Strange Driving Experience

[THE PILGRIM]

Yesterday I was North of here, headed S on I25. Three lanes with a paved shoulder. Then a concrete barrier.
I was in the R Lane moving at 65. The middle and left Lane were moving at 80-85.
A RAM Pickup passed me in the middle Lane, and pulled in front of me.
Sort of. It continued to the R, then proceeded to go down the Paved Shoulder at about 85.
Not much traffic in the RH Lane. When he pulled up in front of me, the nearest car ahead of us was about 1/2 mile away.
Then it pulled back ahead of me almost into the Right Lane, still going faster than me.
Before it got fully into the Right Lane, it steered Hard Right across the paved Shoulder into the Concrete Barrier hitting it longways.
It bounced front to back against the barrier, finally coming to a stop.
In the brief time I saw the RAM, nobody hit it, got close to it or messed with it.
The only thing I saw the RAM hit was the concrete barrier and it seemed to be intentional???

 

[Baxter6551]

Glad the idiot didn’t wrap you up into the collision ! The drivers these days have ABSOLUTELY NO REGARD for others on the road now. The speeding and tailgating is out of control. You can’t drive a normal speed in the middle or left lanes without being pushed out of the way. How dare you impede their progress while they are texting !!!! Traffic enforcement to me seems to be almost non existent- and who can blame the individual officers wanting to avoid confrontation in these days of cell phone cameras etc.

 

[grover99]

Most days I can't go anywhere without seeing someone doing something stupid on the road. Wish the state would pull the license of anyone caught using a cell phone while driving.

 

[ameridaddy]

....
Before it got fully into the Right Lane, it steered Hard Right across the paved Shoulder into the Concrete Barrier hitting it longways.
It bounced front to back against the barrier, finally coming to a stop.
In the brief time I saw the RAM, nobody hit it, got close to it or messed with it.
The only thing I saw the RAM hit was the concrete barrier and it seemed to be intentional???

Sounds like a cell phone texting distraction to me. Texting and non-hands free phone use are against the law in many (but not enough) places now, and I hope his insurance company checks for that. I'm really, really angry that so many drivers ignore that law, thereby endangering or inconveniencing everyone else on the road.

 

[Peak53]

Asking for a DUI?

 

[blackdeuce]

Sounds like it was either intentional or drug/alcohol induced (or both).

Several years ago, my son and I were traveling down a highway in Missouri (two lanes each direction). I was in the right lane doing about 70 (close to the speed limit). I looked in the mirror and saw a truck in the left lane going at a faster speed. The truck cab got beside me and slammed into my car and literally pushed me into the ditch. By some miracle, we didn't hit a boulder, culvert, etc. We slid down the ditch at 70 mph sideways. I was able to get the car stopped before we hit something and rolled. The cops said it was rare for someone to walk away from that. My car was totaled. I think the trucker was on drugs. His eyes were bloodshot.

 

[GypsmJim]

Last Sunday I was doing 60 in a 55 zone 3-lane highway. I was in the middle lane. Eight (I repeat 8) souped up Mustangs came past us doing about 80. Half passed on the right and half on the left. "Weaving in and out" among each other is an understatement. Heavy traffic in front of us forced them to slow down because all 3 lanes were blocked.

A mile ahead I moved into the right lane to get off on the next exit. "Oh ****", they are getting off too. Now we only got 2 lanes, filled with cars, so the Mustangs had to go on the right and left shoulders to get ahead.

Last time I saw them they were all 8 in a row going must have been 100.

 

[dave1918a2]

All reasons I moved up here from the Denver area. Horrible drivers.

 

[LVSteve]

Last Sunday I was doing 60 in a 55 zone 3-lane highway. I was in the middle lane. Eight (I repeat 8) souped up Mustangs came past us doing about 80. Half passed on the right and half on the left. "Weaving in and out" among each other is an understatement. Heavy traffic in front of us forced them to slow down because all 3 lanes were blocked.

A mile ahead I moved into the right lane to get off on the next exit. "Oh ****", they are getting off too. Now we only got 2 lanes, filled with cars, so the Mustangs had to go on the right and left shoulders to get ahead.

Last time I saw them they were all 8 in a row going must have been 100.

We get similar stunts here, and sometimes there are more than 8 miscreants.

In the OP's story, could the driver have been suffering a medical episode?

 

[arjay]

Heart attack or a stroke?

 

[swsig]

My strangest and most aggravating driving experience occurred years ago on I-35 in Austin, which is a lousy place to drive even under the best of circumstances. Traffic was heavy, as usual, but it was moving along at a decent pace, 65-70 mph, when all of a sudden traffic in my lane slowed to 45 mph. I was in a center lane, and all the cars in that lane were stuck there because traffic in the surrounding lanes was too heavy and moving too fast to change lanes safely. After 10-12 minutes of this misery, I was finally able to change lanes. When I got alongside the vehicle that was blocking the lane, I saw that it was being driven by a dimwitted Mr. Oblivious who was not only talking on his cell phone, but who was reading from a large looseleaf notebook propped up against his steering wheel! I can't say what I thought of this jerk without getting dinged, so you can supply your own invective.

 

[Autonomous]

It's a different world out there. The cell phone thing has contributed to many motorcycle riders, me included, quitting. Drivers from third world countries with no regard for human life and no intention of learning to do better are another menace.
I drove truck in the 70s and 80s and developed an uncanny ability to predict what other drivers were going to do before they did it. The advent of cell phone drivers driving by surprise (Oh, there's my exit! Let's jump three lanes without looking!) and more just plain incompetent, uncaring drivers has changed the game.
In the current USA trucking industry, drivers from Southern Asia are despised more than drivers from Central America. It's more than just their driving... I've heard it's even worse in Canada.
It used to be trucking, similar to the military, was a way for poor people from the south to improve their lives and they took pride in their craft.

For entertainment watch some YouTube videos of Asian bus drivers.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o-Wzhzx1o[/ame]

 

[fiasconva]

I can't help but wonder if it was some kind of medical emergency involved there.

 

[moosedog]

I would have stopped. It could have been a medical emergency.

 

[CalifEd]

Since speculation season is in full swing, I will speculate it could have been bee/wasp in the drivers cab.

 

[Buford57]

Another possibility is that the aliens beamed him back into their saucer for further tests.

 

[SMSgt]

Most days I can't go anywhere without seeing someone doing something stupid on the road. Wish the state would pull the license of anyone caught using a cell phone while driving.

Around here, the first ones to lose their licenses would be the LEOs.

 

[glowe]

Did anyone stop or just keep on driving?????

 

[armadillo]

I have lived in 7 different cities since I got my license. Each place had lots of crazy/dangerous drivers.

The worst was the Washington, D.C. metro area. Most of those drivers learned to drive somewhere else - especially the foreigners. There was no way to anticipate what the other guy would do next - especially if it snowed.

 

[BigBoy99]

The worst was the Washington, D.C. metro area. There was no way to anticipate what the other guy would do next - especially if it snowed.

When I lived in DC, one snowy day in the office we were talking about driving in snow. One lady said that if she was ever in a skid in snow/ice, she would close her eyes, let go of the steering wheel and slam on the brakes. The scary part was she was a native DC person and was totally serious in her comments!