One Thing I'll Never Understand About Drivers

"UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy" (smithtaylorm)
08/29/2016 at 09:21 • Filed to: None

Why are critical thinking skills so hard when things aren’t perfect?

Coming home from work last night (and while at work), there was incredibly heavy downpour. Had flash flooding warnings all over the Cincinnati area for most of the night. Driving towards downtown, I got to an underpass where water was building up and once I saw that a pickup, yes a pickup lost a bumper in the water, I knew it was too high and pulled to the shoulder. I did this because 1. I knew it was too high and 2. I didn’t want people honking forcing me through the water because assholes. For the next 5 minutes I watched people go through the water and my mood changed from screaming “don’t go through it!!!!!” To fuck it, not my idiocy, not my problem. Why do people not think about these things? I would imagine everyone should know water and engines don’t mix, but I guess I really must be overestimating the public.

In the first pic, the last few cars tried going through. Finally everyone stopped.

A couple bros lost their B6 A4. My guess is they were sick of the maintenance and it was a perfect time to kill it /s

At the highest, both guardrails were under water and I had to get people to move back so people wouldn’t get stuck in the water while waiting. Ended up being stranded for 1.5 hours but got through.

In total, about 6-8 cars hydrolocked (including the Audi and a nice newer S-class). Play stupid games, win stupid prizes I suppose.

DISCUSSION (13)

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy
08/29/2016 at 09:39

Ive made some stupid decisions with water crossing my previous Honda civic but somehow came out okay. I bet this water looked way deeper than anything I “forded” though. There was one time where I tried to “jump” a big puddle by just speeding through it. Surprised I didn’t ruin my front end or set off the air bags lol. That car was a tank so thankfully I didn’t ruin it with stupid shit like that. I have since grown up a little and learned that water and cars just don’t mix. I do not take my Miata through any sort of large puddles, I worry too much that I will drown it.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy
08/29/2016 at 09:41

The B6 probably just died on its own.

UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/29/2016 at 09:48

Yeah, once traffic stopped people were testing it and it got to about waist high in the deepest part. I used to go through shallower water but I knew I'd have no chance this time.

jimz > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy
08/29/2016 at 09:49

Cincy?

I remember two years ago, when we got the flood from hell in Detroit, I was stuck for a bit in Warren while the waters receded. While it was still pouring, I first saw people coming backwards up the on-ramp from I-696 to 75, which didn’t look good. A mile later I saw a damn near waterfall coming down the embankment. Luckily I was right at the base of an off-ramp so I got myself the hell off of the freeway. Even then all of the intersections of the main surface roads were flooded. However, I know where the air intake is on my Ranger (above the right headlamp) so I was able to ford some of the flooded surface roads slowly, with the readiness to stop and back out of it if the water got too high.

but yeah, I couldn’t believe how many people were trying to plow their Fusions, Sonatas, and other cars through the water. inevitably they’d get about 6-10 feet in and conk out. Waiting it out in a parking lot some kid was poking around under the hood of his (hydro-locked) GTI. He had no idea why his car wasn’t starting.

Kinja'd!!!

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy
08/29/2016 at 10:06

The B6 probably had an electrical issue

Urambo Tauro > jimz
08/29/2016 at 10:08

I was working for a mold remediation company when that happened. It was a very busy time.

During the flood itself, I was lucky to be on jobsites in Wixom and Rochester, but once the water receded, we soon found ourselves at “ground zero”. I remember the side streets being lined with piles of stuff pulled from flooded basements.

jimz > Urambo Tauro
08/29/2016 at 10:23

at 10 Mile and Ryan (where I took that pic) an older Civic was floating northward on Ryan.

Urambo Tauro > jimz
08/29/2016 at 10:40

Haha, man that sucks for the owner. I hope he learned a valuable lesson there. On a side note, my grandfather used to live less than a mile from that intersection!

Scott > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy
08/29/2016 at 11:37

I remember when I move to phoenix for college. My first day there I saw a road closed due to flooding, but I could clearly see it was only an inch or 2 deep. The train track going through the flood where not closed, trains went through all the time the water was barely to the tracks. I was so tempted to drive through because the road closure meant driving several miles out of my way.

A few months later, I discovered why the road was closed. The road was actually an underpass, under the railroad tracks... not a level crossing. Good thing I did not try to show off my driving skills.

ateamfan42 > Scott
08/29/2016 at 12:52

Yikes! That’s scary to imagine. What a shock you’d have been in!

ateamfan42 > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy
08/29/2016 at 12:57

Why are critical thinking skills so hard when things aren’t perfect?

Any kind of thinking in general while behind the wheel of a car has gone out of style these days.

UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy > ateamfan42
08/29/2016 at 15:34

Sometimes I wonder if its my engineering problem solving learning, but I feel like it doesn’t have to be. I mean how hard is it to be, here’s the problem (i.e. water that I can’t go through), let’s think about how to solve it (DON’T FUCKING DRIVE THROUGH)

NJAnon > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy
08/29/2016 at 18:23

My friend used to joke people do that stuff on the road because they can’t be fearless at work (for fear of getting fired). i laughed at the irony.