Observance of some H2 drivers

[DIANE]

On my recent trip from Key West to Naples, FL I saw 13 H2's. 6 yellow, 3 pewter, 1 red, 2 black, 1 white. Out of all those, 6 were the rudest drivers I have ever seen! 5 of the 6 were yellow so they really stuck out in the crowd. The were speeding (way over the 55 mph speed limit in city limits on Hwy 41), they were cutting off other cars, weaving in and out of traffic, running red lights, and driving up to the bumpers of smaller cars.
Everwhere I go, I always respond to a wave from children or a friendly horn from other drivers. If I make a mistake driving, I do not flip off the other person, I try to appologize as best I can while driving. The H2 drivers I observed (the 6), made me sick. I felt like I should applogize for them. If anyone reading this post is in the catagory of those I observed, then shame on you. I realize that ther are drivers of other cars that do the same things, however, due to our size and Hummer name we stand out in the crowd.It only takes a few idiots to give us all a bad name.
I am only posting this so that maybe we will all remember that we are being watched and judged by others. Some of us may not care, but I do. I do not need anyone trashing my Hummer because they assume that the rude jerk that tried to run them off of the road is me.

[DIANE]

On my recent trip from Key West to Naples, FL I saw 13 H2's. 6 yellow, 3 pewter, 1 red, 2 black, 1 white. Out of all those, 6 were the rudest drivers I have ever seen! 5 of the 6 were yellow so they really stuck out in the crowd. The were speeding (way over the 55 mph speed limit in city limits on Hwy 41), they were cutting off other cars, weaving in and out of traffic, running red lights, and driving up to the bumpers of smaller cars.
Everwhere I go, I always respond to a wave from children or a friendly horn from other drivers. If I make a mistake driving, I do not flip off the other person, I try to appologize as best I can while driving. The H2 drivers I observed (the 6), made me sick. I felt like I should applogize for them. If anyone reading this post is in the catagory of those I observed, then shame on you. I realize that ther are drivers of other cars that do the same things, however, due to our size and Hummer name we stand out in the crowd.It only takes a few idiots to give us all a bad name.
I am only posting this so that maybe we will all remember that we are being watched and judged by others. Some of us may not care, but I do. I do not need anyone trashing my Hummer because they assume that the rude jerk that tried to run them off of the road is me.

[Arizona Hummerboy]

The day I got my Hummer back the same day we had are Hummer accident, I was on the way home going down the free way. I had a guy in a yellow Hummer H2 pass me doing over 80 mph, this jerk was going from lane to lane to get around traffic. Well about 6 miles down the road the State Patrol had him stopped. I drove by and wave at him.

[bklynh2srock]

I agree with both of you. We try very hard not to tailgate (a habit we were both guilty of), weave (though we wonder how much weaving you can actually do in an H2, we have seen it), or otherwise act like a jerk. These are bad habits for anyone, but in an H2, those same actions can seem more intimidating. God knows, we don't need any more people cursing us out: Eleanor Clift was on McLaughlin Group today extolling the virtues of the "What Would Jesus Drive" campaign. I know you can't control what other people think as far as the gas mileage and size issue is concerned, but there are other things that are in our control. Be that Happy Hummer Driver! (gag)

[cognitive]

I agree with everyone. By my observation poll (non scientific - actually not even a poll!) I see several categories of bad drivers listed here from worst to not as bad:

1 supped up SUV
2 new style corvette
3 luxury sedans
4 beat up sports car with screwed up exhaust, stereo, and seats that seem to be permanently in the recline position.

We're included int he supped up SUV category. I haven't seen a single H2 on the road that has a nice driver who drives nicely. Every single one I've seen on the highway is going about 80 and weaving. People's driving abilities differ greatly but weaving through tin cans with a demolition truck seems crazy to me. Well, ok, I did see one nice driver... until they hit the side roads without a car in sight. Then they started driving like maniacs... or maybe they saw me behind them... who knows.

I've seen more '06 or 06 style corvettes driving like crazy than ANY other sedan. In this case I'm pretty sure it's the type of people that car attracts.

Luxury sedans (usually driven by business men on cell phones) kind of scare me. They're larger and have quite a bit of power so one would think they'd have a high rate of accidents. I rarely see them with any dents. They all look brand new... must be company cars on leases that are replaced often.

Last but not least - those half finished modded cars. What's funny about these is that they usually drive so crazily that they don't realize they aren't making any progress. When near cars they'll weave and tailgate like mad but in the straights they'll go slow. You end up passing them several times until getting really annoyed by their loud exhaust system and either hang back or blast way away to get away from them!

