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EPIC Wrong turns

Started by djsinco, February 16, 2013, 03:09:51 PM

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djsinco

Quote from: kphoger on February 19, 2013, 03:43:26 PM
Quote from: djsinco on February 19, 2013, 03:41:17 PM
In my experience, in most of Canada, I believe 100MPH (160KPH) would likely result in a bit more than a ticket...

Acutally, most of Canada is "northern" Canada, where 100 mph doesn't seem totally unreasonable...

Corrected, point taken! Cheers!
3 million miles and counting


agentsteel53

Quote from: kphoger on February 19, 2013, 03:43:26 PM
Quote from: djsinco on February 19, 2013, 03:41:17 PM
In my experience, in most of Canada, I believe 100MPH (160KPH) would likely result in a bit more than a ticket...

Acutally, most of Canada is "northern" Canada, where 100 mph doesn't seem totally unreasonable...

... nor is there anyone to drive faster than!
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

english si

Deliberate by me, but after a holiday in France when I was about 11, my parents asked me for directions here (note that the signage was better, though still had the misleading M27 (E) that carried over onto this - if it said A27, my parent's wouldn't have needed it). I said that "we want London, don't we", knowing full well that that would take us on the A3, not the faster (though not by much if it wasn't the case that Hindhead snarled up something rotten) M3. They didn't realize until they said "that was quick to get on the M3" when I owned up. They weren't happy. Liss Roundabout cued up some more rants and Hindhead (then unbypassed) drew a long telling off - "you assured us a few minutes ago that there were no more roundabouts - you didn't tell us about the bit through a village!".

Still, I clinched the A3 between M25 and M27 - I would (still) only have the A3(M) and a tiny little bit north of there otherwise!

kphoger

Quote from: english si on February 19, 2013, 04:09:12 PM
Deliberate by me, but after a holiday in France when I was about 11, my parents asked me for directions here (note that the signage was better, though still had the misleading M27 (E) that carried over onto this - if it said A27, my parent's wouldn't have needed it). I said that "we want London, don't we", knowing full well that that would take us on the A3, not the faster (though not by much if it wasn't the case that Hindhead snarled up something rotten) M3. They didn't realize until they said "that was quick to get on the M3" when I owned up. They weren't happy. Liss Roundabout cued up some more rants and Hindhead (then unbypassed) drew a long telling off - "you assured us a few minutes ago that there were no more roundabouts - you didn't tell us about the bit through a village!".

Still, I clinched the A3 between M25 and M27 - I would (still) only have the A3(M) and a tiny little bit north of there otherwise!

I love how your parents were upset about directions they had solicited from an eleven-year-old.  I guess, if you don't like the answer, don't ask the question.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Dr Frankenstein

Quote from: djsinco on February 19, 2013, 03:41:17 PM
In my experience, in most of the provinces of Eastern Canada (where most of the citizens live,) I believe 100MPH (160KPH) would likely result in a bit more than a ticket...
In Ontario, $2,000 and you'll lose your car for at least a week, and your license for much longer than that, I think.

djsinco

Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on February 19, 2013, 05:12:27 PM
Quote from: djsinco on February 19, 2013, 03:41:17 PM
In my experience, in most of the provinces of Eastern Canada (where most of the citizens live,) I believe 100MPH (160KPH) would likely result in a bit more than a ticket...
In Ontario, $2,000 and you'll lose your car for at least a week, and your license for much longer than that, I think.

All of which I consider a reasonable response to an unreasonable action.
3 million miles and counting

agentsteel53

Quote from: djsinco on February 19, 2013, 06:39:21 PM

All of which I consider a reasonable response to an unreasonable action.

"unreasonable" is a matter of context.  on the 401 in downtown Toronto, 100mph is silly.  out in the open without another car for miles, if one has good visibility and conditions, 100 is fine. 
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

Brandon

Quote from: djsinco on February 19, 2013, 06:39:21 PM
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on February 19, 2013, 05:12:27 PM
Quote from: djsinco on February 19, 2013, 03:41:17 PM
In my experience, in most of the provinces of Eastern Canada (where most of the citizens live,) I believe 100MPH (160KPH) would likely result in a bit more than a ticket...
In Ontario, $2,000 and you'll lose your car for at least a week, and your license for much longer than that, I think.

