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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Talk about bad timing.
The only thing that might die riding with Justthemaid is the passenger's sanity.
I used to be the worst driver I ever rode with until I stopped buying sports cars. Only really wrecked two (sports cars that is). Of course the 1968 chevy wagon that I got airborne once did not qualify as a sports car, although it DID peg the speedometer at 120.
Only injury I ever got driving was when some guy tried to pass my 62 beetle while I was turning left- only he was in a one ton truck. the pic is not digital, but it's hard to see how anyone got out alive, since the car is almost totally crushed from the driver's side. to the middle of the car.
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TrundleBum
Trad climber
Las Vegas
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Where's Jimmy Dunn ?
I recall hearing years ago, when he tried to join the establishment and make his million, he was working in construction of fast food places and making a bundle.
I heard there were a few Porsches that didn't make it through their expected lifespan.
I would love to hear some of those stories ;)
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deuce4
Big Wall climber
the Southwest
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I had a few rides in Jimmy's Porsche. Once while I was driving, averaged 120mph for a full hour in the middle of the night on the rez heading to Flagstaff. Another time we took turns shooting at signs with his semi automatic weapons out the window, as we ripped around hairpin turns somewhere in Colorado. Almost blew my head off with one of his hair trigger semi-autos as I was climbing back in through the window.
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Anastasia
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 7, 2008 - 08:33pm PT
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I don't know who is actually the worst for me...
I remember one very good friend who was driving holding the steering wheel with his knee, talking on the cell, putting hot sauce on his taco while smoking and messing with the radio on a very narrow road.
The other was Greg Evens who had put a Porsche engine in his VW Van and drove it like a nut through dirt mountain roads, skidding sideways through the turns.
All the time during the skids he would hang his head out the window laughing like a maniac, bragging in a proud voice...
"Doesn't she have power! Man! She is a beauty!"
I would sit in his passenger seat nodding, laughing and gripping the door like I was on a roller coaster.
Sick thing is I liked it.
The other is my cousin... I have images of him wearing his priestly black robes, going full speed on his scooter and since it didn't have breaks... He would jump off, while lifting it off the ground to take a second to talk to you.
All you could see was black robes swirling, beard tossing to the side, while the scooter was revving in the air along with his big voice talking over it.
I never could get use to that. I had a habit of flagging him down just to see him do his trick.
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The last person I am thinking... Though he "does not qualify as "dangerous," -he is just awe inspiring skilled.-
One reason for this is that Niels IS a race car driver.
In Greece Niels fast reflexes saved us from several accidents. It was such beautiful driving that I must call it art. I remember Kit and I exchanging looks after one close call in such admiration for it really was "jaw dropping" impressive.
Also...
Niels does have the most beautiful and powerful car I have ever been in. I discovered that G forces tickle in that car. He so deserves that car...
If I owned that much power I would kill myself.
AF
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swill
Social climber
Colorado
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Jimmy is something. Great story John. I had a Old English sheepdog years ago who became real close to Jim's dog "Billy" the Pit Bull. Anyhow Old English sheepdogs have hair not fur so they don't shed. One afternoon we took my car and Jimmy's Jeep up to Turkey rock and the sheepdog insisted on going with Jimmy, Maureen, and "Billy". So I pull into the the lot and Jimmy is all aggravated and pacing around... I'm scared. The Sheepdog is off in the woods somewhere. As it turns out the dog got so flipped out she shed half her hair off on the back seat on the drive up. He did not let me forget that for sometime.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Not worth starting a new thread, so I'll send this one off on a tangent.
Supposedly, Sacramento has the worst drivers in the U.S.
http://fox40.com/2017/06/27/does-sacramento-have-the-worst-drivers-in-the-country/
I just drove through Sacramento again, and I'm not seeing it. They're not even the worst on The West Coast.
