What is the dumbest thing you've seen someone do while they were driving?

[Bertha Venation]

I saw mine this morning. A woman was trying to put eyedrops into her eyes while in 30 mph traffic.

You?

[ohiosmith]

1. Breast feed a baby. On the 101 about eight years ago.

[bluesbassman]

2. Woman curling her eyelashes in the rearview mirror while talking on cellphone...

an a cup of coffee held between her legs. She was at a stoplight, so I guess she figured it was ok, but I put some distance between us fast.

[WillParkinson]

3. A woman...

Kept glancing down at something in her lap while driving. I stopped at the light and saw her approaching. I honestly did not think she was going to stop in time.

[Tom_Foolery]

4. A man reading a book at high speed on Interstate 40 in North Carolina. n/t

[Mopar151]

44. Same thing on I-89 in VT

Full-size hardcover, open on the steering wheel, coming up the on-ramp in Randolph - ready for the ride to Burlington.

[IcyPeas]

5. 2 things come to mind...

I saw a man gargling with scope and then spitting it out of the window (and he was in a Jaguar).

and a woman plucking her eyebrows.

[hifiguy]

6. It was a pickup truck with Iowa plates

that made a left-hand turn across four lanes of one way traffic (from the far right lane) on a one-way street in downtown Minneapolis. I've heard of dumber things but never actually seen dumber .

[RZM]

7. Rolling a joint n/t

[OriginalGeek]

17. That's only dumb

if the windows are down.


Man I lost a lot of dope that way.

[Initech]

8. I had a coworker log onto his laptop to download his boarding pass while driving.

[surrealAmerican]

9. I saw a man ...

... who was shaving while driving once. At least it wasn't a straight razor, but still...

[Initech]

14. I've seen that. I've also seen the makeup thing as well.

I've even seen people do both ar the same time - you see a lot of people doing crazy shit on the road when you drive as much as I do.

[hunter]

10. When I was a kid standing at a school bus stop.

It was garbage day.

A woman swerved up onto the curb, we jumped out of the way, and she mowed down a row of garbage cans.

This was the days before plastic trash cans -- these were heavy fifty-five gallon metal oil drums which got jammed under her car and brought her to a stop. Lots of noise and sparks and she might have killed some school kids but we all were quick.

She apologized profusely (maybe as someone under the influence) and explained how she'd fumbled an eight track tape and was reaching down to pick it up. Her car was still stuck on top of the garbage cans when the bus picked us up.

More recently I was driving south on California highway 99 and a truck switched lanes as if I wasn't there. I hit the accelerator and jumped in front of someone in the fast lane to avoid the truck. A few miles later I dropped out of the fast lane and the people I'd cut in front of passed by and flipped me off. Their behavior irritated me more than the truck driver who'd changed lanes without looking.

[trof]

11. My Sunday school teacher when I was a kid.

He'd be one of the parents driving us to some kind of outing like a weenie roast at a state park and read a book propped on the steering wheel.
Circa 1955?

[Behind the Aegis]

12. I saw someone driving stick, but the car was an automatic.

[Chan790]

18. Took me a second to get it...

but man when I did I ed.

Reminds me of my own answer to this question. I was in the back-seat of my friend's car because he was giving me a ride home from a fraternity party and this woman he'd been trying to hook up with all night was in the passenger seat. I was really drunk and I zoned out and when I came to, as far as I can tell she's no longer in the car but I know we didn't stop and it's only been 15 seconds at the most...then I made eye-contact with him in the RV mirror and his eyes said:

"If you say a word or lean forward, she's going to realize you're not passed out and I'm going to kill you."

That was both the stupidest thing I've seen two people do while one was driving...and the most awkward car-trip I ever endured.

[Aerows]

13. Well

This was actually my fault. When I was a kid, I left some helium balloons in the car (Not maliciously, I was 6) and forgot about them when I got to school, and they bopped up behind my mother and she thought someone was attacking her in the car. She completely ran down a stop sign in panic until she saw it was just pink balloons. This was in Tuscon, AZ and the only people that stopped were some Hispanic gentlemen to make sure she was alright. It was 7:30am. Their comment? "mujer ebria".

LOL. She never forgot that and never let me have helium balloons again. It's a wonder she didn't kill someone.

Oh, and my father noticed and commented "Did you see how some drunk fool ran down the stop sign?". My mother bless her heart just smiled, and played off the dent on the front of the Eldorado's bumper.

[bluedigger]

15. Trucker reading a newspaper on the Autobahn. n/t

[TrogL]

16. My boss eating a hamburger, driving with one knee 20kph over the speed limit blowing a tantrum at me

...and flipping off other drivers.

[NV Whino]

19. Flossing on the 280 during rush hour.

[HopeHoops]

20. Watching a DVD in the visor, smoking, eating, and drinking a beer - all at the same time.

Second in line would be the guy in the 3rd lane of rush hour traffic with a newspaper spread out over the steering wheel. He was going slower than everyone else and I suppose he was using peripheral vision to be sure that was true and roughly stay in lane at the same time. As we passed by, he looked over at us and then right back at the paper - never ahead.

