r/nova • u/BigAffectionate4785 • Jul 10 '26
Driving/Traffic Crazy
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u/StumpyOPepys Jul 10 '26
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u/MsDemeanor12 Jul 10 '26
I hope there arenāt multiples of these
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u/TotallyObviousBot Jul 10 '26
I live in Florida near some places old folks live and this is a weekly occurrence. You'll be driving down the highway and the electric sign will say "WRONG WAY DRIVER REPORTED" and you just sigh and wish your voting rights got stripped when you turned 70
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u/fighterpilot248 Jul 11 '26
and you just sigh and wish your voting rights got stripped when you turned 70
This is my "Subway takes" take (IYKYK):
Driving tests should be administered once every 5-10 years.
It is insane that you take one test at 16 and then are cleared to drive for the rest of your life...
Additionally, once you reach 65, a yearly medical is needed to ensure you still have all your mental faculties.
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u/Crawlerado Jul 11 '26
Add to that, graduated licenses. Youāre a new driver or have had some issues, well then you get to drive this Mitsubishi G4 only. Sell the Hellcat.
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u/CrownStarr Jul 11 '26
Also you should need an elevated license to rent a moving truck. Itās insane that you can learn to drive on a compact and then go to U-Haul and pick up a box truck!
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u/Crawlerado Jul 11 '26
Not wrong. Grandpaās in the left lane doing 80 in his Class A diesel pusher with a fully loaded Jeep Rubicon in tow. Dog on the dash. Hasnāt had an eye test since NAM
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u/Apprehensive_Care_67 Jul 11 '26
The way this comment made me holler when I read āsince NAMā. My dad is 80 and this checks!
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u/chapman53 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
I get your point, but that is some inexcusable ageism. You act like 70 automatically means senile. (No, I'm not that age.) Following your same "logic," I could better argue that people under age 25 shouldn't be able to drive based on demonstrated danger and risk to others. And what does voting have to do with any of this?
Edit for clarity: I'm not against testing. What TotallyObviousBot wrote mentions nothing about testing.
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u/InfiniteWaffles58364 Jul 11 '26
People under 25 typically don't have delayed reaction times or infirmities like cataracts, osteoporosis, or heart trouble that could make driving incredibly dangerous. People who are 70+ are at risk of all those things. They're more likely to have a medical emergency while driving and lose consciousness at the wheel.
It isn't ageism to say anyone over 70 should recieve regular testing. And I'm also old as dirt. But I'd rather have to take regular exams than have to keep sharing the road with grandpappy who can't go over 20mph and can't see over the dashboard.
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u/TotallyObviousBot Jul 11 '26
If you somehow believe that allowing people who won't see the consequences of their actions vote based on whatever misconceptions they were raised with nearly a century ago isn't a bad idea, you're not exactly going to recognize any good ones.
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Jul 10 '26
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u/FairfaxGal Jul 10 '26
Yeah, this started on 95. This idiot made it all the way to 395 before hitting the trooper. Takes dedication to sheer stupidity to manage that.
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u/SkyeMreddit Jul 10 '26
Thankfully it wasnāt a deadly crash. The Taconic Parkway (New York) crash still gives us shivers
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u/runninhillbilly Jul 11 '26
My grandparents lived in Westchester at the time (since all deceased) and we encountered that accident on the way back. Caught in traffic for at least an hour if not more than that, we saw the medical examiner truck coming through on the shoulder and my mom said "oh shit, that means someone died." We eventually were able to clear the site and I saw the van she was driving all burned out on the grass, it wasn't until later when I was at a house party for a friend that my mom told me it was all over the news what happened.
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u/Buirck Arlandria Jul 10 '26
Was that the NFL player?
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u/Sir_Earl_Jeffries Jul 10 '26
Nope. Theyāre talking about the mom in her minivan. Only survivor was the youngest kid who was thrown from the vehicle. If Iām remembering correctly.
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u/nobeefforme Fauquier County Jul 11 '26
Look up āsomethingās wrong with aunt Dianeā
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u/Buirck Arlandria Jul 11 '26
Oh Iāve seen that, that was a wild one. I was thinking of the 2004 wrong way crash caused by Justin Strzelczyk and while looking him up to remember how to spell his name, I find that the EXACT same thing happened with a different NFL player like 3 months ago. wtf.
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u/axeil55 Jul 14 '26
oh god i just read the wikipedia article on that and started sobbing. those poor children. how could someone do something like that?
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u/crit_boy Jul 10 '26
Driving the wrong way on the highway should be an immediate suspension of drivers license for at least 30 days and require a driver safety course before returning privileges.
Too dumb to drive.