Anyway, this board seems to have a lot of nice drivers but I bet we're just as bad as the rest!

[bklynh2srock]

Actually, we don't want to spend the necessary money to go 80 all the time and weave in and out of traffic. As a joke, we grade our passes as dollar amounts. If we do a normal pass with average acceleration, we shout "Two dollars!" If we do a quick pass, we shout "Four dollars!" I once almost got us into an accident on a two-lane road because I didn't want to perform a four-dollar pass, and we almost ran head-on into someone. Generally, though, the joke's kept our driving and fuel bills in check. Though we think we can't drive this like our 8 cyl jeep, I am amazed at the # of people that think they can drive an H2 like a corvette.

By the way, cognitive, in NYC, we seem to get more of the #4 rice burning sports cars than you do. they're # 1 on my list!

[HummerGirl]

Oh Brooklyn...you are too right...we do the same thing when we drive. Ha. We are constantly staring at the inst. or avg. MPG so much it is getting to be annoying. So we just leave the screen blank.

I used to drive a Beamer and it was fun driving fast on the interstate but never weaved in and out of traffic. It's useless and you end up not getting ahead in the long run.

You can drive fast and be courteous and cautious at the same time if only a few drivers around. But in heavy traffic, it's a no no.

I don't see how anyone can drive their hummers in the fashions mentioned earlier. They are crazy and to really get me steamed is to see them talking on a cell phone at the same time.

Sorry but I don't fall into the bad driver category. My husband swears that I was a driver's ed. teacher in another life. Always reminding him of turning on his lights at dawn and dusk, and not to drive too close to others.

And yes I check everything before heading out...mirrors, seatbelts, and a quick glance at the tires to make sure they are not flat. (lots of experience with flats in high school with smart asses letting the air out.)


Yep I am a nerd. My husband calls me Hermione Granger as I am always spouting information from manuals or books.



~amy
HummerGirl's Home Page

[HeeHaw]

Glad I haven't seen any of this. Good! I'll keep my head in the sand. I have seen a few H2's on the road and they all have been driving normally.

When I got mine, I made a post about how the H2 has changed my driving. I used to drive like one of the idiots we are talking about her, but now no MORE! I drive VERY unhurriedly and I am very attentive to other drivers. I still am driving slowly in the H2 and when we drove one of our other cars the other day, I drove slow like I drive in the H2.

Sorry to hear that, but the world is full of JERKS and RUDY-ASS people who care about no one except themselves. I have always said, MEAN people SUCK!

HeeeeeeeeeeHAwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[SOFTTAILJC]

H2 CHANGED THE WAY I DRIVE... SLOWED DOWN AND ENJOY THE COMFORT MORE.. LAUGH AT OTHERS IN THEIR HURRIED WAYS... I LIVE NEAR BOSTON SO I'M USE TO THE BAD DRIVERS( AND I MEAN BAD) THEY COME IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES...DON'T MATTER UP HERE.....SOFT I'M WITH HEE HAW---MEAN PEOPLE SUCK!!!!

[MAC]

Soft, you are right, Boston has the worst drivers, as reported by the insurance institutes. San Francisco is usually No.2. Cambridge is even worse than Boston, when I was there, they don’t pay any attention to the lines on the road; but even worse than all of them are the Boston pedestrians.

I haven’t seen any bad Hummer drivers. I rarely see H2 but often see H1s, all the H1s I have seen are moving at fast clip of at least 80MPH, which is not a bad speed here on some open freeway with open lanes. LA/San Diego freeways are a bit scary to me, most cars, including grandmas and tiny ladies are all going 75-85 MPH, once I was in a freeway traffic flow of steady moving cars, I looked down, WOW, 90+ MPH, I got out of that fast lane in a hurry. Not one car, but all the cars in that lane were moving at 90+ MPH.
Don’t know if you ever try the freeways in the western states (E.OR/WA, UT, WY, ID), you can see straight for miles into the horizon with not a single car. 80MPH could be very rude and dangerous over East, but may not be the same out west.

[bklynh2srock]

Whether you do 80 or not in NYC is dependent, of course, upon locale. We often do 80 on the Taconic/Sprain Pkways coming home from VT b/c that's the speed everyone's going. However, we're becoming more and more like LaLa Land every day: traffic 24 hrs (no LA insults here, have 2 sisters there). Of course, 80 or more is fine if it's keeping pace, but on the Long Island Exp, or other clogged NYC hiways, it's rude, if not suicidal. Especially if you're weaving. To be sure though, we have only seen a couple of H2's driving like jerks, and we've seen a lot now.

