I’ll never forget when a woman was driving one of those huge Econoline vans that Ford Makes (go figure… second time I’ve written about these shit mobiles in this post) under the speedlimit along Reisterstown Road before pulling into the turn lane at a light. I was in the lane directly next to the van… with the intent on going straight. WELL… guess what. The green arrow came up… and the woman sat there staring at it as if she was a deer and it was the headlights of an oncoming car. I counted a good 5 seconds before someone behind her finally tooted their horn in utter frustration. BTW… this is during rush hour. The woman began to creep away from the stop line… SLOWER THAN ANY OLD PERSON I’VE EVER SEEN! BY THE TIME SHE was in the middle of the intersection, the light had gone from green to yellow to red. NOW in baltimore city, there are no delays on the traffic lights, so as soon as the yellow arrow disappeared, opposing traffic could start flowing. WELL, the idiot that was behind the van attempted to try and make the turn… WHILE the traffic was coming toward him. He was on a cell phone, he had three children in the car. How do I know? He decided to swerve into my friggin lane after his life flashed before him as a bus was barrelling down on him in the left lane. He came within inches of taking off the front left quarter panel of my vehicle and of course… I was ready to go BIGFOOT/GRAVEDIGGER on him. The sight of the children subdued me from even giving him any offensive hand gestures.

My cousin… the same aunt’s son… experienced a similar situation… with far more detrimental results. He was in the incoming traffic when the same thing happened. This time the person did not abort their turn and they were driving a Ford Expedition. My cousin was in the hospital for 3 days because the driver not only hit the quarter panel of his TL, but also the driver side door. Needless to say that TL Type S is a total loss.

This brings me to my next point… the area in which all of these accidents occur has nearly 60% lower insurance rates than 2 miles down the road, where there are less accidents. The prime difference between the two areas are one is Jewish, the other is black. Someone explain this please?

I commute via a vanpool to my office.

The regular vanpool driver asked me to drive so he could take the day off from work. So…there I was… driving a van full of people when someone in a small, red sports car veered directly into our path.

Yes…This person actually crossed the double line and ended up driving into oncoming traffic because they were DIALING THEIR CELLPHONE.

I hit the brakes as hard as I could.

Thank heavens - at the last minute the person looked up and stopped as well….inches away from the front of the van. Then they simply sped away.

Very annoying:
missing your turn at long traffic lights due to cell phone drivers

Very annoying:
HIspanic people who can only drive half the speed limit

I suppose my problem with the whole leasing a Mercedes for $200 a month is… these people can barely afford a $200 dollar car note… so why live outside of your means? Yes, I could certainly afford a lease on a C class Mercedes. Shoot I could even lease a CLS550 if I wanted to… but I’m not going to do it because its not economically feasible. That was one of the biggest problems I had with the So-Cal area, because the general attitude was… “you don’t really need to eat. Be a baller, get a Benz.” I’m sure if the city wasn’t filled with a bunch of people fronting like they were something they will never be, LA would be a better place. (shrug)

Kudos on your quest for home ownership and best of luck to you. Those LA prices (especially in Burbank) were too steep for me.