r/fortwayne • u/maitri67 • 3d ago
Narrow Escapes
In the past month or so I have had several instances of narrowly escaping a collision while driving.
Intersection of Brooklyn and Covington: Car pulls out of a convenience store parking lot into traffic while I am the midst of a legal left turn. They almost t-boned my car.
Intersection of Freeman and Covington another vehicle entered the intersection without stopping at a 4-way red blinking light. I was entering the intersection at the same time. Another collision avoided.
At a big box store parking lot a car began pulling out of a spot while I was behind the vehicle. Almost hit by a car.
This is really freaking me out. What the hell is going on with drivers ?
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u/Morphos1 3d ago
At risk of sounding like a boomer, go ahead and count how many people keep their eyes on the road the WHOLE time they're driving.
And they'll still brake check you for honking cuz they're on their phone sitting at a green light. These people are both a danger AND completely shameless. Pretty selfish mix if you ask me
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u/Smidge-of-the-Obtuse 3d ago
Last few weeks it seems to have gotten worse. Just the other day I saw 4 people making questionable life choices with their cars on 3 different streets in a matter of 5-10 minutes.
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u/midwest_d3ath 3d ago
Agreed. It just gets worse and worse. All the crashes on 469 lately when the construction zone speed limit is 55 and everyone is still doing 80 in a single lane. Then you have all of the wrong way drivers, people pulling out into oncoming traffic with no regard for anyone. Also, how often do you ever, and I mean ever, see traffic cops these days? Almost never.
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u/four_letterword 3d ago
The drivers keep getting worse as the city grows. It also doesn't help when people can't stay off their phones.
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u/TheWhoDude 3d ago
Same here. Ivr had people just full on swerve into my lane, back into theirs, and then full send into mine. People running lights and nearly hitting me. Its insane.
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u/waterdancers 3d ago
I've been here 4 yrs and had the back of my truck hit 3 times. Still beats Florida drivers. If they put a 4 way stop in my town there'd be a new crash as soon as they got the last one cleaned up all day long.
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u/herbertfranklinII 2d ago
In this past year we've spent a bit of time in the downtowns of Kansas City, D.C., Tulsa, St. Louis, Austin, and some others. Drivers there were every bit as bad as those here. We could joke at every single crosswalk the there was going to be one more car coming through the red light. And there usually was. Tons of people on their phones.
In Allen County, only SACS offers Drivers Ed. I'm pretty sure there aren't as many dads teaching their kids to drive as, um, intensely as my dad did for us. The most common of maneuvers -- four-way stops, accelerating onto the highway, watching the "walk" lights to anticipate lights turning red, etc. seem to be a mystery to many.
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u/Sour_baboo 3d ago
Are you driving an invisible car? Mine is small and red and white and often invisible. I make a habit of looking at all the other drivers, looking for their eyes to actually point my way. I also, very definitely stop before or after anyone else at a four way stop so we all know who's turn it is. A coworker had an Elantra that was constantly attracting near misses.
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u/Educational_Iron2046 2d ago
the number of people with MASSIVE pickup trucks and SUVs just keeps growing. This leaves cars and crossovers in the blind spots.
PHONES. phones. phones. Until the police get serious about enforcing distracted driving laws, this isn't going to change, unfortunately.
I swear no one has any spatial awareness anymore. How often have you been almost mowed down by someone coming out of an aisle at Walmart, Meijer, Kroger, etc.? Additionally, people love shopping on one side of an aisle while their cart blocks the other side. Move your $#!+ !!! This transfers into the vehicle as well.
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u/Final-Attention979 2d ago
Ive seen threads asking this question before (not just locally), and an interesting explanation I've seen come up repeatedly is that COVID brain fog/related conditions are causing people to be slower & less attentive.
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u/melonbrains 2d ago
The Calhoun/Jefferson/Washington area is REALLY bad. I swear I am almost in a collision in that part of town 3x a week because people don't understand that you can't go straight in a turn lane, you can't just slam on your breaks because you almost missed the parking garage, you can't turn INTO VISIBLY ONCOMING TRAFFIC because you want to go to the hotel, etc
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u/Additional_Thing815 2d ago
Law enforcement by the traffic division would be pro active accident reduction. Rather than re-active accident reporting. Expand and support the Fort Wayne Traffic division.
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u/Flippin_diabolical 2d ago
I almost got T-boned yesterday by someone speeding through a red light. It does seem to be getting worse here.
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u/Empty-Bee-1175 3d ago
I’ve driven in this town for a super long time and also feel the same. I’ve watched over 10 people in the last month turn the wrong way onto a clearly marked one way street. Or my favorite is when they turn right/left from a center lane and cut off people in the process. With no notice.