Mid-afternoon, right through the middle of town on The 5, everyone is moving at speed. I'm tailgating the guy ahead of me, he's tailgating the guy in front of him, and someone's right on my ass, all at 80+mph. As far as the eye can see. Just hop on the train, and ride it. Then there were others zipping around, changing lanes all over the place like a bunch of goddamn NASCAR racers. It was as if they were all saying "Welcome Home, Chaz". I was right in my comfort zone. These are my people.
After a few weeks in goody-two-shoes Washington, where people are scared to death to drive the speed limit, or even close to it, and look at me like I'm Evel Knievel if I drive around someone waiting to turn left, honk my horn, or God forbid tailgate someone, and slow-motion Oregon, driving among the spirited folks of Sacramento was like a big breath of fresh air.
No wrecks - and no cops. I think the former may have something to do with the latter.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Chaz, you know damn well ARCADIA takes the cup, no ifs, ands, or buts. I was at the mall there the other day and could not believe this retard in his McLaren. He shoulda been driving a golf cart. :-/
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Anywhere I like
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I remember riding with a friend of mine when I was twelve he had to be like 17. Nissan Maxima doing 120 on the straight away with a bump that would give you air if you hit it at over a hundred. Truck coming out the direction us in the air at 120 flying past it. I'll never forget the look on that drivers face.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Here's a dangerous Washington driver observation, one in a long series:
I'm driving south on State Highway 20, Whidbey Island. Speed limit 55. The truck in front of me suddenly stops right in his lane - even though there's a quarter-mile long paved pullout designed to allow slow traffic to get out of everyone's way right next to him he could have easily parked in. He then turns on his emergency flashing signals, in the middle of the road, apparently intending to stop traffic on the State Highway.
Dude had spotted a deer.
The deer was 100' off the side of the road, with its face buried in the grass eating. I know that if a deer runs across a road this time of year, there may be a fawn or two following, and it's wise to slow down and look out. I saw someone clip one just the day before. I'm hip. But this one was just busy eating.
I saw what was going on, just a deer eating, so I used the slow traffic turnout to drive around both the deer and the Bozo trying to hold up traffic.
At that point, Bozo stepped on the gas, and chased me for a couple miles down the hwy and a block down Main Street, all the way to the Brewery. I was half hoping he would get out of his truck, so I could have bought him a beer and discussed his bone-headed decisions with him. But no luck, he called off the chase when I turned into the Brewery. I'm guessing he saw my California license plate, which was like waving a red cape in front of a bull to him.
If you think about it for even a second, you'd come to the conclusion that a truck stopped on a 55mph highway is far more dangerous than a deer munching on grass off the side of the road, but Washington Bozo couldn't trouble himself to think for a second, even though he's at the controls of a 4,000lb moving death machine.
Another dangerous Washington driver. Not an outstanding example, more of a typical one:
Same highway, this time in Oak Harbor where the road is four lanes wide.
I'm in a left-turn pocket, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so I can turn left into the Wendy's and get myself a couple of Dave's Hot & Greasy Double Cheeseburgers.
Another Bozo going the opposite direction stops in traffic, blocking his lane, and waves at me like he's going to wait for me to turn left in front of him. Problem is, he never checked with the traffic in the lane parallel to him, traveling in the same direction he was. None of them were stopping because they didn't have to.
I'm not taking the bait, and I continued to wait for traffic to clear. By now, traffic behind Bozo is backing up, making my wait even longer, so he's actually f*#king me instead of helping me. If he would think about it for even one second, he'd realize how foolish he was. But like Deer Bozo, one second of actual thinking was apparently asking too much from him, even though he's at the helm of a two-ton moving death machine.
After about a minute, I can tell by his facial expressions that he's getting pissed off at me, for not breaking the law and making what we in California call an "unsafe left turn".
Where in The Vehicle Code does it say that left turns in an uncontrolled intersection have right-of-way? I'll save you the trouble of looking it up: Nowhere. That's where.
But according to some study, Sacramento drivers are the dangerous ones. Drive around a little on Whidbey Island if you still believe that.