All of which I consider a reasonable response to an unreasonable action.

Define "unreasonable".  There is, no point, IMHO to enforcing a speed limit on a freeway.  Who the heck should really care about the guy going 100 mph?  That's his business as long as he doesn't hit anyone/anything.  I find the slowpokes to be more of a bother on the freeway than the speed demons.  The slowpokes are usually not paying attention to the road and busy with their phones, newspapers, cosmetics, food, drink, etc.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

djsinco



Define "unreasonable".  There is, no point, IMHO to enforcing a speed limit on a freeway.  Who the heck should really care about the guy going 100 mph?  That's his business as long as he doesn't hit anyone/anything.  I find the slowpokes to be more of a bother on the freeway than the speed demons.  The slowpokes are usually not paying attention to the road and busy with their phones, newspapers, cosmetics, food, drink, etc.
[/quote]

Unreasonable speed could have many components. Heavy traffic, poor pavement condition, poor weather, less experienced drivers, not to mention lots of the "speed demons" I see on the urban freeways in Denver are driving poorly customized junkers that often likely have poor tires and/or brakes.

Do not make the mistake of thinking I am above or against driving 100+ MPH when the vehicle, driver, and road are all good. I do it all the time on I-76 between Brighton and the NE state line. I have driven the Autobahns in Germany, and found that despite what I had always heard, people didn't drive much better on average over there, just faster. Plenty of slowpokes in the fast lane, turn signals being employed DURING, but not before, the lane change. I feel safe as can be as long as I am the only one on the road. In about 3 million miles of driving I have seen way too many idiots driving too fast, when they likely shouldn't even have a license.
3 million miles and counting

agentsteel53

there are speed demons who are idiots too.  had someone in a Mustang buzz past me doing 130 in fairly heavy traffic, and immediately change three lanes over, taking the exit and nearly hitting the gore sign.  no idea if he successfully came to a stop at the end of the off-ramp or not, but he came within about four feet of me as he changed lanes.
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

djsinco

Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 19, 2013, 08:29:01 PM
there are speed demons who are idiots too.  had someone in a Mustang buzz past me doing 130 in fairly heavy traffic, and immediately change three lanes over, taking the exit and nearly hitting the gore sign.  no idea if he successfully came to a stop at the end of the off-ramp or not, but he came within about four feet of me as he changed lanes.

The Darwin principle at work, population control, survival of the fittest. The problem is the collateral damage they cause...
3 million miles and counting

Sykotyk

Getting back to wrong turns...

Probably the worst I've made was getting off the PA Turnpike in Carlisle on US11 toward I-81. I was heading to the Allentown area, and wound up getting on SB by mistake late at night. I didn't realize it until I passed an exit down near Chambersburg and had to turn around.

I do go purposefully out of route many many times just to see a new road. So, sometimes with the Wife I 'pretend' to go the wrong way. Although now she just knows I'm going to go whatever way I feel like taking and it's never 'the wrong way'. Just the 'long way'.

roadman

#37
In my 35+ years of driving, I can honestly say I've made a wrong turn that I couldn't immediately correct (I define "immediately correct" as being able to either go around the block or take an adjacent street or streets to get back on course) exactly twice.  While neither would qualify as epic, it's interesting that both errors involved toll roads.

The first time was in 1999, when I was coming back from a trip to Altoona, PA (one of my favorite places to railfan).  Had gotten off I-84 in Newburgh, NY at the NY 17K exit to get something to eat.  After discovering the local restaurant I had dined at for several years (can't recall the name right now) had closed, I took 17K east down to the Thruway/I-84 interchange instead of backtracking west to I-84.  Ended up entering the Thruway ramp instead of I-84.  Realized my mistake instantly with "(Expletive)!!! I'm entering the Thruway."