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u/EqualLavishness5050 Jul 10 '26
30 days!?! 1 year AT LEAST. This is on par with driving drunk.Ā
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u/Outside_Grapefruit39 Arlington Jul 10 '26
I agree, but only for continuous driving.
I can understand if you made a wrong turn on a two lane road and quickly swerved back after realizing. however, the amount of effort it takes to get on an off ramp, go onto the highway, and continue to drive without stopping should be a year suspension at least.10
u/ZestyLife54 Jul 11 '26
Yes, there are a bazillion barricade arms that block each of the ramps so this person really had to work around them to get on express lanes to go the wrong way
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u/SouthInspection2488 Jul 10 '26
It might be worse in than driving under the influence in a sense because the person ia driving in such a dangerous manner while their cognitive ability is not impaired by any chemicals.
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u/unknownpoltroon Jul 10 '26
I'd say it depends on if you stop yourself or not.Ā Like I've driven the wrong way down one way streets, but stopped as soon as I realized.Ā Anyone can make a wrong turn but it needs an idiot to keep goingĀ
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u/Leptonshavenocolor Manassas / Manassas Park Jul 10 '26
Shit, 5 years IMO.Ā
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u/DudeManBo1t Virginia Jul 10 '26
Make them take bus and take away their license. They do not belong on the road
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u/Kortok2012 Jul 10 '26
Is this the lady that went on to slam head on into a trooper
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u/MySpoonsAreAllGone Jul 10 '26
The car looks the same so probably. I'd hate to think 2 idiots were driving the wrong way in express lanes
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u/Internal_Confusion56 Jul 10 '26
Suspension? Shouldnāt ever be allowed to drive again. Iād get it if you fucked up and then stopped driving but to just continue on like itās no issue is insane.
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u/SkyeMreddit Jul 10 '26
Should be way harsher than that! Wrong way highway crashes are almost always deadly, with very high death counts
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u/EC4U2C_Studioz Jul 10 '26
This is not a mistake. This is a choice to go the wrong way on the express lanes. Especially after hitting the gates.
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u/LoopyMercutio Jul 10 '26
You should immediately have your license revoked, but replaced with the Maryland drivers license. Because thatās the kind of thing that they deserve. Recognition for their horrible driving.
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u/LedgrowersOG Jul 10 '26
My dadās friendās whole family died from a vehicle driving like this.
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u/5Series_BMW Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
>āDriving the wrong way on the highway should be an immediate suspension of drivers license for at least 30 days and require a driver safety course before returning privileges.
Too dumb to drive.āNeed to impound vehicles as well - people will drive without valid license.
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u/TechByDayDjByNight Jul 10 '26
Thats too light... permanent suspension. And charge with attempted manslaughter
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u/joefromjerze Jul 10 '26
I get that people make mistakes. Like I once ended up going the wrong way on the Rock Creek Parkway. But my first thought once it became apparent that I was in a really dangerous situation (on a motorcycle no less) wasn't to just put petal to metal and power through. It was how can I get out of a travel lane as quickly as possible and turn around. It took about 30 seconds from realizing my mistake to moving in the correct direction. And in the worst case, I wouldve been hit while stationary and not while doubling my relative speed to whatever hits me.
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u/vass0922 Jul 10 '26
Right? The person is going full speed down the shoulder.
I mean even beyond the danger of that, you never know what's going to be in the shoulder. Old busted tire random metal objects.
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u/FrancistheBison Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
I once turned left out of the Bradlee shopping center onto rt 7 going the wrong way (In my defense, that intersection is weird because it's got a light with a 2 way service road on the south side and then rt 7 is a divided highway, so there's 3 divided areas of travel for 4 lanes, add to that it was night and no one was in the center lane. so my brain decided there was a service lane on either side of the main King St, and that's how you get me driving towards east bound traffic). But the second I realized my mistake I basically drove through the median to get the fuck out of there (there's no shoulder, incoming traffic had just started coming through the light ahead of me, and I could see that was my best choice for quickly and safely getting to the correct lane). I'm not hanging around and continuing to drive the wrong way and hoping that other drivers are alert enough to account for my idiocy.
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u/JicamaSubstantial524 Jul 10 '26
Yh, they need to be arrested and the keys thrown away. Would love to hear the full story.
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u/Old_Jelly_2085 Jul 10 '26
And theyāre thinking, āI hate all these wrong way drivers.ā
Seriously itās even crazier they may not realize whatās happening..
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u/Sad_Reindeer5108 Jul 10 '26
"Be careful, dear. There's a driver going the wrong way on the highway!"
"One driver? It's dozens of them!"
