By Kevin L. Vaughn
With onboard GPS devices in nearly 65% of today’s vehicles and one or more mapping apps available to another 30% of drivers with Smartphones, what is the chance that a driver will get lost if they miss a turn?
Fortunately, current GPS devices and mapping APPS automatically reroute users when an instruction or direction is arbitrarily missed. When a direction is missed, both tools visually and audibly indicate they plot updated directions during the automatic “rerouting process.” The full functionality of both tools is priceless for keeping drivers/users on route and on time. I use a GPS or a mapping APP for nearly every trip since I am a full-time RVer.
As a high-mileage professional driver, I have both tools running in parallel on my dashboard, providing redundancy. I then implement different profiles for my respective vehicles (based on weight, height, and length), determining a valid route. So, if a driver/user cannot simply make a U-Turn on the expressway when they miss their exit, these tools will efficiently reroute them to the next and easiest route to keep them on their way.
That leads me to my underlying question, “Why are we seeing an increased frequency of reckless maneuvers by drivers attempting to avoid a missed turn at the last second?” This is by no means an occasional occurrence. Rather, it is a habitual situation that I see happening multiple times on every trip, every day, in any city. It has become so familiar that I now can foresee the signs leading up to it in my rearview mirror.
As a professional chauffeur, tour bus driver, and large RV owner, if I determine that I have either missed my turn, passed my turn, or cannot achieve the lane position I need to make my turn, I simply pass it and await corrective instructions to stay on course. Sometimes, the reroute is transparent; other times, it takes a little extra time to reach my destination. Either way, it never creates a need to make radical lane changes or risky turn maneuvers.
Meanwhile, on today’s roadways, there appears to be what I will describe as an “obscure mindset” that some drivers have, which prompts them to make virtually any move to avoid missing a turn or exit. As the photos at the top of the article illustrate, the driver on the left clearly missed the exit ramp entry. They are poised to make an abrupt-risky right turn beyond the normal exit point. That same driver either has no awareness of the surrounding traffic he is about to impact or doesn’t frankly care how he will threaten the safety of other vehicles around him.
This illustrates a blatant disregard for the safety of others, as these thoughtless drivers plot to dangerously cross the paths of other vehicles nearby. This type of erratic driving is not confined to non-commercial vehicles because professionals are always looking for a shortcut to save time.
Once, I was leaving downtown Chicago sometime after midnight in the summer of 2021 on the four-lane I-290 west. About 4 miles out of downtown Chicago, I noticed an all-black 45’ commercial tour bus stopped on the interstate ahead of me, in the second lane from the left. The bus was directly adjacent to an exit on the right for Harrison/1st Street. At first glance, the bus appeared disabled, and only the right turn signal was illuminated and flashing.
At that moment, the other 3 lanes of moderately heavy traffic were moving at not less than 60 mph in the darkness of the night. After engaging my hazard lights to alert the traffic behind me, I slowed down and stopped directly behind the black bus. After a brief delay, the bus ahead of me suddenly lurched into a 90-degree tight right turn directly across two active lanes of traffic and headed onto the apron of the exit ramp, which they apparently missed.
Some readers may think or say this, and the “erratic” maneuver illustrated at the top of the article carries little risk, but it is a normal occurrence without incident. However, in preparation for this article, I reviewed hundreds of Instagram dashcam crash videos illustrating some of the worst outcomes of this same maneuver. Doubling the number of these crash videos were those of straight-line lane-change crash videos without signaling with equally damaging results.
I assess that most lane change accidents come down to four primary causes.
- The driver failed to check his mirrors before implementing the lane change.
- The driver failed to adequately implement turn signals before beginning the lane change to alert other drivers.
- The driver changing lanes failed to sustain his speed throughout the lane change, causing a rear-end collision with another overtaking vehicle.
- The driver was distracted from the required lane change steps.
As RV operators, regardless of the type, we have an additional weight to bear when slowing or stopping our vehicles to avoid incursions or obstacles ahead of us. There is a pun intended there. We are accustomed to leaving a braking buffer zone ahead of us (aka “Following distance”), thus allowing us ample room to slow/stop without incident. However, other automobile drivers don’t understand that open space (aka “buffer zone”) in traffic does not have their name on it; therefore, they routinely move into it without regard. This causes us to repeatedly and rapidly readjust our speed and following distance to avoid an incursion.
As I mentioned earlier, my professional driving experience and years of racing school training have taught me the skills and foresight to avoid being a victim of erratic driver maneuvers like these. It may be called “Defensive Driving,” but it is like having eyes in the back of your head. I spend as much time looking in my mirrors and backup camera as I do the road ahead. I am strategically watching for drivers rapidly approaching me from the rear and drivers making frequent/abrupt lane changes behind me. These are both red flags of potential trouble.
Since I usually drive in either the middle or right lane, I determine which side of me the vehicle is targeting to pass me on. Second, I look for any potential “pinch point” for a planned high-speed pass between my vehicle and a vehicle in an adjacent lane ahead of me.
My response to these drivers is intentional and pre-meditated to avoid a costly accident for me, and potential injury or a fatality for them. I simply close any gap in traffic ahead of me that has tempted the driver into a high-speed/multi-lane pass. This usually results in the speeding driver tailgating me for a period of time until they find another way around.
My take is that these drivers are likely thinking miles down the road about their destination activities and are not mindful of the risky driving style they are exhibiting. To end or diminish this annoying/risky driving behavior, we can only hope that law enforcement can step up their acute traffic observation and prosecution of these driving incidents. Furthermore, drivers must become aware of these maneuvers’ threat to themselves and other vehicles. Continued poor judgment by these erratic drivers will leave one last thing on their minds: the imprint of my front license plate on the rear of their skull as they pass through their windshield.
Let’s all travel in Harmony.