Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Arizona's Stupid Motorist Law should cover these people....

Snowbird - Informal. a person who vacations in or moves to a warmer climate during cold weather.

Also known as Q-tips. (We didn't make that one up, one of them told us that.)

Also the reason (OK, I'm 90% sure this is true) our car insurance rates are so high.

Don't believe me? You think it's because there are so many uninsured drivers out there? Well, I can prove it.

I'll give you a couple of examples.

You know it's snowbird season out here when you start seeing people making left turns without moving into the center turning lane.

On the flip side of that is the ones who just drive in the turning lane, because they have no clue.

They're also the ones who drive about 15 mph less than the speed limit and almost come to a complete stop while making a right turn.

They stop in the middle of the street when they get lost, which causes a traffic jam.

I once had a lady pull up behind me while I was delivering the mail (outside of my vehicle), and as she went to get out of the car her "accelerator stuck" and the car came up over the curb and ran into the corner of the building that was next to the mailboxes. If she had straightened out her wheels she would have probably ran me over.

Seth had a lady run into him in his mail truck, in a parking lot!

And the icing on the cake.....

They don't understand traffic lights! It's not uncommon at all to see a car stopped in the middle of an intersection because the light that is on the median turned red before the light on the far side of the intersection and they didn't want to run the light. It may not make a whole lot of sense, so I drew you a diagram). Unfortunately we never seem to be in the right circumstance to take a picture of one of these people, but I just saw one yesterday, and I'm sure it's just the beginning........







(we're not sure who the genius at ADOT was that decided there should be 2 sets of stoplights for one intersection, but we all think it would save some trouble if they just took out the one in the median)

6 comments:

  1. HA HA HA!! Seriously when Chet and I were in Phoenix a couple of weekends ago, we totally forgot about all the OLD people that come back!!

    UGH!! Their driving is the worst!! WORST!!

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  2. Too funny that you say this because the biggest aggravation when I visited my parents last May in Tucson was all of the people who had no idea how to drive. e were at Basha's and some guy must have put his car in neutral and left it running and he was running after it across the parking lot.

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  3. Oh, how fun! Q-tips? That's hilarious.

    And, thanks for the diagram...you are right...I didn't get it!

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  4. haha...I became familiar with Snowbirds when I lived out west. I've never heard them called Q-tips before...that's hilarious.

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  5. I found your blog from "We Are That Family." We live in South Florida and know EXACTLY what you are talking about. You can always tell when the "season" starts because you can't find a parking spot...and the early bird specials come back. = )

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  6. I just wandered in through a link and had to contribute. I was born and raised in AZ (in Mesa for the vast majority of it)and have now moved to the Frozen North where I've learned that it's not that snowbirds are old, they were taught to drive that way. My personal favorite (amongst far too many to count) was when a Q-tip took out the the front of the Superstition Ranch Market on Main St. and 56th. She was past the 90 mark, driving a MASSIVE barge of solid steel, and took out the front of the building and three employees (starting PARKED, and there is maybe 5 feet to get up steam before you hit building from that space) because she mistook which pedal was for go and which one was for stop. They now have giant barriers between the parking lot - actually a popular snowbird nesting site - and the building. They had a story, with pictures, posted on the plywood when they were re-constructing the building after the incident.

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