What types of Vehicles are you wary and weary of?

[GypsyRR]

I've been reading the posts since they started and see a pattern developing:

FIRST: WOMEN ON CELL PHONES

'some lady who is either yelling at her kids, or talking on the phone. They would follow you off of a cliff, because they can't drive, they just follow."

"7. cell phone SUV soccer moms "

"I've had a couple of close calls with women talking on cell phones--a problem that I think is absolutely out of control. "

"A woman exits off of I-80 and approaches the stop light from my right. She is talking on her cell phone. "

"I couldn't believe the driver hadn't seen the guy until I saw she was talking on the phone! "

"and a woman was talking on a cell phone and turning left off a one-way avenue."

SECOND: WOMEN IN GENERAL

"Black women, Hispanic women, Oriental women, silver haired women "

"Big black women are notoriously the worst drivers around here and I avoid them,"

"5. old blue hairs in land barges
6. young angry chicks in econo-racer-boxes "

"Nissan Sentra's seem to be driven by young women who go like a bat out of hell;"

"Usually Mom and her screaming brood,.........she still managed to sideswipe my back end! When she hopped out of her beast, after telling the kids to sit down and shut-up, she gave me the huh?? look ...."


Okay, here is my comment now:

I know there are a lot of women who talk on the cell phones. I very rarely talk on my phone while driving.......really(and only twice while riding my motorcycle )
But since reading this thread, I've been looking around and there seems to be just as many men talking on phones as women. Really, there is. Here is a couple of thoughts I'm throwing out there just to stir the pot.

1) All of you who posted so far are men. You probably give women a second look (subconsciously, I'm sure) more than you would a man and so you just naturally notice it more when they are talking on phones. If you can do so without getting caught try giving men a second look. You will find they are talking on phones too. I (subconsciously, of course) tend to notice men more than women and perhaps that is why I notice that there are plenty of men talking on cell phones as well.

2) Men tend to use the bluetooth, cordless, "Star Trek" looking ear pieces more then women and thus they can disguise the fact they are talking on phones in the car.

3) Depending on where you drive and when, you will naturally see more women drivers than men. If you are commuting between rush hour times, you will see more "soccer moms" driving then men drivers, so that will tip the scales toward more women driving and talking on the phone as well.

4) Women tend to talk more then men.

5) In my experience (limited), women tend to have to multi-task more than men especially if they still have young children at home

I'm not at all defending talking on the phone while driving. I really do think it is a hazard like many of you do. I'm just saying that perhaps the problem is NOT JUST A GENDER THING.

ON A SIDE NOTE:

Yesterday, I heard in the news about a truck driver who was talking to his wife on the cell phone in his cab when a homeless guy shot him with a rifle. The cell phone deflected the bullet enough that it saved his life since it only grazed his ear. Still it's no reason to talk on a cell phone while driving, but it caught my attention because I had been thinking about this thread.


Vehicles I hate to drive behind:

Flat bed trucks hauling hay. Hay can pierce a mesh jacket like a needle and if your visor is up even a little, a stray projectile can give you a lip piercing you never intended to have. They also leave enough on the road ahead of you to cause the roads to get slippery like driving on pine needles.

[JCsman]

I've been reading the posts since they started and see a pattern developing:

FIRST: WOMEN ON CELL PHONES
Men tend to use the bluetooth, cordless, "Star Trek" looking ear pieces

Wwweeeellllll....my post involved a man on a cell phone.... but I think your "bluetooth*" comment is worth a word or two.

You are right, I can't tell that the bluetoothers are on a cell phone. So I assume they are mentally unbalanced, talking to themselves (or some invisible being) and therefore, I avoid them like the plague. (Both on the bike and during other activities.

* I wonder if "yellowtooth" would have caught on so readily....perhaps so, here in the rural South

[rdsmith3]

re: bluetooth

Have you noticed that if you are hearing impaired, and you need a hearing aid, you look for the smallest, most inconspicuous device you can find, and it is flesh colored.

On the other hand, the bluetooth people wear huge, silver, flashy, bizarre looking devices on one ear, and they walk around talking LOUDLY to themselves, as if they just escaped from Greystone (infamous mental institution in northern NJ).

[iowabeakster]

gypsy has me thinking (i know the first time is the worst),

i must admit, i do drive like an idiot at times. i just got pulled over last week. i was distracted and did a bone-head driving technique.

the police appoached my car and said,"hello, im officer so and so, do you know why i pulled you over?"

i said ,"i KNOW why you pulled me over, for driving like an idiot." He laughed and sent me on my way.

one of the worst drivers that i know of today is my father. most of my whole life my dad was a cautious, safe driver. he never had accidents or tickets as i was a kid. he was very alert to other drivers and dangers on the road. kinda like a motorcycle rider driving a car. in the last few years, he has become a threat to himself and others.

what is the difference now? CELL PHONE. his wife calls at least 20 times a day, as well as work and other people. he needs to ignore the phone and call back when not behind the wheel of a 2 ton steel machine. when he talks on the phone, it is like 90% of his driving awareness just disappears. in all sincerity, he went from being a great driver to very, very bad.

my anecdote above was not meant to imply that women in general are bad drivers. it was about a distracted driver who, coincidentally, was a woman. Statistics clearly show that women are safer drivers and gererally use better judgement.

[Sunbeemer]

Point taken GypsyRR!! There probably are more (multi-tasking) women on the roads during the day, and I know they like to talk on the phone (at least my daughters sure do), so statistically you're more likely to run afoul of them than probably any other type of driver simply because they are more abundant. I do notice men talking on their phones too, and I see some of them make bonehead errors. However, I think they are more interested in motorcycles, so when they see one they are often actively watching it, maybe to see what kind it is?

BTW, I'd like to add flat bed trucks in general to the list. I saw an accident when a cylinder of oxygen rolled off one on the interstate that the car in front of me hit. It sent the car into the air and the cylinder end over end into the gutter hissing. Amazingly it didn't explode! Two people inside had bloody noses and were ok, and the car was totalled. Never know what's going to come off those things, and I don't follow them anymore...

BTW, I saw a piece of straw driven through the side of a Coke bottle (made of glass back then!) during Hurricane Betsy (135mph winds). Wouldn't have believed that could happen if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. No, I won't be following any hay trucks either. Thanks for the tip!

[wncbmw]

I would have to agree with Gypsy, that cell phone offenders cross gender lines.

The worst idiot I ever saw was a dump truck overloaded with landscaping supplies, towing a trailer with a backhoe (also overloaded with other materials), barely able to fit on the secondary road anyway, weaving all over the place and when I finally get around him - you bet - cell phone to his ear.

[Biff's R]

Vann

[wncbmw]

[BigC]

Yeah, I don't think it's necessarily a gender thing. I do think that there are more soccer mom's out there than soccer dad's which lead to said stereo type. Basically anyone's head tilted over 35 degree's from straight up is a concern to me. Either they're on their cell phone or they're too cool to give a crap about anyone around them.... :\