Well, I immediately had my backup plan ready (Thruway north to Berkshire Extension east), but decided to play "Mickey the Dunce".  As the toll collector (an attractive mid-20s-ish female) handed me the ticket, I said to her "Excuse me.  How do I get to Interstate 84?"

The collector replied "Well sir, you have two options here.  You can get on the Thruway south and take it to 684, and then take 684 north back and join 84 in Brewster.  Or, you see those cones 200 feet ahead with the gap between them?  I can stamp your ticket "U Turn Approved", you can turn around there, and 84 will be your first right after exiting the booth on the other side."

Obviously, my choice was for the latter option.  As the collector handed me the ticket, she stated "Be careful turning around, and have a nice day."

The second time was in 2002, when on the first day of a trip to Greensboro, North Carolina, I was going from the GSP south to the New Jersey Turnpike south.  Entered the toll plaza from the exact opposite end of where I needed to be to line up with the southbound ramp (without crossing all umpteem lanes on the exit side of the plaza to do so), and didn't realize my mistake until I was passing under the BGS for the northbound ramp (I can still remember my reaction as "(expletive)!!  That sign said North, didn't it!").  Got off at the next exit north, turned around in a parking lot across from the exit ramp, and got on southbound.

edited by RM 3/11 to correct timeline - blame it on STSF (shouldn't type so fast)
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

djsinco

Quote from: roadman on March 11, 2013, 07:12:16 PM
In my 35+ years of driving, I can honestly say I've made a wrong turn that I couldn't immediately correct (I define "immediately correct" as being able to either go around the block or take an adjacent street or streets to get back on course) exactly twice.  While neither would qualify as epic, it's interesting that both errors involved toll roads.

The first time was in 1999, when I was coming back from a trip to Altoona, PA (one of my favorite places to railfan).  Had gotten off I-84 in Newburgh, NY at the NY 17K exit to get something to eat.  After discovering the local restaurant I had dined at for several years (can't recall the name right now) had closed, I took 17K east down to the Thruway/I-84 interchange instead of backtracking west to I-84.  Ended up entering the Thruway ramp instead of I-84.  Realized my mistake instantly with "(Expletive)!!! I'm entering the Thruway."

Well, I immediately had my backup plan ready (Thruway north to Berkshire Extension east), but decided to play "Mickey the Dunce".  As the toll collector (an attractive mid-20s-ish female) handed me the ticket, I said to her "Excuse me.  How do I get to Interstate 84?"

The collector replied "Well sir, you have two options here.  You can get on the Thruway south and take it to 687, and then take 687 north back and join 84 in Brewster.  Or, you see those cones 200 feet ahead with the gap between them?  I can stamp your ticket "U Turn Approved", you can turn around there, and 84 will be your first right after exiting the booth on the other side."

Obviously, my choice was for the latter option.  As the collector handed me the ticket, she stated "Be careful turning around, and have a nice day."

The second time was in 2002, when on the first day of a trip to Greensboro, North Carolina, I was going from the GSP south to the New Jersey Turnpike south.  Entered the toll plaza from the exact opposite end of where I needed to be to line up with the southbound ramp (without crossing all umpteem lanes on the exit side of the plaza to do so), and didn't realize my mistake until I was passing under the BGS for the northbound ramp (I can still remember my reaction as "(expletive)!!  That sign said North, didn't it!").  Got off at the next exit north, turned around in a parking lot across from the exit ramp, and got on southbound.

edited by RM 3/11 to correct timeline - blame it on STSF (shouldn't type so fast)
Sounds like you are referring to the Stewart Airport Diner. Moon craters in the parking lot and a well-run Greek family diner inside.
3 million miles and counting

roadman

@ djsinco

Good guess, but not correct.  I've eaten at the Stewart Airport Diner, but not on that particular trip.  The restaurant in question (still can't remember the name) had been converted into a Chinese place that was only open in the evenings.  As it was about 1:30 pm when I rolled through that Sunday, that didn't do me much good.
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

djsinco

#40
Quote from: roadman on March 15, 2013, 02:34:38 PM
@ djsinco

Good guess, but not correct.  I've eaten at the Stewart Airport Diner, but not on that particular trip.  The restaurant in question (still can't remember the name) had been converted into a Chinese place that was only open in the evenings.  As it was about 1:30 pm when I rolled through that Sunday, that didn't do me much good.
So, this eatery was on 17K south of 84 and west of 87?
3 million miles and counting

