Screech! Bang!

Ignore my cell phone holder on the right. :)

Screech! Bang! Those are the two sounds that I hear whenever the rain is coming down hard and I'm on Interstate 55 traveling.

I'm not sure how things are in your state, but here in Mississippi, rain has no effect on most drivers. Even if the roads can be slick and the rain can get heavy, it's not uncommon to see someone driving 75 mph past you on I-55.

You'll see someone pass you, as if they're riding with velcro tires on a carpet, only to see them five miles down the road facing the opposite direction in the ditch or in the median.

Why do people drive so freakin' fast in the rain?  I don't get it.  Water is wet.  Wet is slippery.  Slippery is dangerous.  What is there not to get?

Back in April, I'm driving during a downpour and although the speed limit in the area I was traveling is 60 mph, but I was driving around 50 mph.  The reason I went slower is because that seemed to be a nice, controlled speed in which I felt comfortable that I could handle my vehicle if something were to go wrong.

People were passing me doing 65, 70 or as much as 75 mph!  I thought that people would slow down when approaching a dangerous part of I-55 called "Waterworks Curve."  This particular curve has probably caused more accidents than any other place in the Jackson Metro area.

Well, I was wrong to think that as you can see in the video below...

They're just zooming past me and into the first part of the curve like the weather is dry. The Waterworks Curve has 4 curves in it like two S's attached from top to bottom yet people act as if they're driving on the Autobahn in a Lamborghini.  I just shook my head and continued to watch for spinning cars.  I knew that it was bound to happen.

About five years ago, a former co-worker of mine had a car accident during a storm.  She was driving down I-55 and hit a puddle of water.  The next thing she remembered was waking up to a paramedic's flashlight in her eyes.  Luckily, she wasn't hurt badly.  However, when she returned to work a few days later, I was speaking to her in the break room.  "Q," she started, "I'm suing Goodyear."

"Goodyear Tires?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied.  "They sold me all-weather tires and I still hydroplaned and wrecked the other day."

I started laughing until I realized that she was dead-serious.  "You can't sue Goodyear for driving too fast!" I exclaimed.  "That's like suing Chevrolet for their airbag not protecting you after driving over a cliff.  You have to maintain a certain level of responsibility no matter the safety claims."

The stunned look on her face spoke volumes.  She either never thought about it or just didn't have someone to teach her that all-weather tires are to assist you in controlling your vehicle, not prevent you from crashing it.

SMH  

Is that the problem with all of these people that I see flying past me on the street?  Did no one take time to explain things the way that my parents did?  I can recall my father telling me (way before driving age) that when I got old enough to drive that I should ignore the speed limit in bad weather and drive safely.  I'd like to honestly think that had he not instructed me, that I would have figured it out for myself since I'm "Mr. Common Sense" and all.  But, living in today's society where people let others do the thinking for them, it is even more important that parents explain how driving is a privledge and not a right.  They can also explain how a car can hydroplane in two inches of water, too.

After visiting downtown, The Mrs. and I started to make our way back home and guess what we see?

Do you think that most people don't understand how to drive according to conditions?

Gone to the Dogs

I haven't owned a dog in quite some time now.  I once had a blue heeler/German Shepherd mix named "Shadow."  He looked like a miniature German shepherd.  Funny dog.  He made me laugh.  That was probably around 2000.  He was small enough to fit in my lap, but it's not anything I ever allowed.  Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that dogs remain on the ground. Maybe because I never had a toy dog 

When I was almost four years old, I got a German Shepherd puppy.  I named him "Killer."  Hey, I said I was three, going on four, so cut me some slack on the name.  I used to love to pick him up and carry him around.  My father told me that if I kept doing that, he would get spoiled.  I learned my lesson that very same night.  Killer was in a box in my room and he howled like he was being forced to watch a recent Nicholas Cage movie.  As soon as I got out of my bed and walked over to his box, he'd look at me with those puppy dog eyes (literally) and would get quiet.  It took three nights for him to sleep through the night without screaming for me.  I never picked him up again.  If I wanted to pet him, I would sit down on the floor/ground and do so from there.

People today take their love for dogs to a whole new level.  Something that I absolutely can't stand to see is a person driving with a dog in their lap.  There should be a law against it because it's a driving hazard.  I once saw a lady veering from lane-to-lane on the interstate.  I thought she was drunk, but when I passed her, I saw her dog was trying to lick her in the face while she was driving.  I also saw a lady almost rear-end a guy when her dog acted as if he was jumping out of the window.  She got so nervous that she almost didn't hit the brake in time after getting him under control.

"Girl, did you see what Snooki did last night?"

I know that this country has gone to the dogs and I didn't have a problem with it until I realized that it affects my safety.  Keep your pets in the backseat and out of your lap.  So many people claim to love their pets like children, but you wouldn't let your child ride in your lap on the interstate, would you? The state of Hawaii already has a law in place requiring dogs are restrained in cars and other states are following suit. I can only hope that this becomes a country-wide law and soon. People are already distracted enough by iPods and cell phones. The last thing I need is someone hitting me head-on because FiFi blocked their view.

Good dog!

Daredummies

How many times has it happened to you? You're driving down the freeway and all of a sudden... Out of nowhere... Some nut passes you on a motorcycle rolling about 120 mph. You're so distracted by the fact that you think you're about to watch someone die, that you forget that you're driving. I've seen this too many times.

I've never really cared for motorcycles. Maybe because my father got into an accident on one when I was a kid. He was riding down a busy street and some fool drinking a Big Gulp had his head tilted back and veered into my dad's lane. Luckily, despite it being a head-on collision, my father only suffered bruises, cuts and a broken leg. The speed limit on that street at that time was 40 mph. What happens when you wreck and the speed limit is 70 mph? Bad things, man. Bad things.

I was returning from Downtown Jackson recently when this person flew past me on his "crotch rocket." I was doing 75 mph at the time and I'm guessing he (or she) was doing 100 mph. I was passed so quickly that I couldn't even tell you the color of the bike. I never saw it in my mirror, but I heard it just seconds before it passed me. What if I had decided to change lanes?  If you're going to drive fast enough to go back in time, then shouldn't you do it when there's no traffic?  I had a college roommate who worked at the airport.  He and his bike-riding buddies would take their motorcycles and race on the runway after work.  He told me that he once reached 190 mph before his helmet visor flew up and a bug hit him in the face.  The impact of a bug hitting him in the face at 190 mph embedded the bug in his cheek.  But, at least there was no traffic out there and the runways are generally smooth.  I still think he's nuts (and lucky that the bug didn't hit him in the eye).

Some of these daredevils daredummies like doing tricks while traveling 75 mph on the freeway. Nothing says "I'm an idiot" like popping a wheelie with cars moving all around you. You would think that these people would realize that one slip or even one small rock under the tire could throw them into traffic. And even if they're lucky enough to not be thrown in traffic, hitting the ground at 75 mph is not the flesh weight loss plan I want to try.

The most nerve-wrecking of them all is "lane splitting." That's when someone rides their "widow maker" straight down the dotted lines of the street in between stopped/slow moving vehicles. I've only seen this happen in person once or twice, but I was so tempted to open my door just as he passed me.  I know, I know, shame on me.

What makes someone have no disregard for their life like that? I'm not saying that motorcycles can't be fun, but the margin for error is a lot less than for someone in a car. It's one thing to perform a stunt, but to do so with other moving vehicles around you? You may think you know what you're doing, but what if the people around you can't drive?


How do you feel about amateur stunts performed on motorcycles on your streets?