4

Teenage boys are universally regarded as the most dangerous drivers but teenage girls are just as (if not more) dangerous.

Cebu > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 17:57

0

On a flat. At high speeds. Better contact the morgue, not the local detective.

WiscoProud > mazda616 03/18/2015 at 17:57

1

Teenage boys are more likely to do stupid stuff with their vehicles, teenage girls are more likely to ignore life-threatening problems. Both are equally distracted.

deekster_caddy > mazda616 03/18/2015 at 17:58

0

I can vouch for that. I'm honestly surprised I never killed anyone when I was 16-17. I did some really stupid things while driving. I don't think it was until my mid-20s when I was driving a wrecker nights and weekends that I finally slowed down to 'normal' speeds. Scraping bloody messes off the highway does something to a person. As well as getting older helps mature a bit. But something needs to be said.

Spaceball-Two > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 17:59

2

I live right by a high school and see this daily. I fear the day one of these kids hit's my dog or my soon to be born kid. I'll be typing Oppo from a cell.

deekster_caddy > Cebu 03/18/2015 at 17:59

0

I've never seen a thing lean so far into a turn. I'm amazed she even made the turn at all, the other wheels did an amazing job since the front right wasn't doing any of the balancing!

deekster_caddy > Spaceball-Two 03/18/2015 at 18:00

0

That's the thing - almost everybody on the street has a dog, and most have younger kids. It's not a safe place to drive fast.

Spaceball-Two > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 18:05

1

They need role models.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 18:05

1

A middle aged man(I was wrong before to those who read my rant) in our subdivision passed me IN OUR SUBDIVISION WHICH IS 20 MPH... WHILE THERE WERE CHILDREN IN THE STREET. And I don't mean pass me to do 25, he passed me close enough to have to slam on my brakes, children had to take the ditch, and he proceeded to do 45 the rest of the QUARTER FUCKING MILE of the neighborhood. His time is more precious than children's lives.

Shamoononon drives like a farmer > mazda616 03/18/2015 at 18:14

0

I don't get how teenager driver are the most dangerous drivers but teenage girls are more dangerous. I disagree, by the way. Teenage female driver are bad, but nothing compared to males at that age.

wantafuncar > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 03/18/2015 at 18:14

1

Florida. Amirite?

Shamoononon drives like a farmer > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 18:15

0

I report this stuff just as quickly as I report drunks on the road. I think you would be doing her her and her parents a great favor.

deekster_caddy > Shamoononon drives like a farmer 03/18/2015 at 18:19

1

Yeah, hopefully it works out okay. I need her plate number before I go to the police. Actually, I don't, but they have better things to do at 7:30 in the morning than sit on an otherwise quiet street, so I'd rather just bring them all of the info.

I got a number of speeding tickets when I was a young driver. All it taught me was to look out for cops and not speed near my house... I'm not without fault. But this needs to stop before it ends badly.

Rico > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 18:35

0

You are a way nicer person than me, not only would I not care about the flat but if the speeding car flipped over I would've walked back into my house and got ready for work.

E92M3 > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 18:35

0

I have the same problem but it's adults that are driving too fast.

ttyymmnn > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 18:35

3

Get her plate, call the police, and asked that they show up one morning and see if they can nab her.

deekster_caddy > Rico 03/18/2015 at 18:40

1

Yeah, I can't help it. It's the way I was raised. But piss me off and... I'm coming down on you. Or I'll let the cops handle it... If she would stop I'd tell her nicely to slow down or the cops will be called, but I doubt she will stop, or that it would work anyway.

deekster_caddy > E92M3 03/18/2015 at 18:43

0

They do that too - we live next to a baseball park and there is a 'shortcut' path from our street to the park. Parents FLY down our street to drop off and pick up their kids. Faster than this girl even. I convinced the police department to put a hidden radar on our street and they did, and sent me a spreadsheet with the results. The dates weren't around baseball season... so yeah, that didn't help any. I do walk over there and ask the coaches to please advise their parents about it, and that usually helps, but it's new players, coaches and parents every years, so I have to start over every year...

deekster_caddy > ttyymmnn 03/18/2015 at 18:44

1

I don't even want them to nab her... just call her parents! (although with some of today's parents, that might not help either...)

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > wantafuncar 03/18/2015 at 19:13

0

2 more months, 2.MORE.MONTHS. Hopefully.

RedPir8Roberts > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 19:30

1

Do not feel bad for one second if the cops nab her and give her a big old ticket. She probably didn't know what you were on about trying to flag her down (being generous), but you could be saving someone from her overall negligence. A couple of weeks ago a clearly drunk woman was at a local convenience store in broad daylight, had a ton of stuff and her purse just sitting on the checkout counter, was babbling about something and when I went outside, her car was parked at an angle and up onto the sidewalk around the building. I deeply regret not calling the cops, though I thought that she might be gone by the time they got there and wasn't sure I had enough on her to call—though the park job was pretty good evidence in itself. "Citizen's arrest" actually crossed my mind. I don't know what tipped the scales that I didn't, though whatever it was shouldn't have carried the day. Whether drunk or acting erratically, I don't honor a code that says let people endanger others, I have called the police to report others and I'll do it again. This isn't ratting out a kid for some infraction in grade school, the potential consequences are severe. Imagine you did nothing and then she hits somebody. And you might save her from herself, because she's probably just clueless and I'm sure doesn't want to hit anybody, just doesn't realize she is courting disaster.

Shankems > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 19:53

1

I get dirty looks in my residential neighborhood cause my car is red and has an aftermarket exhaust. I think I MAYBE hit 30 once.