[LiberalFighter]

21. 3 lane one way with 4th left turn lane

Woman with "In God We Trust" license plate moves from center lane to left turn lane to stoplight and does it somewhat recklessly. Then pulls out and goes straight and gets in far right lane about 100 feet down the road to turn right.

One of those days I wished I had stayed home.

[chrisa]

22. I saw someone purposely hit two cars (one after another) from behind going 5 mph, and then

speed up and go through a red light.

[baldguy]

23. In college, a buddy & I went skiing.

During the day, a blizzard moved in. The place we were staying was just up the road a few miles, so we set out - driving about 5 mph in blinding whiteouts. We weren't the only ones, we were in a caravan of 6 or 7 cars braving the limited visibility.

After about 20 min, a car zoomed by in the left lane going about 40. We caught up with him after another 5 min - after he'd hit a truck head-on coming the other way.

[Denninmi]

24. Make an illegal hard turn across multiple lanes of traffic from the wrong lane.

I've seen this quite a few times here. I don't know if this is a Detroit thing, or just something that various dumb asses do everywhere. Either in the left turn lane, and they decide they need to turn right, or in the right turn lane, and decide they need to turn left. So, they jackrabbit when the light changes, or do it on a green light at the tail end of a pack of traffic.

Either way, its stupid and dangerous. IF you're in a turn lane, and you suddenly realize you are turning the wrong direction, please, people, just complete the turn the way it should be, and find somewhere down the road to turn around. Please don't endanger yourself and everyone else on the road by turning right from the left turn lane across at least one and often more lanes of through traffic.

[Kaleva]

25. It'd be easier for me to write down all the dumb things I did.

It's a miracle that me and my friends survived our wild teenage years or that we didn't end up in prison for a very long time.

[dogknob]

26. Bust a nut.

[bigwillq]

27. I've done the eye drop thing

I've probably done a lot of things on this thread!

[mulsh]

28. stop in the middle of a freeway exit ( Grand Ave on 580) put the car in reverse and back up

to re-enter the freeway. I've seen this done at least 5 times in the last couple of years. My wife says she's seen people do it on freeways in Silicon Valley too.

[chollybocker]

29. A guy getting a bj on the highway.

This was before cruise control. He kept speeding up and slowing down, and when I passed him, I looked over and saw a woman lift her head from his lap and wipe her face with some kleenex. I gave them thumbs up.

[Archae]

30. Made a left turn into the wrong lane.

Ended up going down a left-turn arrow lane the wrong way.

And I was the passenger telling my relative she was in the wrong lane.

[Art_from_Ark]

31. I've seen lots of crazy stuff on the road, but

This was one of the most memorable:

Some guy in Japan who was driving a Cadillac committed at least three traffic violations in the course of less than a half mile. First he was turned around a curve in a special turning lane but did not yield to oncoming traffic-- in fact, he cut right in front of me as I was approaching and I had to slam on my brakes or end up rear-ending him. Then, angry with the way traffic was moving in the two marked southbound lanes, he decided he was going to create his own lane in the middle of the other two and tried to wedge between two vehicles on either side of him. Finally, while in his "third lane", he zoomed through a red light as people were in the crosswalk trying to cross the street, missing a pedestrian by a foot at most.

[Initech]

32. So one time a couple years ago I was hanging out with friends...

We were at a Mexican restaurant and we were leaving and going back to the apartment - and in front of our car was a Honda Civic with one of those backseat DVD players.

On the player? A Girls Gone Wild video. Yay!!!

[Rhiannon12866]

33. I once saw a driver on the Mass Turnpike reading a book while behind the wheel...

He was holding it up to the window. An earlier example of "distracted driving..."

[Tripod]

34. A woman masterbating.

[Bertha Venation]

37. What?! You saw that?!

I thought I'd hid it rather well...

[Tripod]

42. Now that is funny, LOL!

[a kennedy]

35. Semi driver typing on his laptop while driving on I-90

We passed him and there he was typing on his laptop on the steering wheel.

[benld74]

36. Scraping windshield ice/frost with butterknife while heading east in morning rush hour

[eppur_se_muova]

38. Displaying a McCain/Palin bumper sticker.

(Obviously, feel free to subsitute any of the current crop of wackos)

[Rhiannon12866]

40. You win...

[TrogL]

39. Could somebody please explain this one

It seems to happen a lot here. Someone will drive up to an intersection, stop on the green light, get out of the vehicle, stoop down and pick up gravel, get back in the vehicle and drive off through the (now) red light. YOU ARE NOT A BIRD. DO NOT EAT GRAVEL.

[Rochester]

41. A guy talking on two mobile phones, one in each hand, steering with his elbows

seen a few years back

[FloridaJudy]

43. Woman in a huge-ass SUV

Trying to make a left turn in heavy traffic while simultaneously painting her nails and chatting on a cell phone. Hope she didn't smudge that polish!

[Mopar151]

45. Hadda be an Escalade driver.

I don't think the friggin things will engage "Drive" until the cell phone is raised into position.