This car decided it was a good call to park in the middle of the crosswalk on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue H the other day — the police, however, disagreed, as neighbor Donald Loggins, who snapped these photos, wrote to us.
What are some of the weirdest/most frustrating things you’ve spotted drivers doing in the area? Let us know in the comments below!
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I have a whole list of things drivers do that frustrate me, all on my street. My street (E. 17th btwn Beverley and Albemarle Rds) is one way, ending at another one way section of road with a dead end at the train track around the corner. Many times a week I see cars going the wrong way down that small section of Albemarle and the wrong way up E. 17th in order to get to the couple parking lots/garages on those streets so that they don’t have to drive around the block to enter them from the correct direction. I also see cars running through the stop sign at the corner of E. 17th and Albemarle often without slowing even because there’s very rarely any cars coming from the dead end section of Albemarle so they must figure there’s no risk to not stopping, except they also don’t look for pedestrians entering the crosswalk.
I can’t even begin to list……..Brooklyn U-turns, backing up into down one way street into oncoming traffic, blatantly texting while driving….it’s a MIRACLE there aren’t more accidents.
This Labcorp wagon decided to park in the crosswalk at Cortelyou and Argyle: https://twitter.com/mmcwatters/status/625293178334281728/photo/1
I see parking in crosswalks all the time. When you’re pushing a loaded cart or a stroller it can really make crossing difficult. Often the driver will be sitting there, ignoring everyone. Running red lights, speeding, making reckless turns without checking for pedestrians, honking at delays even when cars are stopped for good reason, screaming at cyclists because they don’t want to share the road, approaching red lights and stop signs too fast so that pedestrians are unsure whether or not they will stop, making inappropriately wide turns, turning into pedestrians intentionally, an aggressive move meant to make them walk faster…
The list goes on. If there was ever a proposal to strip all New Yorkers of their licenses, I would vote for it in a heartbeat.
90% of the people driving BMWs make life on the road for the rest of us frustrating and dangerous. Empirically true.
Good reasons to have curbs extend out, to make the distance for pedestrians to the other curb shorter, to slow down traffic where people cross, to help identify crosswalks to motorists especially when lines are worn away, and to prevent vehicles from using the space as a parking spot. I just confronted a young BMW man who was given a PBA badge which he displays in his windshield in order to park like this… I scolded him good from many points of view, corruption of the police, blocking the crosswalk creating a safety issue for everyone who passes him…
Sorry to break the news to you, but BMW’s no longer rule the roost of douche bag drivers. OK, maybe in New York City they have better representation, but not a single BMW makes the top 20 list of cars that are ticketed, based on the number of violations per 100,000 miles. Number one with a bullet for yeas has been the Suburu WRX. Yeah, ten douche bag BMW drivers can barely muster what a young putz in one of those can do. Guess what, the VW GTI ranks pretty high as well. Nothing like a cheap go cart with a turbo.
Those are nationwide figures though and local numbers likely do differ. I’ll put my money that the Toyota Camry beats all BMW’s as so many awful livery drivers use them. Additionally, BMW”s of today are nothing like their predecessors. They don’t honestly steer as well as they had and handling hasn’t been the top priority in a while. Its just another overweight luxury car brand. Besides, a classic BMW is terrible for NYC roads. You get a map of all the road issues right through the wheel and this isn’t a very level map either.
Blocking the crosswalks when waiting for the light to change.
There are plenty of crazy dangerous things that seem to be non-stop (and the NYPD doesn’t seem to care about)… but probably the thing that gets under my skin the most when I’m driving or biking are double-parked cars. Oh, yes, you say. Double-parking is dangerous, inconsiderate and all the rest. But, no. I’m not talking about *actual* double-parking. I’m talking about parking NEXT TO a wide open parking spot.
Basically, bringing the dickishness of double-parking to a WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL. These idiots must really be hurting inside to need this attention. Look at me! I prefer to block traffic instead of parking!
(And those folks that put on their hazard blinkers when they are *legally* parked… I think these must be the same people. Basically, they never operate their car legally, so it’s just pure dumb luck when their car happens to be parked legally.)
Pulling through/rolling through stop signs. I see this often at the corner of Newkirk and E. 17th, Newkirk and Marlborough, Glenwood and E. 19th/18th/17th, and at the intersections on Dorchester that have stop signs as well. Generally this is done with zero regard to pedestrians waiting or, worse, trying to cross; I’ve nearly been hit several times.
Most frustrating? When they do all the reckless things below, and kill someone in the process, without any repercussion.