Ace10

My worst so far was when I was getting onto Florida's Turnpike from FL 70. I drove through the ramp's toll plaza, paid with SunPass, but could not get over to access the northbound on-ramp, so I was forced onto the southbound on-ramp. Luckily the service plaza was only about 8 or 9 miles away, so I made a U-turn there and got back on going north. It wasn't that bad, but when you're driving 70+ in the completely opposite direction than where your destination is, it can make it seem like forever.

1995hoo

I was talking to my father this weekend and he reminded me of a wrong turn on a Boy Scout trip back in the 1980s. (I wondered how he remembered this; he said he was going through an old photo album and saw some pictures from the trip.) I wasn't driving; even if I'd had my license yet, the adult leaders in our troop wouldn't allow the Scouts to drive. We were headed up to Pennsylvania for a weekend camping trip somewhere off the Northeast Extension. This was well before I-476 connected through and so we went up to Wilmington and then took US-202. The person leading the way was another kid's mother who had grown up in that part of Pennsylvania and claimed she knew the way.....well, when we entered the Pennsylvania Turnpike system at the interchange near King of Prussia and Valley Forge where I-76 joins/leaves the Turnpike, for whatever reason she led us all WEST. The next exit was at least 20 miles to the west. I quickly realized this couldn't be right and so, in those days prior to widespread use of mobile phones, my father had to find a way to get everyone else's attention to get them to take the next exit, regroup, turn around, and drive back.

In the end it was only about 40 or so miles out of the way, but it becomes much more of a chore to deal with that sort of thing when you have a caravan of eight or ten cars and the drivers are distracted between the road and yelling at the misbehaving (and bored) Boy Scouts trying to get them to stop horsing around.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

Alps

Quote from: Ace10 on March 19, 2013, 11:06:03 PM
My worst so far was when I was getting onto Florida's Turnpike from FL 70. I drove through the ramp's toll plaza, paid with SunPass, but could not get over to access the northbound on-ramp, so I was forced onto the southbound on-ramp. Luckily the service plaza was only about 8 or 9 miles away, so I made a U-turn there and got back on going north. It wasn't that bad, but when you're driving 70+ in the completely opposite direction than where your destination is, it can make it seem like forever.
I do this whenever entering the Palisades Pkwy. from US 6.

mtantillo

I don't think I've ever been that lost before where I've taken a wrong turn and not realized it immediately after. 

But when I was about 9 years old, my dad was driving up NH 16 from the Seacoast towards Mount Washington.  He took the turn to stay on NH 16 north of North Conway, despite insisting that there was no way he would ever drive up the mountain and wanted to take the Cog Railway.  Well, we get to the Auto Road and he looks at a map and realizes he's on the wrong side of the mountain, doh!  So he goes inside to ask for directions, and of course they convince him not to spend "hours" driving all the way around, but instead to ride up in one of their "stagecoaches" (basically a van).  So we did.  Then 22 years later, I finally got to ride up the Cog Railway on my own!

Road Hog

Quote from: Ace10 on March 19, 2013, 11:06:03 PM
My worst so far was when I was getting onto Florida's Turnpike from FL 70. I drove through the ramp's toll plaza, paid with SunPass, but could not get over to access the northbound on-ramp, so I was forced onto the southbound on-ramp. Luckily the service plaza was only about 8 or 9 miles away, so I made a U-turn there and got back on going north. It wasn't that bad, but when you're driving 70+ in the completely opposite direction than where your destination is, it can make it seem like forever.

