Actually, it’s mostly the tourists driving through Bend that are dumb, but since so many people come and live here to die, there is a fair share of geriatric problems as well. But these are some good ones, actually published by our local chamber:
“I work with a view of a roundabout, so I have seen plenty of stupid moves. The worst is when people drive around in the wrong direction and/or stop midway through as they try and figure out where to go.”
“Going as fast as humanly possible around the traffic circles is a pet peeve of mind. If people would just drive 15-20 mph as posted, and actually use their turn signals to indicate leaving the circle, these darn things just might work as designed.”
“One of the dumbest driving blunders I have seen here was downtown. Heading west on Franklin, the Mercedes in front of me turned right onto Wall Street. It continued on up Wall at a decent pace, with all the oncoming traffic scrambling to the left. I think the Mercedes even honked a few times at “the crazy drivers.”
And finally, this from a law enforcement officer who shall remain anonymous: “Many, many years ago I investigated an accident wherein the male driver had been receiving close personal contact from a female passenger. His distraction caused him to drive off the road and into a telephone pole, thereby causing a significant injury from issues other than the car. When questioned later in the hospital, he said, ‘I guess that was pretty stupid, huh?’ I did not respond. I did have a hard time maintaining a professional demeanor.”
The worst I’ve seen around here typically happens out here in Sunriver. We always get people who will just stop at random in the middle of the road, get their map out, and start trying to figure out where they are (they won’t bother to pull over). We frequently have people going the wrong way around the Sunriver circles (which is actually fairly difficult on some of the circles out here, but it still happens).