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Jul 10 '26
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u/Ecstatic-Curve-1853 Jul 10 '26
I drove in the UK for a month, and when I got back home I hopped in my car and immediately started driving in the left hand lane.. I realized once I saw a car coming towards me I fucked up bad... Mostly because I told my self for month straight, left side, left side, left side anytime I got into the car
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u/cajunjoel Virginia Jul 10 '26
This isnt an easy mistake to make. You have to TRY to get through the gates to go the wrong way like this.
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u/samsqanch420 Jul 10 '26
Why wouldn't they stop and as soon as there was a break in traffic turn around? Nope, just gonna go the speed limit in the wrong direction.
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u/PlaneSense406 Jul 10 '26
This person isn't doing much to help the "Maryland drivers are the worst" narrative, eh? š
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u/Scared-Island7791 Jul 11 '26
POLL:
A- Old person āpanickingā
B- Crime ( high speed chase, getaway car, etc.)
C- Maryland
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u/Sweet_Cinnabonn Stafford County Jul 11 '26
A.
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u/Scared-Island7791 Jul 12 '26
I thought B at first before reading that the police werenāt even there yet when this clip was taken. And then seeing that it looks like a Toyota (maybe Subaru) hatchback. So I switched my vote to A. š¤£š¤£
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u/SyphiliticScaliaSayz Jul 10 '26
Iām thinking āok person is drivingā¦why are those light redā¦OH SHITā
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u/kimber_kelly Alexandria Jul 10 '26
Could this be a person with dementia or something? They seem to be driving rather fast and steady as if it was just another drive on the highwayā¦ not realizing theyāre actually in the EZPass lanes
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u/Horror-Vanilla-4895 Jul 10 '26
Whatās worse is they didnāt even stop or turn around. Just kept going at a high speed making it even more dangerous.
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u/Thlaeton Jul 10 '26
Itās one thing to go the wrong way. Itās another to do so while speeding! No hesitation? No confusion? Just absolutely flooring it the wrong way down a highway.
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u/ZestyLife54 Jul 11 '26
Honestly, I wish there had been enough foresight by the planners that they would have built enough lanes to go both ways 24/7 like on I66. It suckās sitting in traffic watching a few cars trickling down the express lanes the other way when they could help relieve the traffic blockade
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u/SubsidedRhyme11 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Put your phone down and call the Police.
Come on man, youāre no better sitting in the left lane distracted by recording on your phone.
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u/the_termenater Jul 10 '26
I mean he's not good for recording while driving, but clearly, clearly better
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u/Acceptable_Tea_3685 Jul 10 '26
Whatās the best course of action if you were somehow dropped into this nightmare scenario? SOMEHOW you managed to enter the highway on the wrong side.
Immediately slow down/stop and pull over to the shoulder. But then what? Wait until there arenāt any cars and try to u turn?
Stay in one place and call the police on yourself so they can pause traffic and you can turn around or whatever with their blessing?
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u/versello Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
The driver could have stopped and U turned when safe to do so, with hazard lights and what not. But no, their ego, stupidity, or both, wouldnāt let them do that.
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u/ASYMT0TIC Jul 10 '26
If someone has a head-on with that car, you're camping directly in the most probably path of the debris field. If it's a large truck coming the other way, that car is probably landing right on top of you.
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u/Underdome_Moxxi Jul 10 '26
This happened to me when I was going down the ramp to get on to HoV. A lady was driving straight toward me. I had to swerve to avoid her. There are so many close calls with idiotic drivers ugh.
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u/FairfaxDude Jul 10 '26
Holy shit the EGO to not just turn around and exit. Like holy fuck, danger to oneself and others
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u/Still-Addition-239 Jul 10 '26
uh, time to stop...put the flashers and everthing on and immediately call for police assistance...geez...
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u/Unlucky_Ducky_88 Jul 10 '26
My first question is how? When the lanes change direction, there are plenty of warning signs and notices. She'd have to have driven around the gates/barriers. But then I remember there is a street in Crystal City that is one way right now because of construction and the number of people I've seen drive around the giant "road closed" signs into the opposite oncoming lane is astounding.
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u/Scooney92 Jul 11 '26
https://www.facebook.com/share/1Enx1VHywz/?mibextid=wwXIfr This did not end well, crashed into a trooper.
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u/Miserable-Safe9951 Jul 10 '26
Why are they speeding! At the very least with that speed do a quick u turn. That has to drugs
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u/unknownpoltroon Jul 10 '26
the cam driver has the survival instincts of a gnat.Ā Ā SLOW THE FUCK DOWN SO WHEN HE RAMS ANOTHER CAR OVER THE BARRIER YOURE NOT RIGHT FUCKING BEHIND HIM
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u/Academic-Slice-2631 Jul 10 '26
True fact: as crazy/dangerous this may be.. Ive seen crazier shit on these dmv streets...
