Complete Idiot said:

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Never trust a white truck.

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Be careful.

Years ago a car goes flying by us on Braeswood Boulevard in Houston (started us pretty badly) and less than a mile up the road the same car was stopped on the median after it hit a tree head-on. The driver was a really dazed-looking hoodrat.

Same story, different vehicle (Range Rover Disco) on 290 W.

Street Fighter said:

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Same story, different vehicle (Range Rover Disco) on 290 W.

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Its bad when someone takes risks in a sports car that might be able to perform well with a skilled driver. Its even worse when someone is taking risks in a top heavy SUV.

It takes too long to tell but I witnessed a fatality accident about 25 years ago when a guy in a full size work van lost control chasing a small car in what looked like road rage. The van driver tried to replicate what the car was doing and failed.

It cost his female passenger her life. And it impacted me as I tried to render aid. I still remember what she looked like well.

Aston 91 said:

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We've lived in Austin for 20+ years, and were in Houston for 12 years before that. We were back in Houston last weekend and the drivers there were definitely worse than what we typically see here. Weaving in and out of traffic at close to 100 mph, tailgating (and not just with left lane campers), etc. Told my wife these people have zero concept of physics - but then again I doubt if many of them could perform simple arithmetic.

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Close to 100 mph.

I'll dredge up my I-45S thread because I've got a fresh update.

Complete Idiot said:

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Aston 91 said:

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We've lived in Austin for 20+ years, and were in Houston for 12 years before that. We were back in Houston last weekend and the drivers there were definitely worse than what we typically see here. Weaving in and out of traffic at close to 100 mph, tailgating (and not just with left lane campers), etc. Told my wife these people have zero concept of physics - but then again I doubt if many of them could perform simple arithmetic.

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I prefer Houston drivers over Austin drivers, I find Houston drivers to at least be confident while in Austin there are way too many tentative or scared drivers and that presents risks as well. Not disagreeing with your observations though, more high speed and weaving drivers in Houston compared to Austin for sure.

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The Austin drivers that are overwhelmed by more than 2 lanes on a freeway has not changed since I first moved there 30 years ago.

I remember some of my co-workers from towns like Taylor or Elgin talking about how they just couldn't stand driving in "the city".

I thought, these folks would never make it in Houston.

Martels Hammer said:

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Everyone has a similar story to what I'm about to tell, and for me, this is one of many. Just got home and felt like posting.

Short story told short. The wife and I were traveling south on 99 near Houston. A red Toyota GR86 traveling at least 100mph almost has an accident near us trying to shoot the gap to pass a guy camping in the left lane, recovers then continues driving recklessly. I think to myself boy he's gonna have an accident soon.


Not five minutes later we came up on the same car flipped on its roof in the median with at least one other car damaged.


I'm still amazed at how many drivers over estimate their ability even after they demonstrate to everyone just minutes before they aren't that skilled.

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Part I - Baytown Aggregate Hauler guy
Back in February of 2021 we were driving from Los Angeles to Houston and got caught in the big ice storm.

Started the morning of the 13th in Fort Stockton and the goal that night was Houston (Clear Lake/NASA area).

As we headed east on I-10, we started getting enough precipitation where I decided it was time to shift my Jeep Wrangler into 4H.

We saw lots of big rigs that had gone off the road, were stuck in the median, etc.

At one stop somewhere around Junction, we were there for at least 15-20 minutes waiting for the road to clear. Might have been longer. Anyway, long enough for me to get out and walk around.

There was a guy behind us in an 18 wheeler hauling what looked like an empty aggregate trailer. I noticed the business on the side of the door said "Baytown, Texas". I thought, OK, he's essentially going the same place we're going.

Once the traffic stoppage clears and we're getting up to regular highway speeds, this guy just has to pass me. I told my wife, so... you think you're going to pass the guy in the 4 wheel drive Jeep, who has it in 4 wheel drive and has plenty of winter driving experience... OK. Go for it.

We keep driving towards San Antonio. About 90 minutes later as we're entering San Antonio and it's getting dark now, we see this 18 wheeler crashed out and jackknifed across the road. I don't think he was on his side but it was pretty bad.

As we passed him, sure enough... it was impatient Baytown aggregate hauler guy.