You used to not be able to do U-turns at service plazas on Florida's Turnpike, unless you drove through a service bay door. With the lack of exits, some U-turns or sort of intermediate exit are sorely needed though.

Laura

When I was in middle school, we took a family trip to Virginia Beach. On the way home, we decided to take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. All morning I was excited about going to the gift shop that's there on one of the islands. My older brother was driving, and because he didn't want to stop, he passed the gift shop...and I started crying. My parents asked him to turn around, but then we all realized that there was nowhere to turn around...I cried the entire 20 miles...and my parents made him turn around and drive all the way back. I still have the postcards, but the t-shirt stopped fitting a long time ago.

So that's 40 miles out of the way. And yes, I admit that I was being a total crybaby over the whole gift shop thing, lol.

My personal most epic getting lost was going the wrong way on I-295 in Richmond. I drove the entire length to Petersburg before I realized my mistake. Again, not super far out of the way.

agentsteel53

Quote from: Laura Bianca on October 03, 2013, 08:34:58 PMgoing the wrong way on I-295 in Richmond.

upon first reading, this actually sounds a lot more epic - and harrowing - than a rereading clarifies.

I've taken an incorrect carriageway once in my life.  it was at 2am on an near-abandoned split arterial with a landscaped median, in an industrial quarter of San Francisco.  I made a shallow left turn instead of the correct wide left onto the road.  realized my mistake within ~200 feet, and got into the correct lanes at a crossover.

so that's a very non-epic wrong turn that got me on the wrong side of the road.
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

US81

In 2006, some colleagues from work and I went to Phoenix for a convention. We had a road atlas, but no GPS or smartphones - not that we thought we needed them. A mutual friend had recently moved to Phoenix, so we arranged to meet for dinner one night. The directions began with getting on AZ 202. We had seen a sign for 202 on I-10 as we drove in, so - great. Well, we drove forever and none of the subsequent landmarks ever came up. It took forever to figure out that the friend's directions were for the northern loop (also called the Red Mountain freeway), but that we travelers were on the newly opened southern loop (also called the Santan freeway). (Our friend - not a road geek - had no idea that the southern freeway was open.) So, our plans for dinner at 6pm became dinner at about 9pm. Somehow, it was all my fault....

getemngo

#49
Quote from: Road Hog on March 25, 2013, 05:23:48 PM
You used to not be able to do U-turns at service plazas on Florida's Turnpike, unless you drove through a service bay door. With the lack of exits, some U-turns or sort of intermediate exit are sorely needed though.

Ugh, Florida's Turnpike. My mom had the opposite problem when I was too young to remember many of the details - she couldn't find a way to enter it.

I went on a band trip to Cedar Point as a high school freshman, coming from the west, when our charter bus exited the Ohio Turnpike at OH 51 (exit 81) instead of OH 53 (exit 91). So, back to Toledo we went before heading east again! It was only a 25 mile detour, but of course it felt longer, and it's really baffling that a professional company would make that mistake.

Then there was my willful act of ignorance. In 2007, I drove from college to Mt. Arvon, Michigan's highest point, by myself. Mt. Arvon is in the Huron Mountains, an area about the size of Rhode Island without a single through paved road. The official marked route involves swinging far to the north on the paved part of Skanee Road, then heading due south on logging roads to the summit. That was the route I took to get there.

However, I noticed that part of the route followed a posted snowmobile trail, one that I'd seen signs for in L'Anse and would have been much more direct. Without a map or GPS, in an area with weak phone reception, I decided to take it west. It went okay until I got to a 4-way intersection (unmarked, absolutely no roads are marked once you leave the pavement) and saw that ahead, the trail was too overgrown to take a sedan through. I arbitrarily took a left and tried to follow the most traveled road at each fork. Some of them were pure guesses. I worried about how if the road forced me east, I'd be in 4x4 only territory, and if it forced me south, it was a long way to Michigamme with no guarantee of being passable. Finally, after 45 minutes, I reached pavement by sheer dumb luck... and came within inches of hitting a deer about a mile later. I was never happier to reach US 41 after that.
~ Sam from Michigan



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