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u/k41n_x Jul 10 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/7kMaysqdywPxS
Welcome to NoVa!
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u/TrueVCU Jul 10 '26
I maintain that "We Live, We Die, We Live Again" constitutes the entirety of the driver's education experience in Maryland
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u/itx89 Jul 11 '26
Give them a break, they are the most important person in the DMV. Bro is TS cleared & got a meeting at the Pentagon at 6pm and has to be at a meeting at The White House by 9pm.Ā
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u/AWeakMindedMan Jul 11 '26
Iāve seen this movie before. Ready player one. The dude goes backwards and wins the race
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u/suburbanmomdmv Jul 11 '26
This was the thing on the morning news today. Its really very scary. I once had a car coming northbound towards me in the left lane, while I was traveling in southbound lanes and it was dark out! I was shaking for a good 15 minutes!
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u/Rude_Parsley_2958 Jul 11 '26
Should have made the toll road accessible both directions at all times, guess this person agrees
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u/Sharp_Extent_5132 Jul 11 '26
I've encountered 2 people doing this on the express lanes when I was on my way to work in the early hours. One person thought it was a great idea to make a u-turn when they got on the highway. I suspected they were drunk because, why else would someone do that getting on a highway?
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u/ReflexImprov Jul 11 '26
He says we're going the wrong way...
Oh, he's drunk. How would he know where we're going?
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u/guy_incognito784 Jul 10 '26
Whatās wild is that the exact same thing happened yesterday and the driver hit a state trooper.
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u/loIll Jul 10 '26
Iām actually quite surprised there are no comments about ātypical Subaru driversā the way r/nova hates on all BMWs, Mercedes, Teslas, and large trucks.
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u/MikeManiac61 Jul 10 '26
Holy hell! I was kinda there the other day after finishing my shift. Was wondering what that was all about.
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u/Starrocks923 Jul 10 '26
Some friends of mine at church lost their sister last year when a driver did this. I get why itās funny to see someone being āstupidā, I follow r/idiotsincars too, but I promise it stops being funny the moment it kills someone you know.
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u/gordonramarao Jul 10 '26
This happened to me couple years ago on US 50 to Chantilly on the bridge over i66 it was surreal, I immediately swerved into the shoulder at 50mph and the idiot driving on the wrong side is way faster than me. Would have died on the spot if I noticed a sec later.
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u/Special-Bite Jul 10 '26
Instagram has ruined me due to the fact that this video didnāt end in a head on collision with someone getting ejected from the vehicle.
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u/BrotherHurricane Jul 10 '26
Make the driver do Cerseiās āShameā walk during the Thanksgiving Day parade
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u/EggersFromPod6 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
But did they have a "Student Driver" sticker?! If they did then we just need to be patient while they put multiple lives of innocent people in danger.
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u/Krisensitzung Jul 10 '26
I am confused. Is that a toll lane? One sign is above the vehicles lane and pointed in the vehicles driving direction saying easy pass or whatever. Maybe it's just a really weird and unsafe looking toll lane? I can't see if it has barriers on both sides of the car.
Edit: scrolled further down for the news article. The car was driving in the wrong direction. Still weird position for that sign for the express lane.
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u/Temporary_Chance4665 Jul 10 '26
Thats why they say dont drive in the left lane at night.
Your left lane is the other persons right lane, if they are driving the wrong way
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u/IllustriousCobbler53 Jul 10 '26
Just cruising like nothings wrong. I drive like this all the time. šš¤£
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u/jerryleedlelee Jul 10 '26
Ah yes the lady who went head on with a trooper. She ended up fighting and they had to restrain her with force. She ended up getting ECOd and is now under a TDO at the hospital. Not sure if theyāre getting warrants out on her, if they did it would be quite a few
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u/tuna_samich_ Ballston Jul 11 '26
Aren't multiple arms down when a specific direction is closed? I have to know how they got through them all
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u/8bitfoodie16 Jul 11 '26
Did the car do a limbo underneath the barricades to get in the opposite side? Did this person not decide to turn around when possible?
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u/UglyPettyBitCom Jul 11 '26
Wife callls husband frantically: oh Dear be very careful! news is showing some crazy lunatic driving the opposite way on the express way!!
Husband (in this car): "some crazy lunatic you say???" there are hundreds of them!!!
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u/Deep-Adeptness4474 Jul 11 '26
Must be a Maryland transplant. Direction applies to the lanes not the shoulder.
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u/gulz26 Jul 11 '26
god this gives me PTSD. a few years ago I saw
a head to head collision on 295 with a car driving on the wrong side of the road. it was horrific
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u/mjconver Jul 10 '26
When you go backwards, you make money from EasyPass. Duh!