Had a scary experience with an idiot driver during our vacation in August. We had the conversion van loaded, and were towing the trailer with three KTMs and an old Husky. We were making a grand tour of the Western states--Colorado, California, Idaho, and Utah.
We were driving north on I-5 south of Sacramento, at about 65 in the fast lane. A woman in a black, Japanese two-door pulled behind me angrily, looking for a way to get by. I was passing trucks at the time and couldn't get over.
The next thing I knew, she was in the median, going by at 85 or 90 mph. As she went by, she threw up a cloud of dust, gravel, and larger rocks; several pretty good-sized rocks broke the windshield. When she was past us, she moved over to get back on the highway, but she lost control in the off-camber gravel shoulder, and she pitched it completely sideways right in front of us.
When she hit the pavement, her rear tires bit, and she threw it sideways the opposite way, just in time for us to pass by safely.
As I looked over, she was spinning in the median at high speed, still throwing up a huge cloud of dust and rocks, now augmented by black plastic and chrome body parts. I don't think she rolled it, because when we hit the next exit and turned around to see if she was OK, she was gone.
The van's windshield looks like the back wall of a shooting gallery, the driving lights are broken, and there are huge chips and small dents all over the front and driver's side. So while I'm glad she wasn't hurt, I hope there's a lot of damage to her car; really expensive damage. And I hope she thinks about it before driving like a complete idiot the next time.
We were driving north on I-5 south of Sacramento, at about 65 in the fast lane. A woman in a black, Japanese two-door pulled behind me angrily, looking for a way to get by. I was passing trucks at the time and couldn't get over.
The next thing I knew, she was in the median, going by at 85 or 90 mph. As she went by, she threw up a cloud of dust, gravel, and larger rocks; several pretty good-sized rocks broke the windshield. When she was past us, she moved over to get back on the highway, but she lost control in the off-camber gravel shoulder, and she pitched it completely sideways right in front of us.
When she hit the pavement, her rear tires bit, and she threw it sideways the opposite way, just in time for us to pass by safely.
As I looked over, she was spinning in the median at high speed, still throwing up a huge cloud of dust and rocks, now augmented by black plastic and chrome body parts. I don't think she rolled it, because when we hit the next exit and turned around to see if she was OK, she was gone.
The van's windshield looks like the back wall of a shooting gallery, the driving lights are broken, and there are huge chips and small dents all over the front and driver's side. So while I'm glad she wasn't hurt, I hope there's a lot of damage to her car; really expensive damage. And I hope she thinks about it before driving like a complete idiot the next time.