Part II - SATX Ram pickup guy
Aggregate hauler guy wasn't enough to keep me off the road because I personally didn't have a problem. And here's where my Western States inclement weather driving over confidence broke down.

We make our way through San Antonio and there are very few vehicles on the road. They've closed overpasses and we made our way from I-10 to I-10 on surface streets in some cases.

We get east of San Antonio and back on I-10. We see a few more cars including this turkey in a 2WD Ram pickup.

This guy gets on the freeway and starts accelerating. I'd already seen a few vehicles spin out and wind up on the shoulder. This guy gets in front of me (again, you're really going to pass the guy in the Jeep Wrangler in 4H in your 2WD Ram?).

This guy in the Ram proceeds to spin out across 3 lanes of traffic. Did at least 2 x 360s right in front of me. I was barely able to slow down, change lanes, etc. to avoid this moron.

What I figured out (very quickly) is that I can handle this but... there are other idiots out here who do not have the equipment or the experience and are just going FULL SEND.

A few minutes after that, we came upon a parking lot of tractor trailers on I-10. I was still a little shaken up by narrowly missing Ram spinout guy.

I drove across the shoulder to the frontage road and into the Whataburger at 1604 and got something to eat. I decided our best option was to take surface streets back to San Antonio where we would wind up spending 5 days on the Riverwalk with everything frozen and closed. The Riverwalk Whataburger ran out of food after 2 days.

See the first part all the time. Especially as I get older and more like the poster above that is willing to set cruise and ride with the flow. Even worse when it is a 15yo beat up Altima or corolla that wasn't designed to drive aggressively when it was new combined with the idiot driver.

Haven't every seen the second part results of their stupidity as a wreck. Have seen a couple pulled over by the police.

I think every day at least one person thinks im camping in the left lane then BAM... my turn signal comes on


Troll complete

We were on 635 at night in the far right lane. Concrete barriers to our right. Some idiot tried to shoot the gap, clipped a car to our left and sent in careening into the barrier. Sparks and car debris hit our car. We lock it up. Wrecker is there within minutes. We leave after talking to the police. Next exit the aggressor is surrounded by cops and being arrested.

BlueSmoke said:

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We were on 635 at night in the far right lane. Concrete barriers to our right. Some idiot tried to shoot the gap, clipped a car to our left and sent in careening into the barrier. Sparks and car debris hit our car. We lock it up. Wrecker is there within minutes. We leave after talking to the police. Next exit the aggressor is surrounded by cops and being arrested.

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The 635 from DNT to 121 is so bad now, especially with drunk drivers at 7AM in the mix that do night shift. I had some guy off the intersection of PGBT (190) and 635 almost clip me and several others. He cut through the old extra lanes out on the interchange gand dove back in all the way to the far left.

When I was driving an older 4 speed (stick) diesel off 287 back from the west, I was getting passed by everyone including semis, overload and hazmat on that route. That vehicle doesn't really go past 70 unless you wan to throw rods.

3rd Platoon said:

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That sucks. I'm glad you're ok, and I hope for the best with the other cars. Oh, and fwiw, the left lane camper a-hole isn't too much better.

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Sorry, the left lane camper is an ******* but not even in the same realm as the ******* going 100+ weaving in and out of traffic. One is pissing people off because they're making them a little later. The other could legitimately kill a family.

Martels Hammer said:

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Everyone has a similar story to what I'm about to tell, and for me, this is one of many. Just got home and felt like posting.

Short story told short. The wife and I were traveling south on 99 near Houston. A red Toyota GR86 traveling at least 100mph almost has an accident near us trying to shoot the gap to pass a guy camping in the left lane, recovers then continues driving recklessly. I think to myself boy he's gonna have an accident soon.


Not five minutes later we came up on the same car flipped on its roof in the median with at least one other car damaged.


I'm still amazed at how many drivers over estimate their ability even after they demonstrate to everyone just minutes before they aren't that skilled.

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Saw the same thing on the spillway bridge years ago between LaPlace and Metairie. At night, that dude is hauling arse by me. Less than 5 min later... upside down. Same crap man.

They say speed kills. Nope. Sudden stops kill / 996 Turbo driver.