I, too, find myself driving slower in the H2. I am a complete speed demon and was worried that I wouldn't be able to slow my speed down for when we had kids, but my worries are pretty much gone now. I can actually cruise at about 64 when I know there are lots of cops (not HeeHaw, I'm sure) in a 55mph zone. Before I would have just about crawled out of my skin.

Sign in our video store: "Mean people breed little mean people."

[HummerGirl]

you aren't kidding about driving slower these days after being in the H2.

My mom took me for a ride in her new Maxima which scurries along like a squirrel on a mission for a nut bridgade. Anyway, I felt like I was laying on the ground in the louge. She was only going 50 or so but it felt like we were doing 80.

We had thought about getting another car as a daily driver, but I am having my doubts that I can go "down" to a sedan level.

yeesh...

~amy
HummerGirl's Home Page

[DIANE]

I am glad to hear that you are all driving more safely in your Hummer. I to drive more slowly and try to remain aware of all those around me. I will agree that there are idiots everywhere. I think it just scares me more to know that so many of them (at least on my trip) were driving hummers. Their size is all ready intimidating to small cars so there really is no need to act ignorant on the roadway. If you are in the mood to do something exciting in your H2, take it off roading. At least the chance of hurting someone else is minimized. By the way, one of the weaving and speeding yellow Hummers had a limousine logo in the rear windshield. I do not think I would want that person driving me around, would you?

[Steve 2]

I have a Mercury Capri that I drive a little agressively. The Hummer though I drive like an old man. I am aware of the weight and the potential dammage I can do if I hit someone so I keep the speeds legal. I too have seen an H2 in the area and he drives like and idiot. I can't keep up with him even just to wave.

[Zing]

I have to admit I drive a bit agressively, so getting the H2 will be good for me. The thing about most NYers though is that we drive like maniacs but we know what we're doing. In some places speeding is standard like Brooklyn says about the Taconic. Very few taxi cabs in NYC have accidents if you notice, yet they have the worst reputation. But I think the H2 scares more people so more reason to take it easy.

HeeHaw - ethical question: If you saw an H2 doing 70 in a 55 would you pull him/her over? Part two: When you pulled him over and found out it was California Steve would you give him a ticket?

[MAC]

Zazing, if you ONLY "drive a bit aggressively", you don't deserve to drive in NYC, your own mother will refuse to sit in your car, your boss will fire you. Sometimes traffic looks scary if you are not driving, but if you are driving, everything looks quite normal. You got to go with the flow; in an aggressive environment, if you drive too slow or too defensively, you are endangering yourself and everyone else on the road. I too drive much slower now in Hummer and keep a safe distance.

[HeeHaw]

Didn't you already get a boo boo by trying to run over a visitor in your driveway? Treat all your guests this way?

Just kidding MAC, had to take a jab.

HeeeeeeeeeeeHawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[MAC]

Not one but two.

Throughout the years I found out I am but an average American. Because from time to time, we read or heard some news about what most or average Americans are thinking, buying, doing or watching, sure enough we have been thinking, buying, doing or watching exactly the same stuffs. I would not be surprised at all if one day I'll find out my rear-enders are pretty common among Hummers.

I really haven't seen enough H2s to wave, of course I am also the same dude who did not know his next door neighbor has an H2. Living in the mountains, our next door is not exactly what usual next door is like.

There is some burden for men to wave at gals in Hummer, real men are affraid of rejection. Gals in Hummer are generally more attractive to start with, put a beautiful woman in a hot Hummer, the dynamic is even more risky. A true real man must think deeper than just a wave, what if she laugh at me? what if everyone saw my wave and think I am trying to pick up a hot chick? what if she thinks "Just because you have a Hummer doesn't give you the right to wave at such a beautiful woman like me"? and the guy in truck next to us will tell his buddies he saw this Hummer guy waved at his hot Hummer girl, but the girl did not even look at him, Ha Ha Ha.

I think I need to call my psychiatrist and get my daily electric shock.

[MBK]

By all accounts in this thread I should be an awful driver! I cut my teeth in Boston and Cambridge (grew up a 2 minute walk from Harvard Yard!), then moved to NYC.

My wife says I'm the safest driver she's ever seen.

We've seen a bunch of H2s on the road on our trips to and from NYC to Cambridge, and every driver has been very nice. I've yet to witness any serious speeding or weaving.

The worst driver I've ever seen was an over-eager Mercedes E55 that was dodging around behind me in my tiny Subaru. As soon as he got an opening, he nailed the gas and swerved around us. Saw him two miles up the road pulled over getting what was probably a $200 ticket.