Meanwhile the soccer moms and dads fly down the road at 45 all day; but since they're silent running, I guess no one has a problem.

E92M3 > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 20:05

1

Drives me nuts man. Some of them have small kids themselves so they should know better. I saw a sign in another neighborhood that said "Drive like your kid plays here". I need to get one of those.

deekster_caddy > Shankems 03/18/2015 at 20:52

0

I hear you. It's the tire noise, loud whoosh and cloud of dust that gives away the baseball parents who fly down the street (sometimes faster than this girl) to make Johnny's practice on time...

jkm7680 > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 21:30

0

Do that, plates and the cops.

Wurrwulf > deekster_caddy 03/18/2015 at 22:37

1

Are there intersections on your street which do not have stop signs for four way stops, i.e. is your street non-stop and cross streets have stop signs? If so, you may be able to bring to your councilman's attention that four way stop signs should be put in place to slow the little league parents and teen drivers.

I live on a street that has a park across the street from my house. Little kids are always playing there and people fly up and down the street. There's an intersection right before the park and right after, but only the cross streets have stop signs. I've been trying to figure out the proper channels to bring it to the right person's attention.

deekster_caddy > Wurrwulf 03/18/2015 at 22:56

0

No stop signs, and really no need. It's such a small block. The street I'm on is about .1 mile long with a big cul-de-sac at the end. At about .075 there is another street on the left, which has room for 2-3 houses on each side, then another left that goes back out to the "main" road (which is really a secondary feeder street). Normally not enough traffic to justify any kind of crosswalk or stop sign. It's pretty obvious that you are on a really small street and shouldn't be going fast.

A few years ago I petitioned the police and town manager to look into it. They hid a speed recorder on the street (not during baseball season) and it came back inconclusive, i.e. not enough traffic to worry about. I got to see the result and out of 40 cars only 3 were exceeding 30. Also, the town manager said he looked into the traffic laws and we didn't have enough population density to justify a 20mph speed limit, so the default speed limit is 30!!!!!! I certainly don't want a 30 sign, I usually do 15-20 on our street and even 20 feels fast. This girl is usually hitting 35 by my educated guess. I've been tempted to set up my own camera showing traffic going by a measurable landmark just to make a point, but I don't have the drive to go that deep into it. I do have the drive to get this girl turned in and slowed down though.

Nerd-Vol > deekster_caddy 03/19/2015 at 07:26

0

Thats why you should carry a pistol at all times. Stop those speeders where they sit.

theuserformerlyknownasaluminumfoil > deekster_caddy 03/19/2015 at 10:20

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You have a lot of stories to tell about your nights/weekends as a wrecker, don't you? You've piqued my interest.

deekster_caddy > theuserformerlyknownasaluminumfoil 03/19/2015 at 13:28

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Hah, yeah I do. Lots of work for the state police and a few local PDs, many DUIs, some really strange crashes. Some that I happened upon at 2AM... Only a few bloody messes, but I think I remember every one of them.

Strangest/most amusing crash: Ramp from Rt 1 S to Rt 95 S in Peabody MA. late at night. Cops, ambulances and fire trucks on scene. Full size Ford Bronco missed the turn, went off the road right before the guardrail started, down into the woods... quite far down. On it's side and wrapped the roof around a tree, it's pretty flattened. Lady driving is by herself and shitfaced drunk, can barely see (well plus she was just in a wreck, so who knows). Screaming bloody murder for her husband and he's gonna fuck us all up and this and that, she was hilarious entertainment. She's not that injured and so disruptive the ambulance can't really leave the scene because it wasn't safe... but I think she had so much alcohol they didn't want to sedate her either. Cops who aren't near the ambulance are all laughing their asses off...

I start trying to hook up to the truck. Drop cables down over the guardrail and peel it off the tree. No way I can drive my truck down the hill, so I have to winch it up. I call for a 2nd truck because I can't get it up over the guardrail without my own truck tipping over, not a big enough wrecker...

Meanwhile the ambulance has finally left but this lady's husband? Significant other? whatever shows up on scene. He starts screaming at me, screaming about the motherfucking new tires he just put on that fucking piece of shit Bronco (his words not mine), not one word about the lady they hauled off except for something about stupid motherfucking women drivers and shit. The cops got him away from me and made him leave...

The cops had to close the ramp and it took about 3 hours for us to get this thing dragged back up the hill and over the guardrail, navigating it in between a few trees etc. It was quite an adventure and lesson in both physics and psychology!

That's my favorite, I should probably give it it's own post! Much better than the bloody messes, those were no fun. Watching drunk people flipping out in the back of a cruiser when the tow truck shows up is also amusing as long as you are safely not near the cruiser!

thebigbossyboss > deekster_caddy 03/19/2015 at 17:38

0

I don't mean to come off as a prick...I really don't but I don't understand people with their dogs. Last year 10 got hit on my section of my street. I live on a major 4 lane thoroughfare. Why people let their dogs run out into a major 4 lane thoroughfare I do not understand!!

deekster_caddy > thebigbossyboss 03/20/2015 at 16:18

0

Not at all. Our town has a leash law, and nobody lets their dog out roaming unattended. We live right next to a park and lots of people congregate with their dogs there to play. It's a fenced in field so it's a perfect place to let em run around. I can't stand bad dog owners, it's like the few bad motorcyclists giving a bad name to many... Most dogs and owners are nice.

thebigbossyboss > deekster_caddy 03/20/2015 at 19:02

1

I hear ya. I get letting your dogs run around a park. And I am sorry people drive so fast down your street. My street is more like: My house is a bit more north but you get the idea.