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Asian drivers
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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LA drivers are some of the worst... They are brainwashed and so arrogant that they forget they are driving along the base of one of the worlds most beautiful mountain ranges.. They behave like desperate idiots driving bumper to bumper...Zombies trapped in their self-important mind set with good paying jobs and the only thing to show for their life efforts are their lame-ass turbo charged cars....
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Any truck driver in Pakistan is way up there. Passing slowly around blind corners on 2 lane mountain roads knowing that they won't die until Allah decides it is time.
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hellroaring
Trad climber
San Francisco
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...when I'm on my bicycle anyone in my vicinity trying to drive & text, or any other preoccupation with their friggin phone/device.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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People in roundabouts who either a; don't know how it works, or even worse b; try to be nice and stop in said roundabout to let people in. Dangerous in general, and also to my mental health. Those people drive me crazy! In the scheme of things it's no big deal, but I live in a town of 3000 people and need something to bitch about.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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I like the fools sporting the license plate frame advertising that they are "Stanford Cardinal Alumni", or "Berkeley Alumni" who do things that are not only dangerous, but head-up-the-butt stupid.
Like the Stanford Cardinal I saw here in Santa Cruz, that not only pulled out in front of traffic - instead of simply waiting his turn for traffic to clear, like a normal person would - but had to do a three-point-turn in order to stay in his lane, while the rest of us stopped and watched.
One must be very highly educated to think he can do something so sh#t-all stupid.
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Capt.
climber
some eastside hovel
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Obviously no one here has ridden with Mark Kahrl. ;-)
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Chaz, you know damn well ARCADIA takes the cup, no ifs, ands, or buts. I was at the mall there the other day and could not believe this retard in his McLaren. He shoulda been driving a golf cart. :-/ e
Reilly, I believe it's called ARCASIA. I used to work with a guy who was rear ended while waiting for a red light to change. It was a sunday morning, with very little traffic. He gets out of his truck, and walks back to the car that hit him. The driver of that car was a Chinese woman. She rolls down her window, and screams at him that it was his fault.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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I have seen, and my ex-wife encountered one head on, many poorly-skilled Asian drivers.
This was on a residential street in Alhambra and her car was totaled.
The cops who arrived on scene had just investigated the guy for another accident less than one week earlier.
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Hubbard
climber
San Diego
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Spiewak and I were flying along the dirt track to Canjon Tajo in his Suburu and I mentioned maybe we should slow down a little as we were fishtailing through a few curves. Brian laughed and agreed and eased off the gas some. We went into the next blind curve and were confronted by a Baja 1000 type buggy speeding as fast as we had been going and this guy was right down the middle of the road. I grabbed the dash and prepared for impact. Both drivers were good with fast reactions and our car went off the road for a little bit and then recovered with dirt and rocks flying and a cloud of dust. A game of inches type moment.
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Hoser
climber
Vancouver,Rome
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Jul 10, 2017 - 04:24am PT
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I complain a lot about the drivers in Rome, to the point that I dont really get upset anymore, but it does bother me.
While being driven to the crag by a friend from Greece...I started complaining and he said he thought the Romans were worse than the Greeks. I pointed out some behaviours and he totally did not agree with me.
The guy who passed everyone on the shoulder to get to the front of the line..."probably just made a navigation error", the guy who started a second line at the traffic stop in a one lane road..."was being efficient and it was people like me who made traffic"...his drifting across lane dividers.."was not a big deal"...
There are often massive accidents here, not as many as you would think, but they do happen and they are often spectacular...Italy is in the top 3 for most litigious countries in the world.
Driving in Rome is not recommended but necessary if you wish to do more than buy a selfie stick at the Colosseum.
I think the best is when I pick up family/friends from the airport and we get to a stop sign and no one stops...its their first taste of driving in Rome. Where Canadian and American driving licences are not allowed to be directly swapped for an Italian one...because our driving schools and tests are too simple...
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